August 2006

From: Cameron Waud [mailto:cjrwaud@cogeco.ca]
Sent: Friday, July 28, 2006 9:45 PM
To: yugiohcrew@pojo.com
Subject: Gatling Bond - Cameron



Hello everyone, this is Cameron here with another interesting deck idea. Everyone who watches the T.V. Show knows that Zane Truesdale's signature card (besides Cyber End Dragon) is Power Bond. Therefor Power Bond has automatically been associated with Cyber Dragon as if the card specifically said that it could only be used with Cyber Dragons.

The cool thing about this theme support introduced in the newer booster sets isn't actually theme-specific. Look at Power Bond and Overload Fusion, both of which are used with Cyber Dragons more than anything, but neither says Cyber Dragon on their card text. Instead, they're both Machine-specific. I unveil to you, Gatling Bond.

Gatling Bond

Machine/Fusion Archetype

40 Cards



Monsters x19

Barrel Dragon x3

Blowback Dragon x3

Breaker the Magical Warrior

Cannon Soldier

Dekoichi the Battlechanted Locomotive x3

Heavy Mech Support Platform x2

Magician of Faith

Mystic Tomato x3

Sangan

The Dark - Hex-Sealed Fusion



Fusion Monsters

Gatling Dragon x3

Labyrinth Tank



Magic Cards x17

De-Fusion x2

Giant Trunade

Graceful Charity

Heavy Storm

Limiter Removal

My Body as a Shield x2

Mystical Space Typhoon

Nobleman of Crossout x2

Pot of Avarice

Power Bond x3

Premature Burial

Tribute Doll



Trap Cards x4

Call of the Haunted

Royal Decree x3

The first Fusion Monsters in this game were crap, I'll admit that. Konami realized their Fusion mechanic was going unused by higher-level duelists, so they first brought alternate ways of summoning them. Cyber-Stein, Metamorphosis, Magical Scientist, etc. One should be limited, one actually is limited, and one is banned, and the others I forget right now. The reason for these limitations is that Konami still wants us to Fusion Summon Fusion Monsters, that's why most Fusion Monsters now have the card text "This card cannot be Special Summoned except by Fusion Summon". They want true fusion to become part of the tournament scene. Look at GX, EVERY SINGLE CHARACTER USES FUSIONS!!! Zane - Cyber End/Twin, Chimeratech, Cyber Dark, etc. Jaden - Hero/Neo Space Fusions, Syrus - Vehicroid Connection Fusions, Chumley - Master of Oz, Alexis - Blade Skater...Need I go on?

The point is, Fusion will always be overlooked because of the effort and resources they take, but Konami has given us extremes to offset this. That's right, I said extremes. By that I mean, either an EXTREMELY good effect, or an EXTREMELY high attack power. Thousand-Eyes Restrict has such a good effect that even if you Fusion Summon it, it's effect evens out card advantage. Cyber Twin/End Dragon have extremely high attack power when Power Bonded, so they can win you the game before card advantage even becomes an issue. Konami has even given us cards that are card advantage efficient (Dragon's Mirror, Miracle Fusion, and we will be getting Future Fusion and Overload Fusion). Still Fusion aren't Fusion Summoned.

Sorry for the long rant, about the deck...In this deck, I use the extreme card destruction effects of Barrel/Blowback Dragon to offset the disadvantage of Fusion Summoning Gatling Dragon. And yes, that is De-Fusion in there. I know what you're thinking: you idiot, what the hell are you doing? Well, I have experimented with a Zane Character Deck using Cyber Dragon proxies, I finished off my friend with a brutal attack. The last turn looked like this: Power Bond, pitch two Cyber Dragons to summon Cyber Twin, attack twice, De-Fusion, attack with the two Cyber Dragons, Photon Generator Unit, Limiter Removal and attack with Cyber Laser Dragon. That's all 6 cards, but the opponent was dead after the first few attacks and I just kept going!

Imagine this. Your opponent goes first, sets a card to each zone and passes (the usual play). Your turn, you draw one of the pairs of Barrel/Blowback Dragon along with Power Bond and De-Fusion. You play Power Bond, bust out a 5200 ATK Gatling Dragon, attack, they activate Sakuretsu Armor or Mirror Force, you chain De-Fusion and Special Summon Barrel/Blowback Dragon to the field (in Defense Mode if Mirror Force), use their effects, Barrel Dragon possible destroys the monster, if not, Blowback might. Even if you don't attack, you're down 2 cards from your initial 6, but have 2 Tribute Monsters out which would have taken 3 cards to summon normally and many more turns. Also, the opponent is down at least 1 card, and you can still further the attack or activate the Dragons' effects. It gets worse in the late game, if the opponent has a fairly full field (say 4 monsters and 2 Spell or Traps), you Power Bond the Gatling Dragon, use its effect, destroy up to 3 monsters, attack, waste their attack stopper with De-Fusion, stop attacking, activate Blowback Dragon's effect to destroy the last face-down M/T, then Barrel Dragon's effect to kill a monster, the opponent could be down all 4 monsters and 2 M/Ts with just 2 of your cards. And you still have 2 big monsters on the field.

Fortunately, with this deck you can focus all of those destruction effects on clearing the opponent's monsters (Royal Decree will take care of the traps) for a few really good direct attacks. If you like my deck idea then drop me a line.



Send your questions, comments, etc. to cjrwaud@cogeco.ca. Please no hate mail, I'm really a nice guy once you get to know me.