Fact: You get some pretty good effects when you send the Atlantean monsters from the Realm of the Sea Emperor Structure Deck to the Graveyard to activate a WATER monster’s effect. Fact: It would be really cool if there were more cool WATER monsters with a greater variety of effects to pay for using your Atlanteans. Fact: The Mermail monsters from Abyss Rising are really good and many of their effects let you trigger the tactical abilities of your Atlanteans!

You can build a really great Deck by combining cards you got from the Realm of the Sea Emperor Structure Deck with the mermen, mermaids, and mermonsters of Abyss Rising. Here’s a look at how they work together.

First, there’s Mermail Abysspike. When Abysspike is Normal or Special Summoned, you can discard a WATER monster to addany Level 3 WATER monster from your Deck to your hand. This effect is normally very straightforward: you trade one card for another. If your discarded is Atlantean Marksman or Atlantean Heavy Infantry, you’ll be destroying a card for free while you get the card you want! Discard Atlantean Dragoons, and you’ll be searching your Deck for two cards for the price of one – perfect for cards like Moray of Greed and Gungnir, Dragon of the Ice Barrier! Even better, if you don’t have any Atlanteans in your hand, you can use Abysspike to search out Atlantean Marksman to give your next WATER monster effect a huge kick!

Abysspike’s brother-in-arms, Mermail Abyssturge, has the same condition and cost as Abysspike, but he grabs cards from your Graveyard instead. On top of that, Abyssturge isn’t as picky as his brother: you can add any Level 3 or lower WATER monster from your Graveyard to your hand. This is a great card to have when you want to use the same Deep Sea Diva numerous times in a single Duel because it can set you up for higher-Level Synchro Summons.

Consider this: You Special Summon Abyssturge using one of many possible effects. It could be with Call of the Haunted, or with a combo of Phoenix Wing Wind Blast or Raigeki Break with Mermail Abyssgunde (but more on her later!). You use your Abyssturge effect to recycle Deep Sea Diva by discarding an Atlantean. Now you either get to search for another Sea Serpent or destroy a card. And then you get to Normal Summon your Diva and keep up the pressure. The number of options available is staggering!

But what if you really want to stick it to your opponent and you prefer brute force over combo attacks? Then you want the Level 7 mega-mermonster, Mermail Abyssmegalo! Abyssmegalo has three powerful abilities. First, you can discard two other WATER monsters to Special Summon him from your hand. This is an Ignition Effect that starts a Chain, and the WATER monsters are discarded for its cost. That means you can set off two Atlanteans at once simply by putting Abyssmegalo on the field! To make this easier to pull off, use Salvage to grab Marksman and/or Infantry and instantly have the fuel for Abyssmegalo.

And?…

Once Abyssmegalo has been Special Summoned this way, you’ll get any “Abyss-“ Spell or Trap Card from your Deck into your hand. There are a few different “Abyss-“ Spells and Traps in Abyss Rising, all of which have really good abilities. One powers up your monster and negates an opponent’s monster effect, one Special Summons any 3 Mermails from your Graveyard, one Summons any Mermail from your Deck, and one is colloquially known as “Heavy Storm that gets around Starlight Road”. There aren’t really any bad choices here, and whatever you get is better than free because the cards you discarded to Summon Abyssmegalo are each doing something good for you/bad for your opponent as well.

AND?…

AND… it ALSO has the ability to attack twice during the Battle Phase, by Tributing a WATER monster! If you’ve revived your Atlanteans with Call of the Atlanteans and can’t find a good use for all of them, this is it. Abyssmegalo will send off Marksman or Infantry to clear the way for its two attacks!

These last two cards don’t actually trigger the Atlanteans. Instead, they act a lot like additional Atlanteans that can do things that the real Atlanteans can’t! While the Atlanteans specialize in destroying and searching, these two Mermails act like a recon-team that Special Summons the appropriate mer-soldiers to the field. If you discard Mermail Abyssgunde, she can Special Summon any other Mermail from your Graveyard. And if Mermail Abysshilde is sent to the Graveyard by any means,  she can Special Summon any Mermail from your hand.

You may want to note that neither Abyssgunde nor Abysshilde have any restrictions on the Level of the monster they Summon. If the importance of this fact is currently escaping you, please scroll up a few paragraphs.

While they have slightly different activation conditions than their Atlantean cousins, Abyssgunde and Abysshilde both work with most of the same cards you’re already playing to use with the Atlanteans! That makes combos more likely to happen, since you’ll be even more likely to have two cards that can work together.

The forces of the ocean are growing even more powerful! We’ve got a lot more oceanic goodness from Abyss Rising to look at, so check back later to learn more!