Yu-Gi-Oh!: How To Play Branded
The Branded cards are a series of support spell/trap cards for Fallen of Albaz, a card first released in Yu-Gi-Oh!'s Rise Of The Duelist booster set. Although the first Branded cards were part of Lightning Overdrive, they didn't come into meta relevance until the Albaz Strike Structure Deck came out in 2022, which printed the mighty Branded Fusion and revolutionized the deck.
Related: Yu-Gi-Oh! Common Slang Glossary
Albaz is a prominent character in the 'Abyss' lore, an original Yu-Gi-Oh story taking place through the artworks of the cards. The narrative follows Albaz and Dogmatika Ecclesia, The Virtuous as they are exiled from their home nation and try to find a new purpose for themselves. Albaz himself has the power to fuse with other people and objects around him into powerful Dragons, which is manifested in-game by the Albaz/Branded deck being predominantly Fusion-based, with many cards that support Fusion Summoning with both your cards and your opponent's.
The Branded cards are built to support Fallen of Albaz, a level-four Dragon-type monster who, on summon, can Fusion Summon a Fusion monster from your Extra Deck using himself combined with materials from your opponent's field. At first, this effect may seem fantastic, something akin to Super Polymerization, but you will only ever use Albaz's effect very rarely: unlike Super Polymerization, it can be interrupted, so it doesn't act as a very reliable board-breaker. Unless you want to expend resources finding a way to Special Summon Albaz, he will take up your Normal Summon, which in this deck is an important place to start your combos.
Your Normal Summon will usually be a searcher for a Branded card to get your plays started. Springans Kitt is a good option,
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