Casual Deck Strategy: DT Mega Article 1 – The Eternal Watch!

In the story of the Duel Terminals, the Constellar left behind a series of machines to watch the seal they placed upon the Steelswarm prior to ascending into the stars during The Ancient Era. From the high heavens, these holy machines watched and waited. Now for the first time, the Vylon were finally entering the fray… But would they come to ensure peace in the troubled Terminal World?

WARNING: This article is considered a Mega Article by my standards, which is equivalent to approximately four of my normal CDS articles, on a good day. So massive article incoming.

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|File 02 – The Second Terminal War

|Data Manifestation Code: Helio.200.005

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Lore Background:

The Vylon monsters are a Duel Terminal archetype that is comprised of LIGHT monsters of various types, including Fairy, Machine, and Thunder-type monsters. While I normally don’t spend much time in my Casual Deck Strategy Articles discussing lore, I think it is fascinating in the case of the Duel Terminal and all of the connections between the archetypes, card arts and effects. The level of detail that went into this specific DT tribe is mind-blowing, so if you are completely bored by this kind of thing, skip to the Table of Contents below. Otherwise, prepare to be illuminated by some really cool facts and similarities. For additional information beyond what I have included in this section, check out some of the information in the Master Guides, specifically Master Guide 3.

As for the Vylon Tribe, we’ll start with the basic fact that I’m sure all of you picked up on: each of the Extra Deck ‘Boss monsters’ of the Vylon are each named after the pronunciation of a Greek letter. Yes, even Disigma, which is named after an archaic letter of the Greek alphabet, more commonly known as Sanpi. Expanding upon this, did you realize that Alpha and Omega, the first and last Greek letters, are the two boss monsters of the theme? Continuing on to more fun facts about the specific names, did you know that each of the tuners of the Vylon archetype is named after a different 3-dimensional object? Cube, Prism, Sphere, etc. Perhaps you noticed that the Union monsters were both named after 4-dimensional objects? To be specific, they’re named after the Tesseract and the Pentachoron. Isn’t it interesting that Vylon Synchro Summoning was enabled by 3 dimensional objects, when Synchro Summoning was first introduced in the third Yugioh anime series, and Vylon Xyz Summoning was enabled by 4 dimensional objects, when Xyz Summoning was first introduced in the fourth Yugioh anime series! Coincidence, maybe, but I find that connections you can make between cards generally are some sort of reference!

Now that we’ve gone over specific naming intricacies, let’s introduce the DT world for the first time. Firstly, the Vylon are one of the tribes from the Second DT Era, as the first Era ended when Trishula froze the world. The second Era clearly had descendants of the original DT tribes, for example, the Gishki had harnessed the power of the Mirror of the Ice Barrier, using it to fuel their Ritual Summons, or how the Gusto lived in the Mist Valley Marshlands. So after the Steelswarm were released from their seal by the Gishki, the Vylons were forced to react, uniting the tribes to defeat this new threat… Did you ever notice how each of the 4 ‘Pseudo-Union Tuners’ of the Vylon archetype seem to have been given to the other DT tribes? If you can’t notice the striking similarities in the card names, maybe you realized that each of the arts of the following monsters are literally the combination of the Vylon and a monster from the other tribe:

• Gem-Knight Prismaura = Vylon Prism + Gem-Knight Crystal – Both can be the Fusion materials
• Lavalval Stennon = Vylon Stella + Laval Cannon – Both can be the Synchro materials
• Evigishki Tetrogre = Vylon Tetra + Gishki Noellia – Both can be the Ritual tributes
• Daigusto Sphreez = Vylon Sphere + Reeze, Whirlwind of Gusto – Both can be the Synchro materials

Alright, now why in the world would the Vylons give away precious tuners to the other tribes? Well, their goal was simple – Destroy the Steelswarm if they ever escaped the seal placed upon them by the Constellar. They were more confident to defeat the threat of the invasion by combining the strength of the other tribes, rather than relying upon their own tactical skills and power. Even though the Gishki were the ones to undo the seal, the Vylon still needed all 4 of the tribes to unite under their command to defeat the pressing Steelswarm forces. They empowered the rest of the DT world to do their part and defeat the common enemy. And after all, Omega did become the ultimate weapon to defeat the Steelswarm, blowing away all of the monsters that were Normal Summoned or Set! But beyond that, Omega literally is the protector of the Duel Terminal world.

Omega was literally the perfect weapon for defeating the Steelswarm, in more ways than just its initial effect. The Steelswarm tribe only has 1 Trap Card that allows them to remove Omega from the field, as Omega can prevent any of their effect monsters from resolving properly. Sadly, Omega’s legacy was not to last. Following the successful victory over the Steelswarm, the Vylon decided that the best way to prevent conflict in the Terminal World would be to exterminate the rest of the tribes. With Vylon Disigma at the helm, the extermination began; however, the Tribes unified once more to defeat the new enemy. While we’re on the topic of the Vylon boss monsters, did you ever realize just how opposite and yet related Omega and Disigma are? Both equip monsters, one for protection and the other for removal. One has a white frame, the other has a black. And they both do require 3 monsters to summon. It’s an interesting duality, especially since both of them seem to be descending in their card art. One from the fires of a troubled heavens, and the other descending with the heavenly light from above. Lastly, note the posture, Disigma coming down with claws extended in a menacing posture, taking matters into his own hands, whereas Omega descends from the heavens with his hand clenched in a fist, symbolizing justice descending from above.

I realize this may have just seemed like senseless rambling to some, but I really love taking the time to appreciate the Duel Terminal lore. After all, I was originally intending on a massive DT article to cover every archetype, but since that would take literally 6 months to compile, I’m going to slowly add Mega -Articles on specific archetypes of note until a complete DT World profile is created. Who knows, they may even shed some light on the connections to the newest archetypes, who all seem to have a connection to the DT world: for example, the Sylvan, the Qliphort, the Shaddoll, the Yang Zing, the Tellaknights, and now it seems like we will be getting the next DT generation in the form of the Necloth. Who knows, the other two Tribal Force themes may be connected as well! That would be one fun party of Duel Terminal descendants, as the lineage continues well into the future!

Table of Contents:

• Introduction to the Vylon Strategy
• Deck 1 | Alpha-Centric Vylon, or ‘Normal Vylon’
  • Strategy, Alternate Variants, Deck Example, Discussion
• Deck 2 | Duplication Union Vylon
  • Strategy, Alternate Variants, Deck Example, Merits of the Seventh One, Discussion
• Deck 3 | Sigma OTK
  • Strategy, Alternate Engines, Deck Example, Discussion
• Deck 4 | Omega-Centric Vylon
  • General Strategy, Combo Details, Deck Example, Discussion
• Conclusion
  • Common Misconceptions, Closing

Introduction to the Vylon Strategy:

If you are reading this, you have decided to invest your time into exploring one of the craziest archetypes in the game of Yu-Gi-Oh. Why crazy? Because there have been so many different decktypes attempted featuring the Vylon monsters, and yet, none of them have ever been considered competitive, quasi-competitive, or even a potential rogue option. Some have gone as far to say that the strategy is completely dysfunctional, even if it did have a strong basis of the ‘Equip mechanic’ to build upon. I disagree. While it is true that this deck is by no means the strongest deck to feature equip spells, Noble Knights and now the Bamboo Swords hold slight notches above the Vylons, they are definitely not as dead and forgotten as some might think. I realize it is my goal to try and convince you to try out a new deck, but if you believe in your heart that Vylons are worthless, let me stop you right here, because reading any further would just be a waste of your time. I’m only asking that you open your mind to the possibilities. Starting with the glamorous, the archetype features the only Synchro boss monster other than Red Nova Dragon that requires 2 Tuners. So let me return to the beginning and expand upon my initial claim: the Vylon archetype is one of the craziest archetypes because Konami literally threw every possible bone they could fine this deck’s way to truly create an archetype centered around the ‘Equip’ mechanic. Did you know that every single Vylon card to date has the word “Equip” in its lore? They may define and put into practice the term in vastly different ways, but my point stands. The ‘Equip’ mechanic is truly exhausted with the Vylons, there is not much else that even new additional cards could explore to this mechanic. Let’s start off with a quick analysis into what the term ‘Equip Mechanic’ entails.

First off, without the Vylon Equip Spells, there would be no thing as a ‘Pure Vylon’ variant. The Equip Spells all share a few qualities, first off they can only be equipped to Vylons, that’s a given. More importantly, each time one is sent to the Graveyard, you get a brand new “Vylon” SPELL card from your Deck. And this effect can’t miss the timing. While it would only be pretty good if it let you search out a new Vylon Equip Spell, it’s even better that it lets you search out any Vylon Spell, and there are definitely some power options outside of Equip Spells. In addition to having these chains of Equip Spells, you also have a great way to start the chain or don’t have any Equip Spell in your hand. Vylon Cube, literally the key facet to any Synchro-based Vylon deck, adds any Equip Spell from the deck to the hand when it is used for a Synchro Summon. While Cube may be a bridge for some other deck themes, like the Gemini Bamboo variant I described 3 articles ago, its best function has always been to grab an Equip spell and start chugging away.

Secondly, the next facet of the ‘Equip mechanic’ would be monsters that equip to another monster you control when they are sent to the Graveyard as a monster. (For future reference, I refer to this subclass of Vylon as Pseudo-Unions, as they are monsters that equip to others, despite not being a ‘Union Monster). This wave of 4 tuners, and for those who read the lore section, the 4 who merged with the monsters of the other tribes to empower their combat abilities (More Lore Connections!), took the ‘Equip mechanic’ to new heights, as any simple Synchro Summon would turn the Tuner into an Equip card right away for your new Synchro monster. While this matters much less for Sigma or Delta, it extremely important to have an Equip out of the gate for Synchros such as Alpha, Epsilon or Omega. Also, in tandem with the release of this wave of Equip tuners was Vylon Element. It may not be your best friend for all Vylon variants, but it is certainly an example of a card that can easily blow the power of a deck out of proportion for those that are not familiar with the theme. A free Special Summon from the deck every time an Equip dies by a card effect? Yes please. Tie that effect in with the effects of the Vylon Equip Spell cards to search out a new Vylon Spell, and bang, you just got yourself an equation for advantage. Many people see Element and jump on the bandwagon, but let me warn you now, IT IS NOT FOR ALL VARIANTS. Vylon Element only helps you as you have non-tuners to supplement it, and while you have Vylon tuners left in your deck, so therefore, this one Spell Card forced the innovation that spawned the OmegaTurbo Variant, which you can read more on under the Deck 4 section of this article.

Thirdly, how could we talk about the ‘Equip mechanic’ without discussing the Union monsters that the theme received. While this may seem like a useless tidbit of information to you, three of the Duel Terminal Tribes received support to try and push different subtypes. The Vylon received the Union support, Gishki got Spirit monsters, and Gem-Knights got Gemini monsters. While I definitely think that the Vylon got the short end of the stick in this augmentation with only two Union monsters, I have to say that they got the most unique support, as it completely spawned a new variant in itself, which you can read more about under the Deck Two section. This didn’t only help a specific variant though, as the Vylon theme received more level 4 non-tuners to work with. Not that any Vylon deck under the sun would consider running them, but they became options for all kinds of variants, opening even more new support options to provide a greater range of versatility to your deck.

Lastly, the equipping of monsters, not through their own effects, is the last piece of the ‘Equip mechanic’ puzzle that has is a major mechanic utilized by the Vylon theme, especially with their last few Hidden Arsenal and/or Duel Terminal packs. Firstly, Vylon Omega allows you to equip any Vylon in your Graveyard to fuel its own negation effect, or simply add more pseudo-Union Vylon monsters in order to augment its defensive capabilities. Albeit a tad different in execution, Vylon Disigma fills a similar role, except this member of the first batch of DT Xyz monsters allows you to equip any of your opponent’s monsters. Instead of using them for peaceful means, it uses them to enhance its own destructive abilities. As this was the most advanced form of equipping introduced to the archetype, I am quite intrigued as to how they would expand upon the ‘Equip mechanic’ if the Vylon tribe ever got any legacy support thrown their way, as what has happened with other DT archetypes in recent sets. But speculation is fruitless at this point, so let’s advance to the actual introduction for the different variants that I will be covering in this guide.

As mentioned above in the Table of Contents, there are 4 distinct variants featured in this article. Yes, I will be making puns on how this archetype plays with the Christian concept of God as the Alpha and the Omega, (which surprisingly was left in the TCG names of the Vylon), but there is always more to explore with this archetype, so bare with me as we dive into what is probably the complete unknown for a majority of this guide.

I decided to begin with a deck named after Vylon Alpha because that is the typical ‘normal Vylon’ deck you may come to expect, at least in terms of general strategy. I’ll make this clear right now, most Vylon decks cannot AND should not aim to summon Omega. It simply isn’t worth the investment for the trouble it gives to your consistency. So when I say normal Vylon, I am meaning a Vylon deck that aims to win through the power of Synchro Summons, boosts from Equip Spells, and winning the grind game, one turn at a time. And no, it does not use Vylons as the main non-tuners, it uses an Artifact suite. The second variant technically only features Vylon monsters in a supporting role, but it is a Union-centric variant that uses level 4 machine types to flood the field with monsters, go into Xyz combos for monsters such as Gear Gigant X or Vylon Disigma in which case, equipping the Vylon union duo to close out the game. The third variant is the most well-known Vylon variant, the Sigma OTK. While I definitely am taking some time to go over the strategy and the essence of the combos, I also introduce a really cool unique way of running the deck by using Cyber monsters as the non-tuners and giving the deck more search power to get going! Lastly, I don’t think I would have a role here much longer if I spent so much time writing a Vylon article and talking about the impact of Omega if I didn’t include a deck to summon him, therefore the basis for the last variant is known under many names: Omega Turbo, Element Loop, Element Synchro, or First-Turn Omega are all common names I have come across.

So I really do hope you find this article interesting, as I really do LOVE talking about the Duel Terminal tribes. I hope you learn quite a few new things about the Vylon, but most of all, I hope you get inspired to try something new, and try to make a difficult archetype fall into place for one of your fun decks! Let’s dive right into the first variant, as I’m sure you want to learn about some Alpha Artifacts. Whoops, name-dropped that title way too early…

Deck 1 | The Alpha…

Strategy:

Vylon Alpha variants, or the normal Vylon build, normally share a few key qualities, key plays and definitely key strengths. First off, they are the best representation of the well-rounded archetype known as the Vylons. Sure, Vylons have no draw power, no monster searching, weak spell or trap removal, poor non-tuners, and to top it all off, conditional monster removal. To cut this long story short, they may not have the cookie cutter archetype cards, because they are an archetype that relies on gimmicks. For example, the only non-tuner Vylon that can make a Synchro by itself is Vylon Hept. However, to utilize Hept, you have to already have a Vylon tuner equipped to a monster you control; it’s a perfect example of a ‘win-more’ card. Alright, so what special DO the Vylons have? I’ve stated this before, but I am going to say it again, they have resilience when it comes to Spell cards. With the ability to keep looping Equip Spells until you end on another Vylon spell you can make use of, the Vylon deck essentially never runs out of Equips as soon as you gain access to your first. Another cool tidbit is that any additional other than your first will slowly compound into getting you the full range of equips for your disposal, but that’s also where the main issue, or drawback of the deck resides. That’s right, you need to have a Vylon monster to use your Vylon Equip Spells.

Now let’s shift gears in a different direction. I’ve claimed multiple times so far that Vylons have quite terrible non-tuners, due to them all being highly situational. I never made any such claims about the Tuners, in fact, I believe I have gone out of my way to talk up the tuners of the archetype thus far. Vylon Cube immediately starts an equip spell chain if needed. Vylon Prism gives any Synchro or other monster you control a significant ATK boost when it goes to the Graveyard. On the same token, Vylon Stella turns a monster into a battering ram, attacking over anything. Vylon Tetra may have a weird level, but it defends your monster well postmortem. Now I think you’re ready to come to another realization, look over the Vylon synchros just one more time, and you’ll realize a common theme:

The non-Omega Vylon Synchros don’t need ‘Vylon’ non-tuners. It may seem simple and completely trivial, but it is truly the key to grinding the gears and figuring out just how the Vylon archetype functions. Sure, some of the Vylon Synchros require Vylon tuners, and that is fine because it is not stifling your deck to do so, whereas it does hurt your power plays when forcing you to run Vylon non-tuners. The tuners are the highlights of the archetype for Normal Vylon variants! This is the quick and simple reason why you’ll see a lot of ‘interesting’ and ‘funky’ variants and hybrids as the example decks, because you simply shouldn’t ever run Pure Vylon, EXCEPT if you are in a situation where you can’t fit non-Vylon LIGHT non-tuners, such as in the Omega Turbo variant, which I will be discussing later (under Deck 4).

So now that you’ve hopefully realized why a ‘Normal Vylon’ deck needs to be coupled with a LIGHT engine, we can finally dive into the builds such as Artifact Alpha, as I have hopefully proven to you that the Vylons need outside assistance to hit their full potential and put their main strengths into practice. You’ll see another example of this in the Deck Three section, so just a preview of what’s to come. Now that we’ve gotten that discussion out of the way, it’s time to introduce what archetypes couple well with the Vylon:

• Artifacts
  • This LIGHT archetype can definitely be splashed across the board, but instead of its controlling properties taking center stage, the Level 5 plays a key role for when using with the Vylon. Most Artifact Alpha variants use Prism, Cube and sometimes Stella to Synchro with the artifacts to make level 8 or 9 Synchros, most notably, Vlyon Epsilon and the namesake of the variant, Vylon Alpha. In addition, this opens the deck to having responses during the opponent’s turn with Artifact Sanctum, spell and trap removal through Artifact Ignition, and even floodgate options such as Artifact Scythe. You don’t have to be a control deck to splash in a few Artifacts, and this proves that. And the best part about this, you won’t even be tempted to make a VAT variant, as the Traptrix and Vylon aren’t good friends whatsoever!
• Galaxy (OCG)
  • This LIGHT archetype can play a similar role to the Artifacts, except in exchange for the control elements, you are choosing to run a more aggressive build that is better at multiple Synchro Summons, rather than just the one Synchro Summon. With the help of Galaxy Soldier, which fills the same role of a Level 5 LIGHT non-tuner such as the Artifacts, you can easily make one Synchro summon while preparing for the next, by adding a new Soldier to your hand with his effect. While you will eventually run out of resources if you keep Synchro Summoning turn after turn, you will have access to a wider range of unpredictable Synchro Summons. Another benefit to the Galaxy variant is that other Galaxy monsters can also change their level. With the help of Galaxy Wizard, Vylon Cube can become a Star Eater, all the while adding that all-important Equip Spell to the hand. You don’t need a big Galaxy suite of cards to make it work, just a dabble will enhance the Synchro capabilities of your deck.
• Cyber Dragons
  • Why yes, another LIGHT deck that summons Level 5 monsters consistently. You’ll definitely be seeing an example of this later on in the article, but the Cybers take the cake with the ease of summoning out Vylon Synchros, especially because Cyber Repair Plant can search out Vylon Cube. As you’ll see under Deck Three, Cyber Dragon Core literally is a 1-card OTK, as long as your opponent runs over him in battle. But in an Alpha variant, the ability of Core to bring out level 2, 4, or 5 non-tuners with its Graveyard ability give the deck the non-tuner versatility it needs to come out on top. It may not be the best engine for summoning Level 8’s or 9’s specifically, but the access to Catastor, Armades, and even Goyo make up for that.
• Lightray
  • Okay, I’ll admit it, this option is a bit extreme and very crazy theory-crafting, but I think it can make sense so I’ll take a stab at explaining my reasoning. The best non-tuners for the Vylon archetype have all seemed to meet the following criteria: LIGHT, Level 5, and easily Special Summoned. So why not boost the Level up to 6, giving the deck an even stronger play by going Cube into Alpha, by using Lightray Sorcerer and Lightray Madoor? “But the Vylon deck doesn’t banish”, I’m expecting you to say right about now, and that is 100% true. The Vylon Deck itself doesn’t banish its own cards. But other LIGHT non-tuners do, specifically Ghost Ship and Soul of Purity and Light. So while you would be somewhat decreasing your overall consistency by adding a few cards that may not work 100% of the time, you would be increasing your overall knockout potential once you got later into the duel. It’s a healthy risk that I believe certain Vylon variants can take, just because they don’t need to put 2 or 3 monster combinations together in order to make anything happen. Oh, and don’t forget the absolute most important part of running one of the LIGHT banishers, you now have access to the effect of one of the most powerful recursive LIGHT Synchros, Angel of Zera. Why does the LIGHT aspect mean anything? Because you still get to add an Equip with Cube, but if you choose to go with most of the other Level 8 Synchros, you’re losing that potential free search. Also, who wouldn’t want to run a card with that beautiful of art. I mean, there’s a reason why it is pictured later on in this article…
• Anything else you can think of
  • Be creative, try to come up with something new. I know I have additional ideas to explore for myself in the future, but just because I haven’t tested them doesn’t mean you shouldn’t even consider them. Constellar, Melodious, Batteryman, Hieratic just to name a few. I don’t think all of these would be perfect, but they are definitely somewhere to start. And that’s all that counts when you’re trying to reinvent the wheel for an older, forgotten or undervalued deck. That’s what I love doing the most, I don’t really enjoy being at the forefront of innovation for new archetypes, because everyone is doing that already. It’s being unique that teaches you more about deckbuilding, and in turn, that deckbuilding experience will carry over when you go to develop a brand new meta deck.

I realize most of you have probably been introduced to the Vylon archetype before if you are reading this, so I made the decision to go with crazy ideas for this article. I will say it now yet again, this article is just to kickstart your ideas and theory-crafting. I want to see you come up with something I didn’t include, because I think it would be in everyone’s best interest to see a brand new Vylon strategy come to light. Let’s take this opportunity to look at my example deck for this section, that way we have something concrete to look at when I am talking:

Completed Example Deck:

I’m sure you’ve all seen this portion before, so this time I’m keeping it short and sweet. The following link is a screenshot of my personal Artifact Alpha Lightray Vylon 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/XnZlE2Q.png.

Discussion:

So right off the bat, I want to talk about how I just went and combined possible variants I discussed earlier. This is an example of an Artifact/Lightray/Vylon variant, and I will be using it as a perfect example of just proving that something crazy can actually work. While the Artifacts make up the core engine of non-tuners in the early stages, I’ve found that in most duels, you burn through the artifact count rather quickly. Even if you only open a Double Cyclone and an Ignition, you already have a way to get an Artifact to the field. While the power of Artifact Moralltach has definitely dwindled in the face of everyone and their brother using Breakthrough Skill, I do not think it can be stated enough that it can work beautifully in the correct situations, and yet it still isn’t your main play that you have to shoot for every time. There is a time and place for everything. And even if your destruction is prevented, you just opened the way to stopping another trap from derailing your Vylon Synchro from taking over the duel by itself. And if they do freak out and drop Bottomless Trap Hole on your summon of an Artifact, out of fear what it may turn into, that is just another banished LIGHT ready to fuel Sorcerer.

While some of you may have quickly glanced at the decklist and quickly turned away in disgust as you reeled and tried to figure out how I could defend such a deck, I’m guessing a majority simply overlooked the last non-tuner that I haven’t quite brought up yet. And that is Photon Thrasher. I believe I can accurately define his role in three words: multipurpose utility non-tuner. Firstly, he’s a Level 4 non-tuner, which opens the Level 7 to Synchro Summons with Cube, hello Vylon Delta, Vylon Sigma, or Michael the Arch-Lightsworn. Until his inclusion, Vylons were stuck with higher levels, and with that, they were severely locking themselves out of consistent power plays available in the Extra deck for the Level 7 that could not be stopped or interrupted by Maxx “C” or Effect Veiler. Also, Thrasher can also be plucked out of the deck by Reinforcement of the Army, which is a bonus for decks that really need that extra non-tuner, especially now that Reinforcement has left the Limited list! You will be reading a more detailed analysis of the benefits of including Photon Thrasher in Vylons, later on in the article, down under Deck Three to be exact, where I discuss the merits of the best Level 4 LIGHT non-tuners for the Vylons. I won’t be discussing this further until that point, as there really is no competition between the different options for this (or the next) variant covered by this article. (For your reference, it is the bullet-pointed list in the Deck 3 subsection of this article).

So wouldn’t it be cool if the Vylons had more of a follow-up if their first Synchro Summon was overthrown by the opponent? While the purpose of the Vylons is to make a next-near invincible boss Synchro monster, there are always windows of opportunity for the opponent to mount a comeback. This is just another reason why you should be considering the Lightrays. Yes, I’m going to make as many stabs at this to convince you as much as humanly possible that these powerful yet situational boss monsters actually deserve a place. But another big point if your initial Synchro was Vylon Alpha, is that you do have an additional ‘epic’ moment to try and earn back your spot on top of the duel, and that is through one of the newest TCG imports, Cloudcastle. While the Castle and Phantom Fortress Enterblathnir is most popular for its inclusion in Karakuri or X-Saber whole hand&Deck banish loops, it also can make an impression for the Vylon tribe, as it gives you another option for reusing a fallen Vylon Alpha and giving him a higher purpose once they fall in battle or by effect. It’s quite fitting for a theme based on being angelic overlords sent to watch from the heavens and defend the world below, at least in my humble opinion.

Now by no means is this the best, nor is it the only way to run what I am calling a ‘Normal Vylon’ variant. While not TCG or OCG legal in either of the main territories, Elder God Noden is a great addition to the Vylon theme. Despite not being LIGHT or a Vylon monster, it definitely puts in work by getting additional Synchros without a Normal Summon. Special back Cube with his effect, go into a LIGHT Synchro monster such as Moonlight Rose Dragon, and then you get an equip, all for the small cost of an Instant Fusion. Or, if you need a Level 8 on the fly, you can go straight into any of Vylon Epsilon, Scrap Dragon, Stardust Spark Dragon, or even Hot Red Dragon Archfiend if you choose to bring back Vylon Prism. Lastly, I’m sneaking this point in here for those that actually read the whole article – Soul Charge works wonders in this deck. You have no idea how powerful it can be until you use it to set up a next near perfect lock, just at the cost of some Life Points. So if you are looking to develop your own Vylon variant, be sure to consider including Noden, that is if you are not playing in either the TCG or OCG.

So have I convinced you that a ‘Normal Vylon’, sometimes referred to as an ‘Alpha Vylon’, variant is the best Vylon variant out there? Probably not, but that’s why I started with this as the first. I’m guessing you’re still having trouble believing in the Vylon tribe as a whole, as the ‘Equip mechanic’ really never had its place in the spotlight. If you have enough faith that my crazy ramblings might change your stereotypes of this forgotten archetype by the end, bare with me. Besides, the first variant is always meant to set your expectations low, that way I can build up to a stunning grand finale! (KIDDING, KIDDING, the first deck is actually more competitive in my opinion than Deck #4, the Omega Turbo)

Deck 2 | Duplication Union

So let’s change gears a bit, because before discussing this variant, I have to be completely honest and come clean with you guys for a few sentences. When I said that the Vylon non-tuners were completely non-conducive to the strategy, that was within the boundaries of the ‘Normal Vylon’ deck, whose core identity is the ‘Equip mechanic’ and Synchro Summons. This variant takes on the alternate position, utilizing the unique aspects of the Vylon non-tuners, putting them to work for the mighty Vylon Disigma. And yes, before you start wondering how in the world I will be doing this, there will be no Synchro Summoning or Equip Spells in this variant. Now that we’ve gotten that out of the way, let me frame the situation for you: the best (and only) non-tuner Vylon monsters are either Machine or Fairy type, and thankfully, Machine-type monsters have a perfect way of being searched out of the deck: Gear Gigant X. While he may have been originally intended solely to be a boss monster for the Geargia and Gadget archetypes, he certainly plays a role in variants that easily get 2 Level 4 machine-type monsters on the field easily. So what’s the best way to get out 2 Level 4 machine-type monsters? That’s right, be an overachiever and summon three with the help of Machine Duplication!

Duplication has a simple effect; target a machine-type monster with 500 or less ATK, then Special Summon 2 more from the Deck with the same name. It is a glorified +1 spell that also thins the deck while preparing your Graveyard for future plays. And we’re just in luck, because there actually is a Vylon non-tuner that is Level 4, a machine-type AND has 500 ATK. That’s just the perfect combination for a deck that loves searching with Gigant while being able to abuse the wonderful Duplication. Introducing the first cornerstone of the deck, Vylon Pentachloro! What’s even better, Penta is one of the two Vylon Union monsters, and in fact, penta is the first and only Vylon monster that lets you destroy your opponent’s backrow, albeit only when you can destroy an opponent’s monster by battle. Sure, he can destroy the opponent’s monsters as well, but Epsilon already has that department covered, so why shouldn’t I focus on the unique aspects of this dude! While this seems detrimental to the overall theme of mass Special Summoning and a tad situational because you need another Vylon to equip to, the fact of the matter is, Union monsters come with their own set of cool support cards. Okay fine, 1 cool support card. But before we can get into that, let’s introduce you to the more powerful Vylon Union monster…

Vylon Tesseract is amazing because it gives the Vylons another new skill that normal builds simply can’t afford to utilize: the ability to Special Summon other Vylons without relying on off-theme support. Again, this only triggers when you can destroy an opponent’s monster by battle, but both Penta and Tesseract allow you to significantly turn the tides of the duel in one battle, as long as you set up correctly beforehand. That is the key point to gain from this. The abilities of the Unions have a time and a place; don’t force their effects if you can’t resolve them! If you haven’t noticed just yet, take another look at the Union requirements. Unfortunately, the Vylon Unions are restricted as to what they can equip to, so in this case, it is unfortunate that you have to equip to another Vylon. And let’s be real, you’re not going to be winning any battles with a 800 ATK Tesseract or a 500 ATK Pentachrolo. So let’s talk about our final Vylon non-tuner monster we can consider to run in this sort of variant, Vylon Hept. First off, it has 1800 ATK, which means that you finally will be able to win some battles. THANK GOD. Next up, it gives the ability to turn one of your equipped Union monsters back into monsters. While this may seem completely irrelevant, this gives you the chance to equip your Union, attack over something, then in Main Phase 2, de-equip the Union monster with Hept and go into a Rank 4 Xyz Summon. So in exchange for 2 monsters, you destroyed 1 monster in battle, you either destroyed another card or Special Summoned back another Vylon, then you made a Rank 4 Xyz which then can use its effect to gain you more advantage. That’s an AWESOME exchange and trade of resources, and it realistically can happen consistently.

But what if the 1800 ATK from Hept just isn’t enough? Well it’s time to break out your in-theme boss! Of course I’m talking about Vylon Disigma! This Xyz CAN be of vital importance after all, even though it is so different from the rest of the Vylon monsters, and that difference makes it a shoe-in in this sort of deck! And yes, it is worth the three material investment for one reason – You can make it with Machine Duplication and 1 other monster. Sure, it’s a 2-card investment, but it will pay off in the end, especially if you can successfully resolve its effect AND run over a monster in battle when equipped with one of the Vylon Unions. Yes, I am expecting you to easily equip a Vylon Union and resolve its effect, why would that be so difficult? And no, I’m not expecting you to waste another Normal Summon on it…

It’s time to introduce yet another card that makes this deck variant feasible, Union monster support. Now if you go to the card database and search for cards with the word “Union” in its card text, you are greeted with a grand total of 32 cards. Eliminate the cards that are there simply for the disclaimer: “(A monster can only be equipped with 1 Union Monster at a time. If the equipped monster would be destroyed, destroy this card instead.)” and you are left with a grand total of 6 cards. Wowza, that is mighty impressive, SIX whole cards that support an entire subclass of monsters. At least all of the Toon monsters are related to other Toon monsters in some way with their effects. Back on topic, two of them have pretty much the same effect, the ability to equip/de-equip a Union monster when needed. The third steals Union monsters your opponent controls, and the fourth is a monster that equips a Union monster to itself from the Graveyard, only if it destroys something in battle. So we’re down to 2 options, both of which are pretty decent at what they aim to accomplish, but we’ll only be focusing on the one pictured above, Roll Out! A pretty-much unconditional equipping of a Union from your Graveyard is nice, especially when that monster can still turn itself back into a real monster for an Xyz Summon. If only Prism and the other pseudo-Union monsters were actually real Union monsters, then maybe there would be a lot more potential for Vylon Synchro builds 🙁 As for now, we can only deal with the best we got, and that is the wonder of the machine-type monsters and the type’s lovely pool of support options!

Lastly, a small suite of Machine-type Vylons really doesn’t make a strong, consistent deck, especially since only one of the three has less than 500 ATK. So here’s a few possible options you can think about, that let you enhance your Xyz potential and consistency!

• Duplication Robots
  • First off, I’m officially dubbing this the official fan name of the theme of the two LIGHT/Machines that help out the Photon and Galaxy archetypes, Orbital 7 and Lillybot. First off, they both have 500 ATK, which is perfect for Duplication. Secondly, they can make Xyz Summons on their own without help from Spell or Traps. Sure, it may only be 2 material Rank 4s, but they can be just as helpful by setting up Gear Gigant to continuously search the Machine you may need. In addition, they are also LIGHT monsters, which gives this variant access to the LIGHT-material only Xyz monsters, such as Constellar Omega. Also, you can run Debris Dragon as the equivalent of a 4th Lillybot, which can be handy in certain situations. Lastly, you get to play with robots, and cute lil’ robots at that…. who could pass up the opportunity?
• Box/Auger
  • Welcome to OCG land for the next option. This is yet another 2-part combo of Machine-type monsters that have less than 500 ATK; however, this duo has drifted away from the LIGHT aspect of the deck that unlocks so much potential. While Ancient Gear Box and Geargiauger are not the best at Special Summoning or making Rank 4s, their role is better described as being advantage machines, as they can fuel tons upon tons of discard effects. But if you do choose to go this route, I suggest using Machina to round out the deck instead of Vylons, as the Machina and Box/Auger combo synergizes much more effectively. But if you do choose to stick with this combination in addition to Vylons, consider running discard-cost traps to round out your deck. Their conditions are easily fulfilled and such traps like Karma Cut, Raigeki Break, Divine Wrath and Phoenix Wing Wind Blast can all make a serious impact on your opponent.
• BOOKS (Star Seraph)
  • Alright, let’s return to the wonder of OCG-land, as these fairies are amazing at making 3-material Rank 4’s. While this means that you’d be forgoing Machine Duplication and Gear Gigant, this also leaves your deck more room for interesting tech options to augment your Vylon unions and Disigma. Alright, so now I’m imagining you’re thinking why you would ever consider running Vylons in a Seraph build, when even Pure Star Seraph can be better. Well, you certainly have more longevity with the Vylons and Unions, as you don’t peter out of mass Xyz combos as soon as you go through your Seraphs. But there is no comparison to the quickness with which the Star Seraphs prepare and execute Xyz Summons, which is the main factor they bring to the table. Also, this returns to the LIGHT aspect.
• Geargia
  • Alright, alright. I technically didn’t say pure Geargia yet. But the ability to snowball advantage off of armor, then explode with Geargiaccelerator is possible, but I doubt that adding a Vylon engine would improve the deck, because it really doesn’t add much that generic Ranks can handle in the Geargia deck. But yeah, just putting this option out there, as I could always be proven wrong, but I wouldn’t suggest trying to start with this type of variant with the Geargia!
• Superheavy Samurai
  • We’re back to another really cool and unique option, so let’s take some time to analyze this. First off, while Big Benkei really does improve the pure Superheavy Samurai deck, he’s not necessary in a build where you’re just using the Level 4s as an engine. Superheavy Samurai Blue Brawler is AMAZING in a Vylon hybrid, simply because he serves as a Duplication target and has a better, more effective combo through his companion, Superheavy Samurai Tenbin. There are many parallels I can draw between the Duplication Robots and this engine, but the main difference is that Tenbin makes his 2-material Xyzs off of any Special Summon or a Normal Summon, and he even has a built-in Special Summon, whereas the Robots rely on a Normal Summon. This makes Summoner Monk into Tenbin into Brawler another 2-card Vylon Disigma. Heck, it is even a 2-card Disigma if you Special Summon Tenbin with his effect then Normal Summon any Level 4 monster. While this sounds a lot better in theory, you do have a significant trade-off, and that is choosing to have 2 Machine Duplication targets instead of 3. I am fine with that, as Summoner Monk qualms any of my fears of dead-drawing spells, but it all depends on your playstyle and deckbuilding preferences! Also, with this sort of variant, you are running a TON of Special Summoning cards, so ensure your ability to explore even more!
  • Anything else you can think of…
    • Be creative, try to come up with something new. I know I have additional ideas for you to explore, but just because I haven’t tested them doesn’t mean you shouldn’t even consider them. Satellarknight, Batteryman, Melodius, Spirits, maybe even if you’re dropping the Duplication aspect, Lightsworn. I don’t think all of these would be perfect, but they are definitely somewhere to start, just some of my brainstorming and theorycrafting. After all, I love building from crazy ideas into coherent strategies; there is no better feeling when building a deck to start from something strange and end with a working strategy, even if you fail a couple times in the process of getting there.

As I said before, I’m hoping you’re seeing just how innovative you can be with an archetype that hasn’t been perfected yet. I’m sure when you first scrolled to the Table of Contents, you thought I was crazy. Maybe now you still think so, but let’s see how I tackled this variant in practice before we discuss further.

Completed Example Deck:

You’ve just barely got your feet wet, not even halfway done, and you’re already looking to netdeck? Meh, whatever, I’m expecting as much! The following link is a screenshot of my personal Duplication Union Vylon variant. 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/BYZchuK.png

Discussion:

You know, it took me until I wrote all the way through the rest of this section before realizing the last option listed above, the Superheavy Samurai, was the best choice, eventually becoming core to my Union Vylon variant. Mainly due to the lack of exposure the deck has had so far, but probably because I hadn’t considered the Superheavy Samurai in anything else beyond their own dedicated deck until this point. Now, I have seen the light and have a completely adjusted view of the engine. Before I claimed, that the Samurai could work as a more efficient Duplication Robot duo, working off of a Special Summon or Normal Summon rather than just a Normal Summon. But now after strenuously testing the deck, the key difference I failed to initially notice was that instead of just running Orbital 7 for its 500 ATK and Lillybot‘s effect, I was including a card that maintained combo potential by also adding utility in another way: the indestructibility that Blue Brawler brings to the table. There is one thing Shaddolls hate more than Shadow-Imprisoning Mirror, and that is the difficulty they have in monster removal on a whim, especially when the monster wasn’t Special Summoned. In order to get over Brawler, Shaddolls must commit a face-down Squamata or Dragon in order to remove it on the next turn, but they are not always going to have one of the two. While Shaddolls may be the bane of most other Xyz-based strategies, this variant really doesn’t worry all that much about the matchup, which is an interesting point, and it’s all due to Brawler and his additional utility.

Also, I’m sure you noticed that I included two other ‘unique choices’ for this specific example variant. The first is a Union monster I haven’t even discussed yet, and it isn’t even a Vylon monster! Introducing Trigon. Originally intended to be a Union that bolsters the Spaceships theme with the help of Delta Tri, this monster is effectively a fourth, less restricted copy of Tesseract. Why less restricted? Because it can equip to any Machine-type monster, most specifically Gear Gigant X. While it is not searchable by the latter, it gives Roll-Out! another use later in the duel when you have gotten your Trigon to the Graveyard in some way, by just equipping him to any Machine-type under your control. While you may prefer using Tesseract for the most part for the role of conditional Special Summoning, Trigon‘s ability to bring back one of the Vylon Unions when needed can be pivotal at the right times. On another note, let’s discuss the last card that snaked its way into the deck at 2 copies.

Rank-Up-Magic – The Seventh One at 2!!??

Now, before you have a fit and start laughing at my incompetence, if you want to read about how my original opinions on this decision were, I invite you to read the section in THIS ARTICLE I posted back in May, concerning the merits of two copies of RUM-7 (The specific section I am referring to is under the ‘Core Lineup’). While my general reasoning hasn’t changed, a few things have, so I want to highlight that. For those that don’t want to read an entire section in relation to Batterymen, here’s the nuts and bolts:

• Cons:
  • Better Chance of dead-drawing it
  • Can only Activate one of your copies during a duel.
• Pros:
  • Better chance to successfully resolve it during any given duel
  • Alternative uses if you do draw it outside of Draw Phase, namely Number 99: Hope Dragon, or Summoner Monk
  • The C101-C107 Xyz monsters are hella powerful. They are downright AMAZING.

So what’s changed? First, I’ve realized after extensive testing across a wide range of decks that RUM-7 that the option isn’t as restricted to decks that can spam Rank 4s on a whim as you may expect. But also, I quickly learned that you have to have room in the Extra Deck to consider it. Therefore, decks that typically stick with Rank 4 Xyz Summons are generally the best options when it comes to executing this option. Sure, I’ve said that before. But I never expected the C101 – C107 Xyz you select to vary as much as it does. To be honest, I have found variants that prefer any of them over the others, and some even run 2 different #101 – #107 and their Number C counterparts to have more options. And for this deck in particular, Number C104: Umbral Horror Masquerade is the standout pick. First off, the normal Number 104 isn’t out of reach for the deck, as 3-material Rank 4 Xyz Summons should be common. But more importantly, you want to be able to shut down disruptive monster effects when you go into your combos and when you want to trigger the effect(s) of your Vylons that activate when you successfully destroy a monster in battle. Sadly, there is no Machine-type C101 – C107, but Masquerade fills its niche extremely well. Also, don’t forget that there is a free Spel or Trap destruction involved when you summon C104, and that can assist in your successful attacks as well!

To conclude this section, I want to highlight the amount of Special Summoning available to this variant. 25/40 Main Deck cards include an effect to Special Summon another monster. 10/40 Main Deck cards include an effect to Special Summon themselves. And neither of those figures is counting the pseudo-Special Summon, Roll-Out! That is an insane amount of speed available to this deck. If there’s anything you pick up on about this strange variant, it is this: Vylon Duplication Union variants Special Summon like CRAZY. While this also means that floodgates can be one of their liabilities, that just means you have to get in control of the duel early to snowball your speed into considerable advantage over slower opponents. You may not believe me when I say that this is my favorite Vylon variant. But that is probably the truth, simply because it takes a small portion of what the Vylon can do, and makes it shine in blazing glory with the help of the correct support cards. But don’t rush to share my opinion just yet, as we still have 2 more variants to introduce you to! Next up is one you probably already know a bit about…

Deck 3 | SigmaOTK

Welcome to the third of the decks covered in this Vylon Mega Article, and this may just be the one that you were most familiar with when you were first starting to read this article. Considered by most to be hands down the best Vylon variant out there, because it is the only truly well-known variant, the deck’s strategy is simple and straightforward: Create Vylon Sigma, attack, Equip powerful Equip Spells from the deck with Sigma’s effect, and then win the duel. SigmaOTK variants are normally built for an extremely quick victory, using cards such as Upstart, Reckless and even sometimes One Day of Peace and Pot of Duality. That way, you can draw into your combo as soon as possible, then immediately burst down the opponent in one fell swoop, while still protected by either Trap Stun, Wiretap or some other similar card to prevent traps getting in your way. But let’s be honest, you can’t win with just one attack, even if you did have Honest and one perfect Equip Spell waiting in your Deck. So naturally, SigmaOTK users give themselves a second to win the duel by gaining an additional attack during the Battle Phase!

The Equips that Make it All Possible:

While we started out discussing a variant that utilized the Vylon Equip Spells effectively, let me be clear in that they have their time and their place. ‘Normal Vylon’ or what I call ‘Alpha Vylon’ variants easily run enough Vylon monsters in the Main Deck and run enough cards to gain access to Vylon Synchro monsters, therefore all of the Equip Spells can basically be used at any point. But Sigma OTK builds don’t have that luxury. A typical Sigma OTK build runs 3 Vylons in the main deck, 3 Vylon Cube, and then has a Sigma in the Extra Deck, and that is it. With such a low number of actual monsters that can be equipped with their themed spells, it makes perfect sense to dive into the world of generic Equip Spells. First on our list, the card that makes the OTK possible – Twin Swords of Flashing Light – Tryce. I know what you’re thinking, it’s bad enough that you have to run Equip Spells, so why would you want to run an Equip Spell that forces you to discard to activate it… Or you can just cheat and equip Tryce straight from the Deck Sigma style, without wasting a single card out of your hand. I like that plan a lot better. But Tryce doesn’t give any ATK boosts, in fact it lowers the ATK of Sigma by 500, so you really need some heavy artillery to win the duel. That ATK boosting power comes in the form of our last two relevant Equip Spells – Mage Power and Big Bang Shot.

I’m sure everyone has heard of both of these Equip Spells in your Yu-Gi-Oh! lifetime, but if you haven’t, Mage Power is the main legs behind your operation. A 500 ATK boost per Spell or Trap under your control is nothing to scoff at, especially when you are activating new Equip Spells straight from the Deck! Let’s play out the scenario. Even if you had absolutely no Spells or Traps on your field to start when you begin your Battle Phase with Sigma (which shouldn’t be possible, and I’ll explain why later), you get to attack once, Equip Tryce during the attack, attack again, Equip Mage Power during the attack. If your opponent couldn’t defend their life points with a monster, that’s 1300+2300 = 3600 damage. This is definitely an unrealistic scenario, but I hope it paints my point loud and clear – Sigma can deal half of your opponents Life Points, even in the worst of situations, like if your opponent had Dimensional Fissure or The End of Anubis on the field. Our last Equip Spell is Big Bang Shot, one of the few Equip Spells in the game that can be used offensively on the opponent’s monsters in the correct decks, such as those that run Mist Valley Falcon. Sadly, the Sigma OTK variant cannot afford such luxury in Main Deck options, but rather it uses the older Equip Spell to enable OTKs through the opponent’s chump-blockers. This may not matter at all to decks such as Satellarknight which rarely set, but it matters a ton to decks that love setting monsters with weak DEF values. Also, the 400 ATK boost from Big Bang Shot is a blessing, as it offsets the reduction from Tryce on the first attack if you happen to have Bang in your hand.

So why was the above situation not realistic? I’ve said it before, so you should have a good idea by now, but I’m going to shout this from the ceiling if I have to: you should be summoning Sigma with Vylon Cube. If you aren’t, you are doing it wrong. Why? Because Cube enables the OTK. Return to our original scenario, the ‘unrealistic one’, then add the free Mage Power Cube provides. The damage inflicted by Sigma jumps to: 2300 + 4300 = 6600. That’s still not enough for an OTK, but all it takes is one extra Spell or Trap set on your field for 2800+5300=8100. So to recap, for the Sigma OTK, you need the following: 1 Vylon Cube, 1 Level 4 LIGHT non-tuner Synchro Material, and 1 Spell or Trap card. The equation for the OTK is that simple. While being a Level 4 LIGHT isn’t too difficult, let’s try and narrow down the list of possibilities as to what you should consider running as non-tuners. NOTE, this section can apply to the other variants as well, just it is most relevant in such a combo-intensive deck like this variant:

• Photon Thrasher
  • Alright, it’s time to handle the age old question posed to those who dared to run the Vylon OTK deck. If you weren’t aware, the Vylon community divided itself almost down the middle, as different duelists valued different traits in their non-tuner. For years, the best non-tuner was debated between Photon Thrasher or Trident Warrior. Both were searchable by Reinforcement of the Army, both had their own ways of paving the way for a Cube Synchro Summon. The benefits of Photon Thrasher were clear – Your opponent could not chain Maxx “C” to any effect preceding its summon, therefore your opponent would only draw 1 card when you go for the SigmaOTK. On the subject of hand traps, this was also unaffected by Effect Veiler. Why were these two points so debated and such a point of contention? Because plain and simply, Photon Thrasher was released in ORCS. Ah yes, Order of Chaos, the pack that unleashed so much pain and torture into the game. As a result, hand traps were rampant and Vylon duelists saw themselves backed into a corner, because while Thrasher seemed good on paper, the other option seemed better.
• Trident Warrior
  • Enter Trident Warrior, the fearsome Level 4 non-tuner that had captivated the hearts of Vylon players everywhere since its release in DREV, Duelist Revolution. And why was this monster so important for so long? Because it was the first Level 4 LIGHT non-tuner that involved an element of Special Summoning, so that Vylon Cube and itself could be summoned to the field out of nowhere. It was the first appearance of the SigmaOTK without any prior setup! While Thrasher had many positives mainly due to its immunity to hand traps, Trident Warrior obviously had issues in that department. With a Trigger Effect that activated on the field, the poor guy was just kicked time and time again as the cardpool expanded. So why would anyone argue Trident over Thrasher? It’s simple, Trident could be Summoned even if you already controlled a monster. Trident could attack if you controlled another monster. That was also an important trait, especially when facing decks that you couldn’t risk leaving some of their weaker monsters on the field.
  • All of those arguments were in the past, of a past format with different tech choices, different requirements in order to remain competitive, and quite frankly a different setting. As Veiler was phased out for Maxx “C” in order to counter the infamous hand loop, duelists quickly learned the issues of trying to push through the “Maxx “C” Challenge”. Welcome to the Modern Era, and hand traps are not as prevalent at all. Yes, other options have replaced them, such as Breakthrough Skill and its double negation, and don’t forget Traptrix Trap Hole Nightmare and its negation and destruction of Special Summoned monsters… I would definitely argue that Trident holds more prevalence now more than ever, as you quite often need a second Synchro Summon to win the duel, whether it be for Michael, the Arch-Lightsworn for spot removal or a Ancient Sacred Wyvern to seal the duel in this era of Soul Charge heavy decks. But a newcomer has come onto the scene, and he just may post more of a threat than either Trident or Thrasher.
• Cyber Dragon Drei
  • What, you expected something different? I’ve mentioned Cybers before in the article, so why would I leave them out here, in their true moment of glory for the Vylon archetype. Don’t give me that look, as I’m already guessing that you’ve never heard of this pairing. What if I told you that with the release of the new Cyber Dragons, a 1-card OTK was born? Well it’s your lucky day, cause you’re about to learn the best kept secret of the Vylon tribe. Did you guess the OTK yet? It’s quite simple, as the Cyber Dragons added one amazing Spell Card, Cyber Repair Plant. That’s right, there is now a way to search out Cube from the Deck! How about now? Fine, if you haven’t yet figured it out, I’ll just tell you. Normal Summon Cyber Dragon Core, search out Plant. When your opponent runs over your poor and weak monster with any monster they own with greater than 400 ATK, use Plant to search out Cube, banish Core to Special Summon Cyber Dragon Drei from the deck, Normal Cube, Synchro Summon for Sigma and follow the steps I outlined above on how to activate your Equip Spells to inflict enough damage. Note that this OTK just needs you to start with Core, as you can have a full hand of traps at the disposal and still manage to OTK if you draw Core. It’s that neat.
• Anything else you can think of…
  • And we’re back to this section yet again; however, this time I have a laundry list of options for you to possibly consider. First up, Trap monsters such as Quantum Cat or Swamp Mirrorer, as they give you monsters from the Spell and Trap card zones, and quite literally at that. I would also imagine that Bujin Hirume would be an excellent choice as well, as you could build a Bujin deck that centered around sitting on Bujin Yamato until your opponent runs over him and you can explode into the OTK. Next up, Lightsworn, as there are quite a few nifty combos, such as Foolish Burial on Wulf, Lightsworn Beast, and you would also have a last resort in Synchro Summoning Sigma using Raiden and Lumina, if you should ever need to Synchro without Cube. Maybe you can even try out a Chronomaly variant when all of the cards hit the TCG, although I’m not sure as of now how that could work. Let me just urge you once more, try something new and unique. Try something that will make you feel weird about trying the first time, because sometimes the best ideas in practice can seem like the worst when they begin floating around in your head. I know, I’ve been there. Many, many, many times.

Alright, you know the pattern by now. I realize I’ve already described the OTK above, but the next example deck just shows you how to put that Cyber Sigma OTK into practice. Normally a 1 or 2-card OTK is extremely limited on the basis that the other cards it requires are utter crap, but the neat thing about this specific OTK deck is that you can lean on either the Cybers to make individual plays or rely upon getting a Trident + Cube combo ready! Let’s check it out, shall we?

Completed Example Deck:

You’re quite brave for venturing this far into the unknown. And I really do appreciate people taking the time to read all of this. The following link is a screenshot of my personal Cyber Sigma OTK 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/nlQ4Bga.png

Discussion:

Let’s take a look-see, shall we? The first thing I want you to notice is the small monster count, because above all else, that may be the most important aspect of this sort of variant, the concise decklist. Vylon Sigma is weird, because it doesn’t like to have friends – it likes to play alone. It’s not allowed to have friends when it attacks, because otherwise, it cannot equip its free Equip Spell straight from the deck. Therefore, by running a minimal monster count, you are reducing your potential to dead draw tons of monsters, which you just can’t use with Sigma… What I chose to do in my example decklist is show you an example of a generic ‘Turbo’ variant, simply because the Upstart Goblin and Reckless Greed combo takes up a grand total of 6 slots with some help from One Day Of Peace. The prior two cards give the deck much needed assistance in getting to your combos and protection cards as quick as Yugioh-ly possible. While it is true that recklessly drawing through your deck could be a detriment, you really should never use a copy of Reckless if you do not have any others in your hand or on your field. I really hate repeating myself, but I have to say this again – You only need 1 card to OTK, therefore any additional cards are just there to help you survive long enough. One Day embraces this philosophy by giving you an extra turn to live, while advancing more quickly towards your endgame.

What I chose to do with my variant is give the deck some extra oomph in the form of our lovely tech option for Cyber Decks, DNA Surgery. While many pure Cyber Decks choose to run this card due to having so many Cyber Dragons at their disposal, I choose to run it because it is a great way of mass clearing the field in addition to disrupting a few top-notch strategies. Bujin players literally will hate your guts for flipping DNA on turn 1 and calling machine; they can’t make any plays without somehow getting a Bujin surviving a turn so they can go into a Rank 4 Xyz Summon. Or unless they draw lucky! If you play your cards right, you should never have to worry about that happening. While DNA does not offer perfect monster removal, as you still end up with a monster on your field which inhibits your OTK, you don’t have to just end with a Chimeratech Fortress Dragon with only 2000 or 3000 ATK… Because Vylon Cube just loves having that additional friend to really push its Synchro capability out of this world! By Synchro Summoning with your purple non-tuner you so conveniently left on the field… for nothing other than Star Eater! So by Chimerateching, yes it is a verb now, you are getting yourself a step towards victory, and one step further from requiring the Sigma OTK. Don’t forget, Star Eater is a LIGHT, therefore you still get that free Equip Spell from your deck. This time, you just aren’t going to be equipping the spell right away. Remember, Eater becomes unaffected during the Damage step when he attacks, so simply attack with its natural 3200 ATK for massive damage, without needing the aid of an Equip Spell. Any sort of damage adds up quick, especially if you still have a Core in your Graveyard to attempt an OTK if they manage to defeat your Eater.

Lastly, I want to highlight the impact the ‘trap prevention’ spell and traps can offer you. As soon as you equip your first Mage Power to Sigma, drop your Forbidden Dress to ensure that nothing short of a Memory of an Adversary can stop your attack. Or, if you prefer to live on the edge, flip up Trap Stun or Wiretap if you opponent responds to your attack with a Trap Card. Remember, Wiretap is prevalent across many different decks at the moment, it is one of those ‘flavor of the month’ tech options that is probably here to stay for a while, so be sure that you are extremely careful about your opponent flipping their own counter trap to negate your negation. So in terms of protection, Forbidden Dress may just be your #1 option, as many decks do not have a way to stop a Quick-Play Spell card such as that, outside of when facing the Tellaknights with their amazing Stellarnova Alpha. In addition, Forbidden Dress also prevents Fire Hand from wrecking havoc on your Sigma!

So before advancing to the final variant covered in this Mega Article, I would like you to take a second and see the wide range of options available to you as a fledgling Vylon duelist. You have been exposed to the ‘Normal Vylon’ build, with tons of variety that can be tuned to whichever environment you will be playing in. You have been exposed to a unique Union Duplication Vylon variant that exploded with Xyz Summons left and right, all based off of their insane Special Summoning prowess. And now you’ve seen a quick and easy-to-accomplish OTK style variant with little room for error once the pieces to your combo fall into place. You’ve seen such a wide range of variants, and this last one is no exception. Because while the other decks were built and structured so that you had consistency despite having versatility, this last deck throws consistency out the window for pure power and a pure lockdown! But there is even versatility here, this is not a turbo deck where you either win with Omega or die trying, you always have more options. So whenever you’re ready, advance to Deck 4, otherwise known as the Vylon boiled down to their highest risk, highest reward variant. It’s fitting that their actual boss monster makes its first appearance here, right? Well, non-malevolent boss, depending on your point of view.

Deck 4 | …And the Omega

Thus marks the beginning of the end, especially for any opponent that attempts to stand in your way when you open well. Because if Omega is successfully summoned, it’s going to take one mighty miracle to get them back into the game. OmegaTurbo or Vylon Element Spam is the variant that aims to put Vylon Omega safely onto the field on their first turn. Quite frankly, very few decks can actually overcome a monster that negates the activation of monster effects, let alone monster negation that is effectively for free, since the Vylon Equip Spells replace themselves. On top of that, Omega negates while being indestructible by battle or card effect once per turn, through the effect of the pseudo-Union Vylon Tetra, that cannot be targeted by Trap cards, due to Vylon Segment, and that cannot be affected by Spell or Trap cards when attacking, due to Vylon Filament. Oh, and did I mention that he blows away all Normal Summoned monsters your opponent controls upon his Synchro Summon? So why would such a powerful card slip under the radar for so long? The fact of the matter is, even in this age of faster and faster generic options, variants designed to summon this massive powerhouse are simply too slow or dubbed as being too inconsistent. If for some reason you did decide to run a Vylon non-tuner in a ‘Normal Vylon’ variant, just to have the option of summoning out Omega, you would need 2 Vylon Cube and your non-tuner on the field, and that is one hefty investment on top of being highly impractical. So how would this ‘impractical’ situation occur for any Vylon variant if it can’t even happen in the normal build?

So I’ve referred to Vylon Element multiple times thus far, but this is the only variant that it can truly shine. If you’re asking why I haven’t explicitly brought it up until now, the better question is: why wouldn’t you consider running a card with this much power, especially in an Artifact variant that doesn’t mind destroying your own Spells or Traps? The quick answer is that it requires you to run an insane amount of tuners to get the full effect, even though it can be plucked out of the deck by any of the Vylon Equip Spells. But more importantly, it is a pain and a half to trigger. “(except during the Damage Step)” is the saddest part to this card. So you cannot Special Summon a Vylon tuner when a Vylon monster equipped with one of the Vylon Equip Spells falls in battle. And since it is a “When…you can” effect, you cannot Special Summon a Vylon tuner when an Equipped Vylon monster is used for a Synchro or Xyz Summon. Or destroyed by Fire Hand or Ice Hand. Or when the activation of your Equip Spell is chained to by Mystical Space Typhoon, Artifact Ignition, etc. So how in the world can you consistently trigger Element, time and time again? The answer is in another Equip Spell, one that hasn’t seen the light of day in literally any other deck – Rod of Silence – Kay’est.

The nice thing about Kay’est is that it negates and destroys any other Spell that targets the equipped monster. Hint hint, Equip Spells target! So when you have Element out, each time you activate a Vylon Equip Spell, you get to add a new Vylon Spell from your deck to the hand, AND Special Summon a Vylon tuner from your deck. And you can keep doing that until your field is full with monsters.

How to Execute the Best Omega Element Loop:

1. Summon a Vylon Synchro, preferably Sigma or Delta; however, Epsilon is fine if you cannot get either of the level 7s.
2. Equip Kay’est to the Synchro, and activate Element
3. Activate your first Equip Spell, it is destroyed
4. With its effect, add a new Equip Spell with a different name and Special Summon Cube
5. Activate your second Equip Spell, it is destroyed
6. With its effect, add a new Equip Spell with a different name and Special Summon Cube
7. Activate your third Equip Spell, it is destroyed
8. With its effect, add a new Equip Spell with a different name and Special Summon Tetra (if you have a Level 7; otherwise, Special Summon Sphere)
9. Activate your fourth Equip Spell, it is destroyed
10. With its effect, add Vylon Component and Special Summon Vylon Sphere
11. Xyz Summon Mechquipped Angineer using both Vylon Cube. (This is to prevent traps, such as Bottomless Trap Hole or Traptrix Trap Hole Nightmare, from destroying Omega before you can setup its protection.
12. Activate Vylon Component, it is destroyed, then you add Vylon Matter from your deck to the hand and Special Summon Vylon Prism
13. Synchro Summon Omega using your Vylon Synchro, and two tuners.
14. Both Sphere and Tetra will activate, pay 1000 and equip both of them to Omega.
15. Activate Sphere, equipping Vylon Segment from your Graveyard.
16. Activate Omega’s effect, equipping Sphere back, then activate it again, equipping Vylon Material from your Graveyard
17. Win the Duel.

With the above combo, you end your turn with:

• MONSTERS: Vylon Omega, Mechquipped Angineer, Vylon Prism
• BACKROW: Vylon Element, Vylon Segment, Vylon Material, Vylon Tetra
• HAND: Vylon Matter + Additional card(s) based on your starting hand.

That is an awesome way to start out a duel, and it just gets better from there as you add back another Equip Spell with Sphere on the next turn, OR if there is a problem card on your opponent’s side of the field, first activate Vylon Matter to destroy it before equipping back a fourth Vylon Spell. There is an extremely low chance that your opponent will ever get around him, except through a perfect hand and smart management of chains. And in the latter case, they would need to banish or bounce him without targeting. He is essentially a boss-lock in himself. Just remember when you go negating effects, drop the Material first, then Segment, then Tetra, that way, you preserve your protection for as long as possible.

Unlike the other variants, there is a lot less room to maneuver in terms of tech options for OmegaTurbo variants, mainly because of the issues and requirements that Vylon Element brings. Most of your ‘design choices’ will come down to what ratio of non-tuners and speed you will choose to run, since you really do need that initial Vylon Synchro to really head straight for the omnipotent Omega. For example, whether you choose to go for more cards like Upstart Goblin, One Day of Peace, or whether you choose more options to maximize consistency, such as Genex Neutron or running multiple copies across Thrasher, Trident or Summoner Monk. One neat point I’d like to make is that the ‘Cyber’ engine that was heavily featured in the last variant covered by this article can also make an appearance here as an effective non-tuner engine. Along the same vein, Cyber Dragon Core could be used to start off the Vylon summon chain all by himself; however, I do not know exactly how that would fare, especially without the added support of trap cards. It does offer an interesting aspect that the Cybers could then allow the 4 Vylon tuners featured in this deck to Synchro Summon any Leveled monster ranging from 3 to 8, not that it would happen often for the lower levels, but it would be possible. This is all simply another variant to consider, so for the first time for this article, let’s dive into an example deck that is the ‘typical’ OmegaTurbo or ElementLoop Vylon variant, instead of being something crazy.

Completed Example Deck:

You have suffered for quite some time through the wonder of this Vylon Mega Article. I tip my hat to you, and implore you to push forward and complete your quest to read this monster of a guide. Just imagine how long it took for me to get through writing this if you are thinking it is taking way too long to read. Anyways, you know the drill by now, this is just something to kickstart your deckbuilding creativity, and a way for you to see the deck on paper at least – http://i.imgur.com/NOaETaZ.png. Oh, and by the way, you should definitely try to fit Soul Charge into all of the other variants in this guide, I just chose to leave them out of my personal builds, but the generic Rekindling is awesome in this deck!

Discussion:

So where do I begin? You’ve learned about the goal behind the deck, and you’ve learned how to perform the intricate combo to succeed at your strategy, so it is finally time for us to talk about what you CAN do without Omega. Many decks that aim to turbo to a particular ‘boss monster’ generally fail because they simply do not have alternative options at the ready in the case that their master plan crashes and burns. First off, even if you do not have Element, you can sort of use the ‘Sigma OTK’ style of summoning Trident or Thrasher, Normal Summoning Cube, then Synchro Summoning out Vylon Sigma. Cube then lets you add an Equip Spell to the hand. If you have a Vylon Equip Spell in your hand already, add Kay’est so you can search out Element. If you don’t have either in your hand, just add something like Vylon Material to your hand. Activate it, then when you declare an attack with Sigma, equip the other from your deck. Since Equip Spells continuously target your monster, the Vylon Equip automatically blows up, giving you Element straight from the deck. Note that this is just another way to go into Omega if you have a Vylon Equip Spell in your hand in addition to Cube + non-tuner, just not an Omega before the Battle Phase.

The alternative to the above option that you can always lean upon, is summoning out Vylon Delta. While it may be the overly passive option, an Equip Spell each turn cannot hurt you in the long run. The sad part about Delta is despite the fact that he is a pretty good Vylon Synchro monster, he is simply overshadowed by Sigma in just about every way. Sigma can Attack while gaining free Equips, and it even has its own OTK. Delta just sorta exists, almost like a slower yet more calculated and consistent Power Tool Dragon. That can also be used to Synchro Summon into Omega. I haven’t brought up the Morphtronic’s unofficial boss monster until now, but he is definitely something you need to understand before running off to play with the Vylon, so be sure to read into the ‘Common Misconceptions’ section under Conclusion!

But let’s talk about some things the deck can specifically do without Omega. What happens if you just have Element, Summoner Monk, and some other Spell Card? That combination may be not be an Omega, but it sure can be devastating. Normal Summon Monk, ditch your Spell card to Special Summon Vylon Prism from the deck. Activate Element, then Synchro Summon for Scrap Dragon. Next, Prism’s effect activates, equipping itself to Scrap. Then you can use Scrap Dragon’s effect, targeting Prism (now an Equip card) and a card your opponent controls. After both are destroyed, Element triggers, allowing you to Special Summon a Vylon tuner of your choice from the deck. I may be no expert, but in many cases like this, going into Vylon Alpha is a great choice by using your Sphere from the deck, especially if you already have 2 Equip Spells in your Graveyard, cause Alpha alone is a pseudo-lock with Segment and Material. Just remember, this play started from a Monk and any Spell when you got an Element available to you.

Another good play with this deck is simply being passive. I know, it sounds weird for a turbo variant, but don’t try to force plays that aren’t there! You may have some combos available to you, but sometimes it is just best to Summon Genex Neutron and add a Cube during the End Phase. Just as Bumi said in Avatar, my absolute favorite TV series ever, “Neutral jing when you do nothing! … It involves listening and waiting for the right moment to strike.” While such advice isn’t exactly the same in Yu-Gi-Oh!, as every decision to wait an extra turn is playing with fire if your opponent is playing a deck that can easily explode and OTK, the point and reasoning is sound. Take your time to let your options develop, there is nothing worse than a botched combo to ruin your day, or more importantly, your duel.

Even in the most rigid of structures and goals, the Vylon tribe definitely fits the description of being a versatile archetype, and this deck is a perfect example of that. Most decks that run 25 archetype cards consider themselves quite lucky to have a wide range of options available to them over the course of the duel. So just remember a few key tips – Play smart and under no circumstances should you ever give up on your deck! Because you never know when the top-decking gods might throw you a bone.

Conclusion and Thoughts in Summary

Three Common Misconceptions about the Vylon Tribe:

1. Power Tool Dragon is a good option in the deck – FALSE
   • Just because Power Tool Dragon is a Synchro monster centered around Equip Spells, that does not mean he is a good fit for a Vylon deck. First off, he is EARTH, not LIGHT, and second he is Level 7. This means that sure, while you can easily summon him, you will not get the Equip Spell from your deck when you Synchro Summon with Vylon Cube, which should be your main way to get a Level 7 monster onto the field. Simply Synchro Summon Moonlight Rose Dragon or even Lightning Warrior instead, and you still get an Equip Spell out of the mix, without making it a random choice between three.
2. They will not ever become more competitive, as their equip theme is too linear – FALSE
   • I spent almost the entire of Deck 1’s discussion talking about how this is false, but let me cover the main points again. First, as the game increases in speed, especially for generic options like Noden, Synchro Summoning variants will slowly get more and more competitive. The initial push that accompanied the start of Zexal with all of the “This monster cannot be used as a Synchro material monster” clauses is dying off. We’ve even past the point of level-changing monsters having that restriction, just look at the progression from the Gagaga to the Mecha Phantom Beasts. So with more inherent summon lower leveled monsters, the wider the range of possible tech options for the Vylon tribe becomes.
3. Vylon does not even have part of its power locked away by the F&L List, so it is doomed to obscurity – MOSTLY FALSE
   • Sure, while it is completely true that the Vylon do not have any direct support locked away, its more along the lines of what is being added to the Forbidden & Limited list that actually benefits them. Call me crazy, but all 4 of the above variants are very happy that so many generic traps have been smited away by. And don’t get me started on a format without worrying about a Heavy Storm wiping all of their Equips away, be it Union, pseudo-Union, Element, or Equip Spell. In addition, the Vylon are affected a lot less by the common traps used nowadays than some other decks. They still get their Cube search if a Synchro is bounced away by Time-Space Trap Hole; Breakthrough Skill can really only stop Alpha or Omega’s initial Equip; If it is a Vylon variant featuring the Vylon Equip Spells, the three Dimensional Prison can be ignored due to Vylon Filament OR Vylon Segment… It’s just a good scene at the moment for the Vylon to flourish as a fun, casual variant, even if you do run into a few meta decks along the way.

Closing:

Thank you very much for spending your precious time learning about the Holy Machines known by few. You may not be indoctrinated into loving the archetype, you may not even believe that some of the variants I posted actually work. But since you’ve gotten this far in the article, you’ve clearly indicated that you have some thought that the theme might actually have some potential. In this article, you’ve seen decks that are extremely versatile, decks that have an insane amount of deckbuilding leeway, but most of all, decks that nobody is comfortable with. Odds are, you will be hard-pressed to find 1 out of 20 people that can tell you what most of the Vylon Synchros do. I bet most wouldn’t even know Omega’s effect, despite being one of the most powerful Synchro Monsters ever released. But while I write here bidding you adieu, there is one final thing I need to touch upon – Push the boundaries of the game and redefine what it means to be a top-notch deck! Mind games play a major role in tournaments, especially if your deck’s functions are solid in theory and practice, while still being a new opponent. You just gotta surprise your opponent, and the tables are already tilted in your favor.

Like a torch passing to the next generation, the Equip Spell mechanic may have already been passed to the Noble Knights to continue its legacy, but the Vylon tribe will never be forgotten as the true masters of the Equip mechanic.

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This has been an installment of the recorded histories of the Terminal World.

Data Access Log:  ____Batel_____

Data Manifestation Code: _Helio.200.005_

 

PS: If you can figure out what the code actually means for these DT Mega Articles I may continue writing, I’ll give you a cookie!