Crystal Beasts have been one of the fan favorite archetypes for some time. When they were released, they spiked in price very hard. Now, they float along in the fringe of decks. Still very fun to play, but out classed by the new top decks that have power crept their way to the front lines. However, they are still a good deck to play, with their ability to swarm the field, they have one of the best field spells in the game, and have an OTK that is fairly reasonable to pull off.
TLDR at the bottom after the image.
In typical fashion, let's start with the monsters.
Crystal Beast Monsters
Crysal Beast Sapphire Pegasus
ATK:1800/DEF:1200/LEVEL:4/TYPE:Beast/ATTRIBUTE:Wind
When this card is Summoned: You can place 1 "Crystal Beast" monster from your hand, Deck, or Graveyard face-up in your Spell & Trap Card Zone as a Continuous Spell Card. If this face-up card is destroyed while it is in a Monster Card Zone, you can place it face-up in your Spell & Trap Card Zone as a Continuous Spell Card, instead of sending it to the Graveyard.
My thoughts: Easily the best of the Crystal Beast monsters. An 1800 ATK, level four monster is nothing to scoff at, but that's not why he's great. When he's summoned in any way, he can search for another Crystal Beast monster from practically anywhere, and place them in the Spell/Trap zone as a crystal. If you get him early game, grab a crystal from your deck to thin it. If you get him late game, grab a crystal from your graveyard, as that's the last place you'll want your monsters to be. Pegasus helps keep the deck fast and consistent, what else is there to say?
Always run 3. There's no reason not to.
Crystal Beast Ruby Carbuncle
ATK:300/DEF:300/LEVEL:3/TYPE:Fairy/ATTRIBUTE:Light
When this card is Special Summoned: You can Special Summon as many "Crystal Beast" cards as possible from your Spell & Trap Card Zone. If this face-up card is destroyed while it is in a Monster Card Zone, you can place it face-up in your Spell & Trap Card Zone as a Continuous Spell Card, instead of sending it to the Graveyard.
My thoughts: Sapphire may be the best monster of the archetype, but Ruby is a very close second. Upon being Special Summoned, she can take all of your crystals in your backrow and turn them into monsters. This is obviously great for any XYZ plays you want to make. Save your copies of Crystal Beacon for her!
Run either 2 or 3. She sucks to draw into, but I always need to be sure that there's a copy in the deck to use Beacon on.
Crystal Beast Topaz Tiger
ATK:1600/DEF:1000/LEVEL:4/TYPE:Beast/ATTRIBUTE:Earth
If this card attacks an opponent's monster, it gains 400 ATK during the Damage Step only. If this face-up card is destroyed while it is in a Monster Card Zone, you can place it face-up in your Spell & Trap Card Zone as a Continuous Spell Card, instead of sending it to the Graveyard.
My thoughts: Tiger is a beast! Literally! Seriously though, being able to jump up to 2000 is great, and if you equip Crystal Release to him, that 2000 becomes 2800. Pretty impressive if I do say so myself. The only downside is that the 400 point increase only occurs when Tiger is the one attacking, so during your opponent's turn, he'll be back to 1600, and most likely open for attack. Though we like having our monsters destroyed, so this isn't really a bad thing.
Run 1-2. Maybe even 3 if you have the space for him, though keep in mind that your monster count shouldn't be higher than 14, and only around 9-11 of those will be Crystal Beasts.
Crystal Beast Amber Mammoth
ATK:1700/DEF:1600/LEVEL:4/TYPE:Beast/ATTRIBUTE:Earth
When another face-up "Crystal Beast" monster you control is targeted for an attack: You can make this card the attack target instead. If this face-up card is destroyed while it is in a Monster Card Zone, you can place it face-up in your Spell & Trap Card Zone as a Continuous Spell Card, instead of sending it to the Graveyard
My thoughts: At first glance, Mammoth may seem pretty good. 1700 ATK is pretty solid for a beatstick, and his effect helps protect the weaker monsters. Honestly though, he really isn't that great. Tiger and Pegasus are both better as beatsticks, and personally, I almost never needed to use Mammoth's effect.
Run him if you want to use Rainbow Dragon, but otherwise, keep him at 0.
Crystal Beast Cobalt Eagle
ATK:1400/DEF:800/LEVEL:4/TYPE:Winged Beast/ATTRIBUTE:Wind
Once per turn: You can target 1 face-up "Crystal Beast" card you control; return that target to the top of the Deck. If this face-up card is destroyed while it is in a Monster Card Zone, you can place it face-up in your Spell & Trap Card Zone as a Continuous Spell Card, instead of sending it to the Graveyard.
My thoughts: Eagle is actually the exact opposite of Mammoth. He may not look all that impressive (and he really isn't, honestly), but since he's a Wind Attribute and a Winged Beast, he gives you access to plenty of useful XYZs that you would normally have to use Pegasus for. Speaking of, you can use Eagle's effect to pop Pegasus to the top of your deck, so you can summon him again next turn and get another Crystal in your backrow. Pretty useful.
Run 2-3.
Crystal Beast Emerald Tortoise
ATK:600/DEF:2000/LEVEL:3/TYPE:Aqua/ATTRIBUTE:Water
Once per turn: You can target 1 monster you control that attacked this turn; change that target to Defense Position. If this face-up card is destroyed while it is in a Monster Card Zone, you can place it face-up in your Spell & Trap Card Zone as a Continuous Spell Card, instead of sending it to the Graveyard.
My thoughts: Plenty of archetypes have that one monster with 2000 DEF, and Tortoise is ours. The 2000 DEF is great to wall with, but the main reason I run him is to keep the Rank 3 pressure off of Ruby. His effect doesn't get used all too often, but I think it's pretty funny to get in a direct attack with Tortoise, then let him go back into his 2000 DEF shell.
Run 0-1. Keeping Ruby out of the Grave is important, and he's useful for just that if you really need to go into a Rank 3.
Crystal Beast Amethyst Cat
ATK:1200/DEF:400/LEVEL:3/TYPE:Beast/ATTRIBUTE:Earth
This card can attack your opponent directly, but when it uses this effect, any Battle Damage it inflicts to your opponent is halved. If this face-up card is destroyed while it is in a Monster Card Zone, you can place it face-up in your Spell & Trap Card Zone as a Continuous Spell Card, instead of sending it to the Graveyard.
My thoughts: Once upon a time, Amethyst was useful. Sadly, that is no longer the case. Back when Rescue Cat was alive and well, you could use Rescue's effect, go into two Amethyst Cats, and directly attack for 1200 (or more if they were equipped with a Crystal Release or two). Nowadays though, the best she has going for her is that she's a Level 3. Sure, you could try to use her like Gagaga Cowboy, and "Amethyst for game", but the deck is tight as is, and she really just isn't worth running.
Run 1 for Rainbow Dragon builds, and 0 for any other builds.
Rainbow Dragon
ATK:4000/DEF:0/LEVEL:10/TYPE:Dragon/ATTRIBUTE:Light
Cannot be Normal Summoned or Set. Must be Special Summoned (from your hand) by having 7 "Crystal Beast" cards with different names on your field or in your Graveyard, and cannot be Special Summoned by other ways. This card cannot activate its effects the turn it is Special Summoned. ● During either player's turn: You can send all "Crystal Beast" monsters you control to the Graveyard; this card gains 1000 ATK for each card sent. ● You can banish all "Crystal Beast" monsters in your Graveyard; shuffle all cards on the field into the Decks.
My thoughts: I'm going to be blunt. Rainbow Dragon is bad. Like, infamously bad as a boss monster. If I had to guess why people think Crystal Beasts are bad, I'd say it's because the only builds those people have seen were all Rainbow Dragon builds. One problem is that he forces you to run the lackluster Crystal Beasts (Mammoth and Cat) in order to summon him. Now let's look at his effects. The first one gives him an amazing ATK boost, but you need to send your Crystal Beasts to the Grave to do it, and even with Ayer's Rock and Soul Charge, having Crystal Beasts in the Graveyard sucks. Now his second effect makes you BANISH all of your Crystal Beasts in the Graveyard, in order to shuffle everything back into the deck. INCLUDING RAINBOW DRAGON! And if having Crystal Beasts in the Graveyard sucks, imagine how bad it is to have most of your monsters removed from play. AND NOT ONLY THAT, but neither of his effects can even be activated during the turn he's summoned.
Run him if you want a deck centered around getting him out, but if you want your deck to be competitive, drop him immediately.
Rainbow Dark Dragon
ATK:4000/DEF:0/LEVEL:10/TYPE:Dragon/ATTRIBUTE:Dark
Cannot be Normal Summoned or Set. Must be Special Summoned (from your hand) by banishing 7 DARK monsters with different names from your Graveyard, and cannot be Special Summoned by other ways. You can banish all other DARK monsters you control and from your Graveyard; this card gains 500 ATK for each card banished this way.
My thoughts: Much more consistent than the normal Rainbow Dragon, much easier to get out, and he isn't even technically a Crystal Beast specific card. For our archetype though, he's still bad, since you have to banish monsters to summon him.
Run him in a dark Crystal Beast deck, but obviously not in a normal one.
Crystal Beast Spells
Crystal Abundance
Normal Spell
Send 4 "Crystal Beast" cards from your Spell & Trap Card Zone to the Graveyard; send all cards on the field to the Graveyard, then Special Summon as many "Crystal Beast" monsters as possible from your Graveyard, up to the number of cards your opponent controlled that were sent to the Graveyard by this card's effect.
My thoughts: Holy Pegasus, is this card awesome! It is one of the most explosive OTK cards that I've come across. Sending the four crystals to the graveyard is a cost, so it can be a risky card to pull off, but when you do it, oh boy! Also, notice that it says "SEND all cards on the field to the graveyard." Not destroy, but send. This neat little wording lets us get over those annoying cards that negate destruction, like Stardust Dragon, for example (much to my friend's annoyance). One of the best spells in the deck, easily.
If you're playing a more control based build, you won't need Abundance as much, so run 1-2. If you're playing more aggressively, you'll want to be using Abundance every other turn, so run 3.
Crystal Beacon
Normal Spell
Special Summon 1 "Crystal Beast" monster from your Deck. You must have 2 or more "Crystal Beast" cards in your Spell & Trap Card Zone to activate and to resolve this effect.
My thoughts: Crystal Beacon is fantastic! Getting two crystals in your backrow shouldn't be too hard, so it shouldn't be a dead card very often. Obviously, you should save this for either Sapphire or Ruby, since they either help you set up or swarm the field, respectively.
Run 2-3. Some think it can be a little dead at 3, but I usually don't have that issue.
Crystal Promise
Normal Spell
Target 1 "Crystal Beast" card in your Spell & Trap Card Zone; Special Summon that target.
My thoughts: Once again, this should be a card saved for Ruby or Sapphire, but worst case scenario, you can use it on someone else if you need extra defense, or just need another monster to overlay with.
Run 1-3. I think it's really personal preference here.
Crystal Blessing
Normal Spell
Target up to 2 "Crystal Beast" monsters in your Graveyard; place those targets face-up in your Spell & Trap Card Zone as Continuous Spell Cards.
My thoughts: A good card, but it isn't really as necessary as you may think. Dragons of Legend gave us access to two very useful cards; Ayer's Rock Sunrise and Soul Charge. Both of these are more useful than Blessing.
Run 1 if you really think it's necessary, but the two cards I mentioned are more useful, I think.
Rare Value
Normal Spell
If there are 2 or more face-up "Crystal Beast" cards in your Spell & Trap Card Zone: Your opponent chooses 1 "Crystal Beast" card in your Spell & Trap Card Zone and sends it to the Graveyard, then you draw 2 cards.
My thoughts: Where Ayer's Rock and Soul Charge made Blessing less useful, they definitely helped Rare Value. Being able to retrieve Crystal Beasts from the Graveyard more often means that you can afford to be a bit more careless with Rare Value.
Run 2-3. Some people insist on running 3. Personally, I think 2 is fine, but again, this is more of a personal choice.
Crystal Release
Equip Spell
Equip only to a "Crystal Beast" monster. It gains 800 ATK. When this card is sent from the field to the Graveyard: You can place 1 "Crystal Beast" monster from your Deck face-up in your Spell & Trap Card Zone as a Continuous Spell Card.
My thoughts: Release has two things going for it. 1: It gives your monsters a boost, making them great fighters (a 2800 ATK Tiger is pretty scary), and 2: It replaces itself when it goes to the Graveyard. Plenty of possibilities here. Already have a monster on the field? Equip it with Release. Have Release in hand, but no monsters? Set Release as a bluff. Equip Release to a monster, then use Eagle to pop that monster off the field, and Release will get its effect.
Run 1-3. Personally, I find 2 to be a good number, but that's just me.
Crystal Tree
Continuous Spell
Each time a "Crystal Beast" monster(s) is placed in either player's Spell & Trap Card Zone: Place 1 Crystal Counter on this card. You can send this card to the Graveyard; take a number of "Crystal Beast" monsters from your Deck equal to the number of Crystal Counters that were on this card, then place those monsters face-up in your Spell & Trap Card Zone as Continuous Spell Cards.
My thoughts: I didn't realize just how good Tree was until recently, but wow, it's amazing! Opening the game with both a Tree and a Pegasus in hand is a great start. Keep in mind that you have to have as many free Spell/Trap Zones as Tree has tokens to use Tree's effect. If you have 3 counters on Tree, and only 2 free spaces, Tree is stuck there, and you can't do anything about it. Only use Tree for 1-2 counters at a time, just to be safe.
Run 2-3. I highly recommend 3, since opening with it is a great start.
Ancient City - Rainbow Ruins
Field Spell
You must have this many "Crystal Beast" cards in your Spell & Trap Card Zone to activate and resolve these effects. ● 1+: This card cannot be destroyed by card effects. ● 2+: Once per turn (including the opponent's) you can halve the Battle Damage you take. ● 3+: During either player's turn, when a Spell/Trap Card is activated: You can send 1 "Crystal Beast" monster you control to the Graveyard; negate the activation, and if you do, destroy it. ● 4+: Once per turn, during your Main Phase: You can draw 1 card. ● 5: Once per turn, during your Main Phase: You can target 1 "Crystal Beast" card in your Spell & Trap Card Zone; Special Summon that target.
My thoughts: Maybe I'm biased, but I consider Rainbow Ruins to be THE BEST Field spell in the game. It protects itself, halves damage, negates spells and traps, lets you draw, and lets you flood the field with monsters. Definitely a contender for the best Field spell in my book.
Run 2-3. More control based builds need the field more than aggressive builds, so keep that in mind.
Advanced Dark
Field Spell
All "Crystal Beast" monsters on the field and in the Graveyard become DARK. If "Rainbow Dragon" or "Rainbow Dark Dragon" attacks, negate the effects of the attack target during that Battle Phase. During damage calculation, if a "Crystal Beast" monster you control battles and you would take Battle Damage: You can send 1 "Crystal Beast" monster from your Deck to the Graveyard; you take no Battle Damage from that battle.
My thoughts: Honestly, I really don't have much to say about this card, since I've never tried to build a dark Crystal Beast variant. I guess it would give you access to some of the awesome dark support, but honestly, the normal deck is already running tight on free space, so I have no idea how you would make room for the dark support.
Use 3 if you're going for a dark Crystal Beast deck, but otherwise, keep it at 0. Rainbow Ruins is clearly the better Field spell.
Crystal Beast Traps
I want to preface this by saying that none of the Crystal Beast traps are very good. In most cases, there is another card that works as a much better substitute. The only good Crystal Beast trap is Rainbow Gravity, and it's a Rainbow Dragon support card, so.....
Run 0 of all of these (unless you're using Rainbow Dragon, in which case, I say use the Rainbow Dragon traps). I'll still list them here anyway.
Crystal Pair
Normal Trap
When a "Crystal Beast" monster you control is destroyed by battle and sent to the Graveyard: Place 1 "Crystal Beast" monster from your Deck face-up in your Spell & Trap Card Zone as a Continuous Spell Card, then you take no Battle Damage for the rest of this turn.
My thoughts: You have to let a monster go to the Grave, which is never good. You also lose a Beacon target, making Beacon more likely to be dead.
Crystal Raigeki
Normal Trap
Send 1 "Crystal Beast" card from your Spell & Trap Card Zone to the Graveyard to target 1 card your opponent controls; destroy that target.
My thoughts: Again, you have to send a crystal to the Graveyard. The threat removal is nice, but Rainbow Ruins and Abundance should already be in your deck, so Raigeki isn't needed.
Crystal Counter
Normal Trap
Send all cards in your Spell & Trap Card Zone to the Graveyard. Place as many "Crystal Beast" monsters as possible from your Graveyard in your Spell & Trap Card Zone, face-up, as Continuous Spell Cards. During the End Phase, destroy all face-up "Crystal Beast" cards you control.
My thoughts: It can be pretty good for an end-game push, but Abundance is better at that, I think.
Last Resort
Normal Trap
Activate only when your opponent's monster declares an attack. You can select 1 "Ancient City - Rainbow Ruins" from your Deck and activate it. If your opponent had an active Field Spell Card when this card was activated, they can draw 1 card.
My thoughts: Terraforming is better. Terraforming doesn't let your opponent draw, you don't have to wait on your opponent to attack to activate it, and if you need to, you can use it on Summoner Monk.
Rainbow Path
Normal Trap
When an opponent's monster declares an attack: Send 1 "Crystal Beast" card from your Spell & Trap Card Zone to the Graveyard to target the attacking monster; negate the attack, then you can add 1 "Rainbow Dragon" or "Rainbow Dark Dragon" from your Deck to your hand.
My thoughts: Situational, and you lose a crystal. For Rainbow Dragon builds, the next card is better.
Rainbow Gravity
Normal Trap
If you have 7 "Crystal Beast" cards with different names on the field or in your Graveyard: Special Summon 1 "Rainbow Dragon" or "Rainbow Dark Dragon" from your Deck or Graveyard, ignoring the Summoning conditions.
Easy way of summoning Rainbow Dragon if you use him. Or even better, Rainbow Dark Dragon, since you don't have to banish any monsters to summon him this way.
And that is all the cards for CBs. They have no specific extra deck stuff. But there are other cards to consider when making CBs.
Tech/Cards To Consider
Summoner Monk - Run him at 2, and use him exclusively for Pegasus. The deck will run a lot of spells, but we can't really discard them all willy nilly.
Nova Summoner - An easy way of Special Summoning Ruby and swarming the field.
Genex Ally Birdman - If you want to use Synchros, Birdman is a great tuner to use. You can also use him to recyle Pegasus, which is useful.
Scrap Beast - Another tuner to consider, seeing as he's a beast and all. Scrap Dragon is pretty cool as well.
Ayer's Rock Sunrise - Essentially a staple for any beast focused decks anymore. Overlaying isn't as bad as it used to be, since now we can use Sunrise to pull our Crystal Beasts out of the Graveyard. Your opponent's monsters lose ATK too, which is a neat bonus. Run at 2-3/
Soul Charge - Also a staple for the same reasons as Sunrise. Soul Charge can also Special Summon a deceased Ruby, something that Sunrise can't do.
Pot of Duality - Use this to get to your important cards quickly, but keep in mind that Special Summoning is pretty important to this deck, so use Duality sparingly, and plan ahead.
Book of Moon - Lets you recycle Pegasus, or flip problem cards face down.
Dark Hole - Destroys all of your opponent's monsters, and sets up your future plays. Definitely run the one that you can.
Torrential Tribute - See Dark Hole, as it's in the deck for the same reason.
Pinpoint Guard - Another card that can Special Summon both Ruby and Sapphire. Run it if you can fit it in the deck.
Compulsory Evacuatuon Device - Gets rid of problem monsters, and recycles Pegasus.
Dimension Gate - Use it to recycle Pegasus, or swarm with Ruby. It's situational though.
Extra Deck
The Extra Deck can really be filled with whichever XYZ monsters that you want to use, as long as they're Rank 3 or 4. Here are some that I suggest.
Diamond Dire Wolf - He's the closest thing we have to a Crystal Beast XYZ right now.
Lightning Chidori/Ragnazero/Harpie's Pet Phantasmal Dragon/Ice Beast Zerofyne - I lumped these together because they are the reason Cobalt Eagle gets any sort of use anymore.
The rest are all essentially Rank 3-4 staples, like Leviar, Zenmaines, Cowboy, 101, Abyss Dweller, etc.
Now, all that being said, here is the deck I like while running CBs.
10 CBs give a good number for all the support targets.
Tortoise is a decent wall and better rank 3 plays.
Genex recycles Pegasus.
Monk summons Pegasus.
Mathman because of consistency and card draw, also rank 3 plays are good.
Field is best field.
Rare Value, high cost but good reward. can clog at 2+.
Crystal Release makes huge beaters, fills back row, and thins.
Pot of Duality, we don't go off every turn consistently, so this makes it more consistent.
Crystal Beacon is an easy to use special summoner, and can combo with carbuncle.
Abundance OTK
Crystal Blessing, enables a lot of other cards
Crystal Promise opens plays and can cause combos
Rock Sunrise works like Promise, but better
MST breaks floodgates and some back row, just in case
Foolish is kind of meh, but opens Blessing, Rock sunrise, and can always be pitched to monk
Book is great defense
Dark Hole triggers some beast effects, and can let us OTK
Soul Charge because it is amazing
The side is not real. Btu CBs can use most good side deck cards. Mirrors, some decent floodgates, DD Crow, Maxx C, etc
The extra is real. And I find it to be okay.
Goyo Guradian is out level 6. Harder to make, but still powerful.
Black Rose is great. Blows up stuff and triggers effects.
Ancient Dragon is nice because we have a field to combo with.
Diamond Dire is probably the most useful extra card. Can pop still for the low cost of an Eagle or Pegasus.
Cowboy for game
Emeral because sometimes is nice to recycle the CBs for Beacon
Chidori is amazing. Hard to make, but very powerful
Lavalval - see foolish burial
Cairgorgon because targeting is nice
Heatland Draco because he combos with the CB in back row for a soft lock
101 for removal
Exciton is rarely used, but can save your life
Abyss Dweller for those pesky grave decks
Zenmaines for protection or force removal
And Alucard for more removal and control
- Sources:
Subject: Crystal Beats - a hidden gem 
Mon Sep 29, 2014 1:03 pm
