"To turn the consistency of any starter deck into that of Djinn format Nekroz" [10/10]

[宇佐見 蓮子@C94]

Because Ritual Pendulums are fun and an unexplored design space. Also now that Sakura isn't here I'm not bogged down by annoying rules. Fufufufufu. That said I have no idea what's good right now other than Pendulum Magicians and Trickstars and like 60 card Lawnmowing "ayy fuk u i opened left arm offering" Zombie Lightsworn Shitposts. 

 

Comments and such are always appreciated~

 

[spoiler=Effect Monsters (4)]

During either player's turn: You can discard this card and target 1 face-up "Drag-" Ritual Monster you control; That target gains 1500 ATK until end of this turn. When this card is Normal Summoned, or if this face-up card you control or in your hand is tributed by the effect of a "Drag-" Ritual Monster: Add 1 "Drag-" card from your deck to your hand. You can only activate each effect of "Edmond, the Dragniter" once per turn.

PENDULUM

Unless you have a "Drag-" Ritual Card in your other Pendulum Zone, this card's Pendulum Scale becomes 4. If a "Drag-" Ritual Monster you control battles an opponent's monster: You can tribute 1 card in your Pendulum Zones; That monster gains 1000 ATK during damage calculation only.

During either player's turn: You can discard this card and target 1 "Drag-" card you control; Tribute that target OR return that target to your hand. If you tributed, draw a card. If this face-up card you control or in your hand is tributed for the Ritual Summon of a "Drag-" Ritual Monster, your opponent cannot activate cards or effects in response to that Ritual Summon. You can only activate each effect of "Ambrosia, the Draghelper" once per turn.

PENDULUM

This card's Pendulum Scale becomes 4 if you do not have a "Drag-" Ritual Monster card in your other Pendulum Zone. You can tribute this card; Add 1 "Drag-" Spell/Trap card from your deck to your hand. You can only activate this effect of "Ambrosia, the Draghelper" once per turn.

 

When this card is Normal or Special Summoned: Target 1 "Drag-" card you control, in your GY or face-up in your extra deck, except "William, Key-wielder of the Dragshifted"; Add that target to your hand. When tributing for the effect or Ritual Summon of a "Drag-" card, you can treat this card as the entire tribute. If you do, this card is sent to the GY instead of face-up to the extra deck.

PENDULUM

This card's Pendulum Scale becomes 4 if you do not have a "Drag-" Ritual Monster card in your other Pendulum Zone. You can tribute this card; Add 1 "Drag-" Monster card from your deck to your hand. You can only activate this effect of "William, Key-wielder of the Dragshifted" once per turn.

1 Level 4 "Drag-" Monster
During either player's turn: You can target 1 monster Special Summoned from the Extra Deck; Negate that target's effects, and if you do, tribute 1 card you control. (These changes last until the end of this turn) When a Ritual Monster is Ritual Summoned to a Monster Card Zone this card's Link Arrows point to: Add 1 Ritual Monster or Ritual Spell card from your deck to your hand. You can only activate 1 effect of "Edmond, the Dragniter Prodigy" per turn, and only once that turn.

 

 

[spoiler=Rituals (5)]

You can Ritual Summon this card with "Dragshift Channeling". You can only use each of these effects of "Edmond, the Dragnited" once per turn. 

● If your opponent Special Summons a monster from their Extra Deck: You can target 1 card you control and 1 Special Summoned monster on the field; return the second target to its owner's hand, and if you do, you can tribute the first target.

● If this card in your possession is tributed by the effect of another "Drag-" card: You can add 1 "Edmond, the Dragniter" from your deck or GY to your hand.

PENDULUM
This card's name becomes "Dragshift Channeling" while in your Pendulum Zone. Tribute monsters from your hand, monster card zone(s) and Pendulum Zone(s) you control, then Ritual Summon 1 "Drag-" Ritual Monster from your hand whose Level exactly equals the total Levels of those monsters. You can only Ritual Summon using this card's effect once per turn.

You can Ritual Summon this card with "Dragshift Channeling". You can only use each of these effects of "Edmond, the Draginvoked" once per turn. 

● When your opponent activates a Monster Effect that targets 1 or more cards on the field: You can negate that effect, then you can tribute 1 card you control.

● If this card in your possession is tributed by the effect of your other "Drag-" card: Target 1 face-up card on the field; Negate that target's effects while it is face-up on the field.

PENDULUM

This card's name becomes "Dragshift Channeling" while in your Pendulum Zone. Tribute monsters from your hand, monster card zone(s) and Pendulum Zone(s) you control, then Ritual Summon 1 "Drag-" Ritual Monster from your hand whose Level exactly equals the total Levels of those monsters. You can only Ritual Summon using this card's effect once per turn.

You can Ritual Summon this card with "Dragshift Channeling". You can only use each of these effects of "Claressa, the Dragsciple" once per turn.

● If this card is Ritual Summoned: You can Special Summon 1 Level 3 or lower DARK Spellcaster-type monster from your deck. Then, you can tribute 1 card you control.

● If this card in your possession is tributed by the effect of your other "Drag-" card: Add 1 "Drag-" Spell/Trap card from your deck or GY to your hand.

PENDULUM

This card's name becomes "Dragshift Channeling" while in your Pendulum Zone. Tribute monsters in your hand, monster card zone and Pendulum Zone, then Ritual Summon 1 "Drag-" Ritual Monster from your hand whose Level exactly equals the total levels of those monsters. You can Tribute this card; Add 1 "Drag-" card face-up in your Extra Deck to your hand. You can only Ritual Summon using this card's effect once per turn.

You can Ritual Summon this card with "Dragshift Channeling". You can only use each of these effects of "Edmond, the Dragshifted" once per turn. 

● During either player's turn: You can target 1 card on the field; Destroy that target, banish it, then you can tribute 1 card you control.

● If this card in your possession is tributed by the effect of your other "Drag-" card: Target up to 3 "Drag-" cards in your GY or face-up in your Extra Deck (Min.2); Shuffle those targets to the deck and draw a card.

PENDULUM

This card's name becomes "Dragshift Channeling" while in your Pendulum Zone. Tribute monsters in your hand, monster card zone and Pendulum Zone, then Ritual Summon 1 "Drag-" Ritual Monster from your hand whose Level exactly equals the total levels of those monsters. You can Tribute this card; Add 1 "Drag-" card face-up in your Extra Deck to your hand. You can only Ritual Summon using this card's effect once per turn.

You can Ritual Summon this card with "Dragshift Channeling". Negate the effects of monsters Summoned from the Extra Deck, except Pendulum Monsters. Once per chain, during either player's turn, you can: Target up to 2 face-up cards on the field; Negate those target's effects until the end of that chain, then tribute cards you control or in your hand, up to the number of cards you targeted by this effect.

PENDULUM

This card's name becomes "Dragshift Channeling" while in your Pendulum Zone. Tribute monsters in your hand, monster card zone and Pendulum Zone, then Ritual Summon 1 "Drag-" Ritual Monster from your hand whose Level exactly equals the total levels of those monsters. Tribute this card and another "Drag-" card in your other Pendulum Zone; Special Summon 1 "Drag-" Ritual monster face-up in your Extra Deck, ignoring its summoning conditions. (This Special Summon is treated as Ritual Summon). You can only Ritual Summon using this card's effect once per turn.

 

[spoiler=S/T (2)]

This card can be used to Ritual Summon any "Drag-" Ritual Monster. Tribute monsters from your hand, field, or send 1 face-up card in your Extra Deck to the GY then Ritual Summon 1 "Drag-" Ritual Monster from your hand or in your Pendulum Zone whose Level is equal to the Level of the those monsters. If you control no monsters: You can banish this card and up to 2 "Drag-" monster from your GY; Special Summon 1 "Drag-" monster face-up in your Extra Deck whose level is equal to or less than the banished monsters. You can only activate 1 "Dragshift Channeling" effect per turn.

When Ritual Summoning for the Ritual Summon of a "Drag-" monster, this card's name is treated as "Dragshift Channeling". Tribute cards from your, Monster Card Zone and Pendulum Zones, then Ritual Summon 1 "Drag-" monster from your hand or face-up in your Extra Deck. During your Standby Phase, if this card is in your GY: You can Banish it; Add 1 "Edmond" monster from your deck to your hand, then you can add 1 "Drag-" Ritual Spell card from your GY to your hand. You can only activate this effect of "Advent of the Dragshifted Emperor" once per turn, and you cannot Special Summon the turn you activate this effect, except Ritual monsters.

 

 

[Dova]

Don't know why you put the "this card's Pendulum Scale becomes 4" on the Scale 1s; it's the Scale 9s that are more of a problem, as Scale 1-8 isn't restricted as much anymore. Even so, there are Level 0s with no restrictions on them (all 4 of them, in fact), so you probably don't need the restriction on either card, due to the niche use of the Ritual's Pendulum effects. I also don't really understand the Edmond focus. I mean, the searching on Dragnited can be explained away with your obvious thematics, despite it still seeming awkward due to it only appearing twice rather than a mechanical theme, but why such an odd searching clause on Dragosummoning Circle? For Channeling, do you SS a monster based on the banished monster's total Levels? It would seem so, but you don't specify.

 

Not a huge fan on the lack of HOPT among the Rituals' Pendulum effects. Not only do you get to Ritual Summon with them as many times as you want (almost making them inherently better than your basic Ritual Spell, which for now is just a Burial of Belongings target) but Claressa (the only one that has an additional Pendulum Effect, automatic 3 of her) Tributes herself as a cost, going to the Extra Deck, then immediately becomes a viable target for the activating effect, creating an endless loop. Also, you've forgotten a "You can Tribute..." in their Pendulum effects, technically making Ritual Summoning a mandatory/on-activation effect. Also, Pendulum Spells don't have Levels, so it's a little hard to Tribute them directly off the field without being explicit in the card grammar.

 

Edmond seems underwhelming, as his only strong boon is the NS search, which can easily be replaced by Maju to search the Ritual Spells and Monsters. However, you'll still be playing him, as the archetype really lacks a win condition, so that ATK gain provided by him is a must have. Although you have the support covered within all of the monsters, the offense/defense is sparse, and even then situational. Seems a little mish-mashy at times, and lacks an interesting theme other than "TRIBUUUUUUUUUTE". One could argue that that is enough of a theme, but you don't really even expand it into the interesting bit of Tributing Spells/Trap other than "well you can now", and there should be more to it than just one mechanic. True Dracos did it better. On a more subjective note (not saying what I said before wasn't subjective, but this is even more so) you seem to have taken the bare minimum of YGO; DARK Spellcaster + Dragons and Tributing for Rituals.

 

As a lover of Ritual Pendulums, it was nice to see the design of these cards and your little foray into Tributing Spells/Traps reminded me of my earlier attempts (although yours is still better), I came away thinking "meh". Although I have been harsh in regards to it, its just because its otherwise completely functional. Ignoring the card grammar, you've created a working set. It's just lacking in many areas, and not particularly interesting aside from the first look. Hopefully these comments were helpful.

[宇佐見 蓮子@C94]

As far as Dragosummoning goes, it searches Edmond purely out of F L A V O R reasons. Since the archetype in a way is based off Invokers with their whole "Hi I'm Aleister you need me for plays" deal. The Rituals being better than the actual Spell itself is intentional but also a bit of an oversight, because I forgot that Yu-Gi-Oh works differently. I thought that by giving the Ritual Spell itself a Once-per-turn for the effect of its name, it puts a blanket hard OPT on all the Rituals, but I guess not(?).  As far as wincon and whatever goes, mostly I'm aiming for an archetype with a lot of searching and resiliency/resource efficiency, kinda like Nekroz. 

 

As far as theme goes.. I'm honestly confused. Because an archetype to me doesn't need to rely on gimmicks to be interesting, so for that reason I tried to make the cards be as cost-efficient and searchable as possible, which I guess makes them a bit bland maybe? I don't have an actual wincon in mind, but then again, I'm struggling to remember what wincon Nekroz had other than Djinn Lock and a well-timed Trish/Decisive Armor drop. Maybe I could up the powerlevel on the actual monsters, and give an alternative Ritual Spell to act as their Kaleidoscope to further their plays? I dunno, I mostly just tried to exploit the Pendulum mechanic combined with the Ritual mechanic to make the deck really hard to go minus with. Maybe making Edmond a Warrior for the sake of being a ROTA target would be quite interesting. 

[Dova]

As far as Dragosummoning goes, it searches Edmond purely out of F L A V O R reasons. Since the archetype in a way is based off Invokers with their whole "Hi I'm Aleister you need me for plays" deal. 

 

Ya see, you only have 2 cards that mention him by name. He doesn't need to be played at the moment for the archetype to be decent, as the two cards that mention him only search him...they don't need him. And the latter can search other targets than him. The specificity would be fine if he was involved.

 

No, similar effects don't carry over HOPT. It's specific to the name of the card.

 

As far as theme goes.. I'm honestly confused. Because an archetype to me doesn't need to rely on gimmicks to be interesting, so for that reason I tried to make the cards be as cost-efficient and searchable as possible, which I guess makes them a bit bland maybe? I don't have an actual wincon in mind, but then again, I'm struggling to remember what wincon Nekroz had other than Djinn Lock and a well-timed Trish/Decisive Armor drop. Maybe I could up the powerlevel on the actual monsters, and give an alternative Ritual Spell to act as their Kaleidoscope to further their plays? I dunno, I mostly just tried to exploit the Pendulum mechanic combined with the Ritual mechanic to make the deck really hard to go minus with. Maybe making Edmond a Warrior for the sake of being a ROTA target would be quite interesting.

 

The wincon in Nekroz was A) Djinn Locks, B) OTKs, C) Powerful effects that didn't remove your own monsters, and D) your well-timed played as mentioned before. There's sparse removal here, and the ones that do hit you as well, even though you do get your on-Tribute effect; shame if you do it on your turn and have already Tributed a monster.

 

Making an archetype cost-efficient and searchable and possible does make a set bland, yes. You see, even in the recent Skyband Brigade, you have basic effects spread across the monsters other than just searching and their main SS from hand effect, with just a little bit of quirkiness here and there to spice it up. However, I do think I was too harsh in regards to that THEME disregard...there's just something about the cards that isn't grabbing to me, and I'm not sure what it is. What makes an archetype interesting to you?

[宇佐見 蓮子@C94]

uhh... Being good, and artwork. It's honestly just that. Or being overly complicated for no reason like D/D/D. I don't really like having gimmicks tacked on just for the sake of being gimmicks. I think maybe the best way to do it is to up the general powerlevel of the boss monsters, and maybe make Edmond more like Shurit where his effect is very indispensable?  

[Dova]

uhh... Being good, and artwork. It's honestly just that. Or being overly complicated for no reason like D/D/D. I don't really like having gimmicks tacked on just for the sake of being gimmicks. I think maybe the best way to do it is to up the general powerlevel of the boss monsters, and maybe make Edmond more like Shurit where his effect is very indispensable?  

 

Don't tack on gimmicks for the sake of gimmicks. I put artwork very low on my list of making an archetype interesting, focusing mainly on whether it is fun to play AND play against, and whether it does the same thing every time, or has variants on how it does things. Yeah, that might work for Edmon.

[宇佐見 蓮子@C94]

Well, fun is subjective so that's like ????. I kinda designed the arcehtype to be able to make the same plays every game as consistently as possible, at least the bread and butter plays. 

[Dova]

Well, you've managed that.

 

There's not much else to say here, really. You've listened to some of my points, but we inevitably disagree. Hopefully someone else will be able to give you better feedback for your style of cardmaking.

 

Still, had fun imagining plays with these.

[宇佐見 蓮子@C94]

I think I'll make Edmond's floating more relevant (maybe float into a Ritual from the deck?), and have him be able to Ritual Summon from face-up in the ED when using him as a tribute?

[Dova]

Sounds like a plan.

[宇佐見 蓮子@C94]

Gonna bump this before going through with changes. 

[宇佐見 蓮子@C94]

added link monster

changed a bunch of effects

removed dragosummoning and added another ritual spell instead

ur mom gay

[Darj]

Have not read them all thoroughly but want to point out there is an issue with the Link Monster: It's a Link with a Rating of 1, and yet it has 3 markers, when Links have a number of markers equal to their Rating. You would have to drop it to 1 marker.

 

I suggest to make the second monster effect of Ambrosia a continuous effect. Because if it starts a chain, AFAIK then the opponent can simply chain any effects to Ambrosia's at the time the Ritual Monster is summoned.

 

That's all for now.

[宇佐見 蓮子@C94]

fixed-nanodesu

[宇佐見 蓮子@C94]

bump