Introduction to Superheavy Samurai

Introduction

The Superheavy Samurai archetype was introduced in Arc-V as the signature deck of Gong Strong . Cards in the Superheavy Samurai [SHS] archetype have a few characteristic features. Most notably, they can attack while in defense position, applying their DEF stat for damage calculation, and many of them have effects that require you to have no spell or trap cards in your graveyard to activate. This means that SHS decks almost always exclusively contain monster cards. While the SHS archetype currently has a couple of pendulum monsters released in duel links, it has much more support for synchro summoning and is played as a synchro-centric deck.

SHS decks tend to be oriented around two main playstyles. One of these is a combo-heavy synchro strategy that relies on two core cards with effects that can resolve multiple times in one turn. These are: Loading... , tuner that special summons from the hand, and Loading... , a card that can equip to other SHS monsters and searches any SHS monster every time it's sent to the grave. With these two cards and some extenders like Loading... and Loading... , you can continuously loop through synchro summons while searching out combo pieces for your plays.

The other main playstyle is a more defensive, grinding strategy that runs high counts of cards like Loading... , Loading... , and Loading... . These cards either protect your SHS monsters from targeting effects, or protect your LP either from the grave or the hand. With this defensive strategy, the goal is to exhaust your opponent’s resources until a path is cleared for you to beat over their board with towers like Loading... and Loading... .

Of course, in practice, SHS decks fall somewhere in a spectrum between these two playstyles. Depending on what the meta is like, you will want to adjust your deck accordingly. While SHS is currently far from a top-tier archetype in duel links, it still has some very strong plays and could see meta relevance again as a great deal of unreleased support exists in the TCG/OCG.

Core Cards

Main Deck

Main Deck

In addition to granting piercing damage when equipped to an SHS monster, Soulpiercer searches any SHS monster other than itself when sent to the grave, enabling consistency and card advantage when it is revived from the grave, e.g. by Loading... . Many important SHS combos rely on multiple Soulpiercer searches in a single turn to search out other combo pieces. Soulpiercer is also useful for chainblocking to protect your SHS effects that activate on summon (e.g. Loading... ).

Wagon is often your best normal summon. It searches any SHS “Soul” card, which is a group of SHS monsters that act as equip spells. This means it searches both Loading... and Loading... , leading into several important combo lines.

Soulpeacemaker has a powerful effect that lets you tribute an SHS monster that it is equipped to in order to special summon any SHS monster from your deck. This allows playing through backrow disruptions (e.g. by special summoning an SHS from the hand and tributing it with Soulpeacemaker after your normal summon gets removed from the board), easy access to big beaters like Loading... , and long combo lines by triggering a search off of Loading... and special summoning Loading... , allowing you to revive Soulpiercer and get another search. However, Soulpeacemaker can only use this effect once per turn, so we usually don’t want multiple copies in hand.

Scales is an incredibly important card for SHS. When in hand, it is the best follow-up card in your deck, being able to revive any level 4 or lower SHS monster other than itself. In deck, it is a high-value target for Loading... . Scales improves your grind game, enables many important combo lines, can help to play through disruption, and single-handedly allows comebacks from highly disadvantaged states when you are able to special summon it by its own effect and revive an SHS from the grave, without using your normal summon. It is hard to overstate Scales’s value to this archetype.

Trumpeter is the best SHS tuner currently available in duel links. This is primarily due to its easily accessible summoning condition, a condition which is not once per turn.