Introduction to Bystial Thunder Dragon
- Introduction
- Engine
- Techs
- Sample Decklists
- Combos
- Tips
Thunder Dragons is a mid-range strategy that uses Loading... to slow down your opponent with the help of other side engines and/or non-engine, which helps you utilize the value of your cards on subsequence turns, either to OTK turn 3 or grind beyond that.
Thunder Dragons have 2 main issues, one is consistency and the other is how clunky the engine is as it relies on 2 card combos.
Bystials help with both, they reduce the amount of ThunDra engine you need to run and by being level 6 monsters, allows you to to XYZ Loading... , letting you send Loading... or Loading... from the deck to the GY.
Bystials also increase your ceiling by giving you the option to banish LIGHT and DARK monsters from either players' GYs, letting you disrupt your opponent or trigger the effects of your ThunDras, also taking advantage of the once per turn effects of your ThunDras during their turn.
Loading... gives you access to Loading... and Loading... which are great tools to control the game and to make your grind game even stronger.
Main Deck
The heart and soul of the deck.
Enables various plays, +1 for mulligan, gives targets in GY for the Bystials, discard outlet and free fusion material.
With a fair amount of Bystials, it helps a lot to get Loading... out, as it fulfills the Thunder effect in hand, gets 1 or 2 targets in GY for a Bystial and it can be tribute summoned over a Bystial so you have a Thunder monster to use as Colossus material.
The ROTA of the deck. It's a different kind of ROTA, as it needs to be triggered by banishing it or by sending from field to GY e. g. as material for Tribute, Link, Fusion, etc.
The discard effect being a Quick-Effect comes up in simplified gamestates, as it enables Loading... 's effect. It's also a good way to get it in your GY during your opponent's turn to have access to its other effect, but be aware of Loading... , unless you will banish it from GY, it's not worth the risk losing its effect due to Called by.
With Bystials you have a lot of opportunities to trigger the banish effect throughout multiple turns and during both players turns.
The E-Tele of the deck, but also how you recover any TD card.
It can either enable the send from field to GY or the discard effect of all your TDs. So make sure you choose correctly as you can only use one of the effects per turn.
It’s more bricky then the previous ones, playing 2 is a good ratio. If you want to focus on the 2 card combos that work with it then 3 can be ok.
Special summoning any TD that is Banished or in GY, gives a lot of options of follow-up when you can summon TDdark/TDroar. But also the easiest way to summon Loading... .
The Loading... effect is a very good option to have, it can help find techs, shuffle back Garnets or cards you can't use, and becomes a lot better with the +1 from Loading... .
A searchable fusion spell that also recycles your resources.
A ROTA for any Thunder type monster, but only while in GY and not in the same turn it was sent. It's one of the best follow-up cards in the game, having the flexibility to add your TDs, Loading... or to even add techs like Loading... and Loading... .
It's how you can access the effects of your TDs from the deck and how you can easily make Link2s (with TDroar's effect). Keeping the card you banish for 2 turns helps a lot in grind games.
Solar is your best Normal summon. It interacts with most of your cards, it can send any Thunder Dragon to be triggered by a Bystial.
It's likely to get hand-trap'd, but since it’s a Thunder monster it can still be tributed for Loading... .
If a Thunder monster is summoned (by either player), it will generate a token if you have room on your field, keep this in mind as it can give a lot of draws for Maxx “C”, sometimes it’s better to tribute it for Colossus earlier, if you think they might have the insect.
It's also a good follow-up option since it's searchable with Loading... and gives a lot of swarming options with its token and the flexibility to what you can send to your GY.
Draw power that also triggers TDdark/TDroar.
If you don't have a play and also no darks in hand, make sure to set your spells before you gamble.
You can choose to not play it in favor of running more Chaos cards or non-Engine, but that's a meta choice.
It searches any Bystial, making it more flexible, so you can utilize different names during the same turn.
Having multiples means you are likely to draw it and when you draw multiples you can either play through the opponent's Bystials or be able to banish it to summon your Bystials while you can summon the other from your hand.
It plays Loading... or Loading... from the deck face-up, so it gives a disruption, or card advantage, while when you go 2nd, it will likely trade disruptions very well.
It searches any Dragon during the End Phase, meaning it’s the one you want to open, as when you go second you can potentially summon during their turn and the search will give you flexibility to add whatever you need.
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Saronir helps you access Lubellion and Loading... . Its effect is the easiest to trigger, sent to GY from deck, discard with Loading... , detach from XYZ, etc.
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Druiswurm can remove a special summoned monster if it leaves the field to the GY, which you can easily do with Loading... .
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Baldrake requires more monsters on the field and can be disrupted more easily. It’s inferior to Duriswurm as you can’t use it to remove monsters your opponents summoned previously.
Draw power and you can use it to banish cards from your GY that you want back in your Deck/Extra Deck.
The reborn effect is also very good. As you can link off Bystials during your turn knowing you will potentially be able to reborn them during their turn, this is also a way to trigger Loading... ’s effect during their turn without having it in hand.
Generic removal/disruption which is great in a Best of One.
It’s your main target to play from the deck with Lubellion. During the End Phase can play Regained from your GY. Remember that you need to tribute a Dragon while you control a Bystial to activate it (almost all your Dragons are "Bystial" with a few exceptions being techs and Extra Deck monsters).
It’s extra copies of Lubellion. And ideally you want to have a DARK target for it. It’s not core as it can be a bit bricky to focus too much on Lubellion. It’s also not a great card to have in meta where Loading... ’ decks are around as you can’t activate it.
The DARK target will serve as utility and are the ones that will help get off the draw effect from Space since you don’t want to banish Lubellion unless you have multiples.
In order of utility and consistency, the further down the less uses and value it has (more likely to be dead weight):
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Emperor has a lot of utility as you can add banished Dragons to your hand that you may have banished with Loading... . It also serves as a basic Chaos extender, but you can do it every turn as if you tribute or link it off it goes back to your Extra Deck.
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Collapserpent, also accompanied by Loading... , gives extra link material while it’s the easiest way to use Loading... ’s Draw.
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The Chaos Creator is also accessible with Loading... . It’s a good follow-up option and has nice synergy with Loading... and Loading... as you can special summon your opponent’s monsters.
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Thunder Dragonduo has some niches, like being able to destroy monsters by battle to search any Thunder monster and potentially triggering an effect of your Thunder Dragons. It's also very accessible.
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Chaos Dragon Levianeer is also a Dragon so you can also search with Magnamhut’s effect. It has a powerful effect when you go 2nd to destroy up to 2 cards on the field and you are also able to chain block its effect with your Thunder Dragons making it a little harder to be negated. But it requires a lot more GY fuel.
Other options
Mostly to send TDdark/TDroar, Lubellion or Regained (sending Saronir, to then send Lubellion or Regained) to combo off with the part of the engine you already have. But they have very low value to extend when you already have access to those cards.
Diviner is another decent option. It's a tuner so it helps make Chaos Ruler and since its a level 2 you can reborn with Loading... or Loading... to use its effect. You can use it to send Loading... making it level 6, then you can banish Valk with a Bystial, which will trigger Valk to send any LIGHT/DARK monster from deck to GY (you won’t be able to activate its effect this turn but you can use it during their turn, like reborn effect of Loading... ). This also lets you make Loading... .
Branded engine is still an option to access your ThunDra engine or Lubellion/Regained and Loading... through Loading... . Its downsides are locking into Fusions, requiring the Albaz garnet and not trading well vs Ash Blossom. Also it increases your ceiling by using Loading... at the end of your combo to summon Loading... .
You can check my Branded guide here for more information. There are newer lines of plays in the combo section.
It’s a good Normal summon but it requires a fair amount of Thunder monsters to be a consistent starter, but it can be used as an extra Normal summon with the lack of Bystials availability. You also may add 2 copies of Loading... .
Extra Deck
It's your main turn 1 goal.
Decent splashable boss monster but for this deck it's a pseudo Link 1 that will trigger your Thunder Dragon effects.
Its protection effect triggers your TDs, giving you card advantage or making your opponent avoid doing so, which protects your other monsters from mass destruction cards.
You can use its protection effect to trigger TDs by attempting to destroy it with Loading... .
Stopping your opponent from adding cards from deck to the hand before they deal with it, makes them take less optimal lines, which technically doesn't make them lose card advantage directly but definitely prevents them from plussing much.
When a Thunder effect is activated in the hand, you can chain Titan to destroy a card on the field. The key factors here are:
- if you activate the Thunder effect in hand, your opponent will be able to respond, which can prevent you from chaining Titan.
- In a mirror match, you have to be careful to not give free value with your ThunDra effects in hand.
It's a great board breaker, despite being chain blockable, it will most of the time force cards or they will get destroyed. It's also very good in simplified game states where your opponent doesn't have many options to prevent its effect from going off.
It's not a great turn 1 disruption as your opponent has likely a lot of ways to work around it. It's better to summon it only if shuffling TDs won't affect your follow-up and/or if you have 1 Quick-Effect discard. Summoning turn 1 is also a way to get Loading... in the GY. You need 2 copies to establish the resource loop (more in the Combo section), a 3rd copy helps so you can recycle more names instead of having to recycle Titan.
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Seal is a good disruption and can summon Bystials from the deck when tributed.
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Cross-Sheep is great to reborn low level monsters to utilize their effects on your follow-up or just simply to Link climb. Try to summon Colossus in the middle zone, that way you can make sure you will be able to summon Cross-Sheep so it points to Colossus.
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Spright Elf can give target protection to your monsters while you can also use it to reborn a Link 2 on your follow-up. You can easily make it with Cross-Sheep. It's also another way to summon Colossus since it's a Thunder monster.
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I:P is a nice disruption option to go into Loading... or Loading... during their Main Phase.
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Beatrice is mostly for consistency.
The rest of your Extra Deck can be filled with Generic options to deal with what your engine can't. A nice advantage Bystials have over other engines like Branded Fusion is the Extra Deck being an actual toolbox.
Other Small Engines
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Chaos Ruler is a great card to help find your engine pieces, giving a higher ceiling and great follow-up. Its downside is that it doesn't play well into hand traps.
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You can also often make Chaos Ruler with Ash Blossom + a level 5, so if you have the space it's definitely worth including in your Extra Deck.
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Assault Synchron is a great Tuner that helps making Chaos Ruler but also has some synergy with Loading... .
Atum can be easily summoned with 2 Bystials and then can summon Brotaur from the deck. Brotaur then will trigger allowing you to search any DARK or LIGHT Dragon from your deck to your hand, this can give you access to whatever extender you need or maybe just to your Lubellion.
You can further use those plus another Dragon extender to summon Trishula, which then will be able to get information on what deck you are playing against and can banish Thunder Dragonroar from your deck. This does not fare well into hand traps and even less into Maxx “C” but it's worth mentioning as it’s only 2 Bystials plus 1 discard that gives access to your Thunder Dragon engine and gives information on what deck your opponent is playing.
Synergistic Techs
Overall, hand traps are good as you can draw them during their turn with from Regained, Thunder Dragonhawk and Maxx “C”’s effects and be usable right away.
Veiler is a bit better as you can protect it from Loading... ’s effect with your Bystials, and you can also recycle with Loading... .
Negates effects that target your monsters, which can protect from hand traps or your end board pieces.
It`s quite searchable with the effects of Loading... , Loading... and Loading... through Loading... 's effect.
You can use it to fill your GY to make your Bystials live, it also triggers Loading... and Loading... (if sent from the field).
Super Poly can be a good board breaker option and when you can summon Garura with it, it will help make Loading... and you also get to draw 1 off Garura.
The combos are very straightforward, the difficult part is resource management and to play around hand traps and Bystials.
The Basics
- Your first goal is to stablash Loading... but also trying to get card advantage while doing it.
Most of the time you will use Loading... 's effect to add Loading... or either Loading... or Loading... when you draw the other, that way you have TDF in your GY for next turn, with access to TDdark it will give you a lot of OTK options or the option to establish a Loading... resource loop.
Loading... is mostly used as an early step to trigger TDdark, while getting an additional body on the field. And when you already have a way to trigger TDdark you can usually be greedy and try to resolve Loading... 's mulligan effect.
- Your 2nd goal is to have disruption(s) along Colossus.
Loading... which can be setup by Loading... , gives a disruption for multiple turns. A couple of Link options to strengthen your turn 1 board. Ideally you want to have a Bystial in your hand during their turn, so if you only have Lubellion you will search Loading... as it will search another Bystial, if you already have a Bystial, just add Saronir, as it gives access to Regained.
Combo Replays
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Solar + Lubellion Duelingbook Replay
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Solar + Lubellion (less draws vs Loading... ) (2x combos) Duelingbook Replay
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Solar + Lubellion (after Allure) Duelingbook Replay
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Solar + 2 Bystials Duelingbook Replay
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Just Bystials Duelingbook Replay
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3 Bystials #1 Duelingbook Replay
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3 Bystials #2 Duelingbook Replay
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Baby Dragons #1 Duelingbook Replay
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Assault Synchron and Chaos Ruler Duelingbook Replay
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Branded combo for Regained and Beast:
- BF + TDdark Dueling book Replay
- BF + Lubellion Dueling book Replay
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Different ways to use your engine Duelingbook Replay
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Titan loop (includes Cross-Sheep follow-up play) Duelingbook Replay
Chain Blocking
Sometimes you have an important effect that you want to go through when if they are able to use Loading... you might end on no disruption and maybe not even any follow-up option. This can also be used when you go 2nd into other disruptions.
There are a couple of ways to Chain Block, I‘ll list the more common ones: Loading... banishing a Thunder Dragon, since Magnamhut is the only Bystial with an effect if it's special summoned. You can activate a Thunder Dragon as CL1 and Magnamhut as CL2.
Loading... , Loading... and Loading... have effects when sent from field to GY (like the Thunder Dragons}, which is a nice way to trigger multiple effects in a chain, protecting what's more important to resolve.
Some link monsters can also provide chain block protection, like the Knightmares and Loading... if you special something to its arrows, so it points to a Fusion (or maybe synchro) at the same time you use as material a monster that will also trigger.
Resource Management
The better your resource management is, the easier your grind games will go, as long as you have your engine going, you should usually have your win set on turn 3/4 without really needing to rely on top decks.
With a lot of ways to banish from you GY, Bystials, Chaos monsters and the protection from your Fusions, it's important to recycle your banished Thunder Dragons:
- Prioritizing TDhawk's effect to summon a banished TD instead of one in GY;
- Banishing your TDs from GY before shuffling them back with Loading... ;
Be careful to not shuffle into your deck your Thunder Dragondark if it means you won't have access to it next turn, with Loading... or with Loading... , it might be worth waiting for another opportunity to trigger it over losing access to TDdark.