Buster Blader Guide Published on February 15, 2019 by Voltegeist Updated on February 8, 2020 Updated Matchups

Introduction

Hi, it’s me again, back with another guide, and this time… Buster Blader. Buster Blader decks aren’t really anything new, in fact, , , and all came in the Crimson Kingdom Box. I used to play Buster Blader, the Destruction Swordmaster with back during the Sylvan meta. Buster Blader only really became relevant after the mini box Power of Bravery was released a few boxes back, and with it the introduction of and . As if that was not enough, Konami decided to give us access to 3 which made the deck way stronger and more consistent. And now, with the introduction of Return of the Red Eyes this deck has become so much more versatile as you can play heavily towards either Red-Eyes or Buster Blader depending on the matchup.

Skills to Consider Running

This Skill is very versatile as it allows you to play up to six , since you can exchange your and for a Whelp. The most optimal way to play this Skill would be 2x BMD, 1x Black Stone, and 1 x as you can keep recycling your Black Stone (Discarding it for or by using it as Fusion Material) and Red-Eyes (by sending it back to the deck with Black Stone’s GY effect) You will be able to use multiple s while having a lower chance to open a Red-Eyes in your starting hand.

This Skill is usually played with Red-Eyes Buster Blader and is usually always activatable as you can easily summon high leveled monsters almost every turn. Beatdown is great for getting over big monsters (Neos, Blue-Eyes, Reactor Dragon, etc.) in the current meta when you don’t have your combo pieces out. This Skill is also useful for giving your Red-Eyes Archfiend of Lightning more reach in what it can destroy with its effect.

This Skill is for pulling out the final missing piece of the combo to draw into the card you need to lock a win, but not having any LP manipulating cards make this Skill a bit hard to pop as experienced players will just play around it. This Skill is a bit more flexible with the tech cards you can play as you can pretty much pull into anything you need when in a pinch. You could either play this with Red-Eyes Buster Blader or you could play a more stallish version with powerful trap cards like and

It is easier to activate Switcheroo than destiny draw since the cost is halved, and people tend to play around destiny draw, but the problem lies within that you could draw the same card you returned, but more often than not, it will be a different card, unless your playing Neos

Sample Decks

Standard Version Red-Eyes Version

Blue-Eyes Version

Core Cards

Buster Blader (3z) This is one of the fusion materials for your deck as it lets you summon or with another fusion sub. You could also tribute off when it’s on the field and special summon this card from your hand or from your graveyard. It is best not to summon this monster unless you’re in a dire situation where you might lose as this card doesn’t do anything at all except gain attack. Buster Blader, the Dragon Destroyer Swordsman (3x) This card is the main card of this deck, when a monster with a monster attribute is on the field, its effects are negated and switched to defense position, fully stopping combos and attacks. Be careful when summoning him as you only have 2-3 of him and no inherent protection. It is ok to swing him into anything if you plan on going for game and have another fusion spell in hand so you can fuse him off for another Dragon Destroyer if they activate traps like or .

Buster Whelp of the Destruction Swordsman (3x) This card is really good, along side with being a one star tuner, it lets you add a to your hand and lets you tribute it to summon a in your hand or in your grave. Also, if you have a Buster Blader of any kind on the field and this card is in the grave, you can discard your Destruction Swordsman Fusion and special summon it. The versatility of this card is great as you can have many different kinds of plays like summoning it to search a fusion spell and then tributing it off for a Buster Blader and then use that fusion spell with that Buster Blader and a sub to special summon Dark Paladin who will also have that 500 attack buff from the Whelp in the graveyard. Goddess with the Third Eye (1-2x) Another fusion substitute to have,usually used when you have in your extra deck as it can be used to synchro with Whelp into an Armades. Interchangeable with .

Destruction Swordsman Fusion (2x) The ability to let you use one of your opponent’s monsters as a fusion substitute is game changing and since with a single card you can change the attribute of all the monsters on the field resulting in being able to fully utilize this card all the time. Do be careful when swinging right after you summon as you can only use the fusion spell once each turn. DNA Surgery (3x) This card changes all monsters on the field to one attribute so when selected Dragon and with on the board, all of your opponent’s monster effects will be negated and as well be switched to Defense position.

Red-Eyes Package The Red-Eyes package is now the best way to play Buster Bladers as now you do not have to rely on just to win, you could stall and negate with . And if you open along with your , you could dump to the grave and equip it to your Slash. This allows you to summon BB when your Slash dies and have your DNA Combo ready. Blue-Eyes Package The Blue-Eyes package is a pretty good way to play Buster Bladers as well since this package essentially deals with one of Buster Blader’s biggest weakness, backrow, with the addition of will let you be able to recycle your in some games, and could also help me prevent lethal in some situations. With 6 tuners in your deck, you have a lot of fuel for

Tech Cards

Necro Fusion This card can be useful as you can fusion summon and by using resources from your grave instead of your hand or field. However, It is not recommended to fuse out Slash if you’re only running one as every you draw becomes dead. Cipher Soldier Cipher Soldier can be a really good tech as you have DNA and can change everything to Warrior and have your Cipher become a 3350/3800 beater. It also helps against the really troublesome Six Samurai matchup, as they are all Warrior, and once you get rid of with your Cipher, you are free to flip up and . It can also help against Neos but now that they run the Koa’ki Meiru package it is very risky to just set and pass.

Red-Eyes Archfiend Package This combo is pretty good as you can send Archfiend to the grave with your and then search out Return if the situation calls for it and then Special Summon him during your opponent’s End Phase. Then on your turn you can Gemini Summon Archfiend to destroy your opponent’s monsters (This package is better with as you can fill up your board with big monsters pretty fast so Archfiend will get really big) Dark Paladin Dark Paladin isn’t as useful as before anymore because Ancient Gears are starting to fall off and that is the only matchup where Dark Paladin is actually useful. In some cases, this is also good in mirror matches as you can negate your opponent’s to stop them from setting up their combo while setting up yours. Due to space and pace issues, most Buster Blader decks have forgone disruption for more draw power/ another wincon so you don’t have to worry about your Dark Paladin getting flipped. It is important to note for the mirror match if they’re playing Red-Eyes Buster Blader, there is no need to waste resources by negating their as you’ll get bigger with the more dragons they have. But if it’s relatively late game and you have the cards to spare, it could be more beneficial to negate it to avoid potential cheese.

Hey, Trunade! Useful card for clearing backrow before going in for an OTK Trunade becomes really powerful in conjunction with The Dark - Hex-Sealed Fusion Generic fusion substitute, it has 1600 DEF so it is a safe set but cannot sync into {Armades, Keeper of Boundaries}. The only reason to play this over Goddess is to be able to summon out

Armades, Keeper of Boundaries Great card for swinging into monsters or direct attacks as opponents can’t activate traps or s when you swing, it’s also great for attacking into facedowns in Neos matchup when you don’t have out so the effect of / won’t activate Paleozoic Canadia A great card to have in the deck, this card can flip down your opponent’s threats that threaten to destroy your monsters like , or threaten to pop your DNA like and and deal with it next turn, you can also special summon it onto your field from your grave and use it as a fusion substitute. Be wary of summoning it after you as it has very low stats (atk: 1200/def: 0) and could easily get run over.

Floodgate Trap Hole A great alternative to Canadia, this flips down your opponent’s monster permanently so that you can deal with that monster whenever you want instead of having to deal with it next turn. Forbidden Lance This can be a useful tech since it deals with Buster Blader’s biggest weakness, backrow, it can also be useful in a match against Darklords since if you got your lock down, the only way for them to break it would be to activate the trap from the field, and if you Lance yourself, they’ll have no outs.

Shadow-Imprisoning Mirror This can be a useful tech against the current meta since both of the Tier 1 deck primarily runs dark monsters, this card essentially floodgates their whole deck as they cannot activate dark attribute monster effects

Matchups

Preface: Right now, I believe that using the Red-Eyes engine is the best way to run Buster Blader so the below matchups will all be assuming you are running Red-eyes BB.

Fortune Ladies

Fortune Ladies are a tough matchup as they have canadias/floodgates or counter-traps at their disposal,

that can mess with your BBDDS. The good news it that can only banish face-up monsters, so if your BBDDS is flipped down, you should be fine, and they have no way of direct attacking over you, so they’ll have to pass or crash into your BBDDS. Once you got BBDDS combo unnegated, it should be smooth sailing from there. The engine recommended for this matchup would be invoked, since Cocytus cannot be targeted by monster effects

Invoked

Invoked may seem like a decent matchup at first as their main monster is a dragon type, so if you get out BBDDS or a normal buster blader, you should be fine. But they also have access to which can ruin your plays a lot as even if Cocytus is negated in defense position, it can still attack, so a boosted Cocytus could potentially run over your BBDDS. The best way to play around this is to fusion summon your BBDDS off of their Cocytus, and if situation allows, wait for them to waste a concentration current first. It is advised to set multiple backrow if you plan on doing this, as invoked players also have access to Cosmic Cyclone.

Ritual Beasts

Ritual Beasts are a pretty good matchup, and as long as they don’t open cosmic cyclone, and you open your combo, you should be able to win very quickly. Quick note, don’t try to chain DNA to dolphin’s activation as it will not stop the bounce of dolphin’s effect, instead, flip DNA up on dolphin’s summon to ensure it’s effect cannot go off.

Spellbooks

This is a matchup in your favor as if you open and change all the monsters to Dragon-type, they cannot anymore. However, can destroy DNA, and with the introduction of drawing into Breaker has only become more consistent. The Red-Eyes engine will help with Breaker as you can use to negate its effect (However it’s useless vs an active Fate as it doesn’t target).

You generally have an advantage in this matchup if they do not open Breaker or , but if you’re going second and you don’t open well, you could be screwed as they could just chain Fate to your DNA and negate your with their . Using Light and Dark basically means they’re essentially playing six Silent Magicians. They also seem to have started running 1-2 Cosmic Cyclone which can be a serious problem as they can just banish your DNA, but they do not seem to be running disruption traps anymore so the safest way to win this is to fuse out and negate their spells or to summon and hope you draw into a second DNA before they draw into their DNA removal.

Vampires

This matchup is kinda of a coin flip, if you open with a great hand you basically just win, but if you open

up with a bad hand, your opponent can easily swarm you and OTK you. Always have a for their and plays. If they are running Bandit Keith, chances are they are probably also running with and sometimes , so when you set your cards be sure to activate them in your opponent’s draw phase or chain it to an life costing effect that would bring them low enough to use Bandit. If you do not start with DNA in your starting hand try to fuse into a and negate their spells like and so that they can’t activate Domain and special summon off of it, search and summon her. If you don’t draw into DNA, it’ll be a tough game and will be heavily in their favor as they can summon or to deal with you.

Neos Control

Neos are annoying as they usually run and in the more popular version, they also run / which can be annoying if you summon without a up, leaving you vulnerable to an OTK next turn. The best course of action would be to fuse out , equip your from the graveyard and swing. If the face-down happens to be a Sazank/Gale, you can negate it and be set next turn since your Slash is bigger than . You also have to be careful about playing 2 monsters as neos usually run and you’ll usually have Dragon Destroyer in DEF position and a monster to poke their LP.

With all the disruption (Girastag, Sazank, Gale, , , etc.) it is usually better to just use the Red-Eyes side of this deck as you can get a negation every turn and they cannot reliably get over your Slash unless they run which is less common than or

Six Samurais

6 Sams are a bit of a tossup, if you go first and open , you have successfully locked them out of making , but if they go first and get out Shi En, you are screwed as they can negate your fusion spells, where the only way to win is to have two fusions in your hand. You want to bait the negation with and then summon with . You want to summon Slash instead of Dragon Destroyer because you can retrieve Swordsman Fusion back from the grave and Slash’s negation is really useful against and .

Blue-Eyes

This is a really good matchup for Buster Bladers as most of their deck is Dragon-type so you don’t need your most of the time, but now with the addition of to their deck, if you don’t have DNA or a Slash out, your monsters will surely be destroyed. If you are going first try to get your Dragon Destroyer out and pray they do not have Snipe or that you opened DNA. If you’re going second Slash with with an equipped can swing over anything. There isn’t really an inherent way to beat Snipe unless you have DNA and Dragon Destroyer out. Even after your

board is established you should still have another as backup as a lot of Blue-Eyes decks run .

Ancient Gears

This us a bad matchup as they have a lot of ways to pop your ( , ). Your best bet would be to fuse into as it has a base attack of 2900 and gains 500 for each Dragon type in either player’s graveyard. Try to fusion/synchro/tributing off your Whelp so that it will be in your graveyard making your Dark Paladin’s attack to 3400. is sadly not a Dragon but only has 3000 attack. Beware of their backrow, they usually run , ( not much of a threat since you can negate it) and . Now people seem to be playing in this deck as well, so potentially they can activate Drowning and then Econ your Dragon Destroyer into ATK position to send them all back to your deck and OTK. Your only real out is Dark Paladin and if that gets flipped down then you just cry. It is important to note that you should try to win as fast as possible and not try to stall them as they you’re giving them a chance to draw into Drowning/Econ/Removal.

Triamids

This is a very bad matchup as they can keep dumping resources into the grave to pop your Dragon Destroyer with triamid pulse, and destroying your DNA with Master, the key to this would be to tech in forbidden lance to stop them from popping Dragon Destroyer on your turn, and you try to otk them, if you are running the red-eyes version, things should go much smoother since you can negate their effects.

Darklords

This is a 50/50 matchup, once you get your combo out, their only way to outing you would be to set their sanctified and activate it from the field, with banishment, they are essentially running 6 which is pretty bad for us. The key to beating this matchup is to side in Forbidden Lance as you can negate their Sanctified and make it become useless in the grave. You could also tech in Shadow Imprisoning Mirror to further negate monster effects as their whole deck mainly comprises of dark monsters

Desperado

In this match, you want to try out get out DNA as soon as possible since that stops them from summoning desperado in the first place. Once you get out your Dragon Destroyer you should have the game secured. You could also tech in Shadow Imprisoning Mirror to further negate monster effects as their whole deck mainly comprises of dark monsters. You will have to watch out for their cosmic cyclone and lava golem, so try not to summon more than 1 monster and try to have a either 1 DNA and 1 SIM or 2 DNAs, one activated and one as a backup in case of their cyclone.

Shiranui

Shiranuis are a decent matchup if you can get your combo out in time as they mostly rely on monster effects. The problem is they run a lot of disruption like and which could be quite bad should they hit your . You could play around floodgate, but it is best to always have another fusion ready incase they decided to canadia you and make a play. Should you avoid/play through their disruption, the game will be yours.

Dark Magician

Dark Magicians are actually a pretty good match up as you can use their Dark Magician to summon a after they use their . This is the only deck you can bring out a Dark Paladin against due to the recent fusion changes. With Dark Paladin you can negate all of their important spells like , and so on. Once you can get your Dark Paladin out, you can easily get your our and it’ll be smooth sailing from there. Another way would be to get out your as soon as possible so you can negate their Magician’s Rod, hopefully stopping them from searching Navigation or Circle.

Blackwings

Blackwings are a decent matchup as the only way they can stop you is through cosmic cyclone, most people do not seem to be running which is a relief. Once you get out your combo and have a spare to go, you should be good.

Elementsabers

Elemental sabers are a bad matchup as most saber decks run 3x and to make it worse, cannot be negated which means they can still attack in defense. The good news is that it is hard for Cocytus to attack over you and you can also use Cocytus to fuse into a . If your opponents cannot draw their in time, it will be a very easy match for you.

Crystons

Crystons are actually a pretty decent matchup as they mainly rely on monster effects and if you can get your combo out, they basically have no play to make, however, they do run and which could pose a problem, but if you’re able to play through that, whether by having another or being able to fuse out another the matchup should be in your favor.

Buster Blader (Mirror Match)

Alright, the long and awaited mirror match section is finally here! In the mirror match whoever gets out first wins as you can negate all of your opponent’s fusion spells. If your opponent gets out their Dark Paladin before you do, you’ll have to try to make them negate until they’re out of resources and then fuse for to disable their Dark Paladin’s effect (this can be done by recycling ) and then summon your own Dark Paladin. What if I don’t play dark paladin you might ask, well, chances are your opponents also aren’t playing it since paladin is really only useful against Ancient Gears and the Mirror. So if you want to have an edge in the mirror, tech in one Dark Paladin for a Synchro or one (assuming you have 6 extra deck slots, if you have 5, do not tech in Dark Paladin!).

In the case that both of you do not have Dark Paladin, the non-Red-Eyes Buster deck will win as the red-eyes user will have more Dragon-types in their grave thus making their opponent’s monsters bigger than their own. But this will rarely happen as pure BB isn’t all that common anymore.

Now, let’s say you are both using Red-Eyes BB, and you’ve come to a standstill where you both have dragon destroyer and DNA out, there are two ways which you can win:

Stalling them Out

If you have more cards in your deck than them, you should just set another and and pass. If they try to change the type to something other than dragon, wait for them to resolve their DNA and then activate your DNA to Dragon again (if you chain to their DNA, your DNA will activate first and then theirs). If they try to fuse away your Dragon Destroyer, wait for their Swordsman Fusion to resolve and then activate your own Swordsman Fusion with one of their monsters.

Use DNA Surgery to Non-Dragon and Swing

If you know they don’t have another set on the field and they have more Dragons in their graveyard than you, on your turn you could switch the type to something else as they would be in defense position and you will be able to swing over them and hopefully OTK them next turn with your Dragon Destroyer and something else (e.g. another , , etc.)

General Tips for the Mirror Match

DNA Surgery

DNA vs DNA: In the case of DNA Surgery vs DNA Surgery, the last DNA to resolve is the one to be applied. This means that if DNA calling Dragon is chain link 1 and another DNA calling Zombie is chain link 2, At the end of the chain, the DNA that called Dragon will be applied. That being said, a new DNA Surgery will “overwrite” an older one if the two are not on the same link.

Calling Dragon with DNA: Calling dragon leads to the Buster Blader lock but also enables the other player to fuse with their opponent’s monsters for Buster Blader, the Dragon Destroyer Swordsman.

Calling any other type with DNA: Calling any other type that is not dragon with the DNA can prevent if not completely stop one’s monsters being used as fusion materials for .

Destruction Swordsman Fusion

How you use is used in the mirror can make the difference between winning and losing as the opponent can also use theirs to fuse with your monster:

Using Chain Link 1 can be useful when attempting to fuse , provided you are also able to fuse for , just in case your opponent chains their Swordsman Fusion to fuse away their Dark Paladin material.

Using Chain Link 2 in response to another copy can be useful in potentially causing your opponent’s attempted Fusion to fizzle. That being said it is sometimes possible as mentioned above that your opponent can play round a CL2 Fusion.

Red-Eyes Package

In the mirror, try not to summon as that is dumping extra unneeded dragons into your grave.

General Tips

Don’t chain your to another DNA surgery as yours will resolve first and then theirs. The first to flip it will be the one active as chains start from the bottom so the first DNA flipped would be on top of the chain and then the second one flipped in response to that would be on the bottom of the chain.

In some situations this is not the case, if you’re in the mirror and they try to flip and set to any type that is not Dragon so that you can’t fuse their monster, you could chain to that DNA and then chain your own DNA to your Swordsman Fusion so you can change their monsters to Dragon-type, fuse a out and then their DNA will change your Dragon Destroyer and whatever else is on the board to non-Dragon so they cannot fuse with your monsters next turn.

When setting other cards be mindful or your opponents having as they can destroy a backrow and then use Galaxy Cyclone’s secondary effect and destroy your face up DNA when you have it active.

If you fear that your opponent has backrow removal, try to only activate your DNA Surgery during your opponent’s Battle Phase so that even if they destroy your DNA, you manage to stop their play that turn and buy yourself another turn. If your DNA is already active and it’s removed try to stall until you get another one. With the loss of your DNA you will probably lose your Dragon Destroyer as a lot of monsters can swing over it ( can crash into it, Koa’ki can remove it with ) so you should just try to set cards and flip their monsters facedown to stall until you draw into another DNA.

Know your matchups and know when to place your in ATK or DEF position, for example, Ancient Gears now run so it would be smart to put your dragon destroyer in defense position first and then poke their LP

To play around , chain your to the activation of another card (DNA, Black Stone, etc.)

You can activate DNA to stop Six Samurais from summoning as it requires Warrior-type material.

Summon if they have a lot of backrow and you do not have in hand as it will either bait out backrow like Canadia, Floodgate, and Offerings or they will just let the attack through.

If you chain to your , the fusion spell will activate before your DNA turns all monsters on the field to one attribute so be careful with that. You could chain your DNA to your fusion spell and get the desired effect though.

Acknowledgements

I would like to thank Jonesy9027 for initially helping me start my guide a long time ago

for initially helping me start my guide a long time ago I would like to thank Jadehex for helping me look over and format my guide

for helping me look over and format my guide I would like to thank novomortuus and Tomvdelzen for helping me look over my guide, especially the matchup section.