Vylon

Vylon, sometimes romanized as Vairon, is an archetype that debuted in Duel Terminal - Vylon Descends!! and focuses around the use of Equip Cards. The monsters appear as angelic, vaguely humanoid machines, are all LIGHT-Attribute, and are either Fairy, Machine, or (in one case) Thunder-type. Their team symbol is a golden-orange orb, often with gold metal trim. The Tuner monsters of this group are shaped and named after three-dimensional geometric figures ("Prism", "Cube", "Sphere", "Tetra[hedron]", "Stella [Octangula]"), and the Union monsters are based on four-dimensional figures ("Tesseract", "Pentachloro [pentachoron]"). The five Vylon Synchro Monsters are each named after the phonetic pronunciation of a Greek letter. Some have bodies resembling their letter ("Vylon Epsilon", "Vylon Sigma", "Vylon Omega"), while others have something on their bodies that resembles it ("Vylon Alpha", "Vylon Delta"), and they all have Roman Numerals corresponding to their order in the Greek Alphabet written vertically on their chests. The Xyz Monster of this group, "Vylon Disigma", is named after an archaic Greek letter.

All Vylon Equip Spell Cards can only be equipped to a Vylon Monster and have a secondary effect that allows the player to search for another Vylon Spell Card when they are sent from the field to the graveyard while face up. This is perhaps their greatest asset, as it allows Vylon decks to keep their card advantage from their Spells as long as there are other Vylon Spells in the deck.

In Duel Terminal - Judgment of Omega!!, four Vylon Tuner monsters (levels 1 through 4) were introduced that have the ability to be Treated as Equip Cards when sent from the Monster Card Zone to the Graveyard (even when used for a Synchro Summon) at the cost of 500 Life Points, each providing different effects when they are equipped. In Duel Terminal - Xyz Startup!!, the Vylons obtained two Union Monsters that can be equipped to another Vylon to grant effects when the equipped monster destroys another monster in battle, as well as one of the first Duel Terminal-exclusive Xyz Monsters, "Vylon Disigma".

Story
In a story from the Duel Terminals, the Vylon, who had merely observed the confrontations on the Duel Terminal planet below, descend from the heavens to intervene in a war between the Laval and Gem-Knight tribes. At the same time, the Steelswarm awaken from underground near a battle between the Gusto and Gishki tribes, feeding off the chaos the constant fighting has caused and seeking revenge on the surface world and the Vylon that had sealed them away long ago. To combat this powerful threat, the four tribes of Gem-Knight, Laval, Gusto and Gishki create an alliance under the direction of the Vylon. In their time of need, the Vylon send each of the tribes new power via "Vylon Element".


 * "Vylon Sphere" + "Reeze, Whirlwind of Gusto" = "Daigusto Sphreez"
 * "Vylon Tetra" + "Gishki Noellia" = "Evigishki Tetrogre"
 * "Vylon Stella" + "Laval Cannon" = "Laval Stennon"
 * "Vylon Prism" + "Gem-Knight Crystal" = "Gem-Knight Prismaura"

The final battle draws to a close as "Steelswarm Hercules" rises to end it himself, when suddenly "Vylon Omega" appears from the Vylon Element gateway to turn the tides. Omega descends upon the field of battle, vaporizing all the lesser Steelswarm that draw near. The war is decided when the two leaders clash, and in the end both lie defeated.

Peace after their victory doesn't last as the other tribes soon return to fighting over their petty conflicts. The Vylon cannot understand such disunion, and the defeat of the Steelswarm is shown to have had an effect on them: the negative feelings and energies that the creatures' carcasses emanate seem to warp the minds of the remaining Vylon. They resolve to exterminate the other tribes to end their on-going feuds for good. "Vylon Stigma", "Vylon Tesseract" and "Vylon Pentachloro" join to create the seeker of absolute unity, "Vylon Disigma".

"Vylon Disigma" absorbs members of the other tribes, gaining the power to defeat each one in turn. The tribes are forced to unite once again, sharing their powers to combat this friend-turned-foe. "Gem-Knight Pearl", created from the strength of the Gem-Knights and the Gishki, proves immune to Disigma's absorption ability and has the power to end the twisted angel for good. The true enemy is stirring, however, and now the Vylon are not there to oppose it...

Playing Style
The Vylon strategy revolves around the use of Equip Cards, their effects often only working when they have at least one equipped. Their Equip Spell Cards can search out other Vylon Spells from the deck when they go to the Graveyard from the field, and some of their monsters can also become Equip Cards. Vylon Equip Spell Cards activate even when the monsters they are equipped to are destroyed or used as Synchro Material, letting their users gather the right tools for the situation at hand at any time, though they should always be aware of the number of Spell and Trap Card Zones they have left to work with. One should try to keep at least 1 Spell or Trap Card Zone open so that they can respond should the duel's situation suddenly change.

Vylon Sigma OTK focuses on Synchro Summoning "Vylon Sigma", then maxing out its ATK with multiple "Mage Power" and attacking twice with "Twin Swords of Flashing Light - Tryce" for massive battle damage as soon as possible. Start by Special Summoning "Photon Thrasher" and then Normal Summoning "Vylon Cube" to prepare for summoning the Level 7 Sigma. Alternatively, "Trident Warrior" can also be used, though its effect can be negated by "Effect Veiler" and Thrasher outclasses it in terms of pure ATK. "Vylon Cube" is always the Tuner Monster of choice for this build, since it can search out "Mage Power" or any other Equip Spell needed when used as a Synchro Material for a LIGHT Monster. "Vylon Stella" and "Morphtronic Scopen" are also options, though they don't provide the same advantage as Cube. Equip Sigma with the spell gained by Cube's effect and any other Equip Spells at hand, being sure to equip "Vylon Filament" or "Vylon Segment" to protect Sigma and "Vylon Component" to inflict Piercing Damage if needed. "Honest" can power Sigma up further, though typically is not needed and should be kept in reserve.

Vylon Epsilon Control focuses on Synchro Summoning "Vylon Epsilon" quickly and equipping it with "Vylon Segment" to make it and Segment untargetable by most cards, then using Epsilon's destruction effect and high ATK to control the field. Combine this with "Vylon Matter" and "Vylon Ohm" to recycle the Vylon Equip Spells, destroy the opponent's monsters, and attack until game. Summon Epsilon with either "Photon Thrasher" or "Summoner Monk" alongside "Vylon Prism", or with "Cyber Dragon" or "Ghost Ship" together with "Vylon Cube". This build can also readily summon "Vylon Alpha" by tuning "Cyber Dragon" or "Ghost Ship" with "Vylon Prism", or "Vylon Sigma" by tuning "Photon Thrasher" with "Vylon Cube". "Vylon Disigma" can also be made with a "Photon Thrasher" and "Summoner Monk" combo. This variant and Sigma OTK can be used effectively in the same build.

Vylon Element Swarming focuses on utilizing "Vylon Element" to swarm the field with Vylon Tuners (which can only be used for the Synchro Summon of Vylon Synchro Monsters). "Rod of Silence - Kay'est" can quickly destroy Vylon Equip Cards and activate Element. Since the spells replace each other, this can be done over and over to summon as many Vylon Tuners to the field as there are Vylon Equip Spells in the deck. This variant is capable of Synchro Summoning the mighty "Vylon Omega" and also of summoning a field's worth of Xyz Monsters of usually Rank 3 or 4 (depending on the number of Tuners available in the deck). To summon Omega, it's best to first Synchro Summon either "Vylon Sigma" or "Vylon Delta" with "Vylon Cube" to get "Rod of Silence - Kay'est", then summon "Vylon Sphere" and "Vylon Tetra" with Element and Synchro for Omega. "Vylon Tetra" can protect Omega from destruction, while "Vylon Sphere" can be traded for a Vylon Equip Spell from your Graveyard to make Omega's powers an even greater threat. Any further Tuners can be used for Xyz Summoning.

Monsters
Other
 * Vylon Cube
 * Vylon Prism
 * Vylon Tetra (Element only)
 * Vylon Sphere (Element only)
 * Vylon Vanguard
 * Vylon Ohm
 * Vylon Soldier
 * Shining Angel
 * Photon Thrasher
 * Cyber Dragon (Epsilon Control)
 * Summoner Monk (Epsilon Control)
 * Genex Neutron
 * Honest
 * Vylon Tesseract
 * Vylon Pentachloro (use with Machine Duplication for Vylon Disigma)
 * Vylon Hept
 * Ghost Ship (Epsilon Control)
 * Nova Summoner
 * Trident Warrior (Sigma OTK only)

Spells
Other
 * Vylon Material
 * Vylon Segment
 * Vylon Component
 * Vylon Filament
 * Vylon Matter
 * Vylon Element (Element only)
 * Mage Power
 * Twin Swords of Flashing Light - Tryce (Sigma OTK only)
 * Rod of Silence - Kay'est (Element only)
 * Release Restraint Wave
 * Vylon Polytope
 * Upstart Goblin or Pot of Duality
 * Photon Lead
 * Machine Duplication (for use with Vylon Pentachloro)

Traps

 * Royal Decree or Trap Stun
 * Dark Bribe or Starlight Road

Extra Deck

 * Vylon Alpha
 * Vylon Delta
 * Vylon Epsilon
 * Vylon Sigma
 * Vylon Omega
 * Vylon Disigma
 * Constellar Hyades
 * Constellar Omega
 * Constellar Ptolemys Messier 7
 * Power Tool Dragon
 * Stardust Dragon (Destruction Protection)
 * Scrap Dragon (Spell/Trap Removal)
 * Avenging Knight Parshath (Piercing Damage)
 * Thought Ruler Archfiend (Life Point Rejuvination)
 * Number 16: Shock Master
 * Number 20: Giga-Brilliant
 * Number 32: Shark Drake
 * Number 39: Utopia
 * Number C39: Utopia Ray
 * Wind-Up Zenmaines
 * Chimeratech Fortress Dragon (useful against Machine-oriented decks)

Weakness
Due to their emphasis on Equip Spell Cards, most Vylon decks are forced to run a low Trap Card count to stay consistent. This makes it hard to respond to the opponent's cards, requiring the use of "Vylon Segment" or "Vylon Filament" and high ATK monsters to keep the opponent's plays at bay. Since Vylons don't have much power to Special Summon themselves, cards that can negate summons like "Solemn Warning" are easy answers to the Vylon Synchro Monsters, and cards like “Macro Cosmos” which Banish your cards will prevent the Equip Spells and Tuners from activating their effects in the Graveyard. “Rivalry of Warlords” can be effective against the Vylon since the archetype is made up of three different Monster Types even without counting other monsters common to the deck. "Royal Decree" is an excellent choice for disabling your opponent's Trap Cards while not affecting you at all, since this deck hardly utilizes any Traps.

"Naturia Beast", "Legendary Six Samurai - Shi En" or any Spell Negation can be problematic against Vylons due to their dependence on Spell Cards. In such a situation, rely on the power of Monster Cards like "Cyber Dragon", "Photon Thrasher" or "Summoner Monk" and the ability of the Vylon Tuners to become Equip cards from the Graveyard to overwhelm the opponent until you can use Spells again.

"Forbidden Lance" can be very dangerous to Vylon monsters (especially "Vylon Sigma") due to it making all cards equipped to one monster lose their effects upon that monster, in addition to reducing their ATK. “Enemy Controller” can switch the Vylons into their (usually) more vulnerable Defense Position, where boosts to ATK won’t help them, or could even steal your monster away for the turn if your opponent has a Tribute for it. "Book of Moon" can be perhaps even more devastating since it combines the strengths of both of these other cards, though thankfully it is currently Limited in the Advanced Format. "Vylon Segment" can't stop any of these cards, and "Vylon Filament" will only help if the opponent is careless enough to wait until your attack to try to use these cards. Element Swarming builds can utilize "Rod of Silence - Kay'est" to protect their monster against those Spells, though this prevents their own equips from helping them.

As with all LIGHT-Attribute archetypes, the Ally of Justice and Koa'ki Meiru archetypes and "Light-Imprisoning Mirror", along with other anti-LIGHT support, can paralyze Vylons and their effects. Furthermore, odd Side Deck cards like “Eternal Rest”, “Really Eternal Rest”, “Disarmament” and "Collected Power" can extinguish active Equip Spell Cards or even the Vylon monsters themselves. Rely on high ATK and Equip Cards when your monster effects are made useless, and don't commit too many monsters to the field, as while the Vylon equips are easily replaced, their monsters aren't.

Sigma OTK users must always be prepared for backrow, since just one "Dimensional Prison" can dispatch Sigma easily. Moreover, if the OTK attempt fails once, it can be difficult to repeat since most of the Equip Spells needed for it would now be in the Graveyard. Use "Vylon Matter" or "Vylon Ohm" to help recover from such a situation.

Epsilon Control defends against several targeting cards, but is still vulnerable to targeting Spells like "Book of Moon" and any cards that don't target like "Black Rose Dragon", "Dark Hole", "Heavy Storm" or "Mirror Force". “Dark Bribe” is a valid replacement for “Royal Decree” in this case.

Element Swarm users rely on the lengthy Special Summon combo granted by "Vylon Element", which means cards like "Mystical Space Typhoon" can be dangerous obstacles since they can destroy "Vylon Element" and stop the chain of summons. Although "Vylon Omega" can seem virtually invincible thanks to its high-ATK and monster effect negation, it can still be made vulnerable if it loses its Equip Cards to something like "Heavy Storm". Try to have an answer for these threats or bait them out before you make any big plays.

Trivia

 * All non-Synchro, Xyz and Tuner Vylons are Level 4 Monster Cards.
 * There are no "Vylon" Trap Cards.
 * It is the only archetype in Hidden Arsenal 5: Steelswarm Invasion and Hidden Arsenal 6: Omega Xyz to receive any Trap Card support.
 * The Vylon monsters in Duel Terminal - Xyz Startup!! all lack the team symbol.
 * Vylons are the only Duel Terminal archetype that don't have a corrupted version of one of their monsters as an lswarm monster, aside from the Steelswarm from which the corruption originated. While they were the first to be tainted by this virus, it is possible that they cannot be entirely taken over, thus why they were tasked with dealing with the Steelswarm in the first place.
 * This Archetype's Synchro Monsters (white card frames) are mainly white, while its Xyz Monster (black card frame) is mainly black.
 * This seems symbolic of their moral alignment in the Duel Terminal story: while at first they are the world's saviors in the name of order, their need for order turns them against the other tribes after their battle with the Steelswarm.
 * The majority of the Vylon Synchro/Xyz Monsters are Fairy-Type (except "Vylon Alpha"), while their Tuners are mostly Machine-Type, except "Vylon Prism" (Thunder-type) and "Vylon Stella" (Fairy-Type).
 * All Tuners, except "Vylon Stella", have ATK equal to their DEF like the original "Ancient Gears".