Water monsters have quite a few types under their wing, making it confusing & difficult to make a water deck, other than with archetypes. A lot of water support cards include aqua, sea-serpent and fish types in their effects. The aqua type in particular is very interesting, aqua type monsters tend to lack the firepower of the other water types but their effects make up for it. This list will look at the best aqua type monsters in the game, these monsters will be effective in a variety of decks, not just water based!
Disclaimer: Archetypes have been avoided. Lets be honest, you already know the best archetypes. This list will focus on lesser known and/or ‘independent’ cards.
10. Nightmare Penguin
Nightmare Penguin is surprisingly effective in a water deck, especially one that can swarm monsters quickly. While its effect to provide other water monsters with 200 ATK isn’t much on its own, it’ll contribute heavily when your field is full of other cards that increase your monster’s ATK stats. The flip effect is great too, allowing you to return any 1 card to the hand, not just a monster card. It also has a respectable DEF stat, it’s a good choice for any water deck!
9. Penguin Soldier
What a classic card, Penguin Soldier has been hated by duelists all over the world for years. The combo of flipping it to return it and an opponent’s monster back to the hand is still glorious to use & frustrating to play against. If its attacked, you can return up to 2 of your opponent’s monsters which is awesome because most cards have some kind of “cannot be destroyed” effect nowadays, Penguin Soldier gets around this.
8. Abyss Soldier
Of course, Abyss Soldier is literally only viable in a deck containing water monsters. Its a level 4, high ATK monster with a useful effect, such a card is invaluable in a water deck. Just like the previous two entries on this list, Abyss Soldier returns any 1 card to the hand when the price is paid. If you’ve managed to whittle your opponent down to a single face-down monster, this card can be gamewinning as you’ll just return it back to the hand each turn and attack your opponent directly!
7. Leviair the Sea Dragon
Extremely situational but in those situations, it can be handy enough to be effective. I think the art for this card is honestly really cool, I’d be lying if I said this had no bearing on Leviair’s placement on the list. It should make the extra deck of your water deck though, even if its not a water type. It’s so common to face cards that easily banish your monsters so having this option as a backup is important.
6. King of the Swamps
A card like this is vastly underutilised, it provides a huge advantage to most decks containing fusion monsters. I say most because some fusion monsters have effects that state “1 Earth type monster” as an example, this card requires the name to be specifically listed. Don’t let that dissuade you, I guarantee you’ll have a bunch of King of the Swamps lying around, you should consider sticking them in any deck you deem relevant enough to make use of this aqua type monster.
5. Treeborn Frog
Aww, how can you not love this little frog? I believe its another card that should be used more often, it’s outrageously good in the right deck. Having an easily accessible monster special summoned during the standby phase is a huge boon to a number of strategies, namingly those that have a lot of monsters that need to be tribute summoned. It’s a level 1 monster so it can also be viable in decks that manipulate tuners for synchro summoning.
4. Number 21: Frozen Lady Justice
Although it needs a fair bit of set-up play to be most effective, Number 21: Frozen Lady Justice should be added to the extra deck of any deck containing level 5 & 6 monsters. The ability to nuke all your opponent’s defensive position monsters is something you need to have available to you, stall decks will never see it coming. But it can work as an attacking monster too, having a minimum of 2500 ATK when its summoned.
3. Number 101: Silent Honor ARK
I love this card, so many boss monsters have fallen prey to its effect. As discussed earlier, so many cards & boss monsters are unable to be destroyed by card effects. Silent Honor ARK cares not for such effects, as it’ll equip those monsters to itself, ready to be detached if ARK itself would be destroyed. The crazy thing is, this monster only requires two level 4 monsters to summon, so it can go in any deck you like.
2. The Tripper Mercury
Plenty of cards gain amazing effects when they’re tributed using three monsters (looking at you Beast King Barbaros), this monster is just as good, even better in a water type deck. It does only have 2000 ATK but it’ll change all your opponent’s monsters to face-up attack position and reduce their ATK stats to 0. Then you can attack twice, just with this card, to deal up to 4000 damage. The ATK reduction effect doesn’t activate or target, making it a great choice against a number of monsters that would otherwise be unstoppable.
1. Toadally Awesome
The number 1 spot had to go to Toadally Awesome, its name suits it well. Just two level 2 aqua type monsters are needed to summon this weirdo, which is exceptionally easy to pull off. Then your opponent will go completely red-faced as they know any effect they activate will be negated and you’ll get that card on your field. The fact it can be used in your opponent’s turn is mind-boggling, there’s no denying this is the best aqua type monster in Yugioh!