As we continue down the line of GX-series support in the [Legendary Duelists] booster set, the cards introduced show some promise, but it doesn’t seem to fix a lot of the issues the archetype in question suffered from its conception. If you read the title, we’ll be taking a looking at one of the many [Roid] sub-archetypes made famous by Duel Academy’s underdog duelist, Syrus Truesdale - introducing the newest [Vehicroid] cards, fresh off the production line. These [Toon] lookalike planes, trains, and automobiles are remembered more for their career in the anime, and for good reason, but these new support cards bring the promise of making the deck at least slightly more usable, considering another Roid sub-archetype - [Speedroid] - practically left these old jalopies to rust in the garages Konami left them in. I’ll do a quick summary as to why I say this, but it should be obvious to anyone who’s been playing the game why the Speedroids are the only Roids worth remembering nowadays.
VEHICROID
As with a majority of decks from the Yu-Gi-Oh! GX series, the Vehicroids worked around the idea of fusing their monsters with [Polymerization] to create their larger monsters, ultimately fusing together to become [Barbaroid, the Ultimate Battle Machine]. Beyond that, the deck suffered from having difficulties locking down their board for any substantial presence; the recovery of the deck was situational, the protection was almost nonexistent, and so on. Coincidentally, Rank10YGO released yet another [Legacy of the Worthless] video going over this archetype and outright expressing his disdain against these rejected [Chevron] mascots. In final grading, the deck lacked anything remotely salvageable, and as for his suggestion on making the deck stronger (as is tradition with his other videos), he confessed that he had no idea how to improve the archetype. Then out of nowhere, in 2017, Konami’s card development team decided that, out of every single archetype that could have benefited from some of their attention and care, these rusted machines needed to get some support because Syrus’ brother got some support for his [Cyberdark] deck and it would be mean to play favorites.
Hoping to cement itself as a staple in the deck, [Mixeroid] joins the fray to help bring out plays in the biggest of ways. It stands as a Level 4 WIND Machine-type monster that can Special Summon a non-WIND “roid” monster from the Deck by Tributing one Machine-type monster you control (probably to circumvent any [Speedroid Terrortop] nonsense), as well as provide the means of Fusion Summoning a monster without the use of Polymerization. And how do you do this, you ask? By paying half your Life Points and banishing a number of Machine-type monster to summon a Fusion Monster before destroying it on your End Phase. If you really think its worth banishing 12 monsters just to bring out Barbaroid, run one or two - otherwise, its best to dump it into the river, cement blocks strapped to the wheels.
Time certainly has given the archetype a lot to do (except not really), as they managed to create the great society of [Megaroid City], a new Field Spell to provide a place they can call home. It can search your Deck for any “roid” card by destroying another card you control, essentially searching for the “Speedroid” cards you’ll need to start any combo. Interestingly, the second effect switches the attack and defense points of your battling monster on the Battle Phase, during damage calculation only, by sending any “roid” monster card to the GY, not only to beat over monsters with arguably one of the strongest monsters (albeit situational), but to also play into the new Mixeroid - unfortunately the [Ambulanceroid]-[Rescueroid] combo doesn’t work, as it activates when a monster gets destroyed by battle. Beyond that, it provides no protection from card effects or battle destruction, and its searching effect is decent at best. You’ll want the city if you want to transform the newest monster into a behemoth, but if that’s not what you had in mind, reconsider your options.
Surprisingly, the “Vehicroid” archetype received a really strong Counter Trap designed to put stop your opponent’s play, and then some, but only when the conditions are met - [Emergeroid Call] can negate the effect of any Spell, Trap, or monster effect for no cost, as well as force your opponent to drop all the cards with the same name as the activated card from the Main Deck and Extra Deck as long as you control a “roid” Fusion Monster. [Mystical Space Typhoon], [Zoodiac Drident], [True King’s Return]? Negate, dump. Additionally, it can banish itself from the GY to return a “roid” monster back to the hand. Definitely need to run this card in case of emergencies, and the recovery is a nice added insurance policy.
As if it was lifted from the “Transformers” series, the Megaroid City transforms itself into one of the largest bodies this game has ever seen in its history. [Super Vehicroid - Mobile Base] requires a “roid” Fusion and any “roid” monster to rise onto the field, sitting on nothing but 5000 defense points - it plays into the Megaroid City Field Spell, for when it attacks, the stats switch and it gets to hit anything for 5000 attack points (until the End Phase, where it returns to being a zero attack wimp). It can target a monster your opponent controls to Special Summon a “roid” monster from either the Deck or Extra Deck with an attack less than or equal to the targeted monster, as well as return a “roid” monster in the Main Monster Zone to take its spot; as it was released during the beginning of the Link Format, it experiments the idea of shifting its position from the Extra Monster Zone to make room for either a new Link Monster or another Extra Deck Monster Monster like [Pair Cycroid]. Definitely a lot more easier to summon and use than [Super Vehicroid - Stealth Union], with a better effect all around, considering the ability to Special Summon any “roid” from the Deck is far more superior to attacking all monsters with half of 3600 attack points. A great addition, expect to see a lot of Mobile Bases on the field.
Did the new cards help the deck become even a tiny bit stronger? A little bit of yes, but more so “meh” - despite the effects of Emergeroid Call and Mobile Base, helping you recover your field after a Fusion Summon as well as negating some nasty effects while dumping the other copies into the GY, the deck still suffers from having too many monsters that don’t do anything to advance the archetype’s game state, it doesn’t improve the already poor field presence due to Megaroid City’s inability to serve and protect their “roid” card (outside of some stat manipulation that doesn’t necessarily matter because the attack and defense points on these old junkers are unremarkable no matter how you look at them), and the speed is still too slow to make any reasonably decent boards in the early game. As it stands, the deck still lacks a great deal before becoming at least enjoyable to play, at least by itself - adding in the Speedroids definitely help, due to the Terrortop-Taketomborg plays and the Synchro Monster options that open up thanks to the Tuners. I would say this would be the weakest of the new support cards, but there’s still one more to talk about…