Card of the Week: Sludge Demon

This weeks card is just one of the powerhouse monsters available to players that prefer to utilize Fusion monsters over the more mainstream Synchro's or Xyz monsters.

Dark/*******/Fiend/Fusion/Effect/ATK:2300/DEF:2100

1 FIRE monster + 1 DARK monster. When this card attacks, your opponent cannot activate any Spell or Trap cards until the end of the Damage Step. When this card destroys a monster in Battle you can reduce the ATK of this card equal to half the ATK of the Destroyed monster to Special Summon that monster to your side of the field.

First, allow me to allay any fears you may have over any potential difficulty in actually Summoning the Demon, or any similar Multi-Attribute Fusion Monsters. Here in LCCG, we try to promote effective use of almost any kind of card you care to name, including Fusion Monsters. With a large amount of Fusion support, searchability, toolboxing and Fusion subs, it's never been so easy to compete with the oldest residents of your Extra Deck. For instance, if you were to run what I call Vanilla Fusion - a deck that relies heavily on use of Fusion Substitute monsters and Normal Monster support - you could Fusion Summon Sludge Demon using a variety of cards including Keeper of the Arsenal, Dharc Dark Corrupt, Hiita Fire Scorch, Ruby Chameleon or Scarlet Sibyl, not to mention that most of these are interchangeable and easy to use for other Fusions. Truly, Fusion monsters have the most flexible and toolbox focused Extra Deck around, and their Main Deck matches that fact superbly.


Sludge Demon itself is certainly no pushover, and it has a very rare but very effective benefit of closing down Spell/Traps while it is attacking. It is an effect that is seldom seen both in LCCG and the TCG, but there is no denying its usefulness. Your opponent wants to activate Flash Grenade? Tough luck. Perhaps they want to use Antennae Tune-Up? Nope. Psycrush? No chance. And that's only half of what Sludge Demon has in its arsenal - if it destroys a monster by battle, you can drop a few of your Demons ATK Points to Special Summon the monster it just ran over to your side of the field! This opens up so much to a Fusion Deck Duelist, as it will add a free monster that you can Fuse with almost any monster in your Deck. Since Sludge Demon has a decent ATK to begin with, it's very simple to bring it out and take a monster from your opponent that they've worked hard to put into play, and since your opponent can't respond to Sludge Demon's ATK with their backrow, they're almost powerless to stop you.


On to some combos now. You may or may not have realized, but Sludge Demon is the only Multi-Attribute Fusion Monster that requires a FIRE Attribute monster as part of its Summoning Conditions. It just so happens that a certain Chameleon that searches out Fusion cards (ie. Advanced Polymerization) is also a FIRE monster. So, you can discard your Ruby Chameleon to search out The Time and Space Chamber - you're two thirds through setting up Sludge Demon - any DARK monster in your Grave (or Fusion Substitution monster) will then allow you to bring Sludge Demon into play. 


Special mention must be made also for Sludge Demon's Level - it's just in the reach of Preparations of Fusions - so just by having Sludge Demon in your Extra Deck, you are free to re-use Ruby Chameleon AND your Fusion Spells. If you feel like it, you could bring in Fusion Cage. With this card, your Sludge Demon can not only shut out backrow when attacking, but also be fearless of any hand-traps your opponent might be packing, or pesky monsters your opponent may try and outplay you with. If you do try that route, you can use It's Raining Spells to tutor copies of Fusion Cage to your hand, and while you're at it, set up your Grave with Djinn's or specific Attribute monsters for use with The Time and Space Chamber. You could also use It's Raining Spells to bring Natural Resource Replenishing (for Fusion Spell recycling) or Ascending Spirit (for Fusion Material recycling) from your Deck to your hand. With Ascending Spirit, this can mean extra Ruby Chameleon use when you've fused for Sludge Demon.


Of course, if you choose to utilize Sludge Demon in a Djinn Fusion deck, there is definite ability to make this monster-stealer even more deadly - like using Prognosticator. Destroying a monster by battle not only forces it to switch sides, but also rips a card straight from your opponents hand. Using Releaser means that your opponent is stuck with weaker monsters as they are unable to Special Summon, meaning Sludge Demon has easy pickings. You could use Disserere to further consolidate protection from Traps. 


There really is so much support out there for Fusion Monsters, and Sludge Demon benefits from it all ten-fold. It's a fantastic card and in the large toolbox Fusion Duelists have, it's certainly one you wouldn't do without.

Card of the Week: Infestation Dracomancer

The very first Card of the Week is going to be a card made by yours truly, and is by far one of my favourites, both in playability and in plain coolness.

Dark/****/Dragon/Atk:2000/Def:0

When this card is Normal Summoned; you can switch this card to Defense Position: Add 1 "Infestation Dracomancer" from your Deck to your hand.

Because who DOESN'T like Dragons? And Dracomancer is definitely one of the most combo-friendly ones around. When you put aside the mini self-Gadget effect or the potential to be a simple, yet thoroughly effective beatstick, it has a lot of good link-ups with almost everything around it. In it's own type, it has some huge bonuses - it is the only Level 4 or lower Dragon (hence Normal Summon-able) that can instantly be used to fit the Summoning requirements of Fafnir the Corrupt. Fafnir, at the cost of banishing a Dragon with 2000 or higher Atk, can Special Summon itself from the hand with a sizeable 2600 Atk body. Even better is that Fafnir can start eating cards from your opponents hand for a mere 1000 Life Points per turn. What makes Infestation Dracomancer so great in this, is that if you switched the original to Defense Position, you'll still have another in hand to make further use of!

Dracomancer also has a good friend in the form of Golden Wing Dragon. You can send a Golden Wing Dragon from your hand and a Dragon on your side of the field to the Graveyard to draw twice. A simple draw engine, but Dracomancer has some nifty perks that put it above other Dragons as draw fodder. The first is clear - the Dracomancer on field has probably brought another to your hand, allowing you to gain advantage from the combo rather than breaking even. However, perk number two can be quite upsetting for your opponent. The DARK Infestation Dracomancer and LIGHT Golden Wing Dragon means you have instant Chaos access. Deep Chaos Dragon is another Main Deck boss that most decks would give an arm and a leg to play, but Dracomancer goes a long way to making your Chaos boss live very quickly. Plus, if you have another DARK monster in your Grave, you can banish it to bring Golden Wing Dragon back from the beyond to your hand, ready to repeat the process again.

If you want to keep a steady stream of searching with Infestation Dracomancer, you could consider playing Cold Front Dragon. After playing your first copy and searching another, you can return the on-field Dracomancer to your Deck to Special Summon Cold Front Dragon from your hand, while ensuring that your in-hand Dracomancer has a target in Deck to bring back to your hand in your next turn. Or, if Cold Front Dragon hits the Graveyard and you draw into the returned Draco, you could always let Cold Front Special Summon your Draco, Normal Summon your in-hand copy, search Dracomancer No.3 and go straight for an Xyz Summon.

All-in-all, Infestation Dracomancer is a huge addition to a lot of Dragon decks. It's consistency, deck-thinning, beatdown and combo-friendly all in one package. Who doesn't love Dragons?