Darklord Testing Dec 2020

Strengths

• Versatility


• High draw & search power


• Potential to OTK


• Ability to lock the board down

Weaknesses

• Prone to bricking


• Very dependent on the Graveyard


• Reliant on multiple special summons for combos (Nibiru the Primal Being weak)


• Requires some practice

• The First Darklord - This is the main beater of the deck and can be used offensively as well as defensively. Aside from board wiping, he can protect Fairy monsters from targeted effects and also act as a secondary Darklord Contact. This deck more so focuses on summoning him off of Super Polymerization (usually without Morningstar as material) for his protective abilities rather than board wiping.


• Darklord Ixchel - One of the best draw power and setup cards in the deck. Can send itself along with another Darklord card to the graveyard to draw 2 from the deck. Can also copy a Darklord spell or trap in the graveyard as a quick effect for 1,000 LP.


• Darklord Superbia - This is your main setup card for fusion, link, and xyz summons. Superbia's ability isn't a once per turn effect, so it's always a prime revival target for Darklord Contact, Monster Reborn, and The First Darklord. (Of note: A copied Darklord Contact from the graveyard will not proc Superbia's effect upon revival as the timing will be missed).


• Indulged Darklord - This card synergizes incredibly well with Super Polymerization since it gives 2/3 material for The First Darklord or a free Starving Venom Fusion Dragon.


• Super Polymerization - A very multifaceted fusion card; can be activated during your turn or your opponent's turn since it's a quick-play spell. It does require a discard to activate- so make sure you save a card to discard to the graveyard. Since this deck uses 2 Pot of Desires for additional draw power, Super Polymerization serves as a good safety blanket if either Darklord Uprising or Darklord Morningstar get pitched.

• This combo is essentially the bread and butter of the deck. It requires a bit less setup than the standard Darklord Uprising fusion and it's more Pot of Desires-friendly since draw power is really important for this deck. Ideally you want to weed out the possibility of getting Ash Blossomed before attempting this combo. Indulged Darklord does 2 things: it gives you a Super Polymerization target on your opponent's side of the field and it gives you a free search for a Darklord monster. As long as you can get a 3rd monster on the field (usually by reviving from the graveyard), you can get The First Darklord very easily and then start to revive your monsters again. This combo is centered around The First Darklord's ability to swarm and protect your field rather than board wiping your opponent.

• This combo is a bit niche, but can be both offensive and defensive. Condemned Darklord allows you to tribute monsters from the graveyard instead of the field, which can help pave the way for things that can't be special summoned like Darklord Morningstar. Offensively, it's an additional tribute summon that can bring things like Darklord Morningstar to the field or a second Darklord Superbia/Zerato for rank 8 XYZ plays. This also works around Archlord Kristya if you have it on the field since this wouldn't be considered a special summon. Defensively, Capricious Darklord is also able to use it's normal summoning quick effect during your opponent's turn, meaning you could tribute summon Darklord Morningstar from your hand after your opponent finishes summoning their monsters during the main phase. Afterward, you can use Morningstar's ability to swarm Darklords to your side of the field based on the number of effect monsters your opponent controls.

• This is a pretty well-known combo: you link summon Condemned Darklord, use her ability to discard Darklord Uprising to the grave and add Darklord Morningstar to your hand. During your opponent's turn you quick effect Darklord Uprising from the graveyard (using Darklord Ixchel, Nasten, etc) to fusion summon The First Darklord using Darklord Morningstar from your hand to board wipe your opponent's field.

• Like I mentioned before, Darklord Superbia's ability to revive an additional fairy from the graveyard is not a once per turn effect. Meaning you can continuously revive it from the graveyard and still proc its effect. The exception is if you copy a Darklord Contact from the graveyard using monsters like Darklord Ixchel or Nasten- as the timing for Superbia's effect would be missed. In terms of this deck, there are 3 ways to revive Superbia for its effect: Darklord Contact (from the hand), The First Darklord, and Monster Reborn. If you're lucky enough to have access to all 3 of these revival effects in a turn, your board will be well protected with link monsters such as Apollousa Bow of the Goddess and Herald of Mirage Lights.

1. If you don't have Called by the Grave in hand, try to weed out Ash Blossom as quickly as possible depending on your strategy for the turn.
   
   
   
   1. If you're planning to go the Indulged-Super Poly route, use other draw/search cards to bait such as Allure of Darkness or Pot of Desires. Typically you really don't want to get Ash Blossomed on Indulged Darklord.
   
   
   2. If you don't have Super Polymerization in hand, you could bait with Indulged Darklord and use a different combo depending on what you have in hand.
   
   
   
   


2. Don't worry about the possibility of pitching Darklord Morningstar or Darklord Uprising if you need to play Pot of Desires, you're also running 3 copies of Super Polymerization for fusion summoning.


3. Darklord Amdusc can bring back Darklord Superbia or Zerato to your hand from the graveyard if you need a level 8 monster for Trade-In.


4. When looking for monsters to banish for Allure of Darkness, usually I'd go with Amdusc, Zerato, or doubles of monsters that are already in the graveyard.


5. Most Darklords can only be special summoned once per turn, but Darklord Superbia and Indulged/Capricious Darklord are exceptions to this rule. This makes it possible to go into Rank 4 and 8 XYZ plays.


6. If you're having trouble deciding whether to play offensive or defensive, Indulged Darklord allows for more aggressive offensive plays while Capricious Darklord gives you more opportunities for defensive plays during your opponent's turn.


7. Remember that Super Polymerization only allows you to fusion summon from the field while Darklord Uprising allows you fusion summon from your field and hand.


8. Watch how you play Archlord Kristya, it locks both you and your opponent from special summoning.


9. Herald of Mirage Lights is good for spell/trap protection that doesn't specifically target your fairy monsters (ie. Raigeki, spells that search for monsters, Mirror Force, or Dark Hole).
   
   
   
   1. Make sure you have a fairy monster in hand to discard to use its negation effect, otherwise it would be better going into Condemned Darklord or Knightmare Phoenix.
   
   
   
   

1. The biggest problem with any Darklord deck is bricking. I only run 1 Ash Blossom in this deck because I felt like I was bricking too often on opening hands. Running any non-Darklord card will increase your chance to brick since a lot of Darklord cards require other Darklord cards to work with and start combos; ie. Ixchel needs another Darklord card for her effect to go off, Nasten needs 2 Darklord cards to discard to special summon itself. In a perfect world I'd run zero handtraps (or add more Called by the Graves if it wasn't limited to 1).


2. So...the graveyard. If your opponent does anything to hinder your access to the graveyard, then it really puts this deck down. Most- if not all Darklord combos require some degree of revival from the graveyard for fusion or link summoning. Aside from using Allure of Darkness for draw power, you really don't want to see your Darklords getting banished from the graveyard. Also just hope you never get matched up against a Necrovalley deck.


3. This should be self explanatory, but you're doing a lot of special summoning to go into your fusion monsters and links. If you notice that your opponent is running Nibiru the Primal Being, you can either play defensive by setting up a Condemned Darklord & Darklord Uprising combo during your opponent's turn- or stick to the main beaters of your deck without going into your extra deck. Darklord Ixchel and Darklord Nasten can definitely hold their own on the field, especially if you have Darklord spells and traps in the graveyard.


4. Lastly, this deck will require some practice. You likely won't be using the same combo twice in a row between duels depending on what you have in your opening hand. If you like the thought of thinking up new strategies on the spot and being creative- you'll probably enjoy testing it out.

1. In terms of Darklords in my side deck, they're mostly for namesake if I feel like I can extend combos (especially since half of the Darklords can only be special summoned once per turn). Darklord Tezcatlipoca is the closest thing we have to a Darklord hand trap, but it isn't really worth running it compared to Ash Blossom since it only prevents card destruction. Nergal and Nasten are more niche picks and Capricious is there in case I need to play more defensive. The Sanctified Darklord is a decent option too if you want to play more defensive.


2. I have 3 Ash Blossom in my side deck just in case- though I reaaaaallly don't like using them because they tend to brick hands. I also have 3 Nibiru and 3 Dark Ruler No More for some more added protection just in case the Super Poly strat isn't working.


3. Reasoning is....reasonable. It can surprise your opponent if they're not expecting it, but you're not really in control of what's summoned by the effect. More often than not you'll end up special summoning Superbia when you want it to be in the graveyard instead. Upstart Goblin is also a good option if you want to thin your deck down. Celestial Transformation is also an option since you're running almost all Fairy monsters, but it could also result in a brick.


4. If you feel like it isn't worth running Ash Blossom at all- the best replacement is probably Upstart Goblin since it's more draw power and it thins your deck down.