[archetype] Malefected Cards! [16/16]

[VCR_CAT]

I posted these fellas in Advanced Multiples, but I also hope to dump these guys in DP once it's back up. That being said, balance tips would be very much appreciated! Overall with this archetype, I wanted to play with Pendulum Monsters and their special ways of interacting with the grave and Extra Deck and work off of that. The monsters are designed as viruses and AI's with their effects based on adaptation, getting stronger, and "infecting" the opponent. To avoid spamability of the Extra Deck, I made it so that you need to Normal Summon the tuners if you want to do stuff with them. The other effects that will need work are the ones that raise/lower attack based on monsters in the Extra Deck, as I don't know how many monsters will usually be in there until I playtest the deck. Anyways, here we go:
 

[spoiler=Maindeck Pendulums]
 
Malefection_Trojan
[spoiler=Card Art]

[/spoiler]
DARK/Machine/Pendulum (Scale: 3)
Level: 4
ATK: 1000 DEF: 1700
Pendulum Effect:
You can select 1 "Malefection" Pendulum Monster from your deck and place it in your Extra Deck face-up. You can only use this effect of "Malefection_Trojan" once per turn.
Monster Effect:
If this card is Normal Summoned, you can add 1 "Malefection" Pendulum Monster from your Deck to your hand. If this card is Pendulum Summoned, you cannot use it as a Material for an Xyz Summon. If this card would be sent to the Graveyard as an Xyz Material: place it face-up on your Extra Deck instead.

Malefection_Macro
[spoiler=Card Art]

[/spoiler]
DARK/Machine/Pendulum (Scale: 6)
Level: 4
ATK: 1000 DEF: 1900
Pendulum Effect:
Once per turn, you can tribute 1 monster from your hand or side of the field: add 1 face-up "Malefection" Pendulum monster from your Extra Deck to your hand. You can only use this effect of "Malefection_Macro" once per turn.
Monster Effect:
If this card is Normal Summoned, you can add 1 "Malfection" Spell from your deck to your hand. If this card is Pendulum Summoned, you cannot use it as a Material for an Xyz Summon. If this card would be sent to the Graveyard as an Xyz Material: place it face-up on your Extra Deck instead.

Malefection_Trackware
[spoiler=Card Art]

[/spoiler]
DARK/Machine/Pendulum (Scale: 3)
Level: 5
ATK: 2100 DEF: 2000
Pendulum Effect:
Once per turn, you can tribute 1 monster from your hand or side of the field: add 1 "Malefection" Tuner monster from your Graveyard to your hand. You can only use this effect of "Malefection_Trackware" once per turn.
Monster Effect:
If this card is Normal Summoned, add 1 "Malefection" Trap Card from your deck to your hand. If this card is Pendulum Summoned, you cannot use it as a Material for an Xyz Summon. If this card would be sent to the Graveyard as an Xyz Material: place it face-up on your Extra Deck instead.

Malefection_Spybot
[spoiler=Card Art]

[/spoiler]
DARK/Machine/Pendulum (Scale: 6)
Level: 5
ATK: 2300 DEF: 2000
Pendulum Effect:
During your Main Phase, you can send 1 "Malefection" Pendulum Monster from your deck to your Graveyard. You can only use this effect of "Malefection_Spybot" once per turn.
Monster Effect:
If this card is Normal Summoned, you can add 1 "Malefection" Tuner monster from your deck to your hand. If this card is Pendulum Summoned, you cannot use it as a Material for an Xyz Summon. If this card would be sent to the Graveyard as an Xyz Material: place it face-up on your Extra Deck instead.
[/spoiler]

[spoiler=Maindeck Tuners]

Malefection_Hytrosa
[spoiler=Card Art]

[/spoiler]
DARK/Machine/Tuner
Level: 4
ATK: 1700 DEF: 1000
Monster Effect:
When using this card as a Synchro Material, the other Synchro Material must be 1 face-up Level 5 "Malefection" monster in your Extra Deck. When this card is Normal Summoned, you can target 2 Level 5 "Malefection" monster in your Graveyard: Special Summon those targets. Immediately after this effect resolves, Xyz Summon 1 "Malefection" Xyz Monster using these 3 monsters only.

Malefection_Quadri
[spoiler=Card Art]

[/spoiler]
DARK/Machine/Tuner
Level: 4
ATK: 1900 DEF: 1000
Monster Effect:
When using this card as a Synchro Material, the other Synchro Material must be 1 face-up Level 5 "Malefection" monster in your Extra Deck. When this card is Normal Summoned, you can target 2 Level 5 "Malefection" monsters in your Graveyard: Special Summon those targets. Immediately after this effect resolves, Xyz Summon 1 Xyz Monster using these 3 monsters only.

Malefection_Rhabdo
[spoiler=Card Art]

[/spoiler]
DARK/Machine/Tuner
Level: 5
ATK: 2000 DEF: 2100
Monster Effect:
When using this card as a Synchro Material, the other Synchro Material must be 1 face-up Level 4 "Malefection" monster in your Extra Deck. When this card is Normal Summoned, you can target 1 Level 4 "Malefection" monster in your Graveyard: Special Summon that target. Immediately after this effect resolves, Xyz Summon 1 Xyz Monster using these 2 monsters only.

Malefection_Toro
[spoiler=Card Art]

[/spoiler]
DARK/Machine/Tuner
Level: 5
ATK: 2000 DEF: 2300
Monster Effect:
When using this card as a Synchro Material, the other Synchro Material must be 1 face-up Level 4 "Malefection" monster in your Extra Deck. When this card is Normal Summoned, you can target 1 Level 4 "Malefection" monster in your Graveyard: Special Summon that target. Immediately after this effect resolves, Xyz Summon 1 Xyz Monster using these 2 monsters only.
[/spoiler]

[spoiler=Maindeck Spells and Traps]

Malefection_Cloud
[spoiler=Card Art]

[/spoiler]
Effect:
You can only use the (1) effect of "Malefection_Cloud" once per turn.
(1) You can destroy 1 face-up "Malefection" Pendulum Monster you control, then activate the appropriate effect depending on the monster destroyed:
● Synchro Monster: Add 1 "Malefection" Pendulum Monster from your deck or Graveyard to your hand whose Level is half of the Level of the monster destroyed.
● Xyz Monster: add 1 "Malefection" Tuner monster from your deck or Graveyard to your hand whose level is equal to the Rank of the monster destroyed.
● Pendulum Monster: target 1 Spell or Trap Card your opponent controls: destroy it.
(2) If this face-up card is destroyed by your opponent's card effect, add 1 "Malefection" monster from your deck to your hand.

Malefection_Download
[spoiler=Card Art]

[/spoiler]
Effect:
Add 1 "Malefection Tuner" to your hand, then either send 1 "Malefection" Pendulum Monster of the same Level from your hand to your Graveyard, or place it face-up on your Extra Deck. You can only use the effect of "Malefection_Download" once per turn.

Malefection_Adaptation
[spoiler=Card Art]

[/spoiler]
Effect:
When a card's effect is activated and resolves: You can activate the appropriate effect:
● Spell Card: Place 1 Spell Adapt Counter on this card. While this card has a Spell Adapt Counter, "Malefection" monsters you control cannot be destroyed by Spell effects.
● Trap Card: Place 1 Trap Adapt Counter on this card. While this card has a Trap Adapt Counter, "Malefection" monsters you control cannot be destroyed by Trap effects.
● Monster Card: Place 1 Monster Adapt Counter on the card. While this card has a Monster Adapt Counter, "Malefection" monsters you control cannot be destroyed by monster effects.
There can only be 1 "Adapt" counter on this card at a time. If a "Malefection" Pendulum Monster in your Pendulum Zone would be destroyed by a card effect, you can remove 1 "Adapt" counter from this card instead. You can only control 1 face-up "Malefection_Adapation" at a time.

Malefection_Upload
[spoiler=Card Art]

[/spoiler]
Effect:
You can target 1 "Malefection" Tuner monster in your Graveyard: Return that to your deck, then add "Malefection" Pendulum Monster with the same Level from your deck to your hand. You can only use the effect of "Malefection_Upload" once per turn.
[/spoiler]

[spoiler=Synchro Pendulums]

Malefection_Client_BCG
[spoiler=Card Art]

[/spoiler]
DARK/Machine/Synchro/Pendulum (Scale: 3)
Level: 8
ATK: 2500 DEF: 2000
Pendulum Effect:
Once, when a card's effect is activated and resolves: You can activate the appropriate effect:
● Spell Card: Place 1 Spell Adapt Counter on this card. While this card has a Spell Adapt Counter, "Malefection" monsters you control cannot be destroyed by Spell effects.
● Trap Card: Place 1 Trap Adapt Counter on this card. While this card has a Trap Adapt Counter, "Malefection" monsters you control cannot be destroyed by Trap effects.
● Monster Card: Place 1 Monster Adapt Counter on the card. While this card has a Monster Adapt Counter, "Malefection" monsters you control cannot be destroyed by monster effects.
If this card would be destroyed by a card effect, you can remove 1 "Adapt" counter from this card instead.
Monster Effect:
1 "Malefection" Tuner + 1 non-Tuner monster
This card cannot be Pendulum Summoned unless both cards in your Pendulum Zones are "Malefection_Client" cards. At the start of the Battle Phase, you can have this card gain 200 ATK for every "Malefection" Pendulum Monster face-up in your Extra Deck until the end of this turn. Other monsters you control cannot declare attacks the turn you activate this effect. If this card in the Monster Zone is destroyed by battle or card effect: You can destroy one card in your Pendulum Zones, and if you do, place this card in that Pendulum Zone.

Malefection_Client_Overcode
[spoiler=Card Art]

[/spoiler]
DARK/Machine/Synchro/Pendulum (Scale: 3)
Level: 10
ATK: 3000 DEF: 3000
Pendulum Effect:
Once, when a card's effect is activated and resolves: You can activate the appropriate effect:
● Spell Card: Place 1 Spell Adapt Counter on this card. While this card has a Spell Adapt Counter, "Malefection" monsters you control cannot be destroyed by Spell effects.
● Trap Card: Place 1 Trap Adapt Counter on this card. While this card has a Trap Adapt Counter, "Malefection" monsters you control cannot be destroyed by Trap effects.
● Monster Card: Place 1 Monster Adapt Counter on the card. While this card has a Monster Adapt Counter, "Malefection" monsters you control cannot be destroyed by monster effects.
If this card would be destroyed by a card effect, you can remove 1 "Adapt" counter from this card instead.
Monster Effect:
1 "Malefection" Tuner + 1 non-Tuner monster
This card cannot be Pendulum Summoned unless both cards in your Pendulum Zones are "Malefection_Client" cards. Once per turn: You can send 1 face-up "Malefection" monster from your Extra Deck to the Graveyard: Negate the effects of all face-up Spell and Trap Cards your opponent controls, and this card gains DEF equal to the number of cards negated x100. These effects last until the end of your opponent's next Battle Phase. If this card in the Monster Zone is destroyed by battle or card effect: You can destroy one card in your Pendulum Zones, and if you do, place this card in that Pendulum Zone.

[/spoiler]

[spoiler=Xyz Pendulums]

Malefection_Client_MAL9000
[spoiler=Card Art]

[/spoiler]
DARK/Machine/Xyz/Pendulum (Scale: 11)
Rank: 4
ATK: 2000 DEF: 2500
Pendulum Effect:
Once, when a card's effect is activated and resolves: You can activate the appropriate effect:
● Spell Card: Place 1 Spell Adapt Counter on this card. While this card has a Spell Adapt Counter, "Malefection" monsters you control cannot be destroyed by Spell effects.
● Trap Card: Place 1 Trap Adapt Counter on this card. While this card has a Trap Adapt Counter, "Malefection" monsters you control cannot be destroyed by Trap effects.
● Monster Card: Place 1 Monster Adapt Counter on the card. While this card has a Monster Adapt Counter, "Malefection" monsters you control cannot be destroyed by monster effects.
If this card would be destroyed by a card effect, you can remove 1 "Adapt" counter from this card instead.
You can only Pendulum Summon "Malefection" monsters (this effect cannot be negated).
Monster Effect:
2 Level 4 "Malefection" Monsters
If you can Pendulum Summon level 4 monsters and both cards in your Pendulum Zones are "Malefection_Client" cards, you can Pendulum Summon this face-up card from your Extra Deck. At the start of the Battle Phase, you can detach 1 Xyz Material from this card and target 1 monster your opponent controls: It loses 200 ATK and DEF for every "Malefection" monster in your Graveyard until the end of this turn. Only 1 "Malefection" monster can attack the turn you use this effect. When this card is Pendulum Summoned, you can attach 1 "Malefection" Pendulum Monsters from your Graveyard or face-up in your Extra Deck to this card as Xyz Material. If this card in the Monster Zone is destroyed by battle or card effect: You can destroy one card in your Pendulum Zones, and if you do, place this card in that Pendulum Zone.

Malefection_Client_Z3D
[spoiler=Card Art]

[/spoiler]
DARK/Machine/Xyz/Pendulum (Scale: 11)
Rank: 5
ATK: 3000 DEF: 3000
Pendulum Effect:
Once, when a card's effect is activated and resolves: You can activate the appropriate effect:
● Spell Card: Place 1 Spell Adapt Counter on this card. While this card has a Spell Adapt Counter, "Malefection" monsters you control cannot be destroyed by Spell effects.
● Trap Card: Place 1 Trap Adapt Counter on this card. While this card has a Trap Adapt Counter, "Malefection" monsters you control cannot be destroyed by Trap effects.
● Monster Card: Place 1 Monster Adapt Counter on the card. While this card has a Monster Adapt Counter, "Malefection" monsters you control cannot be destroyed by monster effects.
If this card would be destroyed by a card effect, you can remove 1 "Adapt" counter from this card instead.
You can only Pendulum Summon "Malefection" monsters (this effect cannot be negated).
Monster Effect:
3 Level 5 "Malefection" Monsters
If you can Pendulum Summon level 5 monsters and both cards in your Pendulum Zones are "Malefection_Client" cards, you can Pendulum Summon this face-up card from your Extra Deck. Once per turn, you can detach 1 Xyz Material from this card; target 1 "Malefection" Pendulum Monster in your Graveyard and place it face-up on your Extra Deck: Negate the effects of all face-up monsters your opponent controls, and this card gains ATK equal to the number of cards negated x100. These effects last until the end of your opponent's next Battle Phase. When this card is Pendulum Summoned, you can attach 2 "Malefection" Pendulum Monsters from your Graveyard or face-up in your Extra Deck to this card as Xyz Material. If this card in the Monster Zone is destroyed by battle or card effect: You can destroy one card in your Pendulum Zones, and if you do, place this card in that Pendulum Zone.
[/spoiler]

If you would rather see the cards in a gallery with less big images, go here: http://imgur.com/a/stgv6#0

[VCR_CAT]

Bump >_>

[AGATHODAIMON BANGTAIL COW]

Reading over all of the "If this card is Pendulum Summoned, it can't do sh*t" makes me wonder why this is even a Pendulum archetype in the first place. Also, it'd be nice if you included all of the stats in the written version, because the cards are waaaay too big.

 

 

 

Going in a seemingly random order, because the archetype is really convoluted. Where does Download send to the Grave/ED from? If it's from the Deck, then it's actually a one-card Rank 4 that needs no setup at all with one of the two Level 4 Tuners. Right now, I think there are no free insta-R4 plays that don't at least require setup to play, not even Noden is all of its silliness. If we're going to start introducing no-setup-R4s like Tour Guide is for 3s, this probably isn't the place to start with it, given Gear Gigant X is a thing and can be very easily used as a free search (2 if it survives). If it's from the hand, it's a more costly version of the same thing, but should be more ok. That said, why does that one Tuner have 1900 ATK? It already is a Tuner, and an instant-Xyz card. And a Synchro card that lessens your minusing by one. And it potentially lets you get another Normal Summon. Like holy sh*t what doesn't this card do?

 

The Adapt Counters are really strong, especially the Monster one, which will probably hit the field on accident. Not too sure on how easy it is to get them onto the field for a full-Beelze protect for your cards, but the idea is still concerning. Again, maybe it isn't that easy to get enough protection out in time and some of them would be ok, but at the same time, [acronym='non-destruction removal']NDR[/acronym] is not very plentiful. For these counters to be ok would mean Beelze would have to be a bad card.

 

Mal9000 has 2800 ATK for a Rank 4? And it reduces stats for your opponent for even more damage? And then on top of that it has a scale of 11? Eleven? Even though all it does is damage, 2800 is a lot. It's almost on par with Diamond Crab King (with the ATK reduction, it is), but won't suffer from negation cards suddenly changing its ATK to 0. #52 isn't the best R4 out there or even close, but I feel like it has a few too many upsides when compared with it.

 

Z3D is a recurring Abyssgaios when Abyssgaios is already a very strong card, and when partnered up with Overcode, you basically stop your opponent from playing the game. I don't know how easy it is to set this combo up, but from a theoretic point of view it looks like a really dangerous thing to let happen. If anything, the recurring parts of Z3D and Overcode means they're going to be very hard to keep away from the field without using NDR, and as I said, NDR isn't a very common thing.

 

 

 

I'm very sure I missed a ton of stuff, since as I said, the arch is really big inn card size and in archetype size, plus the plays aren't exactly telegraphed. It'd be a lot easier once DP is back up and I actually see the archetype work instead of guessing what happens. I'm guessing the Deck's power play would be Spybot for a Tuner setup, then start using the Tuners for instant-ED plays.

[VCR_CAT]

Thanks a lot for the input! So I made a bunch of changes based on the input you've given:
- I've tightened the scales of the maindeck Pendulums (not really your input, but I felt it should've been done)
- I removed the "You can't do anything if you Pendulum Summon the monsters" considering effects already in place. The initial idea was to keep the deck from swarming too much; but considering the lack of Igknight-esque abilities, it shouldn't be a problem. The reason the Pendulums can't be used as materials for Xyz monsters is because they're sent to the Extra Deck when detached or if the monster leaves the field; so I felt that was too good for the archetype to be able to keep Penduluming them back and going for more and more Xyz plays.
- Download was retooled; the monster sent is now from the hand. It also requires the second effect, so if you don't have another monster in your hand you don't get the search.
- Tuners lost their secondary effects in light of the restriction removals.
- Mal9000's stats were reduced to 2000/2500 and BCG's stats were also reduced to 2500/2000. Mal's effect was also nerfed; it only targets one monster now. The scales of the Xyz monsters will remain at 11 since you cannot Pendulum Summon non-Malefection monsters with them.
- Z3D and Overcode were both nerfed. Their effects can no longer be activated during the Opponent's turn, but to compensate for the attack gain the effects last until the end of the opponent's next Battle Phase (End Phase felt too good, but the attack gain was increased to 200 per card. Their stats were also lowered to 3000/3000.
- Increased the scales of the Synchros from 1 to 3.

I also changed the way the post reads so you can get all the stats without opening the card images.

I also apologize for the complexity. The archetype actually requires a bit of setup to start going, so balancing it has been a little tricky.

The Adapt counters are meant to be good, but as you can see there can only be 1 counter on each Pendulum Scale, and you can only gain one once. This means that, without the trap, there will always be something you're vulnerable to; and if you remove the counter to prevent its destruction, you can't get it back unless you put in a whole new scale and then you lose the protection effects. Plus, the effects need to resolve before the counter is applied, so it doesn't negate effects or immediately save you from any in a clutch manner. These effects are also made in consideration of how much non-destruction removal effects are currently in the game and how easy they are to access; with this in mind, yeah Beelze is actually kinda bad in the current game. Target protection is much more worth-while these days, but I didn't provide that.

[b]EDIT:[/b] New images in. And now I notice a typo on Overcode -_-; I'll fix that later.

[VCR_CAT]

Another bump. I'll be editing the ED Pendulum Effects with different wording once I get a more efficient method of wording its effect, but if there are any other thoughts I would appreciate them!

[VCR_CAT]

Bump.

I've shrunk the card pictures so they should be much easier to look at now, and I've fixed up some wordings as well as that one typo.

[VCR_CAT]

One more bump I suppose. I think this archetype is just about done, though.