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Description
I've stuffed myself with the feast of Thanksgiving, dug myself out of the War of Black Friday, and danced my way through an Ugly Sweater party, so I think its about time I got back to reviewing Card Concepts. Today's our first "Two for One", as in I'm reviewing two Card Concepts at the same damn time! I was actually going to review changes made to Gemini Monsters (mainly because I'm integrating it into this little story-thing I've been making), but the review would probably be too short so I threw in another one for free! I also needed an excuse to FINALLY review Alter Monsters since I never knew when to fit this simple mechanic in since we have so many complex concepts under our belts. Regardless, I've put these two concepts together to ask a simple-yet crucial question:

How valuable is your Normal Summon?

It's the Summon that starts Duels...for the most part. It sets you up for fancy combos...sometimes. As the game progresses, the Normal Summon has somehow become less "relevant". What I mean is, most popular meta Decks have other ways to Special Summon a ton of monsters to the field exactly when they want to. Their Normal Summon can be used, yes, but in the grander scheme of things it doesn't need to be. Look at archetypes like Artifacts and Paleozoics, they have no Normal Summons period and yet they receive/received at ton of play during their respective eras (Paleozoics more-so due to a certain frog, but still... ). The mechanic isn't gone, just underused, much like Trap Monsters which I've covered already.

Let's talk Gemini's first. If Normal Summons are an underused mechanic, you already know Gemini's are just as low on that list. Having to Normal Summon the same monster twice?! That is so inefficient nowadays it might as well be a joke. So how can we make these better? We make some treatment arrangement. Shout-outs to for proposing this idea a while ago. Basically, with these alterations, Gemini Monsters are treated as Normal Monsters EVERYWHERE unless they're on the field with their effects. This means you can use cards like Rescue Rabbit and Painful Decision to speed up your Gemini shenanigans only to save your Normal Summon (technically Gemini Summon due to the art and text alterations) for your best Gemini Monster so it can gain its effects. Technically, this means you can perform a nice Unleash Summon with Gemini Monsters to spare, but I'm not gonna give you a card that busted. Anyway, this sounds pretty cool on paper, but how effective is a strategy like that? Eh... If there weren't easier ways to get Gemini Monsters to gain their effects this would be fine. But with cards like Blazewing Butterfly and Superalloy Beast Raptinus available (and if you're looking at this the day I'm posting a certain Deck you'll see a few other examples ) it invalidates that strategy a bit. If they can gain their effects on a whim, you can still use your Normal Summon but it'll be just to tie up some loose ends. Still, there must be some way to use a Normal Summon effectively...

Thus enter Alter Monsters, originally conceived by . Much like Unleash Monsters (God, I'm referencing them so much) they're Extra Deck monsters that Overlay on top of its Materials. The differences here is that you can use any monster to Alter Summon as long as its listed on the card as its Material. Alter Monsters also have no Level/Rank/whatever so effects that affect those can't do anything to an Alter Monster (*cough* Towers *cough**cough* Ophion *cough*). However, more importantly, your Alter Summon takes the place of your Normal Summon. Here, you can capitalize on your Normal Summon in a much better way. Look at our example card: chances are, you probably won't be Normal Summoning "SPYRAL Super Agent" that often, mainly Special Summoning him. So when you do Special Summon him you can just Alter Summon "Expertise Agent" and get all the benefits of "Super Agent" on top of new stuff since an Effect Monster arrived first. I can believe more in this mechanic to maximize Normal Summons in comparison to Gemini Monsters. Why? Well, since they're not restricted by what type of Monster they can Summon over they have a lot more options. They can capitalize on Pendulum Summons really well since they only require a name and only one of said name, making Pendulum Summons super easy to pull one off.

So that's about it. Not the most elaborate concepts I've covered. Both just add a little bit of flavor to the game and solve a problem that players might actually have...or just be tech choices to be cheezy to their opponents. That's why I did both, they'd be too simple to review individually. Don't worry about that for next time; That one is actually extra special by comparison.

Phoenix Gearfried (FIRE)
Level: 8
[Warrior/Gemini/Effect]
Lore: GEMINI: If your opponent activates a Spell Card: You can target 1 Gemini Monster in your Graveyard; Special Summon that target. During either player's turn, when a Spell/Trap Card is activated that targets a monster(s) on the field: You can send 1 face-up Equip Card you control to the Graveyard; negate the activation, and if you do, destroy it.
ATK: 2800 DEF: 2200

SPYRAL Expertise Agent (EARTH)
[Warrior/Alter/Effect]
Lore: "SPYRAL Super Agent"
This card's name is always treated as "SPYRAL Super Agent". You can declare 1 card type (Monster, Spell, or Trap); reveal the top card of your opponent's Deck, and if you do, add 1 "SPYRAL" card of that type from your Deck to your hand. If this card leaves the field: You can target 1 face-up card your opponent controls; destroy it, and if you do, send 1 card from the top of your opponent's Deck to the Graveyard. You can only use each effect of "SPYRAL Expertise Agent" once per turn.
ATK: 2600 DEF: 1900

I do not own the artwork (which belongs to its respective owner/s), the game of Yu-Gi-Oh (which is © of Konami and Kazuki Takahashi) or the template I used to make this. I made this using a Series 9 version of Magic Set Editor that I have heavily customized with a little help from Photoshop.

Description
I've stuffed myself with the feast of Thanksgiving, dug myself out of the War of Black Friday, and danced my way through an Ugly Sweater party, so I think its about time I got back to reviewing Card Concepts. Today's our first "Two for One", as in I'm reviewing two Card Concepts at the same damn time! I was actually going to review changes made to Gemini Monsters (mainly because I'm integrating it into this little story-thing I've been making), but the review would probably be too short so I threw in another one for free! I also needed an excuse to FINALLY review Alter Monsters since I never knew when to fit this simple mechanic in since we have so many complex concepts under our belts. Regardless, I've put these two concepts together to ask a simple-yet crucial question:

How valuable is your Normal Summon?

It's the Summon that starts Duels...for the most part. It sets you up for fancy combos...sometimes. As the game progresses, the Normal Summon has somehow become less "relevant". What I mean is, most popular meta Decks have other ways to Special Summon a ton of monsters to the field exactly when they want to. Their Normal Summon can be used, yes, but in the grander scheme of things it doesn't need to be. Look at archetypes like Artifacts and Paleozoics, they have no Normal Summons period and yet they receive/received at ton of play during their respective eras (Paleozoics more-so due to a certain frog, but still... ). The mechanic isn't gone, just underused, much like Trap Monsters which I've covered already.

Let's talk Gemini's first. If Normal Summons are an underused mechanic, you already know Gemini's are just as low on that list. Having to Normal Summon the same monster twice?! That is so inefficient nowadays it might as well be a joke. So how can we make these better? We make some treatment arrangement. Shout-outs to for proposing this idea a while ago. Basically, with these alterations, Gemini Monsters are treated as Normal Monsters EVERYWHERE unless they're on the field with their effects. This means you can use cards like Rescue Rabbit and Painful Decision to speed up your Gemini shenanigans only to save your Normal Summon (technically Gemini Summon due to the art and text alterations) for your best Gemini Monster so it can gain its effects. Technically, this means you can perform a nice Unleash Summon with Gemini Monsters to spare, but I'm not gonna give you a card that busted. Anyway, this sounds pretty cool on paper, but how effective is a strategy like that? Eh... If there weren't easier ways to get Gemini Monsters to gain their effects this would be fine. But with cards like Blazewing Butterfly and Superalloy Beast Raptinus available (and if you're looking at this the day I'm posting a certain Deck you'll see a few other examples ) it invalidates that strategy a bit. If they can gain their effects on a whim, you can still use your Normal Summon but it'll be just to tie up some loose ends. Still, there must be some way to use a Normal Summon effectively...

Thus enter Alter Monsters, originally conceived by . Much like Unleash Monsters (God, I'm referencing them so much) they're Extra Deck monsters that Overlay on top of its Materials. The differences here is that you can use any monster to Alter Summon as long as its listed on the card as its Material. Alter Monsters also have no Level/Rank/whatever so effects that affect those can't do anything to an Alter Monster (*cough* Towers *cough**cough* Ophion *cough*). However, more importantly, your Alter Summon takes the place of your Normal Summon. Here, you can capitalize on your Normal Summon in a much better way. Look at our example card: chances are, you probably won't be Normal Summoning "SPYRAL Super Agent" that often, mainly Special Summoning him. So when you do Special Summon him you can just Alter Summon "Expertise Agent" and get all the benefits of "Super Agent" on top of new stuff since an Effect Monster arrived first. I can believe more in this mechanic to maximize Normal Summons in comparison to Gemini Monsters. Why? Well, since they're not restricted by what type of Monster they can Summon over they have a lot more options. They can capitalize on Pendulum Summons really well since they only require a name and only one of said name, making Pendulum Summons super easy to pull one off.

So that's about it. Not the most elaborate concepts I've covered. Both just add a little bit of flavor to the game and solve a problem that players might actually have...or just be tech choices to be cheezy to their opponents. That's why I did both, they'd be too simple to review individually. Don't worry about that for next time; That one is actually extra special by comparison.

Phoenix Gearfried (FIRE)
Level: 8
[Warrior/Gemini/Effect]
Lore: GEMINI: If your opponent activates a Spell Card: You can target 1 Gemini Monster in your Graveyard; Special Summon that target. During either player's turn, when a Spell/Trap Card is activated that targets a monster(s) on the field: You can send 1 face-up Equip Card you control to the Graveyard; negate the activation, and if you do, destroy it.
ATK: 2800 DEF: 2200

SPYRAL Expertise Agent (EARTH)
[Warrior/Alter/Effect]
Lore: "SPYRAL Super Agent"
This card's name is always treated as "SPYRAL Super Agent". You can declare 1 card type (Monster, Spell, or Trap); reveal the top card of your opponent's Deck, and if you do, add 1 "SPYRAL" card of that type from your Deck to your hand. If this card leaves the field: You can target 1 face-up card your opponent controls; destroy it, and if you do, send 1 card from the top of your opponent's Deck to the Graveyard. You can only use each effect of "SPYRAL Expertise Agent" once per turn.
ATK: 2600 DEF: 1900

I do not own the artwork (which belongs to its respective owner/s), the game of Yu-Gi-Oh (which is © of Konami and Kazuki Takahashi) or the template I used to make this. I made this using a Series 9 version of Magic Set Editor that I have heavily customized with a little help from Photoshop.