Crystal Beast

The Crystal Beasts, known in Japan as the Gem/Jewel Beasts are a series of Monster Cards that become Continuous Spell Cards after they are destroyed while monsters. Although weak in terms of actual strength, their aforementioned effects allow them to have great staying power. In addition, they are supplemented by many support cards which utilizes them in their Continuous Spell Card form. This archetype also contains the card, "Rainbow Dragon", the ace card of the Crystal Beasts. It can be summoned quite easily as it can be only be played when there are the seven different Crystal Beasts on the field or in the graveyard. The card can also be summoned with the effect of Rainbow Gravity. This archetype also contains one of the most powerful OTK setups with Crystal Abundance, making them robust even against overpowering opponents.

The Crystal Beasts made their first appearance in the Yu-Gi-Oh! GX anime, used by Jesse Anderson. In the English dub, each one of the Crystal Beast monsters, save "Ruby Carbuncle", imitate the voice of a real life movie celebrity.


 * See also Advanced Crystal Beasts.

Play Style
Crystal Beast decks tend to have a wide variety of searching options for putting Crystal Beast cards on the field, either summoned as a monster or placed in the Spell & Trap Card zone, and they have a couple of extra drawing options to speed up the use of the deck. Because of these effects working together, Crystal Beast users can wind up many cards ahead of their opponent, and the various searching options facilitate the summoning of Rainbow Dragon far quicker than would otherwise be possible. The Archetype also supports come-from-behind wins quite easily due to the double whammy of Crystal Abundance, which wipes out everything on the field and then swarms the field with monsters from the Graveyard, and the Field Spell card of the set gains a new effect for every Continuous Spell Card Crystal Beast you control. The archetype is also somewhat resistant to opponents who use Spell and Trap destruction effects, as a couple of cards can quickly put the Crystal Beasts in Spell form back onto the back row from the Graveyard, and the Field spell card resists being destroyed itself.

Weaknesses
The back row of a Crystal Beast user can get clogged easily and generally must be left open for Crystal Beast Spell Card-form cards, so an effective deck can't use any Continuous Spells or Continuous Traps. The archetype also relies upon the opponent destroying the Crystal Beasts in order to most quickly get them into the back row, so a clever opponent might simply summon a strong monster and avoid attacking the Crystal Beasts, instead using direct-attack or Burn-Damage tactics. Crystal Abundance, the trump card of the set, can also be easily stopped with a well-timed Counter Trap. Macro Cosmos can disable the Crystal Abundance completely because it needs the cards to go to the Graveyard.

Optional Support

 * Rescue Cat - Can summon 2 Crystal Beast Amethyst Cats, which then destroy themselves to go into Spell form.
 * Beast Soul Swap - You can use this to perform a "double attack" with a Crystal Beast, and if you use it on Crystal Beast Sapphire Pegasus, you can put 1 more Crystal Beast onto the field in Spell Form.
 * Anteatereatingant - The cost for this card is easily met by using a couple of Spell-form Crystal Beasts, and it functions both as a beatstick and as a way to destroy an opponent's Spell or Trap cards, two things that Crystal Beasts are lacking in.
 * Gem Flash Energy - Does burn damage to the opponent for every Continuous Spell Card on the field. A good source of consistent damage but very dangerous to use since it prevents you from using the all-important Crystal Abundance.
 * Wild Nature's Release - This can vastly increase the ATK of a Beast-type monster, and at the end of the turn it is destroyed. This is good for both emergency power and to speed up the process of getting Crystal Beasts into Continuous Spell form.
 * Dweller in the Depths - An easily-summoned dragon that will power up for every Continuous Spell Card you control--easily becomes a great source of cheap power in a Crystal Beast deck.
 * Hamon, Lord of Striking Thunder - A good replacer for Rainbow Dragon and/or a nice card to add. It's Special Summoning ability goes hand and hand with the Crystal Beast abilities to be Continuous Spell Cards. Both being a beatstick and a protector (defense position ability), it can aid the ever weak Crystal Beasts.
 * Magna-Slash Dragon/Gravi-Crush Dragon - A great card for Crystal Beasts decks, because it can destroy up to one Monster(Gravi-Crush Dragon) or a Spell or Trap(Magna-Slash Dragon) at the cost of a Continuous Spell Card.
 * Giant Trunade- A great card, alows you to return all spells and traps off the field to their owners hands, so you can summon your crystal beasts again, and again.