My contribution to the ''Bonding'' Archetype (Written)

[Charlelot]

Hey everyone,

Back in the GX era, I really liked Bastion Misawa’s character. He was really smart and used a deck based on atoms, molecules and all kind of sciency stuff. When I heard that the Legendary Duelist Booster Pack was going to contain new cards based on Bastion’s deck, I was really happy. As you can imagine, my excitement was short lived when I actually saw the cards being released. While they weren’t bad by any means, I just felt that they were somewhat… lacking. So after brushing up on a few science facts concerning the transformation of various elements when subjected to nuclear fusion, I felt confident enough to try to remedy the situation.

 

As always, I am very thankful for any kind of constructive criticism you guys might have for me.

 

[spoiler=Monster Cards:]

Fire Dragon

Level 8 FIRE Pyro/Effect

ATK 2600 DEF 2800

This card is unaffected by the effect of ‘’Water Dragon’’. Must be Special Summoned with the effect of a ‘’Bonding’’ Spell/Trap Card or by its own effect, and cannot be Special Summoned by other ways. Once per turn, you can destroy 2 EARTH and/or WIND monsters from your hand or field: Special Summon this card (from your hand). The ATK of WIND and Plant-Type monsters your opponent controls becomes 0. When this card is destroyed and sent to the GY: you can Special Summon up to 2 ‘’Oxygeddon’’ from your GY.

 

[spoiler=Notes]

To be completely honest, since fire is not a molecule, I admit that the existence of Fire Dragon isn’t completely adequate for this archetype. But, since it was featured so prominently in the intro of the GX anime, I always felt cheated by Konami for not creating this card. That is why I took a swing at it (even if it’s not entirely scientifically accurate).

 

Heliogeddon

Level 3 WIND Dinosaur/Effect

ATK 900 DEF 400

This card’s name can be treated as ‘’Oxygeddon’’ while it is on the field or in the GY. When this card is destroyed and sent to the GY: you can Special Summon 1 Level 5 or lower WATER or WIND Dinosaur from your Deck or GY. It cannot be Tributed, be used for a Xyz, Synchro or Link Summon.

 

[spoiler=Spell Cards:]

Bonding Laboratory

Field Spell Card

Once per turn, during your Main Phase, you can pay 500 LP: Special Summon 1 Level 5 or lower WATER or WIND Dinosaur from your hand. It cannot be Tributed, be used for a Xyz, Synchro or Link Summon. Once per turn, during your Main Phase, you can activate 1 of the following effects:

• Send 2 ‘’Hydrogeddon’’ and 1 ‘’Oxygeddon’’ you control to the GY: Special Summon 1 ‘’Water Dragon’’ from your hand, Deck or GY ignoring its Summoning conditions.
• Send 2 ‘’Duoterion’’ and 1 ‘’Oxygeddon’’ you control to the GY: Special Summon 1 ‘’Water Dragon Cluster’’ from you hand, Deck or GY.
• Send 2 ‘’Oxygeddon’’ you control to the GY: Special Summon 1 ‘’Fire Dragon’’ from your hand, Deck or GY.

 

Nuclear Bonding

Continuous Spell Card

You can only activate the effect of ‘’Nuclear Bonding’’ once per turn. During either player’s Main Phase, you can activate 1 of the following effects:

• Destroy 1 Dinosaur-Type monster you control: add 1 ‘’Bonding’’ card except ‘’Nuclear Bonding’’ from your GY to your hand.
• Destroy 1 ‘’Bonding’’ card from your hand or field: add 1 WATER or WIND Dinosaur from your Deck to your hand.
• Destroy 1 ‘’Water Dragon’’ monster and 1 ‘’Fire Dragon’’ you control: Special Summon 1 ‘’ Stellar Nucleosynthesizer’’ from your Extra Deck (this Special Summon is treated as a Fusion Summon).

 

[spoiler=Trap Cards:]

Bonding through Collision

Continuous Trap Card

You can discard 1 ‘’Water Dragon’’, ‘’Water Dragon Cluster’’, or ‘’Fire Dragon’’ from your hand: Draw 2 cards. During either player’s turn: you can shuffle 1 ‘’Duoterion’’, 1 ‘’Hydrogeddon’’, and 1 ‘’Oxygeddon’’ from your field and/or GY into the Deck; Special Summon 1 ‘’Water Dragon’’, ‘’Water Dragon Cluster’’, or ‘’Fire Dragon’’ from your hand, Deck or GY ignoring its Summoning conditions. Until the end of the turn, it cannot attack and its effect is negated. You can only use each effects of ‘’ Bonding through Collision’’ once per turn.

 

[spoiler=Extra Deck:]

Stellar Nucleosynthesizer

Level 10 LIGHT Wyrm/Effect

ATK 3300 DEF 3000

1 ‘’Water Dragon’’ monster + ‘’Fire Dragon’’

Must first be Fusion Summoned. The Fusion Summon of this card cannot be negated. You can only use each effects of ‘’ Stellar Nucleosynthesizer’’ once per turn. During your Main Phase: you can Special Summon 1 monster with ‘’geddon’’ or ‘’Duoterion’’ in its card name from your GY. During either player’s turn: you can banish 1 face-up WIND, WATER, EARTH or FIRE monster you control; until the end of the turn, this card is unaffected by your opponent’s card effects. If this card was Special Summoned by the effect of ‘’Nuclear Bonding’’, it gains the following effect:

• When this card leaves the field: destroy every face-up cards your opponent controls. 

[Dova]

Fire Dragon is a more useful version of Water Dragon, but I feel that it's still not great by itself. Sure, it's useful to get to the boss, but only affecting WIND monsters? Yes, Water Dragon did FIRE, but not only did it do Pyro as well, but even that combination is still only useful in niche circumstances. Can't really think of what to change there, other than perhaps add some Attribute modulation support (hint hint). Also unsure why it works with EARTH monsters...perhaps for flavour purposes? Heliogeddon, on the other hand, is a decent card, allowing you to completely abandon Oxygeddon in favour of this swarming card, which also allows for turn 1 setting in case you have a bad hand.

 

Laboratory is searchable, and provides a continuous means of getting out your cards, so good job there. Nuclear Bonding is also a great card, providing a HUGE array of searching, preventing bricking hands and the means to ladder to your boss. It's a Bastion fan's dream. Bonding through collision kills bricking hands even more AND grants a lot more speed, and Stellar is just the epitome of what a boss might hold for the archetype. I'm speechless.

 

While I have been shouting praise for your support...it's still not quite there. These are all good cards which (with the exception of Heliogeddon) refuse to overshadow the old cards and work in tandem with them, and yet the series/archetype still lacks that final push to actually make it decent. These are still only a few cards, and I see many potential bricking combination, and they're still not quite fast enough. I would suggest making more cards, and hopefully they'll be as decent as the ones you've already made.

[Charlelot]

Fire Dragon is a more useful version of Water Dragon, but I feel that it's still not great by itself. Sure, it's useful to get to the boss, but only affecting WIND monsters? Yes, Water Dragon did FIRE, but not only did it do Pyro as well, but even that combination is still only useful in niche circumstances. Can't really think of what to change there, other than perhaps add some Attribute modulation support (hint hint). Also unsure why it works with EARTH monsters...perhaps for flavour purposes? Heliogeddon, on the other hand, is a decent card, allowing you to completely abandon Oxygeddon in favour of this swarming card, which also allows for turn 1 setting in case you have a bad hand.

 

Laboratory is searchable, and provides a continuous means of getting out your cards, so good job there. Nuclear Bonding is also a great card, providing a HUGE array of searching, preventing bricking hands and the means to ladder to your boss. It's a Bastion fan's dream. Bonding through collision kills bricking hands even more AND grants a lot more speed, and Stellar is just the epitome of what a boss might hold for the archetype. I'm speechless.

 

While I have been shouting praise for your support...it's still not quite there. These are all good cards which (with the exception of Heliogeddon) refuse to overshadow the old cards and work in tandem with them, and yet the series/archetype still lacks that final push to actually make it decent. These are still only a few cards, and I see many potential bricking combination, and they're still not quite fast enough. I would suggest making more cards, and hopefully they'll be as decent as the ones you've already made.

Thanks a lot for the comments. 

 

 

As always, I’ll give a little explanation for my previous design choices for the more controversial cards. You were right in your assumption that, when I try to improve an archetype that I like, I don’t really want to render the previous cards of that series obsolete. I want to build on the foundation by producing only a few cards to help the deck run a little smoother.

 

 

Fire Dragon: The original idea behind Fire Dragon’s Summoning Conditions is the fact that, to start a fire, you need oxygen and fuel. The intent was to make the player tribute a Plant-Type and a WIND monster to summon the dragon but I believed it would be too slow. Destroying EARTH monsters allow the deck to synchronize pretty well with existing Dinosaur support(namely, Babycerasaurus and Petiteranodon), giving the deck even more speed and power. Also, to keep going, a fire needs to consume oxygen. That is why I choose to reduce the ATK of WIND monsters (well, that and because I wanted to create a certain sense of symmetry between this card and Water Dragon). Fire Dragon also exists to act as a less useful version of True King Lithosagym, the Disaster, witch is banned in the TCG. Although, now that you mention it, attribute manipulation effects could be really useful in this deck. I’ll definitely be looking into that further.