Gems rise again

Please don't flame on me, this is my first guide here.

I have always been a gem-knight fan, and I have found the deck more enjoyable, consistent, and explosive as ever after the release of recent support cards, such as lazuli and master dia. I made this guide because I have seen a few gem decks lately which aren't that good. I understand that they're hard to build right like heros, but I just wanted to give a shout out.




(Yes, 3 rabbit, 3 garnet, and 3 tour. No sapphire, you'll know why if you play gems)

For those of you who don't know, Gem-knights are a swarm beat down fusion deck, with destructive, defense piercing effects. They lack combat strength, but can usually shut down the enemy field before they can get anything big out. And if the opponent does manage to summon something strong, then you can take it down with support cards or prism aura (I've killed a pulsar and the shooting star afterwards with this deck). They are one of the best fusions out there because of their recyclable fusion and extreme efficiency.

Let's start with the basics of the gem-knight engine. First, you want to run 2 fusions. This is the heart of the gem deck, and the best thing about it is that you can add it to your hand again from the grave by banishing 1 gem-knight monster, and since solemn cant negate a fusion monster itself and has to negate the card, its pretty useless on fusion. You want more than one in case one gets banished, and it doubles your chances of drawing it. You want less than three because having two in your hand could be a dead draw, and having 3 is certain death.

Here's how you add it. No, not with a silly gem-turtle. You want to get a lavalval chain out on the field with at least 1 gem-knight material (I'd recommend you to get it out with rescue rabbit/summoner monk on the first or second turn). You detach the gem material, send fusion the the grave, and add it back by banishing one gem-knight in your grave. And it's a +1 with rabbit, so you get to recycle! yay!

If your lavalval survives one turn, use its effect to send another card to the grave, either a volcanic shell or a lazuli. I recommend lazuli because it recycles a normal or gemini monster in your grave by adding it back to your hand, while no decreasing the number of gem-knight monsters in your grave.

Speaking of recycling, another great card is amber. Yes, hate all you want because it's a gemini and I don't use any gemini support. Here's the thing, if you can get it in your hand or grave and fusion with obsidian before normal summoning, you can ss amber to the field with obsidian and gemini summon it. Then add fusion to your hand and discard it with amber's effect to add obsidian again. Then add fusion back. You will have a fusion monster, an effect amber, an obsidian, and a fusion all for the cost of 2 banished gems. A slower method of getting it on the field is with summoner monk.

Summoner monk is slow, hence I run 1, but it can get a lvl 4 xyz on the field quickly or an amber from the deck, which is REALLY useful.

Now onto support. 3 veiler, 3 maxx c, and 3 mst. Am I insane? No, they may seem a bit overkill, but with current meta, they are the 9 cards (10 including a staple book of moon) in my deck that keep meta away. You can negate a tour guide, a monk, an envoy (although it's getting banned), or any card which has a cost or is essential to your enemy's combo, rendering them open. As an added bonus, it's light, and therefor a fusion material monster for a seraphi (misspelled), a new fusion. Maxx c is for those pesky special summons, and is a great card to have (draw engine). Lastly, you want 3 mst's, to destroy your enemy's traps, some of which (BTH) can hurt your rabbit/fusions. If you draw 3, then that's too bad, you're unlucky, unless you have a monk to spend them on.

Armadillo is a general +1, like stratos, and a rank 4 xyz material if it survives with its mediocre attack. I'd recommend adding an obsidian, or an amber if you already have an obsidian.

Volcanic shell is a tech which I like, its for the fusion of citrine, which is a beast that can shut down cards like flips, sangan, tengu, and giant germ. And if you want more firepower, you can add another one (tip:recycle it with daigusto emeral). Once you have another one, fusion citrine again. If the enemy has a really strong/hard to kill card, then xyz big eye with 2 citrines or a prism aura, and take control of it.

Now I'm almost done, I'd like to talk about an epic tech. Some people dislike future fusion because it's easily mst'd and the fusion usually doesn't come out. What I've learned form playing dragon decks is that the dumping effect is more abuseable than the summon itself. With gems, reveal a master dia, and send 1-2 lazuli and 1-2 normal/gemini gems. Then add however many normal/gemini gems as the amount of lazulis sent. Viola! instant +1-2 without even using a normal summon.

The last non-staple card I'd like to discuss is burden of the mighty. Burden is better than swords or smashing because it lasts until the enemy destroys it, and will bring down the enemy's attack by a lot. This is extremely helpful because most gems have relatively low attacks, and are often destroyed the turn after they are summoned. With burden, this is no more. For example, its better than a smashing because it can bring a trish down to 1800, and kill-able by garnet. Afterwards, its still active, effectively boosting your cards to par (and above) with other monsters (its always fun to kill a darkness metal with a garnet).

My side deck isn't too good, so don't look at it. It's mostly to counter some meta and masked hero decks.

On to extra deck. 3 citrine, 3 prism, because you have a lot of pyro and a lot of thunder, you're going to be using them a lot. Also, they are the two most versatile fusions in the deck. 1 master dia for future fusion. It's also useful if you want to go out with a bang, such as using its effect to banish topaz and deal around 6000 damage. It has late gem potential as well, being your boss card, it can get pretty high with its passive and kill assault mode cards even without a burden of the mighty.

Seraphi is ok. Not that usefull, but if you want to get a quick normal summon, its ok. You can also get a quick fusion out if you have no use for a veil er in your hand.

Topaz has an awesome double attack and reflection damage effect. it can do 3600 in 1 turn even if your opponent has 2 attack position monsters bellow 1800. Also, as I said before, you can banish it with master dia for terrible, terrible, damage. The last of all fusions is zirconia, with gem-armadillo, lazuli (1 5th of your deck), it's a general beater which cant be effected by fiendish chain or effect veiler. It easily gets over a stardust dragon, and what makes it even better is that it's technically a non effect monster, and can be reborned from the grave with diagusto emeral.

On the topic of emeral, he's great and REALLY versatile in this deck. He can special summon any non effect (including zirco and amber) from the grave. What's even better is that he can recycle cards such as volcanic shell for a draw. Mini pot of duality, except in the extra deck. Its also rock, and can be used to fuse zirconia after its depleted its materials.

I mentioned Lavalval Chain before, his top deck effect isn't that useful. It's pretty slow and I'd rather believe in the the heart of the cards (aka statistics) when I draw. Instead, use his dump to get your first fusion early on and add to the hand by either dumping volcanic or lazuli.

Last of all is utopia, one of the best rank 4 xyz's. It blocks attacks, which is huge if they manage to get over your fusions. It's also a great beater, and is my only combat based rank 4.

If you use most of these techniques and a good side deck, you should be doing a lot of damage very quickly, while shutting down most decks with ease. If you have trouble, side during round 2, and change your strategy. If they don't have many traps, then flood the field quickly. If they do have a lot of protection like mirror force, then SS your weaker effect based cards in Def, while keeping your field smaller and generally playing more carefully.

Most importantly, have fun with gem-knights. When built right, they're up to par with top synchro decks, dark worlds, and gravekeers, but you should honestly enjoy yourself.