Dragunity

"Dragunity" (ドラグニティ－ Doragunitï) is an archetype released in the Duel Terminal. The term "Dragunity" is a portmanteau of the words Dragon and Unity. Their effects mainly revolve around equipping any Level 3 or lower Dragon-Type monsters in your Graveyard to your Winged Beast-Type monsters in play (in the sense of the Dragon-Types transforming into weapons, or the Winged-Beast "Dragunity" monsters "uniting" with their Dragon "steeds" as "Dragunity Knights"). Because of their heavy focus on sending monsters to the Spell & Trap Card Zones, the "Dragunity" archetype is often compared to the "Crystal Beast" and "Cyberdark" archetypes. They also utilize powerful Dragon-Type Synchro Monsters, although they require Dragon-Type Tuner monsters as well as Winged Beast-Type non-Tuners.

All of the "Dragunity" monsters that have been released so far are WIND monsters, so "Flying Kamakiri 1" and "Gozen Match" can be useful along with some other WIND support cards; and because many of them are Winged Beast-Type monsters, the Deck can run "Icarus Attack". The Dragon-Type monsters in this archetype so far all have armor which either covers most of their body ("Dragunity Phalanx"), or they have a piece of armor that resembles, and is named after, a weapon (i.e. "Dragunity Darkspear"). By contrast, the Winged Beast-Type monsters seem to be named after historical warriors (Ex. - "Dragunity Legionnaire" is named after the common solider in the Roman army). Their archetype symbol is the green emerald for the Dragon-Type monsters, and for the Winged Beast-Type monsters is the green emerald surrounded by a gold outline of wings.

As with the "Blackwing" archetype, there is a heavy distinction between the Tuner monsters and the non-Tuner monsters in terms of appearance. Similar to "Blackwings", the non-Tuner monsters are all humanoids in bird costumes while the Tuner monsters are all small armored dragons (whereas the "Blackwing" Tuner monsters are all small birds).

Playing style
The main purpose of "Dragunity" decks is to have versatile and easy Synchro Summons. "Dragunity Phalanx" is the key card here - it's a level 2 Tuner monster that Special Summons when it is equipped to a monster. Thanks to the effects of "Dragunity Dux" and "Dragunity Legionnaire", you can easily summon Level 5 or 6 Synchro Monsters - however, if you decide to Synchro Summon "Dragunity Knight - Vajrayana" with "Dux" and "Phalanx", you can use one of the deck's most powerful combos. "Vajrayana" is a Level 6 monster that can also equip a Level 3 or lower Dragon-Type "Dragunity" monster from the Graveyard. Because the "Once per turn" effect of "Phalanx" resets when it is sent to the Graveyard, if you equip "Phalanx" it can Special Summon itself again and you can Synchro Summon a Level 8 Synchro Monster - effectively turning one card in your hand into a Level 8 monster from your Extra Deck (typically "Stardust Dragon"). You can also equip "Aklys" to "Vajrayana" so when you send "Aklys" to the Graveyard to double "Vajrayana" ATK you can destroy 1 card on the field. Another fast combo to Synchro Summon Level 8 Synchro Monsters is to use the Level 6 "Dragunity Arma Mystletainn". Its effect lets you Special Summon it by Tributing a Dragunity Monster, and then it equips a Dragon-Type "Dragunity" monster from the Graveyard. Equipping "Phalanx" and then Special Summoning will allow you to Synchro Summon a Level 8 Synchro Monster.

This combo only requires "Dux" in your hand and "Phalanx" in your Graveyard, and it is incredibly simple to set up with the help of "Dragon Ravine". With it, once per turn, you can discard a card to either add a "Dragunity" monster from your Deck to your hand or send any Dragon-Type monster from your Deck to the Graveyard - essentially turning any card in your hand into either a Dragunity version of "Reinforcement of the Army" or "Foolish Burial", which makes combos easy. Another move is to play "Pilum", which Summons a "Dragunity" Winged Beast. By Summoning "Militum" with this effect, "Militum" can Summon back "Pilum" and Synchro for "Trident" or another Level 7 Synchro Monster.

However, the "Dragunity" monsters have many alternate strategies. Even without Synchro Monsters, the archetype can hold its own in battle: "Dragunity Legionnaire" takes out tough monsters with its effect - you can send an equipped Dragon-Type monster to the graveyard to destroy one of your opponent's face-up monsters. This is especially useful with "Dragunity Aklys", as when it is equipped and sent to the Graveyard, one card on the field is destroyed. This effect is not applied when the equipped card is sent to graveyard while the monster this card was equipped is also sent to the graveyard, because in order to activate the effect of "Dragunity Aklys", this card has to be sent to the graveyard while the monster this card is equipped to is still on the field. One of the main "Dragunity" combos is to Normal Summon "Legionnaire", equip "Aklys", and send it to the Graveyard to destroy one your opponent's Face-up monsters and another one of his/her cards, in a devastating one-two punch that costs you nothing. This also works with the second effect of "Dragunity Knight - Vajrayana", which can send a card equipped to itself to the Graveyard to double its own ATK until the end of the turn. If you equip and then send "Aklys" to the Graveyard, you will end up with a 3800 ATK monster that turn while destroying one of your opponent's cards, allowing for big finishes.

With the release of "Hieratic Dragon King of Atum" in Galactic Overlord, this deck's capable of alternate method of swarming, combined with "Red-Eyes Darkness Metal Dragon" for reusing your "Dragunity Arma Mystletainn" and "Dragunity Knight - Vajrayana for Rank 6 Xyz Summons, or just reviving your fallen Dragons for another beating round. This, in turn, will give you stronger field presence.

Classic Dragunity
This build focusing on the classic Dux-Phalanx-Vajrayana combo for swarming the Field with Level 6 or 8 Synchro Monsters.

Monsters

 * Dragunity Phalanx
 * Dragunity Aklys
 * Dragunity Legionnaire
 * Dragunity Dux
 * Blackwing - Zephyros the Elite
 * Dragunity Corsesca
 * Dragunity Brandistock

Spells

 * Dragon Ravine
 * Terraforming
 * Super Rejuvenation
 * Pot of Avarice
 * Foolish Burial
 * Quill Pen of Gulldos
 * One for One

Traps

 * Urgent Tuning

Extra Deck

 * Dragunity Knight - Vajrayana
 * Dragunity Knight - Gae Dearg
 * Stardust Dragon
 * Thought Ruler Archfiend
 * Red Dragon Archfiend
 * Scrap Dragon
 * Ally of Justice Catastor
 * Daigusto Phoenix
 * Black-Winged Dragon

One for One
The use of this card is to send one card that should be in your graveyard for later effect use and at the same time special summon 1 level 1 monster such as a "Dragunity Brandistock" or "Dragunity Corsesca" which are both dragon and tuner types. The tuners come in handy for summoning a Dragunity Knight. Even if you have no need for this card, it can be used as a trubute for "Dragon Ravine".

Leyvaten Rider
You can make a loop with 2 "Dragunity Arma Leyvaten" and "Light and Darkness Dragon". When you Summon a "Dragunity Arma Leyvaten", equip "Light and Darkness Dragon" to it. Whenever it or "Light and Darkness Dragon" is destroyed, your field will be destroyed by the effect of "Light and Darkness Dragon". Then, use "Light and Darkness Dragon's" other effect to Special Summon the other "Leyvaten" from your Graveyard, re-equip "Light and Darkness Dragon" to it and repeat. The only weakness in this loop is cards that can remove the two monsters from play, or send them back to the hand or deck.

Note: Due to the wording on "Light and Darkness Dragon"'s third effect, if a "Dragunity Arma Leyvaten" isn't in the graveyard when it goes, you can't Summon it back on the field because the field didn't get cleared before you picked the monster to Summon back. One way to counter this is to have a second Leyvaten in your Graveyard ready to take its place.

Monsters

 * Light and Darkness Dragon
 * Dragunity Arma Leyvaten
 * Dragunity Phalanx
 * Dragunity Aklys
 * Dragunity Legionnaire
 * Dragunity Dux
 * Dragunity Arma Mystletainn

Spells

 * Dragon Ravine
 * Terraforming
 * Cards of Consonance
 * Trade-In
 * Pot of Avarice

Traps

 * Royal Decree

Extra Deck

 * Dragunity Knight - Vajrayana
 * Trident Dragion

Atum Dragunity
This build utilize "Hieratic Dragon King of Atum" as additional method for swarming the Field, combined with "Red-Eyes Darkness Metal Dragon" for reviving any of your Dragons you need. What makes this build different from its classic counterpart is the added ability for Rank 6 Xyz Summon, but still retaining the ability of Synchro Summoning Level 8 monsters.

Monsters

 * Dragunity Arma Mystletainn
 * Dragunity Dux
 * Dragunity Phalanx
 * Dragunity Legionnaire
 * Dragunity Aklys
 * Red-Eyes Darkness Metal Dragon
 * Hieratic Dragon of Tefnuit
 * Wattaildragon
 * Blackwing - Zephyros the Elite

Spells

 * Dragon Ravine
 * Terraforming
 * Foolish Burial
 * Hieratic Seal of Convocation

Extra Deck

 * Dragunity Knight - Vajrayana
 * Dragunity Knight - Gae Dearg
 * Hieratic Dragon King of Atum
 * Gaia Dragon, the Thunder Charger
 * Photon Strike Bounzer
 * Inzektor Exa-Beetle
 * Constellar Ptolemy M7
 * Sword Breaker
 * Black-Winged Dragon

Support Cards

 * "Malefic Stardust Dragon" : Another Level 8 monster for Synchro Summoning "Trident Dragion". It can also protect your "Dragon Ravine" from any destruction effects.


 * "Cards of Consonance": This card can be very good in a "Dragunity" deck. It's a 2 for that sets up your combos. However, the strongest "Dragunity" decks don't use a lot of targets for this card and aren't as likely to actually draw them as in Dragon Draw Exodia, so "Cards of Consonance" isn't as useful as it is in other decks.


 * "Icarus Attack": While potentially useful, "Icarus Attack" is usually less than effective since in most cases you will be Synchro Summoning, not destroying cards with "Legionnaire".


 * "Pot of Avarice": This deck sends monsters to the Graveyard very quickly thanks to its Synchro Summons, discards from "Cards of Consonance" and "Dragon Ravine", and plain destruction by battle. "Pot of Avarice" rewards the filling of the graveyard with two new cards, as well as a chance to get another use out of used "Duxes", "Darkspears" and/or "Legionnaires".


 * "Terraforming": This card is the easiest way to search out "Dragon Ravine", so running two or three is recommended. This card can also serves as discard fodder for "Dragon Ravine"'s effect, so it will never be dead draw.


 * "T.G. Hyper Librarian: "Dragunity" decks can easily Synchro Summon level 5 Synchro Monsters with "Dragunity Legionnaire". Afterwards, you can do the standard double Synchro Summon with "Dux" and "Vajrayana", and you will draw two cards.


 * "Photon Strike Bounzer: Due to the frequent level 6 Synchro Summoning, Dragunity players can Xyz Summon this card by overlaying "Dragunity Knight - Vajrayana", "Dragunity Arma Mystletainn" or "Dragunity Knight - Gae Dearg".


 * "Blackwing - Zephyros the Elite": Although it's not a "Dragunity" monster, it is useful for "Dragunity" because you can return a "Legionnaire" to your hand after using its effect and Special Summon "Zephyros" or return a "Dux" to your hand after Special Summoning "Phalanx" and still get to Synchro Summon "Vajrayana" since "Zephyros" is a Winged Beast-Type monster.


 * "Foolish Burial": Sending "Zephyros", "Aklys", and "Phalanx" to your Graveyard to set up combos.


 * "Genex Ally Birdman": Help return a used up "Dragunity Legionnaire" or a "Dragunity Dux" that has its effect negated by "Effect Veiler" also leads to level 7 synchros with "Dragunity Dux " and level 6 synchros with "Dragunity Legionnaire".


 * "Royal Decree": Protects Dragunity monsters from Traps.

Weaknesses
Dragunity decks are aggresive and consistent, but they are also the archetype considered by many of having numerous weaknesses. One, is their signature Field Spell "Dragon Ravine", which is the core of most Dragunity decks. "Mystical Space Typhoon" can be chained to "Dragon Ravine's" effect, which means nullifying their main search power and gave themselves -1 advantage due to the cost already paid. Two, is their reliance on Normal Summoning "Dragunity Dux" for starting the offensive stance, which makes "Effect Veiler", "Bottomless Trap Hole", "Torrential Tribute" and "Solemn Warning" troublesome for any Dragunity players (even worse when Effect Veiler is Chained to Hieratic Dragon King of Atum's effect). However, "Dragunity Arma Mystletainn" can still mitigate Effect Veiler's threat. Three, is their reliance on the Graveyard for placing "Dragunity Phalanx" necessary for their combo, which means "D.D. Crow", "Crevice Into the Different Dimension" and "Chain Disappearance" can be reliable counters against Dragunity decks. Four, is their additional reliance on "Dragunity" card effects involving using other "Dragunities" as Equip Spells, made possible to be interdicted by cards such as "Dark Highlander", "Eternal Rest", "Really Eternal Rest", "Disarmament" and "Armor Break". "Dark Highlander" is in fact the perfect mis-match against "Dragunities" because it can both reprove Equip Spell use and veto Synchro Summoning, the two biggest strategies of most "Dragunity" Decks.

Despite the numerous disadvantages "Dragunity" users face, "Dragunity" Decks also have ways of dealing with these cards. "Debunk" (which is even a good Main Deck card in this current format due to the common use of "Maxx "C", "Gorz the Emissary of Darkness", and "Effect Veiler", especially since the resurgence of Wind-Up decks) stops the aforementioned cards, while "Imperial Iron Wall" completely annihilate any and all banishing attempts. "Malefic Stardust Dragon" (or even "Card Guard") becomes more important in this Deck, due to its easy-to-Summon nature, also adding a layer of defense on your "Dragon Ravine", which is a good thing for your future plays.