Gishki guide

Subject: Gishki guide Sat Aug 10, 2013 11:25 am

The mindset of Gishki over all is Spam Rituals. This is possible because of the wide array of search power availible, and more importantly, because we have access to the single greatest Ritual Spell ever designed, better than even Advanced Ritual Art. Much better in fact. What you don't know why? Well to understand that, you need to understand how we Ritual summon. Contrary to what we tell people, Gishki use other Rituals as the cost to Ritual summon. For example, lets say you want to summon Gustrake. Instead of using an Abyss and a 4* or Vission/Shadow, you'd use Tetrogre. Part of this comes from Aquamirror requiring exact levels, but it's mostly because of Mirror's effect, which allows you to return it to the deck in order to add a Gishki Ritual to your hand. So, like ARA, you only -1, except you don’t need to run 10-15 normal monsters.

However, our mighty Rituals are nothing without the devoted followers who summon them. Think of them like a brand new Ferrari. You need the keys to start it. Those keys are:

3 Gishki Abyss
2-3 Vision Gishki
3 Gishki Shadow
2-3 Gishki Aquamirror
3 Salvage

That counts as a skeleton btw. This is the Gishki engine. A Shadow becomes an Aquamirror, a Vision becomes a Ritual, and an Abyss becomes either Shadow or Vision as well as searching many other key monsters.

So you've got the power to spam Rituals. The question is: Why? Well it depends on your playstyle and what you want from the deck. There exist 4 variants for a pure build, and infinite possible hybrids.

Builds:

Purist: This build is best used only as post HA5. It uses a wid variety of Rituals, 6s, 8s, whatever you want. The problem is you ideally want to give up a Ritual for a Ritual, so mucking it up isn't such a hot idea...

Ideal # of Rituals: Doesn't matter, you probably won't be playing this version anyhoe...

Hand Control (lv6): This deck focuses on eating the opponents hand ASAP, by looping Gustrake till she bleeds. Water Spirit Arts and Dustshoots are WinMoar, and your opponent won't like it. The downside to the deck is that to get over 2500, you need to run Tetrogre or Deep Sea Diva. Another, less troublesome downfall is the ASAP part of the deck; a bad hand or not being able to loop Gustrake enough can mean defeat.

Field Control (lv8): Field Control is a bit different. Instead of annoying and crippling like the Hand Cntrol, its Aggro. Drop a Ritual or 2, and control the board with recyclable Beaters. Levanima is your primary Attacker, while Soul Ogre ties with REDMD and adds a bit of removal.

Zealgigas (OTK): Like the field control build, but more aggressive and has its own OTK. You can run 6s and 8s fore more contrl (Don't mix levels too much though), and if you don't, you can main Tragoedia as extra Zealgigas fodder. The deck also has an OTK: Drop 2 Zealgigas (How you do it varies, since the deck has so many options to do so), Use Zealgigas' effect in order to spin yur opponents cards, Attack their clear field for 6400 damage (You won't always be able to clear their field, so Trap Stun can be used if all the S/T hate goes bye-bye), Xyz into WordSalad Train and use it's effect for game.

Quote :: Gishki Abyss
WATER/Fish/Level 2/Effect
800 ATK/500 DEF
When this card is Summoned: You can add 1 "Gishki" monster with 1000 or less DEF from your Deck to your hand, except "Gishki Abyss".

Abyss is one of the best cards we have, able to search much of the critical archetype and make combo plays with cards such as Salvage by searching Vision or Shadow. Obviously, as the Stratos of the deck, run 3.

Quote :: Gishki Shadow
WATER/Sea Serpent/Level 4/Effect
1200 ATK/1000 DEF
If you Ritual Summon a WATER Ritual Monster, this 1 card can be used as the entire Tribute. You can discard this card; add 1 "Gishki" Ritual Spell Card from your Deck to your hand.

The first example of a card that uses itself as a tribute for the entire ritual, and not only this, can search Mirror using a Commandant-like effect AND is Salvage-able! Mirror fetch is important and in level 8 or Zealgigas builds it's important to have fodder like this for very high leveled rituals. Run 3.

Quote :: Vision Gishki
WATER/Sea Serpent/Level 2/Effect
700 ATK/500 DEF
If you Ritual Summon a WATER Ritual Monster, this 1 card can be used as the entire Tribute. You can discard this card; add 1 "Gishki" Ritual Monster from your Deck to your hand.

Much like the above Abyss, but sooner to search Rituals than the spell itself. However, with all the effective ways to get the Rituals and how with Aquamirror's effect you can regain Rituals, three might be overkill in some builds like level 8 but is more prominent in 3s in Hand Control builds. Run 2-3, depending on preference and build.

Quote :: Gishki Beast
WATER/Beast/Level 4/Effect
1500 ATK/1300 DEF
When this card is Normal Summoned: You can target 1 Level 4 or lower "Gishki" monster in your Graveyard; Special Summon that target in face-up Defense Position.

Wonderful! It allows for Xyzing with other Rank 4 Gishkis like Ariel and can shoot out plusses with Gishki Abyss revivals.

Additionally, as it can get Shadow, if you're out of fodder for mirror in hand for high leveled rituals, you can use this to get some back. Desperate, but sometimes effective. If you're running things like Birdman or Diva, it can also translate to good Synchro setups.

Run 2-3.

Quote :: Gishki Ariel
WATER/Spellcaster/Level 4/Effect
1000 ATK/1800 DEF
FLIP: You can add 1 "Gishki" monster from your Deck to your hand.

Slow, but this can be good in tandem with cards like Pot of Duality early game unless Thunder King Rai-Oh is out. Has decent defense and a good Xyz target for Beast, some think of it as too slow and may not run it, others like the extra searching. 3 could very well be overkill. Run 0-3.

Quote :: Gishki Chain
WATER/Sea Serpent/Level 4/Effect
1800 ATK/1000 DEF
When this card is Normal Summoned: Look at the top 3 cards of your Deck and if there is a Ritual Monster or Ritual Spell Card among those cards; you can reveal it to add it to your hand and return the remaining cards to the top of the Deck in any order.

Monsterized themed Pot of Duality meant to add consistency. The four primary searchers, Abyss, Ariel, Shadow, and Vision, are all superior and dig much deeper to get the cards needed. He's decent as a beatstick, but usually unneeded. However, there are uses in builds with a higher Ritual count and can combo with Zeal Gigas.

Run 0-1.

Quote :: Gishki Marker
WATER/Sea Serpent/Level 4/Effect
1600 ATK/1200 DEF
When this card is Summoned: You can target 1 "Gishki" Ritual Monster or "Gishki" Ritual Spell Card in your Graveyard; add that target to your hand.

Usually unfavorable. You really WANT those things in your Graveyard since Aquamirror returns Rituals and thus you want both there and for Mirror to return to the deck for plays using Abyss and such, this is disruptive to that and seems more situational than anything. Perhaps one as preference, and it can combo with Beast if you do a bit of Grave dumping with the deck.

Run 0-1

Quote :: Gishki Noelia
WATER/Spellcaster/Level 4/Effect
1700 ATK/1000 DEF
When this card is Normal Summoned: Reveal the top 5 cards of your Deck. If there is a Ritual Spell Card or "Gishki" monster among these cards: Send them to the Graveyard, and return the other cards to the bottom of your Deck in any order.

This suits more to the theme of getting those into the Graveyard, but again, falls short to better searchers and relies a bit on luck or setup with other deck-order based Gishki which are generally bad. I can see this as a tech card given the effects, but nothing much else.

Run 0-2.

Quote :: Gishki Shellfish
WATER/Aqua/Level 4/Effect
1700 ATK/900 DEF
When this card is sent to the Graveyard by a card effect: Reveal the top 3 cards of your Deck, and return them to the top or bottom of your Deck in any order.

With all the searching this deck does, re-arranging hampers things and before the recent level 4 Ritual was released the "Sent by card effect" thing produced too much minus. Possibly in an ever-growing support for more deck-manipulation based Gishki can this become useful, but these are really too slow and contradict the fast search capabilities.

Run 0.

Quote :: Gishki Eater
WATER/Aqua/Level 2/Effect
500 ATK/800 DEF
When this card is Normal or Flip Summoned while you control another face-up "Gishki" monster: You can target 1 monster you control, except this card; return it to the hand.

ಠ_ಠ... No.

Run -40 to -45

Quote :: Gishki Emilia
WATER/Spellcaster/Level 4/Spirit
1600 ATK/800
Cannot be Special Summoned. This card returns to the hand during the End Phase of the turn it is Normal Summoned or flipped face-up. If this card is Normal Summoned or flipped face-up while you control another face-up "Gishki" monster: Negate the effects of Trap Cards on the field, until the End Phase.

I suppose is meant to pave the way for attacks, but cards like MST, Heavy, etc. do it better. Although this IS re-usable as a Spirit monster, which I find impressive, it still falls flat overall as more than maybe a tech.

Run 0-1.

Quote :: Gishki Diviner
WATER/Sea Serpent/Level 3/Effect
1200 ATK/800 DEF
Once per turn: You can declare 1 card name; reveal the top card of your Deck, and if it is the declared card, add it to your hand. Otherwise, return it to the top of the Deck.

Another card focused on the "Re-arranging" theme and tries to plus off of it. Not really that good and at most is for Deep Sea Diva, who has better targets like Airorca anyway Really not worth the space.

Run 0.

Quote :: Gishki Avance
WATER/Spellcaster/Level 4/Effect
1500 ATK/800 DEF
Once per turn: You can choose 1 "Gishki" monster in your Deck, and place it on top of your Deck.

Seems to be central to the deck-arrangement cards, and can combo with Zeal Gigas and Diviner. However, the thing to remember is that even with cards like Beast recovering well is that these strategies are generally slow and ineffective.

At least Chain has some merits and can maintain itself, but this doesn't seem all that useful. Maybe a tech in Zeal Builds, I suppose.

Run 0-1.

Quote :: Gishki Vanity
WATER/Aqua/Level 2/Effect
1000 ATK/800 DEF
During your Main Phase: You can discard this card; this turn, your opponent cannot activate Spells, Traps, Spell/Trap effects, or Monster Card effects when a "Gishki" monster is Ritual Summoned, or when a "Gishki" Ritual Spell Card is activated.

The obvious idea is trump one of the bigger annoyances of the deck, Bottomless Trap Hole. Or a Warning to your Mirror. It means to pave way for safe summons and is salvage-able, but space is tight and there isn't much room for this card at all. Even if their was, it's not THAT great and covers too little ground overall when an MST does the job of backrow killing outright than just leaving it there for a later turn.

Run 0, maybe 1 if you really want protection.

Quote :: Gishki Natalia
WATER/Spellcaster/Level 4/Effect/Spirit
Cannot be Special Summoned. During the End Phase of the turn this card was Normal Summoned or flipped face-up: Return this card to the hand. When this card is Normal Summoned or flipped face-up: You can target 1 "Gishki" monster in your Graveyard; return it on the top of the Deck.

Its Gishki Avance in woman form. Literally. Stacking is nice, sets up Zeal's second effect. Too bad its so slow, and Avance does it better. You can re-use it by throwing away a well wasted normal summon to get back a card Mirror or Salvage would get you back quicker and more reliably. Its far from the worst card we've got, but by no means is it one you should use.

Run 0-1. Best used in Zealgigas or Field Control builds.

Quote :: Evigiski Psychelone
WATER/Fiend/Level 4/Effect/Ritual
2150 ATK/1650 DEF
Cannot be Normal Summoned or Set. Must first be Ritual Summoned. You can Ritual Summon this card with any "Gishki" Ritual Spell Card. Once per turn: You can declare a Type and Attribute; reveal 1 random card in your opponent's hand, and if it is a Monster Card with the declared Type and Attribute, return it to the Deck.

Going by level order, we have...this. A Verzed Noelia. Really not that great even if it does take up minimal resources. It does not make up for the Minus by itself at all on a consistent basis and hitting is very obviously inaccurate this format. Imagine using this against Plants or Agents? They run, like, 6 types in the deck. This won't hit unless you can hit the last card in hand.

Run 0-1. Gustkrake is superior.

Quote :: Evigishki Gustkrake
WATER/Aqua/Level 6/Effect/Ritual
2400 ATK/1000 DEF
Cannot be Normal Summoned or Set. Must first be Ritual Summoned. You can Ritual Summon this card with any "Gishki" Ritual Spell Card. When this card is Ritual Summoned: Look at up to 2 random cards in your opponent's hand, and shuffle 1 of them into the Deck.

The primary card of Hand Control builds, where the idea is to use one Gustkrake to summon another and go from there. Card in a loop can wipe out hands, but generally needs a deck to focus around it. Reserved for Hand Control builds where you run 3 and focus on re-use.BUt now that its limitied run the 1 ur allowed

Quote :: Gishki Tetrogre
WATER/Aqua/Level 6/Effect/Ritual
2600 ATK/2100 DEF
Cannot be Normal Summon or Set. Must first be Special Summoned by Ritual Summoning with any "Gishki" Ritual Spell Card. Once per turn: You can declare a card type (Monster, Spell, or Trap); each player must send 1 card of the declared type from their Deck to the Graveyard. Your opponent can discard 1 card from their hand to negate this card's effect.

It confuses me as to how this is useful. I understand this can potentially set up mirror plays by tossing a Ritual in the grave, but other searchers do a better job and this card is rather useless in Gustkrake builds anyway. Would not advise using any in any given build, maybe a tech if you really want it. It has decent ATK, I suppose.

Quote :: Evigishki Mind Augus
WATER/Aqua/Level 6/Effect/Ritual
2500 ATK/2000 DEF
Cannot be Normal Summoned or Set. Must first be Ritual Summoned. You can Ritual Summon this card with any "Gishki" Ritual Spell Card. When this card is Ritual Summoned: Target up to 5 cards in any Graveyard(s); shuffle those targets to the Deck.

Actually quite decent side deck material in the metagame, but a tad bit situational in the main. I suppose running 1 wouldn't hurt since so many decks are Graveyard focused and this can hurt them, but it seems best as a side for Plants, Agents, etc. that love the graveyard.

Quote :: Evigiski Soul Ogre
WATER/Aqua/Level 8/Effect/Ritual
2800 ATK/2800 DEF
Cannot be Normal Summoned or Set. Must first be Ritual Summoned. You can Ritual Summon this card with any "Gishki" Ritual Spell Card. Once per turn: You can discard 1 "Gishki" monster to target 1 face-up card your opponent controls; shuffle that target into the Deck

.
Our first level 8, and a primary card for control and even a tech in Hand Control builds. With cards like Salvage, the discarded monsters are recoverable. Additionally, this gives control factor to the deck and good ATK which are both highly helpful.

Run 1-3 in level 8 builds and 0-1 in Hand Control and Zeal Gigas builds. Possibly a bit outclassed by Levianima, and both together work for a Trade-In Engine.

Quote :: Evigishki Levianima
WATER/Aqua/Level 8/Effect/Ritual
2700 ATK/1500 DEF
Cannot be Normal Summoned or Set. Must first be Ritual Summoned. You can Ritual Summon this card with any "Gishki" Ritual Spell Card. When this card declares an attack: Draw 1 card, and reveal it. If the card is a "Gishki" monster, look at 1 random card in your opponent's hand.

The other level 8, and one that can turn into a big plus engine if it stays out to carry attacks while maybe gathering info. The second part is just a bonus, but in Zeal Gigas and Level 8 builds, the drawing effect helps add consistency and does well to turbo the deck.

Run 2-3 in level 8 builds and 2-3 in Zealgigas builds, depending on Soul Ogre or tech Ritual numbers.

Quote :: Evigishki Zeal Gigas
WATER/Aqua/Level 10/Effect/Ritual
3200 ATK/0 DEF
Cannot be Normal Summoned or Set. Must first be Ritual Summoned. You can Ritual Summon this card with any "Gishki" Ritual Spell Card. Once per turn: You can pay 1000 Life Points; draw 1 card, and reveal it. If it is a "Gishki" monster, shuffle 1 card on the field to the Deck.

Absolutely glorious. The effect of spinning is just one bonus, but this card directly makes up for lost advantage and wrecks face with a ridiculously high 3200 ATK. Cards like Vision and Shadow make him, as with the other Level 8s, easy to summon and utilize for OTKs. Broken card is so beyond broken, its shattered.

Run 2-3 in Zeal Gigas builds. 3 might be overkill with all the searching done in the deck, but it should be considered since you can drop Zeals for other Zeals and semi-loop. Possibly a tech into other builds.

Quote :: Evigishki Merrowgeist
WATER/Aqua/Rank 4/Effect/Xyz
2100 ATK/1600 DEF
2 Level 4 monsters
If this card destroys a monster by battle, after damage calculation: You can detach 1 Xyz Material from this card; shuffle that monster into the Deck instead of sending it to the Graveyard.

Only good to stop recruiters. It's decent if extra deck space isn't tight, which depends on variants, but it won't see much play and isn't a critical card to the deck. Higher ATK may have may it slightly more valuable, but you'll be going into Utopia, Pearl, and Lavalval chain using Beast far more than you will this.

Run 0-1 in extra.

Quote :: Gishki Aquamirror
Ritual Spell
This card can be used to Ritual Summon any "Gishki" Ritual Monster. You must also Tribute monsters from the field or your hand whose total Levels equal the Level of the Ritual Monster you Ritual Summon. You can shuffle this card from the Graveyard into the Deck to target 1 "Gishki" Ritual Monster in your Graveyard; return that target to your hand.

The centerpiece of the deck and the primary way to get Rituals out. Highly searchable by Shadow who in turn is highly searchable, the card is very easy to get and the mitigation of costs ala Shadow/Vision or just using one Ritual to summon another are what help the deck operate. Returning for plusses and re-searching with Shadow are part of what makes our deck consistent.

Run 2-3. Due to searchability, 3 may become dead and unless you're running hand control multiples in hand at once aren't exactly needed. Somewhat preference based here, but always run at least 2.

Quote :: Forbidden Arts of the Gishki
Ritual Spell
This card is used to Ritual Summon a "Gishki" Ritual Monster. You must also Tribute monsters from either side of the field whose total Levels are equal to the Level of the Ritual Monster you are attempting to Ritual Summon. The ATK of the monster Ritual Summoned by this effect is halved. You cannot conduct your Battle Phase during the same turn you activate this card.
As interesting as it looks to mitigate costs by taking from your opponent, the equal level thing is a very big issue and the fact that the ATK is halved is a huge detractor from running this. No Battle Phase doesn't help, either.

The Gishki enjoy the high ATK they get in the case of Zeal/Levianima and the disruption will almost never be worth the issues the card has. At the very most, run as a 1-of tech. Otherwise, stay far away.

Quote :: Gishki's Duplicate Soul Mirror
Ritual Spell
This card is used to Ritual Summon 1 "Gishki" Ritual Monster. You must also pay 500 Life Points × the Level of the monster you would Summon.
Bad, since some builds already don't run 3 Mirror. Even ones that do obviously are set, but this is overkill and does not return to the deck or hit Rituals back hand while accompanied by a very hefty life point cost.

Run 0.

Quote :: Contact with the Aquamirror
Normal Spell
If you control a face-up WATER monster, activate 1 of these effects. If you control a face-up WATER Ritual Monster, you can activate both of these effects:
●Look at all Set cards in your opponent's Spell & Trap Card Zones.
●Look at the 2 top cards of either player's Deck and return them to the top of the Deck in any order.

Ritual or not, this card is a minus and the effects don't prevent anything. The peeking at cards effect is worthless with the absurd amount of deck searching and the most this can do is give some mild form of strategy where actual removal does better without the minus.

Run 0.

Quote :: Ceremonial Mirror of Illusion
Normal Trap
Special Summon a "Gishki" Ritual Monster from your hand, ignoring the Summoning conditions. That monster cannot attack. During the End Phase, return it to the hand.
Not worth it. Too slow and not long lasting enough when it's more efficient and quick to do the Ritual Summon itself. Obviously a minus, too.

Run 0.

Quote :: Aquamirror Meditation
Normal Trap
Reveal 1 Ritual Spell Card in your hand to target 2 "Gishki" monsters in your Graveyard; return them to the hand.
Mirror salvages the Rituals themselves, and speaking of which, run that instead. Salvage is far better than this in Gishki.

Run 0-2

Off-Theme Support

Quote :: Salvage
Normal Spell
Select 2 WATER monsters with 1500 or less ATK in your Graveyard, and add them to your hand.
Oh look, a +1 that lets us re-use Shadow, Vision, Abyss, Beast, Ariel, and a myriad of other cards in the archetype as well as Snowman Eater. Why would you run such a terribad card?

Run 3, or find a new deck to play. The only excuses for not running 3 is that you don't own 3 or your running a hybrid, in which case 1-2 is fine depending on the hybrid. Play 0, and play a differant archtype

also if i made any mistakes pls tell me

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