Gate Guardians Combined – #MAZE-EN003
“Sanga of the Thunder” + “Kazejin” + “Suijin”
Must be Special Summoned (from your Extra Deck) by banishing the above cards from your hand, field, and/or GY. When your opponent activates a card or effect that targets a card(s) you control (Quick Effect): You can negate that effect, and if you do, destroy that card. You can only use this effect of “Gate Guardians Combined” thrice per turn. If this face-up Special Summoned card in its owner’s control leaves the field because of an opponent’s card: You can Special Summon 1 Level 11 or lower “Gate Guardian” monster from your Deck or Extra Deck, ignoring its Summoning conditions.
Date Reviewed: May 26th, 2023
Rating: 3.67
Ratings are based on a 1 to 5 scale. 1 is awful. 3 is average. 5 is excellent.
Reviews Below:
King of
Lullaby
Hello Pojo Fans,
Gate Guardians Combined is the great new form of Gate Guardian and the end of our look at the archetype.
Needing those three specific pieces from yesterday for the Fusion Summon, you can thankfully Special Summon this Fusion Monster from the Extra Deck by banishing the pieces from anywhere rather than using a fusion spell. Same stats as previous, but with a much easier way of summoning, suddenly that high ATK/DEF actually means something.
Any card effect that targets a card you control can be negated by GGC up to THREE times per turn. Three negates on a single card each turn is amazing. Sure, the effect has to target something, so blanket destruction like Lightning Storm, Dark Hole, Harpies Feather Duster are all out from getting negated, but this negation does so much. There is so much spot removal and monsters always target with their effects, you won’t be lacking with stuff to negate with this card.
If you were to lose your Gate Guardian Combined, it is relieving to know he will replace himself with any of your Gate Guardian Fusion Monsters or even his original form from your Deck…but you won’t be playing that so just the Fusion Monsters, which have their own great negation abilities or search abilities. A free summon of a monster after losing a monster you put resources into is appreciated, and with the support now to get the pieces to make this monster, you thankfully can do it much easier than you could even in the remote past.
Being able to Special Summon this rather than Fusion Summon, and use the pieces from anywhere is everything. Had it been only the field it would’ve been a waste, even with the thrice negation. That negation covers a lot of card effects in the game and this is a very imposing monster to have to deal with, especially with the ability to summon it on your first turn with relative ease because of its new support. Good on Konami for not messing this archetype up again.
Advanced-4/5 Art-5/5
Until Next Time
KingofLullaby
Crunch$G
The week ends off with the retrain of Gate Guardian we’ve all waited for: Gate Guardians Combined.
Gate Guardians Combined is a Level 12 DARK Warrior Fusion with 3750 ATK and 3400 DEF. Stats are great, and so is DARK/Warrior, that was never really a problem with Gate Guardian. Fusion Materials are Sanga of the Thunder, Kazejin, and Suijin of course, and it must be Special Summoned from the Extra Deck by banishing the above materials from your hand, field, and/or graveyard, making this super easy to summon if you can get to the pieces however you will. First effect triggers when the opponent activates a card or effect that targets a card(s) you control, letting you negate that effect and destroy that card, with you only being able to use this up to thrice per turn. Giving your whole field protection from targeting effects three times a turn does seem pretty good, really making sure your opponent has to draw non-targeting removal to remove anything on your field. I can understand why it’s not omni-negation, since it is fairly easy to summon and having that three times a turn on a singular monster can be too strong on something you don’t struggle that hard to getting on board. The final effect triggers if it is face-up, was Special Summoned, is in its owner’s control, and leaves the field because of an opponent’s card, letting you summon a Level 11 or lower Gate Guardian monster from your Deck or Extra Deck, ignoring the summoning conditions. I appreciate this does float into the classic Gate Guardian, but with Fusions that offer 2 Spell/Trap negations a turn, a search for your archetypal Spells and Traps, and the ability to reduce the stats of an opponent’s monster, I see no reason to float into vanilla Gate Guardian that does nothing but offer the same stats this has, which you could just easily summon again. It’s a good retrain of Gate Guardian that we’ve needed for a long time. Thankfully it did not disappoint after the wait a ton of fans had to endure.
Advanced Rating: 3.5/5
Art: 4/5 I mean, it’s at least cool, but apply what I mentioned about Labyrinth Tank and Jirai Gumo here. I just prefer classic Gate Guardian.
Mighty
Vee
Wrapping up the week is the new and vastly improved Gate Guardian Retrain, Gate Guardians Combined, serving as the ultimate boss of the deck. It’s a level 12 DARK Warrior Fusion monster, expanding on its predecessor as a level 11 DARK Warrior. As you might’ve guessed, it uses Kazejin, Suijin, and Sanga of the Thunder as Fusion materials; it sounds like a tall order, and it is, but fortunately summoning it is much easier than it looks. Fortunately, Combined shares the sole upside of the original Gate Guardian, its odd but gargantuan stats of 3750 attack and 3400 defense, which can still overcome many modern boss monsters.
Combined, oddly enough, has the most lenient summoning condition of the Gate Guardian Fusion monsters, requiring you to banish its respective Fusion materials from your hand, Field, or Graveyard. When considering Labyrinth Wall Shadow and Labyrinth Heavy Tank, it’s ironically easier to summon than the two-material Fusions, as you can use pieces from your hand and in the Graveyard in addition to ones you place directly onto the field. Combined’s first effect is a hard thrice per turn, par for course for Gate Guardian, letting you negate an effect that targets any card you control and destroy that card. I’ve never been a fan of targeting negation, but it’s still more common than people give it credit for, and Combined being able to react to any targeting at all greatly improves its versatility. Combined’s last effect isn’t once per turn, but you’d have to struggle to abuse it anyway; if Combined leaves the field by an opponent’s card while face-up, you can Special Summon any level 11 or lower Gate Guardian monster from your deck or Extra Deck, ignoring its Summoning conditions of course. This effect is clearly meant to float into the original Gate Guardian, which is a terrible beater, but most of the time you’re likely going to be better off with the two-material Gate Guardian Fusion monsters. Speaking of which, they’re the main reason you’re better off not making Combined instantly going first; Gate Guardians of Wind and Thunder can search Double Attack, while Gate Guardians of Wind and Water has a twice per turn backrow negation. There are elaborate combo lines that can end on Combined as well as the other Fusions, but I wouldn’t press my luck. Instead, Combined’s main purpose is to help push for OTK with its fantastic stats, since it’s incredibly easy to summon the turn after you establish your board. Overall, while it’s not the best boss card for an archetype, it’s useful enough and easy enough to summon that I’d run at least one.
Advanced: 3.5/5
Art: 4/5 It clearly looks exactly like the original, but I like the clean makeover.
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