Elemental HEROes - Main Deck HEROes

Elemental HEROes - One of the most abundant archetypes in the entire game. Unsurprisingly they also have one of the lowest usable percentages of a single archetype. The archetype itself consists of a lot of sub-par monsters, conditional effects, and Vanillas. However, there are some incredible gems and some very good undermeta decks that HEROes can run, each with their own pros and cons.



First, one must cover the Elemental HEROes that are actually usable. This is very easy to narrow down, as only a small number of them are truly worth the deck space. These include, but aren't technically limited to:

• Elemental HERO Stratos
• Elemental HERO Neos Alius
• Elemental HERO Bubbleman
• Elemental HERO Ice Edge
• Elemental HERO Ocean
• Elemental HERO Voltic
• Elemental HERO Heat
• Elemental HERO Captain Gold
• Elemental HERO Prisma
• Elemental HERO Woodsman
• Elemental HERO Wildheart

Now, it should be noted that not all of these can simply be run in any deck, but these are the HEROes in the main deck that you want to be sure to know, as they should be the only ones you ever use. With those of a more common use at the top, descending down the list.

Why are these cards good? Well most of them are easy to explain, and will also make more sense once we reach the deck types themselves, but for now, onto the HEROes!

I will attempt to keep this as short as possible, but some cards do need more explaining than others, or have that much more to then.

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.

Now this should be familiar to most players as the "best" HERO monster in the game, since it can search any other HERO monster and immediately add it to your hand without any form of restriction, and it even works when it's Special Summoned. This card has numerous reasons for being good, and is by far the most played HERO in general - let alone just the Elementals.

Now this card is good for numerous reasons, the obvious one being its effect to grab any HERO from the deck, which in itself is all it really needs. This adds a significant level of consistency and players will even call cards with similar effects a "Stratos" of an archetype - That's how good this guy is. It is searchable by all means in a HERO build, being an E - Emergency Call (E-Call) and Reinforcement of the Army (RotA) target. This means you can easily search a card that results in a +1 summon, with the choice of search you can tailor to your situation and deck choice.

What is often overlooked however, is ironically his first effect. In certain loops he is able to get off numerous backrow destructions from the one Summon, however it is usable as a regular effect when you have the advantage. Unfortunately it is not as good as it used to be, in a format now plagued with double Torrential Tribute, but it remains a good ability to remember to take note of. This will also be the single card you return to your hand most when Elemental HERO The Shining is destroyed. (Which will be discussed later.)

Overall, it is the absolute staple in any HERO build, no matter how dedicated. Unfortunately it's limited (but for good reason), so it's hard to simply draw into, but with the plethora of search cards at your disposal, you will be able to summon him almost every duel.

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".


When someone mentions an Elemental HERO deck, this is often one of the first cards that come to mind, and this is for good reason. It is the strongest Level 4 Elemental HERO in terms of attack (without a drawback) and it's a Gemini monster, which allows it to use Gemini Spark and Hero Blast. These factors already make it really good, and to top it all off it's a LIGHT Warrior with 1900 ATK. It has literally everything it could possibly need to have a deck built around it.

Because it is a LIGHT it is also a material for The Shining, which is arguably the best HERO Fusion monster one can make, and is a very potent threat with this card.

Because there are so many factors towards using this card, it naturally has its own deck based around it, but this will be covered later.

If this is the only card in your hand, you can Special Summon it (from your hand). When this card is Summoned: You can draw 2 cards. You must control no other cards and have no cards in your hand to activate and to resolve this effect.


Bubbleman is a HERO that has only recently seen a rise in popularity, due to the potency of Xyz monsters - namely Blade Armor Ninja and in future Heroic Champion Excalibur. Its use is generally simple; You summon a HERO, set your hand, special summon Bubbleman and Xyz. It's a simple play, that can result in a big pay-off. This play style has gained a significant following in the OCG and the derived "Bubblebeat" decks have risen immensely in popularity. From a theoretical standpoint, and from a personal standpoint it doesn't seem good because obviously in setting your hand you lose the discard necessary for Super Polymerization (Super Poly), however in practice it does achieve results.

When this card inflicts Battle Damage to your opponent by a direct attack, you can select 1 Set card in your opponent's Spell and Trap Card Zone, and destroy it. Once per turn, during your Main Phase 1, you can discard 1 card to allow this card to attack your opponent directly this turn.


Ice Edge is one of my personal favourite HEROes, if not currently my favourite; You just can't hate the lil' guy. He may look weak, but his effect more than makes up for it. Ice Edge is one of the best baiters for backrows in the entire game. Simply by summoning it your opponent will be quick to chain cards like Solemn Warning (Warning) and Torrential Tribute (Torrential) just because they know that if they don't they'll lose them very soon. Its ability to turn any card in the hand into a Mystical Space Typhoon (MST) is nearly unmatched. Being a WATER Warrior Elemental HERO monster it has very, very few downsides, in fact it just gives more and more reason to run it. Most more conservative builds will prefer the use of Ocean and Bubbleman, but any HERO build that relies on offence will love Ice Edge.


Another notable point, albeit it much more minimal, is that using Ice Edge's effect, discarding 1 card, then chaining Mask Change can create a pseudo-invincible Masked HERO Acid. Because of chain link resolution, the Acid is summoned and then Ice Edge's effect resolves. Since the resolution was the last thing to occur, cards like Bottomless Trap Hole and Torrential Tribute cannot be activated, as they are essentially "When... You can" effects, where the conditions must be met at the final resolution of a chain beforehand.

Once per turn, during your Standby Phase: You can target 1 "HERO" monster you control or in your Graveyard; return that target to the hand.

The third and final good WATER Elemental HERO; Ocean is an incredibly good card, and is truly as great as both of its WATER companions. However, Ocean is a much more conservative card. Its effect is very useful, allowing the controller to re-use Stratos's effect over and over again, once every turn. This can be turned into the "Ocean Loop" where the player attaches Safe Zone to Ocean allowing it to be safe from harm, and allowing that player to get their Stratos back in their hand each turn to set up plays, or kill backrows. Other than that, Ocean has very little to really talk about, it is the strongest of all the WATER Elemental HEROes, but that isn't saying much when it only sits at 1500 ATK.

When this card inflicts Battle Damage to your opponent: You can target 1 of your banished "Elemental HERO" monsters; Special Summon that target.


Voltic doesn't see as much use as Alius, as its use is much more geared toward that of Fusion Gate HEROes, which will be covered later in more depth. Its effect is very inconsistent with Miracle Fusion alone banishing HEROes, so it needs a more dedicated deck. In that deck, however, it becomes a true force to be reckoned with. With a small amount of setup, Voltic can lead to a huge amount of damage. A 3200 Shining can attack your opponent directly. Voltic will then follow up with 1000, special summoning another Voltic, also swinging for 1000, summoning Stratos, searching another combo piece - generally a WATER HERO - and then swinging for another 1800. This totals 7000 damage in one go. One could theoretically use 3 Voltics to turn it into an OTK, however running 3 of them significantly hurts the consistency of the deck, since it can be a majorly dead draw. Its merit really comes in the sense it can re-use Stratos while still being an offensive base.

This card gains 200 ATK for each face-up "Elemental HERO" monster you control.


Yep, his effect does seem very lack luster, you would be very correct in saying that. However, it isn't his effect that makes him interesting. It's the fact that he's not only an Elemental HERO, but also a FIRE one. Yeah, we don't get too many decent ones of those, having only this, Burstinatrix and Lady Heat. However, an 1800+ beatstick is always better than a 1200 Vanilla or a 1300 "weak-as-piss" burner. Anyway, as I've now drifted very off-topic... This card's use comes from its attribute and name. If it didn't have either of those, it'd be even worse. The fact that it's a HERO means it's very easy to search with Stratos and E-Call. The biggest selling point, however, is his attribute. Being a FIRE makes him one of the few HEROes that can actually be fused with another to make Nova Master, which is an absolutely amazing card. This alone nearly guarantees him a spot @1 in any Gate build. I'll discuss Nova Master and Gate HEROes in more detail later on.

You can discard this card to the Graveyard; add 1 "Skyscraper" from your Deck to your hand. If "Skyscraper" is not face-up on the field, destroy this card.


Well, he doesn't seem good off-hand, does he?


Captain Gold is the dark horse of Elemental HEROes, almost poisoned by its inability to survive without Skyscraper, however, there is the fact that it is a searchable Terraforming, and makes for a very interesting tech in a few HERO stun-based builds. Its main use is of course getting Skyscraper, this means you only need 1 of this, and 1 of Skyscraper, since this is so searchable. With Skyscraper on the field, Stratos and Alius become incredibly strong forces to be reckoned with (provided it's your turn) and can destroy almost every boss monster in the current metagame, if not all of them. Unfortunately, there isn't really much to discuss, this one's mostly down to the simple fact that Skyscraper makes for a good tech.

Once per turn: You can reveal 1 Fusion Monster from your Extra Deck, then send 1 of the Fusion Material Monsters listed on that card from your Main Deck to the Graveyard; this card's name becomes the sent monster's name until the End Phase.

This card can be summed up very easily: Setting up Miracle Fusion plays.

In HEROes, that's simply all it can do. Using Extra Deck techs like Mudballman and Terra Firma (Please, please, never summon either) you can dump certain HEROes into the graveyard for a later Miracle Fusion play.

There is no complex amazingness to Prisma, and it's personally one of my least favourite HEROes to main deck ever, however its uses are still there.

Once per turn, during your Standby Phase: You can add 1 "Polymerization" from your Deck or Graveyard to your hand.

This card is unaffected by the effects of Trap Cards.


I'm going to lump these two together, because their use is entirely based on preference. However, there isn't much to discuss. Both of them are used for one sole reason in a deck, and that's for Mask Change, to summon Masked HERO Daian. I'll explain these choices in more detail another time.



Thank you for reading, and I hope this helps with any players who want to learn the ropes of Elemental HEROes.

Next time I will be discussing the extra deck cards, and techs for the main deck.

If you wish to help me improve, I welcome all criticism.

Good day.