When Cyberdark Impact (the set) was released in November of last year, many players were impressed to see that the namesakes of the booster were actually playable. Cyberdark Horn, Cyberdark Keel, and Cyberdark Edge all had a lot of potential with the game’s playable level 3 or lower Dragon cards: Masked Dragon and Twin-Headed Behemoth. The Cyberdarks easily bumped up to 2200 or 2300 ATK with their effects, pushing them over the 2100 threshold that the introduction of Cyber Dragon created. This meant that Cyberdarks were less vulnerable to being simply swept off the field. Yannick Dubeau showed the World that Cyberdarks could indeed make a splash when he placed in the Top 16 at Shonen Jump Championship Montreal.

However, Cyberdarks have been hurting for another boost. The 2300 ATK cap meant that they were still vulnerable to being reduced to a measly 800 ATK by battle with Monarchs, and were virtually irrelevant when staring down a Thestalos the Firestorm Monarch or Jinzo. That’s all about to change though. Believe it or not, a level 3 Dragon with no effect could be what catapults Cyberdarks into widespread competitive play, and you’ll have a chance to see it first at the upcoming Sneak Preview event. Enter Hunter Dragon:

Hunter Dragon         Dragon/Dark - Level 3         1700 ATK / 100 DEF

This is exactly the type of card Cyberdarks have been waiting for. A Dragon with 1700 ATK means a Cyberdark with 2500 ATK when equipped. Monarchs will fall in battle, Jinzo will be hopelessly outmatched, and Card Trooper will take an absolute beating. Cyberdark Horn becomes a 2500 ATK monster, piercing through face-down monsters with ease and taking large chunks from the opponent’s life points as well. No longer will conservative players be able to hide behind Scapegoat tokens or Treeborn Frog, or attempt to set up a wall of monsters like Card Trooper or Dekoichi the Battlechanted Locomotive. With Hunter Dragon, Horn becomes a lethal weapon.

Cyberdark Keel and Cyberdark Edge aren’t anything to sneeze at either when equipped with a Hunter Dragon. Keel will punch through an extra 300 damage each time it destroys a monster. Although this may seem insignificant, 300 damage can add up quickly, and after just three attacks with Cyberdark Keel, your opponent could have lost almost one-eighth of his or her life points by Keel’s effect alone. Factor in standard battle damage and additional monsters, and your opponent’s life points are dropping much faster than he or she ever expected.

Cyberdark Edge adds a whole new dimension to conservative play. Being able to attack directly is an extremely useful tool when you’re sporting a 2500 ATK monster which can’t be destroyed by battle anyway. Without fear of counterattacks, Edge can slowly pick away at the opponent. This can be especially useful when your opponent is waiting for a monster to be destroyed. Mystic Tomato, Destiny Hero - Fear Monger, and Card Trooper all love to be attacked to get their graveyard effects off. Most players are happy to have them block the path to their life points in the meantime, but since Edge doesn’t have to attack the monsters to deal damage, they aren’t very effective as walls either.

Hunter Dragon isn’t useless on its own either. While 1700 ATK isn’t spectacular, it can still put the hurt on before it’s taken down. One strike for 1700 damage can really put pressure on the opponent, especially considering that you’re playing Cyberdarks, known for their ability to deal quick damage. With the aid of Trap Dustshoot, Hunter Dragon will probably stick around for multiple turns, as only specific monsters can actually destroy it. This means increased field presence during the early stages of your game—before you’ve played your best cards—which adds up to more damage and a bigger hole for the opponent to try and dig out of.

Since Hunter Dragon is a normal monster, your options in deckbuilding are greatly increased. Normal monsters have a large number of support cards, including Emissary of the Afterlife and Justi-Break, two potentially huge cards for this deck. The Emissary has a Sangan-like effect that triggers when it’s simply sent to the graveyard, meaning Brain Control or Soul Exchange plus a tribute monster won’t prevent it from activating. These cards give additional utility to your normal monsters, and increase the power of the Cyberdark deck.

Cyberdark Dragon is a very cool card to play with. Since the Cyberdarks are Machines and the Dragons are . . . well, Dragons, Future Fusion, Overload Fusion, and even Dragon’s Mirror have increased playability. Between Five-Headed Dragon, Chimeratech Overdragon, and Cyberdark Dragon, the Fusion deck becomes a great source of power. These huge monsters can finish games or put a great deal of pressure on the opponent in a mid-to-late game scenario. However, Overload Fusion and Future Fusion are unfortunately Limited, which means that Cyberdark Dragon usually got left behind in favor of the two larger Fusion monsters. Not anymore. Cyberdark Impact! (the card) provides an entirely new way to Fusion summon your Cyberdark Dragon!

Cyberdark Impact!    Spell Card

Return 1 “Cyberdark Edge,” “Cyberdark Keel,” and “Cyberdark Horn” from your side of the field, hand, or Graveyard to your deck. Special Summon 1 “Cyberdark Dragon” from your Fusion Deck. (This Special Summon is treated as a Fusion Summon.)

Impact! is a neat card that will reward a devoted Cyberdark deck. Since it returns the monsters from the graveyard as well as your field and hand, it doesn’t necessarily have to decrease your card count to use its effect. Used-up Cyberdarks that have been sent to the graveyard can be returned to your deck, special summoning a huge Cyberdark Dragon while also becoming active draws. Cyberdark Dragon pumps up to 2700 ATK with Hunter Dragon or 3400 ATK with bigger Dragons like Kaiser Glider or Armed Dragon LV5. There’s even potential for it to attach Five-Headed Dragon and become a 6000 ATK stomping machine.

Cyberdark Impact! is one of those cards you could successfully base a deck around. Strong support including Future Fusion, Magical Merchant, Sangan, and Morphing Jar could easily allow you to run through enough cards to find the requirements for Cyberdark Impact! while being strong cards on their own. Merchant can even send Hunter Dragons to the graveyard for your Cyberdarks to equip.