[YGO] Crystal Beasts

A friend convinced me to try out the Crystal Beasts archetype and they looked very interesting indeed, so after having a rummage around through the monsters I made a deck and it's had great success from being used so far! Interested in any thoughts, comments, changes, etc - thanks. :D

For those that don't know, Crystal Beast monsters effectively work by becoming continuous spell cards once destroyed in battle or by effects and then have multiple methods of using these spell monsters for spectacular effects. Cards like Ruby Carbuncle are able to special summon the whole row of S/T zone monsters at once, multiple Gem-themed spell cards work by utilizing these S/T zone monsters, and most notably the field card Ancient City: Rainbow Ruin gains extra (and incredible) effects based on the number of S/T zone monsters you have in play. I can give a more detailed run-down of the monsters/spells if needed but I think this is a somewhat well-known archetype so I'll leave it at the deck contents for now. Here we go!

Monsters
Rainbow Dragon x1
Crystal Beast Amber Mammoth x2
Crystal Beast Amethyst Cat x2
Crystal Beast Cobalt Eagle x3
Crystal Beast Emerald Tortoise x3
Crystal Beast Ruby Carbuncle x3
Crystal Beast Sapphire Pegasus x3
Crystal Beast Topaz Tiger x3

20

Magic
Crystal Blessing x1
Terraforming x1
Mystical Space Typhoon x2
Crystal Release x2
Crystal Abundance x2
Crystal Beacon x2
Crystal Promise x2
Ancient City - Rainbow Ruins x3
Lightning Vortex x3

18

Traps
Crystal Pair x1
Torrential Tribute x1
Crystal Raigeki x1
Mirror Force x1
Spirit Barrier x2

6

Total cards: 44

SIDE DECK

Monsters
Malefic Rainbow Dragon x2
Rainbow Dark Dragon x2

Spells
Advanced Dark x3

Traps
Gem Flash Energy x3

So basically the idea is to swarm as many monsters as possible into the S/T zone using the multiple spells/card effects in the deck (Pegasus' ability helps enormously for this) and then as a result re-summon them onto the battlefield and then eventually finished off with cards like Gem Abundance or Rainbow Dragon. It's a relatively simple deck to use but it works fantastically, especially when Rainbow Ruins is in play with 3+ monsters in the S/T zone, so I'm enjoying using it very much. Rainbow Dragon is the trump card of the deck but unfortunately he's much harder to summon than anticipated and doesn't often turn out to be that much use when he does eventually make a play, but with the huge variety of support that the deck gets and the great range of abilities on the monsters it's proving to be a very reliable set. The side deck is for shaking things up a little with either Malefic Rainbow Dragon to provide an instant boost to the battlefield and for potentially swapping over to using Rainbow Dark Dragon by converting all monsters into Dark types, but only Malefic RD has seen any use so far out of the two. Gem Flash Energy can convert it into a deck for stalling/burning which is lovely, but not really my play style - it's great for back up though!

Any thoughts/comments? :D

Even though I run a Crystal Beast deck with Rainbow Dragon in it myself, competitively, Rainbow Dragon isn't worth running simply because it has no self-protection effects, making it susceptible to card effects. It's still good for a fun build though, which this build appears to be (and mine is too). Instead, I'd main the Malefic Cyber Ends because they can be brought out more easily, and you have Rainbow Ruins to keep them on the field (sure, your other monsters can't attack, and you can only have one of them out at a time but the raw power makes up for it). You can also main/side a Snowman Eater or two for monster removal

Crystal Beasts can't function on their own, so if you take out Rainbow Dragon, you'll have to take out the Crystals whose effects aren't worth using (Cobalt Eagle, Amethyst Cat, though you may leave in a copy of each for Rank 3/4 Xyz Summoning). Really, the important Crystal Beasts are Sapphire Pegasus, Topaz Tiger, Emerald Tortoise, Ruby Carbuncle and maybe Amber Mammoth) and use some off-theme support, like:
-Summoner Monk (Crystal Beasts run plenty of Spells, which help fuel this card's cost and can trigger Sapphire Pegasus' effect. It also makes Rank 4 Xyz Summoning a snap)
-Effect Veiler (effect negation ftw)
-Genex Ally Birdman (bounce a Sapphire Pegasus to the hand, then Synch/Xyz)
-Thunder King Rai-Oh/Fossil Dyna Pachycephalo (deck search prevention/inherent Special Summon negation is very useful)
-Level 4 tuners (at least 1-2) (Karakuri Watchdog mdl 313 "Saizan", Scrap Beast, etc. for Scrap Dragon, etc.)
-Monster Reborn (too important to leave out)

I don't have much problems with the Spell lineup, but here are some Spells to consider:
-Pot of Duality (to help search out key cards; drop a copy or two of Lightning Vortex for these)
-Forbidden Lance (to help your monsters get the edge in battle when Crystal Release isn't available, or to protect them from potentially dangerous Spells/Traps)
-Advanced Dark is only for dedicated builds. Just saying.

Crystal Beasts hardly run any Traps. Crystal Pair is a bad idea because you want your Crystal Beasts to go to the Spell/Trap Zone rather than the Grave when they're destroyed. Raigeki Break is better than Crystal Raigeki, since you don't lose field presence, but Crystal Beasts don't have room for it. Gem-Flash Energy and Spirit Barrier clog up your Spell/Trap zones, which are important for a Crystal Beast deck. You have some options to consider:
-Cut your Trap lineup entirely and use Treacherous Trap Hole for monster removal (it can even destroy one of your Crystal Beasts in a pinch, putting them in the Spell/Trap zone).
-Bottomless Trap Hole (do I even need to say why?)
-Different Dimension Gate (to be used on Sapphire Pegasus/Ruby Carbuncle whenever you can, as they have effects that trigger when they're Special Summoned, which DD Gate does after banishing them and if it's destroyed)
-Horn of the Phantom Beast (to give any of your Beast-type Crystal Beasts a power boost and a free draw each time they destroy a monster by battle)

Since Crystal Beasts can swarm the field easily, you can use them for Xyz Summons, or Synchro Summons if you include Tuners. Here are the recommended Rank 3-4 monsters to include:

Rank 3:
-Number 17: Leviathan Dragon
-Number 20: Giga-Brilliant
-Wind-Up Zenmaines
-Leviair the Sea Dragon
-Temtempo the Percussion Djinn

Rank 4:
-Gagaga Cowboy
-Number 39: Utopia
-Number C39: Utopia Ray
-Number 16: Shock Master
-Number 50: Blackship of Corn
-Number 91: Thunder Spark Dragon
-Photon Papilloperative
-Abyss Dweller
-Maestroke the Symphony Djinn
-Gem-Knight Pearl
-Lightning Chidori
-Diamond Dire Wolf

While I run Stardust Dragon and Scrap Dragon in my Extra deck, I'd recommend the latter because it combos so well with Rainbow Ruins when you have a Crystal in your Spell/Trap zone. Here's how it works: you target your Rainbow Ruins then an opponent's card; Rainbow Ruins won't be destroyed, but the other card will.

Sorry if I hurt any consistencies in the deck.

Rare Value Rare Value Rare Value why are you not running it

(Rare Value is great.)

Abundance OTK is one of the main reasons you play Crystal Beasts, the archetype is pretty terrible otherwise. Don't run Raigeki Break, it's pretty bad in Crystal Beasts and even Crystal Raigeki is better (no, the continuous spells you get from Crystal Beasts dying don't really count as "field presence"). Ruby Carbuncle's swarming effect is the other main reason - so yeah run a bunch of Xyz (you'd better do something with all the useless level 3/4s).

Try to find a win condition and focus on it. Tortoise is actually not that good, but it is level 3, so... Carbuncle, Mammoth, Tiger, and Pegasus are basically the ones you'd actually want to play, and even then they are not that great.

Lightning Vortex at 3 is pretty terrible - try some Soul Taker or Smashing Ground or something, but Vortex is ... uh, too much.

My favorite deck. Try to replace the rainbow dragons w/ hamon lord o lightning something.

Ycia said:

My favorite deck. Try to replace the rainbow dragons w/ hamon lord o lightning something.

Click to expand...

I'm afraid I have to disagree. While Hamon (Lord of Striking Thunder) is good in fun builds (like this one), it's not worth it competitively, as you have to give up 3 Crystal Beasts (that you would've Special Summoned with Crystal Promise or Crystal Beacon) to summon it. Like Rainbow Dragon, it also has not inherent effect protection. That, and deck space is currently crammed as is.

Just because this is a Crystal Beast deck it does not mean you need to run all of them. Especially since you are running 44 cards which just lowers the chance of you drawing something useful. Don't run Cobalt Eagle it's not that good, every time you draw into Cobalt Eagle that's a draw that could have been something useful. Unless you really want to run Rainbow Dragon that badly, then you might want to think about situations where you have Rainbow Dragon in your hand and can't summon it yet because it's not that unlikely for your opponent to force you to discard your hand.

Gotta agree with Cirrus, you need Rare Value. Since you lack drawing power, have a cluttered deck and the cost is not going to affect the summoning conditions for Rainbow Dragon you might as well throw it in. Also get rid of Crystal Blessing, since it doesn't affect Rainbow Dragon's summoning condition and just clogs up your S/T zone when you're already running this many spells and traps.

Get rid of Spirit Barrier because that card is just assuming that you're going to be getting thrashed until you can bring out Rainbow Dragon also it eats up a slot for your Crystal Beasts. Get rid of Crystal Raigeki is well, you don't really need it. I suggest you throw in something like Compulsory Evacuation Device instead since you don't really have anyway of dealing with cards that negate destruction other than Rainbow Dragon and Crystal Abundance which both take a while to set up. it also protects Rainbow Dragon from pretty much everything that has a destruction or banish effect. With a 4000 attack, you do not want it to be the target of Volcasaurus.

Definitely throw in rank 3 and 4 xyz monsters since the Crystal Beasts tend to exhibit little usefulness without your spells and the detached material can be used for Rainbow Dragon's summoning. Don't look too much into its effect to increase its attack since it has pretty amazing attack as it is and it can't use it's effect the turn it's summoned so you're probably going to finish them off without needing it since it can't come out until late game or your opponent is going to finish it off without you getting to use it.

In the end it's still up to you on how you want to run it but you should definitely have a main focus for the deck and not a deck that is kind a jack-of-all "Crystal Beast" trades.