Introduction
The HERO deck is a combo-heavy archetype that has great potential as a contender for one of the top rogue decks currently available in Master Duel. In this guide, I will provide an in-depth analysis of the deck, how best to build and pilot it, what tech cards to use, some combos, along with a sample deck list that I have been using since the new DPE engine was released.
Pros: As the only deck that can summon DPE without Anaconda or Fusion Destiny, Heroes can end with some of the strongest boards going first with a combination of strong boss monsters like DPE, Plasma, Dark Law, and Absolute Zero. Likewise, going second, Heroes are very capable of breaking most board with a combination of Super Poly, Trinity, and Honest Neos.
Cons: Since the deck has no innate negates, it really loses hard to board wipes like Loading... , Loading... , Loading... /Loading... , and Kaijus.
HERO Core Cards
Main Deck
- Elemental HEROs
- Vision HEROs
- Destiny HEROs
- Spells
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Link any two heroes off into Cross Crusader.
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Using Cross Crusader, special summon Drawhand from the graveyard.
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When Drawhand’s effect activates as Chain Link 1, chain Mask Change to Drawhand as Chain Link 2 (and, if you have a 2nd Mask Change, chain that in Chain Link 3 to Cross Crusader).
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You will then have either one or two Dark Law on the field, so when Drawhand’s effect resolves, both players draw 1, then your opponent banishes 1 or 2.
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Drawhand resummons himself on the opponent’s standby phase, banishing another 1-2 cards from their hand. Then, if you run Droll & Lock bird, you can activate that after Drawhand’s effect, blocking your opponent from adding any other cards to their hand. It’s a very gimmicky combo, but very fun to pull off. However, as stated above, once Denier was released, the need to run things like Drawhand isn’t there anymore.
Extra Deck
The Masked HEROs
The Omni HEROs (and one dragon)
The Xtra HEROs
Tech Cards and Staples
Matchups against the top tier decks
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Sword Soul: Going first, you want to try your hardest to end on a board with some combination of Dark Law and DPE. Dark Law prevents them from putting Vishuda (or any Tenyi) into the graveyard to potentially bounce one of your cards back after linking off into Monk of Tenyi. He also potentially banishes one of their key cards if they try to search with Emergence or Grand Master, or draw with Mo Ye, and turns off the effect of Taiya to banish from the graveyard to make a token or send Mo Ye to the graveyard after making Baxia. DPE’s main job is to pop a Sword Soul token after they make one with Mo Ye, or if you have a way to negate Grand Master, wait until they special Summon Longyuan so they can’t make Baronne or Chengying. Going second, you will most likely be dealing with Baronne, Grand Master, and a set Blackout. Your best bet is to pray you have your Super Poly in the opening hand, then normal summon any hero and immediately chain Super Poly to make Great Tornado using their Baronne. If you don’t have Super Poly, you need to try and bait out Baronne’s negate with a spell (droplet, imperm, or a hero lives), so you can safely summon a monster without it getting destroyed. Assuming Baronne negates A Hero Lives, and Chixiao negates Stratos or Vyon, hopefully you have Faris, Fusion Destiny, or Polymeirzation in hand to go into a DPE play, or make Trinity to swing over both of them for potential lethal.
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Zoodiac Tri-Brigade: Going first, try your absolute hardest to get Dark Law out. Not having access to their graveyard destroys any strategy Tri-Zoo tries to implement. If you have a Called by the Grave, save it for their Nerval, so they can’t add Fraktall or Kerass to their hand. If you have imperm, wait until their monster activates its effect banishing from the graveyard before you negate. If you make DPE, make sure to pop their monster after the summon before it can activate its effect to banish from the graveyard. If they normal summon any Zoodiac monster, you need to immediately pop it with DPE to prevent them from going into a Drident/Zeus play. Going second, the board you’ll most likely have to fight through is a three material Apollousa and a set Revolt. Assuming you don’t have a droplet, Super Poly, or Imperm, your best bet is to get Apollousa to negate your normal summon, reducing her attack to 1600, making it easy for you to swing over it with your normal summon. Once you attempt to enter the battle phase, they will most likely Revolt in response to make Shuraig and banish your normal summon. You’re then safe to continue your Main Phase 1, using a combination of any Destiny Hero in your graveyard, Faris, or a fusion play to bait out the last negates from Apollousa.
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Eldlich: Going first, try your best to end on a board with a set Mask Change, and Dark Law + Absolute Zero on your field. Once they set their cards and attempt to end their turn, Mask Change Absolute Zero into Acid, wiping their entire back row and banishing it if you have Dark Law on the field. It’s almost impossible for them to recover at that point. NOTE, having Dark Law on the field also stops any potential Eldlich plays on their turn, since it requires being sent to the graveyard to send something on the field to the GY. Going second, if you don’t run feather duster, it’s a very difficult match for heroes. A potential combo you can do to out a Skill Drain is if they already have Eldlich on the field, special summon Faris to get a hero on the field, then normal summon Stratos, activate his effect to pop a back row, then in response to that, sacrifice him with Droplet so that his backrow destruction effect goes off in the graveyard, getting rid of Skill Drain. However, sometimes Eldlich just draws the best hand in the game, activated Skill Drain and Imperial Order, and there’s nothing that can be done. Going 2nd against Eldlich is probably the hardest matchup heroes has.
Sample decklists
Super Poly List
Evil HERO List
Combos
The part about playing heroes that, to me, is the most fun is the versatile combo routes you can take. Each duel is different, based on the cards in your hand. I’ll go over the four “main” combo routes to give you an idea how to best pilot the deck with an ideal hand.
The Stratos Line (Stratos + another hero in hand)
- Normal summon Stratos, adding Faris to your hand (if not already there), or Shadow Mist (if Faris is in your hand).
- Discarding Shadow Mist, special summon Faris, adding Increase to your backrow, and searching for Liquid Soldier with Shadow Mist’s effect, or if Liquid Soldier is in your hand, search for Denier. If Denier and Liquid are both in your hand, search for Plasma.
- Tribute Faris to special summon Increase, then Vyon from your deck, putting Malicious in the graveyard. Banish Faris to Vyon to add Polymerization to your hand.
- Link off Stratos and Increase to make Cross Crusader, special summoning Malicious from the graveyard.
- Tribute Malicious to search for Denier (or Plasma if it is already in your hand).
- Using Malicious’ effect, banish it from your graveyard to special summon the second one from your deck.
- Using Polymerization on Liquid Soldier and Denier in your hand, summon Sunrise. Making Liquid Soldier CL1 and Sunrise CL2, add Miracle Fusion to the hand, draw 2 and discard 1 (for the sake of the combo, I am going to assume you drew into Plasma).
- Link off Cross Crusader and Vyon to make Wonder Driver.
- Activate Denier from the graveyard to special summon itself to the zone Wonder Driver points to, adding the banished Malicious back to your deck, and re-setting Polymerization.
- Use Polymerization to fuse Malicious and Denier to make DPE.
- Activate Malicious again to re-summon it to the field.
- Use Miracle Fusion to make Absolute Zero with cards in your graveyard.
- Tribute Sunrise, Malicious, and Wonder Driver to summon Plasma.
- End Board: Absolute Zero with DPE to pop it for a potential monster board wipe, and Plasma to act as a one-sided Skill Drain. NOTE: if you drew Fusion Destiny, you are able to keep Sunrise on the field, adding an additional layer of protection to your other heroes.
The Vyon Line (Vyon in hand)
- Normal summon Vyon, putting Shadow Mist in the graveyard, adding Liquid Soldier to your hand with Shadow Mist.
- Banish Shadow Mist with Vyon to add Polymerization to hand.
- Using Liquid Soldier and another hero in hand (or the Vyon on field if you have no other heroes), make Sunrise. Using Liquid Soldier as CL1, and Sunrise as CL2, add Miracle Fusion to hand, draw 2 and discard 1.
- Miracle Fusion materials from your graveyard to make Absolute Zero
- Link off Vyon and Sunrise into Anaconda, using Fusion Destiny to summon DPE.
- End Board: Absolute Zero with DPE to pop it and potentially wipe the opponent’s field of monsters.
The Mask Change Line (Mask Change with Stratos in hand)
- Normal Summon Stratos to search for Faris (if you have another hero in hand), or Shadow Mist (if you have Faris in hand). Note: If your opponent tries to imperm or veiler your stratos, you can respond with Mask Change to make Blast.
- Discard Shadow Mist with Faris, special summoning itself to the field, and adding Liquid Soldier to the hand with Shadow Mist and placing Increase into the backrow.
- Tribute Faris to special summon Increase, special summoning Vyon from the deck, and putting Malicious into the graveyard. Banishing Faris with Vyon, add Polymerization to your hand.
- Link off Stratos and Increase to make Cross Crusader, special summoning Malicious to the field. Activate Cross Crusader to tribute Malicious and add Liquid Soldier to hand.
- Link off Cross Crusader and Vyon to special summon Wonder Driver. Activate Malicious’ effect to banish itself and special summon the 2nd Malicious from your deck, in any zone other than the one Wonder Driver points to.
- Mask Change on Malicious to make Dark Law, summoning Dark Law to the zone Wonder Driver points to, resetting Mask Change for your opponent’s turn.
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Use Denier’s effect to special summon itself, returning the banished Malicious to your deck.
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Activate Malicious’ effect once again to special summon itself to the field.
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Use Polymerization to make DPE.
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End Board: DPE for a pop, Dark Law for Floodgate, 2nd Mask Change to use with your Shadow Mist to make 2nd Dark Law and search for either Honest Neos or another Stratos/Vyon for your following turn.
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Using Liquid Soldier plus any other hero in hand (or the Wonder Driver on the field) to make Sunrise. Using Liquid as CL1 and Sunrise as CL2, add Miracle Fusion to hand, then draw 2 and discard 1.
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Using Miracle Fusion, make Absolute Zero with materials from the graveyard.
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End Board: Dark Law Floodgate, Sunrise to protect your other heroes, and a set Mask Change that can be used either on Shadow Mist to make 2nd Dark Law, or on Absolute Zero to make Acid, activating both of their effects to destroy all opponent’s monsters and all of their backrow.
The A Hero Lives Line (A Hero Lives + Stratos or Vyon in hand)
- Play A Hero Lives, special summon Shadow Mist, adding Mask Change to hand.
- Normal summon Stratos, add Faris to hand (if not already in hand), otherwise add Malicious.
- Discarding Malicious, special summon Faris, placing Increase in the back row. Activate Increase to special summon itself to the field and Vyon from the deck, putting Denier in the graveyard. Activate Vyon to banish Faris and add Polymerization to hand.
- Link off Stratos and Increase to make Cross Crusader, special summoning Malicious to the field. Activate Cross Crusader to tribute Malicious and ass Liquid Soldier to hand.
- Link off Cross Crusader and Vyon to special summon Wonder Driver. Activate Malicious’ effect to banish itself and special summon the 2nd Malicious from your deck, in any zone other than the one Wonder Driver points to.
- Mask Change on Malicious to make Dark Law, summoning Dark Law to the zone Wonder Driver points to, resetting Mask Change for your opponent’s turn. a. Use Denier’s effect to special summon itself, returning the banished Malicious to your deck. b. Activate Malicious’ effect once again to special summon itself to the field. c. Use Polymerization to make DPE. d. End Board: DPE for a pop, Dark Law for Floodgate, 2nd Mask Change to use with your Shadow Mist to make 2nd Dark Law and search for either Honest Neos or another Stratos/Vyon for your following turn.
- Using Liquid Soldier plus any other hero in hand (or the Wonder Driver on the field) to make Sunrise. Using Liquid as CL1 and Sunrise as CL2, add Miracle Fusion to hand, then draw 2 and discard 1.
- Using Miracle Fusion, make Absolute Zero with materials from the graveyard.
- End Board: Dark Law Floodgate, Sunrise to protect your other heroes, and a set Mask Change that can be used either on Shadow Mist to make 2nd Dark Law, or on Absolute Zero to make Acid, activating both of their effects to destroy all opponent’s monsters and all of their backrow.
Conclusion
Although a bit expensive to make, the power of heroes in the current meta is undeniable. Whether you’re ending on a board with a combination of Plasma, Dark Law and DPE, or you’re OTK’ing on the swing back with an honest neo boosted Trinity, heroes doesn’t disappoint in variety, strength, and viability. Remember to not accidentally lock yourself out of a wonder driver / absolute zero play by using fusion destiny too early and remember you can activate mask change to dodge things like veiler and imperm, and I promise you heroes is a good contender to climb with!