Hi, I’m radlup, I’m an 18 year old college student in NYC, and I’ve always had a passion for rogue Graveyard manipulation decks such as Batterymen, Madolche, and now Crystrons! Im super active in DLM and Clan and Team Wars, I really love this deck, i have so much fun playing it :)

Hi, I am MetalOverdrive, 22 yo college student, and a huge fan of the rouge decks that have too much text to read and offer shenanigans and multiple plays, such as Noble Knight and Vampires. Crystrons fall in both of those categories. When I woke up and saw the Cybernetic Rebellion Reveal, I fell for the aesthetics of the Crystron toys. Naturally, we had to find a way to make this work, so here we are! We hope you’ll want to play and enjoy crystrons as well after reading this guide!

Crystrons are the WATER-Attribute, MACHINE-Type archetype that got added to Duel Links in Cybernetic Rebellion Main BOX. The main strength of the deck is Synchro summoning, while being able to search the pieces of puzzle you need from deck fairly easily. What makes this deck different from other Synchro-focused decks is the ability to perform Synchro summons during the opponent’s turn, but it’s limited to machine type Synchros only. This opens the new interactions that were previously limited only to cards such as King’s Synchro, but unlike those, you can synchro without needing to be attacked. Unfortunately, we didn’t get the full archetype, but Duel Links already has interesting enough tools to make the deck top tier!

This guide will go over a few categories: cards that belong to archetype, and the ones that don’t, sorted by: main deck monsters/spells and traps/extra deck monsters, combo section, skill section, matchup sections and quarion summoning section.

IMPORTANT: if you use auto setting on toggle-button while you have a crystron tuner that can summon something, the game WILL NOTIFY you that opponents is about the end the turn from the Main Phase. This however can be used as a bait if opponent knows it too, since they can decide to resume their main phase after you perform a Synchro summon.

Main Deck Monsters: non-tuners.

All non-tuners except Crystron Sulfefnir have the same first effect where they destroy a face up card you control to special summon a Crystron tuner from the deck. Also all of them have the graveyard effect as well, and you can use only 1 of their effects per turn!

If you use non-tuner effects (except Sulfefnir’s) on the field, YOU CAN ONLY SYNCHRO INTO MACHINES!

Crystron Sulfefnir (2-3x)

The card that enables the deck. It’s used as a searcher by destroying itself, and it can be used from hand or the graveyard by discarding a crystron card. Unfortunately it can’t discards itself like Dragon Ice can, nor can it discard the other copies of Crystron Sulfefnir. Unlike other non-tuners, you can destroy both face-up and face-down cards which can enable more plays(see quarion summoning section). Depending on the build, it can be played 2-3 copies. 3 are recommended for consistency, but you can safely run 2 if you are playing less than 28 cards.

Crystron Smiger (2-3x)

The level 3 non-tuner is a vital part of every crystron deck. The value of this card comes from 2 things: being able to set up Crystron Ametrix by itself, and graveyard effect that gives you advantage. If you have Smiger in your graveyard you can banish it to search a Crystron spell or trap from your deck. He will be searching the very powerful Crystron Impact which really help us extend plays and combos, while also recycling banished tuners easily. He works really well when discarded for Sulf as he can use his graveyard effect immediatly. Being a level three also allows citree to use him to make Ametrix. We recommend running 2-3.

Crystron Thystvern (3x)

This is another irreplacible Level 3 non-tuner, and it has the exact same functionality as Smiger, except he searches a crystron monster from the deck. You can use his GY effect to grab a Sulfefnir if needed, or any monster that you need in order to finish off a combo. Remember that using his graveyard effect doesn't lock you out of machines, so it can be a good play to search a tuner with him so you can synchro powerful non machine synchros such as Black Rose Dragon or Coral Dragon. Other than that utility, playwise, you can use thystvern just like you would use smiger.

Crystron Rosenix (1-2x)

The level 4 non-tuner is also a very important piece of the deck. It has a decent body and by itself it can make a level 6 machine Synchro during the opponent’s turn. Value of Rosenix can be found in its level, for making Quariongandrax, and synergy with the rest of the archetype provided by the graveyard effect! If you banish rosenix from the graveyard you get a 0/0 level 1 token that can’t be tributed. However you are able to manipulate the levels with Level alteration skills, or with Crystron Entry. You can also destroy the token with other non-tuners for “free” tuners! Recommended number of copies: 1-2.

Crystron Prasiortle (1x)

The last archetypal non-tuner we have currently and the one with the least utility of the 3. Praisotle can’t go into a synchro by itself, however it’s still a great card to use as a cost for Sulfefnir and send to the graveyard with the second effect of Crystron Entry. It’s graveyard effect allows you to special summon any Crystron monster from your hand which can enable even more combos. Because of its searchability and meta relevant defense, it should be played at 1 copy.

Main Deck Monsters: Tuners

All tuners can Synchro summon machine-types monsters during the opponent’s main and battle phase. There are only 2 differences between them: their levels and where are the resources they use located. IMPORTANT NOTE! If something happens to your tuner after you activate its effect(for example it gets destroyed by Treacherous Trap Hole) you will summon the other material on the field but Synchro summon will not be performed! Other material summoned this way will have its EFFECTS NEGATED as long as it’s on the field! The total amount of tuners you should be running is 5-6. Currently the the best ratio is 2 Citrees and 3 Rions, although the other way around works decently well.

Crystron Citree (3x)

The level 2 tuner, undeniably the best tuner, both because of its level and it’s effect. Citree uses graveyard as a source of monsters to Synchro summon with. If you summon Citree with the effect of Smiger/Thystvern or Rosenix where they destroy themselves, it can make level 5 or 6 machine Synchro respectively. However the only “issue” with this card is that it banishes both itself and the material you use after the summon so you can’t use the graveyard effect of the target. This, however fills the banish zone which is relevant for our next tuner. You need to play 3 copies of Citree, thanks to semi-limiting of Rion otherwise you will find yourself running out of tuners far too quickly. The first issue with this card is amended by the fact that Crystron Impact recovers your banished Crystrons. Interesting interaction with Citree is how it works with cards that prevent banishing, such as Artifact Lancea or Chaos Hunter, Citree can still perform the synchro summon! However Citree and material will still go to graveyard, which you can use to your advantage! For example, if you activate Lancea, and use Thystvern for synchro play, you can still use that Thystvern on the following turn.

Crystron Rion (0-1x)

The level 3 tuner, and second best tuner to use. It has decent level and provides the deck with a very good recoverability! Rion uses monsters from banish zone for the Synchro summon. After successful Synchro summon, both Rion and the other monster you used will shuffle back into the deck so you get to use them again! Not a good starter because it requires more setup than Citree, but it’s amazing option later in the game. Rion also allows you to play around Sealed Tombs, No Mortal Can Resist and even Necrovalley! Unfortunately, Rion found a place on banlist alongside Crystron Impact, so its competing with it for a spot in deck. Running 1 Rion allows us to very easily go into Powered Inzektron as well as easier way to make Quarion, but that leaves the deck more prone to losing to System Down since we run 1 less Impact in that case.

Spells & Traps

Crystron Impact (1-2x)

Finally, the best Crystron trap arrived, and it's amazing! Crystron Impact is a trap that has 2 great effects. On field effect lets you special summon any of your banished Crystron monsters, which allows you to recycle both tuners and non-tuners, depending on what you need in that situation. Special summoning also reduces defense of all monsters on opponents side of the field to 0, which helps in matchups that usually have monsters in defense that are hard to beat over, such as Invoked Cocytus. Unlike Sulfefnir, you get to choose the battle position of summoned monsters, so it can even enable sudden OTKs. The second effect is live the turn after it's send to the graveyard and it lets you negate an effect targeting at least 1 Crystron monster by banishing the trap! Simply put, the trap is the strongest maindeck boost the deck could have gotten, and fact that it's searchable by Crystron Smiger makes it even better. It can also be discarded by Sulfefnir in a pinch, so having multiple copies of it in hand doesn't damper you too much if you have access to Sulfefnir! The beauty of this card is that it can be used both offensively and defensively which can be very important in the meta where games can be ended super quickly. Unfortunately, the card has been semi-limited alongside Rion, so we can't use it as freely as before. Impact when ran at 1 copy has to be used more cautiously, because it's the easiest out to Cocytus that deck has. Discarding it has also become much more detrimental, so it's often used at 1 copy alongside Entry.

Crystron Entry (0-1x)

At first glance, it has super situational first effect and it seems like a bad card. However, 2 things make this card a very valuable piece of every Crystron deck: - It’s a searchable discard fodder for Crystron Sulfefnir. - It can be used from graveyard during either player’s turn. You can use it in multiple ways, depending on situation. You might want to change the level of face-up crystron monster for appropriate Synchro, or use it to send a monster you need to activate in the graveyard(for example Rosenix for free token). We recommend playing at least 0-1 copies, since it is overshadowed by Impact.

Extra Deck Monsters

The beauty of Crystron Synchro monsters is their splashability. You can put them in any Synchro focused deck, but they shine the brightest in Crystron decks.

Crystron Quariongandrax (1x)

At first look, this boss monster is powerful and hard to summon, but in reality it’s very easy to set up the board that gets the Quariongandrax out. It requires a unique combination of 2+ tuners and exactly one non-tuner. On Synchro summon it can banish up to 3 monsters from opponents field and graveyard. This can be very devastating and straight up game ending if used at right moment! Quariongandrax also has second effect where, if it gets destroyed by any means, you get to choose any banished monster(that can be special summoned) and special summon it to your side of the field! It’s worth noting that you can destroy it yourself to get the second effect. Unfortunately, extra deck space is tight, so Quarion should be ran at 1.

Crystron Ametrix (2x)

Ametrix is the bread and butter of the deck. It’s easy to summon, it has decent body, and it has 2 great effects. On Synchro summon it can switch all special summoned monsters your opponent controls to the defense, which can be very devastating if used in the battle phase. Its other effect special summons a non-Synchro Crystron from the graveyard, allowing more plays to happen. Considering your other crystron non-tuners can destroy cards on the field, it can very often lead into Quariongandrax! If we had space, we’d run 3 of these, but you need at least 2.

Main Deck Monsters

Scrap Recycler

Foolish Burial on legs for this archetype. All Crystrons are machines so you can mill whatever you need. Usually it’s gonna be Sulfefnir to get your other plays in motion, but depending on what effect would help you, you can mill any other non-tuner for their graveyard effects. Definite staple that has amazing level for this archetype’s playstyle. However, because of the introduction of Fiendish Chain makes Scrap slightly less valuable, unlike Undine which mills as a cost.

Genex Undine

Arguably the worse Scrap Recycler, it requires you to run normal monster Genex Controller to be able to use the mill effect. While it has stronger body than Scrap Recycler, if you draw all of your Genex Controllers you can not mill anything from your deck. Other advantage of undine is adding a free controller to your hand, which has synergy with skill Level Duplication as well as it being generally useful as level 3 tuner. Because of deck's need to utilize tech cards, it's recommended to run both Scrap and Undine to compensate for deck size. Undine is also mandatory if you are playing variant that uses Sea Stealth Attack and Citadel Whale.

Psychic Wheeleder

With rise of Witchcrafters, and addition of Coral Dragon stars aligned for Wheeleder to get its spotlight in the deck. When paired with Thystvern, it also acts as pseudo starter, allowing you to get Coral on the field while searching Sulf for following plays AND destroying opponent's monster in process. It being level 3 also compensates for lack of Rions after the banlist, and allows for otk plays more often when going second. Additionally, Wheeleder destruction effect happens at the same time as Quarion's banish which allows you to "chainblock" your Quarion! In other words, if you make Quarion with Wheeleder, opponent can't stop the banish with counter traps, nor can it be prevented by targeting protection such as Lunalight Crimson Fox or Dark Cavalry. Overall an amazing addition to the deck, and should be ran in every variant.

Artifact Lancea

Even though Lancea is more of a side deck option, it still provides the deck with massive value. By itself it stops Invoked and Shiranui plays, and it's a best counter to System Down which is single most devastating card that's played against this deck. There is also synergy with Citree, where you can prevent your useful graveyard cards (such as Thystvern or Smiger) from getting banished as well as using the Lancea itself to make Samurai Destroyer! If you are playing side deck tournaments, make sure to have 3 Lanceas in the side deck.

Spells & Traps

While this deck can work perfectly fine with monsters only, there are a few cards that can make the deck perform more smoothly.

Cosmic Cyclone

The deck lacks any built-in way to get rid of opponents spells and traps, unless you you play Black Rose Dragon or Coral Dragon, but by the time you get them out, it might be too late. To prevent all the nasty Paleozoic Canadia and Fiendish Chain you use this spell! It’s quickplay, it banishes, it helps trigger lp based skills, such as Bring it!. It has additional meta value, because you want your LP to be lower than your opponents, to prevent them from using Sealed Tombs and No Mortal Can Resist, as well as a way to deal with Necrovalley. Run as many as possible.

Forbidden Lance

Another card that helps against backrow, Lance is arguably even more useful than Cosmic Cyclone. It can be used from hand during your turn to ensure that your combos will go uninterrupted by opponenets spells/traps. It also has added value because it can be used on opponents monsters to make them lose attack (even in damage step!), or make them unaffected by positive effects, such as Palace of the Elemental Lords. It can also be used on Aleister the Invoker when they try to use Invocation, which can potentially force them to use resoruces from hand, or even fail completely! Number of copies you run is dependant on number of Cosmic Cyclones you run. It should be total of 5 cards between them in 30 card decks, but currently Cosmic Cyclone has higher value.

Creature Seizure

A funny little card. You can use it with Rosenix token to take control of opponent’s monster and hit over 0 attack token with their monster! Quite cheesy but relatively easy to pull of considering how easy it is to get Rosenix in the grave.

Offerings to the Doomed

Somewhat of a rare choice, Offerings offer some nice synergy to the rest of the deck. This card can destroy any face up monster on the field, which let's you interrupt plays, force your cards to float, or even clear otherwise undestructible monsters when paired with Samurai Destroyer.

The Transmigration Prophecy

Another card that saw fringe play, Transmigration Prophecy is a card that has double use. You can disrupt opponenets graveyard (by returning cards such as The White Stone of Ancients , Shiranui Spectralsword or even Invocation to their deck), or allow you to recycle your own main or extra deck card.

Ballista Squad

One of the newer backrow cards added to the arsenal, Ballista Squad is a pretty interesting tech option. If you use Transcendent Crystals, or make a play involving Scrap Recycler, you often have tuner + non tuner on field. That effectively allows you to use Ballista as quick destruction, while still having synchro plays available! It can also unclog your board by tributing the Floodgated monster, or simply allow you to get a monster to the grave which allows you to use their gy effect to plus! It's also able to hit both monsters and backrow, so it has more versatility than it might seem at the frist glance. Run 0-2.

Extra Deck Monsters

Machines

Powered Inzektron

The best level 6 machine-type Synchro monster we have available in duel links. At first glance the card isn’t anything special but it is sure-fire way to survive a turn if you manage to summon it. You are most likely to go into it in 2 scenarios - when you summon Crystron Citree by Crystron Rosenix ’s effect, or when you want to recycle Crystron Smiger / Crystron Thystvern form the banish pile (after using it for either Crystron Ametrix summon or Crystron Impact / Crystron monster search). Has decent body and prevents ALL TYPES of damage. It's important to note, after new rules get implemented, it's effect will not go through if you chain your Citree/Rion to field wipe(such as Black Rose Dragon), or to activation of cards that destroy without targeting(such as Shiranui Squiresaga, Shiranui Sunsaga, Chaos Dragon Levianeer) Run 1.

Vermillion Dragon Mech

The other level 9 Synchro monster, but this one you can summon on opponent’s turn by using either Samurai Destroyer or Black Rose Dragon from your graveyard, although it doesn’t do much on their turn. It has a body that’s 100 atk higher than Samurai Destroyer and once per turn it can banish a tuner from either your graveyard or your hand to destroy a card on the field. It has slight synergy with the rest of the archetype since it recycles the banished tuners when destroyed by card effect(which includes destruction from Crystron non-tuners). Usefulness of this card comes from the fact that it can destroy spells/traps as well, but it can be somewhat difficult to go into without proper setup. We recommend running 0-1 copies, based on the preference.

Samurai Destroyer

This synchro monster is absolutley game changing, it gives the deck so manny different options. It is easy to make through either Citree and Sulfefnir, or with Rosenix and Rion. He is 2600 attack, and when he battles an opponents monster, your opponent can not activate any effects, and the effects of the monster he is battling are negated during the battle. In addition, when he leaves the field by opponents card effect, he can summon any machine type monster from the graveyard, including himself! Originally, a fat Wall of Disruption could be pretty devastating against us, but now you can keep swinging with Samurai Destroyer and not have to care at all! However, do note that his effect will not apply on direct attacks, so make sure to still play around any dangerous backrow when going for direct attacks. In addition to not having to worry about backrow, he will negate the effects of any flip monsters such as Flip Flop Frog, so there is no need to have to worry about that. He is also powerful against monsters with passive effects that allow them to gain attack or not be destroyed by battle. He will make an Elemental HERO Brave Neos become 2500 atk and will be able to destroy Yubel - Terror Incarnate by battle. He can also safely attck over any DARK Machine type monsters without having to worry about Desperado Barrel Dragon being summoned. Be careful not to attack into a Darklord Desire who used their effect to reduce their own attack, as it will have that effect negated and go back to being 3000 attack. It can also negate effect of Invoked Cocytus which makes it targetable and destroyable by card effects! His second effect that allows him to revive himself or any other machine means he is pretty much unable to be destroyed by card effect, and his effect will apply even when banished! Unfortunately, new rules make it so it won’t float when returned to the extra deck. He is a staple in the Extra deck and should be ran at 1 copy.

Extra Deck Monsters

Non-Machines

Black Rose Dragon

Akiza’s signature level 7 Black rose dragon fits really well in this deck. On summon, it can destroy all cards on the field, including itself. This synchro helps get you out of sticky situations and scary boards. As an added bonus, if you destroy Crystron Ametrix or Sulfefnir on field, you get their floating effects. Many synchro decks cannot afford to use this card because it is hard to make plays afterwards, but in crystrons we have many graveyard effects to help recover, and all we need is one measly tuner on board to become a threat.

White Aura Dolphin

This card is amazing, a 2400 attack level 6 synchro who can, once per turn have the attack of one of your opponent's monsters to half of its original attack, allowing it to beat over virtually every monster. It has an additional effect that when destroyed, it can banish a water monster from your graveyard to revive itself, and it can be done as long as you have waters in the grave. This is great with Crystrons as they are all water attribute and are excellent at filling the grave, so Dolphin itself can be a win vs some decks. However, it’s prone to non-targeted removal (such as being sent back to extra deck or banished), being destroyed while under the effect of Sealed Tombs or being run over with monsters that have effect like Armades, Keeper of Boundaries. Sadly the current meta has too many ways to deal with Dolphin that it's very hard to justify running it at any number.

Brionac, Dragon of the Ice Barrier

With addition of Psychic Wheeleder, and rise in popularity of Sea Stealth Attack, Brionac has become quite a potent beast. Ability to clear the field in one fell swoop, and finish the game in one turn has made the Brionac one of the more attractive extra deck options. Extra deck being expanded to 7 slots also makes it so it’s much easier to find a spot for Brionac so there is very little reason to not run it. However, you need to be vary of this card’s effect. Since you discard cards as a cost, if the effects gets negated by something like Fiendish Chain, you will be losing cards for free. This can be played around by either banishing Brionac with SSA or applying Forbidden Lance to it.

Coral Dragon

Another water level 6 synchro, another fine addition to the extra deck. Again, thanks to popularity of Wheeleder, Coral has sneaked its way into the extra deck. Without a doubt, Coral Dragon is the strongest extra deck addition that Crystron decks got since they came out. The amount of synergy this synchro provides to the deck is insane. It offers the deck easy access to single target destruction, it fills the graveyard with useful things, it has synergy with level 1 token from Rosenix, so it can turn into level 7 synchro(Black Rose Dragon or Samurai Destroyer). It also provides alternative way of making Quarion(Coral + Roesnix token + Citree), which also makes Quarion chainblocked! And on top of that, if Coral hits the graveyard in any way you get to draw a card. Words simply can’t describe how strong of addition Coral is to Crystron decks.

• Level Duplication

Level duplication is a tool that lets you summon any synchro you want, with pretty much any playable hand. Duplication has become even more potent with addition of Thystvern which allows us to search pretty much every we need for the ocassion. More often than not you’re gonna be adjusting the levels for 9, so you can make Quarion reliably even with lack of Rions. Interesting play is changing the level of one of your tuners. Since the change is permanent and not until the end of the turn, you can make Inzektron with Citree + level 3 in grave or Ametrix with Rion + banished level 3. Another potential play is turning something into level 3 so you can special summon Wheeleder from hand, which comes up with synchro monsters somewhat often. Seeing how valuable level 3s, value of Undine goes even higher, making it so you always have duplication target in hand.

• Mythic Depths

The other viable skill, you run it so your SSA wouldn’t need to run Umi in the main deck. A play you can make with field spell is popping it with non tuners to get agressive synchro play right away. Field spell also gives you option to go into Ametrix on first turn with Thystvern, so you can use Thystvern search on following turn.

Duplication or SSA?

Most common question is, is SSA variant stronger than Level Duplication? The answer is: they do different things. Duplication offers more otk potential, as well as easy access to Inzektron, while SSA has potential to out grind any deck, provided they don’t have access to Cosmic Cyclone or other way to deal with it. Simply put, trading raw power with continuous menace.

MCS #36 1st Place - DanielYGO:

Mythic Depths

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Basic Combos

Note that in these combos Crystron Smiger and Crystron Thystvern are interchangeable.

• Combo #1

• Combo #2

• Combo #3

• Combo #4

• Combos with “millers”

• Combo #1

• Combo #2

• General Tips

• Keep in mind that your win condition changes from deck to deck. While you have the basic line of play, you should always keep in mind what board do you want to work towards to. Sometimes you want to keep swinging with Ametrix. Other matchups require you to gain advantage with board wipes before pushing for lethal. Does oposing deck crumble to Samurai Destroyer? After identifying the win condition for the matchup, think how you can accomplish it with resources you have on your disposal.

• Don’t overextend. Having more than 1 synchro monster on the field can cause you to clog yourself and prevent you from making further plays. It’s especially important for this deck to have free monster zones since there is no built in way to clear your own board.

• Don’t let your mistakes tilt you. Going into a match with negative mindset is worse than any matchup. One mistake can seal the deal and allow opponent to finish you off.

• Play. Just that. Play a lot. The more you play with the deck, the more do plays become natural. The more familiar you get with the deck, the less time it will take you to recognize the optimal play.

• Save your replays and analize them. Having precious time to think about what could have been played differently is good in the long run.

Ametrix Extensions

On of the biggest strengths of the deck is the sheer amount of floating Ametrix and Sulfefnir provide. If Ametrix gets destroyed, you special summon a non-synchro Crystron from your graveyard. We’ll go over a few situations and how to use Ametrix to its maximum potential!

IMPORTANT NOTE: Neither of Ametrix’ effects is once per turn, but all of the tuners are HARD ONCE PER TURN!

Situation 1 - Defensive Ametrix

If you use Scrap Recycler to mill Sulfefnir, and do the combo from “miller combo #1”, you will have Citree and and Praisortle on the field. From that game state, you can summon Ametrix on opponent’s turn. If Ametrix gets destroyed, you can now float into Sulfefnir from your graveyard. From there on, we have 2 possibilities, Sulfefnir not getting destroyed and Sulfefnir getting destroyed.

Case 1: Sulfefnir Doesn’t get Destroyed.

If Sulfefnir stays alive, you can:

• Destroy it with other Crystron non-tuners to set up Quariongandrax, Samurai Destroyer, or Ametrix
• Synchro with it
• Use it as a beater while you set up another tuner for Synchro plays(for example Smiger destroy itself for Rion)

Case 2: Sulfefnir gets Destroyed.

If Sulfefnir gets destroyed, you get to choose a Crystron monster from the deck to special summon. Depending on your situation, you can consider these options:

• If you are in under a threat of more destruction, you can special summon Crystron Rion to potentially go into Powered Inzektron and guarantee the survival this turn
• If you want to go to the game state of “Case 1”, you can summon another Sulfefnir from the deck.
• If you are going to summon a machine Synchro, go into a Crystron non-tuner
• If you are going to summon a non-machine Syncro, go into a Crystron tuner

Situation 2 - Offensive Ametrix

If you want to play aggressive with the the relative safety, you can mill the Sulfefnir with Scrap -> special summon it to the field and have it destroy itself -> special summon Crystron non-tuner depending on what you want to set up for the next turn:

• Special summon Crystron Thystvern, if you want to get a monster search during the next turn
• Special summon Crystron Prasiortle, if you want to gain a special summon from hand during the next turn
• Special summon Crystron Smiger, if you want to get another use of Sulfefnir by searching for Crystron Entry
• Special summon Crystron Rosenix, if you want to get a token next turn OR if you think you might need to go into Powered Inzektron during your opponent’s turn

After you decide which non-tuner would you help you the most(usually the Smiger) and special summon it -> use non-tuner’s effect to destroy itself and summon Citree from the deck -> Synchro summon Ametrix by using Scrap and Citree. At this point you can go aggressive with the Ametrix, and if anything happens to it, you get to choose what to summon from the graveyard:

• Citree -> which allows you to go into another Ametrix, or Samurai Destroyer
• Sulfefnir -> see previous section
• Smiger/Thystvern -> only if you want it to destroy something on your turn and you know it will survive this turn!

It’s important to note, there is no floating versus Ancient Gears and effects similar to theirs!

Situation 3 - Nuke Ametrix

Wonderful thing about Ametrix is floating even on effect destruction that comes from your cards! If you manage to get out a Black Rose Dragon - not always an easy task, but when you clear the field and float into something, it can swing the game in your favor!

Skilless turn 3 Black Rose Dragon + Ametrix combo requires opening Scrap recycler + 2 Crystron cards in your first 5 cards most of the time.

With this hand, we want to end up having Citree and Rosenix on the field with Scrap and Sulfefnir in the graveyard. That way, if Rosenix survive, we can make either Quariongandrax or Ametrix + BRD play next turn! Try thinking a bit how would you do it with this hand!

• Solution:

Normal summon Scrap -> mill Sulfefnir from the deck -> discard Entry if you play 1, or discard Smiger if you play 2 Entries -> Sulfefnir destroys itself -> special summon Rosenix from the deck -> Roesnix’ effect destroys Scrap to special summon Citree -> set Cosmic Cyclone -> (optional)search Impact with Smiger from graveyard. (Side note: it’s usually better to discard Entry as soon as possible to make its level manipulation and Foolish Burial effect live, but this combo is explained as if you had any 2 Crystron cards) Next turn, you summon Ametrix with Citree and Scrap, which should help keep rosenix alive and that will bring us to this state:

From this point, based on what you destroy with your Sulfefnir you have multiple plays but we’ll go over 2 most devastating ones:

• Sulfefnir discrads Impact to destroy itself to special summon Rion -> Ametrix + BRD
• Sulfefnir discards Impact to destroy Ametrix -> Rosenix destroys Sulfefnir to get out materials to summon Quariongandrax From this position you can get any monster from your extra deck in one way or another, so have fun experimenting, and that was all possible with 1 Scrap and 2 Crystron cards. Note that in previous combo you can use Crystron Impact instead of Crystron Entry, which replaces Foolish effect with targeting protection one!

In conclusion, mastering the use of Ametrix will go a long way in making you a better Crystron player!

Quarion Summoning

Quarion can straight out win games, a level 9 synchro that needs two tuners for its synchro summon. While there are too many ways to summon him that we can list, here are some basic plays, but always keep the math in the back of your head as this deck can summon him out of nowhere.

Crystron Sulfefnir or Crystron Ametrix + Crystron Rosenix or Crystron Smiger / Crystron Thystvern. If you have a Sulfefnir or Ametrix on board, you can summon a Rosenix or a Smiger and use their effect to destroy the Sulfefnir/Ametrix, and summon the appropriate tuners you need to make Quarion. As a side note, Sulfefnir has to destroy something when special summoned by its own effect. If you want to keep it on the field, you can set any spell or trap card to be destroyed, or special summon Rosenix Token beforehand. You can even chain cards like Cosmic Cyclone or Crystron Impact to Sulfefnir’s effect activation, and have it pop them instead! That way Sulfefnir on the field can be destroyed by other non-tuner Crystrons for double search!

Coral Dragon + Crystron Citree + Rosenix Token Coral Dragon being level 6 tuner gives the alternative summon method, and unlike Dolphin, you don’t rely on opponent destroying it first. 3 card combo that allows you to do this: Crystron Thystvern + Psychic Wheeleder + Crystron Sulfefnir. Normal summon Thystvern, special summon Wheeleder to make Coral Dragon. Then you get to destroy a monster with Wheeleder’s effect and you can essentially discard sulfefnir for “free” destruction. Then search Crystron Rosenix with Thystvern’s effect. Discard Rosenix to special summon Sulf, have it pop itself for Citree, and then use Rosenix from grave to summon a token.

“Free Sulfefnir” Combos:

All of the “Free Sulfefnir” combos require you to have Ametrix on the field, Sulfefnir in the graveyard and any Crystron monster in hand. We call them “Free Sulfefnir” because we usually bring the card we discarded back to the field, thanks to Ametrix effect.

• “Free Sulfefnir” Combo 1 - non-Tuners:

If you have Ametrix on the field, Sulfefnir in the graveyard and Crystron Smiger / Crystron Thystvern or Crystron Rosenix in the hand you can: special summon Sulfefnir by discarding the non-tuner -> destroy the Ametrix with Sulfefnir’s effect and special summon the discarded non-tuner -> use non-tuner’s effect to destroy Sulfefnir and get appropriate tuners, up to level 9.

• “Free Sulfefnir” Combo 2 - Prasiortle

If you have Ametrix on the field, Sulfefnir in the graveyard and Crystron Prasiortle in the hand you can: special summon Sulfefnir by discarding the Prasiortle -> destroy the Ametrix to special summon the Prasiortle -> Prasiortle destroys the Sulfefnir to special summon Crystron Rion from the deck -> Sulfefnir special summons Smiger or Rosenix -> Smiger or Rosenix destroy Prasiortle for the tuner of appropriate level.

• “Free Sulfefnir” Combo 3 - Tuners:

Same deal as before, Ametrix on the field, Sulfefnir in the graveyard, but this time we have any of the Crystron tuners in the hand, so we have to alter the play: discard the tuner to special summon Sulfefnir -> Sulfefnir destroys itself to special summon Smiger or Rosenix -> the special summoned non-tuner destroys Ametrix to special summon a tuner-> Ametrix revives the discarded tuner.

As it can be seen, it’s really easy to make Quariongandrax with minimal setup.

It’s important to note, whenever you plan on summoning MACHINE Synchros, and you want to summon tuner from deck with Sulfefnir’s effect, you can instead summon a non-tuner that you won’t use that turn! After that, have non-tuner destroy itself to summon the tuner you originally wanted! This causes you to thin the deck even more, and sets you up for future turns. For example, in “free Sulfefnir” combo 1, you can destroy Sulfefnir with Rosenix, and summon a tuner + Smiger from deck, and then have Smiger destroys itself to get a tuner you are missing!

Skill-Specific Combos

• Mythic Depths

Addition of Genex Undine to the deck allowed 2 things to happen: deck going to 30 cards and ability to utilize Sea Stealth Attack. SSA Gives the deck alternative win condition, where instead of synchro plays you opt for Citadel Whale beatdown. Almost all synchros in extra deck are level 5 or higher water monsters, so they also work with SSA, making it a constant threat even if they somehow deal with the Whale. While active, SSA also allows you to dodge backrow by banishing your monsters until the end of turn. Live SSA also allow you to perform a “Citree revive trick”, where you activate Citree effect, then chain SSA to banish it which results in Citree getting banished, and target being revived with the effects negated. That is especially pottent with Samurai Destroyer in your extra deck, which allows you to revive Sulfefnir, which then works with SSA. To set up Whale + SSA turn 1, you need combination of Citadel Whale, Sulfefnir and any Crystron Card. Undine helps with this, by getting you any of those 3 pieces to the grave(either sending Whale or Sulf OR by sending one of the 2 searchers). Sulfefnir summons any of the non tuners that can activate their effects, and you field spell to get Citree from the deck. After that you tribute non tuner and Undine (if you used it) or non tuner and tuner (in case you don’t have Undine available). Another benefit of Whale is that it allows you to tribute over face-down monsters in case you got hit by floodgate. With more and more decks getting limit 3 on their core cards, SSA variant sees increase in value.

Example of setting up SSA turn 1

• Level Duplication

Using Level Duplication can catch people off guard by making somewhat unthreatening board suddenly produce strong Synchro plays! Also as mentioned before, your opponent can’t respond to skill activation! It is also worth noting that level change stays as long as the monster stays on the field! That can be quite relevant for this archetype, as you can setup level of your tuners for your opponent’s turn! Usually you will have resources in hand to “set up” the materials on the field for appropriate level, but common examples are:

Making Black Rose Dragon:

If you have level 3 non-tuner and Citree, you can use level 4 in hand to turn Citree into level 4, or alternativelly you can turn the non-tuner into level 5 monster!

Hand Example:

Normal summon Scrap -> mill Sulfefnir from the deck -> discard Citree to summon Sulfefnir from grave -> Sulfefnir destroys itself to summon Citree from the deck. This is the last opportunity for opponent to do anything. Once you activate Level Duplication, by revealing the Rosenix, they already can’t do anything and you get to nuke the field! It’s preferable to nuke the field when you have Ametrix or Sulfefnir on the field so you can float into something, but your opponent won’t always allow that to happen.

We can take a look at this state:

If we make Ametrix on opponent’s turn and your Thystvern survives, you can use the Sulfefnir from the graveyard to get a Citree from your deck. Now, on the field you have level 2 Crystron Citree, level 5 Crystron Ametrix and level 3 Crystron Thystvern. You can use Level Duplication to make your level 2 monsters level 4, thus allowing you to make Black Rose Dragon and destroy everything, including your Ametrix!

Level Duplication can also turn your Prasiortle into a level 4 non-tuner, so it can be used instead of Rosenix in plays involving making a Quariongandrax!

The more you use the skill, the more opportunities will you see for Synchro plays. Luckily, all of the Synchros used have no hard restrictions, so you can use Duplication for anything you might be short off, in terms of levels.

• Rosenix Token Combo

Rosenix token is a powerful thing when combined with Duplication. It can replace virtually any non-tuner in deck, because of its level. There is also a “1 card combo” that can allow you to swing the game in your favor off of only 1 tuner and Rosenix in graveyard! However, this combo require you to make a play after you use the skill, so it can be disrupted! The thing they have in common they is that they require you to special summon token, and use Level Augmentation on it.

• 1 Card Combo - level 3 tuner: Using Level Duplication on token makes it level 3, which allows you to make level 6 Synchro, which can be Brionac or Coral, both of which can change the flow of the game!

Of course, this is not optimal use of the skill. Those combos become much more potent when you have more cards in hand so your Synchro summon becomes unstoppable!

• Tunermorph: Normal

In a way similar to Level manipulation skills when used, because you often need Rosenix token and a tuner in hand to utilize it properly. This skill also allows you to turn unexpected boards into a massive threats! It also gives you access to “level 1 tuner” on demand, which can be quite strong, since it can’t be responded to. This skill is more versatile in lists that use Genex Undine because you will more often than not have Genex Controller in hand.

There is a lot of possibilities for this deck, but i’ll list only the one that make a very strong impact:

Powered Inzektron + 1 = Black Rose Dragon Usually, when you go into the Inzektron, you can’t do much with it because of its level, but with skill Tunermorph, you can turn it into a Black Rose Dragon with Rosenix token that has now become a level 1 tuner!

Powered Inzektron + 1 + Crystron Citree = Crystron Quariongandrax Same as above, we are using level 6 as advantage here! Inzektron + Citree + level 1 tuner fills the level nicely up to 9, and if you use Tunermorph last, the opponent can’t do anything about the impending Quarion!

Crystron Ametrix + 1 = Coral Dragon Similar to above, getting Coral Dragon after you survive the push can allow you to go even more agressive with your plays!

Crystron Ametrix + 1 + Crystron Rion = Crystron Quariongandrax Another way to get the boss out! Usually not as good because there is no floating involved when you Synchro summon with Ametrix! Both of above mentioned combos can be used with Crystron Sulfefnir instead!

Playing with this skill will help you realize a lot more possible plays, so don’t be afraid to experiment!

Plays with Crystron Entry

Crystron Entry can change the level of any of your Crystron monster by sending a Crystron monster with another level from your deck to the graveyard. You can use this effect to adjust the levels of your monster you control, or you can mill monsters such as Thystvern, Prasiortle, or Sulfefnir for their own effects, regardless of level changing.

You can use Level manipulation skills alongside Entry to help in summoning of your Synchro monsters! Unlike with skills, your opponent can respond to the activation of the Entry in your graveyard!

Entry can also be used as pseudo - Foolish Burial to send monsters whose effects you need to use. For example, if you send Smiger with Entry, you can search your deck for another Entry, or if your Sulfefnir got banished, you can send another one via Entry so your plays can keep going! Another way you can use Entry is altering the levels of your tuners on your opponent’s turn!

We’ll show that use in following example:

We have Rion on the field, Entry in the graveyard and Smiger in the banish zone. During the opponent’s turn, when we activate Rion’s effect we can chain Entry from the graveyard and change the level of Rion to 2 by sending Crystron Prasiortle or Crystron Citree, so instead of Powered Inzektron we get Synchro summon Crystron Ametrix with Smiger! You can also do the same thing with Citree!

Let’s consider another situation.

We have Citree on the field, Entry and Prasiortle in the graveyard. We won’t get prompted to summon anything because there are no level 4 Synchro machines in the Duel Links!! We can play around that with the toggle button. During the main phase or battle phase of opponent’s turn, if we switch toggle to ON we can use Entry from the graveyard to change Citree to level 3 instead, by sending the Smiger or Thystvern to the graveyard. After the effect of Entry resolves, you can immediately perform Synchro summon by using the Citree and Prasiortle to make Crystron Ametrix!

Entry has usage even after you finish with your Synchro plays:

Let’s say we already summoned Quariongandrax, we have Entry in the graveyard and we have a Smiger in the hand. We also used up our normal summon. We cleared the board, but we would miss the lethal damage by 1000. Since we have Entry in the graveyard, we can use it to send Prasiortle to the graveyard and use its effect to special summon Crystron monster for our hand for lethal damage! You can also use the Smiger to destroy Quariongandrax and special summon any banished monster, including your opponent’s!

Avoiding the Sealed Tombs / No Mortal Can Resist

If you are afraid of Sealed Tombs -induced OTK, or losing to No Mortal Can Resist making you resourceless, you want to setup a Rion play by sending the non-tuners to the graveyard(either with Scrap Recycler or Crystron Sulfefnir)and using their effects to get them to banish pile. After that, all of the Rion summons can help prevent the OTK. In addition, using Cosmic Cyclone to lower your life points, as well as swinging into defense position monsters your oppnent controls can make the skill unavailable due to new restrictions.

• Example:

Scrap Recycler + any Crystron card. First you summon Scrap Recycler and mill Thystvern. Then we banish Thystvern to search Sulfefnir. After that you special summon Sulfefnir and destroy itself to summon any of the Crystron non-tuners. For this example, we will summon Crystron Smiger for future plays. Then we use the Smiger’s effect to destroy Scrap and summon Rion from the deck and end the turn. Now we have setup for Inzektron and using Sealed Tombs right away will not hurt us one bit!

Important note: the turn player has priority! You CAN NOT Synchro summon during the opponent’s main phase before they do anything, even if you have your toggle set to ON! Turn priority is very important because opponent can use Sealed Tombs before you get a chance to do anything. However, if they make any play before they use the Sealed Tombs, you can still use Citree’s effect to make a play. For example, if opponent normal summons Snipe Hunter without using the skill, you can use Crystron Citree and Crystron Rosenix to make Powered Inzektron. After that, you are safe from the Tombs and you have Rosenix banished, meaning you now have setup for Rion if you need to survive it in later turns!

Invoked (All variations)

Invoked decks are, more often than not, very tough matchup for multiple reasons. Invoked Cocytus is very tough for us to deal with without the right setup, especially with Aleister the Invoker boosting its stats. Also, the summon of Cocytus inculdes banishing a water monster from either players grave, so they can easily banish our important water monsters in the GY such as Sulfefnir, or they can banish Scrap Recycler to make Invoked Magellanica which is also a problem with its 3300 defense, we need spells and traps to take care of it. If you only have one WATER monster in the Graveyard, chain your Citree’s effect to summon the WATER monster which will either make Invocation fizzle out or force the player to use his own monsters as materials. Chaining Cosmic Cyclone to Invocation is also a potentially strong play as they cannot add the banished Aleister to hand, nor can they ever use Invocation for the rest of the duel, leaiding to less fusion monsters to deal with. Similarly, you can chain Forbidden Lance on Aleister when they use Invocation, which will force them to use other Aleister(or fail if they have no appropriate targets). Artifact Lancea also prevents the fusion from occuring, and it’s a “hand trap” so it’s harder to play around! Cocytus used to be a big problem for this deck, but now that we have Crystron Impact, it is very easy to deal with, just change its defense to zero and kill it with literally any monster!
When trying to deal with an on-field Cocytus and you dont have an Impact at your disposal, Samurai Destroyer is your best friend. He makes it so Aleister needs to use his effect at the start of the battle phase if he wants to get the boost. On your opponenets turn, he can also mistakenly activate Aleister early to try to beat over Samurai with Cocytus, only to realize that Samurai Destroyer will negate his effect and just cancel the attack. Most importantly, when Samurai Destroyer attacks, he will stop Cocytus’s effect that prevents it from being targetted or destroyed by effects, so you can attack with Samurai Destroyer and then activate Ballista Squad or Offerings to the Doomed to destroy the Cocytus. Remember to not tribute Samurai Destroyer with Ballista as he’ll no longer be on field, and Cocytus will gain its retargetability back. A Dealing with Magellanica is straightforward. Magellanica is just a big beater, we can use the same method as dealing with cocytus, switch to defense, and turn it to zero. Current iteration of Invoked uses Magician girls as elemental base. They provide deck thinning and only utilize several monsters, which allows deck to run plethora of traps, such as Floodgate Trap Hole and Fiendish Chain, so backrow hate cards like Lance and Cosmic are your best bet against this deck. All of the Magician girls have summoning and redirecting effect when attacked into, so you need Samurai Destroy to be able to hit them safely, which isn’t always a good play since they also play Draw Sense: DARK, so you should avoid dealing 1500 damage to them if you don’t have a way to deal with Aleister. This matchup becomes leagues easier for SSA variants of the decks, where only Cocytus can survive the hit from SSA powered water monster.

Shiranui

Shiranui are the Fire based Synchro Zombie archetype deck and a menace to deal with. They can use the graveyard as their resource pool, making them quite durable in the long run. Shiranui non-tuners also get effects when banished, so that makes it quite punishing if you blindly banish their resources. However, banishing their tuners and Synchro monsters can put you in quite good position. Unfortunately, this matchup gets harder, as they use a lot of hard backrow, such as Paleozoic Canadia and Floodgate Trap Hole , which can prove to be difficult to deal with as a Synchro deck. Using Forbidden Lance and/or Cosmic Cyclones is almost mandatory in this matchup, especially considering Sealing Ceremony of Katon that Shiranui can use very efficiently. After survivng their push, it’s usually not a problem to outgrind them while keeping yourself safe with Crystron Ametrix , which also has added benefit of all their monsters being 0 defense. In conclusion, if you don’t get stopped by the backrow, you should have a decent time against this deck.The more popular version right now is 20 card Level Duplication Shiranui that relies on opening either Shiranui Squire or Gozuki + multiple backrow. This version of the deck relies on backrow to stop your plays, so if you either go first and set up the Black Rose Dragon on the following turn, or you manage to grind through they inital backrow, you should be able to swing the game in your favor. There are a few things to keep in mind:

• Shiranui Sunsaga destroyes things on summon without targeting(provided that they have synchros to return to the extra deck) which means that summoning Inzektron in response will NOT give you protection, and summoning Ametrix won’t turn it into defense, so you have to be preemptive with Inzektron summon.
• Shiranui Squiresaga also has potential to destroy things without targeting, but since it’s ignition effect and not on summon, you have a chance to turn it into defense on summon.
• Revived King Ha Des stops all floating, so turtling with multiple Sulfefnirs is not optimal play. Also monsters destroyed by zombie types stay negated even in the graveyard. You can still activate them to banish them, and populate banish pile, so it’s not the end of the world.
• Shiranui Samurai fighting Samurai Destroyer still gets it’s effect off which will cause Samurai Destroyer to get banished, so we can use this to our advantage to float into something from grave for potential otk play! Overall, this matchup requires some finesse, but having Lancea and backrow hate should definitely make this matchup much easier.

Karakuri

With release of the mini box “Arena of Sanctuary”, Karakuri decks got few toys that brought them back from irrelevancy, namely Karakuri Bonze mdl 9763 “Kunamzan”, Karakuri Cash Inn and Karakuri Gama Oil. This simple boost allowed the deck to make horrifying boards with as little as 2 card combos. Karakuri tend to end on board that consists of Karakuri Shogun mdl 00 “Burei”, Karakuri Steel Shogun mdl 00X “Bureido”, another main deck Karakuri monster + 2-3 backrow. The deck runs interruption cards like Karma cut , Karakuri Cash Inn and Ballista Squad, which makes this deck have very potent turn 1 play. Similarly to Shiranui matchup, it gets a lot easier if you go first with Ametrix into Black Rose Dragon setup, which could allow you to clean their backrow before getting rid of their monsters, which are essentially vanillas on your turn. Coral Dragon also helps snipe some of them, which can even turn into a Quarion play on the same turn. Additionally, Crystron Impact protects from most of the nasty stuff they can put out, so getting on in the grave as soon as possible can straigh up win you the game because it will make it very difficult for them to stop impending Quarion play.

Blackwings

Blackwings got massive boost in both power and consistency with addition of the support from the main box Aerial Assault. They are one of the strongest otk decks in the current metagame and as such they pose a huge threat to a great number of decks. However, this deck has good matchup versus them. Playstyle of Blackwing decks usually consists of filling the board with synchro monsters, destroying your cards and going for quick game-ending push, but there are quite a few ways this can be stopped. Setting up Powered Inzektron is often enough to stop them in their tracks, then on your turn you get to dismantle their field which is quite hard to recover from as a Blackwing deck. Black Rose Dragon and Crystron Quariongandrax are your main tools for dealing with oposing field and getting the game in your favor. There are, however, a few things Blackwing decks have access to that would make your game harder, those being: quickplay spell Offerings to the Doomed and easy access to Ancient Fairy Dragon , which can turn a field spell skill into Necrovalley. Dealing with Offerings in hand seems tricky, but it’s balanced by the fact that it is unsearchable and that it makes the opponent skip a draw on following turn, which can be played around in a few ways: discarding Impact on previous turn, using Forbidden Lance in response to offerings, or even using the first effect of Crystron Entry to revive the tuner that got destroyed! The other problem is a bit harder to deal with. If they go first and set the up Necrovalley, options become quite limited. Basically you are relying on Cosmic Cyclone, Coral Dragon or even Black Rose Dragon to clear the field for you. Addition of Wheeleder made the Coral option much easier to pull of, so it has become, ironically, very easy to sack them going second.

Crystron

As the deck got more optimized, mirror matchup got more technical as well. In general, it’s all about Citree. You want to force opponenets Citree, while saving your own. Addition of Coral Dragon and Wheelders to most of the decks makes it so it’s much easier to force the opponent’s plays, while still giving the ability to extend into stronger board states. Coral being a tuner that allows you to go into Samurai Destroyer or even Quarion before they can set up Impact protection has made the mirror even sackier than before. After the Impact has been dealt with, Brionac can straight up steal the game from your opponent, so always have a response ready. Overall, SSA variants have advantage over non-SSA version, but in grand scheme of things, player with better resource management will come on top.

Legacy Matchups

Blue-Eyes

Blue-Eyes decks got massive boost both in terms of consistency and power, which makes them stronger than ever! DSOD Kaiba refreshed the playstyle with the new skill Alternative Evolution that grants them access to Blue-Eyes Alternative White Dragon that can pop monsters every turn. Luckily for us, it targets, so it can be avoided or even negated by Impact in grave! Another toy that they got is Blue-Eyes Spirit Dragon which can prevent one graveyard effect per turn, which can be played around by either waiting until you have multiple GY effects, or simply using the on-field effects to set up Ametrix. Another annoying part is, Spirit Dragon can tag out into Azure-Eyes Silver Dragon or Michael, the Arch-Lightsworn, both of them being strong synchro monsters with their own bag of tricks. Azure-Eyes makes itself and all the dragon type monsters on the field untargetable until end of your turn, and is a pain to get rid off with fat 3000 defense, making you need Impact for easy running over. Michael is more aggresive play, which let’s them banish 1 card on your field for small price of 1k lp. However, the bigger problem is that they shifted into “discrad trap” playstyle, where they use cards like Raigeki Break and Karma Cut, to discard The White Stone of Ancients, that’s going to summon another monster in the end phase. That makes running cards like Cosmic Cyclone and Forbidden Lance practically vital against current iterations of Blue-Eyes decks. Wiping the field with Black Rose Dragon (supported by Forbidden Lance) can also be very benefitial, depending on situation. Another note to pay attention to is, they might try to proc the effect of Maiden with Eyes of Blue by targeting it themselves to summon a Blue-Eyes from the deck. That effect doesn’t go through if you chain any effect to the targeting effect. Overall not the toughest matchup, but you definitely have to play smart or you will get punished hard. As a side note, SSA variant is rather vulenrable to this deck, because they can very often have White Stone of the Ancient in grave turn one, thanks to Cards of Consonance, which effectively eliminates the Umi and makes multiple cards in your deck practically useless.

Dark Magician

The fan favorite deck finally got good enough to reach the Tier List! The addition of Dark Magical Circle added mix of consistency and power to already decent Dark Magician deck. Circle lets them look for Dark Magician or spell/trap that specifically mentions Dark Magician in it’s text. Circle also allows them to banish a card you control on summon of Dark Magician. This, however, gave the deck another necessary piece of the combo. The deck’s strongest play relies on player having Dark Magical Circle up on the field, Magician Navigation set and Dark Magician in hand. Unfortunately for them, Circle’s ability to banish is hard once per turn, and it targets, so having Crystron Impact in graveyard allows you to have searchable protection for your Crystron monsters. You can also stop the banish effect by using Cosmic Cyclone onto the Circle to “negate it”. Another very good card that helps in the matchup is Forbidden Lance that simply makes your monsters unaffected by Circle shenanigans. Lance puts in extra work in this matchup, as Magical Navigation can’t negate in damage step! Dark Magician decks are very vulenrable to getting hit by Black Rose Dragon. They have to commit large amount of resources for their plays, so nuking the field will leave them in position where they have to topdeck specific cards if they want to have a chance of rebuilding the field. Dark Magician’s playstyle shifted into even more control oriented Balance builds, with discard traps such as Karma Cut (which also allows them to summon Magician of Dark Illusion on your turn), but the game plan is pretty much the same. As a side note, Kycoo the Ghost Destroyer can be a rather punishing card, because it passively prevents you from banishing cards from your grave, thus stopping your plusing and targeting protection.

Thunder Dragons

Thunder Dragons decided to prove their strenght, even without any of their fusions! Recently added Thunder Dragonduo and even newer Chaos Dragon Levianeer, alongside Lightsworn engine have made the deck very formidable. After setting up their grave, they can summon Levianeer with effect based on what they banish; the most dangerous one being when they banish both light and dark monsters, which allows them to pop 2 cards without targeting! That’s why it’s always important to have floaters ready, such as Ametrix into Sulfefnir. Inzektron is also good, but as a preemptive play, because new rules will prevent it from activating the protection effect if you chain tuners to Levianeer. Lightsworn cards do their job of milling the grave with light and dark monsters very well, as well as offering the deck even easier access to Synchro plays. Cards they usually run are Raiden, Hand of the Lightsworn, Plaguespreader Zombie and Glow-Up Bulb, which gives them access to synchros from level 6 to level 9, such as Brionac, Dragon of the Ice Barrier, Black Rose Dragon and many others. A lot of them have targeting effects so getting Impact to the grave should be one of the priorites. As for the Thunder Dragons themselves, they also have various annoying effects to deal with. They get one of their effects by getting sent to the graveyard from field, or getting banished so it’s dangerous to blindly swing into them, or banish them with Quarion. The most important one to avoid proc-ing is Thunder Dragonroar, as it floats into another monster which would usually be enough to stop the otk. Generally, you want to save Quarion for punishing the overextension, when they fail to finish you off. Another usage of Quarion can be to remove light and/or dark monsters from their graveyard to prevent synchro plays, or simply to take away their resources so Dragonduo and Levianeer become useless in hand. Samurai Destroyer is a important factor in both sides of this matchups, as it prevents both yours and theirs floating effects, as well as surviving the Black Rose field wipes. In the meantime, the deck got considerable nerfs, which has made this matchup much easier. Nowdays they run the skill Allured by Darkness which makes it a bit dangerous to swing into without having clear advantage. Coupled with fact that they run Sphere Kuriboh (which also fuels Dragonduo and Levianeer), it simply becomes the patience game. Keeping all this in mind, the techs that can help you in this matchup are Artifact Lancea(stops Gold Sarcophagus and also stops Dragonduo and Levianeer from coming out if you use it early), Shadow-Imprisoning Mirror and even Mind Drain. One of the easier matchups nowdays, but it still rewards the more knowledgable player.

Darklords

Darklords are one of the worst matchups for Crystrons. They swarm the board with big bodies that are hard to run over without Beatdown. Darklords also posses the ability to negate monster effects on field by employing the searchable trap: The Sanctified Darklord. The trap doesn’t target so you don’t know what they are gonna negate until the trap’s effect resolves. They can chain this effect to Crystron Quariongandrax and Black Rose Dragon which makes it hard to clear their field if they have the trap on field or in graveyard. This can be avoided by using Sea Stealth Attack to “dodge” the negate and make them waste resource. Coral Dragon and Samurai Destroyer help dramatically in Darklord matchup. If you have Crystron Citree on the field and Crystron Sulfefnir in the graveyard, you can activate Citree to try and summon Sulfefnir for Synchro summon of Samurai Destroyer and chain SSA to remove Citree from the field if they try to negate Citree. This leaves Sulfefnir on field which is going to float upon destruction which massively boosts your chances of survival, while also being target for SSA. This deck got neutered rather hard by banlist, so it struggles to make boards consistently, but in case you are facing them for whatever reason, SSA should make the match a breeze. Tech options to consider for this matchup are Shadow-Imprisoning Mirror and D.D. Crow.

Cyber Dragon

Cyber Dragon decks became a force to be reckoned with with their additional support. The cards that strenghtened their arsenal are Cyberload Fusion, Cybernetic Overflow; Cyber Dragon Core that searches both of them and ferocious Chimeratech Rampage Dragon that can attack up to 3 times! The main threat this deck has is untargetable destruction from Overflow, but Crystrons simply float too much for it to matter. Sometimes going into Sulfefnir and passing the turn is enough for them to be unable to otk you, and after they spend their resources, you can go into Black Rose Dragon, or Quarion induced otk. Cosmic Cyclone and Forbidden Lance both help against this deck, forcing them to use Fusion/Overflow before you make your plays. Another card they struggle against is Samurai Destroyer which they can’t out, unless they go into Cyber Twin Dragon which is usually less optimal play on their part. Overall very easy matchup, provided that you have access to some basic plays.

Masked HEROes

Much like Cyber Dragon, this deck relies on summoning a fusion monster and beating you down with it. They usually fall pray to single Ametrix setup, and can’t go through all the floating you get from Sulfefnir. They are also extremely prone to getting wiped by Black Rose Dragon. Only threat they have is potential multiple copies of Mask Change , ocassional sack with Sealed Tombs, or going into Destiny HERO - Plasma. Plasma can be the trickiest to deal with, as you will need either synchro play without relying on your non-tuners popping the cards on field, or drawing into your tech cards. If you are going first you should attempt to set up Citree and Prasiortle on the field, so Plasma can’t suck up any big monsters, which would make it so it can’t be beaten over by Ametrix. SSA variants suffer from having Umi on the field from the start of the game, which gives Heroes that play Sealed Tombs a Cosmic Cyclone target, which can mess up the turn 1 pretty badly.

Triamids

Slightly annoying matchup because of the disruptive backrow, you usually have the resources to outplay them. The other annoying part is Triamid Kingolem which will stop floating of your monsters, if they are attacking into you. The other card to watch out for is Triamid Fortress which prevents the effect destruction. The backrow hate is your friend in this matchup, because it can help you grind out their traps, which they usually play the least amount of. The other way you can deal with them is nuking the field with Black Rose Dragon, if you have the follow up after it. When Triamids lose their field spell, they get slowed down dramatically, which in turn lets you go ham with Crystron Quariongandrax and Samurai Destroyer. Side note, if you use Cosmic Cyclone on their field spell during your turn, they can chain monster effects to swap it, so you either want to do it in their battle/end phase, chain it to the monster effect or use cosmic on their backrow(which is the best option most of the time). In the meantime, deck finally got access to Triamid Sphinx, their actual boss monster. However, it came a bit too late, now that we have even more extra deck options to deal with their field, such as Coral Dragon and Brionac. Additionally, going Coral Dragon into Samurai Destroyer will prevent Sphinx from coming out in the first place, but even if it does, Sphinx is an easy prey for Quarion. The most useful cards for the matchup: Cosmic Cyclone , Forbidden Lance.

Desperado

This deck does fairly well vs Desperado Barrel Dragon, since it has many floating effects. When you know you are vs Desperado, you should try to aim for making an early Samurai Destroyer, or in mid to Late game, try to make Quariongandrax, as his effect will not let your opponent summon Desperado, so you will be able to clear the field and swing for lethal. Crystron Ametrix is also good as Desperado or Blast Spider destroying it will allow you to float into more monsters to make it easier to summon the key synchros.

Nowdays Desperado is played most commonly with Parshat engine, essentially making half of the deck filled with counter traps. Cosmic Cyclone is your best bet, but Samurai Destroyer can simply stop the opponent from doing anything. Coutner traps are rather costly by themselves, so you could very often simply outgrind them, provided that Desperado player didn’t open multiple copies of Cup of Ace.

Ancient Gears

Usually a favorable matchup, Ancient Gears can sometimes make your day worse with their backrow. If they are running Double Cyclone, this matchup becomes even easier because you don’t need to set spells or traps at all. You can also get tuners out without needing to use normal summon, thus avoiding adding counters onto Ancient Gear Castle. The main threat ancient gears possess is a huge beast, Ancient Gear Reactor Dragon which they can either normal or special summon. Depending on the way it was summoned, you can switch it to defense with either Ametrix, and proceed to go crazy with your other Synchro monsters. Coral Dragon provides easy out to defense position Reactor Dragon, so we don’t have to go into Quarion at all to deal with them! However, if they get a massive field, you can punish it with either Black Rose Dragon or with Quariongandrax. Quarion can be a massive problem for their resources, because they usually play only 2 Reactor Dragons and have no way to recover them from banish pile. Cosmic Cyclones can also be very helpful in this matchup. Side note, if you banish the Reactor, you can destroy your own Quariongandrax to “steal it”, as it has no special summon restrictions, and it plays around potential Drowning Mirror Force!

Spellbooks

Spellbooks is a gritty matchup. Try not to make too many Synchros until you have grinded through their Fates, as they are often forced to use Spellbook of Fate on your citrees. Once they burn through two Fates, they start to lose steam, and that is you time to strike, making Synchros to overwhelm them. Having Scrap Recycler is also very helpful in this match up as he leads to more overall board presence, and Spellbooks have a problem dealing with more than one big monster at a time. To win the matchup, you have to be more patient than usual. Drawing your backrow also help! Addition of Coral Dragon paired with Psychic Wheelder makes it so it’s much easier to deal with singular spellcaster on field, which would turn of their ability to use most of the Spellbook cards! Also, Samurai Destroyer floats when banished, so it becomes a real hasle to deal with them. Not too long ago, Spellboks got some rather potent support in High Priestess of Prophecy and The Grand Spellbook Tower, which actually gives them the otk potential going second, which makes it so it’s wise to set up the protective play. Cosmic Cyclone is still your best play, but if you can’t otk the book player, make sure to get rid of Tower as soon as possible, as it allows them to gain absurd amounts of advantage.

Ritual Beasts

Ritual Beasts are one of the more grindy matchups. Their constant tagging in and out makes it hard to pin them down with targeting effects, and they can come back from banish pile, making Crystron Quariongandrax struggle quite a bit! They can also bounce cards from your field to the hand, which can be dealt with by Crystron Impact .However, they are still somewhat prone to getting field wiped by Black Rose Dragon. Annoying part of this comes from Spiritual Beast Tamer Winda, which floats upon destruction. Another good synchro to deal with the ritual beasts is Samurai Destroyer, which lets you take care of problematic floaters. It’s also worth mentioning Red Dragon Archfiend, which deals with monsters that are inevitably going to be summoned into defense, and is a 3000 attack, meaning they can’t run him over with their main fusion. Cosmic Cyclone is also very helpful in the matchup, as they use the archetypal spells and traps pretty often to fill their field with monsters and even fuse them outside their main phase. Addition of Artifact Lancea makes this matchup much more manageable, and using Coral Dragon as well as Brionac make it so it’s much easier to get to their life points. Overall, it’s one of the matchups that requires the long grind game if both players open decently, but the sooner you see your tech cards, the easier it’s gonna be to swing the game in your favor.

Magnets Warrior

Magnets are another gritty matchup. Magnet Warriors spam the board with small monsters, neither of which can deal with Ametrix on their own. They need to either use traps like Triamid Pulse or Treacherous Trap Hole to get rid of it, but that allows further floating. Their smaller monsters also can tribute themselves to summon Delta The Magnet Warrior, thus avoiding the potential destruction or banishing. However, you can still clear the board with Black Rose Dragon if they get too much advantage. Other way they can deal with our Synchros is their boss monster. Boss monster of Magnets is Berserkion the Electromagna Warrior, which banishes a Magnet Warrior from the grave to pop a card on the field. Since it is targeted destruction, our tuners can evade the effect, and our Synchros can float until they are all out of fuel for Berserkion, and then it is easier to deal with them. Block Dragon is another boss monster of theirs, which can be difficult to out without a Impact, since it protects from destruction. All in all, you want to get Ametrix out as soon as possible, float into your safety and not overextend. Wait for them to make a big push, and punish on your turn. Coral Dragon into either Black Rose, Quarion or Samurai Destroyer can seal the deal for them, but the power of Magnetic Field should not be underestimated! With addition of multiple copies of Beta the Electromagnet Warrior and introduction of xyz mechanic, deck manages to pack quite a punch! But overall, deck relies on backrow + Magnetic Field to do any sort of threatening play. It’s not a hard matchup, but you might need to be patient while deconstructing their board.

Six Samurai

Six Samurai can go either way for this deck, but it is usually in our favor, especially with only one Legendary Six Samurai - Enishi. Legendary Six Samurai - Shi En is not a big threat for this deck as we mainly rely on our monster effects. A big part of this matchup is using and Ametrix effect to change their monsters to defense and shut off Six Style - Dual Wield, as without Dual Wield, Six Samurai lose a lot of strength in this matchup. Quarion is also a large help here as other than Dual Wield, they have no real disruption, so you can wipe their board with relative ease. It is advised to not make Quarion if you suspect they have a world legacy clash set, as it can dodge Quarions effect. However, if you have a non tuner that you can get onto the field, you can destroy the recently Clashed Quarion to special summon the monster that they banished Clash. Quarion also removes resources from their graveyard, so they need to make additional effort to use Enishi’s bounce effect. This matchup got even more into the favor of Crystrons thanks to addition of Samurai Destroyer, who really proves why he is named that way.

Subterrors

Subterrors have been popping up lately, mainly as a counter strategy, since their main skill got nerfed, so now they abuse Labyrinth Builder to cheese out summons with Subterror Nemesis Warrior. If they start the game with both Nemesis Warrior and Subterror Final Battle, things can get tricky, but if you manage to get out a Black Rose Dragon after the usage of Lab Builder, you win 90% of the time, since its drawback is hard to recover from. Sometimes they use Neos Fusion to send Nemesis Warrior to the graveyard, but getting rid of Elemental HERO Brave Neos and their graveyard resources is pretty easy with Quariongandrax. Level Duplication helps a lot in this matchup and makes it very easy. Generic backrow also helps lessen the trouble they might cause. Overall, slightly annoying matchup, but not a difficult one, especially since Impact can both bring back banished materials AND protect from banish itself, provided that it didn’t happen in damage step.

Vendread

Vendread is the zombie-ritual archetype that made it’s Duel Links debut in minibox “Curse of the Dread” and it’s quite a beast when played well. At first glance, the effect to banish monsters during either player’s turn seems scary, but it actually requires a fair amount of setup to pull it off. Mainly, they need to summon Vendread Revenants to the field and then ritual summon using those revenants to gain the effect. This effect seems strong in theory, but it has its downsides. It only banishes special summoned monsters, and this deck normal summons pretty often. Other downside they have is the whooping 0 defense they have so even puny Scrap Recycler can run it over with his small wheels. You can put them into defense with Crystron Ametrix. However they can also setup the banish of the spells/traps with Vendread Houndhorde so you have to be careful about that. The matchup gets more difficult if they play Master of Rites II which prevents your monster from targeting them, but you can either turn them into defense without targeting, or beat over them with synchros if they don’t have the Revenants effect ready. This matchup becomes much easier with triple Cosmic Cyclone that are being played, as well as with arrival of Coral Dragon, which can clear the Ritual Cage before going into other plays. Impact can also recover banished monsters, as well as provide protection from future banishment. Overall, not the easiest matchup, but it requires you to play more conservatively than usual.

This deck has a lot of potential especially as more and more powerful machine type synchros get added to the game, and it has a unique mechanic that makes them fun and satisfying to play.

That is all for now! We’ll keep working on improving and expanding the guide, If you have any questions, feel free to stop by the Crystron channel in DLM discord and ask away!

• Shoutouts to RandomPl0x and Jadehex for all their work on the website.
• Everyone in the Crystron channel at DLM, especially Dulling for introducing me to the deck!

Guide formatted and uploaded by RandomPl0x.
Thumbnail designed and created by Jadehex.