Metalfoes took down the UDS Summer Invitational, YCS Mexico City, and YCS Minneapolis. It is considered one of the strongest strategies in the competitive scene, and thanks to Invasion: Vengeance it only gets better!

If you’re unfamiliar with the Metalfoes, here’s a brief primer: They are all Normal Pendulum Monsters with Pendulum Scale of 1 or 8, and their Pendulum Effect lets you destroy a face-up card you control to Set a “Metalfoes” Spell/Trap Card to your field directly from your Deck. Raremetalfoes Bismugear changes that up a bit!

Bismugear is the first Metalfoes Pendulum Monster that has a Monster Effect! When Raremetalfoes Bismugear is destroyed by battle or card effect, you can add a Metalfoes monster from your Deck to your hand during the End Phase. While this may be a Monster Effect, it will still activate if it’s destroyed in the Pendulum Zone just like Performage Plushfire. So if you destroy Raremetalfoes Bismugear with another one of your Metalfoes, you can get a search during the End Phase.

Why is that relevant? Well in addition to a new Pendulum Monster, they also have a new Fusion Spell! Fullmetalfoes Fusion is a Quick-Play that feels reminiscent of El Shaddoll Fusion. While it doesn’t have the additional effect that Metalfoes Fusion has to shuffle itself back, it being a Quick-Play is invaluable for a few reasons. Firstly, it combos very well with Raremetalfoes Bismugear because you can get almost immediate value off of the Metalfoes you search by using it as a Fusion Material during your opponent’s turn! It being a Quick-Play also means you can use it during your Battle Phase so you can raise your damage potential much higher. However, the coolest things you can do with Fullmetalfoes Fusion involve some new Fusion Monsters.

While Fusion Summoning during your opponent’s turn is solid, it’s even better if you Fusion Summon a threat that can immediately impact the field. Fullmetalfoes Alkahest may seem weak on the surface at Level 1 with 0 ATK and 0 DEF, but its effects are what make it really strong. During your opponent’s turn, you can target one of their Effect Monsters and equip it to Fullmetalfoes Alkahest! Not only does it effectively remove whatever your opponent has, but it will also gain DEF equal to the total ATK of what’s equipped to it. Last but not least, you can use the monsters equipped to Fullmetalfoes Alkahest as Fusion Materials for the Fusion Summon of Metalfoes, so you get additional value even after you’ve removed your opponent’s monster without ever having to destroy that monster!

That’s not all, as Metalfoes gets another powerful Fusion Monster from Invasion: Vengeance. Metalfoes Mithrilium is a Level 6 with 2600 ATK and 1000 DEF. Its first effect lets you shuffle back two “Metalfoes” cards from the Graveyard into the Deck to return a targeted card on the field to the hand.  Outside of the obvious ways you can use Metalfoes Mithrilium to disrupt your opponent, you can also do awesome combos like returning your own cards to reuse them again. It is especially strong with Fullmetalfoes Fusion because you can return it to you hand during the same turn you use a Metalfoes effect to Set it to your back row. That way you don’t have to wait a turn to activate it even though you just Set it off a Metalfoes effect.

You can also use it to shuffle back key Metalfoes Spell or Trap Cards that you’d rather have in the Deck so you can search them again, that way you don’t necessarily have to play more than a single copy of Fullmetalfoes Fusion. Metalfoes Mithrilium has a second effect, that lets you Special Summon a Metalfoes Pendulum Monster from your Graveyard or Extra Deck if it’s sent to the Graveyard. This opens up combos that involve fusing away your Metalfoes Mithrilium because it’ll replace itself and give you another monster on the field, so you can get an additional material for whatever you need.

With Metalfoes performing so well right now, it can only get better once Invasion: Vengeance hits shelves! Make sure to check out your local Invasion: Vengeance Sneak Peak on October 29^th and 30^th!