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The Evolution of Evols
Tim Gore
6/13/2012 10:25:00 AM  If you haven’t already guessed, my latest article is about one of my favorite, yet often over looked themes! Evols went almost completely unnoticed until Michael Smith piloted them to a Top 32 spot at YCS Atlanta. He set the stand for most of the decks us Evol Duelists run today, and proved to the world that Evols could hold their own amongst the most popular decks at the Championship level. What’s really amazing is that he did all this before the release of Galactic Overlord. Now that Galactic Overlord is legal, Evols are more consistent than ever. While they may not have the speed of a Dino Rabbit deck, they can pull of combos the little bunny could only dream of.Starting with the Basics Evols were first released in Generation Force and have received support in every set since. However, very few players seem to really understand the theme and how they’re played. If I had to compare them to another strategy, I’d say they play a lot like Gladiator Beasts. Much like Gladiators, Evols have a toolbox of effects that can be used by Special Summoning Evolsaurs through the effects of Evoltile monsters. Each Evoltile can activate their Special Summon effect once a certain condition is met, such as being flipped face up or tributed. Each Evolsaur monster has an effect that activates when they're Special Summoned by an Evoltile. This is similar to the tag out system Gladiator Beasts use. You’re basically evolving the lizard-like Evoltiles into full-grown Evolsaurs. Luckily for us, this evolutionary process usually takes just one turn instead of a few thousand years. The best way to truly learn the science of this evolution is by examining an Evol deck and reviewing its key cards and combos.
This is what most Evol Duelists consider a standard build. It reflects a lot of the card choices Michael Smith used in his Evol deck, but has been updated with some of the new support from Galactic Overlord. There are other ways to build Evols, but we'll get into that later on in this article. For now, I’d like to show you how this deck functions and some of the amazing combos it can perform. To do that, let’s start with the little guys that make all the big things happen. Monsters The monster cards in your Evol deck are its biggest asset. They work with each other to give you an arsenal of effects. Knowing when to use what monster, and the order to Special Summon them in, can make all the difference to the outcome of your Duel. Evoltile Najasho: This World Premiere card is the real backbone of the Evol strategy. Evoltile Najasho is the catalyst that sets this deck’s best combos into motion. Anytime you tribute Najasho for a tribute summon or by the effect of another card, you’ll replace him with a full grown Evolsaur that will be able to activate its effect. A key thing to remember is to always set this card. Never normal summon it. You don’t do this just because of Najasho’s high defense: you do it so that Najasho's Summon isn’t negated by cards like Solemn Warning. Najasho’s effect will still activate even if it's tributed while face-down. Not only is this effective with tribute summon monsters like Darwino, but it makes other cards like Enemy Control, Mini-Guts, and of course the theme's powerhouse spell Evo-Force, all effective tools for making progress while activating Najasho’s effect. We'll take a more in-depth look into the combos those cards can perform with Najasho when we discuss them later on. Evoltile Westlo: Photon Shockwave brought us Evoltile Westlo, and it was the first card to make people believe that Evols could eventually become a competitive theme. By flipping Westlo face-up (through a flip summon, card effect, or battle), it'll Special Summon any Evolsaur from your deck and let it activate its effect. Sporting a respectable 1900 DEF, Westlo rarely gets destroyed in battle when it's set. Most of the combos Westlo can perform will become clear as we talk about each of the Evolsaurs, but one works especially well. That brings us to our next monster. Evolsaur Darwino: I feel like Evolsaur Darwino was made as a counterpart for Westlo. You can flip Westlo face-up to Special Summon Darwino, and then use Darwino’s effect to add two more levels to Westlo. With one card you just put two level five monsters on the field, just waiting to bring out a rank 5 Xyz monster. Not even Inzektors can spit out a rank 5 that easily. Having that level of access to Xyz Summons gives this deck a lot of flexibility. While not every Evol duelist likes Darwino, I think after some pla testing you’ll see that it’s well worth a spot in your Evol deck. Evolsaur Cerato: Evolsaur Cerato fills two roles for the Evol strategy. It's basically the beatstick of the Evol theme. Cerato starts out with a decent 1900 ATK, but it gets a boost up to 2100 ATK when it's Special Summoned by an Evoltile. Cerato’s second role is to help make the deck more consistent by providing card advantage and search power. Every time it destroys one of your opponent’s monsters in battle, you not only get a +1 from destroying an opposing monster, but you also get to search your deck for an Evoltile of your choice. Making that happen isn’t too hard with a 2100 ATK monster. Cerato is like a cross between Gladiator Beast Laquari and Gladiator Beast Equeste. Evolsaur Diplo: There isn’t too much to say about Diplo. He's your go-to guy (err...go-to dinosaur?) for when you want to take out one of your opponent’s back row cards. Its stats aren’t too bad, but Diplo usually just ends up as an Xyz Material. It's basically the scaly brother of Gladiator Beast Retiari. Evolsaur Vulcano: And finally we get to the Gladiator Beast Darius of the Evol theme, Evolsaur Vulcano. A single Vulcano Special Summoned by an Evoltile, can quickly become a rank 4 Xyz monster. If you haven’t already noticed, all but one of the Evolsaurs we use are level 4 monsters. When Vulcano Special Summons an Evolsaur from the graveyard, you’ll have everything you need to summon a rank four Xyz. That includes the powerful Evolzar Laggia and Evolzar Dolkka. Spells and Traps Many of the spells and traps in this deck demand the tribute of a monster for their activation cost. This in turn helps us activate Evoltile Najasho, while usually netting a +1 or better in the process. Other spells help us draw into the combo pieces we need more consistently, and of course, there are the usual staples that make up the rest of the spell and trap lineup. Let's look at the more important cards. Evo-Force: I can only describe Evo-Force as the best reason to use an Evol deck. It lets you pull off crazy combos: moves that can result in fields like Evolzar Laggia plus Evolzar Dolkka in a single play. Not many decks can stand up to a field of two Evolzars. While using this card to tribute a Westlo will only let you Special Summon one Evolsaur, combining Evo-Force with Najasho will Special Summon two Evolsaurs: one with Najasho's effect, and one with Evo-Force. I’m sure your head is already exploding with all the possibilities that combo creates. What's really important is understanding how to correctly build the chains that result from these plays. You can unleash basically any Evolsaur effects you want, but alot of Duelists running this strategy are actually resolving things incorrectly. Here's an example of a high-impact play you'll probably make as often as you can. -Set Evoltile Najasho. Activate Evo-Force, and use its effect to tribute Najasho. -This will result in three chains total. -The first chain consists of only one effect: Evo-Force. -In this case, let's resolve it to Special Summon Evolsaur Vulcano from the deck. We'll refer to it specifically as Vulcano Number 1, because we're going to Summon two of them by the time we're finished. -The second chain consists of two effects: Vulcano Number 1's, and Najasho's. Build the chain with Najasho's effect first, then Vulcano's: Najasho (Chain Link 1) >>> Vulcano (Chain Link 2). -This chain will result in the Special Summon of an Evolsaur from your graveyard with Vulcano's effect, then the Special Summon of another Evolsaur from your deck with Evolsaur Najasho's ability. Special Summon whatever you like with Vulcano Number 1, then Summon Vulcano Number 2 with Najasho, triggering the second Vulcano's effect. -The third chain consists of the effect of Vulcano Number 2. Resolve it to Special Summon another Evolsaur from your graveyard. (Jason's Note: Seriously, alot of people are playing this wrong, creating situations where the effects of Najasho and Evo-Force wind up being chained to each other. That's not actually correct; the sequence above is accurate).
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Assuming you have two Evols in your graveyard, you’ll be able to create a field of Evolzar Laggia and Evolzar Dolkka with this play sequence. Diplo or Cerato can replace Vulcano in this combo as needed, to help you clear the field or grant you another beatstick if you don't have the proper monsters in the graveyard. Enemy Controller Enemy Controller is yet another spell card that lets us pull off more combos with Evoltile Najasho. You can tribute Najasho to steal your opponent’s monster; Special Summon Vulcano to Special Summon another Evolsaur from the graveyard; Xyz Summon a Rank 4; and then attack with both monsters for a high amount of damage. If your opponent has a Level 4 monster, you could steal it with Enemy Controller’s effect, and use Najasho to Special Summon Diplo and destroy one of your opponent's back row cards. Then, follow up by using your opponent’s Level 4 monster and your Diplo to Special Summon a rank 4 Xyz monster. The options are endless. Controller also makes Evolsaur Darwino a little more useful when you happen to draw into your only copy. You can use Enemy Controller to steal an opponent’s monster and then tribute it away with Darwino, instead of having to give it back at the end of your turn. But don’t forget about Enemy Controller's other effect. While most of your Evoltiles have pretty high DEF, you still don’t want them getting destroyed in battle before you get a chance to use their effects. E-Con can be a great tool for protecting them. Are you facing a monster that’s too big for your Laggia to get over? Use Enemy Controller to turn it into defense position and take it down with ease. For the most part, high ATK monsters usually have lower DEF. This one card adds so many options to our Evol deck. Evo-Diversity / Pot of Duality I grouped these spells together because both of them are cards that help make the Evol strategy more consistent. Evo-Diversity is another great card from Galactic Overlord. One of the biggest issues holding Evols back was that they had very few ways to consistently draw into the correct Evoltile when you needed it. Now that's far different: Evols can essentially run three Reinforcement of the Army. If I’ve learned anything from playing Yu-Gi-Oh, it’s that any deck that can use search cards is destined to do well. Just look at what search power has done for Gladiator Beasts in the past, and for E-Heroes in the present. Most of the time you’ll want to search out an Evoltile with Evo-Diversity, but it’s nice to have the option of grabbing an Evolsaur in case you need more material for an Xyz Summon, or just a good old fashioned beatstick. Pot of Duality serves the same purpose, helping you get one step closer to you key cards. Pot of Avarice Pot of Avarice is very important for any Evol deck. Evols run very few Evolsaurs, because you don't want to run a high risk of drawing into them; you want Evoltiles in your hand, and Evolsaurs in your deck. But because you run such a low Evolsaur monster count, you can often burn through them before the duel's finished. There's nothing worse than having a graveyard full of Evolsaurs, but no Vulcano left in your deck; or a scary back row card locking you down, yet no Diplo to destroy it with. Pot of Avarice lets you restock your search options, while drawing more cards in the process. Who could ask for anything more? It’s no wonder why this card got Limited. The rest of the monsters, spells and traps I chose to use in this build are pretty straightforward. You can exchange them with other cards that might fit your play style and metagame better, if you wish. With a little customization, you you can truly turn this deck into something you can call your own. Other Ways to Build Evols I’m sure all the hardcore Evol fans are wondering why I didn’t use monsters like Evolsaur Elias and Evoltile Elginero. While these are useful cards, they really belong in their own specific build designed to take advantage of them. Like I stated earlier, I wanted to show you how to use Evols with a standard build. There are alot of other Evoltiles and Evolsaurs you could include in your deck, but most of their effects are too situational, inconsistent, or just lackluster. The few that are worth running bring new options and combos to any deck they're played in, so they have to be built around really carefully. Evolsaur Elias Elias gives your Evol deck access to powerful rank six Xyz monsters like Photon Strike Bounzer and the Evolzar Solda. It’s best to use just two copies of Elias: that's not alot of deck space, but this long-necked dino requires a few changes to your main decked strategy if you want to ensure that he's live as often as possible. Most of the Evolsaur line-up will remain the same, but running a copy of Evoltile Elginero in place of one of your Najashos can help put an Elias back in your deck in case you happen to draw into two of them. And since Elias’ effect lets him summon an Evolsaur from your hand, you may want to run another Pot of Duality to help search one out when needed. Elias can bring a lot of options to an Evol deck, but with this great power also come a few risks. Opening up with double Elias can pretty much lose you a game right then and there. And nothing is worse than top decking one late game, when you’re in a tight spot. Elias’ stats can also be a big issue. While Tribute Summoning Darwino at least gives you a 2200 ATK beatstick, there isn’t much you can do with a 2400 DEF wall. If Elias is forced into attack position, you’ll be left wide open since it has zero attack points. The rewards Elias can produce have made him a popular choice on the local level, but since it can create inconsistencies that are tough to recover from, most Duelists shy away from it at larger events. Double Darwino Using a pair of Evolsaur Darwino can provide new options in a similar fashion to Evolsaur Elias. If you use an Evo-Force to Tribute Evoltile Najasho and Special Summon two Darwinos, you can have each Darwino increase its own level by anywhere between 0 to 2 levels. Those Darwinos give you access to Rank 5, Rank 6, and Rank 7 Xyz monsters. In a way, Darwino carries an even bigger risk factor than Elias. Elias can Special Summon another Elias that you may have stuck in your hand, but Darwino can't. Once you draw into Darwino, your Rank 6 and Rank 7 access is as good as gone without the use of Evoltile Elginero. You can, however, still use Westlo to Special Summon your remaining Darwino to make a Rank 5 Xyz monster. If you’re willing to face the possible risk these cards bring, then you might enjoy running them to reap the rewards they can offer. Fun Tech In this section of the article we're going to look at a few card choices that are a lot of fun to run in an Evol deck, and can make for some pretty amazing plays. While none of these cards are needed to make a competitive strategy, you may feel that one of them fits your play style or is just too good not to use. Mini-Guts: This is one of those cards that most people just wrote off as too situational when they were looking through all the cards in Galactic Overlord. For those of you that did overlook Mini-Guts, mouse over the name to see exactly what it does. Normally you wouldn’t want to Tribute a monster even to get such a nice effect. Taking a minus in card presence, and giving up an on-field monster in addition, just to help take out one of your opponents monsters isn’t always the smartest move in the long run. But what if you were able to break even, or even plus from using Mini-Guts? With Evoltile Najasho, you can! You can use Mini-Guts to tribute a lone Najasho; drop your opponent’s monster to 0 ATK; and then run it over with the Evolsaur you Special Summon with Najasho. If you use Mini-Guts on a 3000 ATK monster, you could do 5200 damage in one turn by Special Summoning Darwino. Better yet, if you have an Evolsaur in your graveyard, you can bring out Vulcano to Special Summon it and do some serious damage while netting a rank 4 Xyz. Assuming your opponent has already used a Solemn card or taken a few hits, Mini-Guts can be the finishing blow that wins you the duel. I replaced one Enemy Controller in my personal Evol deck with a Mini-Guts, and I’m loving it. I believe you will too if you give it a try. Evo-Price: One of the reason Inzektors are so good is that they can destroy just about any threat with Inzektor Hornet. Wouldn’t it be great if other decks could have that kind of destructive power? Evols do have their own Hornet, in the form of a spell card. Evo-Price lets you destroy one card on the field every time a monster is Special Summoned by an Evoltile. That means every time Najasho gets tributed, or Westlo gets flipped face up, you get to destroy a card. Since that happens pretty often over the course of a duel, you can find yourself gaining pluses left and right. The downside of Evo-Price is that it has to stay on the field to be useful. With Mystical Space Typhoon at three, and Heavy Storm in almost every deck, keeping Evo-Price on the field isn’t so simple. Cards like Starlight Road can help, but until Inzektor Hornet or Mystical Space Typhoon take a hit, you’re still going to have a hard time playing Price effectively. Our Journey Through Evolution I hope you have enjoyed our little history lesson on the evolution of Evols.! These critters have been overlooked for far too long. Even Konami has been trying to push TCG Duelists into using Evols by giving us very attractive World Premier cards in every set since they were released. I tried to talk about as many possible ways to build an Evol deck as I’ve seen, but for all we know, there's an even better decklist just waiting to be dug up. Will you be the one to pioneer it? Don’t let the Evols become fossils: make your own Evol deck and take your metagame back to the Jurassic age! -Tim Gore 
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this card!