User blog:NovaTsukimori/Love Unbound Sneak Peek: The Dark Side of the Moon

After Luna stopped using Blood Moon, she introduced us to the newest archetype to grace the competitive scene, Gesshoku.

Gesshoku is an archetype using Pendulum Monsters, but interestingly, you're not going to Pendulum Summon often. Maybe once per Duel, but before I explain why, let's get in to the 3 sub-archetypes of Gesshoku.

Gesshokusenshi is comprised of Warrior-Type monsters and consist of the majority of Gesshoku, being typically Levels 1-4, making them useable with "". Since most of the Tuner monsters are Level 1, "" will feel right at home. But in case you don't have either of those, "Gesshoku - Bridge" can search for them and Special Summon directly from the Deck if you already have a "Gesshoku" on the field. "Gesshokusenshi - Obama" is a very helpful Gesshoku. As many of your monsters rely on being in the Graveyard, once you Normal Summon him, you can Summon back a Gesshokusenshi to Synchro Summon, a Gesshokutei to Tribute Summon, or a Gesshokuryu to activate their terrifying effects.

Speaking of Gesshokutei, now we move on to the mid-Level Gesshoku that require to be Tribute Summoned. Based off their Monarch counterparts, they have similar effects for similar costs. Being that they're Monarchs Pendulum-incarnate, they have more or less the same support as Monarch monsters, though if you want to use the Monarch Spells and Traps without having to deal with not being able to Summon from the Extra Deck, you might want to use. Even if you don't choose to Summon them due to being Pendulum, you can use their powerful Pendulum Effects to dominate the field, which they're largely similar to their normal Tribute Summon effects. Being Level 6, they have amazing Level 7 Synchro potential. Being easily used with the Level 1 Gesshokusenshi Tuner monsters, one can go for an "" or "" in one turn, then Summon another Level 1 to Summon a card like "" (if using a DARK Tuner) or "".

And moving on to the dragons of the Gesshoku, we have Gesshokuryu. At the moment, all Gesshokuryu monsters are Dragon-Type, and high Level, so they can be used with "" to Summon from the Graveyard, or the new "" to Summon from the hand. Additionally, most of these guys are Level 8, so you can discard them with "". But the most notable feature is how well they work with already existing Dragon support. "" and "" can get your Dragons in the Graveyard while cards like "" or "" can resurrect them. Alternatively, during the next Main Phase, after it's sent to the Graveyard, "Solomon" can bring himself or any of his comrades from the Graveyard, including other Gesshoku monsters. Now remember when I said you won't Pendulum Summon often? That's because most of your plays with the Graveyard when building a Deck around Gesshokuryu or all 3 at once.

With these 3 archetypes, you can build a Deck focused on all 3 individually or all at once. You decide. Tomorrow, I'll go over the Gesshoku Spell and Trap Cards, the cards that make Gesshoku so terrifying and competitive.