Preface: This list is an edit of this build from February. I think renditions of that build are superior to this current iteration of the deck and alternatives that can take advantage of Wake Up and Armed Neos in tandem with engines such as Albaz or Infernoble would likely prove to be much more potent of a threat with back-up plays compared to the list and strategy provided below. Additionally, since little metrics tend to be fun to look and laugh at, I'll be throwing them in and each list in the future moving forward, just for funion. Anyway, enjoy.
For reasons unbeknownst to me Shining Flame Wingman has been benched concerning the latest banlist but honestly with Unlimited Wake Up and Armed Neos, it makes the HERO strategy less tunnel-focused than it previously might've been with all of the bolstering support it's been receiving this year. Now with Spirit and Shining Flame absent, the Neos engine is reduced to being just barely better than a typical HERO engine rather than being the objectively best route; however, the results are still marginal at best since at the end of the day you'd rather not be playing Neo-Spacians, right? Well, the build provided here mostly aims to explore some fresh Extra Deck lines in addition to experimenting with a number of changes to try and cheat out some bosses, similar to how Shining Flame was being cheated before we got Infernal Rage. Brace yourself for a lot of copium and card draw hopium because this deck is big brain with too small extra deck to compensate-- though is that even compensation if that's just another downside...?
- Difficulty -
★★★☆☆
As with most aggressive strategies, the difficulty comes with weighing the risk/reward investment, ESPECIALLY when it comes to committing to a Fusion or XYZ play as the materials used are lost (usually). Thanks to the GY fusion options and recursion we have, we can get around this weakness a fair few ways, but it's still worth considering. Outside of that, the deck's boosted by the fact that it is a fusion strategy, so it can summon out various threats without capping the summon limit!
- Consistency -
★★★★☆
Hands will generally feature playable cards thanks to the myriad of support that HEROs have backing them. Even if you aren't opening a fusion, you're probably searching on average twice anyway to setup a play for the following turn.
- Sackiness -
★★★★★
Miracle Fusion and its clones on top of all of the search power make the top deck game pretty generous and in your favor; though, that isn't to suggest that one should play recklessly, just that in the event you ever got punished your chances of sacking through the Heart of the Cards is ridiculously favored.
- Viability -
★★☆☆☆
While technically anything in Trinity tends to be viable depending on the weather, pilot, and current integrity of the local skyscraper, it can't be understated the difficulty that comes with navigating a format blindly with a build that isn't in its prime. HEROs are great, but not at their best pure, at least not with the current banlist. The strategy ultimately suffers from lategame grinds and being suffocated by disruptions and backrow galore.
Pros:
- OTK Potential: Fusion decks inherently have the advantage of being able to cheat the summon limit and jump straight into powerful boss monsters. Due to HEROs being pretty consistent with the over a decade worth of a support they have combined with all of the juicy warrior support cards means that the potential to just OTK from unexpected thresholds is real. Unfortunately, it isn't nearly as high of a consistent threshold like Fluffal can be, but the potential can be theoretically higher depending on the hand.
- Reversal Potential: Armed Neos, Absolute Zero, Acid, Favorite Contact, and Miracle Fusion produce ridiculous levels of threat leaning closely to the presence that Vision HERO Trinity used to, without the need to cram three monsters into one.
- Sky is the Limit: The starters can be pretty easy, but with the Neos and Neo-Spacian cards included, a lot of the lines can get pretty complicated. That aside, mastery of the list rewards creative synergies and ways of getting around pesky material restrictions for the extra deck lineup.
Cons:
- Minimal Disruption: This isn't HERO Beat, so we won't be naturally expecting to jam a guy, set five, and pass (though you can still play Hero Blast recycling Neos for a pretty hilarious payoff). We mostly aim to play through established boards and end the game fast. The less the better, but for some lines, like Brave Neos, it's better that your opponent at least control something. Most of the interaction we'll have are just ways to tag out our monsters, protect them, and remove backrow.
- Neo Space: Despite Grand Mole and Aqua Dolphin having decent enough effects that can and should come up, they are objectively some of the worst cards in the deck and the deck does suffer for it. They are played as Aqua Dolphin is Unbound thanks to Marine always being treated as Dolphin and it being a WATER Warrior enables it to be a target for RotA and material for Absolute Zero. Grand Mole's just a pesky boy. Dark Panther's played for Nebula since its effect is incredible when it resolves but it is definitely able to be cut. We just need to have some space for Spacians for EN - Engage Neo Space. They also let us use Convert Contact... I guess?
- Limited Xtra Options: The Extra Deck in this build is really tight and to avoid having to run specific bricks in the main deck, we're also occupying additional space in the Extra; however, not too many adjustments can be made to make more room for Links (to use Neo-Spacians for) or more versatile Xyzs. This is mostly just a result of trying to maintain the core identity of the archetype rather than have most games just be decided by something like Claivesolish OTK.
OPENERS
The hands can be pretty complicated to unravel, so I'll only really be breaking down some of the most relevant starters. It isn't likely that these lines will be receiving notable nerfs for a while so they should stick and be mostly emulatable to other variants of the strategy that aren't pure HERO.
- The Classic: Having a way to turn HEROs into Sunrise and pick up Miracle is great and Sunrise while expressing a decent pop effect isn't all that important when it comes to modern Trinity standards. It is mostly just our way of resolving effects like Shadow Mist and Liquid without banishing them prior or having to waste Absolute Zero like one would in the past.
- The Classic w/ Cheese: With the introduction of Infernal Rage allows us to instead of going for Sunrise immediately to instead opt for it and pickup either Favorite Contact (going 1st) or Favorite Hero (going 2nd). If going 1st, you'll want to probably tag out into Sunrise and get the extra search of Miracle anyway, but it's understandable to wait if you're capped on summons. You don't lose anything either way since without Spirit of Neos, our ability to spam summons on the opponent's turn is severely limited. If representing an attacking turn, tag out into Brave Neos and start cycling your key players that might be missing to close out the game immediately. It's worth mentioning that the ability to tag out is only gained on Infernal Rage if made with a Normal monster, so Neos in this case.
- Engage... not that one: Engage Neo Space is a pretty interesting card that offers you the ability to send Shadow Mist directly to GY as cost or bin an early Aqua Dolphin for Miracle Fusion setups and immediately beam out the OG Vanilla who is used for a lot of fusion setups here. Just remember to have the respective card in hand to activate it first before considering the avenues of play as this card's routes are limited by a lack of foresight.
- Early Riser: Simply making Wake Up turn 1 (though turn 2 would be better to make use of the attacks) is completely fine. While the card can represent winning the game instantly much like Vision HERO Trinity, surviving through and to the Battle Phase as a Fusion Monster not associated with Albaz is a pretty tall order. Regardless, we'll be primarily be using this card to pressure and force it to be dealt with, kind of similar to how Gilgamesh is used in Trinity; although, Gilgamesh is more in service of setup, our bigger number and attack threats on Wake Up enable it to be answered or provide us with free ways to break through the enemy's board just with attack declarations and nothing further committed. Once we get Wake Up to hopefully float, we'll tag out into a starter or piece that we're missing which is usually just Stratos, but Blazeman's pretty clutch too.
You'll want to assess your removal and interaction by estimating how many turns it should take you to conclude the duel. Since we aren't on a lot of recursion or that amazing Legacy of a Hero card, we can't go too late game. Most plays are one-and-done, so make them count!
MIDGAME
If you're struggling to break even, you can use the following lines to tip the game into your favor.
- Fallen Mist: If Shadow Mist was sent to the GY in a prior turn, pick up Liquid Soldier, and use him to resurrect Mist and grab Mask Change. This gives you the ability to threaten Acid for Fast Effect Harpie's Feather Duster that also lowers ATK. The option of a Rank 4's also always on the table when it comes to Liquid Mist, but a comfortable line is simply using Liquid to resummon Stratos. Judge the gamestate and decide if you can use the Spell/Trap destruction effect, a search isn't always needed to close out games in Trinity.
- Pretty Good: Liquid and Cross Keeper cycling comes up a lot. Not just for ways to close out the game easier, but also for the limited Traps we're on in this build. Almost all of them stand to end the game way faster than your opponent might expect and you showing off flashy combos from yours truly will have them respecting your backrow less and less, especially if you set Polymerization as a bluff.
- Brave Neos: Use this the same way you would Spirit of Neos, but proactively through its destruction by battle, as opposed to reactively when being attacked. This card usually forces interaction on it, so be ready to trade resources. This is our main way of finding the Neos cards that help cheat out our bosses and generate value fast.
- Omni HERO: Absolute Zero and The Shining and are our HEROs for the job in this build. Nova Master's great in simplified gamestates, Absolute Zero's the most notable in most gamestates, and The Shining's great for looping things either banished by the opponent or by you for a Miracle Fusion (including its materials). There isn't really a need for the others since we aren't on Super Polymerization, but it's a worthwhile shout otherwise. Anytime you don't wanna waste Shining nor Absolute Zero and still have either Sunrise or Infernal Rage in the backburner, just summon those instead.
- Core Convergence: While Elemental HERO Core might seem like a weird choice and one you won't be summoning a lot, it makes a great late game Miracle Fusion target as it can be used to resummon any HERO Fusion previously used in the duel. This is great for Brave Neos but particularly for Sunrise as Sunrise triggers on any Special Summon, not just proper Fusion Summon.
The games shouldn't go too long; however, in the event that does happen these are some decent options for closing things out immediately.
LATEGAME & CLOSERS
- Armed Neos: Using either Metaphys Armed Dragon or the LV 10 Fusion Target who is a legal send for Over Fusion, we'll be able to access Armed Neos somewhat reliably. While we can't trick the Armed Dragon nuke effect with something like Favorite Contact as we're lacking in the Dragon department, we're mostly just on this card as a means of just cheating out every non-Masked HERO Fusion in the Extra Deck. If you don't see an easy line to game, I recommend tagging out into Nebula Neos and drawing a ridiculous amount of cards. You can then choose to negate itself (and still get the draw) so it doesn't return to the Extra at End Phase, or negate something else. For this same reason, Contrast HERO Chaos can be a great option since it's always treated as an Elemental HERO.
- HENSHIN!: The Mask Change options in this list aren't as snowbally as something like Anki; however, they are still rather potent. Turning your LIGHT beatsticks into Koga and using Koga to steal games is a great option that can go under most people's radar as you don't really represent any Mask Changes in this deck.
It's not expected that the Spirit of Neos lines will last forever, but after testing without the card and just opting for a second copy of Brave Neos or Engage, it'll ultimately be fine, just not the explosive threat that it currently is. Regardless, due to the number of lines offered through Engage, Stratos, Mist, and Spirit of Neos alike, the following are great considerations for shaking up the deck:
Viability Boosters: Albaz HERO focusing on Armed Neos and taking advantage of Bystials and possibly Return from the Different Dimension on a smaller deck size | Infernoble HERO focusing on Infernal Rage and playing much more Midrange to take advantage of Burstinatrix, Xyz, Link, and Synchro Monsters with an expanded Extra Deck.
General Purpose: Predaplants & Chaos Monsters, Super Polymerization, Dark Magician & Dark Cavalry, Rank 7s like Big Eye to summon through Spirit of Neos and Instant Contact, Skyscraper II - Hero City (trust me), Any Field Spell focused strategy that doesn't rely on the Activation effect (i.e. Pacifis) through Favorite Hero.
With Spirit and Shining joining the list it's honestly quite the legacy that HEROs have for their long-standing and ever expanding list of hits (notably forbidden in that regard). Just goes to show how silly some of their synergies can be in addition to their value when expressed under the Trinity ruleset. They're fun to play and experiment with and I really think most people would have fun building them in their own ways. They aren't strict with ratios and their playstyles have even evolved between the players that I've emulated- heck, even my own iterations and playstyles of pure HEROs have come a long way too, and not just to cater to a specific metagame.
55 Card Deck = 5 Points with 4p used.
1p E - Emergency Call (Extra Copy)
1p Reinforcement of the Army (Extra Copy)
1p Miracle Fusion (Extra Copy)
.5p Evilswarm Exciton Knight
.5p Heavy Storm
1p to Spare (just adjust as necessary)
No cheesy outro this time. Cheers!
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