Today’s preview card is the mighty Cyber Laser Dragon, one of the signature cards used by Zane Truesdale in Yu-Gi-Oh! GX! While Cyber Dragon is incredible on its own, Zane’s specialties involve getting the most out of each Dragon through the use of special combo cards. This is one such card!
First, let’s give you a bit of background info. Depending on when this article goes to print, you’ve either just seen Zane Truesdale use Cyber Laser Dragon for the first time, or you’ll be seeing it very shortly. When Duel Academy is attacked by the Seven Shadow Riders and defenders start dropping like flies, it falls to Zane to protect one of the seven Spirit Keys, as well as the souls of his friends. To do that, he’ll use today’s preview card!
First, Cyber Laser Dragon can’t be normal summoned—it’s a little too fancy and powerful for that sort of thing. Instead, you need to have two Cyber Dragon cards on your side of the field. Then, you’ll have to activate another new Shadow of Infinity card, Photon Generator Unit.
The Generator Unit is pretty cool. It’s a quick-play card, and it allows you to tribute two Cyber Dragons off your side of the field in order to special summon one Cyber Laser Dragon from your deck or hand. That means that you don’t actually need immediate access to the Laser Dragon, like you would for other tribute monsters. Instead, you can just run one copy, because you’ll be able to grab it from your deck when you need it. That also makes it an efficient card to play, because you won’t be giving up so much card presence to summon Cyber Laser Dragon if it isn’t coming from your hand.
The tribute cost for two Cyber Dragons isn’t as hard to make as one might first think, either. You can always summon a Cyber Dragon for free with relative ease, and as for that second one, well, Shadow of Infinity has a trick up its sleeve that will take care of that. What’s really cool is that because Photon Generator Unit is a quick-play spell, you can use it at unexpected times. Bringing out the Dragon on your opponent’s turn is nice, but you can also chain Photon Generator Unit to any of your opponent’s effects that specifically target one of your Cyber Dragons.
For instance, say Zane attacks with a Cyber Dragon, and his opponent flips Sakuretsu Armor. Sakuretsu Armor can only destroy the attacking monster, and if that attacker disappears as the result of a card chained to Sakuretsu Armor, the trap card is wasted. Any veteran duelist can tell you that that’s a bad thing for card presence. The flexible timing of Cyber Laser Dragon’s summoning opens the door for some nifty tricks, and if you can manage to draw out Sakuretsu Armor, Snatch Steal, or Brain Control, then you’ve already compensated for one of the cards you’ve invested in bringing it out.
We’re 500 words in and I still haven’t told you what you get once you summon the Dragon. Cyber Laser Dragon is a Light / Machine-type monster with 2400 ATK and 1800 DEF. Once per turn, it can destroy one monster on the field with an ATK or DEF that’s equal to or higher than its own.
While there aren’t a ton of monsters running around with 2400 ATK, the top tribute monsters in the format tend to have that number exactly. Mobius the Frost Monarch, Thestalos the Firestorm Monarch, Jinzo, and more all fall in the category of “monsters that see a lot of play.” And what do you know? They also fall into the category of “monsters that Cyber Laser Dragon can blow away for free.” Although you need to spend three cards to bring the Dragon into play, picking off one of your opponent’s tribute monsters starts evening the score.
Oh, and that monster destruction really is free. Unlike Chaos Sorcerer, Cyber Laser Dragon doesn’t rest on its laurels once it takes somebody down. Oh, no, Cyber Laser Dragon reveals the Sorcerer to be the lazy bum it truly is, because the Dragon can destroy a monster and still attack in the same turn. That’s yet another factor that makes it easy to start repaying the investment you make.
One card that seems to have a great deal of potential in combination with this one is Rush Recklessly. Rush Recklessly hasn’t been seen in major tournaments for ages, but now might be the perfect time for it to make a comeback. When used with Don Zaloog, it basically acts as a one-for-one exchange affecting your opponent’s hand. When used to make a defending monster larger than an attacker, it’s the same as Sakuretsu Armor or Widespread Ruin—you lose one card on the field and the opponent loses a monster. Of course, you need to have a face up monster on the field to get this effect, and that’s something Sakuretsu Armor doesn’t demand. But at the same time, you’ll also deal some battle damage in the process.
Rush Recklessly also targets a designated monster. That means if you use it to pump up one of your opponent’s Spirit Reapers, the Reaper explodes. Answers to Spirit Reaper are precious in this format, and that could be the deciding factor to make Rush playable in the near future.
Anyway, back on topic! Rush Recklessly can combine with Cyber Laser Dragon to create a one-for-one effect similar to that of Smashing Ground. If the opponent doesn’t happen to control a monster with 2400 ATK or more, you can use Rush Recklessly to give them one. If the monster has at least 1700 ATK, Rush Recklessly and the Dragon can take it out. That means D. D. Assailant, D. D. Survivor, Blade Knight, and a wealth of other monsters can be blown out of the way before or after Cyber Laser Dragon attacks.
Beyond that, like all the Cyber Dragons, this one is a Machine, and that means it can be pumped up to a whopping 4800 ATK with Limiter Removal! You probably won’t be able to target anything with Cyber Laser Dragon’s effect when it’s that big, but you will be able to attack, and you’ll probably win your duel outright. That’s not exactly a bad idea.
Everyone loves Cyber Dragon, and its Cyber Laser counterpart adds a new layer of depth to the card. Watch for it to be a favorite among collectors at your local Sneak Preview event!
—Jason Grabher-Meyer