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ジェムナイト・ファントムルーツ Gem-Knight Phantom Roots (TCG: Gem-Knight Phantom Core)

YES! Finally I get to write about Gem-Knights. I can't tell you how much I love this archtype.

At first it was just a simple deck. But once support got rolling in, it got pretty fucking unstoppable. It originally used Gem-Knight Garnet, Gem-Knight Tourmaline, and Gem-Knight Sapphire, with a couple support monsters, Those three Normal Monsters were used to Fusion Summon their corresponding Fusion Monster, Gem-Knight Ruby, Gem-Knight Topaz, and Gem-Knight Aquamarine. Then came further support and the Gemini Monsters. Geminis are Normal Monsters on the field and Graveyard, and cannot gain their effect until you do what is called, Dual Summon. Those were Gem-Knight Sanyx, Gem-Knight Amber, and Gem-Knight Iolite, which proved to be useful. They finally wrapped it up with other support like Gem-Knight Lazuli, Gem-Knight Seraphi, and dun dun dun, Gem-Knight.

It officially is now one of the few Fusion-focused decks in the game. And when I mean Fusion-focused, I don't mean they have a Fusion monster. I mean, they are completely focused on getting those Fusion monsters out and screwing with your opponent. But what I love about this deck is not only just using Fusions, but it can spam them. Some of the Fusions are just devastating to the game. With Gem-Knight Citrine, you can attack (or attacked) and your opponent can't do shit. It basically cannot activate any effects because Citrine doesn't allow them until the end of Damage Step (did I mention he can be overlayed for Number 11: Big Eye, who can steal your opponent's poweful monsters? /trollface). Gem-Knight Prismaura can destroy a face-up with just sending a Gem-Knight card from your hand to the Graveyard, and if you send Obsidian, you can Special Summon a Gem-Knight, or if you send Lazuli, which brings back a Gem-Knight from your Graveyard back to your hand. Very useful indeed. Gem-Knight Zirconia is a 2900 beatstick that can use a Gem-Knight and a Rock-Type monster, that turns your dead Gem-Armadillos and Gem-Turtles, or any Gem monsters, into Fusion targets. And finally Gem-Knight Master Dia. The ultimate Gem-Knight. With just 3 Gem-Knights, you can summon him. And with that, he gains 100 for each Gem-Knight in your Graveyard, and you can banish a Gem-Knight Fusion Monster to gain their effects. Just simply amazing.

But how does this all work? What is their secret? I'll tell you it. It's Gem-Knight Fusion.

Send, from your hand or your side of the field to the Graveyard, the Fusion Material Monsters that are listed on a "Gem-Knight" Fusion Monster Card, then Special Summon that Fusion Monster from the Extra Deck. (This Special Summon is treated as a Fusion Summon.) If this card is in the Graveyard: You can banish 1 "Gem-Knight" monster from your Graveyard; add this card to your hand.

Basically, you use at least two Gem-Knights to make one Fusion. But you can banish one of the used ones to bring this card back to your hand. That's exactly how that work. And the best part is, it's not Once Per Turn. Do as many times as you can, under playing correctly of course. There are other cards than can help Fusion, but they are complete crap compared to this. This thing helps spam so much Fusion, it's not even funny. Always run 3 and never less. Fucking awesome.

But then when I see people play Gem-Knights, I see them complain about how to get Gem-Knight Fusion to their hand in the first place. They find it a problem to get it out of their deck, despite running 3. And I think that's why some people stray away from this deck (other than hating it for it's disgusting spam :D). Well here's the solution:

2 Level 4 monsters

Once per turn, you can activate 1 of these effects:

● Detach 1 Xyz Material from this card; send 1 card from your Deck to the Graveyard.

● Detach 1 Xyz Material from this card; choose 1 Monster Card from your Deck and put it on top of your Deck.

This bad boy, Lavalval Chain. Wait, that's an XYZ monster meant for Lavals and Gishki only, so how does Gem-Knight Fusion benefit from it. Well Grasshopper, read its first effect. You can detach one XYZ Material to send any card from your deck to your Graveyard. That means Gem-Knight Fusion. And assuming you have one of the Gem-Knights used a XYZ Material, you can banish it and what do you know, you have Gem-Knight Fusion back in your hand with little cost. And it's second effect is optional for you, which allows you to place any Monster Card on top of your deck, which can be useful if you want Gem-Armadillo or something I'll mention next. The only problem is the opponent's cards stopping the first effect. If they do that, you can very well lose the duel. And technically, there is another problem. OCG has it first, and from what I can tell, I don't think they'll be releasing Lavalval Chain anytime soon to TCG, which really sucks. Don't quote me on that, I'm just going off of what most people said. But assuming it does, then hooary.

So the last card that really helps Gem-Knights out is the same card that has Dino Rabbits topping a lot of tournaments in TCG: Rescue Rabbit.

This card cannot be Special Summoned from the Deck. You can banish this face-up card you control; Special Summon 2 Level 4 or lower Normal Monsters with the same name from your Deck. Destroy them during the End Phase. The effect of "Rescue Rabbit" can only be activated once per turn.

The infamous wabbit. This is self explanatory really. Normal Summon him, use his effect, banish him to grab two Gem-Knight Normal Monsters such as Garnet, Tourmaline, or Sapphire (Sapphire is a card you might want to stray away from though). You can either fuse them with GKF if you have it, or Overlay for Lavalval Chain to get that GKF. But here's the thing. Rescue Rabbit is so well know because of Dino Rabbit that most people stop it once it's on the field or it uses it effect. Meaning, even if the person doesn't know Gem-Knights, they sure as hell know Rescue Rabbit and immediantly stop them. This might impact you greatly if you are going to play this deck. So you go to summon him at least first turn or when you're safe. Because if you can't use him, then the fate of losing the duel is the same as not using Lavalval Chain.

Overall, because of this, Gem-Knights are my favorite archetype, in their artwork, effects, and playability and consistency. I seriously hope the support still in OCG finally comes out for TCG. I want to see Gem-Knights tear open some new assholes for those Tier 1 douchebags :)