Flaming HEROs

HEROs and FIRE support is the name of the game this week. Continuing with my HERO ideas I seem to have no end to.

Short article for this week, ’cause I’m pretty dang tired with my new schedule for the Spring Quarter, hope it’s still interesting though.

I mentioned this in passing on the Sludgecast, an idea I called “Flaming HEROs” (having nothing to do with tight leather pants). The idea is using a HERO deck with a focus on Pyro and FIRE monsters rather than a more standard build which is usually based around LIGHT monsters.

The ideas origin: thinking how Neos Alius is run in the standard HERO Beat deck because of its high attack and powerful support and Fusion access, I decided to look at each of the other potential HERO monsters to work with because I’ve been tired of the Gemini engine for a while now. I’ve already done a bit with Prisma as you all know well enough, so I moved onto my next idea which is Elemental HERO Heat. Elemental HERO Heat is a Level 4 FIRE Pyro monster. He has 1600 ATK and 1200 DEF. His effect is that he gains 200 ATK for every HERO on the field (including himself). So bare minimum he’s 1800, which is a fair amount, making you have a very nice 1800 threshold across the board with Stratos.

Given his differences to Neos Alius, what advantages does he have? He initially has less attack, but with any other HERO monster on the board he’s stronger which is always a plus. He gives access to debatably the second best HERO Fusion monster Elemental HERO Nova Master (but let’s not forget about Absolute Zero), he’s a target for Mask Change and lastly he gains access to all generic FIRE or Pyro support cards.

Elemental HERO Nova Master is a Fusion of a Fire monster and an Elemental HERO and he draws a card if he destroys a monster by battle. (it does not have to go to the graveyard) Unlike the other HERO Fusions, he gives the most tangible advantage. The Shining really only adds back cards you don’t want back that much that are very limited, and Absolute Zero just removes cards from the field, you don’t gain any cards. Nova Master is especially good since he goes plus 1 almost immediately and if you want to get technical plus 2 since he destroys a monster by battle.

It’s also important that both Heat and Nova Master are targets for Mask Change. Mask change summons a Mask HERO from your extra deck by tributing a HERO monster. Since Nova and Heat are FIRE that allows you to summon Masked HERO Goka. I wont be the first to admit, that Goka isn’t very good. He’s got 2200 ATK and gains 100 ATK for every HERO in the graveyard, so at best he’s just a beat-stick. Th reason he’s beneficial though is he allows very easy OTKs and Spell and Trap dodging. As for OTKs, it’s pretty easy to understand since Mask Change is a quick play spell. Attack with Heat and do 1800 or so damage, then use Mask Change in the Battle Phase and summon a min 2300 ATK monster and attack again. That’s a minimum of 4100 Lifepoints assuming you’ve done nothing else and can’t summon other monsters as well. That’s half your opponent’s health, which I think is pretty devastating for requiring almost zero setup.

It’s also nice for dodging spells and traps as I said. You summon Heat, the opponent attempts to Bottomless Trap Hole and you chain Mask Change to dodge it and attack anyways. This also easily sets up the graveyard for Miracle Fusion since it puts Heat in the graveyard and will result in a FIRE monster going to the graveyard later.

A similar card is Circle of the Fire Kings, although I haven’t fully thought of any ways to utilize it with Heat that are especially strong. It’s possible to fuse together HEROs and Fire Kings using this card, but I’m not sure if I’m down for that just yet. In terms of running the card alone it acts almost the same as Mask Change, dodging Spells and Traps by chaining it, and also allowing you to randomly attack for more damage during the battle phase. I thought about doing this to revive copies of Molten Zombie from the graveyard, but that might be a little too ridiculous, but I’m sure I’ll keep it in mind.

Another quick play spell is Super Polymerization. A card many people know that I’m against most of the time. The reason I bring it up is actually because of another card: Royal Firestorm Guards. Royal Firestorm Guards effect is that when it is Normal Summoned you shuffle 4 Pyro monsters from your graveyard back into the deck and draw 2, which is pretty darn sweet. I being very familiar with Guards immediately noticed that Heat was a Pyro monster, rather than a Warrior like most HERO monsters, making me want to somehow employ Guards drawing ability. My first instinct was Volcanic Shell, a monster that very easily gets more of itself that is a Pyro, but in order to use it you need some sort of discard outlet, and thus the conclusion then became I should run Super Polymerization because it discards cards. You make up for the disadvantages of Super-Poly by discarding a monster that replaces itself and also by drawing loads of cards to offset that using Guards. There’s also the nice synergy with Pyro monsters and Super-Poly against machine decks since there are 2 Fusion monster that have a Pyro + a Machine monster as Fusion Material, meaning you can have a Guards on the field and Super-Poly with it and any opposing Machine monster ex. Zenmaines for either Blaze Fenix, the Burning Bombardment Bird or Ignition Beast Volcannon. Interestingly enough, if you can get a Machine and Pyro on the field it provides even more OTKs since you can attack with both and then fuse for a huge monster in the battle phase once again to push extra damage. I also would like to mention this is a good way to discard copies of Molten Zombie into the graveyard and also that Molten Zombie happens to be a Pyro as well. Why does he keep seeming better and better, maybe he’s the next Zombyra the Dark?

The last bit of support they bring up is Inferno and Spirit of Flames. Both are level 4 Pyro monsters that can be Special Summoned from the hand by Banishing a FIRE monster in the graveyard. Inferno has low attack but a crazy burn effect and Spirit is just a big beater. What they bring is access to quick Rank 4 XYZ and a large enough access to Banished monsters to warrant using cards that support that area. In terms of XYZ they’ll act pretty much the same as Instant Fusion or Thrasher in standard HEROs each with there own niche. Although not that great, this also gives them access to a strange XYZ monster Infernal Flame Vixen, who requires 2 Pyro Type XYZ Material. It effectively has 2700 ATK, which is pretty huge, and if it’s destroyed you banish 3 cards in the graveyard.  What makes this good is that it crashes with most Boss monsters, and it’s a Pyro monster itself meaning it fuels Royal Firestorm Guards, which is fantastic. It’s pretty easy to make a quick summon of it with Heat and Inferno, or even Inferno + Tour Guide. You can use Inferno to backwards toolbox Heat from the banish zone with Leviair and the like. It’s possible to even consider running Parallel World Fusion, though I’ve never really had any success with the card.