Chapter 215. The Formerly Forbidden History of Future Fusion Exposed! Future-Overload and Future-HERO!
The gap between "world tiers" came through vividly after that short video.
A comparison between two worlds…
…left many supporting duelists sighing with mixed feelings.
Voices in the group chat started piling up.
Joey Wheeler: "Hiss—this card's everywhere. I wouldn't even bother running it! Stuff like Pot of Greed is better! Never thought that in the higher-tier world it actually…."
Zane Truesdale: "That's a matter of deck development. At our current world's dueling level, we're nowhere near able to bring out this card's full strength."
Akiza Izinski: "Right. Our dueling is still in the classical era—there aren't many Graveyard effects."
Theodore Hamilton: "So… this card only gets to shine in other worlds?"
After a round of discussion,
the old guard across every Duel World
gradually cooled down.
The power of Graceful Charity—
they now had a clear picture of it.
It's a card whose strength depends on the era.
If you're in a meta of Axe Raider-style slugfests,
what's the point of freeing three of them?
But once the game shifts to a Graveyard-effect environment—
or rather, an environment where the Graveyard is an extension of the Deck and the hand—
this card's power spikes to a terrifying level.
Likewise,
a deeper card pool and more engine pieces
are among the reasons why, after being Forbidden, this card has never been let back out.
After all,
no one can predict
what unforeseen changes it would unleash on the metagame if it were ever released.
In the short video,
the history lesson on Graceful Charity had come to a close.
But the next clip rolled right in!
A new title popped up across every Duel World:
"Explaining the Forbidden Card Future Fusion! A Ferocious Fusion Where Activation Equals Victory?"
The moment duelists saw the key words in that title,
everyone jolted.
That card?
That card?!
It's the one that lets you declare a Fusion Monster from the Extra Deck and then dump tons from your Deck to the Graveyard—the Fusion Spell, right?!
What's going on?
Did this card also wreak unimaginable havoc on its era's environment?
Could a card that only delays the Fusion…
…really have been put on the list?
GX World.
Jaden Yuki of the Fusion Dimension and Zane Truesdale were already looking sour.
One's a HERO player, the other's Cyber Dragon—
both could seriously consider running Future Fusion.
Especially Zane!
Without Future Fusion, his Cyber engine
gets clunkier to operate.
He never expected a card like this would also…
Before anyone could think further,
the familiar video blogger began the breakdown.
Yu-Gi-Oh! Forbidden-List Commentator: "Welcome, card players, and thanks for clicking today's short video!"
Yu-Gi-Oh! Forbidden-List Commentator: "Today's spotlight is again a single card that once triggered a massive meta shift!"
Yu-Gi-Oh! Forbidden-List Commentator: "This card is different from Graceful Charity!"
"After Graceful Charity's third stint on the list,"
"there's virtually no chance it comes back!"
"Even with an erratum, it's basically impossible."
"First—its rarity isn't high and the effect is bluntly powerful."
"Second—errata-releasing it is tantamount to printing a brand-new card."
"From a design standpoint, why not just print a new card to sell, right?"
"So Graceful Charity is locked away for good!"
"But today's card is different!"
"Future Fusion actually did come back after its effect was changed!"
"Now, when you activate it, you cannot send the materials to the GY that same turn."
"But back then it was different—you could send the materials that very turn!"
"Because of this difference, Future Fusion's current strength is heavily discounted!"
"Before we talk about how it developed,"
"we need to understand how strong the pre-errata version actually was."
"First: for certain builds, same-turn dumping enabled huge, precise Graveyard setup."
"For example, Machines centered on Chimeratech Overdragon, or (in later eras) Worm Zero leading the Worm deck!"
"Five-Headed Dragon for Dragon decks as well."
"Five-Headed isn't as bad—just a precise dump of five Dragons."
"But those first two had no upper limit!"
"That meant activating Future Fusion could effectively mill your entire Deck to the Graveyard!"
"That's terrifying."
"Second: it had no 'once per turn per card name' restriction!"
"Meaning, after you activate one Future Fusion…"
"you can keep using it to load the GY."
"A representative case is the HERO engine—Future Fusion lets you precisely dump HERO monsters!"
"If you then pair it with the pre-errata Brionac, Dragon of the Ice Barrier…"
"the consequences were unthinkable."
"Put simply: I activate Future Fusion, finish dumping,"
"then Synchro Summon Brionac to bounce Future Fusion back to hand,"
"reactivate Future Fusion, dump again…"
"which amounts to infinite dumping."
"Third: it's basically a one-card terminal."
"Take Five-Headed Dragon decks—say what you will about them,"
"even if the effect looks tame today,"
"in that era a 5000 ATK Five-Headed Dragon had massive pressure."
"Combine these three points,"
"and you can see the value of pre-errata Future Fusion."
Stunned.
Just from listening, duelists from every world were already bewildered.
Future Fusion—
it was that cracked?!
Before hearing this,
they might have thought,
"Delayed Fusion, meh."
But now?
Forget everything else—
those familiar decks:
Five-Headed Dragon!
Chimeratech Overdragon!
HERO!
They own these decks themselves!
Only now did they realize Future Fusion
was even more busted than they'd imagined.
DM World.
Joey Wheeler sucked in a cold breath.
He'd seen plenty of Dragon monsters by now—
so with Five-Headed Fusion,
maybe the real strength isn't Five-Headed itself, but the five Dragons you just dumped!
"Yeah."
"In my opinion, even right now,"
"this card would still be really strong."
Seto Kaiba narrowed his eyes,
already fantasizing about a Blue-Eyes Fusion with no upper limit—
showing you what a Blue-Eyes build can really do.
GX World.
Jaden Yuki slapped his forehead.
"Man, that's genius!"
How did he never think of a trick like that?
If you really pair it with a no-OPT Brionac…
then a single Future Fusion basically becomes Future Fusion on repeat!
"I get it now! My thinking was shallow!"
"I only saw the delayed Fusion,"
"and forgot…"
"Loads of core HERO monsters activate in the GY!"
"This card with HERO is also insane!"
Jaden quickly realized you need to reframe how you look at the card—
don't focus on the Fusion itself.
Focus on what the Fusion materials are.
That's the key!
If you look down on the card because the monster only arrives after two Standby Phases,
you couldn't be more wrong.
Yu-Gi-Oh! Forbidden-List Commentator: "With those three points in mind,"
"let's see how Future Fusion actually performed in its era!"
"First, it released on May 18, 2006!"
"In that same set, besides the crucial Future Fusion, there were two other key cards—"
"the Spell Overload Fusion, and the Fusion Monster Chimeratech Overdragon!"
"These three cards formed a combo."
"Activate Future Fusion first to dump a huge number of Chimeratech Overdragon materials,"
"then fuse with Overload Fusion."
"With ten-plus materials, Overdragon's ATK easily breaks five digits!"
"Naturally, the Future-Overload build became well-known."
"To find Future Fusion more often,"
"the deck packed plenty of dumping and draw power—"
"Morphing Jar, Tsukuyomi, Card Destruction, Magical Mallet, and so on."
"Sometimes you didn't even need Future Fusion—"
"a single Overload Fusion could end the duel."
"And to counter going second,"
"they also ran two cards:"
"First, the Continuous Spell Level Limit – Area B,"
"which turns all Level 4+ monsters to Defense Position."
"Second, the Continuous Trap Gravity Bind,"
"which prevents Level 4+ monsters from attacking."
"Don't be fooled—these seem to hinder you too,"
"but once Chimeratech Overdragon hits the field, those cards are sent to the Graveyard by Overdragon's own effect!"
"Add Giant Trunade to clear backrow,"
"and you've got the full combo line."
"And that's not all!"
"You could also run the Spell Dimension Fusion—"
"pay 2000 LP, and both players Special Summon as many banished monsters as possible!"
"Against non-banish decks, this card is only good for us,"
"since our Overload Fusion monsters are all banished."
"With it, we can fill the field with ease!"
"For example, you can revive three Cyber Phoenix to provide cover—"
"as long as Cyber Phoenix is on your field in Attack Position, any Spell/Trap that targets just one Machine you control is negated."
"And so, Future-Overload had its glory days,"
"becoming a mainstream deck of the time!"
As expected!
It always comes back to Chimeratech Overdragon!
The instant they saw Future Fusion,
duelists across all worlds
almost immediately thought of Overdragon.
Couple the set's releases into this combo,
and they realized that with Future Fusion's help,
Overdragon would inevitably shine.
What shocked everyone even more
was how many accomplices the deck had—
and the lightning-fast OTK lines.
No wonder duelists traded looks of disbelief—
it is Zane Truesdale's archetype: a build that fights like mad to the very end.
In GX World, Zane was dumbstruck.
Wait, what?
He never thought you could combo like this!
Dimension Fusion—
isn't that a bit too strong, buddy?!
"Summon back as many as possible from the banished zone"—
that's even stronger than just using Power Bond to push Cyber End Dragon to 8000 ATK for the OTK!
Learned! Duly learned!
Zane's eyes lit up,
as if he'd just gained a brand-new understanding of his Cyber Dragon build.
Yu-Gi-Oh! Forbidden-List Commentator: "After Future-Overload had its run,"
"another trend rose: Future-HERO!"
"Graveyard Fusion, right?"
"Don't forget HERO's very own Spell!"
"There's a card that lets you fuse by banishing materials from the GY—"
"that's right: Miracle Fusion!"
"So Future Fusion…"
"was the perfect support for HERO at the time!"
"Thus a fresh HERO build emerged around Elemental HERO Bladeedge, Elemental HERO Wildheart, and Elemental HERO Necroshade!"
"Bladeedge is 2600 ATK with piercing,"
"which packed a serious punch back then!"
"If you have Bladeedge in hand, Future Fusion can dump Necroshade,"
"so you don't need to Tribute Summon Bladeedge."
"If you have revival, you can instead dump Bladeedge and bring it back!"
"Built around this core,"
"the offense becomes extremely aggressive—Bladeedge plus Miracle Fusion lines,"
"and you can quickly bring out HERO Fusions to break through boards!"
"Even if your resources get wiped,"
"remember—Future Fusion still summons for you in two turns!"
"So HERO power spiked sharply!"
"Another idea: build around Elemental HERO Electrum."
"This Fusion requires Avian, Burstinatrix, Clayman, and Bubbleman."
"In one go, HERO players dump four materials!"
"Paired with Miracle Fusion, you quickly accumulate banish fodder to bring out the boss!"
"Then, two turns later when Electrum hits the field,"
"its effect—'When this card is Fusion Summoned: Shuffle all banished cards into the Deck(s).'—lets you recover those banished materials!"
"But this line had a big drawback—"
"in that era, HERO Fusion requirements were rigid,"
"so your Fusion options weren't exactly free-form."
"Only when Elemental HERO Stratos arrived in August"
"did HERO Fusion combat power become truly competitive,"
"and Future-HERO gradually turned into a casual build."
So even HERO couldn't escape its "criminal partnership" with Future Fusion, huh?
After the second half of the video on Future Fusion,
duelists across all worlds traded glances.
They'd suspected Future Fusion might connect to HERO—
but they didn't expect so many "Future-" lines to branch out!
Especially that Electrum combo—
dumping four monsters at once?
That's wild.
Unfortunately,
that was wild for the time.
Nowadays,
four-card rigidity isn't necessarily impressive.
In GX World, Jaden drew in a long breath.
Having heard the Future Fusion + HERO combos,
he understood that synergy best.
Avian, Burstinatrix, Clayman, Bubbleman…
he knew them like the back of his hand.
He could feel just how valuable the Future Fusion + Electrum combo was.
"Didn't think Big Bro Jaden and upperclassman Zane's decks both got that much stronger thanks to this Fusion!"
"Tch, figures. I bet my Red-Eyes build could jam this card and see what happens!"
"It hasn't been Forbidden now, so there must be other shells too!"
"I get it! Next is Five-Headed Dragon, right? Dumping five Dragons is still cool!"
The chat lit up again—
everyone was already theory-crafting more Future Fusion possibilities.
Enjoyed the story? Support me and get access to early chapters by joining my Patreon!
Find me at: Patr*eon*.com/Resium
Free members can read 10+ Chapters Ahead of Release
Paid member can read 150+ Chapters Ahead of Release
Stories Available
Honkai? No, This Is Daily Life
Hogwarts Pet Master
Pokémon: Who Let Him Leave Pallet Town!
Scrolling Yu-Gi-Oh! Shorts