Because Nekroz functions primarily around Ritual Summoning, they are very reliant on Ritual Spells so that they can Summon their powerful Monsters. One way that Duelists have chosen to fight Nekroz has been the use of Naturia Beast, but this Synchro Monster isn’t always the easiest to Summon. However, Duelists have taken ideas out of the woodwork to try to find a way to fit it into their Deck, some with quite a bit of success.

Glow-Up Bulb is the easiest Tuner to use simply because it has such a powerful effect. If you Normal Summon it, you can be get two uses out of it because it is able to Special Summon itself from the Graveyard. Because you can Special Summon it from the Graveyard, that also means you can effectively find it with any card that can send it to the Graveyard, such as Lavalval Chain or Mathematician. The big question is what they use as the non-Tuner Synchro Material?

Instant Fusion has become extremely popular for this reason; you can Special Summon Karbonala Warrior which is perfect as it’s a Level 4 EARTH. Being a Level 4 in itself is useful because Instant Fusion can be used simply as a way to provide you with an Xyz Material for a Rank 4 Xyz Monster, meaning that even when you don’t have a way to find a Tuner you can still do something. Panzer Dragon is also quite useful as a way to use Instant Fusion to destroy a card rather than provide a Monster. Because Panzer Dragon will get its effect when destroyed by Instant Fusion during the End Phase, you get a ton of flexibility and options that you didn’t have before.

Another cool way that Duelists have been Synchro Summoning Naturia Beast is using Level 4 EARTH Warriors such as Exiled Force and Bull Blader which are already quite popular as ways to deal with Ritual Monsters Summoned using Djinn Releaser of Rituals. How do they do all of this in one turn though? The most awesome way I’ve seen is using Mathematician to send Glow-Up Bulb, and then using another Level 3 such as Nekroz of Clausolas to Xyz Summon M-X-Saber Invoker! With that Invoker they can Special Summon the EARTH Warrior from their Deck, and then send the top card of their Deck to Special Summon the Glow-Up Bulb and Synchro Summon Naturia Beast.

In a similar way rather than using Mathematician, some Duelists have used Deskbot 003 along with Deskbot 001 to do a similar combo with M-X-Saber Invoker. Both Mathematician and Deskbot 003 can also be used as ways to Synchro Summon Herald of the Arch Light without any other cards needed thanks to their Tuners.

Qliphort has also been using tools such as Emergency Teleport to Special Summon Level 1 EARTH Psychic Tuners to go along with their Level 4 EARTH Qliphorts as long as they don’t have a Qliphort already in their Pendulum Scale.

Without a way to successfully Ritual Summon, a lot of Nekroz Duelists simply can’t beat an opposing Naturia Beast unless they’re using choices such as Dance Princess of the Nekroz. Is Naturia Beast the best way to approach the Nekroz match-up? We’ll find out as the weekend continues!