Battle Waltz is cool for 2 big reasons.  First, you have a ton of control over what kind of Waltz Token you Summon: copying a big Synchro Monster’s ATK and DEF is great, because it means you can run over your opponent’s monsters without risking your Synchro.  But copying its Level, Type, and Attribute opens up alot of awesome possibilities, and we’re going to show you how to use that to your advantage later on.  Here are the basics of Battle Waltz.

Your Waltz Token can’t deal Battle Damage to your opponent, but it’s still a really cool attacker with some great tricks.  Playing a second big attacker alongside a high-powered Synchro Monster means your opponent will have to fend off 2 threats instead of 1: if your opponent controls a monster that would have kept your Synchro Monster from attacking directly, you can destroy the blocking monster with your Waltz Token.  Then you can make a direct attack with your Synchro.  If your opponent has something like Dimensional Prison to remove your Synchro Monster, you’ll still have a big Waltz Token to attack with, destroying monsters and making it tough for your opponent to attack you back next turn.

But that’s just the big picture: look a bit closer, and there are a lot of cool details.  For instance, it’s not just your opponent that dodges damage from battles involving the WaltzToken: it’s you, too.  Since you’ll likely save Battle Waltz until you have a really powerful Synchro Monster to copy, you probably won’t have to worry about your opponent attacking over it – but if they do, you won’t take damage.  Where things get really interesting though, is when your opponent has an ATK boosting effect like Honest or Blackwing – Kalut the Moonshadow.  In that case, just attack with the Waltz Token: no matter how high the defending monster’s ATK gets, you won’t take damage, and your opponent’s Kalut or Honestwon’t be around to stop your next attack.

It’s great for outplaying Book of Moon, too.  Book is 1 of the most popular defensive cards in Dueling today: many Duelists are playing 3 copies.  But Token Monsters can’t be turned face-down, so your Waltz Token is automatically immune to 1 of the best Spell Cards your opponents play.  If they’re relying on Book to defend their monsters, they have to activate it to flip your Synchro Monster face-down the moment you activate Battle Waltz.

In a Formula Synchron Monarch Deck, you use Treeborn Frog and Fishborg Blaster to Synchro Summon Formula Synchron.  That draws you a card for the Synchron’s effect, and at that point you can use Battle Waltz and the Synchron to Summon a Waltz Token: the perfect Tribute for a Monarch.  Normally, you’d have to Tribute Formula Synchron itself, but this way you can clear your opponent’s back row and then Tune the Synchron and your Monarch together to make a Level 8 Synchro Summon.

You can do similar tricks to get out even bigger Tribute Monsters.  Tribute your Waltz Tokenand Formula Synchron together for Light and Darkness Dragon, or toss in 1 more monster to Summon Obelisk the Tormentor!

Real Yusei fans are going to get the most out of Battle Waltz when they use it to Special Summon more Synchro Materials!  This is where you can start taking advantage of the ability to copy Levels, Attributes, and monster Types.  If you have a Level 1 or Level 2 Tuner, it’s really easy to drop 2 big Synchro Monsters on 1 turn.  Waltz it up with a Level 5 or 6 Synchro to get a matching Waltz Token, then Tune that to a Level 1 or 2 Tuner for an even stronger Synchro.

One of the coolest tricks is to use Battle Waltz to Synchro Summon Synchro Monsters that require a specific Type or Attribute of Synchro Materials.  For instance, let’s revisit the FormulaSynchron Monarch Deck again, and set our sights on Gungnir, Dragon of the Ice Barrier.  Gungnir is a Level 7 Synchro Monster that requires Water-Type non-Tuner Synchro Materials, so check this out: