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Synchro monsters were the first type of “new” monster to be introduced to Yu-Gi-Oh! until 5ds, as the extra deck (or Fusion deck at the time) was only for Fusion monsters.
But having to wait for Polymerization to show up in your hand, then making sure you’ve got all the right pieces to fusion summon with… it can be tricky at times.
Synchro monsters introduced a new way (that’s way easier) to delve into your extra deck.
All you need is a tuner monster and a non-tuner whose levels add up to the monster you’re trying to synchro summon. Easy!
But which synchros are worth adding into your deck? Well let’s rev this topic up into overdrive with our ranking of the best ones right here.
15. Ally of Justice Catastor
The Ally of Justice archetype really didn’t get enough love when it was released.
It was an archetype of monsters that entirely focused on destroying Light monsters.
There’s some seriously cool lore surrounding this archetype involving an invasion of Worms on an alien planet, which is all explained more in the Duel Terminal games.
If this card attacks a non-dark monster, it’s immediately destroyed right at the start of the damage step.
This means that regardless of how much attack your opponent has, Ally of Justice Catastor will destroy it immediately provided it’s not a dark type monster.
With 7 overall attributes in the game, your odds of destroying a monster with this effect are definitely in your favor.
14. Scarlight Red Dragon Archfiend
Red Dragon Archfiend is the boss monster of Jack Atlas, the “I’m a rival and rude about it but ultimately helpful in your quest” of Yu-Gi-Oh 5Ds.
Basically a synchro summoning Seto Kaiba.
Scarlight Red Dragon Archfiend is the upgrade to this card – and is overall the better version without a shadow of a doubt.
Every single turn, you can destroy all special summoned effect monsters on the field with an attack lower than Scarlight Red Dragon Archfiend’s, then burn your opponent 500 damage for every card destroyed.
If your opponent wants their monsters to stick around, they’ll have to make sure those monsters have more than 3000 attack – which is no easy feat!
13. Formula Synchron
A staple in any synchro-spam deck.
When it’s summoned, you get to draw a card, giving you an extra resource you might need to summon those big boss monsters.
If that wasn’t enough, Formula Synchron has a unique second effect – allowing you to synchro summon during your opponent’s turn.
This is fantastic for interrupting your opponent’s plays, by being able to trigger effects that activate on summon.
The possibilities with this card are truly endless, making this guy an essential for any deck orientated around synchros.
12. Black Rose Dragon
What better way to catch up to your opponent than by blowing up their entire board?
When Black Rose Dragon is summoned, you can destroy every single card on the field.
That’s spells, traps, and monsters, all gone in a flash!
This is best paired with a card like Monster Reborn in hand, meaning you can blow up the board and then swing in with a powerful monster while they’re defenseless.
11. Goyo Guardian
When this card was initially released, it was played in every single deck possible.
Since then, Goyo Guardian has had its card text changed – and you now need an Earth tuner to summon it, not just any old tuner.
However, for Earth decks, Goyo Guardian is still absolutely insane.
When this card destroys an opponent’s monster by battle, you can special summon that monster to your field in defense position.
Unlike most monster stealing cards, this isn’t an “until the end of the turn” effect.
That monster’s as good as yours!
What better way to beat down your opponent than with their own best cards?
10. Ignister Prominence, the Blasting Dracoslayer
This synchro is absolutely fantastic in pendulum decks.
It’s a level 8 synchro, requiring a pendulum tuner to summon it.
This means all you need is a level 4 pendulum tuner and some other level 4 monster, that’s it!
Harmonizing Magician is a great candidate for this, as it’s a pendulum tuner that special summons its own level 4 non-tuner monster when it’s pendulum summoned. Talk about convenient!
But back to the card at hand:
Ignister Prominence allows you to destroy any pendulum monster on the field, or in the pendulum zone, and then allows you to shuffle 1 card on the field into the deck.
If your opponent is also playing pendulum monsters, you can destroy 2 of their cards at once.
It was for this reason that Ignister Prominence saw a bit of time on the limited list. But I’m happy to say he has been freed (as of this writing) since pendulum summoning is a little less popular.
9. White Aura Whale
While White Aura Whale is only really useful in water decks, there are so many great water deck ideas to choose from.
This powerful monster pretty much Mirror Force’s your opponent when it’s summoned, destroying all of their attack position monsters at once.
While this may leave your opponent with some defense position monsters, White Aura Whale inflicts piercing battle damage. So when it attacks any defense position monster and destroys it, your opponent will still take the difference in LP damage.
The best thing about this card is its crazy ability to keep bringing itself back.
If this is destroyed by battle or card effect, all you need to do is banish a water monster from your grave – and this guy will be straight back on the battlefield.
You can actually re-use this effect multiple times in a turn, too. Meaning if your opponent has a lot of monster destruction effects, this guy is gonna be tough to beat.
8. Dewloren, Tiger King of the Ice Barrier
A 2000 attack synchro monster is pretty good as-is.
But this card can get an absolutely crazy attack stat in no time at all.
You can return cards you control to the hand to make this card gain 500 attack for every card returned.
If you have a full backrow of spells and traps, that’s a 2500 attack boost, making this guy as powerful as a Blue Eyes Ultimate Dragon!
And this is great combined with cards like Swords of Revealing Light that would normally destroy themselves after 3 turns.
With Dewloren’s effect, you can reuse those types of cards again and again, all while boosting your attack!
7. Psy-Framelord Omega
This card is the perfect way to dwindle down your opponent’s resources.
You can banish both this card and one random card from your opponent’s hand until the next stand-by phase.
In a meta game full of hand traps, Psy-Framelord Omega is the perfect way to stop your opponent from hindering your plays.
This effect also banishes your opponent’s card face-up, meaning you can scout out exactly what it is your opponent is playing before it’s too late.
And you can repeat this every single turn, too.
6. Brionac, Dragon of the Ice Barrier
Brionac is what would happen if Compulsory Evacuation Device had an attack stat and a more broken effect.
You can discard as many cards as you like to return cards on the field to the hand, up to the number of cards you discarded.
For decks like Shaddolls, this discarding effect is actually desired – as Shaddoll monsters gain their abilities when they hit the graveyard.
This messes up your opponent while giving yourself bonuses, all wrapped up in an easy to summon synchro monster.
5. Beelze of the Diabolic Dragons
As the definition of an unstoppable wall, Beelze of the Diabolic Dragons is one of the hardest cards to overcome in all of Yu-Gi-Oh!
It’s indestructible by battle or card effect, meaning any card effect that would destroy this thing is useless.
Your opponent would have to find a banishing effect or something similar to get rid of this guy.
The fact that Beelze is a level 8 synchro monster, a crazy easy level to achieve, also makes Beelze a powerful tool in any deck with a tuner monster.
4. Crystal Wing Synchro Dragon
It’s kind of sad that barely anybody plays the original Clear Wing Synchro Dragon.
But with upgrades like this existing, it’s no surprise that people prefer to include Crystal Wing Synchro Dragon in their decks instead.
Not only does Crystal Wing Synchro Dragon negate your opponent’s monster effects at quick-effect speed, but you can also destroy that monster and gain its attack until the end of the turn.
Talk about a power up.
And as if that wasn’t enough attack gain on one card, Crystal Wing Synchro Dragon also gains the attack of any level 5 or higher monster it attacks – effectively making this a direct hit every single time!
This is an insane amount of damage output, all from one card.
3. Trishula Dragon of the Ice Barrier
Trishula was (and still is by some) considered the single best card in the game for ages.
There wasn’t a deck under the sun that didn’t at least try to summon Trishula at some point.
Trishula allows you to deal with 3 threats all at once: banishing a card each from your opponent’s hand, field, and graveyard, right when it’s synchro summoned.
When this card was unlimited, you could summon multiple copies of Trishula to completely deprive your opponent of resources.
But for obvious reasons, Trishula has now been limited to one copy per deck.
The ability to rip three cards from your opponent is still astonishingly powerful, and can give you the upper hand you need to win the duel. So even though it’s limited, don’t count this one out.
2. T.G. Hyper Librarian
While this card may not have the most powerful stats, T.G. Hyper Librarian’s effect more than makes up for it.
Every time you synchro summon while this guy is face up on the field, you get to draw a card from your deck.
Synchro decks are notorious for being able to synchro summon again and again, meaning you could be drawing a whole bunch of cards from this guy over a few turns (or even in one turn, if you’re lucky enough).
Just be careful not to deck yourself out if you play T.G. Hyper Librarian. Seems like a joke, but it’s definitely possible!
1. Borreload Savage Dragon
The synchro monster that has taken the meta game by storm, Borreload Savage Dragon, is easily the most powerful synchro monster in all of modern Yu-Gi-Oh!
When it’s synchro summoned, you can equip this card with a Link monster from your graveyard.
This gives Borreload Savage Dragon the ability to quick-effect negate any card you like – and you can repeat this effect multiple times, up to the Link rating of the equipped monster.
On top of that, Borreload Savage Dragon also gains attack equal to the equipped monster’s attack.
If I had to offer a suggestion, then probably the best card to equip to this would be the original Borreload Dragon.
In doing so, you’d have a 6000 attack monster that can negate 4 different effects all by itself.
With Link monsters becoming more common in Yu-Gi-Oh, it’s no surprise that this card is absolutely dominating the meta game right now.
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.
