Overview

Superheavy Samurai is an archetype of EARTH Machine-Type monsters introduced in the Future Horizon Main BOX. It was not long after its release that the archetype became a popular choice on the ladder due to its low cost and strong ability to win quickly. Despite substantial meta shifts since the deck's release, Superheavy Samurai has continued to be a strong OTK centric deck which is extremely accessible.

Playstyle

Superheavy Samurai is primarily a combo-oriented OTK deck, focusing on the powerful direct attacking Synchro Monster Loading... . Despite this high power, Superheavy Samurai can protect itself reasonably well with Loading... and Loading... . Loading... is also a powerful backrow nuke that greatly enables your OTK plays.

Many of the strongest Superheavy Samurai effects can only trigger while you have no Spell/Trap cards in your Graveyard, which leads to most builds being composed entirely of monster cards. The other defining feature of the cards is that all their Extra Deck monsters can attack while in Defense Position, and apply their DEF for damage calculation. While this seems gimmicky at first glance, this gives Superheavy Samurai boss monsters several important advantages, such as immunity to Loading... (due to their low ATK points) and Loading... .


Core Cards

Main Deck

Superheavy Samurai Trumpeter (x3)

Superheavy Samurai Trumpeter

Trumpeter is the deck’s primary Tuner, and the most important Main Deck monster. As long as you have no Spell/Trap cards in your Graveyard, you can Special Summon it as many times per turn as you’d like, with the only cost being that you can only Special Summon “Superheavy Samurai” monsters for the remainder of the turn. This Special Summoning effect is extremely powerful and allows Superheavy Samurai to easily Synchro Summon multiple times in a turn. Since the deck cannot make any plays effectively without Trumpeter, playing 3 is an absolute must.

Superheavy Samurai Gigagloves (x2-3)

Superheavy Samurai Gigagloves

Gigagloves is your primary means of defending yourself if you go first or need to bide your time before going for an OTK. When sent to the Graveyard, you can rearrange the top 5 cards of your Deck, which is a decent but slightly underwhelming effect. However, once it’s in your Graveyard, whenever your opponent declares a direct attack you can banish it to reveal the top card of your Deck, and if it’s a Superheavy Samurai monster you get to add that card to your hand and permanently reduce the attacking monster’s attack to 0. The Deck rearranging effect means that Gigagloves will successfully reduce an attacking monster nearly 100% of the time. As a result, having a live Gigagloves in your Graveyard conveys a tremendous amount of safety, as most players won’t be willing to attack into it without their own protection via an effect like Loading... or Loading... .

Superheavy Samurai Flutist (x1-2)

Superheavy Samurai Flutist

Flutist is an important part of the deck’s suite of protection cards. Its on-field effect to tribute itself and Special Summon a Superheavy Samurai from the hand is moderately useful, but its Graveyard effect is the reason it’s played. Whenever any effect which targets a Superheavy Samurai monster in the monster zone is activated, you can banish a Flutist from your Graveyard to negate the effect. This targeting protection is crucial to save both your Synchro Materials and your boss monsters from disruption effects like Loading... , Loading... and Loading... , all of which can put the brakes on your OTKs.

Superheavy Samurai Soulpiercer (x3)

Superheavy Samurai Soulpiercer

Soulpiercer is the primary method of searching in the deck, and is extremely versatile. Like all Superheavy Samurai Soul cards, it can be equipped from your hand or field to any Superheavy Samurai monster you control (including another Superheavy Samurai Soul monster). While equipped, it grants the equipped monster piercing damage, which can occasionally be useful. Its main draw, however, is that when sent from anywhere on the field (including the Spell/Trap zone) to the Graveyard, it will allow you to search for any Superheavy Samurai monster excluding another copy of itself. This effect is not once per turn in any way and cannot miss timing, so Superheavy Samurai combos often focus on ways to send as many copies of this card to the Graveyard as possible. This is a key consistency piece, so 3 copies is a must. For budget-oriented and free-to-play players, 2 copies is playable but obtaining a 3rd copy should be a priority.

Superheavy Samurai Soulpeacemaker (x2-3)

Superheavy Samurai Soulpeacemaker

Another Superheavy Samurai Soul monster with an equipping effect, Loading... is a useful secondary search option, or a way to help enable Loading... . While this monster is equipped to another monster, you can activate its effect to tribute the equipped monster and Special Summon any Superheavy Samurai monster from the Main Deck. This is both a great way of turning any Normal Summon into an arbitrary monster from the Deck, but also of sending Loading... to the Graveyard for its search. This card is ideally used on your primary Normal Summons such as Loading... , Loading... and Loading... .

Superheavy Samurai Wagon (x2)

Superheavy Samurai Wagon

Wagon has a slightly convoluted effect, but ultimately the important part is that it can search for a Superheavy Samurai Soul monster from your Main Deck, but it will always be in Attack Position after you do so. Wagon is a great combo starter, usually searching for Loading... in order to Special Summon another monster from your Main Deck, although Loading... is another common search target. It’s worth noting that Wagon is the only Superheavy Samurai Main Deck monster that also has the ability to attack from Defense Position, and with a base DEF of 1800, it can get up to 3000 DEF with help from Loading... in its own right.

Superheavy Samurai Big Waraji (x1-2)

Superheavy Samurai Big Waraji

Big Waraji is very much a utility card. The only meaningful thing about it is that it’s a Level 5 monster that you can Special Summon from your hand if you have no Spell/Trap cards in your Graveyard. Because the Special Summon has no cost, it’s great for everything from being a Synchro Material to a target for Loading... . One copy is usually sufficient, but it’s decent filler if you’re missing other cards.

Superheavy Samurai Soulshield Wall (x1-2)

Superheavy Samurai Soulshield Wall

Wall is one of your two main OTK enablers. It boosts Loading... up to 4000 DEF, or 2600 DEF with its direct attack effect activated. It also has an effect that allows you to permanently reduce the equipped monster’s DEF to 0 to save it from destruction by battle, but this doesn’t come up often. 2 copies is usually a good idea in case one gets hit with Loading... , plus it has a useful Level at 3, meaning you can use it to Synchro into Loading... if necessary.

Superheavy Samurai Soulhorns (x1)

Superheavy Samurai Soulhorns

Soulhorns is your other OTK enabler. While equipped to a monster, that monster can attack twice. Being able to double the effective damage output of Loading... is what allows Superheavy Samurai to close games so consistently and quickly. Unlike Loading... , however, Soulhorns really is a one-trick pony that is much less useful when not pushing for lethal. Its Level of 1 can sometimes be useful with Level Augmentation , but usually you don’t want to see it unless you’re ready to close out the game, which is why only 1 copy is standard.


Extra Deck

Superheavy Samurai Swordmaster Musashi (x1-2)

Superheavy Samurai Swordmaster Musashi

Musashi is a critical combo extender thanks to its ability to add a Machine-type monster from your Graveyard to your hand when Synchro Summoned. This lets you re-use a copy of Loading... for a second Synchro Summon the same turn. If you happen to already have a second copy of Trumpeter, Musashi can add back other valuable cards like Loading... or Loading... . While rarely used for its own merits, it’s worth noting that Musashi has a decent 2300 DEF and can attack while in Defense Position, just like its bigger Extra Deck siblings.

Superheavy Samurai Stealth Ninja (x2)

Superheavy Samurai Stealth Ninja

Stealth Ninja is the primary boss monster of the archetype, and your main win condition. With its large 2800 DEF and ability to attack from Defense Position it beat over many opposing threats, but its key ability is that it can halve its original DEF until the end of the turn in order to be able to attack directly. Note that only its original DEF, not its current DEF, are halved, meaning that when equipped with Loading... its DEF is still 2600 even after activating its direct attacking effect. Combine this with Loading... and Loading... can OTK opponents on its own, without even having to attack into their monsters.

Loading... also has an excellent stickiness effect, that allows it to be Special Summoned to the field during the first Standby Phase after it’s destroyed by a card effect. Many players overlook this, but it makes a big difference in the deck’s offensive and defensive capabilities. However, this effect does not trigger if Loading... is destroyed by battle, or banished by an effect like Loading... or Loading... . Hence, having 2 in your Extra Deck is an absolute must.

Superheavy Samurai Ogre Shutendoji (x2)

Superheavy Samurai Ogre Shutendoji

Ogre is the deck’s secondary boss monster. Like Loading... it can attack while in Defense Position, and has a sizable 2500 DEF. The main reason for this card’s power is that, if you have no Spell/Trap cards in your Graveyard when this card is summoned, you can destroy all of your opponent’s Spell/Trap cards. This Loading... effect is extremely powerful and there are very few cards in Duel Links that can do it as easily as Loading... . This boss monster will be your go-to against decks that try to threaten you with heavy backrow, and is particularly devastating against non-chainable battle traps like Loading... .

Superheavy Samurai Beast Kyubi (x0-1)

Superheavy Samurai Beast Kyubi

While Kyubi is ostensibly the big boss of the Superheavy Samurai archetype, it’s frequently overshadowed by Loading... . While Kyubi has only 2500 base DEF, its effect grants it a massive 900 additional DEF for each Special Summoned monster your opponent controls, allowing it to get as big as 5200 DEF with no additional boosts. However, Kyubi has no forms of protection other than its enormous DEF and doesn’t return to the field like Stealth Ninja does, nor can it attack directly, making it easily stopped by defensive play. Its high Level also makes it more of a challenge to summon - without Level Augmentation it’s generally not worth running any copies.