Too Tutu for You?

Cyber Tutu is the first monster we’ll check out, and it’s one of the cards that nicely embodies Alexis’s subtle dueling style. A Warrior-type monster with the Earth attribute, it’s level 3 and has 1000 ATK and 800 DEF, making it incredibly easy to pluck out of your deck with search effects. Reinforcement of the Army and Sangan can bring it to your hand, and Giant Rat can special summon it to the field. You can even pull it with Warrior Lady of the Wasteland. But the coolest part is its effect: If the ATK of each of your opponent’s monsters is higher than this card’s ATK, Cyber Tutu can attack directly.

Cyber Tutu is the opposite of Etoile Cyber, dodging past the opponent’s monsters when it attacks instead of hiding when it’s on the defensive. At first glance, this might not look like much. When you’re overwhelmed by an opponent, you might be able to deal a 1000 damage coup de grace and finish off him or her, but that’s pretty conditional. Luckily, there are lots of neat tricks that make Cyber Tutu into a force to be reckoned with.

The important thing about this card is its level. Clocking in well below level 4, it can attack under Level Limit – Area B, Gravity Bind, and Messenger of Peace. Unless the opponent has a weenie like Magician of Faith or Magical Merchant, Cyber Tutu will swing directly, and that damage adds up quickly. It benefits from the same support that burn duelists use to power Stealth Bird, with a few key differences.

The first is a slight drawback. While Sakuretsu Armor can’t destroy Stealth Bird since it never attacks, it can shut down your Cyber Tutu. However, in return, you get a source of damage that can’t be negated by cards like Des Wombat or Ring of Defense: the Tutu dishes out battle damage instead of effect damage. In addition, it’s important to remember that Cyber Tutu is infinitely easy to dig for when you need it. Sangan and Mystic Tomato can fetch Stealth Bird, but there are many more ways to reliably access Tutu.

There are some great support cards for the tiny dancer, too. Packing three copies of Fissure can ensure that when Spirit Reaper or Mystic Swordsman LV2 does pop up on the opponent’s side of the table, you’ll be ready to take it down and continue attacking directly. You can use Rush Recklessly to achieve a similar end, pumping up the opponent’s small monsters to clear the way for Tutu, or adding to its ATK value when it’s confronted with monsters that have 1800 ATK or more.

One interesting way to employ Tutu’s unique ability is to side deck it for the second game when you’re running a burn deck. Play defensively without attacking in game 1, and when your opponent sides out Sakuretsu Armor and other similar cards, rotate in your three copies of Cyber Tutu. They’ll be able to attack under the opponent’s monsters without the fear of being destroyed in return. Tricky, tricky Tutu!

It’s a Bird! It’s a Plane! It’s Tribe-Infecting Virus with a Pony Tail!

As fun as Cyber Tutu can be, this monster could give it a righteous stomping in two seconds flat. In fact, Cyber Gymnast can wreck basically anything short of Chaos Command Magician, and it really harkens back to the days of Tribe-Infecting Virus. Another Earth/Warrior monster, the Gymnast is level 4, and it has 800 ATK and 1800 DEF. Once per turn, you can discard one card from your hand to destroy one of your opponent’s face-up attack position monsters.

Like its taffeta-clad pal, Cyber Gymnast is easily searched from the deck. That’s where the comparison ends, though, because the Gymnast’s stats immediately set it apart from most monsters that see play nowadays. A monster with 1800 DEF is extremely good, and very few monsters will be able to best the Gymnast in battle, provided it’s in the right position. Its low ATK value lets it leap right over Trap Hole and Bottomless Trap Hole, and since you probably won’t be attacking with it, it’ll be safe from Sakuretsu Armor. Nothing short of Smashing Ground or Torrential Tribute is going to bring this Gymnast down.

And boy, is that a good thing! The Gymnast’s effect lets you snipe one monster every turn, and its ability to stick around on the field is going to make life really hard on the average opponent. It’s really great in a Warrior Rush deck, because it can easily clear the field for your horde of smaller monsters to attack. It’ll allow you to save monster removal cards for emergency situations, and it gives you something to do with cards you might not have an immediate use for. The Gymnast converts low-utility cards into field control, and that’s a valuable ability to have at your disposal.

Since the Gymnast slides into a Warrior deck so naturally, it’s important to recognize its synergy with Divine Sword – Phoenix Blade. Normally, if you discard a card for the Gymnast’s effect, you’ll be gaining field presence, but you’ll be making an even trade as far as card presence is concerned—your discard for their monster. That’s good, but Divine Sword makes it an even better deal. The ability to discard the Blade and then return it to your hand with its effect means that you can use Cyber Gymnast to generate raw card advantage, and if you can do that a couple of times in a duel, you’ll have a good edge over the average opponent.

In fact, if you’re playing a Phoenix Blade Return deck, you can use Cyber Gymnast to discard monsters, too, in order to load your removed from play zone by using the Blade. It’s a subtle option, but it’s definitely a nice one to have.

Similarly, you can also discard Light monsters to use with Freed the Brave Wanderer’s effect. Together, Freed and Cyber Gymnast can create a really imposing scenario in which your opponent will often be unwilling to summon a monster face up for fear of losing it. Being able to destroy two monsters each turn can give you huge control over the momentum of a duel, and it’ll easily lead to wins. It’s especially sweet when you’re running Thunder Dragon. Draw a Dragon, discard it to search your deck for two more, and you’ve got two uses of Cyber Gymnast’s effect for the price of one. Once you discard a total of just two Dragons, you’ll have enough Light monsters in your graveyard for one free use of Freed’s effect. I smell a deck idea!

Treeborn Frog also makes for great discard fodder, giving you a free use of the Gymnast’s effect and bringing itself to the field without making you spend a normal summon. The Frog is really hot right now, and Cyber Gymnast is going to fit well into control decks that aim to get the most out of it.

You can even use Marauding Captain to special summon the Gymnast from your hand and then activate Inferno Reckless Summon, from Chazz’s Duelist Pack, in order to special summon two more, thanks to their low ATK values. You can use each Gymnast’s effect once per turn, so multiple copies can blow away an entire field of monsters.

That’s it for today’s glimpse into Enemy of Justice, but these are just two of several cool Alexis-themed cards that the set has to offer. While I like Cyber Tutu and love the potential play value of Cyber Gymnast, some of Alexis’s new cards are even better. Enemy of Justice Sneak Previews kick off on May 13, so you’d better start making your plans to attend the Sneak Preview event near you!

—Jason Grabher-Meyer