At the Sneak Peek this past weekend you probably just used the common Crystron monsters as basic attackers and defenders, and maybe even boosted their ATK and DEF a bit with Crystollic Potential. But once you can get your hands on more Invasion: Vengeance this Friday, you’ll find that the Crystrons are well oiled Synchro Summoning Machines!

The Crystron Monsters are all Machine-Type WATER monsters.  They can make use of cards specifically for Machines like Limiter Removal and Machine Duplication, which is great because 3 of the Crystrons have 500 ATK, making them perfect Machine Duplication targets!

Crystron Quan is a Level 1 Tuner monster that allows you, during your opponent’s Main Phase or Battle Phase, to Special Summon any non-Tuner monster from your hand, then after Crystron Quan resolves, Synchro Summon a Machine-Type monster using only those two monsters.  An effect like this has been seen on Formula Synchron and the non-Tuner Yang Zing monsters but this is the first time this type of effect is on a Tuner and doesn’t require the other monster to be on the field at the start.  This means you can simply Normal Summon Quan and leave your high-Level monster in your hand until you’re ready to perform a Synchro Summon.

Crystron Citree is a Level 2 Tuner monster that has almost the same effect as Crystron Quan except Citree Special Summons a non-Tuner monster from the Graveyard instead of from the hand, and the Materials are banished afterwards.  Citree is better in the later parts of a Duel when you have plenty of non-Tuners in your Graveyard to give you more options for your Synchro Summon.

The Crystron non-Tuners all have an effect that lets you destroy a face-up card you control and Special Summon a Crystron Tuner from your Deck, giving you immediate access to a Synchro Summon.  If you use this effect, the only monsters you can Special Summon from your Extra Deck for the rest of the turn are Machines – which isn’t a problem because the Crystron Synchro Monsters are all Machines. But more on that later.

Each individual non-Tuner can banish itself from the Graveyard to move your strategy along.  The Level 2, 500 ATK Crystron Prasiortle Special Summons any Crystron from your hand, the Level 3 Crystron Smiger adds a “Crystron” Spell/Trap from Deck to hand, the Level 3 Crystron Thystvern adds a “Crystron” monster except another copy of itself from Deck to hand, and the Level 4 Crystron Rosenix Special Summons a Level 1 Crystron Token to your field.

And what’s a collection of Tuners and non-Tuners without Synchro Monsters for you to Summon with them?  Crystron Quandax is a Level 4 Tuner Synchro with the classic Formula Synchron effect.  If your Synchro Summoned Quandax is destroyed by battle or card effect, you can Special Summon any non-Synchro Crystron monster from your Graveyard, so you can afford to be unpredictable with your off-turn Synchro Summons.

Crystron Ametrix is a Level 5 Synchro Monster that switches all of your opponent’s Special Summoned monsters into Defense Position when it’s Synchro Summoned.  Remember that the Tuners can Synchro Summon on your opponent’s turn, so in your opponent’s Battle Phase, you can use Crystron Quan’s effect to Special Summon Crystron Rosenix from your hand then immediately Synchro Summon Crystron Ametrix which will turn all of your opponent’s Special Summoned monsters to Defense Position, preventing all of their attacks!

If you can get Rosenix and Ametrix together at the same time, they can combine to form the Level 9 backrow erasing Crystron Phoenix!  This is a Level 9 Synchro Monster that requires a Synchro Tuner and at least 1 non-Tuner Synchro Monster, but if you can manage it you can banish all of your opponent’s Spell and Traps on the field and in the Graveyard!  This is particularly huge against any Pendulum strategy since the cards in their Pendulum Zones will be banished, but it also takes out crucial Field Spells, cards that hinder your play like Anti-Spell Fragrance, equipped Union Monsters, cards like the Phantom Knight Traps that do things in the Graveyard, and more!

Since Synchro Summoning requires a lot of cards, the Field Spell Crystolic Potential can recharge your hand!  During the End Phase (that’s any End Phase, not just yours), you can draw cards equal to the number of Crystron monsters you Synchro Summoned this turn, giving you a partial refund on your cards without having to let any of your monsters get destroyed. Crystron Entry provides a mid-game power play, letting you Special Summon 2 Crystron Tuners, one from your hand and one from your Graveyard. Summoning a used Quandax from the Graveyard along with Quan or Citree from your hand is a great set-up for huge Synchro Summons.

Later on, you can banish Crystron Entry from the Graveyard to send a Crystron monster from your Deck to the Graveyard and change the Level of a Crystron on the field to the Level of the sent monster.  If you don’t have the right combination of monsters available to you, Crystron Entry can adjust the Levels to where you need them to be while setting things up for Crystron Citree or just to use the Graveyard effect of a Crystron. Finally, Crystron Impact will let you Special Summon a banished Crystron and change your opponent’s monsters’ DEF to zero.  If you’ve been banishing Crystrons from the Graveyard to use their effects, Crystron Impact lets you Special Summon the exact monster you need, and combined with Crystron Ametrix, you can create a huge vulnerability in your opponent’s field. And while Crystron Impact is in the Graveyard, you can banish it to negate a card effect that targets a Crystron monster you control to protect future Synchro plays.

The Crystrons will arrive in force this Friday, November 4^th, when Invasion: Vengeance hits shelves!