The story of the tortoise and the hare from Aesop’s Fables tells us that “slow and steady wins the race,” but it sure hasn’t seemed that way to me lately. Hard, fast aggression has been the predominant strategy as of late, leaving things like burn effects not named Ring of Destruction in the dust. Of course, things don’t really have to be that way. Take a look at the early successes of Team Overdose in this format using—of all things—a burn deck. Stealth Bird was a huge part of the strategy since it was one of a rare breed of cards that could deal a steady source of burn damage while keeping itself protected by flipping face down every turn. Actually, upon closer inspection, Stealth Bird isn’t so much one of a rare breed as much as it was the rare breed. Unfortunately, rare breeds have an awful tendency to become extinct, and with cards like Nobleman of Crossout and now Shield Crush running around and punishing monsters that hide in defense mode, copies of Stealth Bird are even more endangered than ever. Fortunately for burn lovers everywhere, however, Tactical Evolution brings us a new addition to the Stealth Bird family in the form of a Gemini monster. Who knew the Bird was related to royalty?

King Pyron Pyro/Gemini - FIRE Level 5        ATK 1500/DEF 500

This card is treated as a Normal Monster while face-up on the field or in the Graveyard. While this card is face-up on the field, you can Normal Summon it to have it be treated as an Effect Monster with this effect:
—Once per turn, you can inflict 1000 damage to your opponent.

King Pyron shares a number of family traits with its feathered brethren, the most obvious of which is that it looks very innocuous at first. A level 5 monster with only 1500 ATK doesn’t seem like anything to write home about, until you realize that it only has 1500 ATK: the magic number for allowing the Magic Ruler recruiter monsters to work their magic. This makes Pyron an easy card to surprise the opponent with, since right now no one expects a player running UFO Turtle to fetch out anything other than Cyber Phoenix with it. Taking advantage of current trends allows you to spring a fiery trap on an unsuspecting opponent—someone likely expecting you to play Machine Beatdown before you dropped your Gemini monster on the table. You can take the mental battle one step further by summoning Pyron as soon as your first UFO Turtle hits the grave rather than fetching out more and more copies of the recruiter for your opponent to attack. Remember, Gemini monsters start out being treated as normal monsters, which makes it possible for you to activate Justi-Break whenever a Gemini monster in its normal state is attacked. King Pyron just looks like a sitting duck for your opponent’s monsters to beat up, but is it really? The shock of your unexpected play might be enough to throw your opponent off-track—even if you don’t really have the trap to back up your play—and that makes your King Pyron even deadlier.

Once you have Pyron up and running, you get the consistency of Stealth Bird and the long-game potential of Wave-Motion Cannon without needing to deal with the fact that the Cannon can only go off late game and that the Stealth Bird can’t be brought back very easily if it’s destroyed. Thanks to Pyron’s status as a normal monster while it’s in the graveyard, your opponent can throw all the Brain Control and Smashing Ground cards he or she likes, and you’re just going to keep bringing the King back with Birthright in addition to Call of the Haunted and Premature Burial. It’s like running eight extra copies of Stealth Bird in your deck that aren’t actually named Stealth Bird!

Of course, there’s no need to use King Pyron in a dedicated burn deck if you don’t want to. In fact, he’s part of a solid set of Fire-attribute Gemini monsters that includes itself, Chthonian Emperor Dragon (which I showed you last week), and the other card I’m previewing today, Blazewing Butterfly.

Blazewing Butterfly   Insect/Gemini  FIRE - Level 4                   ATK 1500/DEF 1500

This card is treated as a Normal Monster while face-up on the field or in the Graveyard. While this card is face-up on the field, you can Normal Summon it to have it be treated as an Effect Monster with this effect:
—You can Tribute this card to Special Summon 1 Gemini monster except “Blazewing Butterfly” from your Graveyard. A Gemini monster Special Summoned by this effect is treated as an Effect Monster, and gains its effect.

I like to think of Blazewing Butterfly as a recruiter with a twist. Instead of fetching out a Gemini monster from your deck, the effect form of Blazewing Butterfly fetches it out of your graveyard. Sure, you’re limited to the Gemini monsters that are currently residing in your graveyard, but as an added bonus, when you do special summon them from the graveyard, they come with their effects already activated! Thus, it’s possible for Blazewing Butterfly to become any Gemini monster you wish—even if it happens to be level 5 or higher. In fact, special summoning a level 5 or higher Gemini monster with its effect already turned on is a great idea, especially if that monster is Chthonian Emperor Dragon! Being a Fire monster itself is incredibly handy, allowing you to play it alongside King Pyron and Chthonian Emperor Dragon while also having access to cards like Spiritual Fire Art - Kurenai! Kurenai and Blazewing Butterfly actually work together quite nicely as well, giving you a quick and easy way to re-summon your Chthonian Emperor Dragon should you decide to fire it off at your opponent for 2400 damage rather than let your opponent steal it with Brain Control.

Of course, Blazewing Butterfly is also compatible with the card you’ll receive for playing in the Sneak Preview: Gemini Summoner. That card is a Water monster, making it incompatible with UFO Turtle, but in the grand scheme of things, this isn’t so much of a drawback as it is an invitation to play both Fire and Water monsters in the same deck. In fact, Bryan’s preview from last week—the Frost and Flame Dragon—gives you an excellent reason to do exactly that, and Matt’s upcoming preview strengthens the cause like no other. Tying together all these themes creates a play experience like no other, and it won’t be long now until you can experience it for yourself. You can find the Tactical Evolution Sneak Preview nearest you here, and until next time, play hard, play fair, and most importantly, have fun!

Jerome McHale

jcmchale@andrew.cmu.edu