Its time for the ''Gustos''...to return (Written)

[Charlelot]

Hey everyone,

 

Keeping up with the theme of helping out old (but fun) archetypes who deserve some love, I give you my contribution to the ‘’Gusto’’ series. I’ve always loved the coloring and the concept behind each artwork in this card series. That being said, while the archetype is pretty good on its own, its lack of speed and aggressive tactics greatly limits its competitive potential.

 

As always, let me know what you think of my work so far. 

 

*Latest Update* 01/07/2018

 

[spoiler=Monster Cards:'']

Einar, Champion of Gusto

Level 3 WIND Psychic/Effect

ATK 1500 DEF 700

When this card is Special Summoned: you can Special Summon a ‘’Gusto’’ monster from your Deck or GY except ‘’Einar, Champion of Gusto’’. When this card is destroyed by battle or by card effect: you can Special Summon 1 ‘’Gusto’’ monster from your Deck except ‘’Einar, Champion of Gusto’’. You can only use each effects of ‘’Einar, Champion of Gusto’’ once per turn.

 

Burning Egg of Gusto

Level 2 FIRE Dragon/Tuner/Effect

ATK 800 DEF 500

This card is always treated as a WIND monster. If you control a face-up ‘’Gusto’’ monster: you can Special Summon this card from your hand or GY, but banish it when it leaves the field. When this card is destroyed by battle or card effect: you can Special Summon 1 ‘’Gusto’’ monster from your Deck except ‘’Burning Egg of Gusto’’. If you control another ‘’Gusto’’ monster: you can declare a Level from 1 to 8; this card becomes that Level until the End Phase. You can only use each effects of ‘’Burning Egg of Gusto’’ once per turn.  

 

[spoiler=Spell Cards:'']

Sacred Village of Gusto

Continuous Spell Card

‘’Daigusto’’ monsters you control cannot be targeted by your opponent’s card effect and their effects cannot be negated. During your Main Phase: you can send 1 ‘’Gusto’’ monster from your Deck to the GY; Special Summon 1 level 4 or lower ‘’Gusto’’ monster with a different name from your hand or GY. When a ‘’Gusto’’ card you control is destroyed and sent to the GY: you can draw 1 card. You can only use each effects of ‘’Sacred Village of Gusto’’ once per turn.

 

Gusto Revival

Quick-Play Spell Card

Special Summon 1 Level 4 or lower ‘’Gusto’’ monster from your Deck but destroy it during the End Phase of the turn. If you activate this effect, you cannot Special Summon any other monsters this turn, except WIND monsters. During either player’s Main Phase, except on the turn this card was sent to the GY: you can banish this card from your GY, and if you do, target 1 monster your opponent controls and 1 ‘’Gusto’’ monster you control; both players switch control of these monsters with each other until the end of the turn. You can only activate each effects of ‘’Gusto Revival’’ once per turn.  

 

[spoiler=Trap Cards:'']

Last Stand of Gusto
Continuous Trap Card
While you control a ‘’Daigusto Sphreeze’’, when your opponent take Battle Damage: you can gain LP equal to half that amount. During either player's turn, while your opponent controls more monsters than you do: you can shuffle 1 ‘’Gusto’’ Tuner and any number of ‘’Gusto’’ non-Tuner from your GY into the Deck; Special Summon 1 ‘’Gusto’’ Synchro monster from your Extra Deck who’s Level is equal to the combined Level of the shuffled monsters (this Special Summon is treated as a Synchro Summon). You can only activate this effect of ‘’Last Stand of Gusto’’ once per turn. When this card is destroyed and sent to the GY: you can target any number of ‘’Gusto’’ Synchro monsters in your GY; add them to your Extra Deck.

 

[spoiler=Extra Deck:'']

Daigusto Gulbrand

LINK – 2, WIND Psychic/Effect

ATK 2300 DEF – LINK Arrows Left, Down

2 ‘’Gusto’’ monsters

Once per turn: you can send 1 WIND monster from your Deck to the GY, then target 1 face-up monster on the field; that target’s ATK and DEF become half its current ATK and DEF. During either player’s turn: you can shuffle 2 ‘’Gusto’’ monsters from your GY into the Deck, then target 1 card on the field; destroy it. When this card leaves the field: you can Special Summon 1 ‘’Gusto’’ Synchro monster from your Extra Deck ignoring its Summoning conditions, on any of your available Main Monster Zones (this Special Summon is treated as a Synchro Summon).  

[Yui]

 

Hello, YCM's leading and probably only Gusto main here. I generally don't poke my head into CC, but I couldn't help but notice this thread here being about Gusto support, so I'm here to offer up my CNC. I'll cover individual cards in a bit, but first I want to provide my take on this set as a whole.

 

I see you have a lot of backrow support that can destroy your own cards as well as the opponent's, and then you can let the monsters float from there. Interestingly enough however, destroying your own cards was never a piece of the puzzle in "Gusto" cards, as before Sphreez's release, the deck's MO was to use Reeze, Whirlwind of Gusto as a means of giving your opponent your weak monsters, taking their strong ones in the meantime, then destroying those weak monsters to trigger the float effects. Of course, seeing as Reeze is situational at best these days, your way is probably more efficient. My only real gripe with these is that having Gusto support that sends cards from the Deck to the GY, rather than the other way round, kinda breaks the flavor of the archetype, and in my experience, may hinder the deck more than help it in the long run. Between other effects that prevent destruction (Gusto like being destroyed, especially by battle) and lowering the opponent's ATK values (makes it harder to SphreezTK), it's interesting stuff, but doesn't really feel like Gusto at all.

 

Anyway, let's talk cards.

[spoiler=Einar, Champion of Gusto]Probably my favorite card in this set. Einar summons any Gusto monster from the Deck when destroyed by battle (besides himself of course), as well as when he's Special Summoned, with the GY also being a viable target in the latter case. This means he can act as a backup Pilica or even summon a Pilica from the deck on his own summon. However, much like Pilica, Einar's options to search into him with are rather limited in Gusto, consisting only of Egul, Grif, Thunbolt, Codor, or Emergency Teleport (or Whirlwind, which is the only card used in Gusto that can search Einar and not Pilica). Seeing as you'll probably never use Thunbolt or Codor (especially not Codor), and seeing as E-Tele is at one, and Egul Grif and Whirlwind all need to be set up properly, searching Einar - while easier than searching Pilica - might take a bit if your opponent doesn't have the IQ of a funking pigeon. Still, searching Einar means searching Pilica (or Gulldo), which can lead into a SphreezTK against any opposing monster with 2800 or more ATK (before ATK modifiers). The destruction immunity effect doesn't seem necessary though, unless you've searched Gulldo or Pilica with his effect in which case they'll just attack the tuner instead anyway.

 

 

[spoiler=Burning Egg of Gusto]I don't understand why this has to be a FIRE monster, as the FIRE archetype in Gusto's time was Laval. I also don't get why it's a Dragon when - with the exception of Phoenix being a Pyro - all non-humanoid members of the Gusto archetype are either Winged Beasts or Thunders. However, I do like its effects. Being able to change its level on the fly can make for a fun surprise Star Eater or some other synchro that doesn't require specific mats, and although its ATK is rather high for a Gusto tuner, it's still another monster to throw at whatever you're SphreezTKing off of, which is great. It can even search Einar to extend the SphreezTK beatdown. Still don't understand the reasoning behind its type and attribute though.

 

 

[spoiler=Sacred Village of Gusto]The closest thing Gusto can have to an overpowered card (rip Emeral, I'll never forget you despite never using you), and honestly it should be a field spell if you ask me. The battle damage effect completely defeats the purpose of Sphreez existing in the first place (seriously, nobody's going to summon Sphreez while this exists), and the summon effect can lead to some absurd turn-one damage if you're going second, especially if your opponent has a big monster to shoot your birds at. Having the themed Supply Squad effect also means you'll be replenishing your hand pretty consistently, and you've already milled the monsters you presumably don't want to draw so you can keep drawing tuners and support. This gives Gustos deceptively high consistency, considering how the archetype works, but it's leaving me with some raised eyebrows. Also worth noting is that since the damage effect only applies while you don't control a Sphreez, if Sphreez's effect gets negated, you're boned.

 

 

[spoiler=Gusto Revival]The "During your Main Phase" bit is unnecessary for a Normal Spell, as those can only be activated during your Main Phase to begin with. I like that this searches a Gusto monster from the Deck, though destroying a monster you control would only cause Gulldo or Squirro to float (and Squirro is bloody useless these days) out of the cards not in this little collection. Again though, the continued theme of preventing your cards from being destroyed doesn't quite fit the flavor of Gusto since they like being destroyed, though I guess if you wanted to go right into Einar or Pilica, it could keep your stuff from getting destroyed there. Granted, assuming again that your opponent doesn't have the IQ of a pigeon, they won't attack anything that can float into either of those two. So the destruction is good for getting the Burning Egg to go off I suppose.

 

 

[spoiler=Last Stand of Gusto]If this returned cards to the hand or deck instead of destroying them, this would actually be a very good card in terms of keeping the flavor of the archetype consistent. Considering how many things float these days if they get destroyed, bouncing or spinning would actually be great to prevent precisely that. Or you could do the pre-Sphreez thing, use Reeze to take your opponent's good monster and give them Gusto floaters in exchange, then destroy those. Overall not a big fan of this one.

 

 

[spoiler=Daigusto Gulbrand]The name of this card actually makes me curious, since flavor-wise all "Daigusto" monsters (yes, even Phoenix) are formed due to a partnership of some form between a "Gusto" character (Falco gets around) and another monster, commonly another "Gusto". But let's disregard flavor and talk about the card. Frankly put, there are things Gusto wants to do, and Gulbrand accomplishes none of them short of being an easy Sphreez-summoning tool. The mill from its effect can perhaps enable you to use some of the Gusto spell/traps more effectively, but that comes with cutting in half an opposing monster's ATK. While this is generally not too bad because who's going to end their turn with only one monster in 2017, Gusto wants its opponent to have high ATK so that it's easier to SphreezTK them. If you as a Gusto player have two materials you can use to make Gulbrand, you likely can just as easily go directly into Sphreez. Probably the most lackluster card from where I'm sitting.

 

 

Overall, six outta ten. I see the effort and am pleased with it, but not sure if these would fit into the Gusto playstyle as smoothly as you may think.

[Charlelot]

 

Hello, YCM's leading and probably only Gusto main here. I generally don't poke my head into CC, but I couldn't help but notice this thread here being about Gusto support, so I'm here to offer up my CNC. I'll cover individual cards in a bit, but first I want to provide my take on this set as a whole.

 

I see you have a lot of backrow support that can destroy your own cards as well as the opponent's, and then you can let the monsters float from there. Interestingly enough however, destroying your own cards was never a piece of the puzzle in "Gusto" cards, as before Sphreez's release, the deck's MO was to use Reeze, Whirlwind of Gusto as a means of giving your opponent your weak monsters, taking their strong ones in the meantime, then destroying those weak monsters to trigger the float effects. Of course, seeing as Reeze is situational at best these days, your way is probably more efficient. My only real gripe with these is that having Gusto support that sends cards from the Deck to the GY, rather than the other way round, kinda breaks the flavor of the archetype, and in my experience, may hinder the deck more than help it in the long run. Between other effects that prevent destruction (Gusto like being destroyed, especially by battle) and lowering the opponent's ATK values (makes it harder to SphreezTK), it's interesting stuff, but doesn't really feel like Gusto at all.

 

Anyway, let's talk cards.

[spoiler=Einar, Champion of Gusto]Probably my favorite card in this set. Einar summons any Gusto monster from the Deck when destroyed by battle (besides himself of course), as well as when he's Special Summoned, with the GY also being a viable target in the latter case. This means he can act as a backup Pilica or even summon a Pilica from the deck on his own summon. However, much like Pilica, Einar's options to search into him with are rather limited in Gusto, consisting only of Egul, Grif, Thunbolt, Codor, or Emergency Teleport (or Whirlwind, which is the only card used in Gusto that can search Einar and not Pilica). Seeing as you'll probably never use Thunbolt or Codor (especially not Codor), and seeing as E-Tele is at one, and Egul Grif and Whirlwind all need to be set up properly, searching Einar - while easier than searching Pilica - might take a bit if your opponent doesn't have the IQ of a f***ing pigeon. Still, searching Einar means searching Pilica (or Gulldo), which can lead into a SphreezTK against any opposing monster with 2800 or more ATK (before ATK modifiers). The destruction immunity effect doesn't seem necessary though, unless you've searched Gulldo or Pilica with his effect in which case they'll just attack the tuner instead anyway.

 

 

[spoiler=Burning Egg of Gusto]I don't understand why this has to be a FIRE monster, as the FIRE archetype in Gusto's time was Laval. I also don't get why it's a Dragon when - with the exception of Phoenix being a Pyro - all non-humanoid members of the Gusto archetype are either Winged Beasts or Thunders. However, I do like its effects. Being able to change its level on the fly can make for a fun surprise Star Eater or some other synchro that doesn't require specific mats, and although its ATK is rather high for a Gusto tuner, it's still another monster to throw at whatever you're SphreezTKing off of, which is great. It can even search Einar to extend the SphreezTK beatdown. Still don't understand the reasoning behind its type and attribute though.

 

 

[spoiler=Sacred Village of Gusto]The closest thing Gusto can have to an overpowered card (rip Emeral, I'll never forget you despite never using you), and honestly it should be a field spell if you ask me. The battle damage effect completely defeats the purpose of Sphreez existing in the first place (seriously, nobody's going to summon Sphreez while this exists), and the summon effect can lead to some absurd turn-one damage if you're going second, especially if your opponent has a big monster to shoot your birds at. Having the themed Supply Squad effect also means you'll be replenishing your hand pretty consistently, and you've already milled the monsters you presumably don't want to draw so you can keep drawing tuners and support. This gives Gustos deceptively high consistency, considering how the archetype works, but it's leaving me with some raised eyebrows. Also worth noting is that since the damage effect only applies while you don't control a Sphreez, if Sphreez's effect gets negated, you're boned.

 

 

[spoiler=Gusto Revival]The "During your Main Phase" bit is unnecessary for a Normal Spell, as those can only be activated during your Main Phase to begin with. I like that this searches a Gusto monster from the Deck, though destroying a monster you control would only cause Gulldo or Squirro to float (and Squirro is bloody useless these days) out of the cards not in this little collection. Again though, the continued theme of preventing your cards from being destroyed doesn't quite fit the flavor of Gusto since they like being destroyed, though I guess if you wanted to go right into Einar or Pilica, it could keep your stuff from getting destroyed there. Granted, assuming again that your opponent doesn't have the IQ of a pigeon, they won't attack anything that can float into either of those two. So the destruction is good for getting the Burning Egg to go off I suppose.

 

 

[spoiler=Last Stand of Gusto]If this returned cards to the hand or deck instead of destroying them, this would actually be a very good card in terms of keeping the flavor of the archetype consistent. Considering how many things float these days if they get destroyed, bouncing or spinning would actually be great to prevent precisely that. Or you could do the pre-Sphreez thing, use Reeze to take your opponent's good monster and give them Gusto floaters in exchange, then destroy those. Overall not a big fan of this one.

 

 

[spoiler=Daigusto Gulbrand]The name of this card actually makes me curious, since flavor-wise all "Daigusto" monsters (yes, even Phoenix) are formed due to a partnership of some form between a "Gusto" character (Falco gets around) and another monster, commonly another "Gusto". But let's disregard flavor and talk about the card. Frankly put, there are things Gusto wants to do, and Gulbrand accomplishes none of them short of being an easy Sphreez-summoning tool. The mill from its effect can perhaps enable you to use some of the Gusto spell/traps more effectively, but that comes with cutting in half an opposing monster's ATK. While this is generally not too bad because who's going to end their turn with only one monster in 2017, Gusto wants its opponent to have high ATK so that it's easier to SphreezTK them. If you as a Gusto player have two materials you can use to make Gulbrand, you likely can just as easily go directly into Sphreez. Probably the most lackluster card from where I'm sitting.

 

 

Overall, six outta ten. I see the effort and am pleased with it, but not sure if these would fit into the Gusto playstyle as smoothly as you may think.

 

Hey there,

 

Thanks a lot for the detailed comments. They’ll really help me develop this archetype further. Now that I’ve seen a bit of feedback, I believe I should lay down the reasoning behind my previous design choices for the more problematic cards.

The original intent of my new support was to give the current Gustos the option to be more aggressive without breaking their original array of strategies. The Sphreeze TK, while really good in its own right, was pretty much the only way Gusto Decks could win a duel nowadays. That didn’t really sit well with me. Furthermore, I believe it is not as reliable as it once was now that the meta focuses on fast Link monsters with relatively low ATK. I wanted to allow Gustos to swarm a bit more to exploit the new Link mechanics and make their Synchro Summon a bit more consistent.

Although, you may be right. In my quest to make Gustos more competitive, I may have changed the way the archetype works a little too much. For now, I’ll make a few minor modifications while I think of ways to make these cards more suitable for the Existing Gustos. 

 

[spoiler=Champion:'']

The protection from being destroyed by battle was put into place in case of hand bricking on the first turn. If the player requires more time to compose a new strategy, Einar comes to the rescue. While it’s not technically necessary, it still might be useful to set up Sacred Village and the revamped effect of Last Stand.

 

 

 

[spoiler=Burning Egg:'']

I knew the typing of this card would intrigue people. When I build a new archetype or update an existing one, the first thing I do is create a short storyline based on the characters I just invented. This helps me imagine an artworks and generate a pertinent effect for each new cards. Long story short, the Typing and Attribute of Burning Egg are justified by the storyline I build for these characters. I typically never post these little bits of context because I don’t feel they are relevant to the usefulness of the cards I create. Maybe I’ll start doing that in the future.

 

 

 

[spoiler=Sacred Village:'']

My original intention was to make this card as a Field Spell Card but I really wanted the deck to be compatible with Shrine of the Mist Valley. While it is technically not a Gusto Card, it was definitely intended to be one. Since my archetype utilizes more destruction effects, I believe it might actually see some use among creative players. I also believed that making Sacred Village too easily searchable with Terraforming could very well be OP.

 

 

 

[spoiler=Gusto Revival:'']

That card was also created to be used in tandem with Shrine of the Mist Valley. It is to be mentioned that both Champion of Gusto and Burning Egg can also float when they are destroyed by a card effect while Sacred Village can compensate the loss of a Gusto card by allowing the player to draw. But you are right; the protection here was really going against the theme of the deck. I believe that by changing it a little bit, I’ve made it way more useful.

 

 

 

[spoiler=Last Stand:'']

Yeah… that was a bust. I’ve changed the card completely. Let me know what you think.

 

 

 

[spoiler=Gulbrand'']

I’ve changed Gulbrand a little bit since I last posted this but I really don’t believe that halving a monster’s ATK could be bad for any archetype. Since it requires sending a Gusto from the deck to the GY, it synchronizes well with the new cards witch use the GY a bit more. Furthermore, you can also halve the ATK of one of your own monster (like Einar, Burning Egg Sphreeze or itself). While you got Sphreeze out, you could suicide this card on a stronger monster to get the win. Although, the real purpose of this card is to allow the unrestricted Summon of Sphreeze when the player needs it most or when he/she is unable to get a Tuner and a non-Tuner out at the same time.