An Introduction into Cyber Style's Successor
Cyber Style's Successor is the name of the OCG's 43rd Deck in their Structure Deck series. It was decided that Cyber would be the theme for this deck after it won 2nd place in the 2020 Structure Deck Theme Poll. Ever since its inception, Cyber has been one of the most beloved archetypes in the TCG. While Cyber Dragons is a very popular archetype receiving multiple waves of support and was even viable competitively, Cyberdark has not received the same treatment ..until now. With the release of Cyber Style's Successor, Cyberdark finally receives some much needed support. In today's article, we'll be taking a look at all the new cards from Cyber Style's Successor and some of their interactions with the rest of the archetype.
Video Guide
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OV775pQreWg&ab_channel=BlueRainTCGNew Cards
Cyberdark End Dragon
Cyberdark End Dragon is Cyber Style's new Level 12 Boss Monster. It has 5000 ATK and 3800 DEF (which is also the combined stat total of Cyber End Dragon and Cyberdark Dragon). It features a protection effect along with the generic Cyberdark equipping effects.
Cyberdark End's 1st effect is a built-in protection that makes it unaffected by your opponent's activated effects. This makes Cyberdark End difficult to deal with as it's immune to popular meta cards like Forbidden Droplets and Ice Dragon's Prison. Cyberdark End's 2nd effect lets you equip 1 monster from either GY to it once per turn. This is useful for disrupting your opponent's GY or equipping monsters that have effects while equipped or if sent to GY. Popular options to equip include Shooting Quasar Dragon and Dragon Buster Destruction Sword. Lastly, Cyberdark End can also attack up to the number of times equal to the number of cards equipped to it. This means if Cyberdark End isn't immediately answered, it can deal heavy damage to the opponent.
Overall, Cyberdark End is a solid monster that in my opinion is relatively balanced. It's moderately difficult to get over but also somewhat difficult to summon. It also doesn't have any inherent disruption so it's not overly oppressive but still exerts pressure when it's on the field. While it's not a boss monster that's completely immune from card effects, it'll definitely pack a punch.
Note : Here are some popular meta cards that "get over" Cyberdark End Dragon -
Accesscode Talker (using a Link-3), Underworld Goddess of the Closed World, Borrelsword Dragon, Kaiju monsters.
Attachment Cybern
Attachment Cybern is a Level 3 LIGHT DRAGON that equips itself from the hand or field onto a DRAGON or MACHINE Cyber monster. It gives the monster equipped by it 600 ATK and has an effect if it's sent to the GY while equipped to a monster.
One thing unique about Cybern is that it gives the highest ATK out of any monster your Cyberdarks can equip. Due to its high base ATK and effect to provide additional ATK, Cybern can allow your Cyberdark Edge, Horn and Keel to reach 3000 ATK. Cybern's revival effect is also great for reviving your other DRAGON or MACHINE Cyber monsters. This effect is good for bringing back monsters like Cyberdark Chimera which helps in forwarding your play. Cyberdarkness Dragon is also good as its effect activates upon special summon and is great for summoning Cyberdark End Dragon. Cyberdark End unfortunately cannot be revived since it must be summoned through fusion summon or its own summoning method.
Now, let's look at some of the card's problems. Cybern has 1 main problem that has more to do with game mechanics over the card itself. This problem is having an equipped monster by the time Cybern hits the GY. In most cases, if the monster leaves the field along with Cybern, you will NOT get its effect. Therefore, simply linking the monster Cybern is equipped to off the field will NOT trigger Cybern's effect. This means in order to get Cybern's revival effect, you'll need to find a way to send it to the GY while usually preserving your monster. Overall, Cybern is a card that looks good on paper, but may not perform as good as it looks.
Cyberdark Chimera
Cyberdark Chimera is one of the most anticipated cards in Cyber Style's Successor. It's both a Power Bond searcher + enabler and a Tri-Brigade Kitt in one card.
Chimera's 1st effect lets you search Power Bond by discarding a S/T card. This effect also locks you into only using DRAGON or MACHINE Cyber monsters as fusion materials for the rest of the turn. Furthermore, you can use monsters in the GY as fusion material by banishing them for 1 fusion summon this turn. This basically turns your Power Bond into a pseudo-Overload Fusion. This is good as it gives Power Bond materials to fuse with while maintaining card advantage.
Chimera's 2nd effect lets you send 1 Cyberdark monster from your deck to the GY with a different name from monsters in your GY. This effect is good for setting up Overload Fusion and Cyberdark Impact! This also synergizes with the 1st effect as you can search Power Bond and then link Chimera off the field. Chimera will then activate getting you another Cyberdark monster for Cyberdark or Cyberdarkness Dragon.
Cybernetic Horizon
Cybernetic Horizon is a Cyber spell that searches for a DRAGON or MACHINE Cyber monster while setting up your GY. It's also always treated as a Cyberdark card.
Horizon is a card that is difficult to praise in just a few words. At first glance, Horizon doesn't look that impressive. However, after further inspection, Horizon actually gives you access to almost your entire deck. The beauty of this card lies in what you're able to search and what you're able to mill. Cyber Dragon Core, Cyberdark Claw, and Cyberdark Cannon are all great search targets that give you access to more cards. Core is good as it's a solid normal summon that searches you any Cyber S/T. Claw on the other hand can transition your Horizon from being a monster searcher to a Cyberdark S/T searcher. Cannon is great for loading your GY with another monster. For cards to send to the GY, the standout option is Cyberdark Chimera. Chimera is great because it helps you quickly setup your GY for a future fusion summon.
Horizon's only weakness is that it's a big commit to activate. This makes search negates like Ash Blossom & Joyous Spring threatening. Having your search negated also doesn't allow you to send from the Extra Deck to the GY which is crucial for summoning Cyberdark End.
Overall, Horizon is one of the best Cyberdark support cards to come out of Cyber Style's Successor. It's a card that's extremely flexible and is also responsible for some of the 1-2 card combos the archetype now has.
Eternal Cyber
Eternal Cyber is another card that looks good on paper but doesn't perform as good as it looks. While reviving a Cyber fusion is good, it's usually just too situational. Basically, you'll need to draw Eternal at the right time for it to be effective. While you can search it, you usually want your search going towards more consistent and impactful cards like Horizon, World and, Invasion.
Eternal does however have its own merits. Reviving Cyberdarkness is always good as it provides a negate and reviving Cyberdark End could also be a nightmare for your opponent to deal with again. Sometimes you can even revive Cyberdarkness while having Cyberdark End on field, making it even more troublesome to deal with. Eternal's protection effect is also good for keeping your boss monsters alive.
So while Eternal isn't the most consistently performing card, it can still create a big impact. One of the good things about a card being disregarded is that it's also less likely to get played around. If you manage to catch your opponent off guard with Eternal, it can easily seal the game.
Cyberdark World
Cyberdark World's 1st effect lets you add 1 Cyberdark monster with a different name from the cards in your GY from deck to hand. This means World must remain face-up on the field in order to complete your search. While World can't search Cyber Dragon Core, being able to search Cyberdark Claw and Cannon is good enough.
World's 2nd effect grants you an additional normal summon for a Cyberdark monster once per turn during the main phase. This is a continuous effect which does not start a chain link when applied. You do still need to declare when you're using this additional summon to differentiate it from your regular normal summon. Additional normal summons are always good!
World's last effect is a gimmicky way to equip monsters from your opponent's GY. It activates when a Cyberdark monster would equip a monster from your GY when it's normal or special summoned and lets you equip an appropriate target from your opponent's GY instead. Naturally, this isn't an effect that will come up too often since it's only relevant in matchups against DRAGON/MACHINE(s) (unless you want to play Rebirth Judgment). However, in matchups where you can utilize this effect, stealing a Dragon Buster Destruction Sword or Dragunity Phalanx can be very good.
Cyberdark Invasion
Cyberdark Invasion's 1st effect lets you target 1 Cyberdark monster you control and equip 1 DRAGON or MACHINE from either GY to it as an equip spell that gives the monster 1000 ATK. This effect is flexible as it gives you access to multiple lines of play depending on the situation. For more ATK, Attachment Cybern is an option that grants 1600 ATK if equipped by Invasion. Cybern also has synergy with Invasion's 2nd effect. For setup, Invasion can equip Cyber End to Cyberdark or Cyberdarkness Dragon which makes it easier to summon Cyberdark End. Invasion also works very well with Cyberdarkness as it provides it with more equip cards which results in more negates. In specific matchups, Invasion can also offer disruption by messing with your opponent's GY. For example, against Dragunity, you can chain Invasion to Dux or Mystletainn to disrupt their equipment of a Dragunity tuner.
Invasion's 2nd effect sends 1 equip card you control equipped to a MACHINE monster to the GY to destroy 1 card your opponent controls. For this effect, sending an equip card is a cost and the destruction does not target. This effect is good as it synergizes with Attachment Cybern while also offering some disruption. This effect also works well with Cyberdark Claw and Cannon which have their own effects if sent to the GY while equipped to a monster.
Invasion is a good control card since it both generates advantage and provides disruption, and is a great card and a welcome addition of Cyberdark support.
Overall Thoughts
In review, the majority of new support for Cyber Style is very solid. While the new cards mainly support Cyberdark, they also gave new tools to Cyber Dragon. The Cyberdark support in particular is of high quality. The new additions help combat problems the archetype previously faced and also greatly increase its overall consistency. While I wouldn't say all the problems are completely solved, the archetype is definitely in a much better place. Overall, I would say Cyber Style's Successor did the Cyber archetype justice. It released new cards which will bring forth new strategies, brought new life to a forgotten archetype, and has some amazing card art. While the deck's TCG counterpart is delayed to October, it's definitely something to look forward to for Cyber fans everywhere.
