Synchron Guide Published on May 5, 2019 by JoninJoe Bendytendy Gnurrgard

Why Synchrons?

Synchrons are the most pure synchro summoning deck since the release of 5Ds. Fully relying on the extra deck as a win condition, this combo heavy deck allows for many creative lines of play, even OTKing your opponent more often than not. Mixing iconic cards from Yusei’s deck with modern link-era synchro support makes this a truly dangerous role playing deck that is satisfying to play duel after duel.

Videos

About the Authors

JoninJoe

I’m JoninJoe, 25-years old playing Yu-Gi-Oh competitively since 2012 in the TCG. Since then, I started playing Duel Links in February of 2018 and have been a constant supporter of synchro decks in every format. Recently coming off of a Top 8 placement with the deck in MW69 and Top 4 in MW73, I’m excited to help bring forth a guide for my favorite deck in Yu-Gi-Oh.

Bendytendy

I’m Bendytendy and I’ve played Duel Links since the Summer of 2018. I am the leader of TCG clan and I love to play rogue strategies and make them competitive against the meta. I’ve won Anytime Tournaments and topped multiple Meta Weeklies & and MCS, making it as far as 2nd place in PCT 33. Ever since pulling I have been hooked on this deck, playing it exclusively since release.

Gnurrgard

I’m Gnurrgard , started playing Yu-Gi-Oh when it first game out and have been playing card games ever since. Currently maining Gwent, where I’m a known deckbuilder, something always pulls me back to Yu-Gi-Oh. Previously I brought the Madolche guide to you alongside Aankara and Gura.

Skills

Synchrons, in their amazing versatility, have a wide selection of skills to choose from. While earlier builds saw use of and , the meta has allowed us to run as a counter to Six Samurais, Neos Fusion decks and other opposition.

is a good generic skill to open more opportunities for synchro plays. Utilizing this in a combo with and can often lead to double pop and E-Con take synchro plays, to name a few plays. This skill can only be used with Yusei for maximum potential. If you use any other character without voice lines, you will open 4 Tuners every duel. is an offensive skill that finally got some use with the introduction of and . With this skill, can reach 2600 attack without and reaches a whopping 3500 before factoring his effect in. Unfortunately, the skill only works on “Warrior” synchro monsters, not to be confused with the Warrior-type. Because of this, this skill can feel kind of restricting and should only be considered in builds that turbo out s with ease.

is the better version of to use. Pumping out two synchro monsters in one turn is easily possible, giving two of your monsters a 600 attack boost or one monster a small enough boost to get lethal. It also synergizes with , possibly giving you a 900 attack boost in rare scenarios. being able to benefit from this after popping cards is why we can prefer this over . Last but not least, this skill is the latest addition to our repertoire in response to the current meta. It shuts down Six Samurai decks from using the effects of or and enables us to make plays, as well as preventing or from protecting the opponent. It also allows us to summon without its cost activating and extend our summons a bit more. In the most recent MW69, this skill was amazing against Six Samurais thinking and would be safe to sit back on.

Core Cards

Quickdraw Synchron One of the main tuners of the deck and the main Synchron component. is a lvl 5 tuner that can special summon himself by discarding another monster. It isn’t once per turn and since his special summon isn’t an ignition effect, you can use it after you search him with . The main monster to go into is , as our non-Tuner lineup consists of mainly lvl 3 monsters. However, in builds utilizing , you can have an easy without using up your normal summon. He does have the restriction of only being able to summon synchros who have a "Synchron" tuner listed as a material so that is unfortunate but important to note. Lately, in the last few builds, Quickdraw Synchron has been cut back on to reduce confliction with Aqua Dolphin but it’s personal preference which route you want to take. Psychic Wheeleder The other tuner of the deck and one of the most frequent choices recently in many synchro decks. continues to be an amazing tuner, synergizing with the entire deck almost. Being special summonable and having a removal effect makes him a very necessary option in the current meta.

Psychic Tracker Released with , Tracker easily forms a nice Psychic engine with him and is another key lvl 3 monster. Aside from being easily special summoned, Tracker can get your synchro monsters to high attack levels, assisting with OTKs. Sangan Although a lot of people ask if he is really necessary for the already expensive deck, is probably one of the most needed cards in the deck. can search every card in the deck except and is also a lvl 3 synergizing with the tuner monsters. He provides refill, setting up your defense via or extends your plays by getting another special summon. Getting a pop off / along with a search is very essential to refilling your hand as it will empty out quickly. Another important trick to note is that can search , , without restricting them from being special summoned, enabling even more synchro action.

Cockadoodledoo A new lvl 5 Tuner monster, this little chicken is very versatile in its synchro potential for a lot of decks and variants. Its special summoning capabilities assist our deck greatly and open up a new pathway for plays. Special summoning as a lv3 tuner synergizes with our Psychic engine and in making lvl 6 synchro plays. Getting the bird to lvl 4 opens up access to lvl 7 synchro monsters, which truthfully will most likely be most of the time. It's only restriction is that it's pretty dead if you have a monster on board but it does benefit from a rare boost if your pressed into that situation for whatever reason. It also gets banished when it leaves the field, most likely to prevent the other clever combos that can be invented to make this card even better.

Tech Cards

Sphere Kuriboh is a popular tech choice to counter some of the meta and also serves as a searchable monster in the deck via . While it can save you from OTKs as expected, it can also shut down . Having some form of protection in a deck of mainly monsters is crucial. Photon Cerberus One of the best additions to the deck, is a one-turn without the 2400 attack. Another lvl 3 monster, Cerberus is great for locking down your opponent's attempts at disruption to allow some synchro plays. Top decking him while you have a synchro or isn't a bad pickup either as it can push you through to lethal. The cousin of , serves a similar purpose to him as he is another lvl 3 option to oppose backrow. While Cerberus can lock all traps for a turn, Shogi Knight can pop one set trap instead. This is good to kill obvious s or other single set cards that could disrupt our play. If Shogi Knight succeeds in destroying a trap, we’re allowed to special summon 1 level 3 EARTH monster from our hands. This is helpful to special summon a without using up it’s once per turn effect. Cerberus has become more preferred thanks to multiple backrow sets and a higher attack but this is the next best substitute for him if you hate backrow as much as we do.

Neo Space Connector and Neo-Spacian Aqua Dolphin [card](Neo-Spacian Aqua Dolphin) One thing Synchrons used to struggle with were turn 1 plays. The Neo-Spacian package fixes that by giving us a proactive play that can disrupt our opponents plays in advance. They also provide you with 2 bodies to synchro summon with. XX-Saber Darksoul Darksoul, through being an X-Saber non-tuner, gives us access to to help us grind vs backrow heavy decks like Amazoness. Additionally, Darksoul replaces himself in the End Phase. You don’t even need to run other X-Sabers as you can just search another Darksoul to be used as Synchro material or discard fodder for . Small bonus: His search effect goes is not denied by Ancient Gears.

Gilasaurus is a lvl 3 that doesn’t take up your normal summon, which is very valuable. This comes with the drawback of allowing the opponent to special summon a monster from their graveyard, but you can circumvent that by using , using when your opponent doesn’t have a monster in the grave or by searching with . 1400 attack make for an OTK with , or a boosted by . Junk Forward Additional lvl 3 that can be special summoned when you control no monsters. Allows you to make synchro plays without using your normal summon. Not as powerful as running but it is still a viable option alone or in tandem with .

Quillbolt Hedgehog One of Yusei's support cards directly intended for , is a nice little lvl 2 guy who can revive himself from the graveyard if a Tuner is on your field. While later builds have cut him out, he is still one of the best options to take if you want to make a lvl 7 synchro focus with your build. dumping him and reviving him for a synchro with no normal summon used is amazing. Junk Synchron One of the most iconic Synchron monsters, you might wonder why is not a core card for this deck. We all know how strong he can be with , so let's go into the reasons why we don't run him. Due to limited extra deck space and the fact that we have to run lvl 5 synchros for , we have to make a choice between him and . Wheeleder does not take up a normal summon, which allows us to run more versatile cards like as our normal summons. forces us to run as a skill, limiting our flexibility. While is a 1 card synchro, helps us destroy opposing monsters, facilitating our OTK plan. This does not mean is not a fantastic card, however. With more support and the right combo, gravitating towards a build might be correct in the future.

Enemy Controller The semi-limited spells/traps are good choices to sneak into the deck. in particular can lead to more opportunities for lethal or synchro plays. Using it defensively isn't as useful as before but comboing tribute takes with the special summon monsters, or can lead to some interesting turns. Hey, Trunade! One of the best cards for our deck to utilize. Backrow is a nightmare for us. Against Stall/Amazoness this card works wonders. It's another option alongside to give us a turn of freedom to synchro summon.

Shooting Star One of our go-to Synchro plays is . He enables the usage of , which unconditionally can destroy any card on the field. The drawbacks of this card are being a trap and requiring us to synchro into to not make this card dead. Nevertheless this card is so strong that it should be mentioned.

Extra Deck

Hyper Psychic Riser This new ranked SR reward raised the deck’s ceiling immensely. Preventing , , , and from activating their effects is a huge difference maker. It enables you to play back row cards that were previously vulnerable like . Be careful because the negations affect your monsters too! Additionally, the recurison effect of allows you to bring back and which gives us follow up plays that were not available before. If you don’t draw Tracker you can return Riser to the extra deck and Wheeleder to your hand! Another interesting pair you can recur is and or . Stardust Charge Warrior Your go-to level 6. Draws you a card on summon, which helps refueling your hand for further plays. Also can attack every special summoned monsters on your opponent’s side of the field. This can be helpful for dealing with swarmy decks like Six Samurai or Hazy.

Gaia Knight, The Force of Earth If you need that extra bit of attack on your lvl 6. Gaia in combination with can deal with on summon. If you also used , this even gets rid of an . Junk Destroyer is the Synchro you will go into when making a play. Just like , he nets you a +1 on summon, but does so by destroying a card on your opponent’s side. If summoned with a , it is able to swing over a .

HTS Psyhemuth Though unseen in recent decks, Psyhemuth is a very nice lvl 6 synchro option with the extra deck increase. While he doesn't have as much of an offensive presence as the others, he is a good way to get rid of strong problematic monsters or to make opponents think twice about attacking. Giganticastle In a deck of special summoning lvl 3 synchros, we are granted access to . He is one of the more effective answers to Ancient Gears and monsters with over 3000 attack in the event cannot be accessed to remove them. He can also be summoned if your or has outlived its usefulness. Getting a pop off of his summon can also eliminate a larger portion of monsters. Not a frequent choice to summon, but nice to have.

Nitro Warrior One of the new synchros compatible with . Nitro Warrior is one of the strongest synchros can make. While his attack increase effect is scarcely used due to our low number of spells, his double attack effect can be quite useful in clearing boards with some decent damage, especially with the skill mentioned. Being a lvl 7, he can only be made in builds utilizing or rare scenarios. Junk Berserker The other lvl 7 Quickdraw synchro monster, is another heavy hitter. His main crutch is being able to destroy monsters in defense position before the damage step. This beats , , and flip effects. His other effect, while rarely used, can be used if you have a in the graveyard and it is not once per turn. This leads to some brutal attacks if you can land this against the right opponent. Once again, only usable in builds with s or lvl 2 monsters to sync with Quickdraw.

Armades, Keeper of Boundaries The former boss monster of control builds utilizing . Armades is still a relevant synchro monster despite his declined usage outside of Six Samurai. While he is difficult to make in this deck utilizing lvl 3s, it is possible to run a copy as a surprise to sync with the opponent's . reviving itself for is also a possible scenario. With the extra deck increase, this can be an option depending on your preferences. Psychic Nightmare Only summonable with , this guy will come out at 3000 attack. By using his effect you can go to 4000 attack, which in itself is enough to otk people. A consideration for the 6th extra deck slot.

Celestial Wolf Lord, Blue Sirius Brand new out of the new mini-box, Sirius is another lvl 6 that can see some use in our deck. With a respectable attack, Sirius serves a purpose similar to where he shines best in the late game or scenarios where you cannot push for lethal and need to sit back on a synchro. If your opponent chooses to swing over and destroy this card, they have to disable one of their monsters with a loss of 2400 attack points which is brutal against most of the meta right now. He is also another non-Warrior lvl 6 synchro so we can avoid all those maindecked easier. Chevalier de Fleur The new box has granted this deck access to Chevalier de Fleur at last. Chevalier is one of the lesser known 'Synchron' synchros because Yusei does not use this card. However, since its materials require as a tuner, can make it as easily as a . 100 more attack then Destroyer, the unique difference with Chevalier is that it can negate an opponents spell/trap card once per one of your turns. It can be better then Destroyer in certain matchups for this reason and should be considered depending on what situation you are facing at the time.

Black Rose Dragon One of the most sought out synchros in Duel Links since the synchro era started. Black Rose is one of the most popular lv7 staples in the game for a synchro deck. Having access to this will make your opponent think twice about setting up a board as she easily nukes the entire field on summon. With also in the box, we can easily make her with him and our lv3 non-tuners. She is too good to not try to fit in thanks to her effect. Vermillion Dragon Mech A new lv9 for us to go into, this monster provides a nice effect for us. With the numerous tuners we use in the deck, Vermillion puts dead ones to use by banishing them and popping a card on the field. Having extra removal for our OTK deck is always welcome, especially versus backrow and the mech also has some recovery value if he is destroyed. The choice between him and depends on your need for a more defensive body or a heavier offensive push, Castle being better stat-wise.

Deckbuilding Ratios & Example Decklists

3 1-3 2-3 3 2-3

These are the core cards of the deck for a reason and you should max out on them. The Tuners and allow for explosive turns, while lets you extend your play by searching a tuner or refill for next turn.

5-7 Normal summons

This includes . Being stuck with multiple normal summons is dangerous for this deck because we rely on making plays to not get run over. Just setting a monster due to the lack of special summons in hand can quickly lead to an OTK in todays game.

The 2-4 slots after should be filled with utility cards that help you out in the current meta: Right now the most popular choices are for backrow heavy decks and / for Samurais

0-5 Additional Special Summons

Depending on how offensive you want your build to be, you will want to add cards like or in order to secure multiple synchros on the same turn. If you run 6 normal summons, 2 s, and 0 backrow, you have room for 3 additional special summons.

0-3 Spells/Traps

We are a combo heavy deck, so we need to keep the S/T ratio low to maximise our chances of opening with a playable hand. If you want to run a S/T, you need to have a good reason for it.

0-3

As we do not run many S/T, we lack interaction on the opponent’s turn. fixes this problem by being a defensive card that is searchable by turn 1. Having 1 is mandatory to prevent most OTKs. Side it out vs Ancient Gears.

Example Decklists

Here is a version utilizing and . These two cards make it easier to deal with rogue decks that run a lot of backrow and thus is well suited for ladder play or uncertain metas.

An example of a build. This deck only runs 1 since Quickdraw is fighting over resources with Dolphin. Because of this we have room for another extra deck tech card like .

Other Interesting Cards

And many more, this deck is flexible and you can always find a hidden gem. Fire up that lvl 3 filter and get searching!

Tips and Combos

Update: With the new box Blazing Rose our deck has unlocked many new combos!

+ or any other level 3 makes . You can follow up with and your other special summons to finish off the OTK after clearing the board!

special summons as a lvl 3 when your opponent has no monsters. You can make your going first plays without using up your .

is not once per turn. Bait your opponent’s back row and then summon another!

When opening with , you can use s effect to discard a card from your opponent, use Dolphin for a synchro summon, then tribute Connector for another discard! Be careful of the matchup, as Aqua Dolphin can only discard monsters with an ATK lower than one of your monsters. So don’t carelessly use the effect against Ancient Gears

Should you have and , you can summon Cockadoodledoo before Connector. This gives you a 1600 body for Dolphin and also provides a tuner for either Black Rose Dragon or a lvl 6, depending on the boardstate.

Going first can be a bit tricky for this deck depending on the opponent. A good play to get yourself is a simple + into . While this doesn’t seem strong, it can give you a follow up play by searching a missing combo piece, or (Be careful not to play into ). Charge Warriors effect also resolves before , making your decision easier after his draw. If you happen to run side deck cards like and , that is also an acceptable set depending on the matchup.

Sangan, Tracker and either Wheeleder or Quickdraw is an OTK through a set monster: Normal summon Sangan, Special the other 2. Synchro Sangan with your tuner and search another tuner. Special that one and Synchro with Wheeleder. One of these summons should be a Junk Destroyer so you can pop their monster

Sangan only prevents the effect of a monster: You can still special summon Quickdraw, Wheeleder and Gilasaurus. Wheeleder just can not pop a monster in that case. On the other hand, you can special Gila without any drawback, since your opponent special summoning is an effect! Sealed Tombs also supports Gilasaurus and prevents your opponent from reviving a monster.

If you are running you can utilize as a target to boost itself and a synchro 600 attack each. A going second hand of into followed up by and a synchro, and finally discarding your 5th monster card can be a devastating OTK over almost any board. If is in your hand you can max out at 6400 damage while still negating traps.

If you run a version with and , you can make destroy 2 cards on summon by making a lvl 3 and then using it alongside another 3 and the hedgehog.

Budget

This deck by the nature of its UR core cards is very expensive. If you want to play this deck to its fullest potential, you will need these cards. While Gnurrgard got his King of Games with only 1 , we want to make clear that you will miss out on important OTKs.

If you are missing some s and s, you can run , or if you have him. These are Tuners that are able to stick a turn or at least prevent you from getting OTK’d. If you run these tuners, you should include some extra non-tuner lvl 3s that you can special summon or help you special summon others, such as , , , , .

If you happen to have 3 but no , you might want to look into a Stardust build like this video

If you are missing , you can run for extending your combos or if you want something that can replenish your hand. We highly recommend getting , however.

Matchups

Blue Eyes

Kaiba’s favorite dragons are not the easiest matchup to run into. They can easily flood the board with strong monsters and run over most of our monsters if you didn’t use Tracker to synchro summon. Having them go first is preferred if you can rig the coin flip but besides that, utilizing , or your lvl 9 synchros will be your best bet at opposing their monsters at crucial moments. does not hit as well as it used to but it still affects any copies of and ’ second effect so use it carefully. is a better skill for this matchup if you are running it as well as crucial side deck or tech cards to help you survive or disrupt the opponent.

Suberror

A new matchup to worry about, Subterrors have proven to be a menacing deck soon after their release. With monster quick effects and a reliable trap lineup, we have to play carefully and crucially to stop them. as well as other backrow hate helps us greatly but at the same time we must be careful of their flip effects. at the right moment is also important to prevent them from their monsters tagging in and out. If you can destroy their initial setup, it becomes difficult for them to recover. again helps immensely.

Red-Eyes

Support in the structure deck and Blazing Rose box has revived Red-Eyes once again and it is not always an easy matchup. negating targeting effects from and makes it hard to break through sometimes and to make things worse, their recovery through Slash’s other effect and their trap cards can be a pain. followed by a is the best way to oppose them. If you aren’t able to land that play, try to make a high-attack synchro monster with Tracker and Wheeleder and try to force the negation so you can run the fusion monster over without a chance of recovery.

Six Samurai

Six Samurais are one of the matchups warranting the use of Sealed Tombs. With the skill, this matchup becomes a lot more fair then it usually would be by locking down and . While is a minimal threat to our deck of 18-20 monsters, his support cards can be quite a pain to deal with. It is important not to overextend if you do not have an OTK, as they will quickly dispatch our beat sticks with an Enishi.

, and are amazing tech choices to help the matchup as the first helps stop OTKs and the other two allow you to play around when necessary. Enishi is the card to worry about as he can easily bounce our monsters, preventing a synchro play. , and help get around this as they are not once per turn. and are however to play carefully. Also try to pay attention to and ’s protection effects from and .

Koa’ki Meiru

The OTK potential from Koaki Meirus isnt as feared as it used to be, but it should still not be underestimated. Access to tech choices such as / can hurt our deck, making pops very important. With on their side, you have to plan your assault carefully as not possessing lethal can often lead to a search followed by a full board clear of some manner. is very good in this matchup.

Ancient Gear

Ancient Gears can be a pain thanks to their monsters completely nullifying and . also reaches an attack level immune to ’s removal quite easily. Against this deck, you want to get rolling before they do as quick as possible.

Avoiding normal summons with or is an amazing route to avoid Castle getting counters. Junk Destroyer is also your main option for getting rid of since our only other out to him is a high synchro climb into or utilizing when is not on the field. I would avoid targeting backrow with Destroyer as hitting a bluffed can be ugly. Having or can help this match but be wary of setting them.

Neos

The matchup became much simpler with the introduction of to the deck. Preventing the protection of in the graveyard, we are able to easily OTK over their field. Be careful not to leave your 2600 monsters by themselves as can run over them without much trouble. and both work well in this matchup. If you are not playing , consider running a as your 6th extra deck card.

Amazon/Stall

This matchup can be made very easy with - preventing the activation of traps on the turn it is normal summoned and while it remains on the field. If you have one in your hand when they summon it is all over. If you do not have a handy then you must play around as we are susceptible to having our field clogged.

Replays

BendyTendy vs Irving (Neos) Duel 1 - MW70

Videos

BendyTendy vs ArkThor (AG) - MW69

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JoninJoe vs Fra9910 (Six Samurai) - MW69

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JoninJoe vs Fra9910 (Six Samurai) Duel 2 - MW69

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JoninJoe vs Shifu (Six Samurai) - MW69

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Conclusion

There is an entire uncharted territory that Synchrons have yet to reach at this point of time. With plenty of support unreleased in the game as well as experimentation with current or future skills, the possibilities are endless. We may have this route figured out for now in this guide but there is potential for more in the future. You will be rewarded for making the right adjustments in different situations with this deck. It isn’t easy to play thanks to pricing and oppressive decks in the format but with a clear mind, you can obtain good and satisfying results.

We hope this guide has entertained you and inspired you. Questions and ideas are welcome. And never forget, Quickdraw Synchron cannot be used to make generic synchro monsters.

Acknowledgements

Thanks to Kazaarus for providing a nice list of possible lvl 3s in the DLM discord Thank you to everyone in the Synchron channel who have discussed their ideas about the deck with all of us.