Let’s start off with Decoyroid. While I agree that its stats are nothing to write home about (ATK 300/DEF 500), its ability to draw fire and protect your other monsters is very interesting. I agree that having a puny monster to draw your opponent’s attacks can probably be hazardous to your life points, but there are ways to help minimize that risk. By having the continuous trap card Spirit Barrier active, any damage you would take from battle is reduced to 0, as long as you have a monster on your side of the field. Now, if you are using Decoyroid, you should only have it in play to protect something else, so when your opponent is forced to attack Decoyroid, whatever monster you are protecting will be safe . . . as will your life points when Spirit Barrier kicks in with its effect. You can really lock up your opponent’s attacks if you have Rescueroid and Ambulanceroid on the field as well. The funny thing (at least funny for you, not for your opponent) is that once Decoyroid is hit by one of your opponent’s angry monsters (don’t forget that you’re not taking damage due to Spirit Barrier) and is destroyed and sent to the graveyard, Rescueroid’s ability will trigger and fetch you that Decoyroid that was just destroyed right back to your hand. At which point Ambulanceroid’s ability will trigger also, and let you special summon your Decoyroid back into the battle (and therefore use its continuous effect to again protect your other monsters). Please note that this is all happening within the same battle phase. If your opponent has multiple monsters to attack you with, they will be hitting the same Decoyroid again and again, which will most likely cause your opponent to rethink his or her strategy.

In order to get our army of ‘roid monsters out onto the field as quickly as possible, we can use traps like Ultimate Offering to give us more of those extra normal summons we are usually not entitled to. You also don’t have to bring out all of the ‘roids at once with this trap. Since the effect of an already active Ultimate Offering can be used on the opponent’s battle phase as well, you can wait until they declare an attack, and then normal summon as many ‘roids as you wish (provided you have enough life points of course). Don’t forget that this will trigger a replay. If you have brought out a Decoyroid that wasn’t there before, your opponent will have no choice but to attack it.

The ‘roids also have specialized tricks that allow them to come on to the field as quickly as possible. The trap card Wonder Garage is terrific bait for your opponent’s Mystical Space Typhoon, Heavy Storm, or Breaker the Magical Warrior. If it is destroyed face down, you can special summon a level 4 or lower Machine type ‘roid monster from your hand. You could also destroy Wonder Garage yourself with your own Heavy Storm and not only clear the back field, but establish some board presence by bringing out those ‘roids in your hand for free.

You can also capitalize on the special summoning benefits of cards like Wonder Garage and Ambulanceroid by playing the trap card Cyber Summon Blaster. If you special summon a ‘roid due to the effects of those cards, you’ll get to cause 300 points of burn damage for each Machine you special summoned. While that doesn’t seem like a whole lot, it adds up after a while, and is a good way to put some pressure on your opponent. The Blaster can be very deadly in the situation I mentioned at the beginning of this article. When your opponent is hitting your Decoyroid and destroying it, but it keeps returning to the field due to Rescueroid’s and Ambulanceroid’s effects, that burn damage won’t seem so inconsequential.

Now, since you will be depleting your hand quite quickly by special summoning (or normal summoning multiple times via Ultimate Offering) those ‘roids, you might find yourself lacking options and resources as the duel goes on. That’s where the trap Supercharge comes in handy. Since your ‘roids are going to be under attack anyway, you might as well take advantage of that fact, activate Supercharge, and draw two cards. Please note that you cannot activate Supercharge if you have a monster that is not a Machine type ‘roid monster on your side of the field (like Sangan or Spirit Reaper). Aside from that one restriction, go ahead and use Supercharge whenever your ‘roids are being attacked. Your opponent may even stop attacking when you have ‘roids out, lest you draw cards from that suspicious set trap you have down.

No article about ‘roids would be complete without mentioning the menace that is Super Vehicroid Jumbo Drill. It’s big, it’s bad, and its ATK is 3000. Plus, it has that piercing effect when it attacks puny defense position monsters. Since it’s a level 8 monster, you might as well put it in your fusion deck if you are running Metamorphosis and Dark Magician of Chaos. Most opponents will expect to see Dark Magician of Chaos morph into Cyber End Dragon or Gatling Dragon; imagine their surprise when you drop this 3000 ATK monstrosity on them; you know their Sheep tokens will be quivering in fear.

Thanks again for reading, and please feel free to email me at baldnbeautifuljudge@yahoo.com if you have any comments or questions. As always, please check back at Metagame.com for the latest in tips, tricks and deck ideas.