One week ago I told you that the level of power the Cyberdark monsters command can be surprising. Today, I’ll show you even more reasons why that’s true.

Cyberdark Horn, Cyberdark Edge, and Cyberdark Keel are difficult to destroy. When properly supported with Dragon monsters they have immense ATK values, and even when something is big enough to destroy one in battle, the Cyberdark monster sticks around. When a Cyberdark is finally sent to the graveyard, it’s got one last trick up its clockwork sleeve . . . and it’s a doozy. Check out Cyberdark Dragon, the Fusion of Cyberdark Horn, Cyberdark Edge, and Cyberdark Keel.

Cyberdark Dragon     Machine / Dark         Level 8          1000 ATK / 1000 DEF

This monster cannot be Special Summoned except by Fusion Summon. When this card is Special Summoned, select 1 Dragon-Type monster from your Graveyard and equip it to this card. This card gains ATK points equal to the equipped card's ATK points. This card gains 100 ATK points for each monster in your Graveyard. If this card would be destroyed by the results of battle, destroy the equipped monster instead.

1000 ATK might not seem like much, but there are a lot of tricks that make this card very effective. The first few revolve around how you actually bring Cyberdark Dragon into play. Though you could always use a simple Fusion card like Polymerization, that’s going to cost you a ton of cards and will be very difficult to pull off. Instead, you could use Future Fusion to pull one of each Cyberdark monster from your deck to use as Fusion materials. That way, you trade your one card (Future Fusion) for Cyberdark Dragon. In so doing, you’ll add three more monsters to your graveyard, giving the Dragon an immediate boost of 300 ATK.

Alternatively, you could play out the game for a while and wait until you had at least one of each basic Cyberdark in the graveyard. Since Cyberdark Dragon is a Dark attribute, Machine-type, it’s fully compatible with Power of the Duelist’s Overload Fusion. Just remove three Cyberdarks from your graveyard and plunk down your Dragon.

So you’ve got Cyberdark Dragon on the field. Now what? Well, it’ll immediately look for a Dragon to equip itself with from your graveyard. While Cyberdark Horn, Edge, and Keel could only harness the power of Dragon monsters Level 3 or lower, all bets are off with Cyberdark Dragon: he’ll strap on any Dragon carapace you give him. Blue-Eyes White Dragon? It’ll make Cyberdark at least a 4000 ATK beat stick. Blue Eyes Ultimate Dragon will give it 5500 base ATK, while Five-Headed Dragon will give Cyberdark 6000 ATK. That’s before the 100 ATK bonus for every monster in your graveyard.

Being more realistic, even a smaller Dragon like Spear Dragon or Luster Dragon will give Cyberdark Dragon a total ATK of at least 2900. That’s big enough to take down almost any monster that sees competitive play nowadays.

The 100 ATK bonuses can really add up, too. Remember, if you’re playing this card you’ll probably want to use Masked Dragon and Twin-Headed Behemoth to lend serious power to the smaller Cyberdark monsters, and that means you’ll accrue quite a few monsters in your graveyard. Even if you wind up attaching Masked Dragon or Twin-Headed Behemoth to Cyberdark Dragon instead of something larger, that’s 2400 or 2500 ATK, and a couple more monsters in the graveyard will push Cyberdark Dragon out of the range of Monarchs and Dark Magician of Chaos.

The Dragons aren’t the only support cards that all the Cyberdarks can benefit from, either. Cyberdark Dragon is big enough to fuel Deck Devastation Virus in a pinch, and Cyber Phoenix can keep it from being targeted by cards like Sakuretsu Armor, Enemy Controller, and Brain Control. Limiter Removal can quickly beef it up to 6000 or 7000 ATK for a single turn, giving you more than enough firepower to swing for game.   

A Cyberdark deck can be pretty darn fast, too. You can always use Magical Merchant and Card Destruction to tear through your deck. If you do, you’ll achieve two big advantages. First, you’ll discard monsters that will eventually contribute to Cyberdark Dragon’s massive ATK. More importantly, you’ll be able to work towards the cards that let you bring Cyberdark Dragon out in the first place—you’ll discard Horn, Edge, and Keel for use with Overload Fusion, while also working your way towards Overload itself. Heck, you’ll probably even discard some Dragons along the way, letting you get big Dragons into the graveyard without having to draw them.

The Cyberdark strategy is strong on both offense and defense, churning out huge ATK numbers while also maintaining field presence under the threat of repeated attacks. The deck wants to set up in the early game by getting a couple of Dragons into the graveyard, but from that point onwards Horn, Edge, and Keel can dominate the mid-game. In the late game they’re even better, as the average opponent’s best topdeck (Cyber Dragon) simply can’t beat yours. The use of Cyberdark Dragon with Overload Fusion just makes the Cyberdark deck’s late game that much better, giving you two more topdecks that can dictate the shape of the game. While some situations might call for Chimeratech Overdragon instead of Cyberdark Dragon, there’s really no reason not to run both—extra cards in your Fusion deck don’t cost you much save for Memory Crusher. The fact of the matter is that you can bring out Cyberdark Dragon with Overload Fusion at a much bigger size with far fewer monsters, meaning that it’s easier to win under variable conditions. With Banisher of the Radiance in so many side decks nowadays, the ability to subsist off minimal graveyard monsters is an asset.

Of course, if you ever feel a need to kick around some classic Zane stylings, you can always use Metamorphosis to trade your Cyberdark Dragon for Cyber Twin Dragon. You could even pay tribute to the younger of the Truesdale brothers by tributing Cyberdark Dragon to summon Super Vehicroid Jumbo Drill. Double attacking or piercing damage—it’s up to you.

Cyberdark monsters start off a bit slow, and then viciously tear into the mid-game. They get even better as the duel proceeds, and Cyberdark Dragon is their ultimate finisher. If you pull one at your Sneak Preview this weekend, expect to get all sorts of trade offers from players, collectors, and GX fans alike!