Gishki’s Part 1 – Gishki Core – GenForce through HA5

The  highlighted will be discussed at length in the current article. You should at least be familiar with the ritual monsters and the ritual spell listed.

Effect Monsters: Gishki Diviner, [highlight]Gishki Beast[/highlight], [highlight]Gishki Abyss[/highlight], Gishki Vanity, [highlight]Gishki Marker[/highlight], Gishki Chain, Gishki Ariel, [highlight] Gishki Shadow[/highlight].

Ritual Monsters: Evigishki Mind Augus, Evigishki Soul Ogre

Ritual Spells: Gishki Aquamirror

Gaining Advantage

Each Gishki monster, with the exception of Vanity, attempts to fetch cards to your hand in some way. You can easily rate the ones that will be most useful to you based on how quickly and accurately they can perform their effect.

Beast, Abyss, Marker, and Shadow all perform their effects as soon as they hit the field or, with Shadow, enter your hand.

Then follows Ariel who will probably pull off a search for you, depending on the situation. It just takes a turn.

Finally we have Diviner, Vanity, and Chain here simply to perform an interesting duty, but not at all devoted to the “search” theme. Diviner actually brings something to another deck involving the card Convulsion of Nature. Vanity is just that monster that exists in tons of different forms already, and Chain gains a little relevance with future Gishki releases.[divider]

[blue]When this card is Normal Summoned: You can target 1 Level 4 or lower “Gishki” monster in your Graveyard; Special Summon that target in face-up Defense Position.[/blue]

Gishki Beast

Getting back to those “search” themed monsters, we see, right off the bat, that Gishki Beast is pretty useful. It can combo into an Abyss, which combos into a Shadow that can give you a ritual spell. Or, you can combo a Beast into a Marker, grab a ritual spell or monster from your graveyard, and then Xyz into a Number 39: Utopia or Gem Knight Pearl. Xyz Summoning that quick off of a +2 play is incredible. Not only does it set you up for a ritual, but it also provides a serious defense.[divider]

[blue]When this card is Summoned: You can add 1 “Gishki” monster with 1000 or less DEF from your Deck to your hand, except “Gishki Abyss”.[/blue]

Gishki Abyss

Abyss is just a nice monster. Looking at it is staring untapped potential directly in the face. It has a terrifying face, so maybe don’t do that.  Gishki Vision, which adds a ritual monster to your hand (like Shadow adds a ritual spell), has not been released yet. It, and other Hidden Arsenal 6 monsters will give Abyss even more importance in a Gishki deck when Hidden Arsenal 6 releases.

Right now, Abyss searches your Shadow. That is currently his best function. You can get a Diviner, sure, and I suppose you can get a Chain, but Shadow is your confidence search. Ditching that Shadow gives you a Rit-spell sittin’ pretty.[divider]

Tribute 1 Fish-Type monster. Destroy 1 card on the field, and draw 1 card.

While this card is on the field, this card’s name is treated as “Umi”. Once per turn, you can select and remove from play 1 face-up Level 4 or lower Fish-Type, Sea Serpent-Type or Aqua-Type monster you control. (This effect can be activated during either player’s turn.) Special Summon it during your End Phase.

Target 1 Level 3 or lower Fish, Sea Serpent, or Aqua-Type monster in your Graveyard; Special Summon it in face-up Defense Position.

Gishki Abyss Combos

I’ve found two really fun plays using just Abyss: Forgotten Temple of the Deep and Fish Depth Charge. The downside to Abyss is the 800 ATK it’s saddled with. Leaving it on the field will cause you to lose life points and lose a card, or allow you to lure your opponent into a…trap.

Forgotten Temple balances this situation out. Banishing Abyss essentially causes you to lose 800 more life points or use that trap card anyway. The plus side is that you have an Abyss coming back during your next end phase, and the best part is that it’s a special summon! You’ll be able to SS Abyss into defense mode and then add a card to your hand. My goose.

The disadvantage to playing Forgotten Temple is that it can be hit with MST to prevent your monster from returning. Banishing your monster and returning it to your field are separate effects. Banishing is a key component in some ideas I have that I’ll discuss in a future part of this series.

Fish Depth Charge is the quick and dirty solution. They do anything: you blow up Abyss, one of their cards, and then you draw.

You want to get as much work out of Abyss as you can, so it’s natural to assume he’ll be on the field frequently.

There is one more card that I’ve found interesting to use in tandem with Abyss, and that’s the card Surface. Since it SS’s him right into defense mode, you don’t have to worry about him being attacked. When I used surface, I was running it alongside some pretty interesting cards, like Deep Sea Diva, Lost Blue Breaker, and Mobius, the Frost Monarch. I’ll talk a little bit about the Diva and Breaker aspects later. But, if you’d like to mention any other combos with Abyss, Beast, or any of these (up to HA5) monsters, please do! I’d love to hear them.[divider]

[blue]When this card is Summoned: You can target 1 “Gishki” Ritual Monster or “Gishki” Ritual Spell Card in your Graveyard; add that target to your hand.[/blue]

Gishki Marker

So Beast, Abyss, and now Marker. We like Octopods here at the YCG Podcast, some of us more than others, and what’s more, we like Octopus Legs. Obviously, I was pretty excited to give Marker a try.

Right away, Marker combos with Forgotten Temple of the Deep to plunder your Ritual Spells and Monsters out of your graveyard. It also combos with Summoner Monk extremely well. Like Gishki Beast, Summoner Monk gives you access to Rank 4 Xyz monsters. By discarding a ritual spell, Marker is pulled out of your deck – so that you don’t draw it – and instantly recovers your discarded spell.[divider]

[blue]If you Ritual Summon a WATER Ritual Monster, this card can be used as the entire Tribute. You can discard this card; add 1 “Gishki” Ritual Spell Card from your Deck to your hand.[/blue]

Gishki Shadow

Now we get to talk about Shadow. He clearly serves his two purposes: searching your deck for a ritual spell and being used as the entire tribute for your ritual summon. As I mentioned earlier, awesome things happen when you use ritual monsters to summon your ritual monsters, so it’s latter effect is a little disadvantageous, but it’s still great as a backup option.

Shadow rounds out the amazing cards that can be added back to your hand with the spell card Salvage. With Beast, Abyss, and Shadow, you can salvage towards some really interesting directions. Add a Beast and Shadow, Ditch Shadow for the field spell, Summon Beast, XZY?[divider]

Chaos Access

Summoner Monk, Utopia, and a card I haven’t really mentioned yet, Manju of the Ten Thousand Hands, give you some access to Chaos monsters. Even this deck could run 1 BLS if it wanted, since you can also main deck D.D. Crow and/or Effect Veiler.

Moray of Greed

There’s also Moray of Greed. Gishkis broke Moray of Greed. For example, you could return any water monster and a Shadow back into your deck, and then immediately pull that Shadow out of your deck again with Abyss. Or play Monk and then plus by summoning a Marker that you returned to your deck, since it isn’t a fun card to draw.

Using Abyss to recover Shadow from your deck is important. This deck can run out of Shadow quickly, especially if you’re using Forgotten Temple of the Deep.

A Few Good Synchros

Any of these combos can be shifted to synchro plays with Genex Ally Birdman. Depending on the situation and the monsters currently on the field, it could give you access to special Level 7 Monsters, including Gungnir, Dragon of the Ice Barrier and Arcanite Magician.

Without even going into the ritual monsters, the current Gishki support seems like an ample base for building a competitive deck. They create advantage out of next to nothing, and can “1-card” or “0-card Utopia.” They run two of water’s greatest assets, Salvage and Moray of Greed, and make them dance. In the next article, we’ll discuss the ritual monsters, the ritual spell, and some of the great things you can accomplish with them. We’ll also go a little more in-depth on cards like Gishki Ariel, Chain, and Vanity.[divider]

TL;DR (Too Long, Didn’t Read)
Gishkis are awesome. Here’s what you can do.

Summoner Monk + Gishki Marker
Ditch the ritual spell, then recover it with Marker. Xyz into a Rank 4.

Gishki Beast + Gishki Marker
Revive Marker, then recover a ritual monster or ritual spell. Xyz into a Rank 4.

Summoner Monk or Gishki Beast + Genex Ally Birdman
Special Summon your monster of choice, then bounce monk or beast back for a follow-up play next turn, then Synchro.

Gishki Abyss + Forgotten Temple of the Deep
Summon Abyss, then banish it to protect it. Return it to the field, in defense position to SYD for a Shadow. Banish it again during that end phase, plus again.

Gishki Abyss + Fish Depth Charge
An attack position Abyss is a hole in your defense. Plug that hole with an exploding fish.

Gishki Abyss + Surface
Brink back Abyss in defense, replace the used Surface with a monster or a ritual spell. Tribute it for a regular monster or a synchro monster. Return it with Birdman and summon it again. Go crazy.

Salvage
Gishki’s ditch their searcher, Gishki Shadow, a lot. Returning that to your hand, or Gishki Beast, or Gishki Abyss, can mean instant access to a ritual summon, an Xyz, or more advantage.

Moray of Greed
Yes. With all the ways to add, re-add, and de-add stuff to your hand, Moray becomes your own personal Pot of Greed Fish.