Crystal Beasts, Part 1

What's shakin' duelists? The Coach is back for your next Yu-Gi-Oh! lesson. Today, we're gonna take a look at an interesting archetype form the Yu-Gi-Oh! GX era. The Crystal Beasts are a series of seven monsters that are inspired by the colors of the rainbow. These precious gems have a special ability that allows them to be placed in the Spell & Trap Zone. You'll find out a little later why this is important. Let's take a look at the members of this exclusive club.

First up is Crystal Beast Ruby Carbuncle. Its special ability allows it to Special Summon other CB monsters from the Spell & Trap Zone to the Monster Zone. This is a good way to recycle your monsters and keep your field with a minimal defense. (6/10)

Crystal Beast Amber Mammoth has a special ability that makes it a shield for other CB monsters. Consider equipping this card with an Equip Spell or Field Spell that boosts ATK and you could end up trashing your opponent's offense. (6/10)

Crystal Beast Topaz Tiger has a special ability that gives it an ATK boost during the Damage Step of an attack. Give him an ATK boost beforehand to guarantee success against almost any monster. (5/10)

Crystal Beast Emerald Tortoise is a good choice for protection. Its 2000 DEF will help stall your opponent. On top of that, its special ability allows you to switch a monster you attacked with during your turn to DEF position. This can only be done during your Main Phase 2. (6/10)

Crystal Beast Sapphire Pegasus is a typical level 4 monster with 1800 ATK. Its special ability allows it to put a CB monster from your hand, deck or graveyard into your Spell & Trap Zone. This is good for working to that seven CB combo. (7/10)

Crystal Beast Cobalt Eagle has a special ability that allows it to take a CB monster you control and place it on the top of your deck. This is a good way to recycle another CB monster that was in your Spell & Trap Zone. (5/10)

Crystal Beast Amethyst Cat has an ability that allows it to attack your opponent directly. If it chooses to do that, the damage inflicted is only half. Consider powering up this card with an Equip Spell Card. (5/10)

Rainbow Dragon is the result of getting all seven Crystal Beast monsters between your field and graveyard. This card is a powerhouse level 10 monster with 4000 ATK and 0 DEF. In addition, this behemoth of dragons can activate a special ability that allows it to send all CB monsters you control to the graveyard and gain 1000 ATK for each one. You could easily gain up to 9000 extra attack with this effect, for a whopping 13000 ATK. This would make for an intense one hit knockout to your opponent. Its other special ability allows you to remove all CB monsters you have in the graveyard to shuffle all cards on the field back their owners' decks. (9/10)

Rainbow Dark Dragon is the dark side of Rainbow Dragon. It also can only be Special Summoned, but with a different condition. By removing 7 different DARK monsters with different names, you can put this bad boy in play. Its special ability allows you to boost this monster by removing from play all other DARK monsters you control, as well as the remaining DARK monsters in the graveyard, for a 500 ATK boost per monster. This isn't as powerful as Rainbow Dragon's ability, but could rival its strength just the same. (8/10)

There you have it gem collectors. The Crystal Beasts and their Rainbow Dragons exposed to you. Join us next time for more dueling tidbits. Until then, get your game on!