Pendulum Magicians

Welcome, disciples of Trif Gaming.

 

Pendulum magicians are a very unique combo deck that makes half of their plays outside the monster zones or the graveyard, which lets them dodge many common hand traps and floodgates that would shut down most other combo decks. Even when faced with something that can effectively disrupt them, pendulum magicians can be surprisingly resilient with a decent hand, typically able to play through 1 or 2 interruptions without much difficulty. Their biggest weakness is consistency, due to the inherent fact that pendulum decks need at least 2 pendulum scales and a few monsters in hand to make any significant plays. They are somewhat prone to brick hands that can only make 1-2 interruptions and get stopped by 1 hand trap. Nevertheless, they are definitely strong enough to pick up a win at locals as long as you can draw well and dodge Anti-Spell Fragrance.

Main Deck

3 Harmonizing Magician: Harmonizing gives you a free material for an extra deck monster just for pendulum summoning it. You want to go out of your way to set this up above any of your other plays except maybe popping a Double Iris. Just remember it can’t be pendulum summoned from the extra deck

3 Double Iris Magician: The pendulumgraphs are really good cards with StarGraph offering combo extension and recovery and TimeGraph being one of the strongest spell speed 2 destruction effects of all time. Double Iris is a searcher for them that is very searchable itself due to being a magician as well as being treated as a pendulum dragon for Duelist alliance. Don’t forget that it can pop itself if you control a dark spellcaster if you don’t have another way to do it. Also it’s not once per turn.

3 Wisdom-Eye Magician: Wisdom-Eye’s pendulum effect that pops itself to put another magician in your scales is highly appreciated consistency and it can be pendulum summoned afterwards to directly generate card advantage. Also it’s not once per turn.

2 Oafdragon Magician: Oaf is the best low-scale magician because its pendulum effect is a free +1 that isn’t that isn’t hard at all to activate. Also Konami actually remembered to keep this one to a HOPT.

2 Performapal Skullcrobat Joker: Joker is pendulum monster Stratos, it makes the deck consistent enough to be playable and when it inevitably goes to 3 on the next banlist you add in the last copy.

2 Performapal Pendulum Sorcerer: Unfortunately, not a magician monster, but its effect on summon is a +1 at worst and it is also the best way to pop Double Iris. It can also be used as a low scale in a pinch.

1 Performapal Celestial Magician: This one is played more for what it is than what it does. Both of it’s effects are pretty niche but it is the only monster that is both a pendulum magician and a performapal (not including Five-Rainbow Magician because that card was never intended to be played in actual pendulum decks). This makes it searchable off Pendulum Sorcerer if all you need is another magician.

3 Luster Pendulum, the Dracoslayer: The dracoslayers are an incredibly splashable engine for a million different pendulum decks. Luster’s pendulum effect is a free +1 and the dracoslayer extra deck monsters give pendulum decks a lot of extra utility and card advantage for only a Luster and some level 4 pendulum monsters on board. Also it’s not once per turn.

1 Tuning Magician: Halqifibrax target. Because of Selene, you can make your rank-4 play without using Tuning Magician’s effect so if you have magicians in your scales you get a free extra deck material afterward.

3 Effect Veiler: Veiler is the most synergetic hand trap for pend magicians because it is a tuner and spellcaster monster so it can be used to make Selene and Halqifibrax.

3 Ash Blossom and Joyous Spring: Any tuner hand trap works because of Halq and Ash is the most flexible one.

3 Duelist Alliance: ROTA for pendulums. You can search Luster, Pendulum Sorcerer, Pendulum Treasure to get any pendulum monster, and even Double Iris because it is a pendulum dragon.

3 Pendulum Treasure: The other ROTA for pendulums. Note that Harmonizing can’t be summoned from the extra deck so you will want to have an Oaf available to put it into your hand if you need to search it with Treasure.

1 Called By the Grave: Pend magicians are decently resistant to hand traps but your brickier hands can still be ruined by an ash and running one-of Called By means that you can occasionally sack your opponent when you should’ve been shut down.

3 Pot of Prosperity: Out of the 15 cards in the extra deck only 12-13 of them are needed. Prosperity lets you banish your worst 3 extra deck monsters to improve your consistency, which is something that pendulum decks struggle with.

1 Star Pendulumgraph: StarGraph the worse of the pendulumgraphs but still worth playing because 1 search per turn is strong and pulling off 2 Double Iris pops in a game is something the deck does just by working correctly.

1 Time Pendulumgraph: This is the reason to place such a high value on Double Iris. It’s a spell speed 2 pop every turn, but what makes it overpowered is the “Then, if this card didn’t destroy 2 cards, DIngirsu effect” clause that makes the pop impossible to avoid, gets around almost all protection, and has no reason to exist.

1 Treacherous Trap Hole: For Rafflesia.

1 Gravedigger’s Trap Hole: For Rafflesia.

 

Extra Deck

1 Abyss Dweller: Dweller is a generic floodgate monster that locks the entire current meta out of at least half their deck. You would be stupid not to play it.

1 Traptrix Rafflesia: Rafflesia is the only XYZ boss monster that is sometimes worth making over Dweller. Either a spell speed 2 double pop or a monster negate. Because most of your plays happen in the spell and trap zones, making this before or as your 5th summon is trivially easy, so you are effectively Nibiru-proof as long as you don’t draw Gravedigger’s.

1 Majester Paladin, the Ascending Dracoslayer: Majester, Ignister, and Dinoster are a simple combo with each other if you have Luster and any 2 level 4 pendulum monsters on board with at least 1 being non-tuner. Synchro luster and a level 4 into Ignister, Ignister ef summon another Luster from deck, then you can use Ignister ef to pop a scale and spin a card without targeting, XYZ Luster and a level 4 into Majester, Majester effect to search a pendulum in the end phase, Majester ef detach a material to summon Luster from extra deck, contact fuse Majester and Luster into Dinoster, Dinoster ef summon Luster from grave. It turns a few monsters with no effects on field into a search in end phase, a non-targeting spin and scale pop, and scale protection. That isn’t much, but it’s practically free because it only requires some monsters that get replaced with the same number of better monsters.

1 Linkuriboh: Linkuriboh  lets you link off your Tuning magician for your Halq combos so that you can go into Avramax and get another attribute in grave for Accesscode.

1 I:P Masquerena: Masq does a lot of things for this deck. Generic materials, 2 down arrows for pendulum summoning, and it’s an interruption because it can go into Knightmare Unicorn on your opponent’s turn.

1 GranSolfachord Musecia: There are some cases where you want to make this when link climbing to swap a Wisdom-Eye for an extender or a Joker for next turn. It’s very specific and not all that good so this is almost always banished to Prosperity.

1 Knightmare Phoenix: I had some free space in the extra deck so I threw in a Phoenix. It’s nice to have so that you can get rid of floodgates with any 2 random monsters.

1 Crystron Halqifibrax: Up the link ladder we go! Summon Tuning Magician, link it and Halq into Selene, Selene ef summon Tuning Magician, link Tuning Magician into Linkuriboh, link Selene and Linkuriboh into Accesscode or Avramax.

1 Selene, the Queen of Master Magicians: The only thing Selene does is facilitate Halq being a 1 card link-4.

1 Knightmare Unicorn: Spin away anything annoying you for 3 monsters and a discard. Unless they are immune to targeting, in which case you need to go the extra mile for Ignister Prominence or TimeGraph.

1 Accesscode Talker: This is what all the link climbing is for, pop your opponent’s entire board and beat them to death.

1 Crusadia Mekk-Knight Avramax: This is the other thing you link climb into, make a huge untargetable beat stick that protects the rest of your board and spins your opponent’s best card if they manage to deal with it.

1 Apollousa, Bow of the Goddess: You don’t get your pendulum monsters back into the extra deck if you use them as XYZ materials, so going into 4 material Apollo is a fine alternative to Rafflesia or Dweller if you have no other plays to make or you want to avoid topdecking for Joker on your follow up turn.

1 Ignister Prominence, the Burning Dracoslayer: See Majester Paladin, the ascending Dracoslayer. Ignister is pretty good on it’s own as well because it can pop a scale for a non-targeting spin while also summoning a Luster from deck to continue your plays.

1 Dinoster Power, the Mighty Dracoslayer: See Majester Paladin, the Ascending Dracoslayer.’’

 

Combos

Pend magicians don’t really have specific 2 or 3 card combos, they’re more about figuring out how to turn 3 or 4 random combo cards in your hand into the same kinds of end boards. Playing every hand optimally takes a little bit of practice, but here are some general things to think about:

The main cards you are looking to use are Harmonizing, Double Iris, Luster Pendulum, and Pendulum Sorcerer.

Try to work in something that will give you a follow-up play, whether that is a search from Joker or Majester, set pendulum scales, or something else like an Oaf effect.

Use Wisdom-Eye whenever possible, it’s free advantage and not HOPT.

Link climbing isn’t very good going first. You would rather make Apollousa, I:P, or some XYZ monsters.

Popping Double Iris is very annoying to do without Luster Pendulum or Pendulum Sorcerer.