Tuesday

Let's go over some Starstrike Blast cards, that may not be yet available, but it's time to move on. Formula Synchron, is a Level 2 Synchro Monster, Synchro Summoned with one Tuner and one non-Tuner monster. This is a Light attributed monster with 200 attack and 1500 defense.

Let's take a second to discuss Level 2 Synchro Monster...you have to use two monsters, obviously, and one being a Level 1 Tuner (which is plausible enough) and a separate Level 1 monster. Is it worth it to play?

Well, when your Synchro Summon Formula Synchron, you Draw one card from your Deck. Now, for an awesome new ability, during your opponent's Main Phase, you can Synchro Summon if you use said Formula Synchron
(face-up.)

This is incredible, to be able to Synchro Summon during your opponent's turn. Now, it's true, you could (or even should) just perform the Synchro Summon during your turn, and ignore this card completely.
However, your opponent will likely dump a resource to destroy/prevent you from using this, I like it :)

Ratings:

Traditional: 2.5/5
Advanced: 3.5/5
Art: 4/5

Today we look at Formula Synchron.   The Yu-Gi-Oh Wikia indicates the set it was released through in Japan won’t have an English equivalent release until November. 

Formula Synchron is a Synchro Monster.  It competes for the Level 2 slot.  This slot is wide open, because this card also creates that slot, making it the lowest Level Synchro Monster currently available.  Unless they adopt the kooky negative-level Monsters of the animé, this is likely to be the lowest level Synchro Monster possible.  The obvious downside of being a Level 2 Synchro monster is that it can actually be a challenge to summon: you need two Level 1 monsters with only one being a Tuner.  Thankfully there are many Token monster generating cards that can step in and ease the challenge as well as Treeborn Frog, so the big thing is finding Level 1 Tuners worth running, and making sure both groups fit into your deck. 

What do you get for doing this?  Formula Synchron is Light/Machine.  This is an established Attribute/Type pairing, though the members in it due tend to be specialized.  Still, no one can deny an Honest (or two!) coupled with a Limiter Removal, while challenging to pull off due to restrictions, is often game winning.  With a mere 200 ATK, it will take such a combo for this to give you any significant damage.  1500 DEF allows it to be a chump blocker, soaking only one hit unless you’re fending off sub-beatstick caliber monsters (like Sangan, Mystic Tomato, Spirit Reaper, etc.).  With stats like this, clearly you’d use this card for the effects.  The effect being you can draw 1 card when it is Synchro Summoned.  That won’t make me run the card, but it is nice to have.  You give up a Tuner for it, but what is this?  It is a Synchro monster that is also a Tuner!  While we could fake that with previous card combinations, the set this card debuted in brings Synchro Tuners officially into the game.  So you can take a Treeborn Frog, a Level 1 Tuner, mix them to generate a single card and still be able to combine with another monster to end with a larger, more useful Synchro monster.  This can be a pain when trying for a very specific Synchro Monster, but is good for general usage. 

What makes it great for general usage is the last effect.  Apparently common to Synchro Tuners, you may use them to Synchro Summon during your opponent’s Main Phase.  They, of course, must be used for the Synchro Summon.  This is useful to allow you to adjust your field to your opponent’s strategy far later than you normally could.  Depending on the effective Spell Speed of this effect, it could be not just good but great: if it is Spell Speed 2 you could use it in response to targeting effects to force them to fizzle, such as using it to “dodge” a Mind Control. 

I will say this though: I don’t like the art.  It screams “I am a lazy Transformers cosplayer!”  If you want an idea of how sweet this could have looked, Google an image of Transformers Classics Mirage. 

This really seems like a card to consider.  On its own, it isn’t doing much.  It’s how it naturally flows into another Synchro Summon while snagging you a draw that makes it so useful, as well as of course bending the rules so you can Synchro Summon on another turn.  You do have conditions to evaluate how well it will help your deck.  Can you pull off a Level 2 Synchro Summon fairly easy?  Do you focus enough on Synchro Summons that you’ll want to flow from that into something bigger?  Do you have the room for it on top of everything else in your Extra deck?  If it’s yes to all three, it’s fantastic! 

Ratings

Traditional: 3/5 

Advanced: 4/5 

Art: 2/5 

I am still selling my former collectables on eBay.  I’ve had a lot of hobbies over the years, so at various times I’ll have comic books, manga, action figures, and video games on the auction block.  You can take a look at what’s up for bids here.  I usually add new stuff on Wednesdays and Saturdays.  This last Saturday I added nearly 30 Game Boy Advance games!  Just a reminder, Pojo is in no way responsible for any transactions and was merely kind enough to let me mention the auctions here. ;)

Formula Synchron

We kick off Starstrike Blast this week with Formula Synchron, the first Synchro that is also a Synchron. Don't ask me why they make the names so complicated. Anyways, we have a level 2 Synchro that is non-specific, is a LIGHT Machine and has 200 ATK and 1500 DEF. These stats are not going to win you a game anytime soon, so why would you play this guy? For the combolicious effect of course!

The effect is that when it is Synchro Summoned you can draw a card. Wow, that almost makes up for the fact that this is a terrible card. But the real kicker is the second effect. You can Synchro Summon During your opponent's Main Phase if you use this guy as a Synchro Material. O_O This is probably the best of teh Synchron monsters because of this amazing versatility it has.

One of the greatest problems with Synchro monsters is that you never know what your opponent is going to do. Stardust is usually a safe bet, but Colossal Fighter can often be the better choice. Well, now you don't have to choose! Wait and see what your opponent does during his or her turn and bring out the best Synchro for the job to stop your opponent! I bet that you can even do it at the end of the main phase so that they cannot do anything to stop it! I am a little fuzzy on rulings with this guy, but it seems that when anything allows you to break rules of the game it gets broken.

For the competetive player, there is not really anything you can do with this guy. There might be a deck using Dandylion tokens and something like Stygian Security, but then you cannot really get to the levels that you need in order to make it broken. All in all it is a good card, but I do not see it making a HUGE impact right out of the gates, although it will probably show up SOMEWHERE and then go up to like a million dollars in price... sigh...

Traditional-1/5
Advanced-3/5