Phantom Thieves of Time [Post Phantom Rage] - Time Thief PK

Your man ChupiTrooper's gone and done it again. A new set, a new Time Thief-related deck, and a new outlook on things to come. I dunno what's gotten into me or what has me so attached to these win-pilfering boogers, but I wouldn't have it any other way.

So what's new? Well, I'd say a good bit. For one, Phantom Rage is on its way to grace us with new support for practically any DARK Xyz build (basically my immediate thought when seeing the list was "Indirect Time Thief support"). For another, Rusty Bardiche is FINALLY playable again after the madness that was early Orcust decks, although it came at the cost of two CBtG's and freedom from Harpie's Feather Duster. And for a final, I'd say along with my new experience and outlook in life in general, so too has mine towards these guys become.

Without further ado, here it is. My latest Time Thief build, with friends new and old to really push them to the next level. Capable of card-snatching, non-targeting bounceback, and a way of using Traps that just really, really tends to get me. We'll go in order of archetypes this time, to really go over each component of the deck and their roles in what we aim to do; pop off with these bad boys by messing with heads and firing back if our foe tries anything nasty.

Time Thieves

These are the handsome devils debuting in Savage Strike the OCG was starved for quite a bit, but then they starved all ten of us players of it back with another key Xyz support monster until Ignition Assault. Fortunately that conflict's come and gone, and now it's time for them to get to work with some fellow DARK monsters of all walks of life. As follows are the Doctor Who, Persona 5, whatever kind of lookalikes you think them to be dorks in full.

• Who's a good boy? It's Time Thief Regulator, the first of our pilferers and a key one at that. Bringing him out while you have a barren field allows you to Tribute him so he can fetch two of his fellow Time Thieves with different names from the deck. Beware of the looming Ash Blossom, Ghost Ogre, and Effect Veiler however, because if any of these come this pooch's way, your heist is bound to end in seconds. But fret not, we run a certain tribe of beasts as a backup plan.


• What's a dog without his trainer? The aforementioned Regulator is best friend to our next main three-of, Time Thief Winder. Summoning him in any way will do for his effect well, which adds any Time Thief card other than himself from deck to hand. What you search for may depend on what's already in your hand or GY. Speaking of hands, he can summon himself from the hand just by detaching a material from an Xyz monster you control, so Xyz Summoning just before bringing him out is a good application as well.


• The Time Thieves are nothing without their technological know-how and doodads, one of which happens to be the Time Thief Bezel Ship. More often than not you'll want to try and get it in the GY for when your Xyz monsters hit the field, because it can then revive itself by detaching a material from one of them, though you'll want to use it for an Xyz Summon immediately after as removing it from the field without doing so will banish it. Hence why a summon of an Xyz monster, detaching Bezel Ship with a Winder in hand, then reviving Bezel Ship by detaching the remaining material is A-OK. Alternatively, its on-field effect is great during your opponent's turn, where it Tributes itself to snatch a card from your opponent's GY and attaches it to Time Thief Xyz monster you control. It's much more useful than you think, actually. It's a Quick Effect for one, so it can be chained to pretty much anything, and your opponent can't use what's no longer in their GY. Try it out for yourself and you'll see what I mean!

• Though maybe not always as considered, Time Thief Chronocorder can put in some good work like its fellow tools of the trade. When your Xyz monster leaves the field by a card effect (including a certain boss's own), it revives itself from the GY with the same "don't not use me for another Xyz or I'm history" syndrome as Bezel Ship, though this one can Tribute itself as a one-time reflection of battle damage your opponent tries to inflict on you for a turn. Its revival effect, however, is definitely at the forefront, and really just goes to show how recursive these guys can be.

 

• The leader at the helm is none other than Time Thief Redoer, famous for snatching opponents' cards in the Standby and being very, very hard to kill in the right hands. Depending on what you detach from him (Monster, Spell, or Trap), he'll bounce himself out until the End Phase to dodge attacks and disruptive effects, net you a free draw, or bounce back your opponent's face-up card without even needing to target. Pilot him wisely, as he's about as good as the one who brought him to the field in the first place.


• The main man's lovely assistant is Time Thief Perpetua, who does her whole team a lot of favors. In Standby, she detaches a card to revive any Time Thief in the GY, including Redoer! Though if you ask me, you'll likely want to get Bezel Ship back out on your opponent's turn for more snatching and Winder on your turn for more searching if Redoer is already up and running. Other than that, she has a Quick Effect at any time to attach a Time Thief card from deck to any of your Xyz monsters, effectively reloading their resources. I urge you not to sleep on this card, given all it can do.

 

• We've spoken about Time Thief tools of trade before, but what about backrow? Those are just as important! The first of which is Time Thief Flyback. On field it attaches a Time Thief card from deck to your Redoer or Perpetua as material (most often another Flyback), but it can also banish itself from GY to play Bezel Ship's snatching game. That being said, it's not the end of the world if your opponent pops this card, so make them pay by swiping one of their GY resources!


• Speaking of backrow, nobody likes to be on the receiving end of the kind that really, really doesn't want you to play through your setups. But hey, that's why we run Time Thief Retrograde, which uses Redoer or Perpetua's mere presence to negate a Spell or Trap and attach it to them as material. If it's a Trap that Redoer happens to snatch, you pretty much kill two birds with one stone, since you get to do his bounceback effect immediately after.

Phantom Knights

Those of you that have seen ARC-V (I sure haven't, one way or another) may remember a certain chap named Yuto who piloted these steely specters. Others may remember their signature Link monster as a splash into another kind of deck that took all its competition by storm some time ago, prior to some of its most important tools getting hit on the banlist. Now that Bardiche has atoned for Orcust's sins, it's time to welcome him back into the limelight with a new set of friends to help accomplish what he sets out to.

A quick note before starting: these DARK Warriors are VERY recursive and easy to make good Extra Deck material out of or search with. It goes without saying that just like all the other Main Deck monsters, they're very thankful to have Armageddon Knight by their side so their GY shenanigans can take place. Though the same goes for their Spells and Traps, some of which banish themselves to revive their users.

• It goes without saying that The Phantom Knights of Silent Boots is quite the staple to run at three. From the hand, he can summon himself for free provided you control a fellow Knight of his. This includes a monster or backrow unit, but other than that he banishes himself from the GY to search for a "Phantom Knights" Spell or Trap, just in case you can't set it just yet using the archetype's Link boss. So try Normal Summoning another PK and then this guy from your hand, I promise it'll be worthwhile.


• Silent Boots' usual partner is The Phantom Knights of Ancient Cloak. He swaps his own position on-field to amp up the ATK and DEF of a DARK monster of your choice by 800, but that's only a drop in the bucket in terms of his utility. You'll mainly be using him to search for a card when banished much like Silent Boots, though instead he looks for any "The Phantom Knights" card, including monsters with those words in the title. Just pay very close attention to the word "The" and you'll be fine.


• In an interesting twist of fate, a new Main Deck recruit for the shady sword-slingers comes in the form of The Phantom Knights of Tear Scale, and boy howdy can he be a team player. While he's on the field, he lets you discard any card (including non-PK's with beneficial effects in the GY) to act as a Foolish Burial or Foolish Burial Goods for a Phantom Knights card of your choosing from deck. In the GY, however, he can be even more useful. If any Phantom Knight card whatsoever is banished from there (for its effect or other such things), he revives himself to provide utility for further Extra Deck summons. So essentially, by banishing one of the two main Traps for PK's to revive one of their monsters, you can revive this card as well and make an instant Rank 3. Just be sure to use him for one of those, because he has the same "banish if it leaves the field" syndrome as some of the Main Deck Time Thieves tend to.


• One more main deck PK that'll surely extend your plays, The Phantom Knights of Stained Greaves is an odd beast, but superbly useful. Should you summon a fellow PK, he summons himself from hand and gives you the option to amp its level up by one. So just by setting up Brigandine, that's an instant double-bouncing Redoer for free! Alternatively, he banishes himself from the GY to summon a PK friend of his from hand for free, also with the option to amp up its level by one. Always helps to have a RotA or Armageddon Knight handy to get this bad boy up and running with his friends.

 

• The main Xyz monster for PK's you'll most often go into is The Phantom Knights of Break Sword. And I gotta say, for a Rank 3 he puts in some serious work. His effect lets you pop a card on your field (9/10 times himself for his own second effect) and any card of your choosing from your opponent's field. Popping himself may sound silly, but that actually activates his destruction effect that revives any two Phantom Knight monsters from your GY and increases their Levels by 1, letting you go into yet another Xyz Summon but only locks you into bringing out DARK monsters for the rest of the turn. You'll want to run two just in case, because more destruction and revival simultaneously just goes to show all the more recursion these guys have.


• Raiders' Knight is another interesting choice. It looks to be a Break Sword retrain, and it definitely counts as both a PK and Raidraptor, though the latter is pretty much the only mention of them you'll find in the deck. Detaching a card from it lets you Rank-Up or Rank-Down the guy by one into a DARK Xyz of your choosing, so likely either Break Sword or another big bungus DARK Xyz monster rolling about soon.


• But the head honcho of these guys, free from the shackles of Forbidden at last is The Phantom Knights of Rusty Bardiche. Words can't describe how important this guy is, only requiring three generic DARK monsters to bring out and essentially acting as a Foolish Burial or Foolish Burial Goods for any of your PK cards a la Tear Scale, while also being able to set one of its backrow directly from the deck. That, and summoning a DARK Xyz monster of any kind to a zone it points to lets you pop any card on the field, so a RUM Quick-Play Spell during your turn is applicable in this regard! I repeat, do not sleep on this monster.

 

• Rounding off the backrow or arms these guys take up is The Phantom Knights of Shade Brigandine. It brings itself out as a Level 4 DARK Warrior, allowing for material of a Rank 4 Xyz of your choosing, but it's worth noting that its effect lets you activate it the turn it's set, provided your GY is free of Traps. Believe me when I say that Time Thief Redoer LOVES being summoned with this card under it, since then it gets its floating and bounceback effects online right out the gate. You'll want to run one because, well, later in the game you'll definitely have a Trap or two in the GY for one reason or another, so it's best to use those extra slots for cards like the next entry.


• That next one being Phantom Knights' Fog Blade. It's pretty much a tribal Fiendish Chain, targeting a monster of choice to prevent it from having its effects, attacking, or being attacked. But its utility doesn't stop there, since it banishes itself from the GY to revive a Phantom Knight of your choosing. That latter one was a boon that I'd overlooked for the longest time, but now I see the full scope of what this baby does for the deck.


• As far as this next backrow slot, Phantom Knights' Sword and Phantom Knights' Wing are practically the same card, equipping to a monster to power it up and offer destruction defense and reviving a PK by banishing themselves from GY. I personally say run whichever of these two you prefer, or both. I just choose to run Sword 'cause, well, I dunno. Guess I'm a big sword doofus or something.


• Another card that PK's are thankful to have unbanned (albeit a couple months or so back) would be The Phantom Knights' Rank-Up-Magic Launch. Sure, Rank-Up-Magic Phantom Knights' Force is also a thing, but it's moreso for a build of PK and Raidraptor and stuff like that or if you really, REALLY wanna go for Arc Rebellion that badly. But in this case, we'll be running Launch so we can go into a certain stained-glass bungus, or if we're feeling crazy and wanna promote Break Sword into Redoer or Perpetua if we need. It also banishes from GY to attach a PK from hand to an Xyz of your choice, but obviously the promotion takes center stage here.

Xyz Dragon

Not quite Phantom Knights, not quite Raidraptors, but still very much considered to be key parts of DARK Xyz stuff. Hoo wow, take a shot every time I say "DARK Xyz" in this article and your liver will implode. Anyways, when you need a good beatstick or some strong bungus control options, these guys have your back.

• And it all starts with Dark Rebellion Xyz Dragon. Pretty much the definition of a beatstick, he detaches both his materials to slurp up half the ATK of an opponent's monster and gives it to himself. Pretty standard stuff, but that's only to enable his Rank-Up into...


• ...a guy who's surprisingly lacking a golden heart-shaped arrow, Dark Requiem Xyz Dragon. Aside from looking like he belongs on a goth album cover, provided that he has Dark Rebellion under him as material, he can either slurp up ALL of an opposing monster's ATK for himself, or more often, detach a material as a Quick Effect to negate a monster effect, destroy the one who attempted to use it, and optionally revive an Xyz from the GY. Not only does he only add to PK's recursiveness, but he's the real big reason we tend to run RUM Launch.


• And now for Phantom Rage's very own cover card, though let's hope he doesn't cost too much once he pops up stateside. Arc Rebellion Xyz Dragon provides the best of both worlds from his brothers, and is made all the more easy to go into by Raiders' Knight, which you'll more often than not be using as the sole method or bringing him out. Detaching a material only locks you into attacking with him for the turn, but has it gain the ATK of all other monsters on the field while also negating all their effects (including your own) while it has a DARK Xyz attached to it. And that latter part remains, so really only bring this guy out as a coup de grace to smack your opponent for well, well over lethal.

Danger!

Hoo boy, remember these guys? The set of creepy-crawly cryptids that certain decks tend to run as a draw engine and way to get bodies for extra summons on the board? Thankfully, you'll be spared from the mass Thunderbird! and Bigfoot! plops in hopes of making Hope Harbinger, as the Danger! monsters here are pretty much for, well, making other Xyz, albeit at lower ranks and maybe also to use as material for Bardiche.

Pretty much every Danger! monster has the primary effect of randomly discarding a card and bringing itself out if it was unhit to draw one, so I'll spare the repetition there and go for the secondary effects in listing each of these out.

• First of which is Danger! Mothman!. It'll be one of your main means of aiming for a Rank 4, though its discard lets you draw one and then discard one, so if summoning it didn't work out, you can pitch another card of choice from your hand for their own effect.


• Speaking of pitching Danger!s, that's where Danger! Chupacabra! comes in. When he hits the GY upon discarding, he revives a Danger! of choice other than himself, though you'll likely be going into Mothman! for more Rank 4's or in the case of the next pick, for Rank 3's.


• Danger!? Tsuchinoko? pretty much summons itself regardless of whether or not it's hit with its own effect, since its secondary one brings itself out if discarded. A pretty good pal for all the Main Deck PK's in this regard, since they can make Break Sword and the like.


• The other Level 3 happens to be Danger!? Jackalope?, which four out of five times you'll want to discard, along with the last Danger! on this list. Main reason being that it summons a Danger! directly from deck, making it all the easier to go into either Mothman! or Tsuchinoko? if you're lacking L3's or 4's to build stuff out of.


• And last but not least, the searcher comes in the form of Danger! Nessie!. This final must-discard searches any Danger! monster of choice, so more often than not you'll want to empty your hand of all but this, activate its effect to search for Jackalope?, then use that guy to bring out a L4 or 3 right away. Pretty easy stuff, right?

Other Main Deck Staples

The next four cards really don't belong to a set archetype, but have totally earned their places here one way or another.

• After all, what would a DARK-based deck be without Armageddon Knight? Searchable with RotA and a simple summon Foolish Burial's a DARK monster of choice. That, and he's a L4, so you can go into Redoer or any of your staple R4's with ease.


• Speaking of, Reinforcement of the Army! Just as any DARK deck has a mandatory Armageddon, any Warrior deck lacks completion if it lacks this card. And this Spell gives you the choice of Armageddon himself or any of your PK's.


• Foolish Burial is, well, what Armageddon, Tear Scale, and Rusty Bardiche tend to be minus the tribalism or xenophobia. Any monster in your deck can step right up to be sent to the GY this way, including the next spot here.


• A bird in a set of knights, armor and machines? Outsiders to how DARK Xyz decks run may scratch their heads at the sight of Blackwing - Zephyros the Elite here, but he's got a pretty decent niche. At the cost of 400 LP, he bounces a face-up card of yours back to your hand to revive himself for a very, very odd "once-per-Duel" thingie. Something crazy I've been able to do a couple times is bring out a Danger! with its own effect, bounce it back to my hand with Zephyros, and use the Danger!'s effect in hand AGAIN for another free summon and draw. You likely won't get to do that often, but it feels oddly satisfying when it does.


• Other than that, though, feel free to swap out any Main Deck card you'd prefer as something else for anything in the Side Deck. Monster Reborn for generic revival, Time Thief Startup to get another Time Thief out of your hand for free, all that good stuff.

Extra Deck Staples

Let's not forget about all the other Extra Deck stuff, though! Time Thieves and PK's fill their roles well here, but what about all the others?

• Like, say, Tornado Dragon! It's a walking Mystical Space Typhoon once a turn, popping a backrow by detaching a material. Your Time Thief cards can make this thing easily, as can your Danger!s. But there's another generic Rank 4 that can do that job as well.


• Abyss Dweller may not see too much play nowadays, but can be pretty situational by shutting off your opponent's ability to use GY cards for the whole turn, during ANY phase of ANY turn. You won't bring it out too often, but when it does its job, it can really pay off.


• Upset that your banished PK's can't be of use anymore? Well, that's no longer the case with the little ditty known as Leviair the Sea Dragon! A generic Rank 3, detaching a card from him lets you bring back any banished Level 3 or 4 monster of your choice. PK gone? No problem! Bezel Ship, Regulator, or Chronocorder down for the count in the same way? That too's a thing of the past! See what I mean by incredible recursion?


• Speaking of generic Rank 3's, Dante, Traveler of the Burning Abyss makes his appearance, though it's not likely you'll be bringing him to the field outside of general milling or just to get some extra ATK to go for lethal or something.


• With all these Level 3's running around, what would this deck be without Cherubini, Ebon Angel of the Burning Abyss? It is just about the only other one of its kind here, aside from Dante, and he's got a much more useful effect. Any monster he points to can't be axed off by card effects, and he can protect himself by letting you send another card you control to the GY instead. Not only that, but he also acts as a Foolish Burial for any Level 3 of your choosing to power himself up (though the first half of that is what you're aiming for) and a way to get two Level 3's into the GY from field so their effects can take place. Boy, am I thankful this guy got reprinted in the 2020 Tin of Lost Memories. Among all the Extra Deck tech reprints and the questionable addition of yet more support for DM's two vanilla lovechildren, I'll try and look out for this guy solely. Well, him and the next card.


• A machine, in a group of master criminals and ghostly warriors? Yeah, a big boss in many Xyz decks and something that can be situational yet very worthwhile here is Infinitrack Fortress Megaclops. Requiring 3 Xyz monsters of any kind, any attempt for your opponent to walk over this guy or bash it with monster effects from anything besides an Xyz monster is futile. Not only that, but his activated effect revives an Xyz of choice from your GY, then attaches any card your opponent has to it as material. Imagine the shock on their face when you revive Redoer with this guy, attach your opponent's Trap to it, and then use Redoer to


• Don't let all these Extra Deck placements stop you from using other cards, however. Bujinki Ahashima, for example, is pretty much a lite version of Rusty Bardiche that can revive two cards of the same level to immediately use for an Xyz, and Number 41: Bagooska the Terribly Tired Tapir can be your emergency button if you're lacking in options against your opponent's main tools, and any Link monster of yours is safe from it and free to pop off to pick off those threats.

 

So that's the deck as a whole. But before I close, just wanna give you some good tips to help play to the best of your ability.

Handy Notes for Play

• With Regulator, you'll want to go into Winder and Chronocorder typically, though if Winder's in your hand change it to Chronocorder and Bezel Ship. When you summon Redoer using these two, use Winder to detach a material to summon itself, then Redoer's effect to detach the remaining monster on it and bounce out. That way, Chronocorder will revive itself and you can then use it and Winder to go into another Rank 4, like Perpetua or Tornado Dragon. If you can get another Level 4 body on the field, you can then revive Bezel Ship from the GY by detaching a material from that other Rank 4, then use it and the other L4 for another Rank 4. So it's definitely possible to get three Rank 4's up turn one, and then use Perpetua during your opponent's turn to revive Bezel Ship from GY so it can use its Quick Effect snatch.


• Redoer can be a Swiss army knife, with the way he lets you draw, bounce back, and avoid disruptive effects. Just know where and when to proc them, like if Redoer himself is being targeted for a disruption or if your opponent's about to bring a big mean boss to the field that'll spell danger for you if you don't detach a Trap right there. That being said, if you're going to proc his effect to bounce himself out and dodge stuff, make sure to also detach Spells and Traps on him at the same time to get the most out of his momentary exit. Just watch out for Ash's, Ghost Ogres, or things of the sort that can stop him dead in his tracks.


• It's not the end of the world if Phantom Knight cards end up in the GY before you want them to. That's where stuff like Tear Scale and Rusty Bardiche come in. These two could send Fog Blade or Sword/Wing that way to then banish themselves to revive the PK's you desire. Bonus points if Tear Scale is in the GY with them, since it revives itself in the process without necessarily needing either of those Traps to do so.


• RUM Launch is primarily for Ranking-Up Dark Rebellion into Dark Requiem, but don't forget that you can use Break Sword on the field to make Redoer or Perpetua in a pinch when you need, including reviving Break Sword during your opponent's turn with Fog Blade or Sword/Wing.


• Perpetua puts in quite a bit of work as well. Don't take for granted the fact that she can attach any Time Thief card from deck to any Xyz monster you control to reload their resources. Putting another Flyback or Retrograde on Redoer's just as important, but don't forget to keep Dark Requiem and Tornado Dragon going strong in the same way, too!


• Again, only use Arc Rebellion as a game-ender, because after you get off his effect, there's not really any going back seeing as how everything on the field, including your own stuff, has essentially been Skill Drain-ed and your opponent may or may not have a nasty backrow card pop up during battle that would put every hole in your plan possible. Sure, it's a great closer, but not without its risks. And you don't have to rely solely on it as a wincon, either.

All in all, Time Thieves and Phantom Knights are a fun deck with cool nonlinear combo lines and methods of snagging a win, in my personal opinion. It might not shatter things like Adamancipator, Dogmatika, or any of the umpteen Eldlich builds as quick as a snap anytime soon, but I like to think that it can hold its own and shatter expectations in the right hands and mindset. If I were to cap the strategy as a whole off, I'll say that experience is the best teacher when it comes to this deck, so feel free to give it a whirl for yourself and see just how many heads you can make spin with these DARK doofuses. Either that, or splash Dogmatika in place of certain things if you're feeling crazy or just one of those people. Regardless, I hope you have fun the way I did learning and optimizing this deck over the past several months or so.

Thanks for giving my decklist a read, as well as my other ones! I honestly wasn't expecting my last Time Thief/Phantom Knight build to reach the amount of clicks it got or wind up as the top Google result for "time thief phantom knight" if I'm reading it right. Don't mean to toot my own horn, but I'm glad I got as far with these guys as I did. Maybe they'll reach meta relevancy, maybe not. But either way, you won't see me quitting on them anytime soon.