The new standard

[Canadian]

With the full spoilers of Primal Origins revealed, many duelists, myself included, have begun testing decks to see what works and what doesn't. Lots of archetypes received new support in hopes make them more competitively viable, and a completely new archetype was introduced, Artifacts.

 

The point of this post is to discuss the recent trend going on in Yugioh, which is the inclusion of Artifact Moralltach and Theosophy of the Artifacts as a 6 card engine in any deck. You read that right, not just an Artifact deck or a deck that is able to make Pleiades every so often, but any deck.

 

 

 Fairy / Effect 

You can Set this card from your hand to your Spell and Trap Card Zone as a Spell Card. When this Set card in your Spell & Trap Card Zone is destroyed and sent to the Graveyard during your opponent's turn: Special Summon this card. If this card is Special Summoned during your opponent's turn: You can destroy 1 face-up card your opponent controls.

 

 

 Trap / Normal 

Special Summon 1 "Artifact" monster from your Deck. You can only activate 1 "Theosophy of the Artifacts" per turn. You cannot conduct your Battle Phase the turn you activate this card. If this card in your possession is destroyed by your opponent's card: You can target 1 card on the field; destroy that target.

 

These cards on their own make for an incredibly annoying defence that your opponent has to work around as well as provide spot removal for decks that need it. The mindset players will have once this catches on will be to go ahead freely with their plays or attacks and simply hope for the best. This is because there is not much you can do if your opponent has a set Theosophy face-down. There is no way for players to check what is face-down in your opponent's S/T Zone, so unless they want to risk destroying your set Spell and Trap cards giving you big advantage, most likely they'll just wait for you to flip your cards and respond accordingly.

 

Some interesting pros for each of the individual cards include:

 

- Moralltach and Theosophy both have "If: you can" clauses, meaning they will never miss the timing. This is useful since if your opponent Blind MSTs your set Theosophy, you can chain it as Chain Link 2, Special Summon Moralltach, and after it is destroyed, both Moralltach's effect and Theosophy's destruction effects kick in. You essentially made anywhere from a +2 to a +4 if your opponent had targets for your destruction effects.

- Theosophy will still get to destroy a card if it is negated by Solemn Warning or Seven Tools of the Bandit (and the like).

- Moralltach can be destroyed by your own card effects, turning dead MSTs into instant removal with a 2100 body to boot (albeit only on your opponent's turn).

- Playing Duality and revealing an Artifact card will make your opponent hesitant to use destruction on your backrow, allowing you to keep your other Spells and Traps safe.

- Moralltach destroys floodgate Spells and Traps including Dimensional Fissure and Macros Cosmos making it a good option for Graveyard reliant decks.

- Drawing all of your Moralltach's might suck, but even if Theosophy is on its own, you can still get an easy trade if it is destroyed. Even better if you manage to restock your deck with cards like Daigusto Emeral.

- If your opponent End Phase MST's your Theosophy, you still get to destroy something.

- Effect Veiler cannot stop Moralltach's effect since it is used on their turn.

- You can laugh at Evolzar Laggia (and similar cards) all the way to the bank. This is especially noteworthy considering the new Evol support card, Evo-Singularity, might inspire more players to pick up the deck!

 

Ask yourself, if your deck could play more generic removal, that will often result in a 2-for-1, would you want to play it? Of course you would. That is why I feel that once this catches on, players are going to start making decks by deciding on what other 34 cards they should include in their Main Decks. Recall back when every deck included 3 Tour Guides, Sangan, 3 Veilers, and BLS as its starting point. Even now, players are including Upstart Goblins, Dualities, Cardcars, and Reckless Greeds in their decks, mostly inspired by the success of the great Patrick Hoban. Cards I think that you'll be finding alongside Moralltach and Theosophy in the future may include Call of the Haunted, Artifact Movement, and the other Hoban-inspired cards just mentioned. They all interact very well with the Artifact engine as they cover a lot of the card's weaknesses.

 

With the remaining space in your decks, you could simply jam in whatever staples or Archetype cards your feel like playing since the Artifact engine doesn't compromise very much of a deck's main goals. Some of the things I've seen Moralltach and Theosophy played in with success include:

 

- Artifacts (obviously)

- Galaxy

- Chronomally

- Cyber Dragons

- Gladiator Beasts

- Traptrix Stun

- Wind-Ups

- Hieratics

 

I am absolutely sure there will be more to come once players come to realize the potential of these two cards. 

 

But, with all that said, what is there players can do to counter such an effective engine? Luckily, there are some checks that exist in order to limit the power of this engine. This is good information for both those facing down Moralltach and Theosophy as well as those who should be on the look out for these checks. 

 

The biggest issue with Artifacts right now is monster floodgates; cards that negate Monster Effects or their Special Summons (or both). Spell and Trap floodgates work, but to a smaller degree thanks to the excessive hate backrow receives thanks to cards like MST, Dust Tornado, and even Moralltach itself. Cards like this include:  Fossil Dyna, Banisher of the Radiance, Vanity's Fiend, and the upcoming Majesty's Fiend. Other good choices include chainable Monster Effect negation cards like: Fiendish Chain, Breakthrough Skill, and my personal choice Forbidden Chalice as it can be used on your turn right as you draw it. As for the usual hand traps Effect Veiler and Maxx "C", they won't be doing very much against this engine. However, they could prove useful against the rest of those cards that will be fill up the rest of the Main Deck. It should also be noted that players might include Herald of Orange Light in their decks to counter your Monster Effects since all of the Artifacts are also Fairy-Type.

 

That is all the analysis I have so far, so thanks all for reading this! I hope you found at least some of it interesting and somewhat useful.

[PendulumAndPaper]

I personally believe the engine is a bit overrated. Sure, it's decent enough I suppose, but I would rather want something that helps my deck more directly. I don't run Tour Guide besides decks where it's helpful, and the same here. Any Deck that can go into Level 5s like Chronomaly, Constellar etc. are of course a good place for them, but why on earth I would randomly place this into every deck is beyond me. Just because somebody is doing it doesn't mean you have to do it without thought. That won't make you win. Ever.

[Wildflame]

I personally believe the engine is a bit overrated. Sure, it's decent enough I suppose, but I would rather want something that helps my deck more directly. I don't run Tour Guide besides decks where it's helpful, and the same here. Any Deck that can go into Level 5s like Chronomaly, Constellar etc. are of course a good place for them, but why on earth I would randomly place this into every deck is beyond me. Just because somebody is doing it doesn't mean you have to do it without thought. That won't make you win. Ever.

 

Word

 

Also: http://forum.yugiohcardmaker.net/topic/312777-artifact-moralltach-theosophy-of-the-artifacts/

[werewolfjedi]

There is no way for players to check what is face-down in your opponent's S/T Zone

 

there are cards that in fact do this. we just don't play them because of the simple reason of, we can't afford the space

[PendulumAndPaper]

There is no way for players to check what is face-down in your opponent's S/T Zone

 

there are cards that in fact do this. we just don't play them because of the simple reason of, we can't afford the space

What the fuck are you talking about?

[werewolfjedi]

What the f*** are you talking about?

shall I list a few?

 

no one runs these, but they would all give you the information you would need to make safe plays.

obivious reason being, just knowing, doesn't do squat, if the card you drew instead maybe propagated your combo, then you might, but they really just don't help.