Forum:Gradius Synchro

Face it: Gradius is becoming a very playable archetype. And why? Because of the Synchro monsters. I'm sure you know that the Gradius monsters are 1200-ATK-or-less, level 4, LIGHT Machines whose effects focus on destroying monsters by battle; and many of those effects summon tokens. Well, guess what; those tokens are LIGHT and level 4! Hmm... if there was some way to put together LIGHT and Synchro monsters, we'd be all set... oh wait, there is! So, take off every zig for great justice - wait, wrong game. Sorry.

Here's the deck. To start, there's Victory Viper, which has an awesome name and 3 effects to match; ATK boosting, S/T removal, but most importantly swarming with level 4 tokens. Then comes its counterpart Lord British, from Stardust Overdrive, packing more token-summoning, removal, and double attacking. Blue Thunder only summons tokens, but it - and its tokens - are much more powerful than those of Viper and British. Falchion Beta swarms the field with other Gradius monsters, and Metal Shooter provides much-needed beatdown power, with a protection effect added in. The last Gradius monster is Jade Knight, which searches the deck and protects against Sakuretsu Armor, Mirror Force, Raigeki Break, and so on.

There are also some non-Gradius monsters, of necessity. Shining Angel can search out practically all of them. Chaos-End Master is a level 3 tuner that can search Metal Shooter for a synchro summon, or just be tuned to a level 4 monster - plus, it's searchable by Angel. Honest is a must, allowing my Gradius monsters and Chaos-End Master to win battles even with low ATK. Jinzo can protect me from traps. Finally, Scopen may seem odd, but it's compatible with Falchion Beta and can modulate its own level.

I suppose that right about now, you're thinking: "What kind of quick Synchro deck only has 3 tuners?" I'll answer that question now; one that uses Lightwave Tuning to make up for it! It means that I can, for example, use Blue Thunder to summon a token, turn one of them into a tuner, and synchro summon easily. Moving on, Book of Moon helps with the destroying-things initiative. My Body as a Shield is useful negation. Limiter Removal and United We Stand can create OTKs with Victory Viper or Blue Thunder in particular. Trunade and MST deal with pesky spells and traps. Vortex can get rid of a strong field when I don't have Honest or anything on hand - it can also load the grave for Falchion. Finally, Monster Reborn goes in out of necessity, while Reincarnation goes in to bring back Honest and load the grave some more.

For traps, I have 2 Royal Decrees, because I really couldn't think of any other traps. That is, except for Ojama Trio. It creates monsters that I can destroy without needing to rely on Honest or Book of Moon. It's a tricky card, to be sure - even if the tokens can't be tributed, they can be used for Synchro summons quite easily - but I think that if used correctly, it can work well. And if it's ever a dead card, I can always set it as a bluff or discard it to pay a cost.

And now, the extra deck. This deck can bring out level 7 and 8 Synchros easily - not so much for other levels, but eh. Light End Dragon can take out anything in battle about twice; then it becomes rather too weak. Still, it's good. Dark Strike Fighter and Stardust Dragon are practically staples for any extra deck in my opinion, because they're so good. Red Dragon Archfiend does rather well against lockdown burn and is very strong. Black Rose Dragon is a field-clearer - just in case. Colossal sports huge ATK and is practically invincible in battle. Thought Ruler can protect itself from targeting and replenish my life points. Urbellum can set my opponent back a draw phase. Junk Archer probably seems very weird, but it has a good effect, and on the off chance I nab my foe's Junk Synchron it's useful; besides, I couldn't think of anything else for that spot. Catastor and Goyo go in on the off chance that I can get a low-level monster my opponent controls. Finally, bringing up the rear is Avenging Knight Parshath, which can use its effect to deal with practically any monster.

Tell me what you think of this concept deck. Runer5h 17:59, 7 August 2009 (UTC)Runer5h