Tear

Tear is an archetype in HCCG. It was originally created by Nexus Pro, and its members are included in Underworld's Balance, Signal from the Depths, and Embryonic Revival.

The "Tears" comprise the largest archetype in HCCG to date, and as a result there are many strategies available when using them. Many of the "Tear" cards revolve around eponymously named "Tear Counters", which can be placed on any face-up card and all have different uses ranging from destroying cards on the field to Special Summoning more "Tear" monsters. A few of the cards can create "Tear Tokens", which are Token monsters that can either aid in Synchro summoning or fill up the opponent's Monster Card Zones. There are also a large amount of Synchro Monsters which require 1 "Tear" Tuner to make, and "Tear" decks always value their Tuners like Celestial O'hahra the Tear Elegant and O'hahra, Young Tear Empress.

Additionally, since many of the "Tear" monsters are easy to swarm and maintain field presence, there are a lot of "Tear" hybrid decks that exist, usually running different "Tear" cards depending on what the deck wishes to emphasize. The following is a list of various "Tear" deck strategies used in the metagame.

Basic Tear Deck
This deck revolves around quickly sending "Tear" monsters to the Graveyard in order to fill up the opponent's field with Tear Tokens and to Summon Wonka the Death Tear, who is arguably the fastest way to generate Tear Counters.

Synchro Spam Tear Deck
This deck maxes out on "Tear" Tuner Monsters and works to summon powerful "Tear" Synchro Monsters like Blood Tear the Final Trinity, one of the strongest monsters in the entirety of HCCG.

5 Pieces of the Sword Tears
This deck revolves around spamming the effect of Hell Beast the Scorcher of Souls, along with many other deck-thinning cards, to draw the entire deck very quickly and win with the 5 Pieces of the Sword. This deck is no longer playable in HCCG due to the "5 Pieces of the Sword" cards being Illegal and Hell Beast the Scorcher of Souls's errata restricting its effect to once while it is face-up.

Gliasco Tears
This deck revolves around summoning Gliasco the Ice Devil and "Tear" Tuner Monsters in order to summon 3 Blood Tear the Final Trinity in one turn and launch an OTK against the opponent. The above combo is no longer usable due to Blood Tear the Final Trinity's errata restricting its Synchro Materials to "1 O'hahra Tuner + 1 or more non-Tuner 'Tear' monsters", but this deck can still function in a weaker form.

Tartaros Tears
This deck is a hybrid of the "Tear" and Tartaros archetypes, and it uses both archetypes' strategies to wear down the opponent. It is very reliant on Synchro Monsters.

Tour Guide Tears
This deck revolves around spamming the effect of Kisses of Dark Tears to gain card advantage through basic LIGHT support such as Tour Guide from Nirvana as well as through "Tear" support such as 3 Tear the Great Atlas and O'hahra the Tear Sister of Life.

Weak Finish Tears
This deck revolves around playing defensively and running hardly any monsters above 1000 ATK in order to lock the opponent down with Weak Finish. In short, it is a stall deck.

Plant Tears
This deck revolves around swarming the field with Plant-Type monsters through the effect of Tears of Pollen in order to gain access to both "Tear" support and Plant-Type support. It is very reliant on Synchro summoning.

Trivia

 * The "Tear" archetype is closely linked with the O'hahra archetype, and there are many cards that have both "Tear" and "O'hahra" in their card names.
 * "Tear" decks were the dominating archetype of the HCCG metagame, lasting from when they were first released until the January 2014 List limited both Hell Beast the Scorcher of Souls and Tear Droplets of Royal Sacrament. They are the second longest running top deck in the game, losing only to Splash Dragons.
 * Originally, the "Tear" archetype was going to have chocolate as its theme. Many of the cards, such as Wonka the Death Tear and Kisses of Dark Tears, were named such due to subtle references to chocolate.