The Cyber Style in Yu-Gi-Oh is a very interesting case. You got the ever-so-powerful Cyber Dragons and the lackluster Cyberdarks. Together, you get one of the most iconic archetypes from the GX era. In this series, I plan to go through the popular cards and Decks of the Cyber Style. This way, we can analyze the impact of the Cyber Style on the competitive Yu-Gi-Oh history. From its early days of Cyber Dragon in anything Machine related to Cyber Dragons becoming its own Deck. This study will compile the overall history of the Cyber Style.

Introduction

Zane Truesdale was one of the fan favorite characters from the GX anime. One reason for this was his Deck from the first season was the very powerful Cyber Dragons. His Cyber Style strategy made him a respected duelist in the show and his win-loss record justified it. The quality of the Cyber Style translated pretty well into the Yu-Gi-Oh TCG/OCG formats. You saw several of the Cyber-related cards used in many Machine strategies, if not just any Deck. The Cyber Style provided some of the best cards of the GX-era. Today, I want to discuss some of those cards in the GX era and the impact they made on the game. We'll get to the Decklists later, but these cards deserve some through investigation.

Cyber Dragon

You can't talk about this archetype without the card that started it all: Cyber Dragon. There's not much to see here on paper. It's a LIGHT Machine with overall good stats of 2100 ATK and 1600 DEF. The effect is also super simple, but that was the key part of it. Cyber Dragon was in a league of its own back in the day. For years, it was the only monster that could Special Summon itself as easily as it did. Only having your opponent controlling monsters was easy to meet in a slower format. It was especially easy if you went second. 

The first option you had was the easy 2100 ATK direct to the opponent's life points. It was also respectable enough to run over nearly any Normal Summon, so it helped clear monsters. It was also good tribute fodder. You could use your free Dragon to summon a powerful monster like a Monarch or Jinzo. It was also a useful Fusion Material.. At least you also had Metamorphosis to turn your Dragon into Dark Balter the Terrible or Fiend Skull Dragon. It was a card with many uses, and a defining card of an era. It earned some good time on the Limited section of the F/L List, but is now Unlimited. There are many like it now, but you never forget the first.

Cyber Phoenix

The next relevant card was a cool relic of the past, Cyber Phoenix. The stats aren't as impressive with a 1200/1600 stat-line, but its effects make up for it. It was perfect in an era where the best monsters had lower stats, but good effects. First off, Cyber Phoenix protected all your Machines from targeting effects of Spells and Traps that just target it. It was good protection for itself, Cyber Dragon, the Fusions, or other Machines like Jinzo. It was rare protection at the time, and it was good even back in the day. The second effect was a nice bonus as well, drawing a card on battle destruction. It was good in an era where battle destruction was more relevant, so it just added icing to the cake of making a good card of its time.

Cyber Valley

The last Main Deck monster is a well known relic from the powerful Phantom Darkness set. Cyber Valley was a very versatile card with three good effects for its time. Before we get to the effects, it's a notable Machine Duplication target, which instantly makes it better. The first effect was only when it's attacked, where it banishes itself to let you draw a card and end the Battle Phase. It's a good effect simply enough to protect you from OTKs while netting you card advantage. 

The second effect also lets you draw new cards. This already justified a Machine Duplication combo I suggested earlier. Deck thinning is perfect for the era this card was released in to get you to OTK pieces. It also setup one of the most powerful cards during the time it was released: Dimension Fusion. 

The final effect also had its niche. It let you banish this card from the field, alongside a card from your hand to put a card from the grave on top of your Deck. It's a good effect at a time where a bunch of power cards still existed. I already gave on in Dimension Fusion. You could think of a ton of cards you'd want to potentially put back at this time, the main ones being Reasoning or Monster Gate. 

Cyber Twin Dragon

Now let's get to the Fusions, starting with the two you didn't really Fusion Summon. The first of these two was Cyber Twin Dragon. Twin was a Fusion of 2 Cyber Dragons. The intended combo was to use Power Bond with the materials to get this out, but it'd take a bit for that to be viable. It was probably still experimented with, just not the best way to summon this. I already mentioned Metamorphosis, which was one way to summon this by sacrificing a Level 8. In return, you got a double attacker with 2800 ATK. It could make for more damage if you use Megamorph as well.

If you use Megamorph, the best way to set that up is Cyber-Stein. While Stein isn't really part of the Cyber Style, it's still tied to it, in a way. It's 5000 LP cost helped setup easy Megamorph OTKs, and the Cyber Fusions were the best to do that with. With Twin, you get a 5600 ATK double attacker, adding to 10200 potential damage. It was an early OTK option and this alongside the other Cyber Fusion helped get Stein an emergency ban in December 2006.

Cyber End Dragon

Now for the real boss Fusion for this archetype. Cyber End Dragon is a big 4000 ATK body with piercing. It needed 3 Cyber Dragons to summon, similar to Blue-Eyes Ultimate Dragon needing 3 Blue-Eyes White Dragons. Now of course you gave up 500 ATK, but again you got piercing. It made for easy OTK potential. You couldn't Metamorphosis this at the time since there weren't many common Level 10s. Your main goal was using Cyber-Stein and Megamorph to OTK. Getting 8000 ATK that can do damage no matter what should ensure a massive life point chunk being taken from the opponent. Also, don't forget the potential damage if you have Limiter Removal to double that 8000 stat. It was a powerful monster on paper that helped earn Cyber-Stein its emergency ban back in December of 2006.

Chimeratech Overdragon

Now for one of the earliest Fusions you would actually Fusion Summon: Chimeratech Overdragon. Overdragon is a Level 9 Fusion of Cyber Dragon and as many other Machines as you want. It gains 800 ATK for each Fusion Material you use, so the more the merrier. The goal when you used this was to use as many materials as possible. You wanted to get this monster as big as possible to do as much damage as you can. It helped that Overdragon can attack monsters up to the number of Fusion Materials you use. So not only does more materials get you more ATK, but also more attacks for damage. It was an insane card to OTK with, and in a bit we'll get to how you Fusion Summoned this card.

Chimeratech Fortress Dragon

Before I get to the Fusion Spells, I want to look at the counter to the Cyber Style and anything else Machine related. Ironically, the Cyber Style provided this counter themselves. Chimeratech Fortress Dragon is a unique Fusion for its time. Similar Fusion Materials as Overdragon, just a different way to summon. Fortress Dragon was summoned just by sending the materials from the field to the grave. The key part about this, it could be on either side of the field. 

This way, you could just summon Cyber Dragon against a field of Machines and get this. You clear the opponent's board and get a new monster. It gains 1000 ATK for each Fusion Material, so you should get a decent ATK stat on this, at least 2000. You can also add the fact you can't use this to summon another Fortress or any Fusion, so you're safe from the same combo you used to clear a Machine board. It was a unique counter that all Machine Decks had to deal with, still used to this day when the Type is relevant.

Overload Fusion

Now to get to the way you summoned your Overdragon, provided by the Cyber Style of course. Overload Fusion was a Miracle Fusion like card with much more generic requirements. You get access to your field or graveyard to help you access any DARK Machine Fusion. The only Fusion so far we could access that was mentioned already was Chimeratech Overdragon. As a note, Fortress Dragon could only be summoned with its own summoning condition, so no using this card for that. For Overdragon you can load the grave with a ton of Machines to use as material to get a big Chimeratech Overdragon. You can then run over the opponent's board and likely get a ton of damage in. It was a powerful combo to OTK, getting this card Limited at one point. Now, for the way to load your grave for this OTK.

Future Fusion

Future Fusion originally sent the Fusion Materials from the Deck to the grave to summon any Fusion from the Extra Deck to summon said Fusion two turns later. This instantly let you put all your Machines from Deck in the grave. Now, summoning Overdragon off this isn't viable. Overdragon's downside is it sends all other card on the field to the grave on summon. Sending Future Fusion off this would then destroy the Overdragon. This is why Future Fusion was used to setup Overload Fusion. 

Unless you were going for Cyber Twin or Cyber End, you were mainly using this to dump your Machines to grave. You then activated Overload Fusion to instantly get your Fusion instead of having to wait. This way you get an instant Overdragon with a massive ATK stat to finish the game in one swoop. This helped get Future Fusion on the Limited section as well. The card was eventually banned, though that was due to Dragons more than it was Cyber Style. It earned the errata where you sent the materials the next turn after activation so you weren't getting instant advantage. It created an instant, game-ending combo that was a powerhouse for its time.

Conclusion

The Cyber Style provided some of the best cards of its time. It mainly created good, generic Machine support more than anything. The Fusion Spells were pretty good and their Fusions had their uses one way or another. The Main Deck monsters were very good as well, with one pure staple in Cyber Dragon. Cyber Phoenix and Cyber Valley also had a lot of use, but they weren't as generic. Phoenix was good for Machines and Valley helped some combos. These cards made Cyber Style a beloved archetype to later get support. Next time, we'll get to some of the Decks that used these early Cyber cards before getting to the recent cards making it a pure strategy.