Okay, let's do this! ["Sparkling" Archetype]

[Dr. Cakey]

An archetype I devised for a story I will probably never end up writing. I've actually run a number of test hands in YVD to refine them, and they're surprisingly functional, although I'd need to play against someone to determine how good they really are.
 
NOTE: I use pre-existing card art for all of my cards. This is my "thing". It's my character gimmick. Do not tell me how terrible my cards are because I used existing art. If you do, I will 1) assume you did not have the intelligence to read this note, and 2) make fun you. Good day sir.
 
Monsters:
[spoiler="Sparkling Master Mage"]
You can Tribute Summon this card by Tributing 1 "Sparkling" monster. When this card is Normal Summoned: You can Special Summon 1 "Sparkling" monster from your hand and, if you do, draw 1 card. Once per turn: You can target 1 face-up monster on the field; Until your next Standby Phase, that monster’s ATK becomes 2000 and its Level becomes 8.
[/spoiler]
[spoiler="Sparkling Guardian"]

Your opponent cannot target "Sparkling" monsters (except "Sparkling Guardian") for attacks or card effects. This card gains 200 ATK for each "Sparkling" monster you control.
[/spoiler]
[spoiler="Sparkling Cleric"]

You can Tribute this card to target 1 "Sparkling" monster in your Graveyard (except "Sparkling Cleric"); Special Summon that target, and it becomes Level 8. When this card is destroyed by battle and sent to the Graveyard: You can add 1 "Sparkling" monster (except "Sparkling Cleric") from your Deck to your hand.[/spoiler] 
[spoiler="Sparkling Paragon"]
When this card is Normal Summoned: You can target 1 Level 4 or lower "Sparkling" monster in your Graveyard (except "Sparkling Paragon"); Special Summon that target in face-up Attack Position, and it becomes Level 8. While you control another "Sparkling" monster (except "Sparkling Paragon"), this card cannot be targeted for attacks. When this card is sent to the Graveyard by a card effect: You can target 1 "Sparkling" Spell/Trap Card in your Graveyard; Add it to your hand.[/spoiler]
[spoiler="Sparkling Destroyer"]

When this card attacks: You can target 1 other "Sparkling" monster you control; This card gains ATK equal to half that monster’s current ATK, until the end of the Damage Step. Once per turn: When another "Sparkling" monster you control is attacked; You can negate that attack.
[/spoiler]
[spoiler="Sparkling Magician"]
If your opponent controls a monster and you control no monsters, you can Special Summon this card (from your hand) as a Level 8 monster. When this card is targeted for an attack: You can send 1 "Sparkling" monster from your Deck to the Graveyard; Return this card to the hand and, if you do, you can Special Summon 1 Level 4 or lower "Sparkling" monster from your hand (except "Sparkling Magician"), and it becomes Level 8.[/spoiler]
[spoiler="Sparkling Shadow Mage"]
Once per turn: You can Special Summon 1 "Sparkling" monster from your Graveyard, and it becomes Level 8. During the End Phase of the turn this card is sent to the Graveyard: You can send 1 "Sparkling" monster from your Deck to the Graveyard and, if you do, all "Sparkling" monsters you currently control gain 500 ATK. This card must be in the Graveyard to activate and to resolve this effect. . You can only activate each effect of "Sparkling Shadow Mage" once per turn.[/spoiler]
[spoiler="Sparkling Mystic Ruler"]
2 Level 4 "Sparkling" monsters
You can also Xyz Summon this card by using a Rank 8 Xyz Monster you control as the Xyz Material. Once per turn: You can detach 1 Xyz Material from this card to target 1 Spell/Trap Card on the field; Destroy that target and, if you do, this card gains 300 ATK. During the End Phase of the turn this card with Xyz Material is destroyed and sent to the Graveyard: You can target 1 "Sparkling" monster in your Graveyard (except "Sparkling Mystic Ruler"); Special Summon that target, it gains 800 ATK, and it becomes Level 8.[/spoiler]

Spell/Traps:
[spoiler="Sparkling Emblem"]

You must control a face-up "Sparkling" monster to activate this card. You can only activate 1 "Sparkling Emblem" per turn.
* Add 1 Level 4 or lower "Sparkling" monster from your Deck to your hand.
* Banish 1 "Sparkling" card from your Deck. Add it to your hand during your next Standby Phase.[/spoiler]
[spoiler="Sparkling Kingdom"]

All "Sparkling" monsters gain 300 ATK. All Level 8 and Rank 8 monsters gain 200 ATK. Once per turn, if you control a "Sparkling" monster: You can add 1 "Sparkling" monster from your Deck to your hand, then send 1 monster from your hand to the Graveyard. When this card is sent from the field to the Graveyard: All monsters you currently control become Level 8.[/spoiler]
[spoiler="Sparkling Rebirth"]

Target 1 “Sparkling” monster in your Graveyard; Special Summon that target, and you can have it become Level 8. It is destroyed during the End Phase. You can only activate 1 “Sparkling Rebirth” per turn.[/spoiler]
[spoiler="Ultimate Sparkling Destruction Sword"]

Equip only to a monster with 0 DEF. The equipped monster gains 500 ATK and, when it attacks, your opponent cannot activate Spell/Trap Cards until the end of the Damage Step. When the equipped monster would be destroyed by battle: Destroy this card instead. During the End Phase of the turn this face-up card is destroyed by a card effect and sent to the Graveyard: Banish 1 “Sparkling” monster from your Graveyard to target 1 card your opponent controls; Destroy that target.[/spoiler]
[spoiler="Sparkling Gift"]

Target 2 “Sparkling” monsters in your Graveyard: Shuffle both those targets into the Deck and draw 2 cards, then send 1 “Sparkling” monster from your hand to the Graveyard. If you cannot, send all cards in your hand to the Graveyard. You can only activate 1 “Sparkling Gift” per turn.[/spoiler]
[spoiler="Sparkling Barrier - Mystic Force"]

When your opponent attacks: Target the attacking monster; destroy that target. When this Set card is destroyed and sent to the Graveyard: Destroy all face-up Attack Position monsters your opponent controls. You must control a face-up “Sparkling” monster to activate and to resolve this effect. If you control a “Sparkling” monster, you can add this card from your Graveyard to your hand instead of conducting your normal draw during your Draw Phase.[/spoiler]
[spoiler="Sparkling Horn"]

When your opponent’s monster activates its effect or attacks, if you have a “Sparkling” monster in your Graveyard: Negate the activation or attack, and that monster loses 500 ATK. When this Set card is destroyed and sent to the Graveyard: Target 1 face-up “Sparkling” monster you control; Equip this card to that target. The equipped monster gains 500 ATK and its effects and their activation cannot be negated.[/spoiler]

[Kito]

I read the first 2 cards and they seem to just be the original cards, just changed a bit. seems boring and unoriginal to say the least. since they are real yu-gi-oh cards with the effects slightly altered, I am not surprised they work. I am NOT condoning you for using the same art, I am condoning you for using the same art, and essentially the same effect.

[Dr. Cakey]

I read the first 2 cards and they seem to just be the original cards, just changed a bit. seems boring and unoriginal to say the least. since they are real yu-gi-oh cards with the effects slightly altered, I am not surprised they work. I am NOT condoning you for using the same art, I am condoning you for using the same art, and essentially the same effect.

That...did happen, didn't it? However, you may wish to read three or four cards, or perhaps even five, if you're feeling crazy. Please.

 

Incidentally, you may wish to look up the definition of the word "condone".

[Kito]

Condemn*  well literally after the first 2 cards you started to change the effects, so gj! your traps are way to powerful, specially the counter trap a +2 on a counter trap is unheard of, usually spell speeds are: Normal spells +1-2, Quickplay spells/traps +1-0 Counter traps 0. The monsters either seem op or under powered, not sure what you are trying to achieve with this archtype every card seems to make cards level 8 then not do anything to effect level 8 cards Which I assume just means you want free Level 8 XYZ cards which is crazy powerfull the reason why Level 8 require level 8 xyz materials is because they are hard to get, you may as well say "stack these 2 cards together and special summon any xyz from your extra deck onto this card ignoring summoning conditions". Seeing as how you would always opt for the level 8 ones, since they are the best... and when their use is up you bring out magician... I mean most of your basic monsters have good effects and another good effect, and in those good effects, something that makes the card you summoned, have etc level 8, soooo the downside to these cards are that they are amazing...?

[Dr. Cakey]

Condemn*  well literally after the first 2 cards you started to change the effects, so gj! your traps are way to powerful, specially the counter trap a +2 on a counter trap is unheard of, usually spell speeds are: Normal spells +1-2, Quickplay spells/traps +1-0 Counter traps 0.

Sparkling Horn doesn't destroy the monster it negates, so it's actually a -1.

I do need to dump Mystic Force's third effect, though.

The monsters either seem op or under powered, not sure what you are trying to achieve with this archtype every card seems to make cards level 8 then not do anything to effect level 8 cards Which I assume just means you want free Level 8 XYZ cards which is crazy powerfull the reason why Level 8 require level 8 xyz materials is because they are hard to get, you may as well say "stack these 2 cards together and special summon any xyz from your extra deck onto this card ignoring summoning conditions". Seeing as how you would always opt for the level 8 ones, since they are the best... and when their use is up you bring out magician... I mean most of your basic monsters have good effects and another good effect, and in those good effects, something that makes the card you summoned, have etc level 8, soooo the downside to these cards are that they are amazing...?

Mmmmmmm...well, to be honest, if I could summon any Xyz, I'd probably pick Dracossack, which is a Rank 7. You know, that monster Dragon Rulers can bring out for a +1 at least once a turn? Not that I think Dragon Rulers are remotely balanced. To be honest, other than Felgrand, which just came out in the OCG, there's not much in the Rank 8's worth bring out. The archetype also requires you to carefully juggle your monsters, or you'll end up with a mix of 4's and 8's you can't do anything with.

That aside, you're drastically overstating the strength of being able to modulate your monsters' Levels. I mean, one of the very first current generation monsters released was Gagaga Magician, which can adjust itself to any Level from 1 to 8 (plus it has both Gagaga Girl and Gagaga Kid, who have effects to match Magician's level). Then there's things like Galaxy Queen's Light, Photon Satellite, and so forth.

[Kito]

When your opponent’s monster activates its effect or attacks, if you have a “Sparkling” monster in your Graveyard:(-1) Negate the activation or attack, (+1) and that monster loses 500 ATK.(+1) When this Set card is destroyed and sent to the Graveyard: Target 1 face-up “Sparkling” monster you control; Equip this card to that target. The equipped monster gains 500 ATK and its effects and their activation cannot be negated. (+1, probably a plus 2 since it removes the weakness of the card being destroyed...) For a grand total of +2 for a counter trap, "I stardust your lightning vortex!" " can't I have this horn, well at least my start dust is not destroyed... wait"

Good level 8 xyz monsters
Grandopolis, The Eternal Golden CityGrandopolis, The Eternal Golden City, mere 2800 attack 3500 defense and a auto win for the full match if it is the last attacker
Legendary Dragon of White, more damage same effect.
Hieratic Sun Dragon Overlord of Heliopolis - 3k damamage amazing effect

and now lets JUST look at your first monster

You can Tribute Summon this card by Tributing 1 "Sparkling" monster.(in a sparkling deck this will be incredibly hard +1) When this card is Normal Summoned: You can Special Summon 1 "Sparkling" monster from your hand and, if you do, draw 1 card. +2) Once per turn: You can target 1 face-up monster on the field; Until your next Standby Phase, that monster’s ATK becomes 2000 and its Level becomes 8. (+2 arguably +1, but then again turning a 1 star monster into a 2000 beat stick and can be xyzed well who is to judge)  So this card is monarch with its Special summon + draw, and a support for your weak cards with its +2k damage all for one sacrifice... The "weakness" to this card is it is Cheaper to match your archetype? thats going to take some careful juggling. (also he is level 8 sooo summon special summon draw effect Hieratic Sun Dragon Overlord of Heliopolis, etc)

[Dr. Cakey]

When your opponent’s monster activates its effect or attacks, if you have a “Sparkling” monster in your Graveyard :(-1) Negate the activation or attack, (+1) and that monster loses 500 ATK.(+1) When this Set card is destroyed and sent to the Graveyard: Target 1 face-up “Sparkling” monster you control; Equip this card to that target. The equipped monster gains 500 ATK and its effects and their activation cannot be negated. (+1, probably a plus 2 since it removes the weakness of the card being destroyed...) For a grand total of +2 for a counter trap, "I stardust your lightning vortex!" " can't I have this horn, well at least my start dust is not destroyed... wait"

At first I thought you knew how this game worked. Now it's clear you don't. +'s and -'s are a measure of card advantage. Mystical Space Typhoon, for example, is a +0. Destroying my opponent's card is a +1, and playing Typhoon is a -1. With Sparkling Horn, I activate it (-1), the monster's effect/attack is negated (+0), and the monster loses some ATK (+0), for an overall -1.

Good level 8 xyz monsters
Grandopolis, The Eternal Golden CityGrandopolis, The Eternal Golden City, mere 2800 attack 3500 defense and a auto win for the full match if it is the last attacker
Legendary Dragon of White, more damage same effect.
Hieratic Sun Dragon Overlord of Heliopolis - 3k damamage amazing effect

First of all, Grandopolis and Legendary Dragon of White are both awful cards. Second, and almost as important, they come with a curious piece of text: "This card cannot be used in a duel". They're tournament prize cards, not actual game cards.

Managed to forget about Heliopolis, of course. A very powerful card, to be sure, but ultimately his effect breaks even (the -'s to you equal the -'s to your opponent...except in Hieratics, I mean). To take another example, Gimmick Puppet Giant Grinder is also Rank 8, but its effect is a +1 (and can be activated twice per turn), but it's also not especially good due to its low ATK, moderate DEF, and limited range of targets.

and now lets JUST look at your first monster

You can Tribute Summon this card by Tributing 1 "Sparkling" monster.(in a sparkling deck this will be incredibly hard +1) When this card is Normal Summoned: You can Special Summon 1 "Sparkling" monster from your hand and, if you do, draw 1 card. +2) Once per turn: You can target 1 face-up monster on the field; Until your next Standby Phase, that monster’s ATK becomes 2000 and its Level becomes 8. (+2 arguably +1, but then again turning a 1 star monster into a 2000 beat stick and can be xyzed well who is to judge)  So this card is monarch with its Special summon + draw, and a support for your weak cards with its +2k damage all for one sacrifice... The "weakness" to this card is it is Cheaper to match your archetype? thats going to take some careful juggling. (also he is level 8 sooo summon special summon draw effect Hieratic Sun Dragon Overlord of Heliopolis, etc)

Tribute Summon with 1 tribute means summoning it is a -1 rather than the -2 it would normally be. Special Summoning from hand is a +0. Drawing a card is a +1, for an overall +0. His ability to turn a monster's ATK to 2000 is flexible, but by no means ground-breaking. Using it for an Xyz Summon would be an overall -1. Even Gimmick Puppets can do better than that.

If you're curious, based on my test hands, Master Mage is virtually useless. It's dead in-hand because this deck is very likely to open each turn with no monsters on the field, and summoning this +0 monster is rather silly when compared to, say, summoning a Paragon for a quick +1 or summoning Magician to set up your Graveyard. I would definitely not run it if I were to construct an actual deck from these cards.

[Kito]

At first I thought you knew how this game worked. Now it's clear you don't. +'s and -'s are a measure of card advantage. Mystical Space Typhoon, for example, is a +0. Destroying my opponent's card is a +1, and playing Typhoon is a -1. With Sparkling Horn, I activate it (-1), the monster's effect/attack is negated (+0), and the monster loses some ATK (+0), for an overall -1.
First of all, Grandopolis and Legendary Dragon of White are both awful cards. Second, and almost as important, they come with a curious piece of text: "This card cannot be used in a duel". They're tournament prize cards, not actual game cards.

 

Your proxying you can use any card you want, Sparkling horn has a secondary effect where it comes back form the graveyard, and avoids being destroyed +1, but that is just for card advantage situationally  in my situation ^ in my previous post you can see how stardust dies because of this card stopping it's effect, but I am not using CARD advantage, I am counting negative and positive effects...

Managed to forget about Heliopolis, of course. A very powerful card, to be sure, but ultimately his effect breaks even (the -'s to you equal the -'s to your opponent...except in Hieratics, I mean). To take another example, Gimmick Puppet Giant Grinder is also Rank 8, but its effect is a +1 (and can be activated twice per turn), but it's also not especially good due to its low ATK, moderate DEF, and limited range of targets.
Tribute Summon with 1 tribute means summoning it is a -1 rather than the -2 it would normally be. Special Summoning from hand is a +0. Drawing a card is a +1, for an overall +0. His ability to turn a monster's ATK to 2000 is flexible, but by no means ground-breaking. Using it for an Xyz Summon would be an overall -1. Even Gimmick Puppets can do better than that.

Once again I am counting negative and postive effects, Ie Volcanic slicer Once per turn, you can inflict 500 damage to your opponent.  +1 .If youactivate this effect, this card cannot attack during this turn. -1 for a total of 0.

If you're curious, based on my test hands, Master Mage is virtually useless. It's dead in-hand because this deck is very likely to open each turn with no monsters on the field, and summoning this +0 monster is rather silly when compared to, say, summoning a Paragon for a quick +1 or summoning Magician to set up your Graveyard. I would definitely not run it if I were to construct an actual deck from these cards.
And  yes paragon is another broken card getting three positive effects for no negative, there is no trade off besides its 1000 attack, but when you have another sparkling monster, well that stops that doesn't it? ohh you ragekied? well I guess I get ANOTHER effect...

 

The problem with this deck is there is no trade off for a lot of these cards, there is no juggling you just have a cluster fuck of good effects

[Dr. Cakey]

Card advantage is the general method by which position in a duel is measured. In chess terms, you can think of Life Points as how protected your king is and card advantage as how many pieces you have. If I have substantially more pieces than my opponent, being in check probably isn't a very big deal, as I have a large numbers of way to defend myself and counterattack, even if I have to sacrifice pieces to do so. I have options. In the same way that the goal of chess is to capture the king, but the method of doing so is to take your opponent's pieces, the goal of YGO is to reduce your opponent's Life Points to 0, and you do so by keeping as wide a gap as possible between the cards in your possession and the cards in your opponent's possession. That's why advantage is generally used as a way to measure cards' power.

 

For example, Goblin Thief deals 500 damage to your opponent and recovers 500 LP. Would you call that a +2? Because I'd call it a -1.

 

ohh you ragekied?

Raigeki.

Raigeki.

Raigeki???