The Future of Pendulum Magicians

Most important business first: Twelve Foot Ninja

I made it apparent from the first post that I play pendulum magicians. It's an unimpressive deck setup as far as meta games are concerned, but they are far from irredeemable in my eyes. From about the time I stopped playing Yu-Gi-Oh! in 2006, spellcaster was my go-to type of monster simply because they are an interesting archetype that offers a lot of variety in terms of strategy and tricky gameplay.

Magicians are unpredicatable, oftentimes to their controllers, but offer nearly unlimited potential to the keen mind.

This is why I like spellcasters; they're a force of chaos whose seemingly random combinations represent an infinite number of combination plays.

When I began playing Yu-Gi-Oh! again after my extended vacation from the game/anime series, I held tightly to the note I left on; I saw spellcasters as being an amorphous and unpredictable bunch with individual characteristics that added up to equal a group of badasses whose individual traits was the recipe for a diverse and worthwhile that needed development as a whole.

What this notion led to was a weeks-long research dive into spellcasters monsters over the Yu-Gi-Oh! wikia and the official database tool educating myself on the last ten years of spellcaster developments in terms of fusions, synchros, XYZs, and the newly-introducted mechanic, pendulum summoning.

To wrap things up, I took my deck from circa 2006, combined it with the Spellcaster's Command structure deck and thought I was invincible in a tournament; I never drew lifepoint damage in run #1. Fast-forward to December 2015 when Master of Pendulum was released and I figured that this was the next step in my deck's foundation, and to this day I have not been proven wrong.

At first, my deck became a pendulum magician XYZ deck that monopolized on ranking up Performage Trapeze Magician or Number 104: Masquerade into Norito the Moral Leader via Rank-Up-Magic Astral Force; the idea of ranking up basic level 4 XYZs into a force to be reckoned with was an attractive proposition. I found that Xiangke Magician was the most useful card in my deck due to it's quick-effect of negating light-type monsters. For the time being when monarchs and burning abyss decks were common setups, negating Edea the Heavenly Squire, Dante, Pilgrim of the Burning Abyss, and S0: Utopic Future was a prospect worth holding onto, but just as comfort should be discarded, I took the alternative and decided to up my synchro game for the sake of learning a thing or two. What I found was that the tuners I was to begin using... were spellcasters.

Once Shining Victories hit the market, I realized that this set was going to revolutionize my deck. Mausoleum of White was going to ensure either extra same-turn tributes for level 6 monsters, or extra tuners; the situation was a win-win. One of the cards I emphasized in my pendulum magician XYZ deck was Gagaga Magician, a card that would virtually ensure any XYZ summon I desired, but that wasn't enough. If my deck was to be omnipotent, Gagaga Magician would need to have some universiality in terms of summoning types. Quite some time had passed since I had started the pendulum magicians synchro deck, and Gagaga Head had been released as a part of Yu-Gi-Oh! Zexal manga volume 9, a spellcaster monster with level 4 and 6 capabilities that CAN be synchroed off. Gagaga Head was an optimal X factor for my deck that would appease both sides of the argument seeing how Gagaga Magician was worthless as far as any synchro capacity was involved.

For the record, as far as synchro is concerned, synchro is offensive due to the chaining summoning effects and recyclability of pendulum monsters while XYZ should be considered defense due to the tendency of XYZ effects to bail one out of unfavorable circumstances. White is a beginning, while black is the end; dooming any attached materials to the graveyard.

Right now, my extra deck consists of 13 synchros, 1 fusion, and 1 XYZ. Being a pendulum deck, Dinoster Power, the Mighty Dracoslayer is my go-to fusion while Traptrix Rafflesia is my Rank 4 XYZ monster. Facedown monsters has been something of my strategy for the latest incarnation of my deck. Due to the future status of Enlightenment Paladin as the latest Dark Magician of Chaos (in terms of spell retrieval), sending monsters to the grave and dealing massive direct damage to non-pendulums. Floodgate Trap Hole has been a great combo card with Rafflesia, as it is a solid defense card and sets up prey for Enlightenment Paladin.

Anyways,this didn't exactly talk about the future of pendulum magicians, but it will happen, they're nowhere near being done with. Dimension Box.

Yu-Gi-Oh! B-Sides; A Blog For The Semi-Competitive Player

Greetings, I'm your mostly-average Yu-Gi-Oh! player who likes to play at tournaments to get better but hasn't quite reached winning status due to being stubborn and playing the cards I like and not what's considered Meta. With that being said, if this sounds like you, welcome to my blog.

Now with THAT being said, let me introduce myself. My internet name is Mr. H, I've blogged before, just take a look at my blog list if you are bored and want something to read. I've been a Yu-Gi-Oh! player since 2004, but don't be fooled, between 2006 and 2015 I played MAYBE 5 games, when I returned to the game things were night-and-day different. I had no idea what a Synchro, XYZ, or Pendulum monster was and contact fusion was something I had only seen on the XYZ Dragon Cannon before I left high school. Catching up to the current game was something of a feat, but I didn't let my constant string of failures get me down; I delved into researching the current game and am currently beginning to out-duel the lower-tiered decks in tournament play.

The deck I run now is a bit of an unusual one; Pendulum Magicians/Eyes of Blue Synchro with XYZ support. It might seem a bit unusual to run a deck like this in a competitive match, but it works just fine for me and newer cards coming out are strengthening the magician/spellcaster archetypes.

I do keep up with the latest and greatest cards, my extra deck contains Crystal Wing Synchro Dragon, Nirvana High Paladin, Trishula, Dragon of the Ice Barrier, S39: Utopia the Lightning, and S0: Utopic Zexal.

Being a synchro deck, the setup revolves around level 4 and 6 monsters. The tuners I use are the Eyes of Blue tuners from Shining Victories, namely Sage with Eyes of Blue and Master with Eyes of Blue, and Mausoleum of White is my field spell card. The typical goal is to synchro to level 7 from a 6 and either synchro up to 8 to Crystal Wing Synchro Dragon or pendulum summon a level 3 pendulum monster, either Timegazer Magician or Odd-Eyes Mirage Dragon, to synchro summon Nirvana High Paladin.

The newest, latest, and greatest card to grace my deck is Gagaga Head, a level 6 spellcaster that can also be a level 4. When it is used for an XYZ summon, I draw a card. the beauty of this card is that unlike Gagaga Magician, Gagaga Head can be used to synchro summon my 5 and 7 monsters. Truly a boon for this deck.

A recent shift in direction led me to including the card Dragodies, the Empowered Warrior into my deck. Why such an unusual card in a magician deck? It's effect, which boils down to adding a spellcaster or warrior with 2000 or less attack to the hand when it's destroyed by battle or card effect by your opponent's hands. The part about only searching when your opponent attacks/destroys with card effect is somewhat limiting, but when played the right way, it lends a powerful hand to my deck, seeing as how virtually all of my pendulum scales are under 2000 attack. I still play with old-school tactics in mind, so I'm not above placing a monster face down in defense as a meat shield. With Dragodies, the Empowered Warrior being that X-factor, playing defensively can turn the tables in a single turn. Dragodies's pendulum effect is quite nice too, discard a card to halve an opponent's attacking/attacked monster's ATK. THIS IS A NON-TARGETING EFFECT!!!

This addition to my deck encouraged inclusion of the field spell Empowerment. Mausoleum of White is my #1 field spell, but since I run Ancient Fairy Dragon, cycling out my field spells is something of a simplified process. Empowerment gives all spellcasters, dragons, and warriors 300 ATK. All of my attacking monsters are one of those three types. When you include the second effect of Empowerment, the inclusion makes sense: discard 1 card to summon an Empower Warrior from the deck. My only Empowered Warrior is Dragodies, the Empowered Warrior, and aside from the reasons stated above, that card being a level 4 supports my XYZ summon of Number 39: Utopia which upgrades to S39: Utopia the Lightning, and Number 39: Utopia Beyond OR S0: Utopic Zexal should I have my singular Rank-Up-Magic Astral Force in-hand.

Rank-Up-Magic Astral Force is a card I have one of in my deck, but it serves a powerful purpose, it turns my rank 4 XYZ monsters, Number 39: Utopia and Performage Trapeze Magician into their final forms, Number 39: Utopia Beyond/S0: Utopic Zexal and Norito the Moral Leader/Ebon Illusion Magician. For a one-off card, Rank-Up-Magic Astral Force is quite the asset, not to mention the fact that since it can be retrieved from the graveyard, it can be used as a dummy trap or general discard fodder.

Normal spellcaster pendulum monsters work well in my deck, not only for their scales, but for Ebon Illusion Magician and Mausoleum of White. Ebon Illusion Magician is a rank 7 that can summon a normal spellcaster from the deck or hand when detaching a material and also targets and banishes a card when a normal spellcaster monster attacks. Mausoleum of White's second effect helps monsters on the field by boosting their attack when I send Dragonpit Magician or Dragonpulse Magician tothe graveyard from the deck. The monster targeted by this effect gains ATK equal to its level x 100. 400 or 700 extra ATK can pull you out of a corner really quick.

Sending those monsters to the grave isn't much of a problem with Chocolate Magician Girl hanging out on the field. Not only can I send a spellcaster to the grave to draw a card, when she's attacked, I can special summon a spellcaster from the graveyard, redirect the attack to the special summoned monster, and halve the attacking monster's ATK in the process. This card is the stuff of beasts.

I think I covered most aspects of my deck, I hope this provided a fun read and a new way of looking at Yu-Gi-Oh!, but if not then I will continue to post to keep your curiosity satiated. Duel true, my comrades.

On a closing note, enhance your day with your daily dose of metal: Twelve Foot Ninja - One Hand Killing