Crystal Beast

From Yugipedia
Jump to: navigation, search
Crystal Beast
The seven "Crystal Beasts" appear in the artwork of "Crystal Conclave"
The seven "Crystal Beasts" appear in the artwork of "Crystal Conclave"
Japanese
  • ほうぎょくじゅう
  • 宝玉獣 (base)
  • ほうぎょくじゅう (ruby)
  • Hōgyokujū (romanized)
  • Gem Beast (translated)
French
  • Bête Cristalline
German
  • Kristallungeheuer
Italian
  • Bestia Cristallo
Korean
  • 보옥수
  • 寶玉獸 (Hanja)
  • Booksu (romanized)
  • Gem Beast (translated)
Portuguese
  • Fera Cristalina
Spanish
  • Bestia de Cristal
Sets
TCG
OCG
Anime appearances
Lists

"Crystal Beast", known as "Gem Beast" (宝玉獣ほうぎょくじゅう Hōgyokujū) in Japan, is an archetype of monsters based on gemstones and animals. They are used by Jesse Anderson in the Yu-Gi-Oh! GX anime. "Ultimate Crystal" monsters serve as their boss monsters, and they are supported by the "Crystal" and "Rainbow Bridge" Spell/Trap Cards. It also contains the "Advanced Crystal Beast" sub-archetype used by Jesse Anderson while he was possessed by Yubel, which features dark counterparts of the 7 main "Crystal Beasts".

There are seven main Crystal Beasts, each representing a different gemstone and animal. Their boss monster, "Rainbow Dragon", requires 7 different "Crystal Beast" monsters in order to be Summoned. In addition to the 7 main "Crystal Beasts", there is an eighth "Crystal Beast", "Crystal Beast Rainbow Dragon", which is based on "Rainbow Dragon" rather than any specific gemstone.

All "Crystal Beasts" share an effect to become a Continuous Spell Card when destroyed in a Monster Zone. Many of their support cards revolve around this effect.

Design[edit]

The "Crystal Beasts", whose original name is "Gem Beasts", as their name says, are all animals which have each a different kind of gem in their bodies. Their different gems' colors form the seven colors of the rainbow, reflecting the name and design of their ace, "Rainbow Dragon". Their nomenclature is "Crystal Beast (gem) (animal)", and their attack names are "[gem] [body part/attack]".

The Advanced Crystal Beasts have almost the same attack names as their standard counterparts, but with the addition of "Dark" between the gem and the attack/body part.

Members[edit]

Color Crystal Beast Origin Attack name Unique effect
Gem Animal English Japanese
Red Ruby Carbuncle Ruby Carbuncle Ruby Sonic ルビー・フラッシュ
Ruby Flash
Special Summon as many "Crystal Beast" monsters from its controller's Spell & Trap Zone as possible when it is Special Summoned.
Orange Amber Mammoth Amber Mammoth Amber Stomp アンバー・スタンプ
Amber Stomp
Redirects an attack targeting another "Crystal Beast" monster on its controller's side of the field to itself.
Yellow Topaz Tiger Topaz Tiger Topaz Incisor Shred トーパズ・バイト
Topaz Bite
Gains 400 ATK when attacking an opponent's monster during the Damage Step.
Green Emerald Tortoise Emerald Tortoise Emerald Cutter エメラルド・カッター
Emerald Cutter
Changes one of its controller's monsters that attacked this turn to Defense Position once per turn.
Blue Cobalt Eagle Cobalt Eagle Cobalt Wing コバルト・ウィング
Cobalt Wing
Returns a "Crystal Beast" card on its controller's side of the field to the top of their Deck once per turn.
Indigo Sapphire Pegasus Sapphire Pegasus Sapphire Tornado サファイア・トルネード
Sapphire Tornado
Places a "Crystal Beast" monster from its controller's hand, Deck, or Graveyard face-up in their Spell & Trap Zone as a Continuous Spell Card when it is Summoned.
Violet Amethyst Cat Amethyst Cat Amethyst Power Pounce アメジスト・ネール
Amethyst Nail
Attacks the opponent directly, but the battle damage it inflicts when using this effect is halved.
Rainbow Rainbow Dragon[a] N/A Dragon N/A N/A Special Summons itself from the hand when a "Crystal Beast" monster battles, also it can be banished while treated as a Continuous Spell to Special Summon 1 Level 4 or lower "Crystal Beast" monster from the Deck with its effects negated and add 1 "Ultimate Crystal" monster from the Deck to the hand.
  1. Card game original support based on "Rainbow Dragon"; not one of the original 7 "Crystal Beast" monsters.

Playing style[edit]

"Crystal Beast" Decks revolve around placing "Crystal Beast" monsters in the Spell & Trap Zone as Continuous Spell Cards to enable a variety of effects. Many of their powerful Spell and Trap support cards rely on having many "Crystal Beast" cards in the Spell & Trap Zone, such as "Ancient City - Rainbow Ruins", and "Crystal Beast Ruby Carbuncle" can Summon them to fill the field.

The archetype has many cards to help put their monsters in the Spell & Trap Zone, most notably "Crystal Beast Sapphire Pegasus" and "Crystal Bond" each placing a "Crystal Beast" monster from the Deck in the Spell & Trap Zone, and "Golden Rule" placing 2 such cards while Special Summoning a monster. Notably, "Crystal Bond" can search "Sapphire Pegasus", and subsequently Normal Summoning it will fulfill the conditions for "Crystal Beacon", which can Special Summon "Ruby Carbuncle" from the Deck, triggering its effect and resulting in 4 monsters on the field. Likewise, "Golden Rule" can Special Summon a "Ruby Carbuncle" from the hand or GY. While most "Crystal Beast" monsters have no effects in the Spell & Trap Zone, "Crystal Beast Rainbow Dragon" can Special Summon a monster from Deck by banishing itself while it's a Continuous Spell, making it an ideal card to place in the Spell & Trap Zone with these cards as it helps facilitate a Rank 4 Xyz Summon if placed by "Sapphire Pegasus".

Usually, the Deck's primary goal is to gather enough "Crystal Beast" monsters to Summon a powerful "Ultimate Crystal" monster. Once 7 "Crystal Beast" monsters with different names have been gathered, a player can Special Summon "Rainbow Dragon", Tribute it to Special Summon "Rainbow Overdragon", then banish "Rainbow Dragon" and the 7 "Crystal Beasts" to Special Summon "Ultimate Crystal Rainbow Dragon Overdrive" with 11,000 ATK. "Overdrive's" effect to clear the entire field as a Quick Effect and Special Summon a horde of "Crystal Beast" monsters also makes it a powerful boardbreaker, disruptor and OTK enabler. "Ultimate Crystal Magic" can also advance this goal by quickly Fusion Summoning "Overdragon".

In addition to their primary goal in Summoning "Ultimate Crystal" monsters, the Deck also has many powerful disruption effects. "Crystal Miracle" can negate any card effect, while "Crystal Conclave" can return a card from each side of the field to the hand, disurpting the opponent's plays while letting the player reuse the on-Summon effect of "Sapphire Pegasus". "Crystal Abundance" can also act as a surprise blowout card by clearing the field and swarming the field for an OTK.

The archetype's swarming capabilities can also help facilitate powerful Xyz Summons and Link Summons. Since "Sapphire Pegasus" and "Cobalt Eagle" are WIND monsters, they can be used to Xyz Summon "Lightning Chidori". Furthermore, the archetype primarily consisting of Beast and Winged Beast monsters leads to synergies with "Tri-Brigade" cards, with "Tri-Brigade Shuraig the Ominous Omen" searching a Beast or Winged Beast when it is sent to the GY. Finally, the lack of once-per-turn clauses on "Sapphire Pegasus" and "Ruby Carbuncle" make them prime targets for the effect of "Worldsea Dragon Zealantis".

The primary drawback to the archetype is its reliance on having 7 different "Crystal Beast" names in order to Summon an "Ultimate Crystal" monster, since besides the aforementioned "Sapphire Pegasus", "Ruby Carbuncle" and "Crystal Beast Rainbow Dragon", many of the other members of the archetype have mediocre, outdated effects, with only "Cobalt Eagle" having a niche use at best due to its ability to recycle a "Sapphire Pegasus". As a result, these Decks are often forced to play suboptimal "Crystal Beasts" in order to work efficiently, even if only at 1 copy each. Thankfully, the myriad of options to place them directly in the Spell & Trap Zone from the Deck can prevent them from becoming dead draws. Alternatively, an "Advanced Crystal Beast" variant can substitute the original "Amber Mammoth", "Amethyst Cat", "Topaz Tiger" and "Emerald Tortoise" with the "Advanced Crystal Beast" versions of "Sapphire Pegasus", "Ruby Carbuncle", and "Cobalt Eagle" to achieve the requisite 7 names at the cost of the three's reliance on "Advanced Dark" to stay on the field as monsters.

Since the interactions with Monster Cards as Continuous Spells are not always obvious to recognize, here are some helpful tips regarding the issue:

Techs[edit]

Recommended cards[edit]

Deck

Weaknesses[edit]

Trivia[edit]