Synchronized swimmers (ON MOTORCYCLES) Part 2

Let's take a look at the remaining Synchron monsters. The first one is Drill Synchron:

While you control this face-up card, during each battle between a Warrior-Type attacking monster you control and a Defense Position monster whose DEF is lower than the ATK of the attacking monster, inflict the difference as Battle Damage to your opponent. Once per turn, when you inflict battle damage to your opponent with this effect, you can draw 1 card.

Drill Synchron has two effects. The first is a trample effect, and as usual, its a Continuous Effect. Note that it provides trampling for all your Warrior-type monsters, but Drill Synchron is a Machine-type monster (unlike Enraged Battle Ox). The second effect is an Optional Trigger Effect. Be careful that it almost looks as an Ignition Effect by its wording. This Trigger Effect is activated at the "After Damage Calculation" Sub-Step, and you can only activate it if a Warrior-Type monster tramples using Drill Synchron's effect. If there are multiple trampling effects, you can still activate it.

Drill Synchron gives you access to the infamous Drill Warrior:

"Drill Synchron" + 1 or more non-Tuner monsters.
Once per turn, during your Main Phase, you can halve this card's ATK (permanently). If you do, it can attack your opponent directly this turn. Once per turn, during your Main Phase, you can discard 1 card and remove this card from play. During your next Standby Phase, Special Summon this card, if removed by this effect. Then, add 1 Monster Card from your Graveyard to your hand.

Drill Warrior is probably the most popular of the "Warrior" Synchro Monsters right now. Of course, with great popularity comes great confusion about its rulings. Drill Warrior has three effects. The first effect is an Ignition Effect. It halves the current ATK of Drill Warrior when it resolves, and sets a Condition that allows it to attack directly. If Drill Warrior later has its effects negated, it's still allowed to attack directly for this turn, and its ATK returns to normal. The second effect is an Ignition Effect to Remove it from Play. Discarding a Card is not a cost. If Drill Warrior is flipped face-down in a chain to this effect, you will still Remove it from Play (face-up). If Drill Warrior is Removed from the Field in a chain, you will still discard a Card. If Imperial Iron Wall is chained to Drill Warrior's effect, you also discard. Discarding and Removing Drill Warrior from Play are considered to be simultaneous, so it doesn't cause timing issues. Neither effect targets Drill Warrior.

The most misunderstood effect is the last one. It's a single Mandatory Trigger Effect that you activate during your Standby Phase, while Drill Warrior is still Removed from Play. It Special Summons Drill Warrior, and then adds a Monster Card to your Hand. The Special Summon and the retrieval of the Card are not considered to be simultaneous, so neither player can respond to the Summon with Cards like Torrential Tribute. HOWEVER, the effect itself CAN be chained to, and once the retrieval is performed, either player CAN respond to this retrieval with a Spell Speed 2 or higher effect. The timing disruption that this effect causes on Cards like Torrential Tribute is often misunderstood as being completely unable to respond to this effect before or after it resolves, and that's not true. A player can negate this effect's activation (while Drill Warrior is Removed from Play) by activating Gladiator Beast War Chariot or Divine Wrath, and a player can also respond to the retrieval with Cards like Mind Crush or Drastic Drop Off. The retrieval does not target, which also is confusing, as players are often receive answers like "Crow doesn't work", which doesn't explain anything on why that happens. You can definately chain D.D. Crow to Drill Warrior's effect, but you don't know which monster it will add to the Hand, so the player can simply choose a different monster. Once the effect has resolved, the Card has already been added to the Hand.

Ugh >_>

Anyway, the last Synchron associated to a Synchro is Road Synchron:

If this card is used for the Synchro Summon of a monster other than "Road Warrior", its Level is decreased by 2. If this card attacks, at the end of the Damage Step, increase its Level by 1 until the End Phase.

The first effect is Continuous, which means it can be negated by Skill Drain, and let you use the actual Level of Road Warrior. The second effect is a Mandatory Trigger Effect that you activate at the End of the Damage Step. Nothing too amazing, only some Level gambling.

Its associated Synchro is Road Warrior:

"Road Synchron" + 2 or more non-Tuner Monsters.
Once per turn, you can Special Summon 1 Level 2 or lower Warrior or Machine-Type monster from your Deck.

A very simple Ignition Effect. The only thing that can be said is that it doesn't target.

There are a few more Synchron Monsters, but these no longer have a specific have a specific Synchro Monster associated to them, at least, so far. The first one is Hyper Synchron:

If this card is sent to the Graveyard  for the Synchro Summon of a Dragon-Type Synchro Monster, that monster gains 800 ATK. Remove it from play during the End Phase.

Hyper Synchron has a Mandatory Trigger Effect. It is activated if the Synchro Summon is successful, and if the Synchro Monster is a Dragon-type monster at that time. The effect itself sets a Condition that gives the Synchro monster an ATK boost and dooms it at every End Phase. Removing the Synchro from Play doesn't use the chain. Flipping the monster face-down or Removing it from the Field will get rid of this Condition.

The next Synchron is Quickdraw Synchron:

You can send 1 monster from your hand to the Graveyard  and Special Summon this card from your hand. You can substitute this card for any 1 "Synchron" Tuner for a Synchro Summon. This card cannot be used as a Synchro Material Monster, except for the Synchro Summon of a monster that lists a "Synchron" monster as a Tuner monster.

Quickdraw has a Summoning Condition, and two further Conditions. The Summoning Condition requires you to send a Monster Card to the Graveyard. If Macro Cosmos is active, you cannot perform it. The two Conditions cannot be negated, and are always active. If Quickdraw Synchron is having its effects negated, you can still treat it as any Synchron, and you are still restricted to Synchron-based Synchro Monsters.

And finally, the last Synchron is a new Card. It's Synchron Explorer:

When this card is Normal Summoned, you can select 1 "Synchron" monster in your Graveyard  and Special Summon it. Its effects are negated.

Explorer works exactly as Junk Synchron. It has an Optional Trigger Effect activated upon its Normal Summon, meaning you can negate it with Pulling the Rug. It targets a monster in the Graveyard, and the negation affects any effects that apply on the Field or are activated on the Field, regardless of the location of the monster.

That covers the Synchrons. Stay tuned for more Yusei Cards (ON MOTORCYCLES!). If you have any questions, feel free to drop me an e-mail at ness00[at]gmail[dot]com.

Synchronized swimmers (ON MOTORCYCLES) Part 1

Over the course of Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D's, Yusei has been using a number of Synchron monsters as Tuners to Summon his famous Synchro Monsters. And as expected of the main character, most of them have been released as actual Cards one way or another. Despite being weak monsters, they are really useful as Tuners, which also have the ability to Summon some powerful Synchro Monsters which are restricted to these Tuners. We already reviewed Change Synchron in a TSHD article, but let's take a look at the rest:

The most famous Tuner used by Yusei is Junk Synchron:

When this card is Normal Summoned, you can Special Summon 1 Level 2 or lower monster from your Graveyard  in face-up  Defense Position. That monster's effect(s) is negated.

Junk Synchron has an Optional Trigger Effect activated upon its Normal Summon, so it can be negated by Pulling the Rug. It targets a low Level monster in your Graveyard. The negation is a Condition set on the Summoned monster, which is not related to Junk Synchron in any way. Even if Junk Synchron stops being face-up, the negation remains. This negation affects any effects that apply on the Field, or activate on the Field, regardless of the location of the monster Card. So, for example, a Card like Cyber Valley would have all of its effects negated (since they all activate on the Field), even if the first effect Removes it from Play as a cost. On the other hand, a monster like Cross Porter, which activates its effect in the Graveyard, won't be negated. As usual, flipping the affected monster face-down would remove this condition.

Junk Synchron is one of the most versatile Synchron Monsters, allowing you to Summon 3 otherwise exclusive Synchros. The first being the always popular Junk Warrior:

"Junk Synchron" + 1 or more non-Tuner monsters
When this card is Synchro Summoned, it gains ATK equal to the total ATK of all Level 2 and lower monsters you control.

Junk Warrior has a mandatory Trigger Effect activated upon its Synchro Summon. It can be negated by Swallow Flip. The ATK of the monsters is counted at its resolution, and it is counted only once. The ATK boost remains fixed even if the ATK of the low Level monsters varies (or if they appear or disappear). This is worth noting, as the anime treats this effect as a Continuous Effect. Don't pay too much attention to it.

The next Synchro for Junk Synchron is Junk Archer:

"Junk Synchron" + 1 or more non-Tuner monsters
Once per turn you can remove 1 monster your opponent controls from play. During the End Phase, the removed monster returns to the opponent's side of the field, in the same Battle Position.

Junk Archer has an Ignition Effect. It targets an opponent's monster, and this effect Removes that from Play temporarily. It sets a Condition on the affected monster to return it to the Field afterwards. Since the Condition is set on the monster, the return of the monster does not depend on Junk Archer's existence. It will still return even if Junk Archer is no longer face-up.

The last Synchro Monster associated to Junk Synchron is the recently released Junk Destroyer:

"Junk Synchron" + 1 or more non-Tuner monsters
When this card is Synchro Summoned, you can select and destroy cards on the field, up to the number of non-Tuner monsters used as Synchro Material Monsters for this card.

Destroyer has an Optional Trigger Effect that targets a number of Cards up to a certain number. It can be negated by Swallow Flip, and if you choose more than 2 targets, it can be negated by Starlight Road too.

The next Synchron Monster is Nitro Synchron:

If this card is sent to the Graveyard  for the Synchro Summon of a "Nitro" Synchro Monster, draw 1 card.

Nitro Synchron has a Mandatory Trigger Effect activated upon the successful Synchro Summon of a monster. It can be negated by Swallow Flip. Note that being mandatory, you must draw a Card, so if you don't have any Cards left, you lose the Duel.

Nitro Synchron enables you to use Nitro Warrior:

"Nitro Synchron" + 1 or more non-Tuner Monsters
Once during each of your turns, if you activated a Spell Card(s), this card gains 1000 ATK during its next attack, for damage calculation only. Once per turn, if this attacking card destroys an opponent's monster by battle, you can change 1 face-up Defense Position monster your opponent controls to Attack Position, and attack it with this card.

Finally something juicy, rulings wise. Nitro Warrior has two effects. The first effect is Continuous, or rather, it doesn't use the chain. In order for Nitro Warrior to gain ATK, it must be face-up when the Spell Card is activated and when it resolves, and also, it must remain on the same side of the Field during that process. For example, if my opponent uses Brain Control on my Nitro Warrior, then Nitro is face-up when Brain Control is activated and when it resolves, but it did not remain on the same side of the Field during the process. And so, my opponent cannot apply the ATK gain. This effect is applied immediately at Damage Calculation during the first attack performed by Nitro.

The second effect is a little turbulent. Its an Optional Trigger Effect. Currently, you activate it at the End of the Damage Step. When you activate it, it targets an opponent's monster, and then changes it to Attack Position. This Card then attacks that monster. This attack is treated like any normal attack, with steps like Attack Declaration and the Damage Step. However, note that the only legal Attack Target for this attack is the monster that you had targeted. If a replay occurs for any reason, Nitro Warrior cannot choose any other attack targets (or attack directly).

Moving on, we have Turbo Synchron:

When this card declares an attack, you can change the attack target to Defense Position. When you take Battle Damage while this card is attacking, you can Special Summon 1 monster  from your hand  with ATK equal to or less than the Battle Damage you took.

Turbo Synchron has two Optional Trigger Effects. The first one is activated it upon attack declaration. It doesn't target. The second effect is activated at the "After Damage Calculation" Sub-Step. It doesn't target either (the monster is in the Hand). You must take Battle Damage in order to activate the effect. In other words, you cannot activate it if you had activated Waboku earlier in the turn, in order to Special Summon a 0 ATK monster.

Turbo Synchron enables Turbo Warrior:

"Turbo Synchron" + 1 or more non-Tuner monsters
When this card attacks a Level 6 or higher Synchro Monster, halve the monster's ATK until the end of the Damage Step. This card cannot be targeted by the effects of Level 6 or lower monsters.

Turbo Warrior has two effects. The first effect is a Mandatory Trigger Effect. It's activated upon Attack Declaration, and it doesn't target. The Synchro Monster must be face-up when this Card attacks in order for the effect to activate. Since the effect doesn't target, if the attack target changes, then the new attack target has its ATK halved, even if it's not a proper Synchro Monster. The second effect is Continuous, and it's simply a protection effect.

Stay tuned for the second part of the Synchron monsters! If you have any questions, feel free to drop me an e-mail at ness00[at]gmail[dot]com.