Top 3 Overlooked YuGiOh Engines in 2021!
The Yu-Gi-Oh TCG is entering of one of its busiest and most hype-filled stages in years. Due in part to factors like shifts in release dates and a poorly planned roster of products, the market has entered one of the most volatile points we've ever seen. The recent release of the 2021 Tins of Ancient Battles will soon be followed up with the introduction of Legendary Duelists: Synchro Storm, which will be followed (in less than a week!) with the entry of Burst of Destiny early in November. You'll have two weeks to catch your breath after that- and not a day more- with the back-to-back release of Premium Gold: El Dorado and Brothers of Legend! 5 products across 2 months make for quite the hectic schedule which'll milk anyone's wallet dry if they aren't particular about what they buy.
Amidst the chaos and hype for new strategies to come, the decks of old are offered the backseat and quickly become lost in the sands of ancient metas, only to be reflected upon as milestones in the game's history: or so we're made to believe! Falling demand for these tried and tested strategies not only makes them cheaper to build but adds an element of surprise to your deck as deck-building strategies become geared towards newer cards. We've assembled a list of three engines which have been blatantly overlooked in anticipation of the upcoming meta. Grab them while they're you can and use them to devastating effect when they're least expected! These are the Top 3 Overlooked Engines in the current format of YuGiOh:
1. Artifacts
2. Speedroids
3. Future Fusion and Co.
1. Artifacts
A 3-6 card engine for all your floodgate needs, Artifacts constitute a formidable force not to be taken lightly. Capable of bringing the current meta to a grinding halt, this engine is more potent now than ever before, with only Drytrons possibly managing to play through the oppression of these notorious cards. With instant access to a Winda and Imperial Iron Wall, this engine confers a significant restrictive boost to any established strategy with minimal interference to their normal playstyle. This engine is extremely compact and grows increasingly affordable as demand falls and supply appears falsely inflated. The following is all you'll need to wreak havoc on decks like Shaddolls, Virtual World, Tribrigades and Dinosaurs:
•0-3 Trap Trick
•2-3 Artifact Sanctum
•1-2 Artifact Scythe
•0-1 Artifact Lancea
•0-3 Rank 5 Targets like Artifact Durendal and Constellar Pleiades, etc.
If you thought Normal Summon Aleister was a 1 IQ play, wait till you see Set Sanctum Pass, because that's exactly what you'll be doing. As soon as your opponent draws a card (or commits to an ED play), flip up Artifact Sanctum and use its effect to Special Summon Scythe. As soon as Scythe hits the field, its effect triggers to block your opponent from so much as touching their Extra Deck, giving you access to a Winda-like effect for a turn and bringing their strategy to a grinding halt. The absolute lack of a learning curve makes this engine easy to splash in whatever deck or side deck that has the space to accommodate it; it's just that good!
Flexibility is also something the engine boasts, as Artifact Lancea is another valid target for Sanctum, capable of blocking all banishing effects for the duration of your opponent’s turn! Invoked, Dinosaur and Tribrigade players will automatically lose access to their main strategies and be forced into making sub-optimal moves and end their turn. A pre-emptive Lancea also turns any Pot of Desires/Prosperity/Extravagance in your opponent’s hand into bricks, rendering their consistency moot. Access to Rank 5s (if you have 2 artifacts on field, which happens way more than you think!) also adds another layer of power to the engine.
Finally, keep in mind that Sanctum is never truly a dead card. If your opponent is foolish enough to Feather Duster or Lightning Storm it into the GY, Sanctum will allow you to claim revenge by destroying a card they control, discouraging your opponent from blindly destroying your backrow in future games! Set Artifact monsters will also trigger and activate their effects when destroyed, further discouraging blanket destruction effects by your opponent! To add further consistency to the engine, you may opt to play Trap Trick as well, offering you 6 cards (3x Trap Trick + 3x Sanctum) to block out your opponent from a whole turn! Statistically, this amounts to a guaranteed spot for the engine in your hand at the start of every duel!
You should also note that the release of Destiny Hero: Destroy Phoenix Enforcer in Burst of Destiny also allows you to set an Artifact monster and then destroy it yourself (along with an opponent’s card!) to trigger its effect. All in all, the Artifact engine is one that only grows in power with time!
2. Speedroids
A simple and compact engine that hasn't seen competitive presence since early Zoo format back in 2017, Speedroids remain a fan-favourite strategy that stands to gain even more power with the release of Legendary Duelists: Synchro Storm. In addition to adding new cards to their arsenal, the booster will also offer another opportunity for players to get their hands on existing cards for the archetype, granting you another chance at building the engine for a low price point! That's not to mention the debut of more Speedroid cards in Brothers of Legend as well! All you need for this engine are the following cards:
•0-3 Speedroid Scratch
•1 Speedroid Terrortop
•1-2 Speedroid Taketomborg
The basic strategy remains unchanged: Normal Summon Terrortop and get out a Taketomborg from your Deck to go into any Link 2 or Rank 3 monster of your choice. This grants you easy access to cards like Verte Anaconda to perform a Fusion Summon from Deck (think Red Eyes Dark Dragoon, Shaddolls and Destroy Phoenix Enforcer) or an Xyz monster to attack your opponent directly (think Number 47: Nightmare Shark) and go into an instant Zeus to clear your opponent’s field. Essentially, the engine functions as an additional enabler for some of the most powerful generic plays in the game.
The placement of Terrortop on the Limited list greatly reduced the consistency of the engine and effectively neutered its formidable presence in the meta at the time. Fortunately, the upcoming release of Speedroid Scratch in the Animation Chronicle (Brothers of Legend in the TCG) has given the strategy a significant boost in consistency, as the spell can pitch another copy of itself (or any other speedroid card) to fetch you a Terrortop Straight from the deck, giving you 3 more names to get it in hand.
3. Future Fusion and Co.
One of the single most powerful Yu-Gi-Oh cards in the history of the game, boasting a notorious run in the Forbidden list and mandating the effection of an errata, Future Fusion is now regarded as a slow card, due to its effect taking 2 turns to Fusion Summon its target. While this limits its use in several decks, it still finds a suitable niche in a few strategies where its effect to mill cards straight from the deck is more important than its ability to actually fusion summon a monster. Fortunately, its reprint in the upcoming Cyber Strike Structure Deck will allow for players to pick it up with the "greatest of ease" along with the coveted Infinite Impermanence.
Where this card truly shines is in decks which can use it to mill an abundance of monsters: Quintet Magician allows it to mill 5 Spellcasters straight from your deck, Five Headed Dragon gives you an opportunity to do the same with Dragons, Chimeratech Rampage Dragon lets you mill Cyber Dragon monsters and Cyberdarkness dragon accepts 5 Cyberdarks just fine, letting you either set up your GY with monsters or to trigger their effects as they're sent to their doom.
While not totally splashable, the power boost this engine offers is immense. In shaddolls, it allows you to draw 1 card, search 1 shaddoll monster, special summon a shaddoll monster face-down, special summon a Performage Trick Clown and destroy a spell/trap your opponent controls- all after waiting a single turn. If it manages to survive on the field for another turn, you get a 5000 Atk body in the form of Quintet Magician, which destroys all cards your opponent controls, setting you up for an overwhelming victory. Who says Winda is your only win condition?
Included in a Chaos strategy, Future Fusion can be used to mill cards like Galactic Spiral Dragon, Nebula Dragon, White Dragon Wyverbuster, Absorouter Dragon and Lightpulsar Dragon (there's many other options too!) to not only set up the field for several combos, but also to fill the GY with Light and Dark monsters to facilitate the summon of powerful chaos monsters like Chaos Dragon Levianeer, Black Luster Soldier Envoy of the Beginning, The Chaos Creator, and so on. No other single card comes close to garnering as much advantage in such strategies!
Future Fusion isn't splashable in just any deck, but the ones it fits in can use it to devastating effect! The upcoming Destiny Hero: Destroy Phoenix Enforcer is also another prime target for this card, as even if it's destroyed, it will simply return to the field by its own effect. In the end, Future Fusion just might end up becoming a budget replacement for Fusion Destiny, a card which has undergome significant inflation in price following the reveal of Phoenix.
That's all we've got for you this week, duelists! Join us next week for more exciting articles and updates on everything anime!
Amidst the chaos and hype for new strategies to come, the decks of old are offered the backseat and quickly become lost in the sands of ancient metas, only to be reflected upon as milestones in the game's history: or so we're made to believe! Falling demand for these tried and tested strategies not only makes them cheaper to build but adds an element of surprise to your deck as deck-building strategies become geared towards newer cards. We've assembled a list of three engines which have been blatantly overlooked in anticipation of the upcoming meta. Grab them while they're you can and use them to devastating effect when they're least expected! These are the Top 3 Overlooked Engines in the current format of YuGiOh:
1. Artifacts
2. Speedroids
3. Future Fusion and Co.
1. Artifacts
A 3-6 card engine for all your floodgate needs, Artifacts constitute a formidable force not to be taken lightly. Capable of bringing the current meta to a grinding halt, this engine is more potent now than ever before, with only Drytrons possibly managing to play through the oppression of these notorious cards. With instant access to a Winda and Imperial Iron Wall, this engine confers a significant restrictive boost to any established strategy with minimal interference to their normal playstyle. This engine is extremely compact and grows increasingly affordable as demand falls and supply appears falsely inflated. The following is all you'll need to wreak havoc on decks like Shaddolls, Virtual World, Tribrigades and Dinosaurs:
•0-3 Trap Trick
•2-3 Artifact Sanctum
•1-2 Artifact Scythe
•0-1 Artifact Lancea
•0-3 Rank 5 Targets like Artifact Durendal and Constellar Pleiades, etc.
If you thought Normal Summon Aleister was a 1 IQ play, wait till you see Set Sanctum Pass, because that's exactly what you'll be doing. As soon as your opponent draws a card (or commits to an ED play), flip up Artifact Sanctum and use its effect to Special Summon Scythe. As soon as Scythe hits the field, its effect triggers to block your opponent from so much as touching their Extra Deck, giving you access to a Winda-like effect for a turn and bringing their strategy to a grinding halt. The absolute lack of a learning curve makes this engine easy to splash in whatever deck or side deck that has the space to accommodate it; it's just that good!
Flexibility is also something the engine boasts, as Artifact Lancea is another valid target for Sanctum, capable of blocking all banishing effects for the duration of your opponent’s turn! Invoked, Dinosaur and Tribrigade players will automatically lose access to their main strategies and be forced into making sub-optimal moves and end their turn. A pre-emptive Lancea also turns any Pot of Desires/Prosperity/Extravagance in your opponent’s hand into bricks, rendering their consistency moot. Access to Rank 5s (if you have 2 artifacts on field, which happens way more than you think!) also adds another layer of power to the engine.
Finally, keep in mind that Sanctum is never truly a dead card. If your opponent is foolish enough to Feather Duster or Lightning Storm it into the GY, Sanctum will allow you to claim revenge by destroying a card they control, discouraging your opponent from blindly destroying your backrow in future games! Set Artifact monsters will also trigger and activate their effects when destroyed, further discouraging blanket destruction effects by your opponent! To add further consistency to the engine, you may opt to play Trap Trick as well, offering you 6 cards (3x Trap Trick + 3x Sanctum) to block out your opponent from a whole turn! Statistically, this amounts to a guaranteed spot for the engine in your hand at the start of every duel!
You should also note that the release of Destiny Hero: Destroy Phoenix Enforcer in Burst of Destiny also allows you to set an Artifact monster and then destroy it yourself (along with an opponent’s card!) to trigger its effect. All in all, the Artifact engine is one that only grows in power with time!
2. Speedroids
A simple and compact engine that hasn't seen competitive presence since early Zoo format back in 2017, Speedroids remain a fan-favourite strategy that stands to gain even more power with the release of Legendary Duelists: Synchro Storm. In addition to adding new cards to their arsenal, the booster will also offer another opportunity for players to get their hands on existing cards for the archetype, granting you another chance at building the engine for a low price point! That's not to mention the debut of more Speedroid cards in Brothers of Legend as well! All you need for this engine are the following cards:
•0-3 Speedroid Scratch
•1 Speedroid Terrortop
•1-2 Speedroid Taketomborg
The basic strategy remains unchanged: Normal Summon Terrortop and get out a Taketomborg from your Deck to go into any Link 2 or Rank 3 monster of your choice. This grants you easy access to cards like Verte Anaconda to perform a Fusion Summon from Deck (think Red Eyes Dark Dragoon, Shaddolls and Destroy Phoenix Enforcer) or an Xyz monster to attack your opponent directly (think Number 47: Nightmare Shark) and go into an instant Zeus to clear your opponent’s field. Essentially, the engine functions as an additional enabler for some of the most powerful generic plays in the game.
The placement of Terrortop on the Limited list greatly reduced the consistency of the engine and effectively neutered its formidable presence in the meta at the time. Fortunately, the upcoming release of Speedroid Scratch in the Animation Chronicle (Brothers of Legend in the TCG) has given the strategy a significant boost in consistency, as the spell can pitch another copy of itself (or any other speedroid card) to fetch you a Terrortop Straight from the deck, giving you 3 more names to get it in hand.
3. Future Fusion and Co.
One of the single most powerful Yu-Gi-Oh cards in the history of the game, boasting a notorious run in the Forbidden list and mandating the effection of an errata, Future Fusion is now regarded as a slow card, due to its effect taking 2 turns to Fusion Summon its target. While this limits its use in several decks, it still finds a suitable niche in a few strategies where its effect to mill cards straight from the deck is more important than its ability to actually fusion summon a monster. Fortunately, its reprint in the upcoming Cyber Strike Structure Deck will allow for players to pick it up with the "greatest of ease" along with the coveted Infinite Impermanence.
Where this card truly shines is in decks which can use it to mill an abundance of monsters: Quintet Magician allows it to mill 5 Spellcasters straight from your deck, Five Headed Dragon gives you an opportunity to do the same with Dragons, Chimeratech Rampage Dragon lets you mill Cyber Dragon monsters and Cyberdarkness dragon accepts 5 Cyberdarks just fine, letting you either set up your GY with monsters or to trigger their effects as they're sent to their doom.
While not totally splashable, the power boost this engine offers is immense. In shaddolls, it allows you to draw 1 card, search 1 shaddoll monster, special summon a shaddoll monster face-down, special summon a Performage Trick Clown and destroy a spell/trap your opponent controls- all after waiting a single turn. If it manages to survive on the field for another turn, you get a 5000 Atk body in the form of Quintet Magician, which destroys all cards your opponent controls, setting you up for an overwhelming victory. Who says Winda is your only win condition?
Included in a Chaos strategy, Future Fusion can be used to mill cards like Galactic Spiral Dragon, Nebula Dragon, White Dragon Wyverbuster, Absorouter Dragon and Lightpulsar Dragon (there's many other options too!) to not only set up the field for several combos, but also to fill the GY with Light and Dark monsters to facilitate the summon of powerful chaos monsters like Chaos Dragon Levianeer, Black Luster Soldier Envoy of the Beginning, The Chaos Creator, and so on. No other single card comes close to garnering as much advantage in such strategies!
Future Fusion isn't splashable in just any deck, but the ones it fits in can use it to devastating effect! The upcoming Destiny Hero: Destroy Phoenix Enforcer is also another prime target for this card, as even if it's destroyed, it will simply return to the field by its own effect. In the end, Future Fusion just might end up becoming a budget replacement for Fusion Destiny, a card which has undergome significant inflation in price following the reveal of Phoenix.
That's all we've got for you this week, duelists! Join us next week for more exciting articles and updates on everything anime!
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