July 2006
From: Josh McClary [mailto:gungriffion@hotmail.com]
Sent: Tuesday, June 27, 2006 10:51 PM
To: yugiohcrew@pojo.com
Subject: Unlikely Elemental Hero Support - Rust
Greetings Pojo readers, and salutations to Duelists
around. I go by the handle of "Rust" and I've been
dueling since the days of "Magic Ruler"
(Though I understand it's called "Spell Ruler"
nowadays), though typically as a Casual-to-Local
Tournament Scene duelist. I've seen Staples come and
go, and I'm always a bit of a stick in the mud when
it comes to convention, and have recently been going
through my collection for ideas on how to
potentially run a Elemental Hero deck based off
Elemental Hero Mariner, just
for kicks.
And in flipping through my tome of cards, I
discovered an interesting Spell card that could be a
real boon to the Elemental Hero decks.
FUSION WEAPON
Equip Spell
Soul of the Duelist Common
This card can only be equipped to a Fusion Monster
of Level 6 or less.
Increase the ATK and DEF of the equipped monster by
1500 points.
Now typically in the competative dueling scene,
Equip spells are generally frowned upon due to
monster destruction, and the all important card
advantage (Which, if you ask me is only an advantage
if you take advantage of the cards in your hand.
Sure its never good pool to drop everything on a
do-or-die approach, but caution isn't always the
better part of valor). But look at that effect
again. It gives FIFTEEN HUNDRED extra ATK and DEF
points
to a fusion monster that's Level 6 or less.
Granted not all Elemental Hero fusions are going to
be able to take advantage of this wonderful bonus,
but the mainstays can (Not to mention all
the fusions you can get out of Jaiden's Duelist
pack). What does this mean for certain Fusions?
Take the card I was originally considering building
a deck around - Elemental Hero Mariner. His effect
is okay - if you have a Spell or Trap on the field
he can attack directly. His stats, on the other
hand, are laughable at 1400/1000. Admittedly for a
Direct Attacker, that's not bad, but for a Level 5
fusion, that's a bit steep for a cost of two or
three cards (Depending on how you go about summoning
him out). Add on the fact that this particular
Elemental Hero isn't going to benefit much from
Skyscraper, and he seems like a waste. But he meets
the requirements for Fusion Weapon, and as a result
he goes from a measly 1400/1000 to a rather
impressive 2900/2500. And with Fusion Weapon, he
meets the requirements for his direct attack, and
that's gonna hurt the opponent something fierce.
Similiarly, Elemental Hero Flame Wingman gets an
attack boost to 3600 ATK, which takes his effect to
all new damaging heights. Elemental Hero Rampart
Blaster, Mariner's traditionally better choice when
it comes to direct attacks, also gets boosted to
3500 ATK.
Fusion Weapon also protects Elemental Hero monsters
from the downside of Skyscraper in that the opponent
has to contend with the monster's stats as they are
now. Indeed, Fusion Weapon makes Skyscraper almost
pointless. But of course, Fusion Weapon has its
downsides as its completely vunerable to your
typical S/T removal and the monsters themselves
vunerable to Monster destruction, but that's the
name of the game. I'm only here offering options
that could throw your opponent for a loop. After
all, the key is advantage.
Sure they can take out Fusion Weapon, but if they
do, they've eliminated removal they could have
utilized later in the duel. And if you add on cards
like Fairy of the Spring (Though I wouldn't
recommend that, particularly) they'll be seeing
Fusion Weapon again shortly. Cause if Elemental Hero
decks
do anything exceptionally well, its not staying put
when they're put in the graveyard.
If you have any questions or comments, feel free to
drop me a line at
gungriffion@hotmail.com
It's your move,
Rust
