Yes, it’s that time again: the time of year when we set aside our regular columns to dive headlong into a pool of brand new cards, bringing you previews of fresh material from the next soon-to-be-released expansion set! The Sneak Preview release of Cyberdark Impact is less than two weeks away, and from today on out you can look forward to the inside scoop on one of the set’s most interesting cards every day until the Sneak Preview weekend.
What better way to start things off than with an in-depth look at the set’s namesakes? In Season 1 of Yu-Gi-Oh! GX, Zane Truesdale was a model duelist who exemplified goodhearted determination and the strength of spiritual purity. However, in order to further his skills, he’ll turn to a darker side of dueling in order to understand both halves of the moral balance, and that means abandoning his Cyber Dragon monsters for a brand new strategy. The Cyberdark monsters are the marquee headliners for Zane’s Change of Heart, bringing him success in the dueling underground and a type of power he could never understand before. Now, they’re almost within your reach.
There are three basic Cyberdark monsters in Cyberdark Impact, and all three share some effects. Each of them has the following text:
Machine / Dark Level 4 800 ATK / 800 DEF
When Normal Summoned, select 1 Level 3 or lower Dragon-Type monster from your Graveyard and equip this card with it. This monster gains ATK equal to the equipped Dragon's ATK. If this card is destroyed by battle, destroy the equipped Dragon instead.
All three Cyberdarks share these stats, as well as the ability to grow stronger by drawing on fallen Dragon types. From there, Cyberdark Horn deals piercing damage, pushing through defense position monsters, Cyberdark Edge can attack an opponent directly if you’re willing to deal only half your normal battle damage for its attack, and Cyberdark Keel deals 300 points of burn damage to the opponent every time it destroys an opponent’s monster.
Let’s focus on the Dragon-attachment effect first. If you’re wondering what the best Dragon to attach to a Cyberdark monster is, look no further than Masked Dragon and Twin-Headed Behemoth. Masked Dragon has 1400 ATK, so when attached to a Cyberdark card, the total ATK becomes 2200. Twin-Headed Behemoth is even better with 1500 ATK, making for a 2300 ATK Cyberdark. Both of those figures are big enough to trump threatening attackers like Berserk Gorilla, Zombyra the Dark, or, most importantly, Zane’s former hallmark: Cyber Dragon! Being able to normal summon a monster that can wipe out the formidable Dragon and live to tell the tale is incredibly valuable. Unlike Goblin Attack Force or Goblin Elite Attack Force, the Cyberdark cards are just as deadly after they attack.
They’re big. Real big. If you’re using Masked Dragon cards, you’ll be able to quickly fill your graveyard with enough monsters to support multiple Cyberdarks at the same time. Masked Dragon can search out more copies of itself when destroyed in battle, or you can special summon Twin-Headed Behemoth. The Behemoth is already seeing main-deck play in top decks, since it can help an aggressive deck outwit Sakuretsu Armor. While you could dip down to Dragons with slightly lower ATK (such as Gray Wing), there’s really no need, especially if you’re using UFO Turtle to search out Masked Dragon.
Like the Cyberdarks, UFO Turtle is a Machine, which will give your deck more synergy if you choose to play Overload Fusion and Chimeratech Overdragon. The Turtle can also special summon Cyber Phoenix, which will keep targeting cards like Enemy Controller and Book of Moon off of your Cyberdark monsters. Furthermore, all the Machines that can find synergy with the Cyberdarks are also usable with Limiter Removal.
That’s an important card for any Machine deck, and Cyberdark Edge and Cyberdark Horn can make exceptional use of it, since they can deal battle damage to the opponent in situations other monsters can’t. Drop Limiter Removal in the damage step, and you’ll basically negate Edge’s limits when attacking directly. Use it with Horn, and you’ll more than double your total piercing damage. Ouch.
Not only are they big and easy to support with Machine cards, but the Cyberdark monsters are also really hard to knock off the field. Even if the opponent can get Jinzo or a Monarch onto the field to attack one of your Cyberdarks, all they accomplish with one battle is the removal of the Dragon card beefing up your Machine. The Cyberdark monster itself stays on the field and, if the opponent doesn’t have a follow-up attacker, he or she is out of luck until he or she can attack again. That gives you a turn to tribute the vulnerable Cyberdark monster, or turn it to defense to use as a blocker. With the added field presence already provided by Masked Dragon and Twin-Headed Behemoth, that makes it very hard for the opponent to attack directly.
Equips are vulnerable though, right? They can be destroyed by popular cards like Mystical Space Typhoon, Heavy Storm, and Dust Tornado. While that conventional wisdom usually holds true, remember that your Dragon monster was attached from the graveyard—it was basically free. If you can draw out a piece of spell or trap removal from the opponent by losing a card you didn’t actually play anyway, all the better. That’s one less option the opponent has down the line. You can even use that free Dragon to your advantage by getting it off the field yourself! Send two Dragons back to the graveyard to bring out Anteatereatingant and cost your opponent a card with its effect, or use Giant Trunade to get those Dragons back into your hand.
Of course, my favorite combo requires that those Dragons be left on your Cyberdark cards. While many duelists are playing aggressive beatdown decks with relatively few monsters that have low ATK, Warrior Toolbox and Monarch decks run plenty of tiny effect providers. Deck Devastation Virus has a compelling place in the current environment and because your Cyberdark monsters carry the Dark attribute (and will usually have 2000 or more ATK), you can use them as tribute bait for the Virus. Did the opponent respond to your Cyberdark’s attack with Sakuretsu Armor? Chain Deck Devastation Virus to cost him or her a card from the field, and a load of monsters. Have Keel on the field, but really need Horn instead? Deck Devastation Virus can tribute the Cyberdark you don’t need in order to free up its attached Dragon, ensuring that your next Cyberdark comes out at full power. It might just take a bunch of little monsters with it.
The Cyberdark monsters blend perfectly with a host of pre-existing Machine support, and they can run over one of the format’s defining monsters: Cyber Dragon. They hammer damage through the opponent’s monsters regardless of battle positions, fuel one of the most devastating control cards in the game, and take multiple attacks to wipe off the field. Zane’s quest to understand the balance within himself is well-represented in these cards, which are just as strong defensively as they are when played with aggression. When used skillfully, each allows an unpredictable style of play that builds subtly for the first few turns and then explodes in the mid-game. Build a deck around them, and you’ll be surprised at the level of power they command.