Okay, if you’ve been paying attention to the previews so far this week you’ll know some of the tricks Synchro monsters have to offer. They have quite a versatile toolbox set up thanks to the Extra deck, and with the right Tuners you can handle a wide spread of situations. But sometimes what you need isn’t an effect—sometimes you just need brute force. With Solemn Judgment cards appearing in every deck, winning a duel is often as simple as dealing another 4000 damage.

Take a look at Nitro Synchron, another monster you'll find at The Duelist Genesis Sneak Previews:

Nitro Synchron

Machine / Tuner
Fire Level 2
300 / 100

If Nitro Synchro is sent to the graveyard for the Synchro summon of a "Nitro" Synchro monster, draw a card.

It’s basically a Tuner that’s going to replace itself with a fresh card when it’s used in the right Synchro summon. Not bad, considering that’s what Tuners are supposed to do. Play Nitro Synchron the right way, and you don’t lose any card presence performing the Synchro summon. I like to think of Tuners as a different spin on Test Tiger, sacrificing themselves to turn other cards into better monsters with better effects. A Test Tiger that could replace itself would be nuts.

However, Nitro Synchron is only going to replace itself if used in the Synchro summon of a "Nitro" Synchro monster. So how many Nitro Synchros are there? For now, just one: Nitro Warrior.

Nitro Warrior

One time during each of your turns, if you activated a spell, Nitro Warrior gains 1000 ATK during its next attack, during damage calculation only. Once each turn, if Nitro Warrior is attacking and destroys your opponent’s monster in battle, you can change one of your opponent’s face up defense mode monster to attack mode, and attack it with Nitro Warrior.

Nitro Warrior isn’t bad! A deck built around Tuners should be chock full of cards like Mind Control, Instant Fusion, and more common spells to help achieve Synchro summons. Using any of these to bring out Nitro Warrior means he’ll be 3800 ATK. That’s rather impressive, especially considering that you didn’t lose any cards in the matter. You just transformed, say, Instant Fusion into Nitro Warrior. From there, you beat down your opponent. 3800 ATK is enormous, and if your opponent has two monsters he or she is going to feel the pain. Not even defense-mode monsters can save the opponent from life point damage. Destiny Hero - Disk Commander or Fires of Doomsday tokens are going to get smashed.

In order to get the second attack offered by Nitro Warrior’s effect, you must target a monster in defense mode. That means against a common Monarch deck (which plays lots of defensive monsters), Nitro Warrior will be worth the investment. If Treeborn Frog is left stranded on the field next to an attack-position monster, Nitro Warrior could really cause some damage.

Enemy Controller is a good card to use when switching the battle position of an opposing monster while keeping it face up. The Controller is pretty useful in decks playing Tuners anyway, and having Nitro Warrior as a potential outlet for massive damage is just another of its many uses. With Enemy Controller, you could attack, switch a monster outside of the battle to defense mode, and destroy the attack target when battle resolves. That would prime the field for Nitro Warrior’s second effect, turning the monster you played Enemy Controller on back to attack mode and allowing you to beat it up for big damage.

It is very possible to end games with Nitro Warrior. A duel that has been going on for a while could leave your opponent with as few as 2000 life points, and your opponent might feel pretty safe with Gladiator Beast Gyzarus, Gladiator Beast Laquari, and Gladiator Beast Heraklinos out. That is, until you play Cyber Dragon and Nitro Synchron to drop Nitro Warrior and win the game. 3800 ATK swings over Laquari for 1700 damage minimum, and Nitro Warrior deals an extra 1400 damage when attacking over Gyzarus. An opponent below 3000 life points would be destroyed, and that’s a move you can safely attempt because Nitro Synchron replaces itself.

Of course you can always use Nitro Synchron as a Tuner for other Synchro summons. You aren’t limited to Nitro Warrior—you just won’t get the draw effect if you Synchro summon something else. People are fine with playing Test Tiger and not getting a draw effect in the process, and Nitro Synchron can still be used with something like Destiny Hero - Malicious to Synchro summon Stardust Dragon. Or you could use the Tuner with a spent Gravekeeper’s Spy to Synchro summon Goyo Guardian, slamming 2800 ATK to the field and stealing an opposing Elemental Hero Stratos or Gladiator Beast.

One potential abuse of Nitro Synchron is a combination with Machine Duplication. Multiple Stardust Dragons are really cool—so are multiple Goyos. Think Gravekeeper’s Spy, Machine Duplication, and Nitro Synchron. Since one Spy will get you another, and Machine Duplication will turn one Synchron into three, you’ll be able to summon two Goyo Guardians and then rob your opponent’s field of two monsters. If Destiny Hero - Disk Commander is in the mix, you’ll be drawing two cards as well. With Nitro Warrior at your disposal, it’s possible to OTK your opponent with a field full of angry 3800 ATK Synchro monsters.

Level 2 is pretty good for a Tuner, and no other level 2 Tuner replaces itself when it’s used as a Synchro material for Stardust Dragon anyway. However, for the occasion when Nitro Warrior would be ideal, Nitro Synchron will give you the confidence to play it by basically making the Synchro summon free. There’s not a lot to stop monsters from attacking these days, and Nitro Warrior can cause some big damage. Expect Nitro Synchron to see play from the Sneak Previews onward, and every now and then, be prepared to get beaten up by Nitro Warrior.