Summer vacation is coming to an end for the students at Duel Academy. They battled hard to protect the school’s Sacred Beast cards from falling into the hands of the Shadow Riders and defeated the one responsible for the plot. Jaden even faced one of his strongest opponents, Zane Truesdale, in a graduation ceremony match that won’t be forgotten.

Things continue to change at Duel Academy, and the students must change with them. Power of the Duelist, and Enemy of Justice before it, gave us a preview of the changes we can expect to see. We’ve seen new additions for Jaden, Zane, and even some of Alexis’ cards. Power of the Duelist has even more in store for us, giving cards that let Zane’s little brother Syrus beef up his own “Vehicroid” Deck we saw him using during his first year at Duel Academy.

Syrus’ new cards give his deck strategies he didn’t have before. He has three monsters in particular that work together to form quite a team, and one Fusion Monster that can become very powerful when you use the right card. This week, we examine his newest effect monsters.

Our first card, Submarineroid, is versatile for any deck. It says:

“This card can attack your opponent directly. When it does, any Battle Damage this card inflicts to your opponent becomes the original ATK of this card. You can change this card to Defense Position at the end of the Damage Step.”

Submarineroid has a limitation applied to its ability to attack directly that prevents its controller from using card effects to modify its ATK and inflict more damage. No matter how high you make its ATK, the battle damage it inflicts from this direct attack will always modify to be equal to its original ATK.

Fortunately, this is only true if you use Submarineroid’s ability to attack directly past your opponent’s monsters. If you manage to clear them off the field, you won’t need to use Submarineroid’s ability and thus will not have to deal with the penalty.

Unlike other monsters with a similar ability, Submarineroid actually lets you shift it into defense position at the end of the damage step. Submarineroid is stronger on the defense, so this ability is a great blessing. Naturally this will require actually getting to the damage step, so if your opponent stops your attack cold with Magic Cylinder you can pretty much forget about turning Submarineroid to defense position.

Next we have Rescueroid, which says:

“While this card is face-up on your side of the field, when a “roid” monster on your side of the field is destroyed by battle and sent to the Graveyard, you can return that monster to the hand.”

Rescueroid gives your ’roid monsters a second chance. With the right amount of misdirection, you can keep your ’roid monsters coming back for more. At the end of a damage step in which you send your ’roid monster that was destroyed in battle to the graveyard, Rescueroid’s effect can be used to return that destroyed ’roid monster back to your hand.

This effect can only be used while Rescueroid remains face up on your side of the field. If Rescueroid itself is destroyed in battle, it will send itself to the graveyard and thus not be face up on your side of the field. Rescueroid just isn’t meant to rescue itself. Also, if a card like Macro Cosmos sends your destroyed ’roid monster out of play instead of going to the graveyard, Rescueroid is out of luck.

Next we have Ambulanceroid. Its effect says:

“When a “roid” monster is added from your Graveyard to your hand, you can Special Summon that monster.”

Rescueroid is one way you can satisfy Ambulanceroid’s effect. These two cards can work together as a team, with one recovering the ’roid destroyed in battle and the other special summoning it. This entire process takes place during the damage step, so any ’roid monster you special summon will be safe from cards like Torrential Tribute.

Rescueroid isn’t the only way to get your ’roid monster back into your hand. You can use the card Monster Reincarnation to accomplish the same trick. When you resolve Monster Reincarnation, you take the targeted card from your graveyard and place it into your hand. This satisfies Ambulanceroid, allowing you to begin a new chain with its effect. It can be an amusing way of swarming ’roids onto your field. When you activate Monster Reincarnation, you are required to discard one card from your hand to pay its cost. You then select a target from your graveyard and allow your opponent a fair chance to respond. Due to the way this is ordered, you can actually discard a monster card for the cost and then target that very same monster card for the effect. In most cases it’s a waste of resources, but with the right cards you can achieve something interesting.

Ambulanceroid is just the card to help Monster Reincarnation learn a new trick. With it, you can get around that annoying tribute UFOroid requires and simply use the combination of Ambulanceroid and Monster Reincarnation to get it into play. This will help UFOroid become the Machine deck’s best friend, as it really could have been.*

Our final card for today is Decoyroid. It says:

“While this card is face-up on your side of the field, your opponent cannot select a face-up monster as an attack target except “Decoyroid”.”

With Decoyroid around, your other face-up monsters are safe from attack. While it will prevent your other face-up monsters from being attacked, it won’t do anything to protect your face-down monsters. They will still be valid targets. Decoyroid may seem like Marauding Captain, but it does have one difference. Multiple Decoyroid monsters don’t protect each other. Each one remains a valid target for your opponent to attack, including any face-down monsters you may have.

When Rescueroid, Ambulanceroid and Decoyroid come together, something interesting happens. The effect of each monster serves a purpose on its own, but together they create a cycle that can become quite irritating for your opponent, forcing him or her to use a card effect to escape it. Keep in mind that this process requires all three monsters to be face up on your side of the field.

It all starts with Decoyroid. With all three monsters face up, Decoyroid is the only valid target for your opponent’s attacks. Assuming he or she attacks it with a stronger monster, it is destroyed and sent to your graveyard. Then Rescueroid triggers, allowing you to return the destroyed Decoyroid to your hand . . . which triggers Ambulanceroid. Its effect special summons the rescued ’roid (Decoyroid in this case), and special summons it onto your side of the field.

Now your opponent is in the exact same situation he or she was in before. Decoyroid is back and ready to take on any attackers. Even if they prevail, the combination of Rescueroid and Ambulanceroid will make certain it returns again. To make matters worse, Decoyroid can be special summoned into defense position so you won’t take any damage.

Naturally this combination isn’t without threats. If your opponent can get his or her hands on a card effect and use it to remove any of the three monsters from your side of the field, your cycle of protection will unravel. Naturally, there is also the threat from cards like Banisher of the Radiance and Macro Cosmos, because they will keep Decoyroid from hitting the graveyard. But with the right protection, this combination can be a lot of fun and really annoy your opponent.

Until next time, send all comments and questions to Curtis@Metagame.com

*Those 6 stars make me cry.