“Fusion Armament” is a new card from Duelist Nexus that combines the effects of “Fusion Deployment” and “Instant Fusion”… Or tries to. By revealing a fusion monster in the extra deck, the player can Special summon one of the revealed card’s named fusion materials from either their hand or extra deck, but the summoned card cannot activate its abilities or attack until after the opponent’s next turn.
Summoning monsters from the hand is a little boring, especially without being able to use their effects, but getting to pull stuff from the extra deck at little to no cost is pretty interesting. There are currently 11 Fusion monsters that feature another extra deck monster as one of their named materials (10 of which can be used). So, this week’s article will take a look at all these options and what can potentially be done with them.
-Dragon Master Knight (Blue-Eyes Ultimate Dragon)-
Of all the cards on this list, "Blue-Eyes Ultimate Dragon" via Dragon Master Knight is probably the one with the most upfront value. Being a 4500/4500 behemoth of a normal monster means it’s not losing out on having any effects negated, but it unfortunately still can’t attack. As a combo piece, being able to summon out Ultimate Dragon makes it much easier to summon out “Blue-Eyes Shining Dragon,” which requires the Ultimate to be tributed as cost. For all the trouble of bringing it out, Shining Dragon only comes with a measly 3000 attack (boosted by 300 more for each Dragon in its owner’s graveyard), and the ability to negate all effects that target it. It’s a rogue strategy at best, but gives another option for Blue-Eyes fans that want to play yet another boss monster.
Ultimate Dragon also works as one of the most powerful options to combine with “Catapult Turtle,” netting a solid 2250 damage of burn.
-Cyberdark End Dragon (Cyber End Dragon)-
Another 3-headed rival dragon fusion, "Cyber End Dragon" via Cyberdark End Dragon comes with a few more options than its previous generation counterpart. For starters, "Cyber End Dragon" gives potential access to "Chimeratech Megafleet Dragon," assuming your opponent has a monster in the extra monster zone. Fusion Armament in a Cyber Dragon deck is little more than a win-more OTK card in a deck that can already OTK pretty well without it. Just about any option Cyber End presents is something Cyber Dragon can do already.
XYZ-wise, Cyber End is a level 10, meaning it can work in a rank 10 deck, filling much the same role “Malefic Cyber End Dragon” used to.
-Gaia Prominence, The Kindling Seraph (Gaia Blaze, the Force of the Sun)-
Honestly, the best thing you can do with "Gaia Blaze, the Force of the Sun" is to then use it to make "Gaia Prominence. the Kindling Seraph." The best decks and cards for the job are going to be ones that have built-in fusion effects. Gaia’s own deck is probably the default best choice, but a very janky Branded or Despia deck could get to Prominence with either “Blazing Cartesia, the Virtuous” or “Despia, the Branded Theater.”
Outside of fusion, Gaia Blaze is also a level 7, meaning Fusion Armament gives rank 7 decks easy access to a material option, if they truly need it and can afford the two slots needed for Prominence and Gaia Blaze.
-Gaia Drake, the Universal Force (Gaia Knight, the Force of the Earth)-
Another Gaia monster, albeit this one is not quite as useful. "Gaia Drake, the Universal Force" isn’t quite the same powerhouse as Prominence, only offering immunity from targeting and destruction from monster effects. "Gaia Knight, the Force of the Earth" is a pretty low-stat generic synchro. It’s a level 6, so its use as XYZ material is a bit limited compared to Gaia Blaze.
As a synchro extension card, Gaia Knight is able to go into “XX-Saber Gottoms” with a level 3 tuner, and can be used to make “Naturia Landoise” with a level 1 Earth Tuner. Being a non-tuner Synchro monster also means Gaia Knight can give easier access to monsters like “Satellite Warrior” or the T.G. Boss monsters that require the use of specific synchro monsters to summon.
-Naturia Exterio (Naturia Beast and Natruia Barkion)-
Naturia is probably the one deck where one could realistically expect “Fusion Armament” to be a slightly viable option. The archetype has “Naturia Blessing,” which allows its player to either synchro or fuse on the opponent’s turn, and getting out either “Naturia Beast” or “Naturia Barkion” is a simple enough task with the archetype’s newer support cards. “Naturia Exterio” is an incredibly strong card that’s always been difficult to summon properly, but Armament makes it slightly less resource intensive in a Naturia-centric deck.
As extenders into other cards, Barkion has a lot of the same lines as Gaia Knight, since both are level 6 Earth monsters, in a dedicated Naturia deck, it can go into “Baronne de Fluer” with “Naturia Camilla.”
-Windwitch – Crystal Bell (Windwitch – Winter Bell)-
Yet another synchro monster option, “Windwitch – Winter Bell” is a level 7 option to extend into the power Rank 7 XYZ toolbox. But, WIndwitch is a synchro deck, so being able to instantly pull out a level 7 monster allows them to easily extend into other options. Their in-archetype tuners are level 5, 4, and 1. The level 1 Tuner, “Windwitch – Snowbell” gives destruction immunity to any wind synchro monster summoned out using it as material. The prime target here is “Crystal Wing Synchro Dragon,” giving a powerful monster effect negate on an indestructible body.
Some other good Wind options with the Windwitch tuners include:
“Windwitch – Diamond Bell” for an easy in-archetype boss monster.
“Hi-Speedroid Clear Wing Rider” for potential non-targeting destruction and tag outs into a variety of level 7 options on your opponent’s turn.
Your options expand even more when splashing in other synchro-centric archetypes. Speedroids are a very obvious choice since they’re another Wind archetype
-Chimera, the Illusion Beast (Chimera the Flying Mythical Beast)-
The new Chimera monsters from Duelist Nexus have some interesting interactions while “Chimera the Flying Mythical Beast” is on the field or in the graveyard. “Cornfield Coatl” and “Mirror Swordknight” both grant interruptions while Chimera is on the field, and “Chimera Fusion” can add itself back from the graveyard to hand. In this sense, Armament can be used to protect your plays and help set up to bring out Illusion Beast (Who also treats himself as “Chimera the Flying Mythical Beast” while out on the field or in the grave).
-Lunalight Panther Dancer (Lunalight Cat Dancer)-
Lunalights are another archetype that can benefit from Armament. Most of their fusions require another named extra deck monster, but most of them have the "Must be fusion summoned" clause attached to them, except "Lunalight Cat Dancer." While the archetype already has several ways to get into their boss monsters, being able to 1-card go into the first tier of their fusion chain is pretty useful (unless you just want to use King of the Swamp instead).
-Dark Flare Knight (Flame Swordsman)-
"Flame Swordsman" doesn’t exactly give much room to work with. It can be an odd extender in Infernoble Knights (being a fire/warrior), but you’re probably better off just running other main deck normal summons or searchers.
“Dark Flare Knight” was a gimmicky card back when it was released almost 2 decades ago, and time has done it no favors. The number of resources needed to bring it out, even with Armament, is way too steep for the tiny payoff.
-Lyrilusc – Independent Nightingale (Lysilusc – Assembled Nightingale)-
"Assembled Nightingale" is the only current XYZ option you can pull with Armament, and it is arguably one of the worst targets for the card. The archetype doesn’t have a searchable card that allows you to fuse up into "Independent Nightingale." Even if it did, Armament would still probably be unnecessary, as Independent Nightingale gains extra attack and burn damage based on the amount of materials any XYZ monsters used for its fusion summon had attached.
The only somewhat notable play one can get from pulling out Assembled Nightingale is a janky line to "Divine Aresenal AA Zeus - Sky Thunder," but it requires already having a different XYZ monster out since the card summoned by Armament can’t attack. Just attack with the other XYZ monster, go to main phase 2, rank up the Assembled Nightingale into “Downerd Magician,” and then rank her up into Zeus.
Honorable Mention
-Tearlaments Rulkallos (Tearlaments Kitakallos)-
If "Tearlaments Kitkallos" was still in the card pool, she would have been a decent target for Armament, but probably not a strong enough one to make the card a staple. Even without her effects, getting Kitkallos out makes it easier for Tearlaments to go into Rulkallos, and to also fuel their backrow cards like "Tearlaments Sulliek" and "Tearlaments Cryme."
At the end of it all, is “Fusion Armament” worth it? Probably not. It enables setups for a lot of rogue strategies, but nothing as explosive as “Instant Fusion” or “Fusion Deployment.” Locking the monster it summons from being able to both use its effects and attack keeps it in check as a generic card, making it purely for extension plays. That said, Armament has plenty of potential going forward. All it takes is 1 archetype with a good mix of extra deck synergy or access to monsters with good effects while in the grave to help the card pop off.
