Destiny HERO

The Destiny HERO series are a set of DARK Attribute Warrior-Type monsters and support cards introduced by Aster Phoenix in Yu-Gi-Oh! GX and in Enemy of Justice, with further support in Duelist Pack 5: Aster Phoenix and also in Phantom Darkness. Since their debut, they have been believed to be an anti-thesis to the Elemental HEROES as specific cards somewhat resemble Elemental HEROES.

The main focus of Destiny HEROES revolves around taking defensive action and stalling while increasing the user's card advantage and field presence. This is necessary to summon of "Destiny Hero - Dogma" and "Destiny Hero - Plasma", both of which are extremely powerful monsters that require three Tributes to be Special Summoned from the Hand. The majority of all other Destiny HEROES have low ATK and are poor offensively, but often have great utility for maintaining field presence and forms of card advantage over the opponent. For example, the first HERO monster to be Forbidden, "Destiny Hero - Disk Commander", has very weak ATK and DEF but lets its controller draw two cards when it is Special Summoned from the Graveyard, and "Destiny Hero - Defender" has such an enormously high DEF that most monsters cannot destroy it by battle.

References to British Culture
These cards resemble British anti-heroes and there are several references to British culture within the cards. There is an emphasis in the passage of time in most Destiny HERO card effects, as opposed to the more immediate effects of Elemental HEROES.

Naming
In the original Japanese anime, the names of the basic Destiny HEROES all begin with "D", with a few exceptions. In the same respect, the basic Destiny HEROES' names usually ended with "Guy", with a few exceptions like "Destiny Hero - Bloo-D", which became "Destiny Hero - Plasma" in the TCG. Bloo-D has the "D" at the end instead of the beginning of its name and "Dread Servant" didn't have "Guy" at the end of its names.

Although "Destiny End Dragoon" (a card used by Aster Phoenix in Yu-Gi-Oh! GX in his duel against Chazz Princeton) does not have "Destiny HERO" in its card name, many people still consider it to be a Destiny HERO monster, and the most powerful D-monster at that.

The Destiny HEROES also have the theme of Pessimism in common : in the episode 58, talking about the D-Series, Edo says it is linked with Destiny, Destroy, Death, consequently many themes may be fitting to the Destiny HEROES.

Appearances
The Destiny HEROES were designed by Aster Phoenix's father. After he was killed, Aster inherited the cards, although one was stolen by The D.

The stolen card was known as the "Ultimate D Card". Aster made it his business to find this card in order to avenge his father.

The "Ultimate D Card" was "Destiny Hero - Plasma", while the "Final D Card" was "Destiny End Dragoon".

Relation to other "HERO" monsters
Currently, the only Destiny HERO-related card that involves Elemental HEROES is "D - Time". However, "Elemental HERO" cards such as "Elemental Hero Stratos", "Elemental Hero Ocean", "Elemental Hero Divine Neos", "Evil Hero Infernal Prodigy", "Hero's Bond", and "Elemental Hero Absolute Zero" include "Destiny Heroes" in their support. "Elemental Hero Phoenix Enforcer" and "Elemental Hero Shining Phoenix Enforcer" can be considered pseudo-Destiny HEROES as they have only been owned and used to date by Aster Phoenix, and their Japanese name also have "Guy" at the end.

Strengths and Weaknesses
Destiny HEROES are the perfect archetype for stalling an opponent until you draw key cards you need to resolve a tight situation or to finish an opponent off. Some classic examples of Destiny HERO effects are that they cannot be destroyed by battle during the turn they are Special Summoned with "Destiny Hero - Dreadmaster"'s effect, or that when "Destiny Hero - Fear Monger" is destroyed by battle, it can Special Summon a Destiny HERO monster during your next Standby Phase etc. With the Field Spell Card "Clock Tower Prison", in 4 or less turns you will be impervious to Battle Damage and when it is destroyed, you can Special Summon a "Destiny Hero - Dreadmaster" to swarm the field with Destiny HEROES and overtake your opponent's card advantages.

Despite this, they have 2 great weaknesses: Their ATK points are very low and a player can be defeated easily with Battle Damage if they don't have a card like "Clock Tower Prison" to protect themselves with. For example, "Destiny Hero - Dasher" has ATK points of 2100, but in-order to power it up, you need to tribute 1 other monster. That will make you lose Field Advantage and when it attacks it must be changed to Defense Position. The other weakness is that they defend too much which allows an opponent time to draw cards that have the ability to destroy Destiny HERO defenses. For example, "Destiny Hero - Defender" has a colossal DEF of 2700 and can be Normal Summoned or Set, but its effect is that during each of your opponent's Standby Phases, they get to draw 1 card, which sooner or later will give them a huge Hand Advantage.

Destiny HEROES also have several advantages due to their weaknesses: Since they are DARK monsters and they usually have 1500 ATK or less, they can be Special Summoned through the effect of "Mystic Tomato" and "Dark General Freed". Since their card effects usually activate in the Graveyard, you can let them activate first then remove them from play to Special Summon "Rainbow Dark Dragon" which will give you a chance to defeat your opponent.

Basic Destiny HERO Deck
Basic Destiny HERO play revolves around stalling the opponent (using "D-Shield", "Destiny Hero - Defender" or a 4-counter "Clock Tower Prison") long enough to gain enough hand and field advantage to summon "Destiny Hero - Dogma" and "Destiny Hero - Plasma" and sometimes even "Destiny Hero - Dreadmaster". "Foolish Burial" is an important staple in this Deck to get Malicious and Dasher into the Graveyard, as is "Elemental Hero Stratos". The quickest way to get the top-level cards summoned is to have one monster on the field (usually Defender or a D-shielded monster), Special Summoning another monster to the field using one of the many available effects, then Normal Summoning "Elemental Hero Stratos", and using Stratos' effect to search out Dogma or Plasma before tributing all three for the top-level summon.

Destiny HERO Decks, when properly used, have immense drawing power, thanks to the effects of "Destiny Draw" and "Destiny Hero - Disk Commander" (now banned). You can also use cards like "Allure of Darkness" or "Veil of Darkness", both of which work for Dark Monsters. The former removes the monsters from play, so it isn't always the best card for the decks, but "Veil of Darkness" will put your monsters right into the Graveyard and allow you to draw another card. It is not uncommon to be ten or more cards ahead of your opponent thanks to this. Using "Appropriate" in combination with "Destiny Hero - Defender"'s effect can allow you to draw even more cards while stalling your opponent. You could also combine "Destiny Hero - Defender"'s effect with "Greed" to stall your opponent and do an additional 500 points of damage a turn. A wonderful, general use counter trap card, "Dark Bribe" can also be coupled with "Appropriate".

In addition to that they can be easily used with powerful cards like "Dark Armed Dragon", "Allure of Darkness" and other "Dark" support cards.

Other staples important for Destiny HERO Decks include "Reinforcement of the Army", "The Warrior Returning Alive", "Dandylion", and, due to their low ATK and DARK attribute, "Crush Card Virus" (Traditional Format only).

"Fires of Doomsday" may be used as tributes to Special Summon Plasma or Dogma.

Diamond Dude Turbo
Diamond Dude Turbo (DDT) is a popular Deck type that takes advantage of "Destiny Hero - Diamond Dude's" effect. Because costs are not necessary for using Spell Cards with Diamond Dude's effect, players can gain card advantage with cards such as "Destiny Draw" and "Magical Stone Excavation". Also, using "Destiny Hero - Diamond Dude's" effect with "Convulsion of Nature" will allow you to see what spell cards you will use.

"Destiny Hero - Dasher" and "Destiny Hero - Malicious", (whose effects can be activated in the Graveyard) are included, since the Deck features many discard effects capable of sending "Malicious" and "Dasher" to the Graveyard.

"Divine Sword - Phoenix Blade" is used to remove "Destiny HEROES" and other Warrior-Type monsters in your Graveyard from play. "Dimension Fusion" would be used to Special Summon the removed monsters. Using "Diamond Dude's" effect, players could get around the large cost associated with "Dimension Fusion".

With the release of Phantom Darkness, players now have access to "Allure of Darkness" and "Dark Armed Dragon" which provides more ways to remove monsters from play. "Allure of Darkness" also works well with the general theme of the Deck as the main focus of the Deck is quickly drawing cards and overwhelming your opponent with powerful monsters. "Dark Magician of Chaos" was also a popular monster to have in the Deck as it helps to bring back powerful Spell Cards. "Fires of Doomsday" can help you summon powerful monsters like "Jinzo" and "Destiny Hero - Dasher".

Currently this Deck is no longer viable, since most of its key cards (namely "Reasoning" and "Monster Gate", "Dimension Fusion", and "Return from the Different Dimension") were either Limited or Banned.

Perfect Circle
A popular type of Destiny HERO Deck that used to be in tournaments was popularly known as Perfect Circle. This Deck utilizes the Destiny HEROES that can generate a lot of resources and field advantage, such as "Destiny Hero - Disk Commander" and "Destiny Hero - Malicious". Other cards that help the player getting these cards out quickly include "Reinforcement of the Army" and "Elemental Hero Stratos". "Destiny Hero - Fear Monger" is also used to help use "Destiny Hero - Disk Commander's" effect. The revived "Destiny Hero - Disk Commander" can then be Tributed to Tribute Summon any of the Monarchs or "Light and Darkness Dragon".

"Destiny Hero - Disk Commander" was Forbidden as of the 1st of September 2008 on the Forbidden and Limited Lists, thus severely damaging this Deck.

However, with the September 2009 Lists, "Raiza the Storm Monarch" is no longer limited, making this Deck more powerful, but Malicious is still restricted to 2.

Destiny End Dragoon Decks
This Deck revolves around the card "Destiny End Dragoon" and its abilities to revive itself and inflict damage while destroying a monster. This type of Deck can have many variations, from a traditional beatdown to a control Deck with the Virus cards ("Crush Card Virus", "Deck Devastation Virus" and "Eradicator Epidemic Virus").

This Deck has an enormous amount of Deck-thinning, using searching abilities that Warrior-Type monsters are famous for, and using cards to draw from your Deck. Destiny Hero - Dogma and Destiny Hero - Plasma are the two best fodders in the game for drawing power, since they can use all of these cards: "Trade-In", "Destiny Draw", and "Allure of Darkness". Since you will be needing those monsters to fuse into "Destiny End Dragoon" (DED/D-End), you can also use "Pot of Avarice" to recover them, but the best option is to use "Chain Material" to make Fusion Summoning easier while DED's effect makes the drawback nearly non-existent. Also, with "Fusion Gate" on the field, it is possible to Fusion Summon up to three Destiny End Dragoons to the field in a single turn, at the cost of removing all the copies of its Fusion Material Monsters from your Deck. However, with enough Destiny HEROES in the Graveyard, the "Destiny End Dragoon"s will simply revive themselves and wreak havoc on your opponent next turn. Try to use "Future Fusion" to get Dragoon out quickly. If your opponent tries to return Dragoon to your Extra Deck or remove it from play, which most likely will get rid of it permanently, use "Destruct Potion" to not only save your Dragoon but gain 3000 Life Points. Dragoon is easy to resurrect from the Graveyard, but it is harder to Fusion Summon him again or bring him back into play.

For more ideas on how to use/make a "Destiny End Dragoon" Deck, see Card Tips:Destiny End Dragoon.

Plasma Perfect Lockdown
A lockdown that involves "Destiny Hero - Plasma" is as follows: "Destiny Hero - Plasma", "Sorcerer of Dark Magic", "Secret Village of the Spellcasters". "Sorcerer of Dark Magic" is a spellcaster that has an effect that negates traps, thus fulfilling the requirement for "Secret Village of the Spellcasters" which negates any spell card of your opponents as long as a spellcaster is on your side of the field. This leaves only monsters effects, which "Destiny Hero - Plasma" covers. To summon "Sorcerer of Dark Magic" you can use Fortune Ladies levels 1-4 to summon for his two level 6 or higher summoning requirement.

Another lockdown strategy involving "Destiny Hero - Plasma" is to cancel out your opponent's cards. This uses "Destiny Hero - Plasma", "Horus the Black Flame Dragon LV8", and "Royal Decree". "Horus the Black Flame Dragon LV8" is a dragon that has an effect that negates spell cards, and "Royal Decree" is a trap card which negates any trap card on the field. This leaves only monster's effects, which "Destiny Hero - Plasma" covers. "Spell Canceller" is a way to cancel out spells if you're not willing to go with the "Horus the Black Flame Dragon" route, but it has only 1800 ATK so it might be hard to keep on the field. Of course Destiny HEROES are weak now because of the ban lists.

In order to summon "Destiny Hero - Plasma", cards like "Dandylion", "Fires of Doomsday", "Scapegoat" and "Phantom Skyblaster" help you accomplish this as quickly as possible

DestinyDarks
This Deck is similar to a regular Destiny HERO Deck, but swaps out some HEROES for strong dark cards like "Spirit Reaper", "Dark Resonator" and "Tragoedia" to swarm the field in order to provide fodder for the Deck's aces, "Destiny Hero - Plasma" and "Destiny Hero - Dogma". Cards like "Allure of Darkness" and "Destiny Draw" help draw the right cards, and being dark monsters with a lot of potential speed means that "Dark Armed Dragon" works very well. "Foolish Burial" can send either a Malicious or a "Dandylion" to the grave to provide tokens, and "Fires of Doomsday" can summon tokens to your side of the field.

Destinysworns
Destinysworns are ran like a normal Destiny HERO Deck except they are modified to use Lightsworns effectively. With the effective Draw Engine that Destiny HEROES provides multiple Lightsworns for use. The Deck itself is at risk of Decking Out in a few turns so "Pot of Avarice" is a must unless the player is capable of winning in a few turns. "Destiny Hero - Plasma" and "Destiny Hero - Dogma" can be of use providing shields and the ability to halve the opponents Life Points. "Chaos Sorcerer" is a Semi-Staple in this Deck because all Destiny HEROES are DARK and all Lightsworns are LIGHT. "Elemental Hero Stratos" is also useful to add important Destiny HEROES to your hand or plain out use as fodder for "Destiny Draw".

Destiny Ditch
A Deck that puts cards like "Destiny Hero - Malicious" and "Destiny Hero - Dasher" in the Graveyard to summon out "Destiny Hero - Plasma" or "Destiny Hero - Dogma". Cards like "Vortex Trooper", "Evil Hero Infernal Prodigy", and "Elemental Hero Stratos" help draw cards like "Destiny Hero - Dasher" and "Destiny Hero - Malicious". Then, cards like "Lightning Vortex", "Destiny Draw", "Allure of Darkness" and "Hand Destruction" can get rid of Malicious and Dasher to get out Plasma and Dogma.