Vayu Turbo's Weird Cousin

Written by: PseudoScientist

This deck has no business being as fun as it is. Puppet Master has no business cheating out big boss monsters like Belial and Gaap, but it sure is satisfying to trade 2000 Life Points for a beefy floodgate and a Synchro Monster! Pair this with the power of Dark Calling to drop powerful Evil Hero Fusion Monsters, seemingly out of the blue, and you've got a recipe for a fun and casual spin on the Vayu Turbo strategy.

The point of genesis: a crossroads.

Puppet Master and Overdrive Teleporter were both introduced in Crossroads of Chaos. Their effects, at the cost of 2000 Life Points, Special Summon two additional monsters to the field. While Overdrive Teleporter's Ignition Effect only recruits Level 3 Psychic-Types from the Deck, Puppet Master's Trigger Effect casts a much larger net by allowing you to Summon ANY TWO Fiends from your Graveyard with the restriction that neither can attack that turn.

A handful of powerful DARK Fiend-Type "boss" monsters exist. However, we can also reanimate Tuners. With this in mind, let's explore some uses for Puppet Master while it is on the field, namely: using it to crank out Level 7 and 8 Synchro Monsters!

Meet the Tuners

There are only a handful of Fiend-Type Tuner Monsters legal for play in Edison Format. I propose the two most useful are Stygian Security, a battle tutor capable of floating into additional Level 1 Fiends (including additional copies of itself), and Dark Tinker, a Level 2 which allows you to privately excavate the top card of your Deck every time it leaves the field without missing timing (giving you the opportunity to place any potential dead draws on the bottom of your Deck). Sinister Sprocket is another Level 1 Tuner which can be tutored out by Stygian Security to destroy problematic floodgates (ex: Necrovalley) when used to Synchro Summon a DARK Monster.

Simple Synchros

The Tuners mentioned above grant easy access to Level 7 and 8 Synchro Monsters when using "Puppet Master" as a material. It makes Summoning "Dark End Dragon" no more difficult than "Thought Ruler Archfiend", "Ancient Fairy Dragon", or "Stardust Dragon". Access to Level 5 and 6 Synchros relies on your ability to preserve one of your DARK Warrior starters. Defensive Life Point recovery plays with "Magical Android" and aggressive advantage plays with "Goyo Guardian" rely on this. Consistent access to low Level Synchros will may require you to play "Mystic Tomato" or "Gravekeeper's Spy" as defensive recruiters ("Skull Knight #2" is a little too optimistic).

Floodgates for Free!

The most useful aspect of Puppet Master's effect is its ability to Special Summon ANY Fiend-Type Monsters in your Graveyard without restriction. Powerful floodgate effects are easy to send to the Graveyard with Armageddon Knight and Dark Grepher. Recruit Gaap the Divine Soldier, which counters Flip Effects, The End of Anubis, which counters effects in the Graveyards, Brain Golem, for huge pressure in the Lightsworn matchup, or perhaps most importantly Belial - Marquis of Darkness, whose Continuous Effect protects all your other monsters against Spell / Trap Cards which target while also redirecting all attacks to himself.

Dark Calling of the Hex-Sealed Fusion

Dark Calling acts in much the same way as Miracle Fusion, providing the Deck additional Graveyard control and comeback plays as your resources begin to dwindle. The DARK synergy in the Deck makes The Dark Hex-Sealed Fusion the optimal Fusion Material as it can be treated as Evil Hero Malicious Edge for the sake of Fusion Summoning Evil Hero Malicious Fiend, it can be discarded for the Ignition Effect of Dark Grepher, and finally it is a Rock-Type monster which facilitates the Fusion Summon of Evil Hero Dark Gaia. Though these Evil Heroes cannot be Special Summoned by Puppet Master, they still command respect from your opponent and might even catch them off guard.

Some closing remarks..

The Side Deck will likely play similar to Vayu Turbo, as you have numerous high ATK DARK monsters you can tribute for "Deck Devastation Virus" and "Eradicator Epidemic Virus". You can also store additional tech floodgate monsters in your Side Deck, such as "Brain Golem" or "The End of Anubis" for particular matchups. More casual modes of play are possible with the Deck as well: you can play "Creature Swap" and max out on battle tutors, or incorporate "Phantom Skyblaster" to spawn tokens and Summon "Raviel, Lord of Phantasms". However you choose to play the Deck, the essence of the thing remains the same: get useful Fiends in the Graveyard, and have enough Life Points to use "Puppet Master's" effect. The Psychic-Type Synchros play a vital role in this respect, you should not rely on your opponent playing "Upstart Goblin" in order to pad your wallet! At the end of the day, it's quite fun when it works out, especially if you nail a "Dark Calling" and break your opponent's board with the giant Evil Hero Fusion Monsters at your disposal. Did I mention "Puppet Master" can revive "Tragoedia" to engage in Level-changing shenanigan Synchro plays?