The Alius Spark

The Hero Engine

Hey guys, how are you all doing? As promised, in addition to my cuteness and cheerfulness and super tasty snacks, you will also find some nice readings about the game showing my insight and whatnot (: I'll do these once a few days, but it really depends on how I feel. Soo, there goes!


I. Introduction - What is Hero Engine?
II. Core Cards and Varius Uses
III. Synergetic Supports
IV. Deck Adaptations and Builds
V. Conclusion





- Before one could answer this question, I should actually tell you what an "Engine" is. Basically, a set of cards that are semi-splashable to mostly "Non-Archetypical" decks like plants or general rouge decks are called an engine. They are mostly between 5-10 card space and they work in harmony with the rest of the deck, often enabling the player to gain field or card presence, or letting enough materials for the player to do devastating combos. For instance, the following are all engines :

1-) Tour Guide Engine (3 Tour Guide of the Underworld, 1 Sangan)
2- ) Volcanic Engine (3 Volcanic Shell, 2-3 Volcanic Rocket, 2-3 Blaze Accelarator.)
3-) Flamvell Engine (3 Flamvell Firedog, 3 Flamvell Magician, 3 Rekindling)
4-) Lightsworn Engine (2-3 Ryko, 2-3 Lyla, 1 Charge, 2 Solar Recharge)

There are many more engines like this, and as you can see they range from 4 to 9 cards mostly. Obviously the above four do not interest us because what we are interested is the HERO ENGINE.

The Hero Engine is an engine consisting of 13 cards, with mainly the purpose of searhing the deck and reaching Alius with 1 for 1 searchers, and simplfying the game with the devestating Gemini Spark, potentially gaining pluses if you can manage to chain it. It let's the player to have good beatsticks and it enables the usage of powerful "Element" Elemental Hero Fusions. Overall, when done well, it serves as a great addition to any rouge deck.



First off, let us start with the monsters. The engine runs only four monsters, but it's not a problem because there are many ways to reach them from our deck.





Attribute LIGHT
Types Warrior/Gemini
Level 4
ATK/DEF 1900/1300
Card Effect Types Continuous, Continuous, Continuous

Quote :

This card is treated as a Normal Monster while face-up on the field or in the Graveyard. While this card is face-up on the field, you can Normal Summon it to have it become an Effect Monster with this effect.
● This face-up card's name becomes "Elemental HERO Neos"

Neos Alius is the main focus of our strategy here. Although his second summon effect is rarely (never) used, he still serves his purpose by being a Gemini, hence being a valid Gemini Spark target. In addition, he is a level four 1900 beater, beating most of the stuff early on and even ramming into Thunder King or Steelswarm Roach for instance. He is warrior, meaning he can be fetched by not only E-Emergency Call but also Reinforcement of the Army. Lastly, he his LIGHT, making him an Honest candidate and a material for Shinning if we are to remove two heroes. Overall, this card is our core card. Run in 3.



Attribute WIND
Types Warrior/Effect
Level 4
ATK/DEF 1800/300
Card Effect Types Trigger

Quote :

When this card is Normal or Special Summoned: You can activate 1 of these effects;
● You destroy Spell/Trap Cards on the field, up to the number of other "HERO" monsters you control.
● Add 1 "HERO" monster from your Deck to your hand

And now four our second monster, we have perhaps one of the strongest Elemental Hero in the game, Elemental Hero Stratos. He is just 100 ATK short of our Neos Alius, yet his effect really pays off. Whenever he is summoned, he instantly nets us a plus, by either destroying an opponents spell or trap, or by grabbing Neos Alius from our deck. With this, we basically have 4 Neos Aliuses in deck, plus with the effect to clear the enemies backrow. No wonder why he got limited, he really pays off very well. Run 1 ( )


Now, to the spell cards. They are basically 1 for 1 exhange cards, but they let us search all our monsters, and then make some pretty solid plays with Alius. We run 9 spells :

Quote :

Add 1 Level 4 or lower Warrior-Type monster from your Deck to your hand.

This super awesome normal spell is the dream toolbox card for any deck involving Warrior-Type monsters, and luckily all four of our heroes are Warrior-Typed. Therefore, we can easly run this card to fetch any of them without waiting to draw them. This basically means we run not 3, but 4 Neos Alius in the deck. In fact, with the next card and Stratos, we run basically 7 Neos Alius Anyways, very essential, and also limited :/ Run 1.

Quote :

Add 1 "Elemental HERO" monster from your Deck to your hand.

Well, I really don't think this card needs any additional comments. Basically we bypass RotA's limited status by having 2 more of this card and practically running 3 RotA's. Run 2, third is overkill.

Quote :

Banish, from your side of the field or your Graveyard, the Fusion Material Monsters that are listed on an "Elemental HERO" Fusion Monster Card, then Special Summon that Fusion Monster from your Extra Deck. (This Special Summon is treated as a Fusion Summon.)

Now, bringing out the big guns. Miracle Fusion is beyond awesome. Basically our heroes themselves alone let us take Shinning or Great Tornado, and with proper additions to the deck we can basically bring out any Attribute based Elemental Hero Fusion we want. To top these off, this summon is basically free, just play this and since the cards are sent from the graveyard to the banished, we don't even lose any cards in the process. It is an awesome Top Deck, a game-changer. Run 2 though, third might die.

Quote :

Reveal 1 Fusion Monster in your Extra Deck and send, from your Main Deck to the Graveyard, the Fusion Material Monsters that are listed on that Fusion Monster Card. During your 2nd Standby Phase after this card's activation, Special Summon 1 of that Fusion Monster from your Extra Deck and target it with this card. (This Special Summon is treated as a Fusion Summon.) When this card leaves the field, destroy that target. When that target is destroyed, destroy this card.

Well, since we are running Attribute Fusions, we might just as well abuse them right? Now that we have all 6 Attributes, this card basically works as an advanced Foolish Burial with it's additional perks. Obviously if left alone this card works as a free fusion summon as well, but we are interested in other cards we can dump to the grave and make plays. Dandylion? Plague? All of them can be easly searched and sent to the graveyard, making lot huger plays easy to accomplish. Even better, this card can bring out an instant Black Luster for instance, by pitching Neos Alius and a dark monster to the grave. Definetely run one.

Quote :

Tribute 1 face-up Level 4 Gemini monster you control to target 1 card on the field; destroy it and draw 1 card.

Now for the final card we have, there you have a super awesome 2 for 2 exhange, and even better it comes in the form of a Quick-Play Spell. Basically it means we can further push down the plus one we got from Stratos and carry on with simplifying, OR if you can manage it, chain this to a card that would destroy this or your Neos Alius and score an awesome advantage. It's just purely awesome. Run 3, always!


SO this concludes the line-up. To sum it up, the list goes like:

- 3x Neos Alius
- 1x Stratos
- 1x Reinforcement of the Army
- 2x E - Emergency Call
- 2x Miracle Fusion
- 1x Future Fusion
- 3x Gemini Spark






Honest is a great addition to this deck, not only increasing the LIGHT count for a possible BLS, but also it can boost the already powerful Neos Alius to fight all enemy monsters attacking him. With 3 Alius and 2 Thunder King Rai-Oh, Honest is almost always a useful card to have. Run 1.



Dandylion makes excellent Future Fusion target, and also great to stall the game around or have access to Synchro summons via Debris or a summoned Gale et cetera. Overall, great card to start combos and do cool stuff. Run 1.




Plague is basically the same as Dandy, except he is a tuner and he gets us the opportunity to summon Brionac for example. The topdeck won't hurt that much mostly, as we have lot's of searchers and stuff. Run 1.



Hero Blast is a pure plus 1, letting us destroy most of the non-XYZ or Synchro monsters most decks can summon, and in addition to that we grab a Neos Alius from the grave. Basically we get 2 in exchange for one. However, this may be a little slow for you and you might find it hard find proper trap space, so it's your call. Run 0 or 2.




With the Hero Engine, you can make an addition to both Plant Synchro and rouge decks, though Plants are basically dead as of March 2012, so I'll cover a Rouge Deck Build here. The decklist goes like :

2x TK
3x Alius
1x Stratos
3x Maxx C
1x Gorz
1x Bls
1x Gale
1x Honest
1x Dandy
1x Debris
2x Reaper
1x Sangan
1x Plaguespreader

1x Rota
2x E-call
3x Gemini Spark
1x Dark Hole
1x BoM
1x Heavy
1x Monster Reborn
2x MST
1x Future Fusion
2x Miracle

1x Judgment
2x Warning
2x Hero Blast
1x Torrential


Basically with this deck you can just keep on annoying your opponent and counter play them, with a playstyle like "Stun" decks, and use Spark/Hero Blast or even Gale, Honest and BLS for Monster destruction. You have Miracle and Future Fusion to summon Shinning or Great Tornado or basically any Fusion you desire. Reaper and Thunder King are strong monsters on their own, and so are Gale and Gorz. Overall every single card on this deck hold their weight and they can work together and in harmony to make great combos.


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To conclude, Hero Engine is very versatile and can be a great addition to any deck without a specific archetype or combo aimed. It let's the player access good level 4 beaters, make some good +1 plays and eventually bring out great Fusions. Neos Alius all the way!