Shark (archetype)

"Shark" (シャーク Shāku) is an archetype of cards used by Reginald Kastle/Nasch in the Yu-Gi-Oh! ZEXAL anime and manga. Most of them are Level 3 or 4 WATER-Attribute and/or Fish-Type with swarm ability, so Reginald can quickly Summon his Rank 3-5 monsters or "Number 32: Shark Drake" and are supported by anime-only cards.

Playing Style
A couple of these monsters, notably "Metabo-Shark" and "Scrap Shark" sport decent to high ATK at low Levels, allowing them to start out as beaters when Summoned. This lets them battle outside the Extra Deck. Their effects, as mentioned, allow them to manipulate their Levels between 3 and 5, allowing them to Summon Rank 3 to 5 Xyz Monsters quite easily.

One in-Deck "boss monster", introduced in Cosmo Blazer, is "Hyper-Ancient Shark Megalodon" who sports the highest original ATK in the entire archetype (2900). Its effect destroys a monster when it inflicts Battle Damage, further pushing the aggressiveness of the archetype. The true boss monster is seen to be "Number C32: Shark Drake Veiss" whose effect drops an monster's ATK and DEF to 0, while "Number 32: Shark Drake" brings a monster back that it destroyed by battle and lowers its ATK by 1000, while also allowing it to attack again. "Number 47: Nightmare Shark" is also useful due to its effect that allows a WATER monster to attack directly, allowing both a large amount of damage, and the triggering of "Megalodon's" effect. As such, this archetype can be used very aggressively to beat the opponent down.

Seeing as this archetype is built for aggression and swarming, a fast-paced Deck can be built using "Shark Stickers", "Shark Cruiser" (although this card takes a bit more prediction and a lot more luck), and most notably "Hammer Shark" to swarm the field. It is actually quite easy to pull combos with this Deck. The most basic one is to Normal Summon "Hammer Shark", using its effect to Special Summon any Level 3 or lower WATER monster, then Special Summoning "Shark Stickers". Another rather potent combo is to use the effect of "Bahamut Shark" to Special Summon "Number 47: Nightmare Shark" which can attach another Shark monster like "Shark Stickers" to itself despite being Summoned with no Xyz Materials and gains its rather useful effect too. Since this deck focus on swarming field and being aggressive, card like "Neptune's Amulet" can prevent your water monster from destroy by your opponent card effect.

Most "Shark" monsters' effects activate only when they are Normal Summoned, so to fully utilize them, you can tech in "Double Summon" or "Ultimate Offering" to trigger these effects. By doing this, you can Tribute Summon "Hyper-Ancient Shark Megalodon" easier.

"Shark" monsters (except for "Scrap Shark", "Shark Fortress" and "Corroding Shark") are all WATER. "Xyz Remora" can almost instantaneously summon "Number 32: Shark Drake".

Another technique to summon "Number C32: Shark Drake Veiss," is by using a "Rank-Up-Magic" Spell card on "Number 47: Nightmare Shark," which is far easier than using "Shark Drake" as Xyz Material.

Good combo to maintain field is to using "Bahamut Shark" effect to summon a rank 3 Xyz monster and Xyz again to summon "Full Armored - Black Ray Lancer" and activate "Neptune's Amulet" to prevent "Full Armored - Black Ray Lancer" destroy and let the "Full Armored - Black Ray Lancer" attack your opponent monster to destroy his spell/trap card.

"Saber Shark" can help easily to summon rank 5 Xyz monster like a "Number 73: Abyss Splash" and "Number 94: Crystal Zero" another option is Xyz summon "Shark Fortress".

"Water Hazard" can be excellent, as the deck can already swarm quite quickly, and can essentially cut down on a turn for Xyz Summoning, as well as expand your options if you don't have either "Hammer Shark" or "Shark Stickers" in your hand.

"Metabo-Shark" is good due to its effect of bringing back two fish monsters from the graveyard and adding them to your Deck.