People who play Yu-Gi-Oh talk a lot about which monsters are the best combo monsters.
Tuner monsters are what are needed to synchro summon in the first place, but they aren’t talked about very often.
In Yu-Gi-Oh, there are so many different tuner monsters, and each one has its own benefits and ways to use them.
If you want to use synchro monsters as part of your game plan, you’ll need a few tuners with different levels in your deck.
Tuner and Synchro Monsters
If you have a tuner monster and a non-tuner monster on the field during a battle, you can sacrifice them to summon a synchro monster from your extra deck with a level equal to the sum of the levels of the two monsters you sacrificed.
For example, you could sacrifice the level 3 tuner “Junk Synchron” and any level 2 monster that wasn’t a tuner to summon a level 5 synchro creature.
Many tuners only work in certain archetypes, but some aces are flexible enough to fit most themes.
Which ones are the best?
This list breaks down our top picks and gives tips on how to get the most out of them.
18. Effect Veiler
Veiler is a light spellcaster with several back-ups.
He can be called to use as a tuner or kept in hand to use his hand-trap effect, which lets you throw him away right away to cancel a monster’s effects for the turn.
Veiler is simple and flexible.
It can shut down an enemy ace or help you cast your own ace, depending on the case.
He’s also great for cheap decks, since he costs a lot less than two dollars.
17. Witch of the Black Rose
“high risk, high payoff,” Witch is another popular pair that goes well with themes like Dark Magician and Shaddoll because she casts dark spells.
She can’t be special summoned, but she has a good ATK. If you normal summon her when you don’t control any cards, you draw a card, but if it’s not a monster, you send it to the graveyard and destroy Witch.
So for her to work, you really want that card to be a monster, but most decks are mostly monsters, which increases your chances, and some (like Superheavy Samurai) run few, if any, spells or traps.
If you don’t want to take a chance, you can just call her normally while you control other cards to stop her draw ability from going off.
16. Scapeghost
Scapeghost is based on the classic spell “Scapegoat.” It has the dark quality and is a zombie, which are both strong types.
He also lets you call any number of sheep tokens when you flip him over.
Like him, these have 0 ATK and DEF, but they can be used as blocks or synchro/tribute material, especially for synchro monsters like “Trishula, Dragon of the Ice Barrier” that need more than one non-tuners.
15. X-Saber Airbellum
If, like me, one of the 5Ds starter decks was where you first learned about synchro summoning, then you’ll know this guy well.
X-Saber Airbellum is a level 3 tuner. Most decks have a lot of level 4 monsters, so this guy is great for level 7 synchro plays like Black Rose Dragon.
When you directly attack your opponent with this card, they have to throw away a card from their hand that you choose at random.
If your opponent is getting hit directly, they probably need all the cards they can get to get back on their feet.
X-Saber Airbellum is the best way to make sure that doesn’t happen.
14. Quickdraw Synchron
The problem with synchron decks is that you never have the right synchron card to use for a synchro call half the time.
Junk Warrior needs Junk Synchron, and Road Warrior needs Road Synchron. You just can’t seem to draw the right one at the right time.
This problem is solved by Quickdraw Synchron, which can be used in place of any synchron monster.
This guy is also very easy to bring into play. All you have to do is throw away a card.
This is a great way to get good monsters like the Quillbolt Hedgehog, who can just special summon himself back to the field, into your graves.
The only bad thing about this card is that it can only be used to synchro summon monsters that list a synchron monster as one of their materials.
But there are so many great “Warrior” synchro monsters to choose from that you’re sure to find one that works well with the way you play your deck.
13. Deep Sea Diva
Water decks have always been something to be taken seriously.
I mean, Umi was possibly the first field spell in Yu-Gi-Oh! that did something.
(Seriously, I don’t think any competitive decks will play Mountain in the near future!)
When synchro monsters came along, this kind of deck got even better.
Deep Sea Diva lets you special summon any Sea Serpent monster from your deck that is level 3 or lower. This gives you everything you need to do a synchro summon.
Or, if you’d rather, you can just attack your opponent with some strong Sea Serpents.
With this card, my best way to use it is to special summon a level 1 Sea Serpent so I can synchro summon Tatsunoko.
This cool little synchro monster lets you synchro summon by using monsters in your hand as materials. This makes it even easier to synchro summon big monsters.
12. Sea Monster of Theseus
You might wonder why a level 5 fusion monster that does nothing is on this list.
Instant Fusion is the simple answer.
With Instant Fusion, you can pay 1000 life points to special call a fusion monster from the extra deck that is level 5 or lower.
This makes it ridiculously easy to get the Sea Monster of Theseus and turns instant fusing into a free level 5 tuner monster.
It’s great for calling in high-level combo monsters like the Star Eater, which you would have to call in by calling in a lot of smaller monsters otherwise.
11. Blackwing – Gale the Whirlwind
During the Yu-Gi-Oh 5Ds era, Blackwings was the best combination deck.
When they were at the top of their game, they had a number of cards that were outright banned, and there are still a few Blackwings that can’t be used in professional play.
Gale the Whirlwind makes it so easy to do a synchro call with him.
If you control a Blackwing monster, you can free-of-charge special summon another one from your hand.
This ability doesn’t only happen once per turn, either. If you can bring this card back from the graveyard to your hand, you can special summon it again.
Gale is also great at dealing with monsters with a lot of attack power. With its effect, you can forever cut in half the attack and defense of any monster your opponent controls.
This means that even if you send Gale to the graveyard for a synchro summon, your opponent’s monster is still weakened, giving you the chance to destroy it with your newly summoned synchro.
10. Krebons
Keeping a tuner on the board long enough to summon with it next turn is one of the hardest parts of synchro summoning.
This doesn’t matter with Krebons.
If it’s going to be attacked, you can pay 800 life points to stop the attack.
This happens more than once per turn.
So, if your opponent hits you with multiple monsters, you can keep stopping them as long as you have enough life points.
This makes sure that when you start your next turn, you’ll definitely have a tuner monster on your side of the field, giving you the chance to synchro summon as much as you want.
9. Harmonizing Magician
Tuners at level 4 are very strong.
Most monsters in the main deck have a level of 4, which makes level 4 tuners great for syncing up a level 8 monster.
This could be a Stardust Dragon, a Scarlight Red Dragon Archfiend, or even a Thought Ruler Archfiend. There are so many good level 8 fusion monsters to choose from!
When you pendulum summon Harmonizing Magician from your hand, you can special summon a pendulum “Magician” monster from your deck in defense position.
This gives you a level 4 monster you can use right away to synchro summon another level 4 monster, making the Harmonizing Magician a one-card synchro monster.
Even though this card can’t be pendulum called from the extra deck, you can use cards like Oafdragon Magician to return it to your hand every turn, making this a truly endless combo.
8. Debris Dragon
Debris Dragon is very strong because, like Krebons, it keeps itself on the board.
This guy has a huge 2000 defense, which even in current Yu-Gi-Oh! is hard to beat.
And when this card is Normal Summoned, you can Special Summon from your graveyard any monster with 500 attack or less, as long as its effects are cancelled.
This is great because it gives you more things you can use to synchro call.
Sadly, there are some limits to this.
You can only use it to call dragon-type monsters in a synchro summon, and the other monster you use can’t be level 4.
This makes it almost impossible for you to use level 8 synchro summoning (unless you handle more than one monster, like a level 1 and a level 3).
But there are so many great Dragon combo monsters that you’ll be able to use this card to play something strong.
7. Junk Synchron
The first thing I think of when I hear the word “tuner monster” is this guy.
Yusei Fudo, the main character of Yu-Gi-Oh 5Ds, used Junk Synchron as his unique tuner.
In the series, this card was used to synchro summon whenever it was possible to do so.
When you summon Junk Synchron, you can special summon a level 2 monster from your graveyard, but that monster’s powers are canceled out.
This makes it easy to call out the level 5 combo monster that comes with this card, Junk Warrior.
There are better level 5 combination monsters than the Junk Warrior, though (sorry).
I’d suggest TG Hyper Librarian, a powerful monster that lets you draw an extra card every time you synchro call it.
6. Tatsunoko
When you can’t get the right level monsters for a synchro summon, it can be very stressful.
There will be times when you are just one or two levels away from summoning that strong boss monster from your extra deck, but you have to settle for a weaker monster instead.
This won’t be a problem anymore as long as Tatsunoko is around.
When you use this card to do a synchro call, you can use cards from your hand as the synchro materials.
This makes it much easier to do a synchro summon, since you don’t have to worry about calling up all the items you need first.
5. Rokket Tracer
Rokket decks and dragon link in general are taking over the Yu-Gi-Oh metagame right now.
These cards can bring out an insane number of dragons in no time, which makes them great for filling the board with monsters you can call.
Rokket Tracer lets you special summon a Rokket monster from the deck by destroying any card you control (quickly).
If you link this effect to a quick-play spell or trap card (which would be destroyed when it resolves anyway), you can special call a free monster for no cost at all.
And Rokket decks have a great level 8 synchro monster called Borreload Savage Dragon. This card is so strong that many people have asked for it to be banned.
Rokket Tracer is a great way to call them.
4. Plaguespreader Zombie
In Yu-Gi-Oh, the best tuner monsters are the ones that are very easy to call, so you can use them whenever you want.
To use the Plaguespreader Zombie’s special ability, all you have to do is put a card from your hand on top of your deck.
This may seem like a big disadvantage, since you are losing valuable cards.
Probably not!
If you use an effect that shuffles the deck in some way, you can use this to get rid of cards that aren’t good for your plan.
Just put that useless card back, shuffle the deck, and you’ll get a new (and hopefully better) card on your next turn.
3. Genex Ally Birdman
You might sometimes have a monster on the board that does nothing.
You might have had a flip monster on your board that used its effect and is now just kind of sitting there.
Genex Ally Birdman fixes this problem and gives you a very useful tuner at the same time.
You can special call this guy by returning a monster you control to your hand. If the monster that was returned was also a wind monster, this card gets 300 more attack.
So this not only sets you up perfectly for a synchro summon, but you can also use this monster’s powers over and over again.
For example, if you have an effect that happens when a monster is normal called, Genex Ally Birdman lets you normal summon it again by putting it back in your hand.
2. Formula Synchron
Formula Synchron changed everything about how synchro decks were used.
This card is in every single combination deck I can think of.
When you call it, you can draw one card.
This lets you get a little more stuff, since a synchro summoning can use a lot of things.
The best thing about this card, though, is that you can use it to match summon while it’s your opponent’s turn.
This gives you a lot of power to cause trouble:
During your opponent’s turn, you could call out a Trishula Dragon of the Ice Barrier to get rid of 3 cards at once or a Black Rose Dragon to blow up the whole board.
There are really no limits to what can be done.
1. Ash Blossom & Joyous Spring
Even though this card’s synchro summoning ability isn’t used very often, it is without a doubt the best tuner monster in all of Yu-Gi-Oh!
You can throw away Ash Blossom to stop your opponent from moving cards from the deck by looking for cards, sending cards from the deck to the graveyard, or special summoning from the deck.
Ash Blossom is so strong because modern Yu-Gi-Oh is all about getting as many resources as possible from your deck.
It stops any play your opponent might have planned, which is why most competitive decks include three copies of this card.
Once you get rid of this card, you might be able to use it for a synchro summon.
It’s a level 3, which is a good level for most summons, and it stays safe in your graveyard until you want to use it.
