(Editor’s Note: While it has yet to make an impact, the return of Glow-Up Bulb to the Advanced Format has caused no small quantity of heated discussions and theoretical doomsday scenarios. It has only ever appeared in Starstrike Blast, but will be available once again in the Legendary Collection 5D’s Mega-Packs!)

Glow-Up Bulb is back! But what exactly can you do with it, and where can you put it to use? Read on to find out!

Glow-Up Bulb is a Level 1 Tuner with an excellent ability. Once per Duel, you can send the top card of your Deck to the Graveyard and Special Summon Glow-Up Bulb from your Graveyard! There is a multitude of ways to put this effect to use.

First, you can use cards to put Glow-Up Bulb straight into your Graveyard for easy access. A card like Foolish Burial normally sets you up for later Graveyard combos, but with Glow-Up Bulb your Foolish Burial basically reads “Special Summon one Glow-Up Bulb from your Deck.”! You can pull the same trick with the more Plant-Deck oriented Meliae of the Trees.

Lightsworn Decks, or any Deck that uses some Lightsworn cards, can use Glow-Up Bulb effortlessly. You’ll easily be able to put Glow-Up Bulb into the Graveyard with your Lightsworns’ End Phase effects, Raiden’s ability, or with Lumina, Lightsworn Summoner. Once it’s there, Glow-Up Bulb will load your Graveyard with an additional card to bring itself back!

Ideally, you’ll want to get Glow-Up Bulb to the field without using its effect first – that way you’ll get two Synchro Summons for the price of one! Lonefire Blossom is a great way to get Glow-Up Bulb when you need it, and you’ll already be playing Lonefire in any of your Plant-based Decks anyways. For a long time, Lonefire and Glow-Up were part of a suite of 5 cards that also included Spore, Dandylion, and One for One.

One for One is able to get any Level 1 monster, and Glow-Up Bulb is usually a great choice. The classic play, from the last time Glow-Up Bulb wasn’t Forbidden, was to play One for One discarding Dandylion. You’ll tune Glow-Up Bulb to one of the Fluff Tokens for Formula Synchron, then you can revive Glow-Up Bulb for another Synchro Monster! Either make another Formula Synchron, or use your Normal Summon to go bigger. Alternatively, if you draw Glow-Up Bulb first, you can use it as the discard for One for One since it will come back for free!

Dedicated Plant strategies have a few unique ways of getting Glow-Up Bulb to the field. In Sylvan Decks, you can excavate Sylvan Cherubsprout to Special Summon Glow-Up Bulb. If you end up excavating Glow-Up Bulb before that, you’re still gaining its effect for later.

As an EARTH Plant-type monster, there are plenty of ways to keep using Glow-Up Bulb even after you’ve used its “once per Duel” ability. Both Spore and Redox, Dragon Ruler of Boulders have effects to revive themselves from the Graveyard by banishing an appropriate monster. Glow-Up Bulb especially likes Redox, since they play nicely together for Level 8 Synchro Monsters.

Black Rose Dragon is famous for its ability to wipe out every card on the field, but has an oft-forgotten second effect! By banishing a Plant from your Graveyard, Black Rose can punish any defending monster with some massive damage. Splendid Rose can also banish Plants from the Graveyard for either of its effects, to weaken a strong monster or get a second attack.

All in all, Glow-Up Bulb is a superb card that can actually fit just about anywhere! As long as your Deck can use a Tuner, and likes Tuners that come back for free, you can give Glow-Up Bulb a try!