The idea of the modern HERO deck is to take the best cards from each archetype, and throw them all into one collective deck.
And there are plenty of good HERO cards to choose from – in fact, there are almost too many to choose from!
So if you’re not quite sure where to start, take a look over our picks below.
15. Destiny HERO – Disk Commander
Destiny HERO – Disk Commander is a shell of its former self.
Believe it or not, this card’s effect used to be a single line of text:
“When this card is special summoned from the graveyard, draw 2 cards.”
No once per turn restrictions, no waiting around for this effect to go live… this was easily one of the most powerful HERO cards ever printed in its day.
Sadly, the card has since been nerfed – and the new effect is a lot more restrictive.
If you’re playing a HERO deck that utilizes the graveyard a lot like Destiny HEROs, then this guy is a great addition.
But for most HERO decks this guy is simply a relic from Yu-Gi-Oh’s past.
14. Masked HERO Koga
The Masked HEROs changed how HERO decks were played, and how people thought of fusion summoning in general.
Most fusion monsters require 2 monsters to summon – I mean, fusing two monsters into one, that’s kind of the whole point of fusion summoning, right?
Masked HEROs require only 1 HERO monster, and a spell card called Mask Change, to special summon a Masked HERO from the extra deck with the same attribute.
Masked HERO Koga is the Light attribute Masked HERO, and boy is he good!
It gains 500 attack for each monster your opponent controls, as well as being able to weaken your opponent’s monsters by banishing HEROs from your graveyard.
Koga is a must-have beat stick for any HERO deck – as long as you’ve got at least Light monster (looking at you Destiny HEROs!).
13. Destiny HERO – Dogma
Tribute summoning is something that’s rarely done in modern Yu-Gi-Oh.
So a monster that requires 3 tributes must really be worth summoning!
When Destiny HERO Dogma is special summoned by tributing 3 monsters (including a Destiny HERO monster), you can halve your opponent’s life points during the next standby phase.
The earlier in the game you can bring this guy out, the better.
If your opponent has taken no damage so far, you’re looking at a whopping 4000 LP cut off of this effect alone.
Combine that with this card’s impressive 3400 attack, and you’ve got a recipe for finishing off your opponent pretty fast – assuming you can get him on the field, of course.
12. Xtra HERO Infernal Devicer
Just because HEROs are a fusion-based deck, doesn’t mean they haven’t dabbled in Link summoning.
This particular Link 2 monster makes fusion summoning incredibly easy, and here’s how:
You can reveal a HERO fusion monster in your extra deck, and add two of the required materials from your deck to your hand, with the drawback that you can’t summon non-HEROs the turn you activate this effect.
This effect is great for summoning those niche HERO fusions that require two specific HEROs (like Elemental HERO Mudballman), without having to wait around to draw them.
11. Contrast HERO Chaos
I’ve got to say, in terms of design, Contrast HERO Chaos is one of the coolest HERO monsters I’ve ever seen.
This guy is the result of fusing two different Masked HERO monsters. And while that may seem like a steep cost, it’s well worth it.
Here’s what it can do:
Once per turn at quick effect speed, you can use this card to negate the effects of any face-up card on the field, until the end of the turn.
Not only does this effect help you deal with oppressive monster effects, but this is also great for dealing with field spells too.
Field spells have become a staple in most modern decks in Yu-Gi-Oh – so being able to negate these cards every single turn can give you a huge advantage.
10. Elemental HERO Shadow Mist
One thing that makes Masked HEROs so powerful is their consistency.
And cards like Elemental HERO Shadow Mist are the exact reason why!
When this card is normal summoned, you can search out Mask Change from your deck and add it to your hand. This allows you to instantly go into a Masked HERO from your extra deck.
And on top of that, when Shadow Mist is sent to the graveyard, you can search out any HERO monster from your deck & add that to your hand.
The ideal combo here is to search out Mask Change, set it, then activate it during your opponent’s turn targeting Elemental HERO Shadow Mist. And then get a Masked HERO Dark Law from your extra deck and search a HERO out from your deck too.
A tight combo to pull off, but if you can, there’s a lot of upsides.
9. Vision HERO Vyon
In pretty much any HERO deck out there, you’ll see a copy of this guy.
It’s one of the best search cards ever released, making fusion summons almost too easy.
Here’s how it works:
When it’s summoned by normal or special summoning, you can send any HERO monster from your deck to the graveyard.
Destiny HEROs have a whole bunch of different effects that trigger in the graveyard, with Vision HERO Vyon being able to set them all up!
You can then banish a HERO monster from your graveyard to search out a copy of Polymerization from your deck & add it into your hand.
Gone are the days of waiting around to draw a Poly to fusion with.
Because with cards like this in your HERO deck, you’ll be fusion summoning a whole lot more often.
8. Elemental HERO Escuridao
Elemental HEROs don’t get many dark-attribute monsters.
But when they do, they’re seriously powerful.
Elemental HERO Escuridao gains 100 attack for each Elemental HERO monster in your graveyard.
If you’re playing a pure Elemental HERO deck (I mean, it was good enough for Jaden Yuki, and he was practically the best duelist of his time!) then this card can offer some seriously high attack value.
7. Destiny HERO – Malicious
Destiny HERO Malicious is the only reason Yu-Gi-Oh has a semi-limited list.
When this guy is in your graveyard, you can banish it to special summon another Destiny HERO – Malicious from your deck.
This effect isn’t even once per turn in the slightest.
So it’s pretty abuseable at 3 copies, and completely useless at 1 copy, hence the reason why this card is semi-limited.
No matter what sort of HERO deck you’re playing, Destiny HERO – Malicious is an amazing addition.
By getting one copy in your graveyard, you can summon another one from the deck whenever you like. This gives you all the materials needed to start fusion summoning those powerful HEROs you’ll want to win the game.
6. Elemental HERO Absolute Zero
Most of the “brutal” HERO cards in are in Destiny HEROs and Evil HEROs – I mean, evil cards do powerful things, that’s just standard Yu-Gi-Oh logic at this point.
That’s what makes Elemental HERO Absolute Zero such an amazing card in this archetype.
Here’s what it does:
When this leaves the field, you can destroy every single card your opponent controls!
It doesn’t matter how this card leaves the field – either your opponent destroys it by battle or card effect, or you can simply send it to the graveyard for a fusion summon of your own monsters, or some other removal method.
Either way, your opponent will lose every single card they control – and the game could be pretty much yours for the taking.
5. Elemental HERO Honest Neos
One of the most fun things in Yu-Gi-Oh is being able to surprise your opponent with battle traps like Honest, which is why I’m so glad this archetype has its own version – and it’s really a better version!
This guy works as Honest in two ways.
Firstly, you can discard it from your hand to have any HERO monster you control gain 2500 attack until the end of the turn.
This is a quick effect, meaning if you activate this card during the damage step, your opponent is gonna take some serious damage (and not even see it coming).
Secondly, while this guy is actually on the field, you can use any HERO card in your hand as Honest.
So you can discard a HERO from your hand to have this card gain attack equal to the discarded monster’s attack, making this guy practically unstoppable in battle.
4. Xtra HERO Dread Decimator
The other link monster worth noting in this deck is Xtra HERO Dread Decimator.
His arrows are super convenient, all pointing in the downwards directions, meaning you don’t give your opponent extra linked zones to Link summon into.
This guy, alongside every HERO monster, gains 100 attack for each HERO monster in your graveyard.
Given that HEROs are a deck that fusion summon many times over, your graveyard is going to absolutely filled with HEROs – meaning your HEROs are about to get a serious buff to their attack stats!
But there’s more:
Xtra HERO Dread Decimator also inflicts piercing battle damage to your opponent. So they aren’t even totally safe in defense mode.
3. Elemental HERO Stratos
I can’t believe I live in a world where this card is unbanned.
Elemental HERO Stratos was banned for so long, and it’s easy to see why!
This guy is the best searcher in HEROs hands-down.
When he’s normal or special summoned, you have a choice:
You can either destroy spells and traps on the field equal to the number of HERO monsters you control, or search out any HERO monster from your deck and add it to your hand.
The crazy thing about Stratos is that he isn’t once per turn for either of these effects – if you can keep special summoning Stratos back to your side of the field, you can search multiple HEROs from your deck, making Stratos a great way to keep your combos going.
2. Evil HERO Malicious Bane
Evil HEROs is an archetype that barely gets talked about.
Which is a shame, as they have some awesome cards in their arsenal.
This guy is an absolutely brutal board wipe that can activate every single turn. Here’s what it does:
You can destroy all monsters your opponent controls that have attack less than or equal to this card, with this card gaining 200 attack for each card destroyed by this effect.
Not only is this attack boost permanent (meaning you can destroy more monsters every single turn), but this guy is completely indestructible to battle or card effects.
Meaning your opponent will need to use non-destruction removal to get rid of this guy, which isn’t easy to come by…
The only downside of this card is that he requires an Evil HERO monster, as well as the spell card “Dark Fusion”.
And getting both of those into your hand can be a little tricky – even in the best HERO decks.
If you can shut your opponent out of using particular strategies, you can completely shut down your opponent’s deck.
Masked HERO Dark Law is one of the best floodgates Yu-Gi-Oh has ever seen, banishing every card that would have been sent to the graveyard.
This completely prevents your opponent from using any sort of strategy revolving around their graveyard. They can’t put monsters in there to revive later, or send monsters there to activate graveyard effects – this kind of restriction can completely kill decks like Shaddolls or Zombies!
And when it comes to card effects that force banishing, this is well worth having in your HERO deck.
But as if Masked HERO Dark Law wasn’t broken enough, we get even more:
Once per turn, when your opponent adds a card from their deck to their hand (except during the normal draw phase), you can banish a random card from their hand!
Modern Yu-Gi-Oh is all about searching out your combo pieces. So punishing your opponent for doing that is a surefire way to mess up their gameplan.
Rob Myers is a physics student from England, who spends his time looking at space and turning it into numbers. In his free time he enjoys playing card games, reading the Discworld series, and working his way through his never ending video game library.
