Forum:R5h's Gem-Knights

Hello, wiki!

It's been quite a while since I posted a deck here, but I've got something that I've always thought is really neat - Gem-Knights! They started off as a pretty lame archetype of sub-par normal monsters and fusion monsters, but as the DTs kept getting released they kept getting more and more support. DT11 brought us Gem-Knights Citrine and Prism Aura, the first good Gem-Knight fusions. DT12 introduced some Gemini Monsters, including the wonderful Amber: besides that, they got Obsidian! It turns a fusion summon into an instant swarm, and makes Xyzs easy.

With DT13, though, Gem-Knights passed the tipping point. Sanyx and Zirconia have pushed Gem-Knights to the point of competitiveness. So now it's time to celebrate the archetype I've been with since the beginning.

So here's the breakdown. I've got 3 each of Garnet, Sanyx, Amber, Tourmaline, and Obsidian as my Gem-Knights. Garnet has 1900 ATK and is a Pyro, so that's good. The other Pyro, Sanyx, is also a great beater, and its searching effect is phenomenal - it can pull Gem-Knight Fusion from the deck! Amber and Tourmaline basically enable me to summon Prism Aura, though Amber's retrieval effect is often quite useful. Finally, Obsidian is simply phenomenal. If I use it in a fusion summon, I can special summon the other Fusion Material, then banish Obsidian to add Gem-Knight Fusion back to my hand... It's a card-neutral fusion summon!

Gem-Armadillo absolutely deserves to be run at 3, pulling important Gem-Knights from my deck (usually Obsidian). 2 Gem-Turtles are also important, defending against less powerful monsters and pulling Gem-Knight Fusion from my deck in one fell swoop. Afterwards, it's good as Xyz material. Finally, my 2 Card Troopers send Gem-Knight monsters and Gem-Knight Fusion to the graveyard, where I can snatch them up with various card effects.

One of those effects is that of Gem-Knight Fusion. It's a standard fusion card like Polymerization, except for the part where it returns to your hand. That means I can fusion summon multiple times in one turn, or use it as easy discard fodder! Pot of Duality is very useful, and generally increases consistency. Hand Destruction is surprisingly good - I can drop Obsidian and a Gem-Knight to special summon that Gem-Knight, or Fusion and a Gem-Knight, allowing me to get Gem-Knight Fusion back. (Since it sends to the graveyard, rather than discarding, it won't allow Dark World monsters to mess me up.)

Dark Factory of Mass Production retrieves those Gem-Knights that I send to the graveyard, and is very useful when I don't have Obsidian in hand (and even when I do). From there, the only other interesting spell cards are Future Fusion and Supervise. Future Fusion lets me get any two Gem-Knights I need in the graveyard for later retrieval, while simultaneously setting up Gem-Knight Prism Aura for two turns later. As for Supervise, I originally used Gemini Spark in its place, but it didn't really work out. Supervise is working quite well, though! I can equip it to Sanyx and get its effect quite easily, and the revival effect gives me more monsters to work with for Fusion summons. Beyond that, there's two Mystical Space Typhoons, 1 Monster Reborn, 1 Heavy Storm, and 1 Dark Hole. Pretty standard.

The only trap card is Treacherous Trap Hole. Honestly, I didn't have much room for a full suite of traps, so this was definitely the best move.

Now for the extra deck! Gem-Knight Prism Aura is quite good, with the ability to destroy most threats with a discard - a discard that makes good use of Gem-Knight Fusion's self-retrieval. Its summoning requirement of 1 Gem-Knight and 1 Thunder monster is easily fulfilled with 3 each of Tourmaline and Amber. Meanwhile, Gem-Knight Citrine takes care of face-down cards by, essentially, ignoring them. When it attacks, you can't use Mirror Force or Book of Moon - you can't use Battle Fader or Gorz - for that matter, if it destroys something like Sangan in battle, Sangan will not get its effect! Being the fusion of any Gem-Knight and any Pyro makes it easy to summon with 6 Pyros in my deck. I also have one copy of Gem-Knight Ruby, whose piercing effect and ATK-increasing are fairly good.

Before DT13, though, while these two cards are great, there was always something missing... raw ATK strength. One card that would severely trip up the deck was Stardust Dragon, because my prime way of defeating threats - using the effect of Prism Aura - was useless, and at 2500 ATK it was equal to or stronger than all of my fusions. My only recourse was to summon Gem-Knight Pearl - not always easy - or to crash into Stardust with Ruby, destroying both monsters. (Sometimes I was able to boost Ruby's ATK and power over Stardust that way.) Even ignoring Stardust, though, if my opponent had a strong monster like Master Hyperion or Dark Armed Dragon, and I didn't have a way to summon Prism Aura, I was in deep trouble.

That's changed with the new Gem-Knight Zirconia, which is amazing for two reasons. Firstly, its fusion materials are 1 Gem-Knight and 1 Rock, which makes it absurdly easy to summon - I have 8 Rocks in my deck, more than any other type! Secondly, it has a phenomenal 2900 ATK; easily enough to put lots of pressure on my opponent and power over their big monsters. True, it has no effect, but that's honestly unimportant because it is so easy to summon with such high ATK, fixing a problem that Gem-Knights have had since their creation.

The rest of my extra deck consists of Xyzs. 1 Gem-Knight Pearl is a must here, with a good 2600 ATK. Utopia is practically an extra deck staple. Color Ruler, meanwhile, is just about my favorite Xyz. Call trap to attack with impunity despite your opponent's full spell/trap zone. Call monster to keep them from using the effects of the monsters you are about to attack over. Call spell to keep them from making a comeback next turn with power cards like Dark Hole, Rekindling, or Monster Reborn. Truly, it is a wonderful card.

Daigusto Emeral is also very cool - the drawing effect can be used easily by any deck, but Gem-Knights especially can lay claim to its first effect. That can special summon anything from Sanyx to Zirconia! Steelswarm Roach is not always phenomenal, but against synchro decks it's often killer. Lavalval Chain has been useful before - I used its effect to send Gem-Knight Fusion to the graveyard, then retrieved the Fusion with its effect! Finally, Kachi Kochi Dragon seems like a good choice, dealing with some annoying swarms.

So there's my deck - a wonderful mix of normal, Gemini, fusion, and Xyz monsters. It's not your average deck, but it does quite well, easily searching out necessary combo pieces with Armadillo, Sanyx, Duality, Dark Factory, and others. The deck is consistent and quick.

What about you? Tell me what you think of this deck. Runer5h (talk • contribs) 21:57, October 12, 2011 (UTC)Runer5h

Looks very good. My suggestions are: a 3rd MST, since that is Gem-Knights' downfall, their lack of S/T destruction. At least one more Supervise so you can get your Gem-Knights back, maintaining and use the Geminis effects more easily. Possibly the best thing you could add is Gem-ini Spark (get it?) since you have 9 targets for it, and it's a great, chainable card. I'd say you can live without Turtle, with all the deck-thinning and searching (PoD, Hand Destruction, Trooper, etc.). As far as the Extra Deck, I think Topaz is worthy of adding, with his great effect, even though he lacks in Attack. I'd say to take out an Aura for him, I don't think you'll ever need 3 of him. xD Emeral and Chain are very good in Gem-Knights, even Chain's searching can come in handy at times. I'd say to take out a Kachi for another Emeral or Utopia, since they are almost always better options. Looks like a fun deck! Hope this helps! :D Synchro Maniac10 (talk • contribs) 22:32, October 12, 2011 (UTC)

no gemini sparks?

Time for some responses - specifically to SynchroManiac10.

• 3rd MST: I have no idea where I'd find the room to put it in. I agree that Gem-Knights are generally ill-equipped to deal with spells and traps, but I can't really find space. Maybe later.
• Gemini Spark (this is also responding to the unregistered poster): I have used this card at 3 in Gem-Knights, and not long ago I was using it at 1. I've really found, however, that it's not really worth using. Why? Simply put, I have to have a Gemini on-field (duh). That means either that:

• A: I'm normal summoning a Gemini just so I can use Gemini Spark, which doesn't ever seem to work for me. It leaves me critically open to a direct attack.
• B: I'm summoning my Gemini as part of a swarm unleashed by Gem-Knight Fusion and Gem-Knight Obsidian. In that case, I've found that I'm likely to sweep over my opponent's defenses in any case, so why bother? In conclusion... Gemini Spark is a good card, but it just doesn't work for me.

• Drop Gem-Turtle: The turtle stays. With 2000 DEF it's an ideal opening set card, and it's often my only out to Gem-Knight Fusion. Even when I can access Fusion in some other way, Turtle is never a dead card - I can use it for a rank 4 Xyz, I can use it as a chump defender (getting another Gem-Knight Fusion never hurt anyone), and I can fuse it with a Gem-Knight to make Zirconia. Turtle at 2 is as good as gold here.
• -1 Prism Aura, +1 Topaz: To be honest, I have used 3 Prism Aura in a duel before. Granted, this was before Zirconia came out, so Prism Aura was my only way to overcome basically any threat... it might be worth removing a Prism Aura. I don't think, however, that replacing it with a copy of Topaz would be a good idea. With just 1800 ATK, it just can't do enough damage to be worth using. When I did have it at 1, I never used it because there was always a better option.
• -1 Kachi, +1 something else: To be honest, I'm on the fence about Kachi. Unlike Topaz, it has high enough ATK to be a real threat. I'll playtest the deck some more and see where I stand, but I may indeed end up removing it.

Thanks for the feedback, everyone! Keep it coming! Runer5h (talk • contribs) 01:30, October 13, 2011 (UTC)Runer5h

First question: Why is this called Ratbox? There's no Rats. BF2 Talk Deck Guides 14:25, October 13, 2011 (UTC)

Same thing I just saw that - why Ratbox if it's Gem-Knight with no Giant Rat? --FredCat 15:08, October 13, 2011 (UTC)

Because he copied somebody else's Deck Recipe box and put his own cards in. 207.233.120.2 (talk) 15:20, October 13, 2011 (UTC)

So in other word; that user took my "ratbox" and stuffed it with his useless Gem-Knight stuff? --FredCat 15:27, October 13, 2011 (UTC)

Now don't be abusive. I just mean he copied your box, not your Deck. He probably didn't want to go find it on Falzar's page.

Drop Tourmaline. Tourmaline is not useful. Tourmaline is not good. Tourmaline is outclassed by Gem-Knight Amber, of which you're already running 3. If you want an extra Thunder-Type monster, try Thunder King Rai-Oh, Thunder Dragon, or Electric Virus. Not a Normal Monster. 207.233.120.2 (talk) 16:06, October 13, 2011 (UTC)

Return from the Different Dimension = Rekindling. Bring back 5, fuse, get GKF back, fuse, get GKF back, fuse, etc. Lappyzard (talk • contribs) 19:19, October 13, 2011 (UTC)

Ok, then don't run Topaz and run Iolite. That was the only reason for keeping Tourmaline. You can run Amethys just in case if you do run Iol. Spark is great if you get Bottomless, DP'ed, or hit by an effect that would destroy one of your Geminis. You don't have to run 3 MST if you use Gemini Spark. I would HIGHLY suggest it as it works amazingly well in my Gem-Knights. As for Turtle, I suppose you could keep him, but he's not something you want to use besides to get your Gem-Knight Fusion, which is easily done with all the Draw Power cards, so I just don't see much use for him. In theory, a good wall isn't bad, but not in decks that rely on speed and power. Walls aren't needed in decks like that. For another example, Gishki Erial is a great card for searching, but she's slow and lacks in attack power for most Gishki decks. True, it's good for Zirconia, but there are so many cards that can be better for that. I would think that even Morphing Jar would be better than Turtle. Anyone else agree? Synchro Maniac10 (talk • contribs) 19:53, October 13, 2011 (UTC)

Gem-Knights 1.1

OK, after some more testing, I've decided to make some changes.

So here's the run-down.

• -3 Gem-Knight Tourmaline: Not as necessary as it once was. Its stats really are not very good, when all's said and done, and I needed room.
• -1 Gem-Turtle: I still like having 1, but it's not totally necessary.
• -1 Mystical Space Typhoon: Needed room.
• -1 Supervise: Needed room.
• -1 Gem-Knight Prism Aura: Needed room, and I don't summon it as much as I used to.
• -1 Kachi Kochi Dragon: I've not used it in all my duels, so it's out.

• +3 Gem-Knight Iolite: With a fairly useful effect and a solid 2000 DEF, it's pretty nice to have.
• +3 Gemini Spark: I'm trying it again now. Hopefully it'll work well.
• +1 Number 39: Utopia: Good card, worth using two.
• +1 Daigusto Emeral: Good card, worth using two.

Hopefully this should make the deck better. Runer5h (talk • contribs) 20:11, October 13, 2011 (UTC)Runer5h

"<x> Deck sucks, use <y> Deck instead because everyone else is doing it" Battlemaniac (talk • contribs) 21:14, October 13, 2011 (UTC)

Well, the Deck Help page told me not to do it, but I couldn't resist. More to the point, though, have you considered running Branch! or Burial from a Different Dimension? Both can make Fusion Summoning easier by either getting you a monster or Gem-Knight Fusion. Also, why no Gem-Knight Alexandrite or Summoner Monk? Battlemaniac (talk • contribs) 21:14, October 13, 2011 (UTC)

Branch is very slow, and I often end up losing the fusion materials from my graveyard anyways. As for Burial from a Different Dimension, it really is unnecessary and I don't have space anyways. Finally, Alexandrite is not a very good card, and at present it would only have 3 targets (my Garnets). Summoner Monk is also fairly ineffective right now. Runer5h (talk • contribs) 01:04, October 14, 2011 (UTC)Runer5h