I'm not a P.U.N.K. I swear!!
The Grand Creators is here and with it comes another new and interesting archetype called P.U.N.K!
This is one of my personal favourite new themes to enter the Yu-Gi-Oh! TCG, not only for its colourful artwork, but also for its unique playstyle. But what makes this archetype so interesting? Well let’s jump straight into breaking down this wonderful new theme!
What is P.U.N.K.?
The P.U.N.K. theme has a lot of effects that help to get other P.U.N.K. cards out of the deck so that you always maintain card advantage. All the Level 3 monsters are Psychic Tuners and they each require you to pay 600LP to use their primary effects which will net you cards from your Deck to your hand and each also boasts a secondary effect to assist you in various situations as the duel progresses including a built in Synchro Summon or even a Fusion Summon without the use of a Fusion-Related Spell Card such as Polymerization.
Since all the Level 3s are Psychics we have a wonderful reprint in The Grand Creators – Emergency Teleport, which assists you in getting monsters directly out of your Deck to start your plays.
The deck also has two Level 8 monsters which are Beast and Fiend-Type respectively who assist you in getting more card advantage or just setting up your plays to eventually bring out their ace: Ukiyoe P.U.N.K. Amazing Dragon.
The Main P.U.N.K.s
So now that we have a summary of the deck, let’s get into the main engine.
Noh-P.U.N.K. Ze Amin
This is your main Monster searcher. By paying 600LP you can add 1 P.U.N.K. monster from your Deck to your hand except another copy of herself.
If that’s not enough if she is sent to the Graveyard by any means she can boost the ATK of one of your P.U.N.K. monster’s by 600.
Gagaku-P.U.N.K. Wa Gon
Wa Gon is your Spell searcher by also paying 600LP to search your Deck for any P.U.N.K. Spell Card.
Also, if your opponent activates a card or effect that targets a P.U.N.K. monster or monsters you control or even when a P.U.N.K. is targeted for an attack you can just draw 1 card netting you a card essentially for free.
Joruri-P.U.N.K. Madame Spider
Your Trap searcher has arrived again by paying the 600LP you can get one of the two amazing Trap Cards this Deck has to combat your opponent.
This one is a real P.U.N.K if I do say so myself (yes i said it, don’t shoot me) as its secondary effect allows you to half the ATK of an opponent’s monster whenever you activate another P.U.N.K. card that targets any card your opponent controls.
So rather than it being reactive like the two before it, YOU are in control of when you want to use this ability.
Ukiyoe-P.U.N.K. Sharakusai
This boy is probably the best of the Level 3s you can ask for and you always want to use his first effect as he allows you to pay 600LP to Fusion Summon in your turn to get your combo going.
His secondary effect however allows you to again pay 600LP to Synchro Summon in your opponent’s turn which is just amazing.
Noh-P.U.N.K. Ogre Dance
This scary looking card is in fact exactly what you would expect – scary. It boasts three effects and each benefit you in a different way.
Firstly, it can Special Summon itself from your hand by Tributing a P.U.N.K. monster you control so you have an instant 2500ATK beater on the field.
Secondly you can send it from either your hand or your field to the Graveyard to search any one of your level 3 P.U.N.K monsters.
And lastly when your opponent activates a monster effect then you can boost this card’s ATK by the ATK of the opponent’s monster which could give you a massive boost and also allow you to finish your opponent off quickly.
Noh-P.U.N.K. Foxy Tune
Foxy Tune is your second Level 8 monster who also has three effects.
Just like Noh-P.U.N.K. Ogre Dance it can Special Summon itself by tributing a P.U.N.K monster you control.
It also has the effect to send itself to the Graveyard from your hand or field, not to search for one of your Level 3 P.U.N.K. monsters but to instead Special Summon one of them directly from your Deck!!! Just note that it does require you to send another card from your hand to the Graveyard as well to use this effect.
If you’re low on time? No problem! Noh-P.U.N.K. Foxy Tune lets you gain Life equal to the ATK of any monster it destroys in battle!
So, your little Level 3 Psychics get your plays started and generate you advantage and cause interruption against your opponent whereas your two Level 8s help to get you into your Psychics to speed up your plays as well as allow you to either win the game quickly or just create a gap between you and your opponent’s Life Points.
The main combo line however heavily revolves around using Ukiyoe-P.U.N.K. Sharakusai to Fusion Summon into our next card:
Ukiyoe-P.U.N.K. Rising Carp
This is your Fusion Monster and let me tell you if you can successfully resolve his effect, you will be in a very happy place.
His first effect allows you to tribute himself in order to Special Summon two of your Level 3 P.U.N.K. monsters from your hand and/or Deck.
This allows you to get all of your level 3 effects going in the first turn to put pressure on your opponent.
His second effect can be activated when you use him for a Synchro Summon and that will allow you to have one of your P.U.N.K. monsters attack twice in that turn.
Speaking of Synchros
Here we have the boss monster of the theme:
Ukiyoe-P.U.N.K. Amazing Dragon
Amazing Dragon really is amazing because when it is Synchro Summoned you are allowed to target cards your opponent controls up to the number of Level 3 Psychic monsters with different names you have on your field and in your Graveyard combined and return them to their owner’s hand. The theme allows you to return 4 cards alone and that is without support of other non-theme monsters you can add to your strategy to make this effect even more powerful. But wait, don’t Synchro Summons usually happen in your turn?
Well yes so if you are going first you wouldn’t want to bring your ace out immediately, but that is where you set yourself up for the second effect of Ukiyoe-P.U.N.K. Sharakusai to Synchro Summon in your opponent’s turn! So just as they are trying to build their board you can dismantle it, forcing them to work harder to make a decent play.
Now Ukiyoe-P.U.N.K. Amazing Dragon doesn’t only have that one ability, it also allows you to revive one of your P.U.N.K. monsters to help you push for more plays or to help finish the game with multiple attacks!
Spells and Traps
Now that the Monsters are covered, we can take a quick look at the Spells and Traps this theme has to offer.
The two Spell cards are: Gagaku-P.U.N.K. Wild Picking and Gagaku-P.U.N.K. Crash Beat
Wild Picking assists you in destroying an opponent’s monster if they target your P.U.N.K. for an attack and if Wild Picking is destroyed then your monsters are protected from battle for the turn.
Crash Beat lets you destroy any card your opponent controls if your opponent targets a P.U.N.K. monster you control with a card effect and if Crash Beat is destroyed then your monsters are protected from targeting and destruction effects.
We also have two Traps for the theme: Joruri-P.U.N.K. Nashiwari Surprise and Joruri-P.U.N.K. Dangerous Gabu.
Nashiwari Surprise lets you destroy a face-down card your opponent controls but if you control a P.U.N.K. monster then you can destroy a face-up card instead. So, this allows you to combat your opponent’s field whether you have a monster or not.
Dangerous Gabu is your negate of the theme, you get to negate an Effect monster your opponent controls until the end of the turn but if you control a P.U.N.K. monster you will gain Life equal to the ATK of the monster you negated.
There we have it!
A theme with a new style of play and awesome art will definitely make for a lot of fun and interesting games!!
I must say that this theme has got me super excited to crack open The Grand Creators and show everyone that I’m not a P.U.N.K……. or am I??
Source Credit:
https://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Default.aspx
Easy Gaming Group