Fusion Monsters made a big comeback in Duelist Revolution. Ultimate Axon Kicker and Dragon Knight Draco-Equiste have both breathed new life into Decks, and Miracle Synchro Fusion is a powerful new alternative to Polymerization. Like the new Fusion Monsters, it fills a really specific role and does it really well. Paradox Fusion might be the best new card of the bunch: a Counter Trap that you activate by removing one of your face-up Fusion Monsters from the game. It negates a Spell, Trap, or even a Special Summon. The Fusion Monster you removed is then returned to the field 2 End Phases later.

There are a lot of different ways you can use Paradox Fusion:
-Negate a card that would keep you from making important attacks.
-Protect your monsters, or key Spell and Trap Cards from destruction.
-Keep your opponent from Special Summoning their best monsters, so you can win with a quick series of big direct attacks.
-Save a Fusion Monster from something like Bottomless Trap Hole or Book of Moon, by Chaining Paradox Fusion to the activation of your opponent’s card and sending your Fusion Monster to the safety of the ‘removed zone.’

Paradox Fusion is getting a lot of attention, because it can be played in any Deck that Summons Fusion Monsters. It’s got Duelists looking at a lot of older Decks, and creating new ones from scratch. This is because it solves one of the big problems Fusion Monster strategies have always faced: protecting their Fusions. It’s especially good right now with so many Duelists playing Solemn Warning. Counter Traps like Paradox Fusion that can negate other Counter Traps can have a big impact on your Duels. Eric Granados is one of the Duelists looking to make an impact with Paradox Fusion this weekend. His strategy of choice? Elemental Heroes, with a focus on 1 of the best combos for Paradox: Elemental Hero Absolute Zero. Here’s what his Deck looks like:

Eric Granados’ Paradox Heroes

Monsters:

1 Treeborn Frog

3 Debris Dragon

2 Elemental Hero Ocean

1 Elemental Hero Stratos

3 King of the Swamp

1 Elemental Hero Bubbleman

2 Snowman Eater

1 Elemental Hero Wildheart

1 Elemental Hero Voltic

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Spells:

1 Salvage

1 The Warrior Returning Alive

2 Miracle Fusion

3 Polymerization

3 Fusion Recovery

3 E – Emergency Call

2 Book of Moon

1 Monster Reborn

2 Mystical Space Typhoon

1 Future Fusion

1 Reinforcements of the Army

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Traps:

2 Paradox Fusion

2 Interdimensional Matter Transporter

1 Solemn Judgment

1 Mirror Force

1 Torrential Tribute

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Extra Deck:

3x Elemental Hero Absolute Zero

1x Elemental Hero Gaia

1x Elemental Hero Mariner

1x Elemental Hero Mudballman

1x Elemental Hero Necroid Shaman

1x Elemental Hero Terra Firma

1x Elemental Hero Wildedge

1x Elemental Hero Steam Healer

2x Black Rose Dragon

2x Stardust Dragon

1x Scrap Dragon

Granados plays a lot of WATER Attribute monsters like Snowman Eater, King of the Swamp, and Elemental Hero Ocean, largely because he can use them as Fusion Materials for Elemental Hero Absolute Zero. By fusing a WATER monster and 1 of his Elemental Heroes, Granados can Fusion Summon a monster with 2500 ATK and two great effects. The first effect boosts Zero by 500 ATK for every other WATER monster on the field. That works well with monsters like Snowman Eater and Treeborn Frog that are tough for your opponent to get rid of. Zero’s second effect will also destroy all of the opponent’s monsters when Zero is removed from the field. That makes it a great combo with Paradox Fusion. Remove Zero from the game for Paradox’s cost, and you’ll destroy all of your opponent’s monsters with Zero’s ability. Cool stuff!

With that combo in mind, Granados has built a Deck that Fusion Summons as often as possible, while using as few cards as he can in the process. Activating Polymerization and fusing 2 monsters takes half your opening hand. It’s a big risk to commit half your hand when you could lose it all to something simple like Smashing Ground. But Granados packs a ton of tricks to reuse the same cards over and over. Fusion Recovery, Salvage, and Elemental Hero Ocean can all help him get back cards he discarded for Fusion Summons, and Future Fusion and Miracle Fusion are one-card Summon Spells that don’t require Granados to give up any Fusion Materials from his hand or field.

At the center of this recycle-heavy strategy is Elemental Hero Stratos. Granados was happy to explain: “My favorite turn 1 play is to Summon Stratos, use it as a Fusion Material for Absolute Zero, and then set Paradox Fusion.” Granados won’t start every Duel with Stratos, Polymerization, and Paradox Fusion, but he’ll definitely open a fair portion of his Duels that way: with search cards like E – Emergency Call and King of the Swamp, he’s got lots of cards that “count as” Stratos when he’s trying to draw it, and even more that will let him get Polymerization.

It’s really important to use Stratos as a Fusion Material early on, because every time Granados Summons Stratos, he gets to add an Elemental Hero from his Deck to his hand. Searching monsters with Stratos helps ensure that he doesn’t run out of cards as he makes his Fusion Summons. Granados will try to Fuse Stratos into something every turn if he can, because with 3 Warrior Returning Alive, and 3 Fusion Recovery, he can keep getting Stratos back to his hand for easy Fusion Summoning. “This makes Fusion Recovery really good,” remarked Granados. “When I get Polymerization and Stratos with Recovery, I can Summon Stratos, get another Fusion Material, and Fusion Summon.” With just Fusion Recovery and the right cards in his Graveyard, he can bring out monsters like Absolute Zero or Elemental Hero Gaia without using up all of his cards.

Aside from his Fusion Summons, Granados can also Synchro Summon with Debris Dragon. The Dragon’s effect can let him Special Summon the Level 3 King of the Swamp back to the field after he’s discarded it or used it as a Fusion Material. He plays 3 Debris Dragons so he can clear the field with Black Rose Dragon. Black Rose is especially good here, because Granados can follow up with Miracle Fusion or Fusion Recovery to unleash a high-ATK monster for a direct attack.

This all sounds really cool, but we asked Granados what he thought his chances were against popular Decks like Gladiator Beasts and X-Sabers. He liked his chances: “Gladiators is a hard matchup, but as long as I have Paradox Fusion and Absolute Zero I’m really hard to beat.” Paradox Fusion does a great job of stopping Gladiator Beast War Chariot when it threatens to negate Zero’s effect, and it can keep the Gladiator Duelist from creating attack opportunities with Book of Moon. “It’s the same with Sabers,” continued Granados. “If I start up with Zero, they have to waste a lot of cards to get rid of it, and I can Summon another one easily.”

There are 2 big reasons that Fusion Summon Decks are rare in tournaments: it’s tough to protect their big Summons long enough to win, and they can usually only Summon 1 or 2 big monsters (because Fusion Monsters take so many cards to bring out). Granados has done everything he can to solve those problems, and the result is a very cool Deck that can Fusion Summon over and over without devastating its own hand. The average Duelist won’t be prepared for Granados’ strategy, so the element of surprise is on his side!