Monday
 
Welcome to Gusto week!  This is an interesting idea for a Decktype, we open with Gusto Falco.  Level 2, Wind, Winged-Beast, 600 attack and 1400 defense.  Neither of those are going to win many contests, but Winged-Beast is a supported enough type, and being a Tuner isn't a bad thing at all.  When Falco is sent to the Graveyard, you can Special Summon another Gusto Monster from your Deck in face-down Defense position.  If the card read like that, it would be good.  However, Falco has to be face-up to gain this effect.  Hardly the end of the world, but it also can't be sent to the Graveyard by Battle to gain its effect.  There are a million and one ways to accomplish this, but likely YOU have to do it, as your opponent won't need to waste the effect of a card, when they can attack instead.  The text really hurts the card.
 
Ratings:  (All ratings this week are in a Gusto Deck)

2/5 at best, resource replenishment is good, but too many hoops to jump through...
 
Art:  3/5

Since Hidden Arsenal #6 is coming out on Tuesday, we are going to be looking at cards from the Gusto archetype this week. Starting off the week is Gusto Falco. But before we can talk about Gusto Falco, it is important to note a few things about the Gusto theme. Gusto’s like to search our other Gusto’s from the deck, Synchro summon, and can be part of a host of hybrid themes. You can combine Gusto’s with Psychic’s, Dark Simorgh, Dragunity, Anti-Meta, and Mist Valley to name a few, as most Gusto’s are Winged-Beast or Psychic Wind monsters.
 
Now on to today’s card. Gusto Falco. The first thing we notice is how hard it is to get Falco’s effect off. It has to be face-up on the field and be sent to the graveyard as the last thing that happens to get its effect. This means that being destroyed by battle or used as a synchro material or used as a cost for say Icarus Attack, will do you no good. About the only good thing that Falco has going for it is that it can be search and special summoned with the effects of other Gusto monster.
 
If you did happen to get it’s effect off, then you could special summon Kamui, Hope of Gusto and flip summon it on your next turn to special summon a Gusto Tuner from your deck. Who am I kidding? Fat chance. This is not a Gusto monster that you will likely put in any build of a Gusto deck. You will probably not even see any build of Gusto’s topping at an YCS.
 
Traditional: 1/5
Advanced: 1/5

I'm not too familiar with the Gusto archetype, but I have friends who've used it. It's a very, very complex gamestyle; it focuses on monsters which rely on being sent to the Graveyard and replenish themselves from the deck (as you can see with Falco's effect). They have two Xyzs and four Synchros (these monsters are called Daigustos, and dai means big). Their ultimate goal is to use these tutor* monsters to constantly put up a solid defence. They then use cards like Creature Swap to steal their opponents' monsters while giving their own limp, search monsters so they can attack them for themselves. The main reason Gustos are an uncommon Deck to use is that they have an easily-exploitable weakness in that they rely on their monsters to be destroyed, usually by battle, and they cannot meet the speed of more offensive decks. They have a LOT of cards with very similar albeit different effects, which gives me a headache for those that are unfamiliar with each one individually.

*Pojo Dictionary: tutor (tu·tor \'tü-tər\ noun) - any card that can search out another card out of the deck, usu. a monster that, when destroyed by battle, will Special Summon another monster
Example: Reinforcement of the Army can tutor any Level 4 or lower Warrior.

That being said, Gasuta Faruko requires to be faceup, which means setting it from your hand is not an option. You'd have to Normal Summon it and Creature Swap it, or Special Summon it straight from the deck with the help of Gusto Gulldo or Kamui, Hope of Gusto.

I do admit Falco is powerful in that in can summon any Gusto from the Main Deck. You have the flexibility in summoning any of the numerous lower-Level monsters to continue the wallfest, or go for one of the stronger ones. This includes Windaar, Sage of Gusto, and especially Reeze, Whirlwind of Gusto (Reeze's effect basically steals a monster from your opponent every single turn). The problem is that Falco will summon the monster facedown; you can't activate your effects when facedown nor can you Flip Summon it the same turn it is SSet, which gives Falco a large reliance on having to be destroyed on the opponent's turn (and if your choice monster is something like Reeze and not another tutor, you need to protect it for the rest of the turn).

Not only must Falco be faceup, the method in which it touches the Graveyard cannot have been a result of battle. One fact that infuriates Gusto players is that most of their tutor monsters are CAPABLE OF MISSING THE TIMING. This means if you use Falco (despite being a Tuner itself) for a Synchro Summon, you are NOT allowed to use Falco's effect. If you use Falco for a cost or to Tribute Summon Raiza the Storm Monarch, you are NOT allowed to use Falco's effect. The ONLY time you can EVER use Falco's effect if it gets blown up by Dark Hole, Smashing Ground, etc.


Trad: 1/5 (Gustos already have a hard time dealing with mass-destruction cards in Adv)
Adv: 1.5/5 (I can barely justify running even a single copy)
Aesthetics: 2/5 Almost all the Gusto monsters are either Winged Beast or Psychic. The Winged Beasts (like Falco) have pretty boring artwork. They also all look almost alike, which makes it even harder to keep track of which card does what. Most Gusto monsters have wear armour with a symbol resembling the Field Spell crest. The Gusto archetype (along with a bunch of other "archetypes") was released back in February under the Duel Terminal arcade game (later on this week, I will give you the whole story of the "other archetypes," or you can just read all about them on Wikipedia without me...). There is a type of cards named "Duel Terminal" that you can buy for the Duel Terminal machine to scan and you can use a virtual version of those cards. The physical Duel Terminal cards are NOT allowed to be used in official tournaments until the "real" versions get released. The "real" Gusto Falco (along with many others) will be in the pack Hidden Arsenal 6: Omega Xyz, which will be available in stores tomorrow.
Riddle:
Forwards it is heavy.
Backwards is not.
I'll tell you come Friday.
Assuming you haven't Googled it like the rest of the lot...
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