An Introduction to Gustos

An Introduction to Gustos
by: Ashura Areson

If you were to walk down to my Local Card shop and ask “What deck do you hate to see the most from Ashura Areson?” Quite a few of them will say Gustos. Why is that? Because 3 of my decks have Gustos and are Gusto builds. Some are serious with a strict 40 card limit; some are not so serious with 60 cards in it. In this paper, I will be mostly focusing on Pure Gustos, but I will mention other builds and ideas for you to use.
A little bit about the Gustos. They are from the Duel Terminal world, fought against the Steel Swarms along with the Gem Knights, Gishiki, and all the rest. They are a wind based archetype with lots of winged beast and psychic types with a few Thunder types thrown in for good measure. Generally speaking, Gustos are a very defensive Archetype, focusing on maintaining a field presence and returning Gustos from the grave to the deck for their effects. The best way to describe Gustos is that they are like the wind (Yes its cheesy, get over it). They move with the flow of the duel and control the pace while building up an offense. This is directly contrasting with most decks today which either focus on “Summon X boss monster(s) as soon as possible” or “Summon as many things as humanly possible”. We Gusto players play a more subdued game, focusing on not the immediate gain, but rather the long term. We wait until the opponent burns themselves out of options and then make our move.


Gustos have quite a few advantages. First off is the Gusto Loop which basically guarantees you having a monster on the field at all times. Second advantage, we have arguably one of the BEST cards in the game in the form of Daigusto Sphreez. We also, if done right, don’t mind all of the massive field destruction spells too much. We normally gain advantages from using these cards our selves. In addition, we are also able to use all the psychic support cards we wish. Also, in our own Gusto spell cards we have plenty of destruction/ field removal in the form of Contact with gusto and Quillpen of Gulldos. We also get access to things like Icarus Blast and all the wind archetype support. This includes things like the Mist valley field spells, Spiritual Wind Art Miyabi, as well as Sealing Ceremony of Raiton. The most important thing however, is that Gustos aren’t all that neither expected nor sided for. This allows us to get people off guard and utilize many mind games, an important aspect that many people forget about. Also, there are so many builds of Gustos that it can be difficult to side against anyway.


Not all is well in the Valley of Gusto however. First issue with the Gusto is that they have very low combative stats over all. This makes it a bit harder to make a comeback play against heavy beatsticks like Thunder King Raioh, or prevent from being destroyed by a Deck Devastation Virus or even Tiger King Wanghu. Cards that banish really hurt Gustos as well since most of their effects either need cards in the graveyard or activate in the graveyard. Decks like Gladiator beasts and Blackwings will have a field day with Gustos as well with searching and piercing along with massive swarming. Gusto also has a hard time against decks that don’t destroy cards such as burn. Against these deck it is fairly difficult to win game 1, but we usually can pull of something game 2 and 3 thanks to side decking. Another issue with gustos is that a lot of supposed power plays don’t actually work because they miss timing. This is a fairly sizable issue as seemingly good plays such as synching with Gusto Gulldo, might not be safe as you don’t get a gusto searcher from it. Still, even with all of our faults, Gusto players all over find ways to adapt and to overcome their opponents.


Alright, I mentioned the Gusto loop earlier, but what exactly IS the Gusto loop. In short, it makes you a huge pain in the ass to kill against most normal decks. The basic loop is comprised of 3 cards. First off is Wynda, Priestess of Gusto. She lets you search a Gusto tuner from your deck when it is destroyed in battle by an opponent’s monster. Next, is Gusto Gulldo. He lets you search out any level 2 or lower Gusto monster when sent from the field to the graveyard. Finally, there’s Gusto Egul, who when destroyed in battle, lets you special summon one level 4 or lower Gusto non-tuner monster from your deck. These three cards, can not only search 80 percent or more of your monster base, but also form a chain that can in theory block up to 10 attacks. That’s pretty damn good! The loop card count varies by deck, but pure Gustos run 3 of everything. Regardless of build, 3 Gulldos are practically a necessity, given how easy his effect is to trigger.
But now you are thinking, “Ashura, blocking 10 attacks is great an all, but what then? Once the loop is gone there’s nothing I can really do with it.” Well, Gustos have many , and I mean MANY,cards to answer that issue. First off is Caam, Serenity of Gusto. She is a level 4 Psychic monster with 1700 attack: a mild beatstick. What really makes her great is her effect to return two Gusto monsters from the grave back to the deck and then draw one card. Now think about the loop. It generally goes, Wynda, Gulldo, Egul, and then back to Wynda right? Well instead of Wynda, we can go in to Caam to replenish our loop and draw more. Gustos are THE deck that should never have to worry about decking out. Also, with all the searching with the Loop and the drawing from Caam, it is possible to run over 40 cards without any really drawback. Now you shouldn’t do what I do in this example with 55 cards but 45-50 is pretty workable. One more thing, you don’t need to follow the loop exactly. Wynnda can still search for Egul if you need a tuner or want to get a level 4 after the next attack. Gulldo can search out Wynnda to create a small loop useful for stalling out until the last attack when you can bring out Egul with either Wynnda or Gulldo. This would let you get Caam and then draw some more next turn. Keep your mind open to new ideas as you look at the loop and are searching for cards. You MUST be thinking about the next 5 turn, not just until the end of the turn if you want to really do well with Gustos.



Outside of the loop, Gustos have a LOT to offer. First off is Musto, Oracle of Gusto. In short, he is your Effect Veiler on legs. With 1800 attack, he is able to run over a lot of stuff today. In addition he also can replenish your loop when he does his effect. Then there is Gusto Falco, a simple little bird that level 2 and a tuner monster. He is your punishment to anyone who tries to blow up the field with torrential, dark hole, etc as he lets you search and summon a Gusto (note ANY GUSTO!) in face down defense position. Gusto Sqruillo is similar, but he only lets you summon a level 5 or higher Gusto from your deck. But he doesn’t need to be face up. It is also a tuner monster so your opponent will have to think long and hard if he or she wishes to use torrential or something on either. Also, interesting note is that if an opponent Solemns your Squirro when you summon it, it gets its effect because it only needs to be destroyed and sent to the graveyard. So even if it is destroyed in the hand or as it is entering the field, Squirlo is able to trigger. We also have Gusto Kamui, who is a level 2 Psychic type who when flipped, searches any Gusto tuner and special summons it. This is what you will normally get with Falco unless you are going for game. We also have Gusto Griffin, which isn’t normally used except in special builds of Gustos. This little guy, when sent from the hand to the graveyard, special summons any Gusto from the deck. This was basically my “screw you wind-up loop” As they really didn’t have a lot to stop the Gusto loop. We then have Gusto Condor, a level 3 1000 attack Winged beast that when it destroys something in battle, you get to summon virtually ANY gusto in your deck. Pretty cool, but it only has 1000 attack and Gustos aren’t really offensive. It is an interesting tech choice though for any Gusto Deck. We then have Gusto Thunbolt, an awesome wolf made out of lightning with a unicorn horn on its head. This card lets you search out nearly any Gusto from your deck by banishing one the grave at the end of a battle phase when it was destroyed. This might seem counter intuitive with things like Caam needing Gustos in the grave to fuel her effects, but you can banish Thunbolt itself for its effect. Now let’s get into the heavy stuff. First off is Reeze, Whirlwind of Gusto. Put it simply, it’s a creature swap with legs that you can control both outcomes. Yeah it costs you a card, odds are its worth stealing the opponents monster and slamming into your bird and getting searches. Oh and did I mention she is special summonable by not only Squirillo, but also Condor, Thunbolt, Condor and Griffin? Its pretty sweet. Slightly less sweet is Wyndaar, Sage of Gusto, a 2k beater that when he destroys something you get a level 4 or lower Gusto from your graveyard. Still pretty easy to special summon, but I would normally prefer Reeze over him. Still, if he destroys something, he is an easy level 7 or 8 synchro in a can. That is pretty much all the Gusto monsters in the main deck, and they are pretty good in and of themselves. But let’s get to what REALLY makes the Gustos win.



Gustos are a Synchro based Archetype, so all of their best cards are Synchros. Let’s get the best one first: Daigusto Sphreez. Sphreez is a level 6 Gusto Psychic type with 2000 attack. Seems pretty tame right? Oh, you can return ANY Gusto card from your grave to the hand when it is summoned. This is awesome, since that includes the Spells and Traps in the Gusto line up. Oh, it can’t be destroyed in battle. That’s’ pretty cool too. Wait, what does that last part say? Any battle damage you would take from a battle involving Gustos your opponent takes instead? Holy crap! Sphreez is an instant win condition. Once she’s out, summon gulldo and just slam your birds into the opponent’s stuff. Make sure you do NOT use Wynda as she must be destroyed by an Attacking monster. The extra search that she generates also allows for many other plays. Set up the loop again to be safe, pull a spell card to pop a back row, heck pull a trap for future turns. If you play Gustos and you do not run Sphreez, sell that deck now and play Lightsworns. My rant on Sphreez aside, our next Synchro is Daigusto Gulldos. This level 5 synchro is basically Caam, but instead of drawing a card, you pop a monster on the opponent’s field. Field manipulation is an important part of the Gusto deck so this card is almost essential. Gusto Falcos is a bit odd. It’s a level 4 synchro monster that gives every gusto 600 attack when it is summoned. This is cool, but it is counter intuitive to what the Gustos generally do. You can probably run things that are more useful than this. Lastly, we have the Gusto’s biggest hitter, Daigusto Eguls. Daigusto Eguls is a level 7 Synchro monster with 2600 attack. This lets it get over things like Stardust dragon and is fairly easy to bring out. It also has a decent effect where you banish one Wind monster from your grave to target and destroy one face down card on the field. This is great except for the fact that it must be done at the End Phase. In addition, Gustos use their graveyards to fuel their effects so banishing them might not be a good idea. Still, any back row destruction is nice and being able to pop things like Ryko before they can flip is also very nice. The Gustos also have a pair of XYZ monsters. A rank 2 and a rank 4, both are very easy to bring out. Daigusto Emeral is the level 4 XYZ with a decent 1800 attack. It has two effects, one of which is you return 3 monsters to the deck and then draw one card. The other is you special summon 1 non-effect monster from the graveyard. Not terrible, but the field presence you lose for Emeral is too much for basically a worse Caam with an additional effect you probably won t be able to use. Daigusto Phoenix is also decent, a level 2 XYZ with 1500 attack. By detaching one material, you can make one wind type monster attack twice. This is a very good card, but maybe not in Gustos as we generally aren’t rushing to attack stuff anyway. Gachi Gachi is probably a better choice. When building your Gusto deck, keep a few slots open for these Gusto cards in your extra deck. They are definitely worth considering.




The Gusto tribe does have a few spell and trap cards that can support them very well. Well actually its only one spell card, but the other card might as well be a Gusto. First off is Contact with Gusto. Contact With Gusto is basically, field destruction in a can. You return two monsters from your grave to the deck and then pop one card on the field. Such a simple , yet oh so delicious effect when you search it with Sphreez. Then there is Quill pen of Guildos. Why this isn’t just called Quill pen of Gustos is beyond me. It’s the same thing as Contact but it bounces the card to the hand. This is very nice for things like Zenmaines or things that are immune to destruction. The traps of the Gusto are very solid too. Without a doubt the best one is Blessings for Gusto. This card is a run through of the Gusto loop in one card. You get to special summon any Gusto card from the graveyard and then you get to Return two more from the grave to the deck. It is searchable with Sphreez and all in all makes it that much harder for the opponent to get that opening to kill you. Next up is Whirlwind of Gusto. Whirlwind of Gusto also lets you return two Gusto monsters from the grave to your deck and then special summon a Gusto from your deck with 1000 or less defense. This is a good card, but it can only be used when you have no monsters, which should be a rarity with the Gustos. Still, it is usually a decent idea to run 1 for those situations where you are completely nuked. The final Gusto trap is Dust Storm of Gusto and it is a sweet card in theory. When you activate this, your opponent cannot use any card effects during any Gusto’s attack. Pretty cool and awesome to insure Sphreez wins, but you won’t be attacking often with the Gustos. Still, if you want to run a more aggressive Gusto deck, then Dust Storm is definitely worth a look.

[center]Honorary Gustos: Monsters too good not to use.[/center]

While it is possible to run and succeed with a “pure Gusto” build, it is generally better to splash in some cards that may not be Gustos, but still support it well. One really good card is Serene Psychic Witch. Serene is basically a search that comes a turn late for ANY Gusto in your deck. It also works no matter how it is destroyed so long as it is on the field. While this is pretty obvious, Sangan works really well with the Gustos, searching out any piece of the loop that you need or a level 2 tuner for a future Sphreez. Another interesting card to use is Silver Sentinel. Being a defensive deck generally means massive backrow. Well Silver Sentinel is your surprise to the poor soul who Mystical Space Typhoons or Heavy Storms you. A level 4 that pops a card at the endphase is pretty nice and it allows for some other plays with synchros or XYZs even. Debris dragon also works well, not only for synchros, but getting the Loop back on the field again. Since all the effects of the loop activate in the graveyard, Debris’ effect of negating the monster’s effect doesn’t really matter. Dandylion is useful for just more defensive capabilities and a target for Debris, and generating tokens for Synchros. But the final card I feel works really well in Gustos? Lava Golem is almost made for gusto decks.. Lava Golem helps cut down on the number of monsters. Gustos really don’t care about a 3000 point beater that break s only one of their loopers, but they do care about two 1700 point beaters with piercing. Lava Golem’s burn also gives you an alterative way to win rather than with just Sphreez via burn damage and stall. Also, summoning lava Golem is a surefire way to win if you have Spheez and a Gulldo out by just slamming everything into said Lava Golem. Try Lava Golem and I doubt you will be disappointed. For the extra deck, the usual staples work well, but conceder the likes of the psychic Synchro monsters. Why look at them? Well Miracle Synchro Fusion is a very useful card and with Psychic Synchros you can bring out Ultimate Axion Kicker. This thing is a monster. It has 2900 attack, piercing and restores your life points and to top it off, it cannot be destroyed by card effects. Once again, this gives you an alternative way to deal with your opponent if Sphreez is out of your reach for now. Stardust dragon is a staple but is awesome as it is a wind type and it protects more stuff for you. Stardust Radiance Dragon is basically game while you have Sphreez out. I run both in my 60 card Gusto, and its hilarious. Scrap dragon is another staple that works fairly well, as the Gustos will usually have a massive monster presence to not only summon Scrap dragon but also as fodder to blow up stuff.





Gusto spell and traps are pretty limited if you only looked at the Gusto named cards. Fortunately, many things work well with the Gusto deck. First off is the Field Spell Mist Valley Shrine. Basically, it makes it so that if something dies to a card effect, you get another Gusto. This makes it easier to keep your field presence high but it also is an immediate Red Flag to the opponent who will probably try to blow it up as soon as possible. This is good because you want to keep your primary back row safe. Because you want to keep your spells and traps safe, Magic Drain is a very useful card. It either negates the opponent’s spell card, or it forces them to discard a card. Remember how I said Gustos think about the end result? Well Magic drain puts a lot of pressure on the opponent. They must make a tough choice. Do I let you keep the Shrine that lets you gain even more field advantage? Or do I toss out my dark hole/ monster reborn etc. Regardless of which they choose, at the end game, you have that much more of an advantage. Even if they do choose to blow up your facedown Safe zone or face down Silver Sentinel, I still use magic drain. It gives the illusion of it being a very important card that I don’t want destroyed. Speaking of Safe zone, this continuous trap is AWESOME for Gustos. Need to protect Sphreez? Safe zone it. Need to protect Caam? Safe zone it. This thing makes everything nearly invincible except to Mystical Space typhoon and heavy etc. Plus, if the opponent uses Mystical Space on it, you can chain it and use it on one of their monsters and blow it up. This means the opponent not only lost a MST but also a monster. A two for one deal is pretty sweet. Next we have creature swap, which with all the low attack creatures that Gusto runs, shouldn’t really need an explanation. Miracle Synchro Fusion was mentioned earlier but it should be noted that you probably should set it down when you get it rather than hold on to it in your hand. If its MSTd then you get to draw a card and it diverted another Mst from something more important. To assist in bringing out Sphreez, I might be wise to run Mischief of the Yokai. This card can be used to make it easier to bring out certain Synchros or be used to stop opposing players from Synchro Summoning or XYZing what they want. Also, it can be activated from the graveyard so if it is MST’d, you still get use out of it and once again the opponent is down some back row destruction. Another interesting card that’s usually used for against Macro deck is Gravekeeper’s Servant. This thing mills every time the opponent attacks and with the loop, they are probably going to be attacking for awhile. Macro cosmos all but shuts down the deck but this card gives you a little time to try to pull something off. Since the opponent can’t send cards to the graveyard, he cannot attack. It also gives you a (very rare but very satisfying) win condition of deckout. You probably will not win very often with this alone, but If the opponent is running Lightsworns (Which Gusto pretty much hard counters anyway by nature), deck out is a very definite possibility.


Alright, now that we have discussed all the cards that might be used in a Gusto deck, Lets take a look at what I call my Gustroll Deck. This is not ment to be a competitive deck but its still a LOT of fun. This deck uses all of the potential ways a Gusto can win to absolutely infuriate the opponent to no end, which can cause rash actions and misplays on their part. Use this deck only as an IDEA for what you want your Gustos to do. Just look at some of the Ideas presented and then remove cards that might go against that idea.

https://i.imgur.com/fvLhXTN.png

To start off, we run 3 of each of the loop cards.
We only run 2 Caam because early game she isn’t great to come into and having a hand full of Caams isn’t good.

I run two Falcos and one Squrill for Dark hole/ torrential tribute shenanigans and as level 2 tuners. Sqruill may be a bit restricted on what It can summon, but its very useful when it does work.
I run 3 Kamui, because more search and getting loop pieces is key to the trolling aspect.
2 Serene Psychic Witch for more Torrential darkhole shenanigans.
1 Reeze because shes basically dead in the hand, but shes too good not to use.
1 Musto for those annoying effect things that like to hurt you. Only run 1 because… well he doesn’t do much else.
2 lava Golems to say Screw you to swarm decks
1 Sangan for more search power
And 2 Silver sentinels for more field destruction and mind games with magic draining stuff.

2 Contact with gusto is plenty, as early game it just sits there
2 Quill pen, gets rid of stardust and the like, VERY NICE
3 creature swap for optimal Trolling
Dark Hole Heavy Storm and Monster reborn are all self explanatory.
2 Miracle Synchro Fusion for easy Ultimate Axion kicker.

3 Mystical space typhoons Back row hate and useful for blowing up safezones attached to the opponent.

1 Pot of Avarice for more looping and draw power.
2 Gravekeepers servant for macro decks and overall annoyance
3 Blessings for Gusto because it is arguably the best trap in the deck

1 Whirlwind of Gusto for those emergency situations.
3 Magic drains for stopping stuff or making them spend more. For you MTG players I think of this as a Mana leak

3 Safe zones for keeping your stuff safe and baiting MSTS to destroy your opponent’s monsters
2 Torrentials for field clearing and cycling through the loop for specific parts
And 2 Mischief of the Yokai to mess up opposing synchros and assisting your own.

The Side deck can be anything really. The cards in the picture are just some examples of stuff you can use.

Extra deck
1 Ultimate Axion Kicker for life points, piercing, beatdown, destruction immune bullshit
1 Catastor for…Its Catastor… do I really need to explain?
1 Black rose dragon for field clearing that the Gustos gain benefits from
1 Gusto Eguls a 2600 beater with destruction is pretty nice
1 Gusto Gulldos to refresh the loop and pop stuff
1 Sphreez as a win condition
1Magical android for Life point recovery and is a target for Miracle Synchro fusion
1 Mist Wurm to Bounce back everything that the opponent loves and smash them with 2500 attack
1 lifetrancer for the same reasons as magical android
1 Scrap dragon for more field destruction
1 Stardust dragon for keeping gustos around longer
1 Thought ruler Archfiend for more Life point recover and self protection and Miracle synchro fusion fodder
1 Wind up zenmaines for walling even more against certain threats
1 Beast lord Volcan in case Sphreez isn’t an option. Bouncing stuff is always nice.
1 Stardust Radiance dragon is to PROTECT SPHREEZ EVEN MORE!
Holy crap… 14 pages… Well I hope you enjoyed. I will be editing this so it looks a bit neater but for those of you who stuck through it THANK YOU!

May the winds forever be at your Gusto’s Backs! We don’t need meta decks to play this game!

I will NOT be adding more about the other varients. Why? Well I have a few varients that I can sell. No sense in me telling you everything and making it on your own. Plus, half the fun with making this deck was being creative and using things I wouldn’t think of initially. Explore, look at some other cards rather than the old Staples. You might be surprised at what you find.
-Ashura Areson

Any error please let me know and I will fix them.

dude that's some amazing stuff right there. well thoight out, i love it :3

Since he wasn't a Teacher~ Approved

Nice job o: I enjoyed reading it.

I just realized a mistake. I mentioned that Necro valley screws over the Gustos. Actually it doesn't. Necro Valley cannot negate costs. and since Caam's effect has the cost of returning 2, you can pay the cost and still do the effect. This is true for all the Gusto cards that return cards.... The only thing that Would be stopped would be Blessing of Gusto's effect of special summoning, but you still return two gustos.