Whats going on Yugi-peeps? Hope everyone enjoyed their weekends and kept track of the coverage from YCS Providence and the special charity event that took place. It was quite the spectacular event if you ask me! I think the coolest thing that took place was the Pegasus challenge which had certain stipulations during a certain time point in every game which either helped you or went against you! I heard my fair share of things happening to duelists during the Pegasus challenge like a dark world player not being able to activate spells durning their turn and my absolute favorite was the one Joe Giorlando told me about his opponent having a Herald of Perfection and Archlord Kristya on the field and the special rule for that turn was that all monsters on the field were treated as normal monsters! Take that you Herald player =) Going along with the special tournament and side events taking place, there was something else new brought to the dueling world this weekend. Atlanteans! This new archtype was something I saw alot of duelists bringing to the table this weekend and I personally was excited to see what this could really do outside of Dueling Network. Lets start off by getting to know some of our new friends from under the sea:
Atlantean Dragoons: All face-up Level 3 or lower Sea Serpent-Type monsters you control can attack your opponent directly. When this card is sent to the Graveyard to activate a WATER monster's effect: Add 1 Sea Serpent-Type monster from your Deck to your hand, except "Atlantean Dragoons". This card is the "Stratos" of the Atlanteans by being able to search out a key part of a combo you are missing or just gaining hand advantage over your opponent. By having this monster face up on the field, its 1800 atk points is strong enough to do some damage. Not to mention his effect to let all your level 3 or lower Sea Serpents do some damage directly!
Atlantean Marksman: When this card inflicts Battle Damage to your opponent: You can Special Summon 1 Level 4 or lower "Atlantean" Sea Serpent-Type monster from your Deck, except "Atlantean Marksman". When this card is sent to the Graveyard to activate a WATER monster's effect: Target 1 Set card your opponent controls; destroy that target. This is my personal favorite of the new archtype because it remind me of Hydrogeddon which is one of the first monsters I started dueling with! Once this monster does any kind of battle damage, you get to essentially "plus" off its effect and swarm your field with more Atlanteans!
Atlantean Heavy Infantry: During your Main Phase, you can Normal Summon 1 Level 4 or lower Sea Serpent-Type monster in addition to your Normal Summon/Set. (You can only gain this effect once per turn.) When this card is sent to the Graveyard to activate a WATER monster's effect: Target 1 face-up card your opponent controls; destroy that target. This monster being the "Marauding Captain" of the Atlanteans by being able to normal summon an additional time during your turn is insane when you combine his power with Deep Sea Diva and Genex Ally Birdman!
Atlantean Attack Squad: This card gains 800 ATK while you control a face-up Fish, Sea Serpent, or Aqua-Type monster other than this card. This monster being an offensive tool in the deck, giving you a big beater other then Dragoon that is searchable and summonable by your Atlantean effects is something to consider!
So off the start im sure we could assume that Deep Sea Diva is the backbone of this deck and gives it all the power it needs just from her normal summon. Also Genex Ally Birdman can be essential when you combine him with Diva and Heavy Infantry. Not to mention the Ice Barrier Synchro Monsters Dewloren and Gungir. But what about other ways to get these monster effects to go off? Im sure we could go through every single monster in game of Yugioh that has a Water attribute and see what they could provide to this new archtype. But, thats alot of monsters, so im going to keep it simple.
Genex Undine: This is a monster I saw just about every single Atlantean deck at the YCS using. It establishes pressure on its summon, gives a hand control, and it also gets the monsters their effects when sent to the graveyard. A strong and solid choice in my opinion.
Swap Frog: I saw a couple of players using this is a hybrid engine with monarchs or sea lancer combined with the Atlantean monsters. If they just so happened to have Swap Frog and any of the Atlantean monsters in their hand, just discard the Atlantean then special the Frog! Some players before the YCS were questioning if you would get the Atlantean effects if they were discarded for Swap Frog, but i checked with a good amount of judges before the tournament began, and they all said the Atlanteans would get their effects!
Dragon Ice: Everybody remember this old secret rare from Gladiators Assault? Well dust off your old copies of this card because I saw alot of players craving to get their hands on this card if they were using the Atlantean deck. Whenever a monster is special summoned to your opponents side of the field, you can bring out Dragon Ice from you hand or graveyard by discarding one card from your hand. And guess what monsters get their effects when they get sent to the graveyard for a water monster effect? The Atlanteans of course!
Abyss Soldier: This old water monster has been out for quite some time as well but now it can get its time to shine! You can bounce any card on your opponents side of the field back to their hand by discarding 1 Water monster. By combining his effect with the Atlantean monsters, this abyss warrior is ready to pack a punch!
While walking around during the rounds of the YCS tournament, I did a fair share of checking out some interesting tech cards or a creative deck idea that players came up with for the new Atlantean archtype. And I must say, I saw two really interesting ideas and concepts that stuck in my mind. I guess I could share them with you!
Elemtental HERO Ice Edge: This card states: "When this card inflicts Battle Damage to your opponent by a direct attack, you can select 1 Set card in your opponent's Spell and Trap Card Zone, and destroy it. Once per turn, during your Main Phase 1, you can discard 1 card to allow this card to attack your opponent directly this turn." Now when I saw the player using this card in his Atlantean deck, I was very intrigued by it and had to keep watching. The simple fact of pitching and Atlantean to let him attack directly, get the Atlantean effect, then attacking directly and destroying a set card on his or her field seems good to me! Combos well with Atlantean Marksman so you can destroy a facedown backrow then attack directly and destory any set card! Also you could combine the two with Miracle Fusion to make Elemental HERO Absolute Zero. Which is a problematic card for most decks to handle since when he leaves the field, it nukes your opponents monsters! I know my friend Steffon Bizzell got a deck profile for his YouTube channel Akuma1921 of this Hero Atlantean Hybrid so hopefully it gets posted soon!
And the second card I saw a player teching was........
Frost and Flame Dragon: Another one of those old secret rares that you could dust off copies off and throw into a hybrid version of Atlanteans. This player combined the power of the Atlanteans with Fire monsters to be able to summon this hot and cold dragon. This monster states: "This card cannot be Normal Summoned or Set. This card cannot be Special Summoned except by removing from play 1 FIRE and 2 WATER monsters from your Graveyard. Once per turn, you can discard 1 card to destory 1 monster on the field." Now to summon this monster, it seems kind of hard without the right Fire monsters. I saw this duelist use Jurrac Guaiba as his main Fire monster to get into the graveyard. But what monsters does Guaiba usually make? Evolzar Laggia and Dolkka which are also Fire monsters! Not to mention the fact that a simple Tour Guide from the Underworld can make either Wind Up Zenmains or Number 17: Leviathan Dragon which are Fire and Water! Neat right? I sure thought so! Some of the things players come up with is just astonishing and creative.
I know this deck has yet to reach its full potential without the support cards from Abyss Rising coming out soon. This Atlantean archtype gets a huge boost from their underwater friends, Mermails! So be sure to look into the new set Abyss Rising to see what these two new archtypes can do once you combine them. Because I have already began doing so and I know many other players have also. With the Atlanteans being brand new to the YCS circuit at Providence, im sure its only a matter of time before we see them running the top tables at future events! I hope everyone enjoyed my short but sweet article giving some interesting ideas I saw Atlantean players using at this past YCS and if you have any cool or interesting ideas, let me know in the comments below and ill be sure to try them myself! Before I wrap things up, I would like to give a congratulations to the winner of YCS Providence Chris LeBlanc for claiming victory this past weekend. Chris is a good friend of mine and has been working real hard to step his game up to the next level, and what better way to show his efforts other than becoming the YCS Champion! Until next time readers, Play Hard or Go Home!
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