HERO Beat

A "HERO Beat" Deck is a build inspired from what the OCG players call "Meta Beat", which is what TCG players know as a Stun Deck. It has also been called "LIGHT Gemini Beatdown".

"HERO Beat" uses several swiss-knife-like monsters alongside a basic "HERO engine" to control the field through several card effects and high-ATK-low-Level monsters.

Playing Style
The Deck was born through the interaction of "Elemental HERO Neos Alius" and "Gemini Spark". Alius has very high ATK for a Level 4 monster and is blessed with several good properties. Being a Warrior, it can be searched with "Reinforcement of the Army". It's also an Elemental HERO, so it can be searched with "Elemental HERO Stratos" and "E - Emergency Call", while it can be recycled with "Elemental HERO Ocean" and, since it's a Gemini Monster (and thus, treated as a Normal Monster while in the Graveyard), "Hero Blast". Speaking of its "Gemini" status, being a Level 4 Gemini Monster enables him to be used with "Gemini Spark". "Miracle Fusion" allows Alius to access all the powerful Fusion arsenal of the Elemental HEROes too. Finally, being a LIGHT monster, it receives benefits from "Honest". Neos Alius is probably the best supported monster in the whole game from a "competitive" stand.

Due to this, several cards that work well around Alius and are powerful on their own are included in the build. "Thunder King Rai-Oh" shares its LIGHT support and it's a terrific card on its own, stopping most of the commonly-used threats. "D.D. Warrior Lady" also shares the LIGHt and Warrior support, while being able to get rid of whatever you don't want on the field. "Cyber Dragon" provides quick muscle, the ability to swarm and access to "Chimeratech Fortress Dragon" whenever needed. "Evocator Chevalier" is used for sharing the Warrior and Gemini traits, while "Crusader of Endymion" shares its attribute instead of its type, but keeps the Gemini status.

Besides monsters sharing stats with Alius, other "Stunning" monsters are used. "Doomcaliber Knight" and "Effect Veiler" make their appearance to stop monster effects, while "Fossil Dyna Pachycephalo" stops Special Summons. All-around good cards are usual suspects as well, like "Breaker the Magical Warrior" and "Blackwing - Gale the Whirlwind", known for fitting easily in several decks and having high utility on their own.

The build also runs a heavy arsenal of defensive and disruptive Spells and Traps. Since Alius has virtually no effects (since it's effect gained via Gemini Summon is pretty much useless) and the monsters that run alongside him are either too weak to survive (like Fossil Dyna) or work by removing themselves from the field (like Rai-Oh or Doomcaliber), you need Spell/Trap support to make the Deck work. Besides the Alius-specific tricks like "Hero Blast" and "Gemini Spark", "Bottomless Trap Hole", "Dimensional Prison", "Forbidden Lance", "Shrink" and several others are commonly used in order to stop various threats. Also, as the Deck runs little to no Special Summons, "Pot of Duality" is maxed out to increase consistency. While it conflicts with Rai-Oh, it's a risk worth taking to get your needed combo pieces as fast as possible. Triple Duality paired with the searching power of Stratos, Emergency Call and "Reinforcement of the Army" as well as the draws provided by "Gemini Spark" and the recycling of "Hero Blast" make the build extremely consistent. Due those excellent searching capabilities, these kind of builds like to run a very small monster count, sometimes being as small as 8-9 monsters (with the usual being around 14).

As most of the monsters are Level 4, Xyz Monsters granted this Deck a big boost, letting them to Summon powerful monsters without resorting to Synchros. Without the need to include monsters they normally wouldn't only for the Synchro access, the Deck is now capable of unleashing powerhouses like "Gem-Knight Pearl" or control-type monsters like "Steelswarm Roach" without effort.

With the introduction of "generic" Elemental HERO Fusions, "Super Polymerization" has become a very powerful tool in any build running Elemental HEROes. Absolute Zero, Gaia, The Shining, Great Tornado, Nova Master and Escuridão give the player an option to fuse Alius (and Stratos or any other E-HERO you might be playing) with whatever their opponent can throw at them, except DIVINE monsters. Thanks to "Super Polymerization" being basically unable to be negated or countered at all, this trick allows the player to escape from virtually any pinch, granting them a powerful Fusion Monster as a bonus. Other Fusion Monsters can also be useful, like "Dragon Knight Draco-Equiste" which benefits from the Warrior lineup and steals a lot of the most powerful Synchro Monsters around.

The Deck is naturally capable of Summoning The Shining and Great Tornado thanks to Alius, Stratos and Rai-Oh, but Absolute Zero and its powerful effect made players consider WATER options. Cards like Snowman Eater and Penguin Soldier have slipped into the monster lineup of some builds, boasting very good effects and providing access to Zero. Ocean is also a good pick if you're running a bit more defenses than usual, since it can recycle Stratos for more uses and provides the WATER requirement for Zero. Alternatively, "Elemental HERO Ice Edge" can be useful too with his effect to attack your opponent directly and destroying potential Spell/Trap-based threats while providing a WATER component to the Deck.

There are other properties of the build that lets it ramify into several variants.

Gate HERO and Dimensional HERO
Some builds like to use "Fusion Gate", allowing them to fuse their monsters instantly. When using this Field Spell, "Elemental HERO Voltic" is an excellent pick since he's a good material to make The Shining and allows Special Summoning of banished Elemental HERO monsters, which you'll be banishing via "Fusion Gate". "Parallel World Fusion" also lets you fuse banished monsters, returning them to the Deck for future uses and/or searching.

Since the build rarely needs its Graveyard (besides Miracle Fusion), "Dimensional Fissure" can be used on the Deck without too many drawbacks. While you lose access to the Special Summon-negating effect of Rai-Oh, you still keep the effects of monsters like Breaker or Warrior Lady while disrupting a lot of common strategies that rely on the Graveyard. Again, "Elemental HERO Voltic" and "Parallel World Fusion" are excellent picks when using "Dimensional Fissure". Combining this Continuous Spell with "Fusion Gate" allow the player to create a Voltic-based toolbox, removing his/her HERO monsters to Summon powerful Fusions, then recycling them with Voltic so they can be fused again, all that while messing with your opponent's plans thanks to "Dimensional Fissure".

Drain HERO (Little City)
Since Alius has virtually no effects, "Skill Drain" can be used without many drawbacks. Rai-Oh doesn't prevent searching anymore (which actually benefits you, as it allows "Pot of Duality" to work with him on the field), but it still can negate troublesome Special Summons. You still keep the ability to Xyz Summmon and Fusion Summon in case you need a big monster too, and "Skill Drain" takes care of most troublesome monsters commonly played. "Honest" still works too.

In order to make up for the lack of effects, some builds like to go with raw muscle instead. "Beast King Barbaros" is THE card to play alongside Skill Drain as it can essentially be Normal Summoned with 3000 ATK. "Cyber Dragon" is unaffected by Drain at all so he can still provide quick muscle as usual. "Elemental HERO Captain Gold" can also be useful, since it's a 2100 ATK Lv4 LIGHT Warrior-type monster. It needs "Skyscraper" on the field to survive though, but that doesn't matter if "Skill Drain" is active. You can use "Skyscraper" though, as it powers-up your E-HERO monsters so they can beat basically any monster in battle, so having Captain Gold double as a searcher isn't bad at all. Since "Skyscraper" is a Field Spell, you can also run Malefic monsters. "Malefic Stardust Dragon" is good for protecting "Skyscraper, while "Malefic Cyber End Dragon" is better if you want muscle over utility. Cyber End is particularly better with "Skill Drain", as Stardust's 2500 ATK pale against Cyber End's 4000.

Debris HERO
Weakened since the September 2011 banlist, this variant is still viable. It abuses the fact that the "generic" HERO Fusions ask for an Elemental HERO plus any monster from any attribute to use "Future Fusion" as an improved "Foolish Burial" (although Foolish is still used). "Glow-Up Bulb" and "Dandylion" can be used for Gaia, "Spore" for Great Tornado, "Lonefire Blossom" allows to fuse Nova Master, while "Snowman Eater" is compatible with "Debris Dragon" and makes Absolute Zero while enabling "Gungnir, Dragon of the Ice Barrier". With The Shining being naturally Summoned thanks to Alius, "Blackwing - Zephyrus the Elite" completes the suite by adding Escuridão to the possible "Future Fusion" targets. Of course, the "Plant engine" is useful on its own, and all of their components make excellent "Miracle Fusion" targets once they're in the Graveyard, while sending Alius to the Graveyard enables "Hero Blast" instantly.

There's a particular combo with this build that allows the player to swarm the field with Synchro and Fusion monsters by activating "Future Fusion" several times in a single turn thanks to "Brionac, Dragon of the Ice Barrier" and drawing many cards thanks to "T.G. Hyper Librarian". It requires a certain degree of luck, as you're required to not drawing any of the cards you need to send to the Graveyard with "Future Fusion" (as well as having "Future Fusion", a limited card, on the first place), but it's extremely powerful once performed and it can even lead into an OTK.

Monster Cards

 * Elemental HERO Stratos
 * Elemental HERO Neos Alius
 * Thunder King Rai-Oh
 * D.D. Warrior Lady
 * Cyber Dragon
 * Doomcaliber Knight
 * Breaker the Magical Warrior
 * Effect Veiler
 * Blackwing - Gale the Whirlwind
 * Fossil Dyna Pachycephalo
 * Neo-Spacian Grand Mole
 * Elemental HERO Ocean
 * Elemental HERO Ice Edge
 * Snowman Eater
 * Penguin Soldier
 * Evocator Chevalier
 * Crusader of Endymion
 * Beast King Barbaros (if using Skill Drain)
 * Elemental HERO Voltic (if using Dimensional Fissure and/or Fusion Gate)
 * Elemental HERO Captain Gold (if using Skyscraper and/or Skill Drain)
 * Malefic Stardust Dragon (if using any Field Spell)
 * Malefic Cyber End Dragon (if using Field Spells and/or Skill Drain)
 * Blackwing - Zephyrus the Elite (if using Future Fusion)
 * The "Plant Engine" (if using Future Fusion)
 * Debris Dragon
 * Lonefire Blossom
 * Spore
 * Dandylion
 * Glow-Up Bulb

Spell Cards

 * Reinforcement of the Army
 * E - Emergency Call
 * Gemini Spark
 * Smashing Ground
 * Forbidden Chalice
 * Forbidden Lance
 * Shrink
 * Pot of Duality
 * Super Polymerization
 * Future Fusion
 * Miracle Fusion
 * Dimensional Fissure
 * Fusion Gate
 * Parallel World Fusion (if using Dimensional Fissure)
 * Skyscraper (if using Skill Drain)
 * Skyscraper 2 - Hero City (if using Ocean)
 * One for One (if using the Plant engine)
 * Foolish Burial (if using the Plant engine and/or Zephyrus)

Trap Cards

 * Hero Blast
 * Bottomless Trap Hole
 * Dimensional Prison
 * Compulsory Evacuation Device
 * Solemn Warning
 * Trap Dustshoot
 * Mind Crush
 * Starlight Road
 * Skill Drain
 * Call of the Haunted

Extra Deck

 * Elemental HERO Absolute Zero
 * Elemental HERO Gaia
 * Elemental HERO The Shining
 * Elemental HERO Great Tornado
 * Elemental HERO Nova Master
 * Elemental HERO Escuridão
 * Dragon Knight Draco-Equiste
 * Chimeratech Fortress Dragon
 * Cyber End Dragon (if using Malefic Cyber End Dragon)
 * Trishula, Dragon of the Ice Barrier (if using Debris Dragon or Lv 1 Tuner Monsters)
 * Scrap Dragon (if using Debris Dragon)
 * Gungnir, Dragon of the Ice Barrier (if using Debris + Snowman)
 * Brionac, Dragon of the Ice Barrier
 * T.G. Hyper Librarian (if using the Future Fusion combo)
 * Stardust Dragon (if using Starlight Road, Malefic Stardust and/or Tuner Monsters)
 * Ally of Justice Catastor (if using Effect Veiler)
 * Blackwing Armor Master (if using Gale the Whirlwind)
 * Black Rose Dragon (if using any Lv3 Tuner)
 * Gem-Knight Pearl
 * Number 39: Utopia
 * Steelswarm Roach
 * Kachi Kochi Dragon
 * Evigishki Merrowgeist

Weaknesses
The weaknesses of each particular variant depend on the variant itself. For example, the Synchro-based one is reliant on the Graveyard, while a typical one doesn't really need it and a Dimensional one doesn't even have cards in the Graveyard. Nonetheless, there are several traits that can be traced to each one of the builds.

The first of them is that they run less monsters than the usual, with some builds having an abnormally low monster count. Thus, limiting their Summoning abilities and/or taking down their monsters as soon as they appear is a good strategy. "Summon Limit", "Rivalry of Warlords" and "Gozen Match" work against the variants which swarm the field. Against the slower builds that perform one or two Summons per turn, cards like "Bottomless Trap Hole" and even the classic "Trap Hole" are enough to stop them on their tracks.

Another particular trait is the heavy reliance on Spell and Trap Cards, so limiting their use and/or destroying them is very useful. "Trap Stun", "Mystical Space Typhoon", "Dust Tornado", "Seven Tools of the Bandit", "Magic Drain" and several others are very useful against these Decks. "Heavy Storm", "Malevolent Catastrophe" and (to some extent) "Fairy Wind" are useful too, but these builds tend to run "Starlight Road" to prevent mass destruction, so be careful of them. "Eradicator Epidemic Virus" is particularly useful, as it clears completely Spells or Traps for 3 whole turns.

These builds also rely heavily on searching, so cards like "Trap Dustshoot", "Drastic Drop Off" and "Mind Crush" usually shatter their plans. They're especially disrupting on these builds, as they run very few monsters. If you take the only one on their hand, they could be without any monster for several turns.

Another good idea against these builds, as odd as it sounds, is to bring out something they can't take down. Monsters with extremely high ATK, protection effects and/or effects that trigger when dealt with like "Red Nova Dragon" or "Machina Fortress" are very tough to deal with for these Decks, since you force them to wait until they can bring out a Fusion/Synchro/Xyz Monster strong enough to deal with the threat. Even a well-timed "Cyber Dragon" is extremely hard to deal with for these Decks. As long as it has more ATK than Alius/Rai-Oh, it's a difficult wall.

On the other side of the picture, monsters with very high DEF are equally as hard to take down. "Snowman Eater" in particular is a nightmare, as it has the same DEF as Alius' ATK AND it destroys it in the Damage Step, right when Gemini Spark can't be chained. "Gravekeeper's Spy" (and any Gravekeeper as long as "Necrovalley" is active) can be also a tough wall to surpass.