Restoring the Lost Honor: Six Samurai

With the recent release of STOR in Japan and it's upcoming February release in the TCG, it's time to take a look at these warriors and follow their new path to redemption.

The Rising Sun

The original Six Samurai were released in Storm of Neos, along with their allies (Shien and Enishi) as a multiple attribute warrior deck focused on swarming the field. They also had an ability to let another samurai be destroyed instead, which allowed for some aggressive plays without having to lose your key players. They concentrated mostly on destroying opponent's cards, such as backrows, face-down monsters, and monsters after damage calculation.

They would be big players at the occasional tournaments, being a consistent deck that was easily able to push for some big plays. But people felt that something was missing...

Western Alliances: Shogun, Hand, and Gateway

TCG-Land brought these warrios some new help. First off, Grandmaster was an incredible boost to them, allowing for some quicker, more aggressive swarms and even more protection at the same time. Even today, Grandmaster is still one of the biggest players in any Six Samurai deck.

It wasn't until Duelist Genesis that they got a little bit more support in form of Hand of the Six Samurai, which allowed for even more destruction at the cost of 1 samurai on the field. Hand gave some incredible support as well, but it wasn't until SOVR that Samurais got their biggest tool...Gateway.

Gateway allowed Samurais to make an epic comeback (not so much in the big time competitions, but they were being played more at locals and regionals). Not only did Gateway allow them to search another Samurai from the deck (similar to Black Whirlwind) or graveyard, but also allowed revival of an effect Shien monster from the graveyard. Now, while the revival of a Shien didn't seem too practical at first, there's a new wave of Samurai that would love to revive their Shien.

Truly Legendary: The New Six Samurai

Storm of Ragnarok unveiled the "True Six Samurai" sub-archetype not too long ago. And with this, the samurai have a few new tricks up their sleeves, as well as their own tuner and synchro. And their synchro is...yes, a Shien effect monster. So Gateway can go nuts with that one. But these new samurai offer a new array of destruction abilities, as well as further swarms and compatibility with both old and new samurai alike.

As well as new monsters, they have gained a few new spells and traps to support them, including Magatama of Musakani. It will negate any destruction effect as long as you have a Six Samurai on your field, and it's a counter trap to boot. Along with a new field and few other spells and traps, it's no surprise these new samurai are here to stay. It seems they are already making an impact in the OCG meta, but only time will tell how great their era of dominance will be.