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GeneralZorpa on Yugioh
Hero Duplication
July 22, 2008

What's Better Than One Hero? 3 Of Course!
 
Hero cards have the most support in the game, except for maybe Normal Monsters. Most of this support is junk of course. However, every once in a while you get something that is truly a gem. Elemental Heroes Stratos, Wildheart and Prisma are great cards, and support like Hero Blast, O-Oversoul, E-Emergency Call, R-Righteous Justice and Hero Mask, wait, Hero Mask? This rather unassuming common from LODT is a gem. Yeah, a gem. What it does is very similar to Prisma. You send an Elemental Hero from your deck to the graveyard and a selected monster gets it's name until the end of the turn. However, unlike Prisma, we are able to put this card on any monster. So you can make, say a Card Trooper into an Elemental Hero Bladedge. What use is that though? Well Machine Duplication comes to mind.
 
This works because Hero Mask doesn't change the ATK or type of the monster, only it's name. So while Card Trooper is still a Machine with 400 ATK, it has the name of Elemental Hero Bladedge. Machine Duplication only says that the monster you can select as a target has to be a monster of Machine type and 500 or less ATK and that you Special Summon monsters of the same name. Now you're catching on. You play Hero Mask on a Cyber Valley or Card Trooper, discarding, say, Elemental Hero Neos from your deck. Machine Duplication then brings out 2 copies of Elemental Hero Neos from your Deck. You can do this with any Elemental Hero, so Ocean, Bladedge, Neos, Neos Alius and Wildheart are all viable targets. So here is a rather unique Elemental Hero build that can quickly swarm the field.
 
Hero Duplication
 
Monsters-15
 
3x Elemental Hero Neos Alius
3x Elemental Hero Wildheart
3x Elemental Hero Ocean
3x Cyber Valley
1x Elemental Hero Stratos
1x Sangan
1x Card Trooper
 
 
Spells-12
 
3x Machine Duplication
3x Hero Mask
2x Reinforcements of the Army
1x E-Emergency Call
1x Book of Moon
1x Mystical Space Typhoon
1x Monster Reborn
 
Traps-13
 
3x Solemn Judgment
3x Royal Oppression
2x Dimensional Prison
2x Dust Tornado
1x Mirror Force
1x Bottomless Trap Hole
1x Torrential Tribute
 
In the Name of Justice!
 
Well there is a lot of odd choices in this deck. Neos Alius has gained a lot of recognition lately because of the fact that it combines the two theme with the most support (Normal and Hero) and packs it all into a nice little 1900 ATK beatstick package. Wildheart is great when an opponent has many cards facedown and it has 1500 ATK which is not a small number. Ocean allows you to get back and abuse Stratos in Big City style as well as get back any Hero for a beatdown. Cyber Valley is in here as a target for Machine Duplication/Hero Mask as well as being a useful draw/stall card all on it's own. The same is true of Card Trooper, although he is a little more aggro than his LIGHT cousin. Sangan and Stratos act as searchers as well as beaters. Don't laugh at Sangan, I have won games because my opponent wouldn't -1 themselves on the little guy and 1000 is actually a lot of damage.
 
The Spells pretty much all support the combo as well as the theme. Machine Dupe and Hero Mask swarm the field, thin the deck and get more monsters onto the field. Reinforcements and E-Emergency Call all search out Heroes, namely Stratos, as well as being a toolbox of sorts when you need it. Book of Moon is there for offensive use as well as a decent counter to Dark Armed Dragon and Gladiator Beast Gyzarus when they take the field. Monster Reborn gets back fallen Heroes and even though it is the only Recursion card in the deck, I just couldn't cut such a brilliant card. Mystical Space Typhoon removes the opposing defenses as well as combo pieces like Field Spells and Premature Burial.
 
The Traps are actually pretty standard in non-DARK and non-Gladiator decks. Solemn Negates everything and such a toolbox of negation has been a hallmark of Heroes since their competitive debut in Big City decks. Royal Oppression negates opposing Special Summons at a paltry cost, allowing your Heroes to reign supreme. Careful though, it can be used to negate your Hero Mask/Machine Duplication Special Summons by your opponent, so only activate it if you have to. You can also remove it with Dust Tornado or Mystical Space Typhoon if you need to. Dust Tornado also removes opposing defense as well as setting up with any other Trap if you need to. Dimensional Prison is a surprise to people, but with Royal Oppression backing it up, it is a solid choice, especially when faced with "destroy and send to graveyard" cards like Sangan. Mirror Force does much the same thing, but is always a nice surprise in a professional format where it is all but cut. Torrential Tribute continues to prove that it is the best in the game, but punishing opposing overextensions as well as just all around awesomeness. Bottomless Trap Hole is amazing, as it will destroy pretty much any monster commonly played and I would be a fool not to include at least one copy.
 
Oh, That Can't Be Good...
 
This deck does have it's weaknesses. It has a lot of dead draws. Hero Mask and Machine DUplication are useless without Cyber Valley and Card Trooper, and even the hero cards can become troublesome when topdecked wrong. The low monster count also means for a couple of monsterless turns in your future, although E-Call and Reinforcements can make sure that that happens as rarely as possible.
 
Higher ATK monsters, like Gladiators, pose an offensive problem, as only Neos Alius has any real bite with his bark. Your defensive trap cards should stymie any Gladiator shenanigans though. You will also lose lifepoints really fast between attacks, Royal Oppression and Solemn Judgment. You need to end the game quickly before you can be set back by the loss of life. Crush Card Virus is also a problem, as all but 5 of our monsters have under 1500 ATK so a timely CCV would jsut destroy this deck.
 
Even as idiotic as it may sound, Eradicator Epidemic Virus is going to eat you for dinner. It has made a comeback with the new ruling on Fusilier Dragon the Duel Mode Beast (a very versatile card in itself). Losing your Spell and Trap cards is a death sentence. So on the same note, Royal Decree, Horus, Silent Swordsman, Jinzo and Spell Canceller must be avoided at all costs. Your traps and spells should help keep them off the field, as your monsters will likely do no such thing.

Your own Royal Oppression will hurt you as well, but only if you time it wrong. Special Summoning all of your monsters and then playing Oppression is the way to go. You won't always have that luxury though, and unlike Imperial Order, Oppression is impossible to get rid of short of spell and trap removal. That is where your opponent comes in. You can hold your Special Summon cards in hand and then your opponent will use his or her spell or trap removal on the Oppression, leaving you free to use your combo next turn, and all the while you were beating them down with Neos Alius and Wildheart or even Stratos.
 
Elemental Heroes may not be the ultimate force that they are in the tv show, but they are not a force to be trifled with. That's all I have for you today. You can reach me at raptor1k@hotmail.com for any questions, comments or whatever. A little kid at my local said my articles were boring, so appease the poor guy and help my writing become better. I know I am not as good as Pook or the Metagame.com writers, but I am trying, so any advice from you, my readers, is appreciated
 
PS, I know a lot about rulings, but maybe Curtis Shultz over at Metagame could be more help as far as that goes, especially with complicated scenarios. I will do my best, but usually I just look it up at the official site under card rulings and then get back to you.
 
Thanx for reading!
GZ