Arsenal Magician - Surpassing the modern Dark Magician Deck

[Son of Aphrodite]

I'll really appreciate comments and suggestions regarding the concept of "magic" and "mech", the whole synergy of the cards, and many other artistic thoughts about these cards along with adjustments and OCG fixes.

 

The Heart of the Deck:

 

 

Lore: 

 

You can send the top 2 cards of your deck; special summon this card (from your hand). You can send up to three cards from the top of your deck to the graveyard; target one monster, that monster's ATK is reduced by 500 (permanently) for each card sent to the graveyard by this effect.the effect of "Arsenal Magician" Can only be activated once per turn.

 

Support Cards:

 

 

Lore:

 

Activate only if the effect of "Arsenal Magician" is activated in the current turn: destroy 1 card on the field. if this card is on the top of your deck and is sent to the graveyard: draw 1 card.

 

Mech! - Amplify (normal spell)

 

Activate only if the effect of "Arsenal magician" is activated in the current turn: you can send the top card of your deck to the graveyard; target one monster, that monster's ATK is reduced by 800 (permanently) if this card is on the top of your deck and is sent to the graveyard: target 1 monster, that monster's ATK is reduced by 400 (permanently).

 

 

Lore:

 

When the effect of "arsenal magician" is activated: you can send the top 2 cards of your deck to the graveyard; during this turn's battle phase, negate the effects of your opponent's  spell and trap cards. if this card is on the top of your deck and is sent to the graveyard: draw 1 card.

 

Magic! - Quick Shot (quick spell card)

 

You can activate the effect of 1 "Arsenal Magician" that you control in the turn that this card is activated even if the effect is already activated during this turn. if this card is on the top of your deck and is sent to the graveyard: Destroy 1 monster on your opponent's side of the field.

 

 

Lore: 

 

Send the top 3 cards of your deck to the graveyard; during this turn, reduce the attack of all of your opponent's monster by 600. if "arsenal magician" destroys a monster by battle, it can attack again.

 

 

Will be adding few more cards once adjustments have been made to these cards. 

[Cool Girl]

Love the pictures! Is this an archetype? Because if it is, be careful because spellcaster archetypes are very tricky as there are already soooo many of them! By the way, welcome to YCM!

[VampireofDarkness]

Well, this is interesting. While it generally is a bad thing to attempt to outclass a card, attempting to make a good version of a bad card isn't. I'll assume this is the goal of this. Dark Magician has always been a timeless card, but its current support, outside of Dark Magic Attack and the Eye of Timeaus, is very outdated and cannot hold up to the current game state. Multiple times has this been attempted to be fixed, most notably in the TCG through the Spellbook engine. (Since technically Spellcaster support is Spellbook support) However, the current Spellbook engine is too passive for this format, which calls for something aggressive. While Arsenal doesn't help this in the slightest, it does help support an aggressive engine which Spellbooks have struggled to get working for the longest time: Reaper Turbo

Currently, Reaper Turbo suffers through the fact that you don't really have enough effective ways to get Spells into the Graveyard. You have Reasoning and Monster Gate, but if you top Decked immediately into a monster, you were screwed of a setup until you got a Fool or Lyla, neither of which are reliable. With Arsenal Magician and support, you get a way to send cards from the top of your Deck (Hopefully Spells), and not entirely be devoid of having any other plays. Lower your opponent's monsters ATK, get an Armades-esque effect, and maybe even some Draw power in the midst of getting Spells in the Grave and eventually summoning Reaper of Prophecy for that +2. A suggestion would be maybe to make Arsenal herself a Level 6 to synergize with Reaper, boost her stats a little to fit such change, and depending on your call some sort of effect that would benefit off of Reasoning and/or Reaper to continue milling, maybe that would promote the effects of future cards ("When this card is Special Summoned by the effect of a Spell Card or Spellcaster-Type monster, you can send 1 Spell Card from your Deck to the Graveyard."?)

That being said, the huge problem I see here is The Purging and Arsenal having no clauses on its own. Charge of the Light Brigade is limited to 1 for a VERY good reason, and Purging allows them to get another 3, in additional to Shadolls getting all their effects and such. A simple "While you control an "Arsenal" Spellcaster-Type monster or Level 5 or higher LIGHT Spellcaster that was not Special Summoned from the Extra Deck" (This prevents Shadolls from just using El Shaddoll Construct) would be enough to prevent most situations of abuse. Arsenal herself also seems concerning for the same reason, but again another simple clause would halt it. I think the proper OCG for my suggestion would be "You must control all Spellcaster Type monsters (If any) to activate and resolve this card's effects." This makes it so you can control no monsters and still get the effects off, but becomes impractical in most other Decks, since in Shadolls you are running the Baby Dragons, BLS, Denko Sekka, and several other Xyz and in Lightsworn you only have Lyla. The cost is to Special Summon it is another thing. It's generally not a cost to mill cards, so maybe returning a card from your field and from your hand to the top of your Deck (Which could TECHNICALLY help benefit the second effect)

As its own stand alone card, the potential for a running Deck seems a lot more so than Dark Magician, being able to make a utility box on its own, though having a luck factor involved that tbh makes for a bit of fun. It seems like you would really have to protect it to get effects off, but if you can establish a decent field, it wouldn't be the worst thing in the world I suppose. There just needs to be something going for it that prevents the "Protect the castle" mentality that would result from these cards overly depending on Arsenal. Maybe having other "Arsenal" Spellcasters that could trigger the effects, or other monsters or Spell/Trap Cards that could effectively search and/or revive Arsenal to keep the ball rolling.

I could do a bit more, but I think I'll slow down and end it by saying there are some OCG fixes to be made. Combined with my suggestions earlier and a few name suggestions....

[Spoiler Arsenal Magician]
6/2400/1000
You can return 1 card from your hand and 1 card from your side of the field to the top of your Deck; Special Summon this card (from your hand). You can only Special Summon "Arsenal Magician" once per turn this way. You can send up to the top 3 cards of your Deck and target 1 monster your opponent controls; Decrease that monster's ATK by 500. You can only activate this effect of "Arsenal Magician" once per turn. You must control all Spellcaster-Type monsters to activate and resolve the effects of "Arsenal Magician".
[/spoiler]

[Spoiler Arsenal Mech - Double Tap]
If a monster under your control whose printed name is "Arsenal Magician" activated its effect this turn; Destroy 1 card on the field. If this card is sent from your Deck to the Graveyard; Draw 1 card.
[/spoiler]

[Spoiler Arsenal Mech - Amplification]
If a monster under your control whose printed name is "Arsenal Magician" activated its effect this turn; Target 1 monster on the field; it loss 800 ATK. If this card is sent from your Deck to the Graveyard; Target 1 monster on the field; it loses 400 ATK
[/spoiler]

[Spoiler Arsenal Silence Magic]
If a monster under your control whose printed name is "Arsenal Magician" activated its effect this turn; During the Battle Phase of the turn this card was activated, your opponent cannot activate Spell or Trap Cards
[/spoiler]

[Spoiler Arsenal Quick Shot Magic]
Target 1 "Arsenal Magician" you control; Activate the effect of that card, ignoring the effect's conditions. When this card is sent from the Deck to the Graveyard; Target 1 monster your opponent controls; destroy it
[/spoiler]

[Spoiler Arsenal Armageddon - The Purging]
While you control a face-up monster whose printed name is "Arsenal Magician" or a Level 5 or higher LIGHT Spellcaster that was not Special Summoned from the Extra Deck; Send the top 3 cards of your Deck to the Graveyard; All monsters your opponent controls lose 600 ATK until the end of the turn. During the Damage Step, if an attacking "Arsenal Magician" destroys an opponent's monster by battle: It can make a second attack in a row.
[/spoiler]

Overall, the cards seem like they have potential and bring back a mechanic almost killed by the current gamestate, and interact very interestingly with other Spellcaster support. While normally such things I would not promote, the current state of the TCG could certainly handle these. I am looking forward to seeing other support, and will possibly be testing these out on Duel Portal fairly soon.