Prologue

Ever since Yu-Gi-Oh's inception, Dark Magicians have been a fan favorite archetype. Whether through watching the TV show or playing the game, Dark Magician is a card that everyone knows. Because of this, the archetype has always been popular and has received multiple waves of support throughout the years. The most recent wave of support comes from the OCG in World Premiere Pack 2021 and Battle of Chaos. In these sets, Dark Magicians receive a Hand Trap, Field Spell and cards that support the "Chaos" Rituals of the archetype. In this article, we'll be looking at these cards and see what they do for the deck and whether they're viable or just a new gimmick.

Video

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_As8h7NI2Wo

New Cards

Magikuriboh

Magikuriboh is a Level 1 Hand Trap with an effect to special summon Dark Magician or Dark Magician Girl. It also has recursion if your opponent destroys a SPELLCASTER you control by battle or card effect.

Magikuriboh is a monster with a lot of different uses. While it summons Dark Magician like most cards in the archetype, the difference between it and a card like Eternal Soul is that it's a Hand Trap. This is important because while cards on the field are susceptible to removal, cards in your hand are much safer. This makes Magikuriboh harder to negate and more likely to resolve. Magikuriboh is also a great defensive card. It can surprise your opponent on their turn and can be deadly if paired with Dark Magical Circle. This can catch your opponent off-guard if you have no other S/Ts on the field. Since most players expect Dark Magician to be summoned from S/Ts like Eternal Soul, some players might over-commit and get punished accordingly.

Overall, Magikuriboh is a solid card that has a lot of value in longer games. While it doesn't do anything when going 1st, its utility gives it enough reason to be considered in any Dark Magician deck.

Timaeus the Dragon of Destiny

Timaeus the Dragon of Destiny is a Level 8 DRAGON and an extender for the archetype. It has 2 effects which makes Fusion summoning easier in Dark Magicians.

Timaeus's 1st effect special summons itself from the hand by sending 1 SPELLCASTER or 1 S/T that lists Dark Magician in its text to the GY. This is pretty easy to achieve as Dark Magicians have an abundance of continuous S/Ts that linger on the field after their initial activation. Cards ideal to send for this effect can be extra Dark Magical Circles or the new Field Spell. Furthermore, you can also send cards from your hand for this effect. This works well with S/Ts you may want in the GY such as Soul Servant and Magician Navigation.

Timaeus's 2nd effect acts as a pseudo-Polymerization. The effect also requires the use of a SPELLCASTER monster as fusion material. This effect is good for summoning monsters that use SPELLCASTER and DRAGON monsters as fusion materials. For example, Red-Eyes Dark Dragoon and Dark Magician the Dragon Knight are strong options if you have access to Dark Magician. There are also situational options such as Amulet Dragon and Mysterion the Dragon Crown which can be powerful in certain matchups.

Overall, Timaeus is a decent extender that's easy to summon. While its effect isn't anything crazy, it's nice to have and can be impactful in the right time and place.

Illusion of Chaos

Illusion of Chaos is a Ritual monster with 2 effects. One of them boosts the consistency of the archetype while the other provides disruption when it's on the field.

Illusion's 1st effect activates in the hand and lets you search almost any Dark Magician monster. Needless to say, this is great for the consistency of the archetype since it gives you access to Magician's Rod and Magicians' Soul; 2 of the strongest cards in the archetype. This effect also stacks a card from your hand which is useful for returning cards like Dark Magician Girl or Red-Eyes Fusion back to the deck. 

Illusion's 2nd effect is a negate that summons Dark Magician from the GY while returning itself to the hand. This effect is good since it provides a negate and a way to summon Dark Magician without needing a S/T. Furthermore, this allows Illusion to be used again next turn to search a Dark Magician monster of your choice.

Overall, it's difficult to say how much Illusion does for the archetype in just a few words. The card makes your combos more consistent but also opens new avenues of play. One example of this is the potential for a Dark Magician deck with a focus on Rituals. Another is the potential of a Dark Magician deck with a Chaos theme. The possibilities are endless and even if neither of these ideas succeeds, Illusion will always have a place in the Classic Dark Magician deck.

Dark Master of Chaos

Dark Master of Chaos is a Fusion monster that requires Dark Magician and 1 Chaos/BLS Ritual as fusion materials. Let's see if it's worth the trouble to summon.

Master's 1st effect special summons 1 LIGHT or DARK monster from your GY if it's fusion summoned. This effect is good for reviving strong LIGHT or DARK monsters and pressuring the field. Since Master uses Dark Magician to summon itself, you'll at least always have it as a target to summon. This makes Master great to summon during the Battle Phase with Secrets of Dark Magic. Since you can always summon Dark Magician, this can provide an extra 5500 ATK on field which greatly increases the OTK potential of the archetype.

Master's 2nd effect tributes 1 LIGHT and DARK monster to banish all monsters your opponent controls. This effect is part of the Chaos theme and won't come up often in actual play. The problem is Dark Magicians don't generate enough LIGHT and DARK monsters to efficiently use this effect. The effect's cost is also quite steep for what it does. While banishing all your opponent's monsters is nice, if you have 2 monsters to tribute, wouldn't you rather summon Dragoon instead?

Master's 3rd effect returns 1 Spell to your hand if Master is destroyed by battle or card effect. Though this effect is a nice, it's more of an added bonus and isn't the reason you'll be summoning Master.

Overall, Master is a cool boss monster that looks okay in actual play. Although difficult to summon, there will be times when Master shines. Though the banish effect may never come up, the added OTK potential it brings is always appreciated and not something that should be ignored.

Magician Salvation

Magician Salvation is a Field Spell that increases the consistency of the Dark Magician archetype. It also has an effect that can summon a monster if you summon Dark Magician or Dark Magician Girl.

Salvation's main use is to tutor Eternal Soul from your deck. This makes it great to use as fodder for Magicians' Soul or the new Timaeus after its initial activation. Salvation is also good for accessing Eternal Soul through Ash Blossom & Joyous Spring. While most other ways include searching, Salvation avoids this by directly setting Eternal Soul directly from your deck.

Salvation also has a 2nd effect to tutor Dark Magician or Dark Magician Girl from the GY if you summon the other. This effect is nice, but won't come up very often as Salvation doesn't tend to stay on the field very long. It's also difficult to trigger this on the 1st turn since it requires GY setup and Dark Magician doesn't usually make an appearance until turn 2.

Overall Salvation is a good card that has a lot of synergy in the archetype. It thins your deck, adds consistency, and plays around Droll & Lock Bird / Ash Blossom. It's also nice for drawing an extra card off Magician Souls or summoning Timaeus for free.

Pierce the Darkness

Lastly, we have Pierce the Darkness; a Continuous Spell that generates advantage while providing pseudo-battle protection for your boss monsters.

Pierce's 1st effect lets you draw a card if you normal or special summon a non-Token normal monster. This effect is triggered by summoning Dark Magician and is invaluable over the course of a long game.

PIerce's 2nd effect gives a Level 5 or higher normal monster or a monster summoned using one ATK when it battles. This effect helps you beat over problematic monsters that may be hard to remove otherwise. This can also help protect your own boss monsters from getting ran over. One monster that works great with this effect is Red-Eyes Dark Dragoon. Dragoon is already difficult to play through but with this, it becomes even harder.

Overall, Pierce is a good card with 2 small problems. First, it doesn't do much going 1st since you won't often summon Dark Magician nor battle on the 1st turn. Second, it takes a long time to get value out of it and by the time you do, the game might already be decided. These are issues in a fast meta since you want to have as many live cards as possible. While Shatter is good in long and grindy games, it's a liability against combo and might not give enough compensation to play in a fast format.

Overall Thoughts

This looks to be a very good wave of support for Dark Magician. The new cards greatly increase the archetype's consistency while also introducing new styles of play. For example, with the debut of Illusion of Chaos, a Dark Magician deck with a focus on Rituals is now more viable than ever.

The classic Dark Magician deck also receives a boost to their consistency and pushing power. With Magician Salvation, you have easier access to Eternal Soul and an extra card you can use later. Fusion summoning also becomes easier with the release of the new Timaeus. Not only does Timaeus gives easier access to Dragoon, it also makes it easier to push for game. Lastly, while the new Dark Master of Chaos might not be the best boss monster, it does pack a punch. While it might not see much actual play, never sleep on an OTK card in a control deck.

While this support doesn't make Dark Magicians competitively viable, it definitely pushes the deck in the right direction. It makes me look forward to the next wave of support and wonder what they'll give the archetype next. Though the deck might never be top tier, it can definitely still take games off unsuspecting opponents.