Elemental HERO
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See, I know my two Heroes aren't powerful by themselves, but if I can form them together, it's another story.
— Jaden Yuki on the Fusion potential of "Elemental HERO" monsters.
"Elemental HERO" (
Contents
Design
The "Elemental HERO" monsters are based after the western comics' heroes, and as the name implies, they each represent an aspect of nature. This goes beyond only representing classical elements like earth, fire or water; "Elemental HERO Wildheart", for example, represents the wilderness. Their Fusion Monsters typically combine the aspects from their Fusion Materials.
In the OCG, all of the Main Deck monsters introduced in the anime, except "Elemental HERO Neos" and "Prisma", follow the naming scheme "Elemental HERO [Term related to its element] Man" (or "Lady", in the case of "Elemental HERO Burstinatrix" aka "Burst Lady"). In the manga, only "Elemental HERO Woodsman" ("Forestman" in the OCG) and "Stratos" ("Airman" in the OCG) follow the scheme while others like "Ice Edge" or "Heat" do not. "Elemental HERO Captain Gold" is unique to the OCG/TCG and doesn't follow the naming scheme, but later cards like "Blazeman", "Solid Soldier" ("Solidman") and "Liquid Soldier" ("Liquidman") do.
Members
Attribute | EARTH | WATER | FIRE | WIND | LIGHT | DARK |
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Main Deck | Bladedge Clayman Knospe Poison Rose Solid Soldier Wildheart Woodsman |
Bubbleman Ice Edge Liquid Soldier Neo Bubbleman Ocean |
Blazeman Burstinatrix Heat Lady Heat |
Avian Stratos |
Captain Gold Flash Honest Neos Neos Neos Alius Prisma Sparkman Spirit of Neos Voltic |
Necroshade Shadow Mist |
Extra Deck | Clay Guardian Core Gaia Grand Neos Mudballman Nebula Neos Plasma Vice Rampart Blaster Terra Firma Wild Wingman Wildedge |
Absolute Zero Aqua Neos Marine Neos Mariner Steam Healer |
Flare Neos Inferno Magma Neos Nova Master Phoenix Enforcer Shining Phoenix Enforcer |
Air Neos Flame Wingman Flame Wingman - Infernal Rage Great Tornado Storm Neos Tempest |
Brave Neos Cosmo Neos Divine Neos Electrum Glow Neos Grandmerge Neos Kluger Neos Knight Shining Flare Wingman Shining Neos Wingman Sunrise The Shining Thunder Giant Wake Up Your Elemental HERO |
Chaos Neos Dark Neos Darkbright Escuridao Necroid Shaman |
Playing style
The "Elemental HERO" archetype has many Main Deck monsters and Extra Deck Fusion Monsters, each with their own varied effects. Historically, the archetype can be built to focus on their Main Deck monsters or their Fusion Monsters; currently, the Main Deck "Elemental HERO" monsters are too weak in contrast to the general power level of the game, and later "Elemental HERO" support leaned into their Fusion Summoning playstyle, meaning that the Extra Deck playstyle is preferred for this archetype.
The pure "Elemental HERO" playstyle aims to Fusion Summon their Extra Deck Fusion boss monsters by searching out their required Fusion Materials and Fusion Spell Cards as quickly as possible. This can be done through a combination of specific "Elemental HERO" support cards (e.g. "E - Emergency Call"), generic "HERO" support cards (e.g. "Vision HERO Vyon"), and non-archetypal Warrior or "Fusion"/"Polymerization" support cards (e.g. "Isolde, Two Tales of the Noble Knights").
The "Elemental HERO" Fusion Monsters typically have battle-focused effects with little defensive capabilities. Most "Elemental HERO" Fusion Monsters also require Fusion Materials with specific names, but some of them have more generic materials, thus are much easier to summon. The 6 most notable ones are "Elemental HERO Great Tornado", "Nova Master", "The Shining", "Escuridao", "Absolute Zero", and "Gaia", which require 1 "Elemental HERO" monster and a monster with a specific Attribute as their materials, making them useful choices to summon with "Super Polymerization" by using an opponent's monster as material. Among these 6, "Escuridao" and "Absolute Zero" are the most commonly used, because "Escuridao's" DARK Attribute is ubiquitous when mixed with other "HERO" monsters, and "Absolute Zero" has a very strong effect, and also only requires a "HERO" monster rather than an "Elemental HERO" monster as its material, making it even easier to Summon in a general "HERO" Deck. Following behind are "Elemental HERO Sunrise" and "Elemental HERO Flame Wingman - Infernal Rage" whose materials can make use of the varying Attributes of "Elemental HERO" monsters and they both have effects to search out yet another card that can Summon another "Elemental HERO" Fusion Monster ("Miracle Fusion" and "Favorite Contact").
An "Elemental HERO" Deck can consider running "King of the Swamp" and other Fusion Substitute Monsters to substitute for "Elemental HERO" Fusion Monsters with specified materials.
While "Elemental HERO Neos" is featured as main piece of the "Neo-Spacian" and "Neos" archetypes that usually uses Contact Fusion or other effects to Special Summon the Fusion Monsters that mention "Elemental HERO Neos", differing from the traditional Fusion Summon playstyle of "Elemental HERO" in general, some "Neos" Fusion Monsters still need to be Fusion Summoned and hence are still compatible with this playstyle.
Other "HERO" support
Within the entire "HERO" meta-archetype, the "Elemental HERO" archetypal playstyle is strongly supported by the "Vision HERO" combo "Faris" → "Increase" → "Vyon" since "Vyon" can search out "Polymerization" and can send "Elemental HERO Shadow Mist" to the GY to search out more needed "Elemental HERO" monsters. The "Vision HERO" Fusion Monsters, "Adoration" and "Trinity", are also good options for an "Elemental HERO" Deck to run due to their generic materials.
The "Xtra HERO" Link Monsters provide many helpful benefits to the "Elemental HERO" playstyle. "Infernal Devicer" can directly search out up to 2 listed Fusion Materials on a "HERO" Fusion Monster, making it most strongly support the "Elemental HERO" playstyle of Fusion Summoning monsters with specific materials. "Wonder Driver" can recover Fusion Spell Cards, making it useful for longer combos or grind games.
How "Elemental HERO" supports other "HERO" sub-archetypes
On the other side, the "Elemental HERO" archetype (specifically, a few individual members) are vital combo pieces to the overall "HERO" meta-archetype playstyle. The most important "Elemental HERO" monster with regards to the entire "HERO" archetype is "Elemental HERO Stratos", a non-once-per-turn searcher for all "HERO" monsters and the ideal choice for "A Hero Lives". "Elemental HERO Shadow Mist" is a once-per-turn searcher for all "HERO" monsters when sent to the GY (usually by "Vision HERO Vyon"), but it is also a searcher for "Change" Spell Cards, which enables the Special Summon of the powerful "Masked HERO" monsters (most notably "Dark Law" and "Acid", usually Summoned by using "Absolute Zero" to perform a board wipe); the variety of Attributes the "Elemental HERO" monsters have makes them ideal for summoning "Masked HERO" monsters with "Mask Change" or "Mask Change II", making "Masked HERO" monsters good options even in a pure "Elemental HERO" build.
"Elemental HERO Solid Soldier" and "Liquid Soldier" are good monsters to Normal Summon, as they can Special Summon needed "HERO" monsters (usually "Shadow Mist" to search for "Mask Change"). Lastly, "Honest Neos" is an ATK-booster for all "HERO" monsters, and "Sunrise" is a Fusion Monster with generic "HERO" Fusion Materials that can search out "Miracle Fusion", a powerful Fusion Spell Card that can use monsters in the GY as Fusion Materials, allowing a Fusion Summon with zero card loss to the field advantage.
Recommended cards
Classic
This Deck list focuses on the playstyle of "Elemental HERO" Fusion Monsters that require specific Fusion Materials featured prominently in the Yu-Gi-Oh! GX anime. While it is outclassed by the current power level of the game, this playstyle still received various modern pieces of support, namely "Xtra HERO Infernal Devicer" and greatly benefits from the "Vision HERO" engine involving "Vision HERO Faris", "Vision HERO Increase" and "Vision HERO Vyon". After searching "Polymerization" with "Vyon", both itself and "Increase" can be used to Link Summon "Xtra HERO Infernal Devicer" which help easily search the pair of Fusion Materials needed. Alternatively, one could use the searched "Polymerization" instead to Fusion Summon more generic choices, more notably "Elemental HERO Sunrise" or "Elemental HERO Flame Wingman - Infernal Rage" which can search cards to Summon yet another "Elemental HERO" Fusion Monster from the Extra Deck.
Recommended cards
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Modern
Recommended cards
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Weaknesses
- "Elemental HERO" monsters often lack protection, and as such the player can often easily have their field cleared by mass destruction cards and effects like "Dark Hole", "Raigeki" and "Evenly Matched".
- Pure "Elemental HERO" monsters have very weak disruption and oppression power, having little ability to disrupt or prevent the opponent's plays.
- "Gozen Match" can significantly disrupt a pure "Elemental HERO" Deck due to their variety of Attributes.
- As all "Elemental HERO" non-Contact Fusion Monsters cannot be Special Summoned in other ways than Fusion Summon, cards like "Non-Fusion Area" and "Dimensional Barrier" can prevent these Fusion Monsters from being Summoned easily. Furthermore, cards like "Nekroz of Unicore" can have their effects negated.
- As "Elemental HERO" monsters are mostly Warrior-Type, cards such as "Cipher Soldier", "Warrior Elimination" and "There Can Be Only One" can pose as a threat to such decks.