Kewl Tune: how it combos, and how to beat it

How Kewl Tune wins

Every monster in Kewl Tune is a Tuner: Kewl Tune Cue, Rotary, Reco, Clip and Mix in the Main Deck, and Tuner Synchros in the Extra Deck. Two things make that work:

• The hand-material clause. Cue, Rotary, Reco, Clip, Mix and Kewl Tune Track Maker all say that when they are used as Synchro Material from the field, a Tuner in the hand can be one of the other materials. One monster on the field and one Tuner in hand make a Synchro.
• Free locks. Cue, JJ "Kewl Tune" and Kewl Tune Synchro each stop their controller Special Summoning anything but Tuners for the turn. Every Synchro the deck makes is a Tuner, so the lock costs nothing.

Each Kewl Tune monster also does something when it is sent to the GY as Synchro Material: Reco destroys a Spell or Trap, Mix destroys a monster, Cue banishes one of the top two cards of your Deck, Track Maker returns a card to the hand, and Rotary sends a card from your GY to the bottom of your Deck or looks at your hand. The turn ends on Zalen the Shackled Dragon, which negates and destroys, Kewl Tune Remix, which Synchro Summons on your turn, and the Field Spell JJ.

The core combo: one Reco

From a single Kewl Tune Reco, the deck makes Zalen, Remix and JJ in seven steps.

1. Normal Summon Kewl Tune Reco. Reco adds Kewl Tune Rotary.The first search, and the step hand traps aim for.
2. Synchro Summon Kewl Tune Track Maker with Reco on the field and Rotary from the hand (3 + 1 = 4).Reco's hand-material clause at work: Rotary is never summoned.
3. Track Maker adds Kewl Tune Cue. Rotary, sent from the hand as material, looks at your hand and adds JJ "Kewl Tune".
4. Activate JJ "Kewl Tune". It grants an extra Normal Summon of a Tuner.
5. Normal Summon Cue with JJ's extra Normal Summon. Cue Special Summons Kewl Tune Mix from the Deck, and Mix adds Reco.
6. Synchro Summon Zalen the Shackled Dragon with Track Maker on the field and Reco from the hand (4 + 3 = 7).This is the fifth summon.
7. Synchro Summon Kewl Tune Remix with Cue and Mix (3 + 2 = 5). Cue, as material, banishes one of the top two cards of your Deck.

Zalen the Shackled DragonKewl Tune Remix

JJ "Kewl Tune"

GYKewl Tune Reco · Kewl Tune Rotary · Kewl Tune Track Maker · Kewl Tune Cue · Kewl Tune Mix

Rotary has already looked at your hand, so the board is built knowing what you hold. Most of the AI's openings end on this same board; the rest are the shorter lines it plays when a Mulcharmy is live. The cards they end on most often:

• Kewl Tune Remix
• Zalen the Shackled Dragon
• JJ "Kewl Tune"
• Kewl Tune Track Maker
• Kewl Tune Mix

Rotary and any Level 3 Tuner

The AI's first choice when it has it: Rotary reveals itself and a Level 3 Tuner (a hand trap counts) and Normal Summons itself, keeping the regular Normal Summon. The two make Track Maker, which finds Kewl Tune Synchro; Kewl Tune Synchro finds Mix, Mix finds Cue, and JJ arrives through Rotary. Cue summons the hand trap that answers what Rotary saw in your hand, JJ Tributes it for Reco, and the line ends on Zalen, Remix and JJ with Kewl Tune Clip in hand.

What its board does on your turn

• Zalen the Shackled Dragon. It can only be used when a card or effect is activated in response to another activation: it negates and destroys either the first or the second of the two. Once per turn. A lone Chain Link 1 is out of its reach.
• Kewl Tune Remix. Only on your turn, it Tributes itself to take two non-Synchro Tuners from its GY, add one and Special Summon the other, then Synchro Summon a Tuner Synchro. Once per turn. While you have a Tuner on your field or in your GY, it gains 1500 ATK, and Ash Blossom, Effect Veiler, Ghost Belle and Ghost Ogre are all Tuners.
• Kewl Tune B2B, the AI's usual answer from Remix. 3200 ATK. Your monsters' Levels go up by 2, its Tuners can attack twice, and twice per turn, when you activate a monster effect, it adds or Special Summons a Tuner from its GY or banishment and can Synchro Summon again.
• Kewl Tune Synchro, Set. Adds a Kewl Tune card and immediately Synchro Summons a Tuner Synchro. Up to two a turn.
• Kewl Tune Clip, in hand. During your Main Phase it Special Summons itself and Synchro Summons.

The AI holds Remix rather than open a Chain with it, chains Remix to your search or summon, and then has Zalen ready for the second link.

Where to stop it

Three things follow from it.

1. Reco's search, or the first search, is the chokepoint. A one-card hand stops there; a hand with Kewl Tune Synchro or a second Tuner plays through.
2. Interrupt before Zalen. Nothing protects the line until step 6. After that, a hand trap you chain to one of its effects is the second link, and Zalen can negate it.
3. Nibiru starts its own Chain, so Zalen can't answer it, and in the core line it lands between Zalen and Remix.

Going second into Kewl Tune

• Zalen needs a Chain of at least two links. The AI builds one by chaining Remix, a Set Kewl Tune Synchro or a hand trap to what you do; your own two-link Chains open it too.
• Remix needs two non-Synchro Tuners in its GY. Banishing them shuts it off, though B2B can still use banished Tuners.
• B2B reacts only to monster effects, twice a turn. Spells and Traps don't trigger it.
• Remix and B2B are bigger while you have a Tuner on your field or in your GY, and most hand traps are Tuners.

Practice against Kewl Tune

The YGO Lab Rival plays this list, filed under the previous banlist. Going first, it opens with the deck's scripted lines, and when you interrupt one it switches to a follow-up line. On your turn it decides when to use its hand traps: 3 Ash Blossom, 3 Ghost Belle & Haunted Mansion, 3 Effect Veiler, 3 Fydraulis Harmonia, 3 Mulcharmy Fuwalos and 1 Ghost Ogre, with 3 Infinite Impermanence and Called by the Grave.

• Going second is practice at keeping your plays out of Zalen's reach and at answering Remix.
• Going first is practice at your combo through 16 hand traps and three Impermanence.
• To drill one interruption, record your turn in Combos, interrupt it with the card you expect, and practice that branch until you play through it.

Decklist

The list the AI plays, from the previous format: 40 Main Deck, 15 Extra Deck and 15 Side Deck cards. Kewl Tune Rotary is Forbidden on the current list.

Questions