Legendary Six Samurai

"Legendary Six Samurai", known in Japan as the "True Six Warmen" (, Shin Roku Bushū), are a sub-series of the "Six Samurai" archetype introduced in Storm of Ragnarok. They are improved versions of the "Six Samurai." Much like the originally released "Six Samurai" monsters, there is one for every Attribute (except Divine). All "Legendary Six Samurai" cards are also treated as "Six Samurai", and thus receive implicit support from that archetype's support cards.

Play Style
Their effects revolve mainly around swarming your side of the field and eventually lead to the Synchro Summon of "Shi En". You can Normal Summon "Kageki" and Summon another "Six Samurai" from your hand, usually "Kagemusha of the Six Samurai" before performing a Synchro Summon with the two to bring out "Shi En".

"Kizan" can be Summoned while you control a face-up "Six Samurai" monster, "Mizuho" while you control a "Shinai", and "Shinai" while you control a "Mizuho".

Other great cards are "Shien's Smoke Signal", "Reckless Greed" and "Upstart Goblin", which makes it more likely for a player to have "Shinai" and "Mizuho" on hand at the same time.

This Deck has taken a hit in the September 2011 banlist due to the limiting of "Shi En" and "Shien's Smoke Signal", meaning that first turn "Shien" plays aren't as consistent. To solve this a new Deck using "Asceticism of the Six Samurai" and "Elder of the Six Samurai" has been created to continue to Summon "Shien" with the consistency the Deck is known for.

With the release new and powerful Xyz Monsters such as "Number 39: Utopia" and "Steelswarm Roach", some Decks will find it useful to add "The Six Samurai - Zanji" and "Legendary Six Samurai - Enishi", in order to combo them with "Kizan" and "The Six Samurai - Irou", and "Asceticism of the Six Samurai", in order to perform a Rank 4 Xyz Summon, with these Level 4 monsters. This helps the Deck to be less reliant on "Legendary Six Samurai - Shi En", while maintaining significant consistency.

The return of "Black Luster Soldier - Envoy of the Beginning" encourages some players to add him to their Deck, as the presence of both LIGHT and DARK monsters, such as "Enishi, Shien's Chancellor", "The Six Samurai - Irou", "Legendary Six Samurai - Enishi", "Legendary Six Samurai - Shi En", and "The Six Samurai - Zanji", can be used to Special Summon this powerful monster.

Weaknesses
Even though the Legendary Six Samurais are a powerful archetype, they also have weaknesses:

Gozen Match: It works like "Rivalry of Warlords," but in Attribute. The monsters of the "Legendary Six Samurai" have different Attributes, and they generally require another copy of the "Legendary Six Samurai" on the field in order to have effect. Also it gets past "Musakani Magatama", so "Gozen Match" is good choice. The problem is that not many Decks can play it without self-contradiction. "Blackwing" and "Gravekeeper's" are two of the main Decks in the metagame, and contain mostly consistent Type and Attribute, so expect this to be played often against "Six Samurai". Nonetheless, this is perhaps the most effective side deck card against "Six Samurai". However, it is crucial that this card be activated before Legendary Six Samurai - Shi En or Naturia Barkion are summoned, as the "Six Samurai" player will prioritize on the Gozen Match and thus, will not allow it to stick or generate any positive advantage.

Royal Oppression: "Legendary Six Samurai" can be Special Summoned when there is another on field, and this starts most of the combos. Therefore, this card stops the Special Summons, and stops the combo. However, "Grandmaster of the Six Samurai" can still do a loop to bypass it. Since the September 2011 banlist this card is forbidden in advanced format, and therefore is no longer considered a threat.

Spell Shattering Arrow: Mainly to destroy Continuous Spell Cards like "Gateway of the Six". It does stop the loop combos, and it only serves it’s purpose if you destroy more than one. But you can use "Dust Tornado" instead and it is certainly better in many aspects. As with Gozen Match, it is crucial that this card be played before Legendary Six Samurai - Shi En hits the field for the exact same reasons.

Thunder King Rai-Oh: It prevents both players from adding cards to hand from the deck. Its ATK of 1900 is sufficient to take down most of the "Six Samurai" monsters. Although it can stop several of the Samurai player's best monsters, it is highly vulnerable to Grandmaster of the Six Samurai, Musakani Magatama, and any Legendary Six Samurai - Kizan that has 2100 atk. Thunder King Rai-Oh's main claim to fame as an anti-samurai card is that it prevents searching.

Kinetic Soldier: It can beat everything in a "Legendary Six Samurai" Deck, including "Legendary Six Samurai - Shi En".

Chain Disappearance: Used to counter "Kagemusha of the Six Samurai" and "Legendary Six Samurai - Kageki", though sometimes situational, this can be a big help, but only if it is played before the big negators are summoned.

Divine Wrath: This card will get rid of almost any "Six Samurai" that poses a threat to your cards. Discarding one card from your hand is preferable to having everything you play negated.

Cursed Seal of the Forbidden Spell: "Six Samurai" are overdependent when it comes to Spell Cards. The price is a bit high, but it's usually worth it.

Puppet Plant: Used to take control control of any monster your opponent has, which could then be used for a Synchro or Xyz Summon.

Prohibition: "Six Samurai" have a lot of repeated cards, so by choosing the right ones, you can finish off your opponent before they destroys this card.

Gorz the Emissary of Darkness: Stops an OTK; "Gorz" also boasts slightly more ATK than "Great Shogun Shien" and "Shi En".

Overall, Spell Card and Trap Card Sides are not very effective against Six Samurai decks, as Legendary Six Samurai - Shi En, Naturia Beast, Naturia Barkion, and even Great Shogun Shien will mainly shut down such countermeasures. Instead, Monster Sides such as Gorz the Emissary of Darkness are more effective, as the Samurai player's deck will most likely not be able to handle that many sides so far outside of its negation capabilities. However, it is imperative to make each sided monster count, as there are not many that can delay/shut down Six Samurai decks.

Monster Cards

 * Legendary Six Samurai - Shinai
 * Legendary Six Samurai - Mizuho
 * Elder of the Six Samurai
 * Grandmaster of the Six Samurai
 * Kagemusha of the Six Samurai
 * Hand of the Six Samurai
 * Legendary Six Samurai - Kageki
 * Legendary Six Samurai - Kizan
 * Legendary Six Samurai - Enishi
 * Enishi, Shien's Chancellor

Spell Cards

 * Six Samurai United
 * Gateway of the Six
 * Shien's Dojo
 * Reinforcement of the Army
 * Shien's Smoke Signal
 * Asceticism of the Six Samurai
 * Upstart Goblin

Trap Cards

 * Musakani Magatama
 * Double-Edged Sword Technique
 * Fiendish Chain
 * Rivalry of Warlords

Extra Deck

 * Legendary Six Samurai - Shi En
 * Scarred Warrior
 * Naturia Beast
 * Naturia Barkion
 * Colossal Fighter
 * Naturia Landoise
 * Number 17: Leviathan Dragon
 * Number 20: Giga-Brilliant
 * Wind-Up Zenmaines
 * Blade Armor Ninja
 * Number 39: Utopia
 * Tiras, Keeper of Genesis
 * Adreus, Keeper of Armageddon
 * Ally of Justice Catastor
 * Shadow of the Six Samurai - Shien

Side Deck

 * The Six Samurai - Yaichi
 * Rivalry of Warlords
 * Great Shogun Shien
 * Debunk
 * Gozen Match

Trivia
It appears that these characters are younger versions of the "Six Samurai", as evidenced by their appearance, stats, abilities, and/or names. It would appear that this original Six, the Legendary Six Samurai archetype, reigned supreme until they either died or grew old. "Kizan", going with the fact that he appears to resemble the grandmaster, formed a new group of Six Samurai, while "Shien", who is the Synchro Monster of the group, would rise to become shogun, and "Enishi" would become chancellor after defeating the grandmaster in a fight. In addition, "Shinai's" deceased spirit would possess his armor, "Mizuho" would serve as "Hand of the Six Samurai", "Kageki" would become the new group's Chamberlain and "Kagemusha" became one of the new Samurai, Yariza, from his armor configuration and weapon. "Shien's Daredevil" had long-since retired and became "Shien's Advisor".