Deck Fusioning

  

With both "Dragoon" and "Destroyer Phoenix Enforcer" being a cancer to the game (the former more than the latter in my opinion) due exclusively to their ability to be summoned without accessing any of the materials properly, violating the very concept of fusioning, I thought we'd take a look at one of the major plagues ruining Yugi.

As a reminder, a normal Fusion Summon requires at least 2 materials & a fusion spell, and results in 1 monster being summoned, so in terms of card balance it's normally supposed to be: - 2(mats) - 1(fusion spell) + 1(fusion monster) = -2. Fusion Monsters are generally designed with that in mind, are therefore appropriately strong. Fusioning exclusively from deck basically cuts the equation to -1 + 1 = 0 change in card balance.

We will only look at Fusion Spells that can use Fusion Materials EXCLUSIVELY from the Deck & face-down Extra Deck, and study their impact on the game as well as the cheapness of their design.

Future Fusion

Here's an interesting way to start the article. Literally the first card to be able to Fusion Summon from deck was immediately set to Limited almost as soon as it was released, and then was banned, until it was finally nerfed to death with an errata. One could argue that Konami thoroughly regretted making a "Foolish Burial" Xwhatever number of materials used that also free-summons a fusion from your Extra Deck, and then throwing on it a meaningless restriction that the monster cannot attack on that turn.

Naturally the card was used non-stop in every deck that could possibly run it, right up to its ban. Post-errata, and finally becoming fair, it is virtually unplayable, which I think is an equally telling sign.

Does it feel cheap? : Pre-errata it did, now it's fine.

Is it bullshit? : It definitely was, but not anymore.

Ostinato

"Melodious" already had not 1 but 2 cards that function if you control no monsters, so just by its requirement alone, "Ostinato" invalidated both. To be fair, "Melodious" already suffered from a lack of a common mechanic from the start, which was already a detriment to their design, but "Ostinato" became an instant X3 in every single "Melodious" deck. While not damning on its own, is not a good sign either.

From the start, "Ostinato"'s main function was basically accessing both of the self-protection monsters of the Deck in one-go, albeit indirectly, acting more as an "SS 2 from Deck" than a Fusion Summon, not that that made things much better.

Does it feel cheap? : Yep.

Is it bullshit? : Yep.

Void Imagination

There was a brief period when this saw much more play than I would like, but ultimately the inherent RNG of the mills required to play "Infernoids" well made this card invalid. Still, that was because its own Deck worked against it, and not that the card itself was problematic. "Void Imagination" went a step beyond most Deck Fusion Spells, allowing you to use up to 6 bloody materials from the deck, for an archetype where hand and GY have little functional difference. Sending 2 materials would be fine due to the condition relying on the opponent, 6 was just overkill.

"Void Imagination"'s issue were the numbers, not its inherent design, which I count in its favor. It was also a Continuous Spell, which, with the more recent rule updates of the past few years, did give the opponent "sort" of an additional chance to counter it.

Does it feel cheap? : Yep.

Is it bullshit? : Yep, but it deserves a loving over-the-knees spanking, not a baseball bat to the teeth.

Shaddoll Fusion

Finally, here is a good one. I was and will be b!tching about the rest of the exclusive Deck Fusion cards, but "Shaddoll Fusion" was the one that was both overused and I wholeheartedly approved of from the start, despite getting into 'Shaddolls" myself much later. With every single "Shaddoll" Fusion Monster being able to recover it when leaving the field, it being searchable AND practically triggering 2 benefitial effects from the Deck for free, how could "Shaddoll Fusion" be well designed? Easy: IT RELIED ON THE OPPONENT, IT COULD NOT FULLFILL ITS CONDITIONS FOR THE DECK USE ON ITS OWN. 

Now this translated to 2 things: 1)On the first turn of the duel, it could not use materials from the Deck in any way (which in turn balanced out with many of the "Shaddoll" Fusion Monsters having lockdown or disruption effects for the opponent, meaning that the deck prompted you to choose between wasting many resources for normal Fusioning to potentially restrict your opponent OR holding off till their turn to possibly explode with card advantage but no removal to write home about). 

2)It allowed big-brain counterplays, like the opponent chaining his effects to get rid of their own ED monsters, which does not stop "Shaddoll Fusion" from resolving, possibly completely f@cking up its user's plans as they are forced  to use cards from their hand and field alone like a normal "Polymerization". See, this sh!t right there promotes smart playing and a fun game. We need more of that, player interaction-based playstyles, not effects that practically give win conditions on their own and then slapping some meaningless restrictions afterwards while setting 5 and passing. No-one likes a two-player Solitaire match.

Does it feel cheap? : Tipping the scale, but nah.

Is it bullshit? : Nope, in fact it's good design.

Bonus Round: 1-Deck Material Fusion Spells

A quick break from the rest to see cards that only allow you to use 1 Fusion Material from the Deck, or otherwise require you at at the very least already have 1 of the materials on the field/hand:

• Ancient Gear Fusion: Cool design, never played it because "Hound Dog" covers "Chaos Giant" much better, but I completely approve. It rewards hard-summoning their signature boss monster. Passes with flying colors.
• Face Card Fusion: Fine, if a bit boring. Not that I had high expectations from bloody "Face Knights".
• Lunalight Fusion: Acceptable, but I was hoping for way cooler stuff from the berserker deck that is "Lunalights". This is majorly uninspired.
• Myutant Fusion: Disapproved. It's not so much that it can use a material from the Deck (which "Myutants" definitely need), as it is the utter joke of its condition. You can use it if the opponent blinked in the past half-hour. That's just cheap and insulting, the condition should not have been there at all.

Neos Fusion

Oh yeah, here starts the bullshit: Basically rehashing original "Future Fusion"'s design for specific archetypes, aka sending both materials from the Deck to the GY with no interaction needed by the opponent and then throwing in some non-limiting limitation on what you can do for the rest of the turn, because obviously the @sshates who are going to run these are going to play them in their own archetype's Decks and not throw them as ridiculously strong 1 card engines on other brainless garbage. 

Yeah, first I used my entire hand -1 to get an entire PK combo going, setting 3 backrow, gathering 2 Links, 2 Xyz and a Synchro with omni-negate, and THEN I played a Fusion Summon straight from Deck, which ~gosh darn it~ means I can only attack for the rest of the turn in exchange for a mere extra 4500 ATK beatstick with heavy removal, OH THE HORROR!

This was played like crazy for a long while, only seeing its popularity drop when the next braindead Deck Fusion came along which doubled as a disruption during the opponent's turn as well, since poor "Rainbow Neos" is only one of the strongest removals in the game with its mass deck shuffles, but not a disruption.

Does it feel cheap? : Yep.

Is it bullshit? : Abso-fucking-lutely.

Brilliant Fusion

Even as someone who owns pure "Gem-Knights" (at max rarities mind you), this thing deserved  the ban. Unlike the rest of the Deck Fusions it did not provide any short of GY advantage but it still functioned as a "Double Summon" with a free Synchro/Xyz/Link material thrown in there for good measure (essentially being a +1, or potentially +2 depending on if you could somehow make use of "Brilliant Fusion" itself in the S/T zone). The fact that this card alone made common the term "Garnets" for cards meant to stay in the Deck, is a telling sign. Even without the disaster that was "Seraphinite" to the game, this thing would still be problematic, due to the insane pre-hopt effects of the "Gem-Knights".

The one bright side of "Brilliant Fusion" though: It only allowed materials from the Deck, meaning there was an inherent risk factor which sort of balanced it out. I would prefer Deck Fusioning to not be a thing at all, but if it has to exist, then this is how it can be done fairly. You will of course notice that such downsides are completely absent from the modern braindead Deck Fusions.

Does it feel cheap? : Yep.

Is it bullshit? : Yep.

Branded Fusion

Uninspired, and shares most of the cheapness that comes inherent with Deck Fusioning, but that's as far as my criticisms go. For one thing, it is PLAYED IN ITS OWN DECK FOR ONCE. I have yet to see "Fallen of Albaz" brainlessly included as just another engine in a collection of completely random self-comboing cards, and I hope it stays that way. For another, it preemptively locks you on Fusions the turn it is played, meaning running this requires a lot more thought for building the Deck instead of randomly throwing engines in. The fact that the "Albaz" Fusions only do stuff during the End Phase is definitely in its favor. Good for it.

Honestly I am this close to approving it, it's just a shame that it remains an exclusive Deck Fusioning that functions on its own.

Does it feel cheap? : Yep.

Is it bullshit? : Yyyeee... Actually nah, I'm giving it a pass. Deep down it's a good boy.

Red-Eyes Fusion

This thing would be bad on its own, with the ridiculous powerhouse that is "Dragoon" thrown on top it just promotes player misconduct. "Anaconda" also allows you to ignore the preemptive locking, allowing it to be mixed with all sorts of other garbage.

Does it feel cheap? : Yep.

Is it bullshit? : Fuck this thing...

Fusion Destiny

Oh, boy, this one didn't even bother including the preemptive locking in there. Much like "Neos Fusion", you can just do all the rest of your nonsense and throw it in in the end. To be clear, I consider "Dragoon" far more problematic than "Destroyer Phoenix Enforcer", but that does not make things much better. It's brainless Deck Fusioning at its finest, and on top of that, it even promotes brainless overextending, with "Destiny Hero Celestial" rewarding you for using your entire hand.

Does it feel cheap? : Yep.

Is it bullshit? : A resounding yes.

Epilogue

With some notable exceptions, I think the problem of modern 1 card-Fusions is very distinct: They are self-contained 1-card engines, used NOT as support for their own Decks but thrown in other random toxic recipes for the card advantage they bring. Like all 1-card combos, this does not promote a healthy game. 

(the pose is usually more important than either the strength or the technique)