While burn decks and Exodia decks have their own way of winning the duel, I find the quickest, most reliable, and definitely the most fun way of winning is to run your opponent down with insanely strong monsters. There’s just one catch: your opponent has monsters too. With direct attack monsters, this isn’t a worry! You can just attack your opponent anyway, regardless of whatever your opponent has on their field. So if you feel like making a direct-attack deck, or you’re just looking for a few recommendations of direct attack monsters to spice up your strategy, here’s some of the best to pick from.
12. Orgoth the Relentless
I have to give this guy an honorable mention. Even though he isn’t guaranteed to attack directly, the effects he has makes Orgoth the Relentless a seriously strong monster for any deck. Orgoth lets you roll a dice 3 times, and gain attack equal to the sum of the dice rolls x100. Using a quick bit of math, you’re most likely to gain about 1000 attack from this – giving you on average a 3500 ATK monster! If two out of the three roles happen to be a 5 or a 6, this card can attack directly. And 3500 attack directly to the face is certainly not something to laugh at. If this card was more consistent at letting you attack directly it would be way higher up the list. But as it stands, Orgoth is just a decent start to get us going.
11. Unifrog
Back in the late GX/early 5Ds era, frogs were the most broken competitive deck out there. With cards like Substitoad completely unlimited, Frogs were great for spamming the field, be it for tribute summons, synchro summons, or whatever shenanigans required a field of 5 monsters. That’s not to say Frogs are old news; far from it! With new support cards like Toadally Awesome you can summon whatever frog you want, when you want. With Unifrog, all you’ll need to do is buff it up with some equip spells, then keep sinking damage into your opponent.
10. Black Tyranno
A 2-tribute 2600 attack monster is certainly not a bad value. So the effect bumps this card up to crazy good levels. If your opponent has all their monsters in defense position, you can attack directly for 2600 attack! This is great in 2 situations: either your opponent has walled up and is trying to save their life points, or you can use a card like Swords of Concealing Light to force your opponent’s monsters into defense position. Either way, a great 2 tribute monster option for pretty much any deck.
9. Submarineroid
Normally in Yu-Gi-Oh you have to choose whether you want to play offensively or defensively. Do you play a big monster in attack position to intimidate your opponent, or play it safe with a defense position monster, to protect those life points? Submarineroid lets you do both! And you can attack directly with this card to deal 800 damage. Due to its effect, you won’t be able to boost this damage any higher. But every bit of damage makes your opponent weaker and weaker. I mean, keep it up for 10 turns, and this’ll finish your opponent off single-handedly. And get this: once you’re done attacking, Submarineroid puts itself back in defense position, meaning you won’t have to risk taking damage from attacks. We love a two-for-one bargain.
8. Infernity Archer
This effect sounds kind of hard to pull off, until you realize that Infernity decks are all about having no hand. Infernity decks will play a bunch of effects that force you to discard, and once that hand is empty, all their monsters get some crazy abilities. Archer is a 2000 attack monster that gains the ability to attack directly. This costs 1 tribute, which is great value for a card that only takes 4 attacks to wipe out your opponent! If you’re looking to play this in a non-Infernity deck, Infernity Archer is also great in spell/trap heavy decks. To empty your hand, all you’ll need to do is set all your spells and traps, then boom – you’ve got a monster that can smack your opponent directly.
7. Dinomist Spinos
These robot… dinosaur… pendulum…. monsters are certainly one of the most unique pendulum picks out there. Spinos is a level 5 monster, meaning it costs 1 tribute to summon. However, with pendulum decks, as long as you’ve got scales between 4 and 6 you can just summon Spinos for free. And with an impressive 2500 attack, this card is no joke. That’s Summoned Skull level power! By tributing a monster, this card can either attack twice or attack directly. The great thing about pendulum decks is that when they’re destroyed or tributed, they get set face-up to the extra deck – where they can be pendulum summoned all over again. This means that Dinomist Spinos practically triggers for free. Who could say no to that?
6. Earthbound Immortal Ccapac Apu
The bad guys of 5Ds were the Earthbound Immortals, the Aztec counterparts to the Signer Dragons. All of the Earthbound Immortals can attack directly. And with an attack stat of 3000, this makes for a quick game. While you can attack directly, if you instead choose to attack an opponent’s monster, you’ll deal damage equal to that monsters attack as burn damage. This means you’re effectively attacking directly no matter how you do it. I’d recommend summoning this guy with Mausoleum of the Emperor, where instead of tributing monsters, you can pay 2000 life points to normal summon it for free. This also keeps a field spell on the board to prevent it from destroying itself.
5. Harpies’ Pet Phantasmal Dragon
I have to say: I’m so glad to see that Harpies have been getting support recently. They were an archetype dating way back to the start of Yu-Gi-Oh, being the signature monsters of Mai Valentine. This XYZ monster brings Harpies back into the modern era, with an ability that protects your Harpies monsters and lets you attack directly for 3 turns. While the cost is a little steep at 3 monsters to summon, the potential 6000 damage you can get from this guy is definitely worth it. Harpies are also great at special summoning more and more copies of themselves. This means you’ll probably have all your materials back in no time regardless.
4. Mekk-Knight Spectrum Supreme
Ah, Mekk-Knights. The deck that made us all collectively say “wait, what’s a column again?” They were the first deck to really focus on cards being in the same column as them, getting bonuses or disadvantages depending on what was on the field. While Mekk-Knight Spectrum Supreme is the only monster in its column, it can attack directly. Not only does this guy come with an in-built effect to remove cards you control in the same column as it, but while it’s not pointing to any monsters, this card is virtually indestructible. Mekk-Knights have a bunch of cards to get rid of cards in particular columns (and of course, who could forget Infinite Impermanence?), making this 3000-damage direct attack super easy to pull off.
3. Earthbound Immortal Cusillu
While it feels a bit cheeky to give 2 Earthbound Immortals a mention in this list, they’re both great in their own respects – and both deserve a mention. Earthbound Immortal Cusillu (or as I remember it, the monkey one) has the same direct attack ability and the same dependence on field spells. What’s different is that when this card would be beaten in battle, you can tribute another monster you control instead. And then you halve opponent’s life points! That’s a maximum of 4000 damage, leaving your opponent practically defeated then and there. This is a direct attacker with a fantastic back-up plan. Even in non-Earthbound Immortal decks, this guy is worth running as long as you’ve got a field spell.
2. Number 82: Heartlandraco
Now this guy gets a runner-up spot on this list for being the most accessible direct attacker in Yu-Gi-Oh! For two level-4 monsters, you get a 2000 attack dragon that can attack directly, while also being indestructible as long as you control a spell. Given how common field spells have gotten in Yu-Gi-Oh, this is practically a win, giving you an invincible direct attacker every turn. So many decks in Yu-Gi-Oh run level 4 monsters. So you can chuck Number 82: Heartlandraco into so many different strategies. I’d recommend putting a copy of this card into any extra deck that can summon rank 4 XYZ monsters. This card can help you seize victory in so many different ways, especially when your opponent’s life points are low and you need that extra edge to finish them off.
1. Toon Ancient Gear Golem
Toons are a deck that just can’t be beat in terms of attacking directly. If you want to make a deck based around dealing lots of damage fast, you won’t find a better deck than Toons! Every Toon monster can attack directly as long as you control Toon World, giving you an entire deck of monsters that are tough to stop. And there are so many good Toon monsters that we could include almost all of them right in this list. What’s more, all of the Toon monsters are cartoon versions of the classic monsters, such as Blue Eyes White Dragon and Dark Magician. I’ve never seen a deck filled with so much nostalgia! Toon Ancient Gear Golem is just one of the many incredibly strong Toon cards out there. It has the same effect as the original Ancient Gear Golem, having piercing attack and leaving your opponent unable to activate spells and traps until this guy has done its damage. Plus it can directly attack, of course. While Toons don’t really work well with other decks, as a standalone deck they are insanely powerful with their direct attacks – making this whole archetype easily the best direct attackers in all of Yu-Gi-Oh!
