Apr 8, 2010
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Last year, Synchro Cat was one of the most powerful Decks around, winning the 2009 American, Canadian and European Championships. The deck used Rescue Cat to bring out X-Saber Airbellums and other useful Beast-Type monsters like Ryko, Lightsworn Hunter and Neo-Spacian Dark Panther to handle anything you could throw at it. It also ended Duels very quickly with the now Forbidden Dark Strike Fighter. The Deck saw less play in the months that followed though, as key cards like Summoner Monk, Rescue Cat and Mind Control were all Limited and Dark Strike Fighter was Forbidden. However, things have changed and Synchro Cat is back with a bang and lots of new tricks up its sleeve.
Thanks to these cards, it's easier than ever to Synchro Summon
The biggest change in the Deck is the addition of several Flamvell cards, which allow the Deck to do something it couldn’t do before: Synchro Summon lots of Level 8 Synchro Monsters. Flamvell Firedog is a Level 4 monster with 1900 ATK from Ancient Prophecy. It’s big enough to destroy most Level 4 or lower monsters by battle.. When it does and that unfortunate monster goes to the Graveyard, you can Special Summon any FIRE monster with 200 or less DEF from your Deck, except for another Flamvell Firedog. One of the monsters that Flamvell Firedog can Summon is Flamvell Magician, a 1400 ATK Spellcaster that’s also a Level 4 Tuner monster. That means you can Summon your Firedog, attack over your opponent’s monster, Special Summon your Magician, attack with that, and then Synchro Summon a Stardust Dragon, Colossal Fighter, or any other Level 8 Synchro Monster you might need!
Once you’ve made that Level 8 Synchro, you’ve already set yourself up for one of Flamvell Cat’s strongest plays. Rekindling lets you Special Summon as many FIRE monsters from your Graveyard as possible with 200 DEF, and since both Flamvell Firedog and Flamvell Magician have 200 DEF, you can bring them both out for free! You can then send these right back to the Graveyard for another Level 8 Synchro, or attack with them and then Synchro. If you draw a Rekindling later in the Duel, it could be even more devastating, as you could be using it to Summon 5 monsters at once! Any Flamvells you send back to the Graveyard for Synchro Summons won’t get removed from play at the end of the turn by Rekindling’s effect, so if you draw another one, you can do it all again!
Along with this new and easy access to Tuners, Duelists are adding more monsters that can Special Summon other monsters form the Deck, so that they’ll always have a Tuner and non-Tuner for easy Synchro Summons. Super-Nimble Mega Hamster is frequently used in this Deck because of its high DEF and ability to Special Summon Ryko, Lightsworn Hunter. Gravekeeper’s Spy is another popular addition, with 2000 DEF that even Flamvell Firedog can’t get over. Since it’s also a Spellcaster-Type monster, you can use it along with X-Saber Airbellum to Synchro Summon Arcanite Magician and destroy your opponent’s cards one at a time, something that’s important now that Starlight Road is seeing play in most Duelists’ Decks.
Using Gravekeeper’s Spy also lets you use another new card from Absolute Powerforce, Gravekeeper’s Descendant. Descendant lets you Tribute a face-up “Gravekeeper’s” monster you control to destroy 1 of your opponent’s cards. This can help you to wipe out several of your opponent’s cards in a short space of time when combined with Rescue Cat or X-Saber Airbellum. Let’s say you control a face-down Spy and have an X-Saber Airbellum in your hand. You can flip your Spy, Special SummonDescendant and Tribute the Spy to destroy your opponent’s monster. Then, you can Synchro Summon Arcanite Magician, and destroy 2 more cards! Moves like this are what makes Flamvell Cat such a powerful Deck.
Let’s not forget that Flamvell Cat uses all of the popular cards that Synchro Cat used before. You can send cards back into the Deck with Pot of Avarice, drawing them again later for more combos. You can use Summoner Monk’s effect to bring out Rescue Cat which can get you 2 X-Saber Airbellums to discard your opponent’s cards. You can even use Monk now to Synchro Summon Level 8 monsters straight away, since Flamvell Magician is a Level 4 that can be Summoned with Monk’s effect. The deck also uses cards that every Deck can benefit from, such as Bottomless Trap Hole, Smashing Ground, Book of Moon, Dimensional Prison and more.
Here are some of the cards that you’ll need if you want to try out a Flamvell Cat Deck for yourself!
Monsters:
Flamvell Firedog
Flamvell Magician
Ryko, Lightsworn Hunter
X-Saber Airbellum
Rescue Cat
Super-Nimble Mega Hamster, Gravekeeper’s Spy, or both!
Spells:
Rekindling
Pot of Avarice
Having 3 copies of the monsters (except for Rescue Cat because its Limited) is a good idea so that you can see them more often. In addition to Rekindling, it’s also a pretty good idea to use Pot of Avarice to help you re-use your Rescue Cat and other Beast-Type monsters. The rest of the monsters, Spell Cards, and Trap Cards can be tailored to your own personal tastes. You should also make sure you have at least one big defensive option like Super-Nimble Mega Hamster or Gravekeeper’s Spy. You could even play with both!
Flamvell Cat is a Deck designed to Synchro Summon faster and more often than any other Deck out there right now, so expect to see it do very well at the 75th SHONEN JUMP Championship in Edison, New Jersey later this month.
