Hello All!
Thank you for taking a look at this. As a PK fan I have been theory-crafting this deck for over a year and finally feel comfortable enough to show it off. In this deck we use the power of The Phantom Knights' Rank-Up-Magic Launch as well as Phantom Knights' Rank-Up-Magic Force to set up unique and powerful interactions with your opponent.
If this is your introduction to PK, welcome! I'll try and simplify this deck as much as I can to make the entire thing feel smooth. If you are a vetran, then I hope this opens up new ideas for your own brews.
The starters
So since this is a deck from the Z-Arc Era, that means it is almost live or die off of your starting power. Fortunately enough there happens to be a few great starters, some classics, and some new techs to get the results. In all terms, they are good and help out in all means.
1. Tour Guide From the Underworld - it doesn't get any more classic than Tour Guide, she can summom a friend which allows you to get an instant Link-2 while going +1. She has been, will probably be, the goat of Level 3's.
2. The Phantom Knights of Ancient Cloak - It's not exactly perfect, it does require a discard which can make or break some hands, but being able to set up your grave with additional PK monsters, which in term gives you the tools needed to fully set up your future board.
3. Noh-P.U.N.K. Ze Amin - Now this one might sound weird, but this is surprisingly one of the best ways to get level 3's on the board while being really consistent. Don't knock it.
4. Junk Forward - Look it's not pretty, but it's this or Gallis the Star Beast or Gilasaurus and no one likes a bit of RNG when it comes to a low resource deck.
These cards are part of your beating heart, but reallisticly you need to focus more on the extenders to really max out this deck.
The Extenders
As all good player know, victory comes from a thousand cuts, and PK is no slouch in this catergory. If we could, we would shove this deck full of nothing but extenders, but alas that isn't the world we live in.
1. Kagemucha Knight - A classic in all terms of PK Fire, an immidiate inclusion for any deck with rank 3's
2. Psychic Tracker - It''s almost as useful as Kagemucha, but it does slack a bit since he isn't a dark.
3. Psychic Tracker - Same can be said of this one too
4. The Phantom Knights of Silent Boots - A non-chainable special that helps out in more than one way
5. Emergency Teleport - With both Ze Amin and our last two Psychics this card will always be live, and when used as a starter for Ze amin it can allow for some protection plays
Every single one of the these can help push a bad start ahead, but it's better to hope you can just push even futher than the minimum. Of course, what good deck it complete without a few bad cards
The Garnets
Look no one likes it, but some decks need to have some really bad cards in them in order to win, and this deck is no exception. I will list these cards from best in hand to worst..
1. The Phantom Knights of Ancient Cloak - This is a card you love to have in the grave, unfortunately you would much rather that be by sending it from deck. Oh well, it can be normalled and linked away so it's serviceable.
2. The Phantom Knights of Ragged Gloves - Same can be said of this card as the last, though it is just strictly worse
3. Cir, Malebranche of the Burning Abyss - this is the go-to summon for tour guide, and while you can summon him from hand with tour guide or by using his own effect, you would much rather just have him in the deck
4. Noh-P.U.N.K. Foxy Tune - this is your add off of Ze Amin, which means you can't use Ze Amin to get two 3's. At least it is still a free body and can get some of your cards into the grave you want
5. Phantom Knights' Fog Blade - as a trap this card is great, though you 100% would rather have this card added over opening.
6. Scarm, Malebranche of the Burning Abyss - we needed another BA monster and this one gives us the best utility for next turn. It is summonable by it's effect but still not what you want.
7. The Phantom Knights' Rank-Up-Magic Launch - this is low key one of our best control tools, and a spice tool for later. It's not the absolute worst to open but eh.
8. Phantom Knights' Rank-Up-Magic Force - same as before, though the spice from this card is less so than before
9. Phantom Knights' Wing - this is a good grave tool, and has a useable effect on field, though you would much rather mill this card
10. Raidraptor's Phantom Knights Claw - a potent counter trap that is seachable and easily useable, though without set up it might as well be trash
Each of these cards are pretty rough, but they all have the tools needed to be incredibly useful and they help reach our goal. I also won't go into the going second tools since they are entirely up to the players choice. So with all these cards, we have a wide extra to play with.
The Extra Deck
1. Divine Arsenal AA-ZEUS - Sky Thunder - if you are playing an Xyz deck, you must play this card, no questions
2. Raidraptor - Revolution Falcon - Air Raid - a spicy tool for rank-up plays to get easy pops on opponents turn
3. Raidraptor - Revolution Falcon - when your Air Raid goes down, you have this to clear the way and try to go for game
4. Dark Requiem Xyz Dragon - a nice control tool that can basically win games on it's own, two great effects on and off turn
5. Arc Rebellion Xyz Dragon - the one-shot monster for open board states
6. Dark Rebellion Xyz Dragon - the monster needed to turn on Dark requiem, ok on it's own
7. Raider's Knight - the card that allows to stop-gap for the one-shot if a rank-up is unavailable
8. The Phantom Knights of Break Sword - one of the best rank three's in the game, capable of so much in a single card, love it to death
9. Gagagaga Magician - a quirky recovery tool for our fallen Xyz monsters, and a valid target for rank-up shenanigans
10. Evilswarm Ophion - a great floodgate monster that ca be made with a Rank-up Break Sword, on of my all time favorite cards
11. Cherubini, Ebon Angel of the Burning Abyss - the card that single handedly made PK fire viable, one of the best link monsters in the game without being broken
12. Number 75: Bamboozling Gossip Shadow - a quick negate if you are nervous and have the resources to do so
13. Dharc the Dark Charmer, Gloomy - just a good link monster that can help you build and rebuild by itself
14. The Phantom Knights of Rusty Bardiche - what can only be described as the life blood of Phantom knights, being the "boss monster" and board builder all in one.
This extra is tight, with not a lot of compromise. That being said though, the Raidraptor stuff is really just some fun jank and can be pulled if one feels like it. With all these cards laid out we can now see what a normal end board should look like. I won't bore people with all the combo lines so I'll just cover the most optimal one with Tour Guide.
One card full combo
normal Tour Guide > special Cir > link into Cherubini > Cir effect sumon Scarm to link point > Cherubini effect send Ancient cloak > link monsters to Rusty Bardiche > Bardiche effect send Torn scales set Magic Force > Ancient Cloak effect add Silent Boots > Torn Scales special from grave > special Silent Boots > rank up two 3's into Break Sword at link point > Bardiche effect to pop Sword > Sword effect to summon Boots and Scales > Rank up two 4's into Gagagaga Magician > Magican effect detatch Boots summon Sword > Boots effect add Magic Launch > set/activate Magic Launch as needed for match-up for Ophion
With just one card you have ended on two pops, as well as a floodgate to stop most problems including Kaiju's. Though if you don't value the floodgate you can just choose to use both your rank-ups to make Dark Rebellion into Dark Requiem so you trade a pop and floodgate for a negate, good all the same though.
The side deck, is as always, a person player preference. Though mine has a really funny one in the form of double rank-up in Ultimate Falcon and winning with a super towers monster.
To conclude this a fairly adapable deck that really only has weaknesses against backrow heavy decks, which are more common than one hopes. I would encourage others to take this and try their onw hand at having fun.
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