The Fisborg are eternal, Fish Master Race! We love our Fish (sticks) !
That being said, in all seriousness, following the release of PRIO in the OCG, it is time to begin discussing a few awesome decks that have gotten turbocharged from this amazing archtype-boosting set! Let’s ‘Dive’ right in, all puns intended.
Strategy:
To put it lightly, Fish have always been on the cusp of being a major threat. From the original power of 7-Colored Fish, to the Fish revival following the release of Superancient Deepsea King Coelacanth, to the Generation Fish deck that featured a variety of WIND sea creatures bent around banishing, the concept of a fish deck has always been intangible. That is, until one of the main characters of Yu-Gi-Oh! ZEXAL jumped the gun running an awesome archetype known as the Sharks!
These sharks were designed to Xyz Summon like crazy, using combos that only someone in the anime could pull off, and yet, some of these amazing Xyz chains have actually made it through to the real card game without loosing all too much consistency. Xyz Remora became the spotlight of this type of build, abusing the “detach materials then special summon them for another Xyz Summon” mechanic to no end, but the main takeaway from the Shark archetype is one of the latest to be released: Doublefin Shark.
This monster unlocks 1-card Rank 4 Xyz’s, which is exactly what the Doctor ordered… Yes, of course I’m talking about Fishborg Doctor.
If this card is in your Graveyard, and every monster you control is a “Fishborg” monster (min. 1): You can Special Summon this card from your Graveyard. If you do, banish this card when it leaves the field. You can only use this effect of “Fishborg Doctor” once per turn.
Combined with Fishborg Archer, this deck has an awesome footing to take off from. With the ability to make any Level 7 Synchro Monster at the cost of a WATER discard from the hand by using the 2 Fishborgs… Yeah, you get the picture of a great concept. But wait, there’s more! The combos just don’t stop there! Using our dear friend Doublefin introduced above, we can make 1-card Level 7 WATER Synchro Summons, also known as the untouched Ice Barrier Synchro, Gungnir! Doublefin also works swimmingly to negate the self-destruction effect of Doctor, allowing for 1-card Rank 4 Xyzs when necessary.
Now wait, I totally said that this deck actually became possible and potent due to PRIO, but all of these cards had been previously released… Let’s meet our dear Fincess, beauty of the ocean and beloved by Fish users everywhere. Not only does she allow for the searching of any monster in the Main Deck, but she also loves to combo with well-timed Leviairs for basically infinite deck thinning! Now that we’ve got a solid foundation for this watery deck, let’s plunge into the Core Lineup!
Core Lineup for a Fishborg-centric Fish Deck:
2|3 indicates that 2 or 3 copies should be considered.
Monsters:
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3 Fincess
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2|3 Fishborg Archer
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3 Fishborg Doctor
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3 Nimble Sunfish
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3 Doublefin Shark
- 1 Tidal, Dragon Ruler of Waterfalls
- 1 Mermail Abysspike
Spells:
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3 Salvage
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1|3 Fish and Swaps
Traps:
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3 Fish Depth Charge
- 3 Oh F!sh!
So before I continue, I have to give 100 props to the two awesome Fish-type support traps, Oh F!sh! and Fish Depth Charge. A card that maintains advantage when negating an opponent’s monster effect is great, but that also restocks your deck? That’s even better! Combined with Fish Depth Charge which is a Gemini Spark that can tribute just about any monster in your deck, you got a nice bit of control over the opponent. The Salvage and Fish and Swaps allow for you to have a ton of Fish and WATER monsters in hand when needed, especially when you want to keep reusing the Fishborg into Gungnir or Black Rose Synchro combos. Lastly, Mermail Abysspike is an amazing summon from Fincess because it allows you to trade any WATER in your hand for a Level 3 WATER monster from the deck. Many of these other options will appear in the Tech options section, but you can always add Fishborg Archer for later!
Other Tech Options:
Splash Capture: Laugh at me now, but this is seriously an awesome tech option that your opponents won’t see coming. You should have plenty of fish at your disposal 1 or 2 turns into the duel, and Xyz monsters can be game-changing, especially if your opponent invested multiple cards in summoning one. And then you keep it for as long as you can! It’s great against just about every matchup in the game, due to the power of stealing away Number 101!
Shark Stickers: While his purpose is somewhat limited when your job is not to spam Sharks out the wazoo, this is a great Level 3 WATER to search out with Abysspike. He allows you to turn a Archer Special Summon into a Leviair without using your Normal Summon, or he simply can be that extra fish that you summon alongside a Doublefin to be Fish Depth Charge fodder if your opponent tries to flip Fiendish Chain on your Xyz or Synchro.
Debris Dragon: This monster is awesome, especially in combination with Stickers or Snowman Eater. Not only is he another option to open up 1-card Gungnir or Black Rose, but he also functions as a 1-card Xyz with Doctor. He also serves as Dragon-type fodder for Tidal that you have no problems banishing, cause you always like to regain Doublefin with Salvage.
Snowman Eater: One of the best Level 3 WATER monsters out there. Not much else to say about this guy, but he is an Aqua-type, so no Fish shenanigans with him!
Mermaid Shark: This was the second Fish-type deck thinner introduced in PRIO, but this build just doesn’t value Mermaid as highly. First off, it is a Level 1 monster, meaning it has no place in any combo whatsoever, also it takes your Normal Summon, and lastly, it leaves a 100 ATK monster for your opponent to trample over.
Saber Shark: A lot of the Shark monsters work together, so I figured I’d add all of the ‘usable’ ones to the list. He is great if you want to add Rank 5 combos into the mix, but beyond that, it simply isn’t worth it without a lot of ways to summon other Fish with him faceup.
Wind-Up Shark: This one is Saber Shark that’s more generic, but it can only change itself higher or lower, so again, I’m not quite sure if the tradeoff is worth it. Wind-Up does open up level 8 Synchro plays with Archer though, which is definitely a plus, and can be added back with Salvage!
Completed Example Deck:
For those of you who have completed reading this guide, go fish! The following link is a screenshot of my personal Fishborg Fish build. It may not be the best build for them, but it can serve as a baseline for your deck construction in the future: http://i.imgur.com/9Cysxiw.png
Hook, line and sinker!
