The Comprehensive Article to "Shining Gate"

I'll start by saying Hello to everyone and thank you for deciding to view my post. In this article I'll look to cover the Hero Deck known as Shining Gate.

Also, If you see something I missed or didn't cover or simply have something to add; Let me know!! I'll be happy to add input from other players if it fits in the article and you'll be given Credit for it

Now then, Lets Begin..





Elemental Heros have been around for some time now, and for those that don't remember or are new to Yu-Gi-Oh; They appeared in the Yu-Gi-Oh GX Anime Airing from 2004-2008. As for their impact in the Yu-Gi-Oh card game; They did see use and gave new life to fusion summoning..which was hardly touched upon when the card game initially began.

Over time the fusion summoning fad declined and wasn't until further support for hero's began to emerge that fusion summoning made a slight comeback as far as Heros were concerned.

As of right now, The fusion summoning aspect seems to be more complementary to hero's as many top decks in today's game involves heros or a version of them.

The Deck I'm about to cover focus's more on the fusion aspects of the archetype and less on hybrids in which their more less used for in the current Meta.

Lets take one step back though and ask how fusion summoning has evolved to what it is now.




Fusion summoning in Yu-Gi-Oh has been in existence since the game began in the form of a Magic card called "Polymerization". At this time though..it had little to no real use in the game and was more a complementary aspect to dueling with the sparce amount of fusion monsters at your disposal.

As Time went on, More fusion monsters were added..but the age old mechanic of using a Normal Magic card to fuse Lead decks to stray away from Fusion Summoning. Fusion Gate coming a few packs later helped..but at this time..did little to boost fusion summoning as a realistic deck type.

Some booster packs later, The Start of Yu-Gi-Oh Gx Began and low and behold..the main character specializes in Fusions!


The Start of this Anime lead for the first real leaps and bounds in fusion summoning as a realistic deck type and more so overall playability. The cards added over this GX Era to Fusion summoning was quite vast...from Power Bond, Miracle fusion, Super Polymerization, Dark Calling, and far more.

What led this to help fusion summoning is now the graveyard was included as a Target for these Magic Cards ( Some of them..not all ), and also adding in there effects a way to summon without your opponent interrupting its effect ( Super Polymerization ).

As time went on, It was apparent Hero's were the golden child for Fusion Summoning..and as such..received further support and also lead the way for another break-thru in fusion Summoning.

Normally a Fusion Monster Requires 2 monsters of Specific Name to Summon. However the Leap made was now simplifying those requirements to a Hero Monster + a Specific Attribute. This Leap allowed for Heros to not Remain ONLY in their archetype but now spread about there monster set among whatever they choose that fits that said attribute.


Now in the modern day, Heros have 5 of the 6 attributes covered for fusion summoning and The new Theme in synchro summoning was also covered by a form of hybrid fusion summoning in a synchro Monster + a Monster Type for the summon.


This Leads us to our Deck being covered in the Article. Shining Gate!





The Birth of this Deck came about from the release of the Light attribute Fusion Monster " Elemental Hero The Shining".

Since his release. New decks have formed using him as the center piece, but the deck in this article seeks to expand upon that by making him a center piece but also a Engine that makes the deck run ( Per Say ).

The Main Card this deck circles around is Fusion Gate.


As long as this card remains face-up on the field, a Fusion Monster can be Fusion Summoned without using "Polymerization". The Fusion Material monsters used in the Fusion Summon are not sent to the Graveyard, but are removed from play.


Now you probably recall earlier in my article that I said this card had little use at the time; Well..that time is now.

You Probably ask yourself, " Why is this card useful when you have cards like Miracle Fusion to summon with or Future Fusion? ". Well the main purpose is because the backbone of this deck is Shining and his effect to allow you to return Two heros from your RFP pile when sent to the graveyard. So Fusion Gate only enhances that edge to go Along with Miracle Fusion.

With that being said..We have established that Shining and Fusion Gate are the main Cards..so..how do you build the deck? Good Question..so Lets move on




This Part will attempt to cover the entirety of making the deck; So Grab a Sandwich before continuing, Haha...Seriously..go make one..

( Waits 5 minutes )

Ok, now moving on with the deck

The first thing is; A deck of this type will generally use around 15-18 monsters. Now in terms of the current Meta ( March Format 2011 ), This may seem a bit high..but is required for the deck to run properly.

Main reason is you need enough viable targets to use your fusions on a constant basis. Shining ( Like All attribute based Fusion Hero's ) Requires a Hero + 1 Light Attribute, So you will need more than simply Alius to burden that cost..so having more monsters helps aid that; plus make your deck more diverse as well.

Another reason is; Like all Hero Hybrids..they require support past their own monsters to be competitive..and this deck is no different. As much of a influence as your fusions may offer..further support in the form of say a Rai-OH or Effect Veiler is crucial to being competitive..and luckily fits perfectly for our need for a higher monster count.


So we've established this so far more less.

Fusion Gate X3
Elemental Hero The Shining X3
Elemental Hero Stratos X1
Elemental Hero Neos Alius X2/3
Thunder King Rai-Oh X2
Effect Veiler X2
Terraforming X2


As you can see I added a few staples and terraforming to speed the searching of the key card in the deck up, but we're still in need of more cards..so what do we add next? Lets sure up our Monster Front First.


We have 7 Monsters ( Keeping Alius at 2 ) Lined up right now, but need quite a few more..soo..what are we missing? Well first off..we need some water monsters,no? This could not be a Fusion Deck with absolute Zero afterall.


E-Hero Stratos X1
E-Hero Alius X2
TKR X2
Effect Veiler X2
E-Hero Ocean X1
Snowman Eater X2

Now I'm only using 3 Waters in this Example but its a good starting position. Ocean you can always increase by one and snowmen make a good filler. Penguin solider we'll get to later. ( As I'm sure some may ask )


Now we're at 10 monsters...and that just isn't going to cut it..We need more..so what now? Well Shining is the main card so..why not more Light attribute monsters?


E-Hero Stratos X1
E-Hero Alius X2
TKR X2
Effect Veiler X2
E-Hero Ocean X1
Snowman Eater X2
D.D Warrior Lady X2
Honest X1

Now that looks better. We added honest since we're adding more lights..and D.D Warrior Lady should help get pesky monsters off the field. We are still lacking though in monster count at 13...so what next? How about adding a Earth; As Gaia isn't too shabby a fusion.


E-Hero Stratos X1
E-Hero Alius X2
TKR X2
Effect Veiler X2
E-Hero Ocean X1
Snowman Eater X2
D.D Warrior Lady X2
Honest X1
Neo-Spacian Grand Mole X1


Ah, good ol' mole. Now some people have gone with other options like Morphing Jar, But given the format..setting is a big no-no if you don't have too and already using Snowman is enough setting for us; so Lets not compound that weakness.


E-Hero Stratos X1
E-Hero Alius X2
TKR X2
Effect Veiler X2
E-Hero Ocean X1
Snowman Eater X2
D.D Warrior Lady X2
Honest X1
Neo-Spacian Grand Mole X1
E-Hero Voltic x2


I Decided to go ahead and round off our Monster Line-up ( 16 ) with Voltic. This card gives us the best of both worlds. A Hero Target and he's Light! Plus if you can get some battle damage in with him and use his effect..that's all the better.

Now we need to round off our Magic and trap cards...To save time though; let me add staples.


Fusion Gate X3
Terraforming X2
Dark Hole X1
Book of Moon X1
Monster Reborn X1
Reinforcements of the Army X1
Giant Trunade X1
Mystical Space Typhoon X1


The Typhoon at One I will explain in a bit. Aside from that; the basics are about set. Now something that is Required In this deck type is the help of searching your deck, As you want to abuse gate as quickly and as often as you can..so..


Fusion Gate X3
Terraforming X2
Dark Hole X1
Book of Moon X1
Monster Reborn X1
Reinforcements of the Army X1
Giant Trunade X1
Mystical Space Typhoon X1
E-Emergency Call X3
Miracle Fusion X3


I went ahead and added the miracle fusions as well since their the next staple for the deck I didn't add earlier. At 3 you may wonder do they become dead? Well not so much..you'll find you wont be using gate always..as such..you will have monsters hit the grave..so Miracle makes sure no monster is wasted.

Next is Traps...but we only have limited room..so what do we do?


Royal Decree X2
Solemn Warning X2
Solemn Judgment X1
Mirror Force X1

When you run magic heavy decks..Decree ends up as your best option to cover your Ass ( Pardon the Language,lol ). As such though we have to keep traps used down as if decree is never picked off..our trap-line up would become dead..so..only 4 traps were added. Also, This is the reason for only one Typhoon; two would become a bit un-neccesarey but you can always add the 2nd if it makes you feel more comfortable.

Now Lets throw Together a Generic Extra Deck

~Extra Deck
E-Hero Shining X3
E-Hero Zero X3
E-Hero Gaia X2
E-Hero Great Tornado X1
Ally of Justice Catastor X1
Black Rose Dragon X1
Stardust Dragon X1
Scrap Dragon X1
Brionic X1
Dragon knight Draco-Esquiste X1


Now This brings our Deck count too 40 and so completes our Shining Gate Deck !!

Now every person will have their own opinions for tech's and monster line-ups, etc...so use my basic structure as simply a skeleton and make your own. Be Creative and find what works for you..and most importantly..Have Fun!



This Section Will cover rulings that will no doubt come into play using this deck so I'll do what I can to clarify any rulings and also try to answer what I would believe to be common questions regarding the deck.



Vs Solemn Judgment
1.) This card can not be activated to the fusion summon by gate as the summon is part of the resolution of gate. Same would apply to Other fusion summons Via other Magic Cards or Ritual Cards.

Vs Solemn Warning
1.)This card can't negate the activation of fusion gate nor the following fusion summon. Reason is the activation of fusion gate does not special summon a monster and Warning can only negate the Activation of a card that special summons..so the timing is never met..so your fusions go under Warning using Gate.

Vs Oppression
1.)This card Will Negate Fusion Gate as this card is not worded like Warning and negates any effect that special summons..not just activation like Warning Requires.

Vs MST/Dust Tornado,etc
1.)If fusion Gate is destroyed before it can resolve; then you don't RFP any monsters nor perform a fusion summon.

VS LADD
1) If Fusion Gate is already in play with LADD is on the field. You can still activate Fusion Gate, but it will be negated by LADD.

2.)If you Chain To LADD's effect to negate Fusion Gate and Remove him from the field in some way; Fusion Gate Will Resolve as LADD is no longer on the field and his effect did not properly Resolve. ( Would Appreciate if someone can word that better )

Vs Game Mechanics
1.)A Monster Fusion summoned with Gate is considered Properly Fusion summoned and can be revived from the graveyard Via. Monster Reborn, Call of the Haunted,etc..




Vs His own Effect
1.)He will Not Miss timing too add hero's to your hand during the damage step if destroyed by battle or card effect.

2.)He Will get his effect if destroyed while Face-Down.

3.)He Will get his effect if sent to the grave from the Magic/Trap zone. (Relinquished effect for example)

4.)The Effect to add hero's to your hand Targets one or two hero's RFP.

5.)If the number of RFP Targets change before his effect resolves ( Burial From a Different Dimension ), You still add what Targets remain in your RFP Pile.

6.)If attacking ryko in battle causes its flip effect to activate; Shining Will Miss timing due to ryko's milling effect if destroyed by Ryko.




Q: How Does this Deck Handle Current Meta Decks?

A: Quite well actually. Gate being able to get under common counter traps in the Meta right now and offering a pretty consistant offense of fusion monsters; It can preform quite well if used right. Also, A little added complementary effect to using a Field spell is you can overlap annoying cards like NecroValley and Dragon Ravine; Just watch out for yours getting overlapped as well!!


Q: Why Did you Not cover Chain Material?

A: I'm Glad you asked!! I did not cover it as I don't use it personally, but it is such a good card I should give it mention.


Any time you Fusion Summon a monster this turn, you can remove from play, from your side of the field, Deck, hand or Graveyard, Fusion Material Monsters that are listed on the Fusion Monster Card, and use them as Fusion Material Monsters. You cannot attack during the turn this card is activated. If you used this effect for a Fusion Summon, the Summoned Fusion Monster is destroyed during the End Phase.


Your probably wondering what this could be used for..so let me explain. When you Activate chain material; For the remainder of the turn it was used; You can Fusion summon from almost Anywhere. Places are your hand,field, graveyard and deck..Amazing no? Well the catch is you can't attack with them and their destroyed during the endphase. Sux..I know..but wait..how can we make a Positive use from this card?

Well the backbone of the deck is shining...and his effect works when sent from the field to the grave...hmm...Ooo..and you return monsters RFP by his eff when sent..and chain material Removes them from play...O.o..See what I see here? Use chain material. Then activate Fusion Gate to summon shining from any of those 4 locations..lets go with Deck. Now fusion gate can be used a inf. number of times..and chain material lasts till end of turn..so..why not bring out one more?

Then during the end phase they are sadly destroyed..but both of their effects go off and you can return a whopping FOUR Hero's RFP to your hand. Think of it like using 4 E-Calls; Plus you leave 2 shining's in your grave for miracle..so using miracle on both to bring out your 3rd shining allows you the option to return both RFP shining fusions when he's destroyed and now your recycling!! ( Gotta help the Eco-System somehow, right?)



Q: I Notice You don't use Gemini Spark, Why?

A: Good question. The reason is the deck doesn't support the use of Spark as you want cards RFP from the field or hand. Plus that type of deck is already made in Light Beat. Now you Could add one spark if you want...but I would keep it as one Max. Given one is rather useless though..its better to not even use it at all..


Q: There's not a side deck posted for this deck..why is that?

A: Haha..nice segway..as I was going to cover that last. So Lets end the Q & A for now and cover that




I'm not going to get too much into specifics as side Decks In alot of ways comes down to partially personal preference..so i'll make some Basic Suggestions and a Basic Set-up. So here I would say use your best judgment and take my idea's with a grain of salt.


~Side Deck~

Super Polymerization X2
Royal Oppression X1
Discord X2
Crevice into the Different Dimension X2
Chain Disappearance X2
Penguin Soldier X2
Cyber Dragon X2
Mind Crush X1
Cloak and Dagger X1


Cards to note here.

Super Polymerization- Tech both of these in for game 2 & 3 to wreck havoc. This is why you tech Draco in your extra deck..and why you run 2 Gaia. Earth is a pretty common element now..so interrupting Six Sam by taking their Kagamusha..or interrupting Sabers by taking Faultroll or their tuner...or more importantly..get those annoying Nat. Beast/Barkion off the field. ( More so beast as he can't chain his effect to super poly ).

Penguin solider- These you would side in over the snowmen after Game 1 to help make better use of your slim Water Monster Line-up.

Cyber Dragon- Is light..a good beater..and helps against Machina. If you want more options though..you can even add Cyber Twin to your extra deck for super poly shenanigans or use your Fusion Gate if you draw into both.

The Rest is all just Basic Cards to cover different Decks. As stated though..use what works for you or your own local's,etc.. Only the three cards I mentioned have a actual role in the deck.




Well this Brings us to our end of this Very long Article. I tried to cover what I thought was important and well just include various information to keep it interesting.

I hope anyone viewing my article had fun reading and most importantly give the deck a try!! It is very fun and is Pretty competitive ( Placing in the top 8 In anaheim by Ivan...though Konami miss-named his deck..which I heard he was irked about,lol.. )

Overall I'm looking forward to any criticism and comments and as stated at the start. I'll more than welcome new idea's and input to add to the article and I'll gladly add it if it find it to be informative and/or has helpful information for those reading this article.

Whew! Good thing Jesus approved it, I was worried it was a heathen deck xD. Good article man, nice and long, informative, and step by step analysis of the deck. For the rulings, I have a few questions because for some reason I didn't know about a few. So you said that Ladd negates Gate even when face-up on the field, which I knew and makes sense, but you also said if Gate is destroyed, no monsters are removed and no fusion is summoned. Does the same thing apply if it's negated by, say, Ladd? If so, it can be like the Treeborn loop and make it so it never really is negated. Also...no effect when killed by Ryko? O_O are you sure? That doesn't seem to make a whole lot of sense...not saying it's not true but are you sure? Milling's part of the effect I believe.
Anyway, I kinda like your build, the difference between ours is that I use Chain Material. Chain Material is...amazing. There's so much you can do with it. Unfortunately it involves using a lot of fusions, but by then it usually doesn't matter. You can do the little advantage game if you want with 2/3 Shining, or you can fuse 4 heroes from your deck (1 of each), then STOP using Chain Material and fuse the fusions with Gate. Fuse Shining and Gaia for Shining, fuse Zero and Tornado for Zero, blow up the field, ad then you have 2 fusions that WON'T die. And Shining will be at ENORMOUS attack strength at that point. Once, I beat someone with one hit from Shining at 8000 (I did it by doing the move I mentioned, and then fusing Shining nd Zero for Shining on my next turn an killing their set monsters). The only problem with the Chain Material build is that you run out of Shinings too fast . You could easily summon 7 or so in a single duel. If only we had Parallel World Fusion or a Poa that recycled from the rfg zone. And also, I'm forced ti use more Heroes to boost Shining's atk more effectively and give me more hero targets for the mass fusing capabilities. Here's my ocg Chain Material Gate build for those interested:
Shining Gate (40)
       Monsters: (15)
Elemental Hero Stratos
Elemental Hero Prisma x2
Elemental Hero Neos Alius x3
Elemental Hero Voltic x2
Elemental Hero Ocean x2
Elemental Hero Woodsman/Wildheart x2
Elemental Hero Heat x2
Honest
       Spells: (18)
Monster Reborn
Dark Hole
Giant Trunade
Book Of Moon
Mystical Space Typhoon x2
Fusion Gate x3
Terraforming x3
Miracle Fusion x3
E-Emergency Call x3
       Traps: (7)
Mirror Force
Torrential Tribute 
Solemn Judgement
Solemn Warning x2
Chain Material x2
       Extra: (15)
Elemental Hero The Shining x3
Elemental Hero Absolute Zero x3
Elemental Hero Nova Master x2
Elemental Hero Great Tornado x2
Elemental Hero Gaia x2
Elemental Hero Terra Firma
Elemental Hero Inferno
Chimeratech Fortress Dragon
       Side: (15)
Rivalry Of Warlords x3
Super Polymerization x2
Cyber Dragon x2
Mask Of Restrict x2
Dust Tornado x2
D.D. Crow x2
Snowman Eater x2

you can even use this on KC if you take out the Nova Masters for Draco-Equiste and some random synchros. Anyway, good article Distar, hope you don't mind that I added some of my own input

I'm glad you added on to the guide. I actually am glad you also posted a deck for the chain material trap as I didn't have one laying around,xD

Also, the question of Ryko came up on a seperate forum about shining and someone decided to answer it for people.


Q. Shining missed the timing?!
A. I suppose as a way to "balance" The Shining, they made his effect optional, as opposed to mandatory. So if you use the Shining for Super Poly, Advanced Draw, as tribute fodder, as Mass Driver/Catapult Turtle/Cannon Soldier fodder, Shining will miss the timing. It will also miss the timing if Ryko is flipped up and destroys Shining.

Then go back to the ruling on Ryko

[b]If "Peten the Dark Clown" is destroyed by "Ryko, Lightsworn Hunter", its effect cannot be activated. If "Peten the Dark Clown" is sent from the top of the Deck to the Graveyard by "Ryko, Lightsworn Hunter's" effect, its effect can be activated if there are no other effects remaining on the Chain.[1][b]


This ruling would also apply to ryko or any optional trigger monster as shining ( As a way of balancing it I suppose.. ) is a "..You Can." effect and is a optional trigger so if it is not the exact last thing to happen; it miss's the timing.

You can also refer to this rather angry man for further clarification

http://we-love-to-scrub.blogspot.com/2010/11/ryko-lightsworn-hunter-lightlord-hunter.html


Regardless, Thank you for your desk post; I'll edit my Article in a bit to make reference to your deck you posted.

Hey i'm curious to know if you find out how to make shining gate better now. Looks like the deck is loosing popularity ( IRL cuz we missed fusions ). It willl probably be better if Neos Knight was easy to sumon do you found a way to make him playable ?

"when....you can" effects can miss timing

"if....you can" effects don't miss timing

if fusion gate is already on field and you activate it, will LADD negate it? If so, it was already on field and will stay? If also true, can you abuse it till LADD has 800 atk left?

very nice article
it shows u took ur time writing it
great work man

Vongola-x wrote:

if fusion gate is already on field and you activate it, will LADD negate it? If so, it was already on field and will stay? If also true, can you abuse it till LADD has 800 atk left?

no LADD can't negate it. LADD negates the activation of spells/traps and monster effects. if you use the ignition like effect of an already face-up continuous spell/trap then LADD can't negate it.

1) If Fusion Gate is already in play with LADD is on the field. You can still activate Fusion Gate, but it will be negated by LADD.

in the article...

that's why I got confused