Buster Blader Post LOCR

Buster Blader has long since been a playable archetype ever since the Destruction Sword cards came out. While it may have not been the greatest Deck when played pure, it was still a pretty strong inclusion into any Deck that played Dragon monsters, especially ones that could manage including several bricks into their Main Deck. A Buster Blader splash in most Decks looks something like: 1 or 2 copies of Buster Blader, the Destruction Swordmaster (and/or the original Buster Blader), 1 or 2 copies of Destruction Sword Memories, up to 3 copies of Prologue of the Destruction Swordsman, and at least 1 copy each of Buster Blader, the Dragon Destroyer Swordsman and Buster Dragon in the Extra Deck. If you are able to set Prologue of the Destruction Swordsman during your turn, you can activate it on your opponent’s turn, sending Destruction Sword Memories and a Buster Blader monster from Deck to GY as cost, and once you play things out from there, you would basically have completed the entire Buster Blader Dragon-lock. It really isn’t that bad. However, most Decks, ever since all the pieces of Destruction Sword Support were released, never really considered splashing Buster Blader and the Destruction Sword cards. The reason for this is because you can’t search for Prologue of the Destruction Swordsman in most Decks. Yes, you could be playing Trap Trick or Trap Track to access Prologue from Deck, but that would still require you to play a number of bricks in your Deck. You could also consider playing Buster Whelp of the Destruction Swordsman since it searches for a Destruction Sword card on Normal Summon, but that takes up your Normal Summon. So, for a long time, you really never saw that many people getting tops with Decks that splashed Buster Blader.

However, Buster Blader did get a whole lot better recently. Specifically, Blue-Eyes got Spirit with Eyes of Blue, which would search for a Mausoleum of White on Link Summon. Mausoleum gives an additional Normal Summon of a Level 1 LIGHT Tuner during your Main Phase. If you pair this with Sage with Eyes of Blue, a Blue-Eyes Support card the Deck had for a while now, you can Normal Summon Sage to use its effect to search for a Level 1 LIGHT Tuner from Deck. That Level 1 LIGHT Tuner would be Buster Whelp of the Destruction Swordsman. Link Sage into Spirit, Spirit search Mausoleum, activate Mausoleum, and now you can extra Normal Summon Buster Whelp to search for Prologue of the Destruction Swordsman. But with 2 Dragon monsters left on the field, you could then use them to Link Summon. Hieratic Seal of the Heavenly Spheres can Quick Effect Tribute a monster from hand or field to bounce a face-up card on field, and if it is tributed, it can float into a Dragon from hand or Deck. S:P Little Knight is always a nice card to make for solid interruption. Or, you can Link Summon Protector Whelp of the Destruction Swordsman who sends a Destruction Sword card from Deck to GY on Link Summon. Why is this important? Well, you can send one of the 3 Destruction Sword monsters that have an effect when equipped to a Buster Blader monster. Dragon Buster Destruction Sword prevents your opponent from being able to Special Summon monsters from the Extra Deck. Wizard Buster Destruction Sword prevents your opponent from activating monster effects in the GY. And finally, Robot Buster Destruction Sword prevents your opponent from activating the effects of Spell/Trap Cards that are already face-up on the field. Buster Dragon can Quick Effect target a Buster Blader monster you control to equip a Destruction Sword monster from your GY to it, which gives you more floodgating power.

But does the sole addition of Spirit with Eyes of Blue fix Buster Blader as a pure Deck? Not really. If anything, it gave Primite Blue-Eyes Decks another option they could end on. If you wanted to play a more pure version of Buster Blader that still relied on cards like Wishes for Eyes of Blue to search for Sage with Eyes of Blue, you’d have to play some Spell/Traps that mentioned Blue-Eyes White Dragon (other than Wishes) in order to actually activate Wishes. I did try this, but the result was not great. If you have to play Blue-Eyes cards, you are going to eventually end up building a Deck that looks like modern Blue-Eyes. That isn’t inherently bad, and versions of this Deck have seen actual success. But it makes the resulting Deck feel like a Blue-Eyes Deck that is playing Buster Blader cards instead of the other way around. The thing that finally changed this was the reveal of Deep-Eyes White Dragon, the Blue Abyss from LOCH. All of the Over-Frame cards currently revealed are pretty insane. The new Deep-Eyes can be discarded to add a Level 1 LIGHT Tuner from Deck to hand. Yes, it has another effect, but we aren’t actually playing Blue-Eyes for that to matter. The new Deep-Eyes basically means that you don’t have to play Wishes for Eyes of Blue to search for Sage. You can instead play the new Deep-Eyes and Piri Reis Map. This is what I imagine a more pure Buster Blader Deck to look like now. Is it susceptible to handtraps? With how linear the combo is, it sure is, but we are playing enough non-engine to push back at our opponent even if we do get stopped.

Main Deck: 3 Deep-Eyes White Dragon, the Blue-Abyss. It is always treated as a Blue-Eyes card and you can discard it to add a Level 1 LIGHT Tuner from your Deck to your hand. 90% of the time, all that you are using Deep-Eyes for is to search for Sage with Eyes of Blue, but it could also search for Buster Whelp of the Destruction Sword or Effect Veiler if you really wanted to. I don’t think you can actually trigger its 2nd effect in this Deck, but if anything, it is just an effect that is referencing the original Deep-Eyes. Notably, there is another use for this card in this Deck. Spirit with Eyes of Blue can tribute itself to Special Summon a Blue-Eyes monster from GY, so you can use it to bring back Deep-Eyes. And because you’d usually also have the Level 1 Tuner, Buster Whelp, on field at that time, you can make a Level 11 Synchro Monster instead of going for a LINK-2 if you wanted. There aren’t many great Level 11 Synchro Monsters we could play. Going first, you can make Juraishin, the Cursed Thunder God. Going second, you can make Psychic End Punisher. The only other playable Synchro 11 you could consider is Storm-Bane Dragon Destorbim, but its Ignition/Quick Effect can’t actually be used in this Deck unless you have activated The Fallen & The Virtuous to send a DARK Albaz Fusion from the Extra Deck to the GY. However, its trigger effect in GY could technically be used as it Special Summons a banished Dragon if it is sent to the GY, but it’s not too useful for us. 3 Sage with Eyes of Blue, which adds a Level 1 LIGHT Tuner monster from Deck to hand on Normal Summon. We are using him to search for Buster Whelp, as mentioned before. But, if you already have Buster Whelp in hand, you could instead add the 1 Veiler we are playing. Just to quickly note: If you open both Sage with Eyes of Blue and Deep-Eyes White Dragon, the Blue Abyss, while you could use Sage to get Buster Whelp and then use Deep-Eyes to grab Veiler, unless you are sure that the addition of Veiler in your hand will absolutely end your opponent’s turn (in addition to the rest of your endboard), you would probably find it better to save Deep-Eyes in hand to search for another Sage on your following turn. That way, you can do the line I described earlier where you can use Deep-Eyes and a Level 1 Tuner to make a Level 11 Synchro Monster. Granted, this does mean that you need to have Mausoleum of White survive your opponent’s turn to do this, but it certainly is a better thing to use Deep-Eyes for, especially to help you close out the game. 2 Buster Blader, the Destruction Swordmaster. While it is on the field or in the GY, its name becomes Buster Blader. If a monster(s) your opponent controls is destroyed by battle or card effect and sent to the GY, you can target 1 of those monsters and equip it to Buster Blader, the Destruction Swordmaster and once per turn, you can send a Monster Card that is equipped to him to the GY to destroy all monsters your opponent controls with the same Type as that monster. This retrain of Buster Blader has a pretty good effect. But, there is an argument for playing 1 copy of this Buster Blader and 1 copy of the original Buster Blader instead due to how Buster Whelp is written. However, it isn’t too big of an issue. We are playing 3 Buster Whelp of the Destruction Swordsman, which can add a Destruction Sword card from Deck to hand (except for itself) when it is Normal Summoned. Its other 2 effects are 1 effect per turn and only once that turn. You can Tribute Buster Whelp to Special Summon a Buster Blader from hand or GY and if Buster Whelp is in the GY and you control a Buster Blader, you can discard a Destruction Sword card to Special Summon Buster Whelp. Those last 2 effects are not going to be used that often. The Buster Blader retrain isn’t treated as Buster Blader while it is in the hand, so while Buster Whelp can search it, it cannot Summon it. And that is kind of dumb since Buster Whelp can’t even search the original Buster Blader. As for its last effect, because Buster Blader usually ends up with Buster Blader, the Dragon Destroyer Swordsman on field, you rarely ever are able to bring Buster Whelp back from GY by its own effect since the Buster Blader Fusion isn’t treated as Buster Blader on field. I know that Gunkan Shuship Shari Red was released over 6 years after the Buster Blader Support, but there is no reason why the Buster Blader retrain couldn’t have been worded the same way as Shari Red. We are also playing 1 Wizard Buster Destruction Sword and 1 Dragon Buster Destruction Sword. Both can target a Buster Blader you control to equip themselves from hand or field to it. If Wizard Buster is equipped to a monster, monsters in your opponent’s GY cannot activate their effects. Also, while it is equipped, you can send it to GY to target a different Destruction Sword card in your GY and add it to your hand. While Dragon Buster is equipped to a monster, your opponent cannot Special Summon monsters from the Extra Deck and it can also Special Summon itself if it is equipped. Wizard Buster is Dweller and Dragon Buster is Scythe, so they are pretty good. Robot Buster Destruction Sword is the worst out of the 3 as it prevents Spell/Traps that are already face-up in your opponent’s side of the field from activating their effects. Most Continuous Spell/Trap Cards and Field Spells usually do something on resolution of their activation as a card, which Robot Buster does not stop, similar to how you cannot Ghost Ogre a card that adds on activation like “A Case for K9” (which isn’t a good example because why would you Ogre A Case for K9 in a world where you could, but you get what I mean). For handtraps, we are playing 3 Ash Blossom & Joyous Spring, 3 Ghost Belle & Haunted Mansion, 1 Effect Veiler, and 2 Droll & Lock Bird. I was considering playing Fidraulis Harmonia, but that would prevent you from being able to access Link Monster effects the turn after you use Fidraulis, which does hurt your available options going first or second.

For Spell/Traps, we are playing 1 Mausoleum of White. We are of course searching it off of Spirit with Eyes of Blue, and all that we are really using it for is to get an additional Normal Summon of a Level 1 LIGHT Tuner monster during the Main Phase. Again, this is so that we can extra Normal Summon the Buster Whelp of the Destruction Swordsman that we searched off of Sage with Eyes of Blue. Can't actually use its other effect since we are not playing any Normal Monsters in this Deck. 3 Piri Reis Map, which can only be activated at the start of your Main Phase 1 and it adds a monster with 0 ATK from your Deck to your hand. But, your Life Points are halved, and after adding it to your hand, you cannot activate the added monster's effects or the effects of monsters with the same name as it until the end of the next turn until you Normal Summon that monster or a card with its name. We could play Wishes for Eyes of Blue instead of Piri Reis Map to search for Sage, but that would lead us back to the issue I described earlier. I want this Deck to be a Buster Blader Deck, not a Blue-Eyes Deck that is playing Buster Blader cards. Wishes would accomplish the opposite of what I want. 3 The Fallen & The Virtuous. You can either send a monster that mentions Fallen of Albaz from your Extra Deck to the GY and target and destroy a face-up card on the field or if you have an Ecclesia monster in your field or GY, you can target a monster in either GY and Special Summon it to your field. This is just a fantastic piece of generic removal that we can afford to play. 1 Triple Tactics Talent. 2 Triple Tactics Thrust. 2 Destruction Sword Memories. On activation, you discard a Destruction Sword card to Special Summon a Buster Blader monster from Deck. Can you use this effect? Yes, but 90% of the time (in any Deck), this card is going to be used for its GY effect. You can banish it from GY to Fusion Summon a Buster Blader, the Dragon Destroyer Swordsman from your Extra Deck by banishing the Fusion Materials from your GY. I think that Destruction Swordsman Fusion is a bad card (and it really is since there are only 2 monsters that it can even make), but even excluding that card, Memories is an excellent card for Fusion Summoning the Buster Blader Fusion in any Deck that plays the Buster Blader package. 3 Prologue of the Destruction Swordsman. On activation, it sends a Destruction Sword card and a Buster Blader monster from your Deck to the GY (except for Prologue) to Special Summon a Buster Dragon from your Extra Deck or GY, but it is destroyed during the End Phase of the next turn. Also, you can banish it from your GY to make your Destruction Sword cards unable to be destroyed by battle or card effects this turn. This is probably one of the greatest and most annoying cards ever designed. If you send a Buster Blader monster and Destruction Sword Memories for this card's cost, you will be able to get both Buster Dragon and the Buster Blader Fusion in the same Chain so long as you already have a Dragon in the GY for you to banish. Prologue can even make your Destruction Sword cards unable to be destroyed by battle or card effects. This includes Buster Blader, the Destruction Swordsman, but it also includes all of your little floodgate whelps: Buster Dragon Destruction Sword and Wizard Buster Destruction Sword. The only way that your opponent can deal with your board is by destroying Buster Dragon, but that leaves the floodgate whelp still on the field. 3 Solemn Report. You are basically protected from your opponent's monster effects (mostly ones on the field and Dragons in the GY) due to the Buster Blader Fusion, but you are still susceptible to Spell/Trap-based removal, especially on Buster Dragon. Solemn Report is a great card that insulates your board against these things, and it can even be activated during the turn it was set by revealing another Set Trap, which we do play and search. Obviously, if this card is pricey upon release, just play Solemn Judgment and 2 other cards to insulate yourself against Spell/Traps. 

Extra Deck: 1 Albion the Branded Dragon and 1 The Dragon that Devours the Dogma. These are our sends off of The Fallen & The Virtuous with Albion being able to set a Branded Spell/Trap from Deck if it is in the GY during the End Phase of the turn it was sent there and Dragon Devouring the Dogma being able to add a Dogmatika or Tri-Brigade card from Deck to your hand under the same pretenses. 2 Buster Blader, the Dragon Destroyer Swordsman. It requires Buster Blader and 1 Dragon Monster as Fusion Material and must be Fusion Summoned. It cannot Attack directly (which would only be scary if it could when you are going up against an actual Dragon Deck). It gains 1000 ATK/DEF for each Dragon monster your opponent controls and is in their GY. It changes all Dragon monsters your opponent controls to Defense Position and all Dragon monsters in your possession cannot activate their effects. Also, it has piercing. This was the Duel Links special during a period of time in their Synchro Era. Really powerful floodgate effect that only applies to Dragons which can be turned online through the effect of Buster Dragon. 1 Juraishin, the Cursed Thunder God, which is a Synchro 11 that gains you 300 LP each time your opponent's activated card or effect resolves. During your opponent's turn, it can Quick Effect pay 1500 Life Points and Tribute itself to either Destroy all face-up monsters your opponent controls or all face-up Spell/Traps your opponent controls. 1 Psychic End Punisher which is another Synchro 11 that is unaffected by your opponent's activated effects while your Life Points are less than or equal to your opponent's and it was Synchro Summoned. You can pay 1000 Life Points and target 1 monster your opponent controls and 1 card you control to banish both. At the start of your Battle Phase, you can make PEP gain ATK equal to the difference between you and your opponent's Life Points. Again, PEP and Juraishin are the best Synchro 11's that this Deck can play. It is not like Star Eater, Gashadokuro, the Skeletal Mayakashi, or Ukiyoe-P.U.N.K. Amazing Dragon can do anything for this Deck. 1 Hot Red Dragon Archfiend Abyss. It is a Synchro 9 that needs a Tuner and a non-Tuner DARK Dragon monster as material. This can be accomplished with one of your Level 1 Tuners and Buster Dragon. It can Quick Effect target a face-up card your opponent controls and negate its effects until the end of the turn. Also, if it inflicts Battle Damage to your opponent, you can target and Special Summon a Tuner from your GY in Defense Position. Proactive negation is really good in my opinion, and while this may not always be an option in this Deck, it is great whenever it does come up. 2 Buster Dragon. While it is face-up on the field, all monsters your opponent controls become Dragons. Once per turn, if you do not control a Buster Blader monster, you can target a Buster Blader in your GY and Special Summon it. Also, once per your opponent's turn, it can Quick Effect target a Buster Blader monster you control and equip it with a Destruction Sword monster from your GY, which equips your floodgate whelps. 1 Ecclesia and the Dark Dragon. This is another potential send for The Fallen & The Virtuous. If it is in the GY, you can target a Level 8 Fusion Monster in your GY or banishment and 1 card on the field and shuffle both of those cards and itself into the Deck. 1 S:P Little Knight. 1 Hieratic Seal of the Heavenly Spheres. I am not 100% sold on this card's inclusion in this Deck. You might want to play a second copy of the next card, Protector Whelp of the Destruction Swordsman. It is a generic LINK-2, and on Link Summon, it can send a Destruction Sword card from Deck to GY and then you can Special Summon 1 Buster Blader monster from your hand. At the end of the Battle Phase, if your opponent controls no monsters, you can target a Buster Blader monster you control that did not declare an attack this turn and inflict damage to your opponent equal to that monster's ATK. A couple of things to go over here. Protector's Whelp on Link Summon will almost always send one of the floodgate whelps from Deck to GY. Its other effect was designed to help Buster Blader, the Dragon Destroyer Swordsman. Since it cannot attack directly, especially if your opponent controls no monsters, Buster Whelp can at minimum inflict 2800 damage to your opponent. This is still SOMETHING as opposed to Buster Blader, the Dragon Destroyer Swordsman not attacking directly and doing no damage. 2 Spirit with Eyes of Blue which is a LINK-1 that requires a Level 4 or lower Spellcaster or Dragon. On Link Summon, it can add to hand or send to GY a Mausoleum of White. And you can Tribute it to Special Summon a Blue-Eyes monster from your hand or GY, negating its effects and making it unable to attack if it is an Effect Monster. Again, this second effect is great in combination with Deep-Eyes White Dragon, the Blue Abyss to make a Level 11 Synchro monster. 

Side Deck: 3 Dinowrestler Pankratops, 3 Mulcharmy Fuwalos, 2 Mulcharmy Purulia, 1 Harpie's Feather Duster, 3 Forbidden Crown, 1 Called by the Grave, and 2 The Black Goat Laughs. A note about Forbidden Crown: While it does make the monster it affects unable to be destroyed by battle and unaffected by activated card effects, Buster Blader, the Dragon Destroyer Swordsman's effect to change all Dragon monsters to Defense Position is a Continuous Effect and not an Activated Effect, so it will still change that unaffected by activated monster effects monster to Defense Position. Also, it deals piercing, so being unable to be destroyed by battle doesn't mean much unless it has a huge behind.