Deck Analysis 7:
Looking at the Elemental Hero Deck.

By ~ShineSoldier~

Hello, everyone, and welcome to my next article. This time, I’ll make an Elemental Hero Deck, at the request of David Smith.

Just two things: I’m going to use the new Banned List from now on, so don’t think I’m doing stupid things when you see that Graceful Charity is in this final deck.
Also, if there is an article of mine on the TCG section in which I’m announcing I’m taking a break, please ignore it. I was planning to wait until after April 1st before I would write more articles, but since the List has been confirmed to be correct, I’ll start with my new articles already. Let’s start with this article now.

Elemental Hero Decks are defenitely one of the most fun decks to play with. Unfortunately, they haven’t got any enormous powerful support cards yet. However, I’m still going to try and make some sort of a competive Elemental Hero Deck.

First of all, let’s take a look at the basic Elemental Heroes, the ones that form all of the Fusions. Right now, there are 7. If you count Necroshade and Neo Bubbleman with them, that makes 9.


Elemental Hero Avian
Wind / Warrior
Normal
3*

"A winged Elemental Hero who wheels through the sky and manipulates the wind. His signature move, Featherbreak, gives villainy a blow from sky-high."

ATK 1000 / DEF 1000


Elemental Hero Burstinatrix
Fire / Warrior
Normal
4*

"A flame manipulator who is the only woman among the Elemental Heroes. Her Burstfire burns away villainy."

ATK 1200 / DEF 800


Elemental Hero Clayman
Earth / Warrior
Normal
4*

"An Elemental Hero with a clay body built-to-last. He'll preserve his Elemental Hero colleagues at any cost."

ATK 800 / DEF 2000


Elemental Hero Sparkman
Light / Warrior
Normal
4*

"An Elemental Hero and a warrior of light who proficiently wields many kinds of armaments. His Shining Surge Flash cuts off the path of villainy."

ATK 1600 / DEF 1400


Elemental Hero Wildheart
Earth / Warrior
Effect
4*

“This card is unaffected by the effects of Trap Cards.”

ATK 1500 / DEF 1600


Elemental Hero Bubbleman
Water / Warrior
Effect
3*

“If this is the only card in your hand, you can Special Summon this card from your hand. When this card is Normal Summoned, Flip Summoned or Special Summoned successfully, if there are no other cards on your side of the field and in your hand, you can draw 2 cards from your Deck.”

ATK 800 / DEF 1200


Elemental Hero Bladedge
Earth / Warrior
Effect
7*

“During battle between this attacking card and a Defense Position monster whose DEF is lower than the ATK of this card, inflict the difference as Battle Damage to your opponent’s Life Points.”

ATK 2600 / DEF 1800


Elemental Hero Necroshade
Dark / Warrior
Effect
5*

“While this card is in your Graveyard, you can Normal Summon 1 monster from your hand that includes "Elemental Hero" in its card name whitout Tributing, You can only use this effect once while this card is in the Graveyard.”

ATK 1600 / DEF 1800


Elemental Hero Neo Bubbleman
Water / Warrior
Effect
4*

“This card cannot be Normal Summoned or Set. This card cannot be Special Summoned except by sending "Elemental Hero Bubbleman" on your side of the field and "Metamorphosis" in your hand to the Graveyard. This card's name is treated as "Elemental Hero Bubbleman" while it is face-up on the field. Destroy an opponent's monster that battles this card at the end of the Damage Step.”

ATK 800 / DEF 1200


Wow, what a list!
The first four Heroes (Avian, Burstinatrix, Clayman and Sparkman) were all released in ‘The Lost Millenium’. They are all normal monsters with quite low stats (except for Clayman’s 2000 defense).
Cybernetic brought us another Elemental Hero. His name is Bubbleman, and in my opinion, he’s one of the worst Elemtal Heroes ever. He only has 800 attack and 1200 defense, which is bad. His effect won’t be useful in almost 19 of the 20 duels and he doesn’t have any good Fusions to make (except for Tempest, but we’ll find a way to summon him anyway.).
Elemental Energy gave us the best Elemental Hero of all: Wildheart. He has 1500 attack and 1600 defense, which are nice stats. The best part is that he’s got complete immunity against Traps! That gives this guy a lot of combo’s. He can’t be destroyed by Torrential, Bottomless and Sakuretsu Armor. He will not be send to the Graveyard by the effect of Last Turn and he won’t be affected by Final Attack Orders. In that very same package, we recieved the first tribute monster among the Elemenal Heroes: Bladedge. His 2600 attack is pretty good for a Level 7 monster and his Trample ability (meaning that he’s able to attack right through your opponent’s monsters’ defenses) won’t hurt him either.
Then, Shadow of Infinity provided us with another weak Elemental Hero: Elemental Hero Neo Bubbleman. This one is even worser than Bubbleman itself. You need to get rid of TWO cards to bring out a monster with 800 attack and a crappy effect (it would’ve been nice if he had some more attack points, but sadly, he doesn’t).
The last one, Necroshade, can be obtained by buying the Yu-Gi-Oh GX Game for the Gameboy Advance. But he’s not worth all the money that you pay for that game. When he’s in your Graveyard, he allows you to Summon an Elemental Hero without tributing for it. But since the only tributes among the E-Heroes are Bladedge and this guy himself, you won’t get to use this effect very often.

Let’s take a look at the Spell Cards that were made for the Elemental Heroes.


Miracle Fusion
Spell / Normal

“Remove from play, from your side of the field or your Graveyard, Fusion Material Monsters that are listed on a Fusion Monster Card that includes "Elemental Hero" in its card name, and Special Summon that Fusion Monster from your Fusion Deck. (This Special Summon is treated as a Fusion Summon).”


Skyscraper
Spell / Field

“When a monster that includes ‘Elemental Hero’ in its card name attacks, if its ATK is lower than the ATK of the attack target, increase the ATK of the attacking monster by 1000 points during damage calculation only.”


Hero Heart
Spell / Normal

“This card can only be activate when you choose a face-up monster with ‘Elemental Hero’ in its name on your field. Half the attack strength of the chosen monster, and it can attack two times during a battle phase.”


Cyclone Boomerang
Spell / Equip

“This card can only be equipped to ’Elemental Hero Wildheart’. Increase the ATK of the equipped monster by 500. If the equipped monster is destroyed by other cards' effect and send to Graveyard, destroy all Magic/Trap cards on the field. Do damages to opponent equal to number of destroyed Magic/Trap cards x100.


As you can see, I didn’t include all the Spell Cards that could only been activated when a specific Elemental Hero is on the field, simply because they are far too situational and most of the time, you will have the Fusions out instead of the Elemental Hero Basic Monsters.
The only exception I made was ‘Cyclone Boomerang’. Because he can be equipped to Wildheart, he’s a bit more playable than the other ones, since Wildheart himself is a pretty good monster.
Let’s start wit the other cards.
Miracle Fusion is one heck of a good card in Elemental Hero Decks. It allows you to fuse Elemental Heroes from your field AND Graveyard! So when your weaker E-Heroes are destroyed, you could still make good use out of them.
Skyscraper is there to increase the attack of the Elemental Heroes. It’s a Field Spell that increases the attack of all Elemental Heroes by 1000 points when they attack a monster with higher attack than they do. Seems good at first sight, but this card doesn’t protect your E-Heroes when they are attacked, which really lowers this card’s playability.
Hero Heart isn’t that much of a great card either. It’s probably made for some of the Fusions that get their effects when they destroy monsters in battle. However, with only half of their attack points, they won’t be really strong, so it’s unlikely that they will destroy something.
Cyclone Boomerang however, is one of the better Spell Cards in my opinion. It increases the attack of Wildheart by 500 points, making him a nice 2000 attacker, and whenever he gets destroyed be a card effect, all the Spell and Trap Cards on the field will be destroyed. That could lead to some advantages, and that’s what Elemental Hero Decks need most of all.

Well, we’ve arrived at the Traps now.
Let’s see what they can do.


Hero Ring
Trap / Normal

“After activation, this card is treated as an Equip Card. Equip it to 1 Warrior-Type monster with an ATK of 1500 or less. Your opponent's monsters with 1900 or more ATK cannot attack that equipped monster.”


Hero Spirit
Trap / Normal

“You can activate this card during the Battle Phase in which one of your monsters that includes ‘Elemental Hero’ in its name is sent from the field to the Graveyard as a result of battle. Make the battle damage of one of your opponent’s monsters 0.”


Clay Charge
Trap / Normal

“You can only activate this card when an ‘Elemental Hero Clayman’ on your side of the field is selected as an attack target. (If it is face-down, pick up and show the card to your opponent.) Destroy the attacking monster and the selected "Elemental Hero Clayman" to inflict 800 points of damage to your opponent's Life Points.”


Hero Signal
Trap / Normal

“You can activate this card when one of your is sent from the field to the Graveyard as a result of battle. Special Summon one monster that includes ‘Elemental Hero’ in its name of Level 4 or lower from your Hand or Deck to the field.”


Hero Barrier
Trap / Normal

“If there’s a face-up monster that includes ‘Elemental Hero’ in its name on your side of the field, negate the attack of one of your opponent’s monsters.”


Whew, that’s all.
Five Trap Cards that were supposed to help out the Elemental Heroes. However, only one of them is close to playability.
Hero Ring can protect any of your Elemental Heroes from attacks of 1900-attack or more monsters as long as that Elemental Hero has 1500 attack or less. Bear in mind that Wildheart is not affected by this card. That means that only Avian, Burstinatrix, Clayman and (Neo) Bubbleman can be used with this card. Clayman can defend itself, so that makes only 3 or 4 monsters combine with this card. And since I won’t include Elemental Hero Bubbleman, nor Neo Bubbleman in the final deck, that makes only 2 monsters useful with this card. Not really worth playing in my opinion.
Hero Spirit isn’t very good either. It makes the Battle Damage of 1 monster 0 when one of your own monsters with Elemental Hero in its name has already been destroyed during that turn. Why wouldn’t you stick with Sakuretsu Armor?
Then we come to Clay Charge, another card that is owned by Sakuretsu Armor. Clay Charge only works when Elemental Hero Clayman is attacked, and when he is, he’ll be destroyed, so that you can destroy the attacking monster and deal a pathetic 800 points of damage. Don’t get me wrong. I’m not hating the Elemental Heroes, I love them. It’s just that I can’t stand it that we get so little good support cards for this decktheme.
Ah! Finally, a playable Trap Card. Hero Signal allows you to Special Summon an Elemental Hero of level 4 or lower from your hand or deck when ANY of your monster is destroyed as a result of battle. That means you can also activate this card when your...let’s say, Magician of Faith is destroyed. Then you could summon Clayman for a nice defense or Wildheart if you’re holding Cyclone Boomerang or something. And above that, if you need one piece of a Fusion Material, you could fetch that monster and fuse it on your own turn. I actually like this card.
Hero Barrier however, is again a bad card. It negates one attack when there is an E-Hero on your field. Why not use Negate Attack or Magic Cylinder? They both work better than this.

Well, now that we’ve looked at the Monsters, Spell and Traps, it’s time for the bigger E-Heroes: The Fusions!


Elemental Hero Flame Wingman
Wind / Warrior
Fusion / Effect
6*

Elemental Hero Avian + Elemental Hero Burstinatrix
”This monster cannot be Special Summoned except by Fusion Summon. When this card destroys a monster and sends it to the Graveyard as a result of battle, inflict damage to your opponent's Life Points equal to the ATK of the destroyed monster.”

ATK 2100 / DEF 1200


Elemental Hero Thunder Giant
Light / Warrior
Fusion / Effect
6*

Elemental Hero Sparkman + Elemental Hero Clayman
“This monster cannot be Special Summoned except by Fusion Summon. Discard 1 card from your hand to select and destroy 1 face-up monster on the field with an original ATK that is less than the ATK of this card. You can only use this effect once per turn, during your Main Phase.”

ATK 2400 / DEF 1500


Elemental Hero Rampart Blaster
Earth / Warrior
Fusion / Effect
6*

Elemental Hero Clayman + Elemental Hero Burstinatrix
“This monster cannot be Special Summoned except by Fusion Summon. While this card is in face-up Defense Position, this card can attack your opponent’s Life Points directly. In that case, apply half the ATK of this card for damage calculation.”

ATK 2000 / DEF 2500


Elemental Hero Tempest
Wind / Warrior
Fusion / Effect
8*

Elemental Hero Avian + Elemental Hero Sparkman + Elemental Hero Bubbleman
“This monster cannot be Special Summoned except by Fusion Summon. By sending 1 card (except this card) from your side of the field to the Graveyard, select 1 monster on your side of the field. While this card is face-up on the field, the selected monster is not destroyed as a result of battle. (Damage calculation applied normally).”

ATK 2800 / DEF 2800


Elemental Hero Wildedge
Earth / Warrior
Fusion / Effect
8*

Elemental Hero Wildheart + Elemental Hero Bladedge
“This card cannot be Special Summoned except by Fusion Summon. This card can attack all monsters on your opponent’s side of the field once each.”

ATK 2600 / DEF 2300


Elemental Hero Shining Flare Wingman
Light / Warrior
Fusion / Effect
8*

Elemental Hero Flame Wingman + Elemental Hero Sparkman
“This monster cannot be Special Summoned except by Fusion Summon. Increase the ATK of this card by 300 points for each card in your Graveyard that includes “Elemental Hero” in its card name. When this card destroys a monster as a result of battle and sends it to the Graveyard, inflict damage to your opponent’s Life Points equal to the ATK of the destroyed monster.”

ATK 2500 / DEF 2100


Elemental Hero Steam Healer
Water / Warrior
Fusion / Effect
5*

Elemental Hero Burstinatrix + Elemental Hero Bubbleman
“This monster cannot be Special Summoned except by Fusion Summon. When this card destroys a monster as a result of battle and sends it to the Graveyard, increase your Life Points by the ATK of the destroyed monster.”

ATK 1800 / DEF 1000


I won’t do an in depth look at the Fusions, since it will cost to much time and would be a bit boring to read. Just a general note: most of them are quite playable, except for maybe Steam Healer.

Okay, we’ve taken a look at all the E-Heroes and their obvious support cards, it’s time to look at the other support cards. Now, I am like I am and I want to be original.
That means we’re going to create an E-Hero Deck, other than you might be used to.
The strategy this deck will contain, takes the most out of Miracle Fusion, a wonderful card in my opinion. As you all know, Fusion Summons require three cards most of the time. Miracle Fusion is a card with the potential of using only 1 card to summon a Fusion Monster, as long as the necessary Fusion Material is in the Graveyard. Now, let’s add some cards that can do this very easily.


Graceful Charity
Spell / Normal

“Draw 3 cards from your Deck. Then discard any 2 cards from your hand.”


Magical Merchant
Light / Insect
Effect
2*

“Pick up cards from your deck until you pick up a Spell or Trap Card. Add that card to your hand and send all the other cards you’ve picked up to the Graveyard.”

ATK 200 / DEF 500


Next To Be Lost
Trap / Normal

“Select one face-up monster on your side of the field. Send one card with the same name as the selected card from your deck to the Graveyard.”


Graceful has just been restricted, so he can be used again. Drawing three cards is great, discarding two is bad, but in this deck, it’s good. Why? Imagine you drew Miracle Fusion. You can then discard 2 E-Heroes you would like to fuse, use Miracle Fusion and summon that Fusion Monster. In that way, you won’t lose any advantage at all.
Magical Merchant...Back he is again, one of my all time favorite cards. He can discard a lot of monsters from your deck to feed up Miracle Fusion, which is great. Unfortunately, Nobleman can be used in two’s again, meaning you are taking a risk when playing this card.
Next To Be Lost is a card I recently ran into. It’s a normal Trap that can send a monster from your deck to the Graveyard as long as that monster is on your field also. Could be a nice addition, but run 1 at max.

Well, since there aren’t many cards that can get Miracle Fusion back from the Graveyard very easily (unlike Polymerization: Fusion Recovert, Wrougthweiler), we’ll have to use the two Magician of Faith we’re allowed to.


Magician of Faith
Light / Spellcaster
Effect
1*

“FLIP: Select one Spell Card from your Graveyard and add it to your hand.”

ATK 300 / DEF 400


Again, this is a very risky card to use with 2 Nobleman.
Because of Nobleman will form a main threat to this deck, we’re going to add some protection against it.


Spell Shield Type-8
Trap / Counter

“Select and activate 1 of the following effects:
- Negate the activation and the effect of a Spell Card that designates 1 monster on the field as a target and destroy the Spell Card.
- Send 1 Spell Card from your hand to the Graveyard to negate the activation and the effect of a Spell Card and destroy the Spel Card.”


Magic Drain
Trap / Counter

“You can activate this card when your opponent activates a Spell Card. Your opponent can discard 1 Spell Card from his/her hand to negate the effect of this card. If your opponent does not, negate the activation of the Spell Card of your opponent and destroy it.”


Two very solid Spell Negaters. Spell Shield works best against Nobleman, but leads to a –1 disadvantage when negating Smashing Ground.
Magic Drain will have a small risk factor, but is very useful. ‘

To add some more protection for your monsters, we’re going to add two more cards.


Royal Decree
Trap / Continous

“As long as this card remains face-up on the field, negate the effects of all Trap Cards, except for this one.”


My Body As a Shield
Spell / Quick-Play

“Pay 1500 Life Points to negate the activation and the effect of card that has the effect of destroying one or more monsters on the field and destroy the card.”


Reliable Protection. Royal Decree protects your Fusion Monsters from the returned Mirror Force, Torrential Tribute and possible Bottomless Trap Hole and Sakuretsu Armor. Same goes for My Body As a Shield, but he only works once and costs 1500 Life Points. The good part is that he can negate all the cards mentioned above, as well as Nobleman, Smashing Ground and Newdoria, which might see play with the restriction of D. D. Assailant.

Okay, that’s it for the Fusion and Protection Part.
Let’s add some cards that provide Defense for your Life Points now.


Messenger of Peace
Spell / Continuous

“Neither player can declare attacks with face-up monsters with an ATK of 1500 or more. Pay 100 Life Points during each of your Standby Phases. If you do not, destroy this card.”


Spirit Reaper
Dark / Zombie
Effect
3*

“This monster is not destroyed as a result of battle at any time, although damage calculation is applied normally. When this card is specifically designated as a target of the effect of a Magic, Trap, or Effect Monster Card, this card is immediately destroyed. When this card attacks your opponent's Life Points directly, 1 card is randomly selected from your opponent's hand and discarded to the Graveyard.”

ATK 300 / DEF 200


Messenger of Peace is a very nice Stall Card in my opinion. You can keep it out as long as you’d like for just a small cost. When you just drew...let’s say Miracle Fusion, and you can summon a Fusion Monster, just destroy it so that you can attack again.
Spirit Reaper survived this Banned List and can still be used in threes. This deck will certainly like that, since he provides the ultimate defense, and that’s what this deck needs most.

Some other card that might serve as nice protection is Command Knight


Command Knight
Fire / Warrior
Effect
4*

“As long as at least 1 other monster exists on your side of the field, your opponent cannot select this card as an attack target. Also, as long as this card remains face-up on the field, increase the ATK of all Warrior-Type monsters on your side of the field by 400 points.”

ATK 1200 / DEF 1900


His 1900 defense means that he can last out pretty long. He cannot be attacked by any other monster, as long as you’ve got another one on the field, so he even has his own in-built protection effect. His second effect makes him even better in this deck. He boosts all Warriors with a nice little bonus of 400 attack points. Since all of your E-Heroes are Warriors, they’ll be turned into beaststicks with this out, at least...two of them. Wildheart becomes a 1900/1600 monster with immunity to Traps and Sparkman a 2000-attack beaststick. Heck, this card even boosts all of your Fusion, so your Flame Wingman looks a lot more dangerous with this thing out. Just a perfect card in this deck.

Two other cards that are just perfect in this deck are King of the Swamp and Morphing Jar.


King of the Swamp
Water / Aqua
Effect
3*

“You can substitute this card for any 1 Fusion-Material Monster. When you do this, the other Fusion-Material Monster(s) must be the correct one(s). Discard this card from your hand to the Graveyard to add a "Polymerization" Spell Card from your Deck to your hand. The Deck is then shuffled.”

ATK 500 / DEF 1100


Morphing Jar
Earth / Rock
Effect
2*

“Both players discard their entire hands to the Graveyard. Then both of them draw cards until they have five cards in their hand.”

ATK 700 / DEF 600


King of the Swamp is able to replace any E-Hero when you’re going to Fusion Summon a Fusion Monster. And above that, this card works perfectly with Miracle Fusion. Why?
Discard this from your hand, get Polymerization. Then he’s in your Graveyard, without you losing advantage. After that, you can use Miracle Fusion to summon any E-Hero Fusion very easily. You can even replace Flame Wingman with this to summon Shining Flare Wingman!
Morphing Jar helps you to dump cards into the Graveyard and gets rid of bad hands. Just a staple in this deck.

And finally, we’re going to add a Reinforcement of the Army


Reinforcement of the Army
Spell / Normal

“Search your Deck for a Level 4 or lower Warrior-type monster and add that card to your hand. Shuffle the Deck afterwards.”


Just perfect!
He can get you ANY E-Hero from your deck, except for Bladedge.
This card thins your deck and makes the Fusion Summoning a lot easier.
He’s just great in this deck.


Well, I guess that’s it for the E-Heroes.
Let’s construct the Deck now.

Monsters: 23x
Elemental Hero Avian
Elemental Hero Avian
Elemental Hero Burstinatrix
Elemental Hero Burstinatrix
Elemental Hero Clayman
Elemental Hero Clayman
Elemental Hero Clayman
Elemental Hero Sparkman
Elemental Hero Sparkman
Elemental Hero Wildheart
Elemental Hero Wildheart
Command Knight
Command Knight
Spirit Reaper
Spirit Reaper
Magical Merchant
Magical Merchant
Magical Merchant
Magician of Faith
Magician of Faith
Morphing Jar
King of the Swamp
King of the Swamp

Spells: 14x
Miracle Fusion
Miracle Fusion
Miracle Fusion
Polymerization
My Body as a Shield
My Body as a Shield
Messenger of Peace
Messenger of Peace
Heavy Storm
Mystical Space Typhoon
Smashing Ground
Reinforcement of the Army
Nobleman of Crossout
Graceful Charity

Traps: 6x
Royal Decree
Royal Decree
Magic Drain
Mirror Force
Torrential Tribute
Bottomless Trap Hole

Fusions: A lot
Reaper on the Nighmare x3 (Spirit Reaper + King of the Swamp)
All E-Heroes x3

Total Cards: 43 cards.

Final Explanations:
- Just like the Dark World Deck, this deck has a very high monster amount. I did this on purpose, to take out the most out of the Magical Merchant + Miracle Fusion Strategy.
- There are 3 copies of Clayman in this deck. His 2000 Defense means that he can last out pretty long, so he’ll support the defensive part of this deck very well. Also, two of the best Fusions can be formed by him
- The 3 copies of Miracle Fusion are pretty obvious, since the whole Strategy involves that card. Still, I put in one copy of Polymerization. I did that to work with King of the Swamp, and it’s just wonderful to Fusion Summon a Fusion Monster by using Material from your hand and summon the same monster again, but this time using Miracle Fusion and removing them out of the Graveyard. That’s just wow!
- I didn’t include Card Destruction, since he’s a –1 most of the time and this deck can’t afford more of those cards.
- Mirror Force and Bottomless Trap Hole are in to add some more Monster Removal. This deck doesn’t run a lot of those cards, but since some of the Fusions are very strong, they’ll take care of that.
- I DID NOT include Bladedge on purpose! This is because he’s a 2-tribute monster, meaning you will suffer a –2 disadvantage when summoning him, and that sucks. This deck doesn’t run the revival cards (Premature and Call of the Haunted), so bringing him back from the Graveyard won’t work either. To summon Wildedge, you’ll have to use King of the Swamp
- I didn’t inlcude the revival cards, because the basic E-Heroes are to weak to be worth summoning from the Graveyard. The Fusion can’t be summoned from the Graveyard, so they won’t work on him either. And above that all, this deck requires the E-Heroes to be in the Grave most of the time
- I excluded The Warrior Returning Alive also, for the same reason as the Revival Cards. The E-Heroes are supposed to be in the Graveyard in this deck, and bringing back a Fusion will lead to –1. Besides, why would you even want to return a Fusion E-Hero, since you’re running three of ‘em anyway?
- Next to be Lost is also excluded. Simply because he’s basically a –1, and the E-Heroes won’t be on the field most of the time, which hurts this card. It also didn’t provide any protection, so that’s why it’s not in.

Well, that does it for this Elemental Hero Article.
I hope you enjoyed it and found it useful.
I myself am glad it’s past April 1st, because I really began to miss these articles.
If you’ve got anything to say at all, or want to submit deckthemes or comments, feel free to mail me at slam25@hetnet.nl

‘Til next time,
~ShineSoldier~