Mayakashi is quite an appealing deck, but it never took off to any great heights in competitive play. Recently, MAMA has blessed it with two incredibly powerful cards that boost it significantly! While it's still likely not to be a meta contender any time soon, you have something quite competent and enjoyable for Zombie enthusiasts out there.
For people who are new or returning to the deck, this guide should be a nice introduction to how the deck functions and how the new support plays into it. Without further ado, let's dive right in!
As a disclaimer, we'll only be talking about the relevant cards in the Deck, as the nature of Deckbuild packs leaves some cards being not stellar and not worth running for the most part.
Spiritual Basics
Mayakashi is a Zombie Link and Synchro-based strategy that revolves around this magnificent maven, Dakki, the Graceful Mayakashi! Each time you Special Summon a Mayakashi monster from the Extra Deck, she's able to revive herself from the GY to the field. She's a Tuner monster, so the deck is able to effortlessly get through its Synchro pool. Once that's done, you will want to pivot into the Links for your endboard, as the Yuki-Onnas are extremely important for your game plan.
So how do we get there? Let's talk about it, beginning with the deck's preferred starter.
Hajun, the Winged Mayakashi will be your go-to starter most of the time, as he's a Level 1 non-Tuner that summons out Dakki straight from the Deck!
His convenient level and effect make it so you can start your Synchro pilgrimage. As a very important bonus, provided you don't deliberately go into the Level 11 monster blindly, you're pretty much safe from the imminent wrath of the Bystial monsters that are currently roaming the format. With that being said, the sequence is straightforward albeit a little tedious. Tune the two into Oboro-Guruma, the Wheeled Mayakashi which allows Dakki to revive herself. From there, keep climbing, summoning Tsuchigumo, the Poisonous Mayakashi , into Tengu, the Winged Mayakashi, and ending at Yoko, the Graceful Mayakashi, 
But then you might ask, what if Hajun eats an interruption such as Effect Veiler or Infinite Impermanence? What if you don't even see Hajun at all, is it lights out? Not necessarily, as Yuki-Musume, the Ice Mayakashi is here to save the day, acting as a reliable extender! The premise is quite simple, Musume can bring herself out from the hand or GY as long as you control a Mayakashi monster. Not only that, she also dumps a Zombie monster for your troubles. Say you lead with NS Hajun and that gets stopped, if you have Musume access you can still get to your combo by sending Dakki! If they don't interrupt you, it's even better as you can send something else instead. A highly recommended option is Necroworld Banshee!
In fact, Dakki + Musume allows you to get to Zombie World all while ignoring Veiler or Imperm, pretty solid! ZW is an easily accessible floodgate that Mayakashi can take advantage of to choke out the most common decks of the format. Tearlaments is fairly bothered by it but it also performs the double duty of shutting down Floowandereeze hard. Most floodgates don't have that level of coverage and searchability in comparison.
Reaching the Frozen Throne
Originally, the deck would end also make Gashadokuro, the Skeletal Mayakashi before transitioning into Link plays, but the omnipresence of the Bystial monsters has made him a liability. You still run 1 as he lets you run over hard-to-out monsters and the protection effect does come up, but he's more of a turn 3 auxiliary play nowadays for securing lethal, most of the time. As always, Dakki comes back once you use her to summon Yoko. Now that's out of the way, let's climb our way through the Links!
Yuki L2 isn't really anything to write home about, but she's a necessary piece that lets you bridge into her much more powerful counterparts.
Yuki-Onna, the Icicle Mayakashi or Yuki L3 is the first card MAMA has bestowed upon the deck and it is superb. The effect to negate a monster if she's Special Summoned is a nice touch and all, but that's not why she's excellent. L3's quick effect in the GY that lets her revive a Zombie Synchro finally gives the deck a reliable way to trigger the effects of the deck's Synchro monsters on demand all while giving you back free resources. Yoko and Tengu are the biggest benefactors of this, able to shred through monsters and backrow with relative ease. Last but not the least, being a Link-3 finally lets you make the deck's ace in the hole reliably.
Yuki-Onna, the Absolute Zero Mayakashi is the deck's boss and she is an absolute powerhouse of a card. Pre-MAMA, it was quite awkward to make her alongside triggering her negation more proactively, but Yuki L3 managed to fix that issue handily. More often than not, the deck is capable of using the twice-per-turn effect to its fullest, shutting down the opponent's starters or key threats all while weakening them to 0. This change is permanent, which is quite crippling. In some instances, it can also help the deck push through the opponent's setup, as Dakki gives her a guaranteed trigger when you summon her, and it's very likely Icicle had negated something else beforehand.
As icing on top, she also poses a specific but highly effective floodgate ability, which prevents Floowandereeze monsters from returning back to hand, cutting them off their resources.
Alms For the Fallen
Mayakashi has a couple of Spell and Trap cards, but only a few of them are playable. The first one is of course their searcher, Mayakashi Return. It's a flexible searcher that can get you whatever you need and when you need it, so maxing out on it is imperative. Depending on the situation, you could be grabbing any of the three monsters, or the new Trap from Magnificent Mavens, Ghost Meets Girl - A Masterful Mayakashi Shiranui Saga! How many you run is certainly up to personal preference, but I recommend that you run the searchable 1 copy and side in the others when you're sure to go first, as it can be quite the liability otherwise.
Sample Deck
Here is a sample decklist to get you started! Kashtira Fenrir is generally a strong card, but it excels especially well here in Mayakashi. It makes Small World "free", as you can use the Fenrir you added off Fenrir to get to any Mayakashi monster without losing card advantage. Not only that, but in tight situations, you can still play if you only have Fenrir and Dakki as the two can go into Yoko. If Fenrir is too expensive, other options can be explored, as some have been tinkering around with Doomking Balerdroch setups or more defensive cards.
The choice between Pots also varies between people, but Desires gives you a good amount of extra kick and most of your cards are 3-ofs anyway. Mezuki and Ghost Belle & Haunted Mansion act as useful cards that are also Small World bridges. Jack-o-Bolan is another useful extender that acts similarly to Yuki L3, letting you revive Mayakashi Synchros on the opponent's turn. If you've already drawn Banshee, you can send Glow-Up Bloom off Musume to add Bolan, which lets you unclog the Zombie World enabler. Speaking of Banshee, you can hold her for the opponent's turn if you need the additional negate off Absolute Zero.
Conclusion
All in all, Mayakashi is a unique and interesting deck with tools that matchup well against the current prominent threats in the metagame. While it may not be a meta contender itself, it can put up a fight and do fairly well for itself. Only time will tell if people find success with it at the regional or higher level. Even if it doesn't, it's still an enjoyable archetype that got revitalized by the new support. Until next time folks, Renren out!
