Pendulum Summoning is a super powerful way to get a ton of Monsters into play quickly, but what makes it really awesome is that you get to bring back all of the Pendulum Monsters that were sent to the Extra Deck earlier as well. This allows Pendulum strategies to have both lightning fast starts, and strong plays during the late game thanks to Pendulum Summoning. On Friday, the Metalfoes theme out of The Dark Illusion takes Pendulum Summoning to new heights by combining it Fusion Summoning!

All of the Metalfoes you’ll be using in your Main Deck are Normal Pendulum Monsters, but they all have a Pendulum Effect. So you get all the benefits of being a Normal Monster without having to entirely give up effects! This lets you take advantage of some pretty cool cards like Rescue Rabbit and Painful Decision. Rescue Rabbit can get you off to super explosive starts by Summoning two Normal Monsters from your Deck, and while Xyz Summoning used to be the best way to utilize those Monsters, when you’re using Pendulum Monsters you want to Synchro Summon, Fusion Summon, Tribute or otherwise destroy those monsters so that they go to the Extra Deck. Painful Decision gives you consistency, letting you add any Level 4 or lower Pendulum Normal Monster to your hand so you can make sure you have a complete Pendulum Scale. The Metalfoes are all Scale 1 or Scale 8, and there’s a Level 4 or lower monster for each side!

All of the Normal Pendulum Metalfoes have the same Pendulum Effect. Each lets you destroy a face-up card you control so you can Set a “Metalfoes” Spell/Trap from your Deck. You could use this on a Pendulum Monster Card like Guiding Ariadne to trigger its effect and get two Spell/Traps for the price of one, or even blast away cheaply made Tokens or cards that were going to be destroyed by Instant Fusion like Panzer Dragon to mitigate the cost completely.

So what are the Metalfoes Setting from your Deck? Currently there are 3 options – 1 Spell and 2 Traps. Metalfoes Counter is a Trap that lets you Special Summon a “Metalfoes” monster from your Main Deck whenever a card you control is destroyed. This combos nicely with your Metalfoes’ Pendulum Effect as you can destroy a card you control to Set a “Metalfoes” Spell/Trap and Special Summon a “Metalfoes” monster in the process. It can also be banished from the Graveyard, except the turn it was sent there, to add a face-up “Metalfoes” monster from your Extra Deck to your hand. While this doesn’t seem like the biggest deal on the surface, an extra monster means another Spell/Trap Set from your Deck.

Metalfoes Combination is a Continuous Trap that is great to have once you start Fusion Summoning. Anytime you Fusion Monster is Fusion Summoned, you can Special Summon a Metalfoes from your Graveyard with a lower Level than that Fusion Monster. Free stuff is always awesome, so getting to put another Metalfoes into play without needing to pay anything for it is great. Metalfoes Combination will also let you add a Metalfoes card from your Deck to your hand if it is sent to the Graveyard, so if you destroy it with a Metalfoes you can Set a Metalfoes Spell/Trap and add a Metalfoes card to your hand!

I saved the best for last, as Metalfoes Fusion is the key card that will help you Fusion Summon huge threats to the Field. It works like a pretty standard Fusion Spell but only lets you Fusion Summon Metalfoes, but the upside is that it has an additional effect in the Graveyard. You can shuffle it into the Deck from your Graveyard to draw a card, and while you can only use one of that effect per turn, what’s important is that it lets you get an extra card while also recycling the Metalfoes Fusion so your Metalfoes can keep Setting them from your Deck!

Fusion Summoning will help you get all of those Metalfoes into the Extra Deck, but what mighty Monsters do they Metalfoes have access to? Metalfoes Adamante is a Level 5 with 2500 ATK and DEF, and to Fusion Summon it you’ll need a Metalfoes and a Monster with 2500 ATK or less as Fusion Materials. Metalfoes Crimsonite on the other hand is a massive Level 9 with 3000 ATK and DEF, needing a Metalfoes as well as two other Monsters with 3000 ATK or less as Fusion Materials, so a heftier cost for a larger threat.

Last but definitely not least, Metalfoes Orichalc is a Level 8 with 2800 ATK and 2200 DEF. It is the only Effect Monster the Metalfoes has, and it needs two Metalfoes as Fusion Materials to Summon it. While you control Metalfoes Orichalc, if a Metalfoes attacks a defense position monster it will deal double piercing damage! This can be a great way to steal a Duel by dishing out a massive amount of damage through one or multiple Defense Position Monsters, especially Tokens. If Metalfoes Orichalc happens to be sent from the Field to the Graveyard, you can also target a card on the Field and destroy it. This gives it a bit of resilience because if your opponent wants to deal with it, they’ll lose an extra card in the process.

You saw them at the Sneak Peek and starting today, you’ll be able to get more Metalfoes of your own because The Dark Illusion is on sale now!