Psychic Arcadia Movement

Did anyone ever play Yugioh WC 2010 for the Nintendo DS? There you've been a member of the Arcadia Movement which was also featured in the 5DS Anime itself. Ever since then it was my dream to built a Deck around the Psychic Monsters which they used. The concept of paying your own Lifeforce to obtain strong effects was always a fascinating concept for me. 

Over many years I thought about how to play a pure version of this Deck in an optimal way and this Decklist is the end result of that long process. Unlike modern Psychic Variants this Deck is focused around the LP gain and pay aspect and not around the more popular banishing Aspect. It may look a little weak but I managed to reach Platinum League in Master Duel with it, so that's something. Let's look at how good these Psychic cards really are in all of it's Detail: 

Teleport into the Psychic Duelist Mind

First we have to understand what this Psychic Deck wants to achieve. The Maindeck Monsters follow mainly one pattern. They are focused around paying LP to activate various stronger effects and gain the upper Hand through these effects. The Extra Deck Monsters then focus on regaining LP you paid to keep being able to use your effects. The Spell & Traps support this kind of Playstyle and make it much easier to get were you want. For this Decklist we keep the Focus on Monsters which Pay LP to get your LP down fast and prepare a deadly strike with Psychic End Punisher.

To win the game you will mostly facilitate the use of Psychic End Punisher who's very much at home in this Strategy and use his abilities to overwhelm the opponent. With that we now understand the basic premise of our Psychic cards and can look at how to get started. 

Bringing the Arcadia Movement into Motion

Unlike many other Decks I covered so far your Starters are mostly your Spells this time. Let's see what we are working with: 

Brain Research Lab is your field Spell which enables an additional Normal summon by placing a Psychic Counter on this card. You can also place a Psychic Counter on this card instead of Paying LP to activate a Psychic Monster effect. The danger of this card is that when it leaves the field you take 1000 Damage for each Psychic Counter on this card. 

To prevent that you can use the effect of Psi-Blocker and declare Brain Research Lab with his effect. That will indeed remove all the Psychic Counters from this card. Most of the time you take the risk anyway or even want that card to be destroyed to get your LP down further. 

Your other great Main Starter is Emergency Teleport which is a quick play Spell who let's you special summon a L3 or lower Psychic Monster directly from the Hand or Deck, but it's banished during the End Phase. Thanks to this card you have yet another way to get instant Synchro Access. As a quick play you can even use it as an defensive tool in certain situations and get out Krebons or Mind Protector who both have got ways to survive a Battle Phase. 

Lastly for the Spells the permanent Spell Teleport is a great going second Tool. If your opponent controls a Monster and you do not, you can Pay 800 LP to special summon any Psychic Monster you like from your Hand. It's a Soft Once per Turn so multiple Copies can get through opponents interruption/removal with ease if your initial summon should get removed from the field. 

Your Deck can going first already build up your Psychic End Punisher key card but I recommend not doing that. He's perfect going second for an swift OTK. Going first with this Deck is not as effective since most stuff is related to Battle but in the following paragraph we talk about how 3 cards make your Deck much more accessible even going first. 

Preparing the Emergency Doctor Panda Trickbox

You won't always find the cards to go into a big Synchro play turn one so instead you use additional cards which prepare massive Swarming on a following turn or support your weaker Monsters. Let me explain that in more Detail. 

Pandaborg , Doctor Cranium and Emergency Teleport form a Trio which enables you to access every Monster in your Maindeck pretty easily. 

We talked about Emergency Teleport which opens up all L3 or lower Psychic options from your Hand or Deck including the L1 Doctor Cranium. He's a Battle Floater with a measly 100/100 Statline which sounds awful but does work even nowadays thanks to the nature of this Deck in general. When he's destroyed by Battle you can pay 800 LP to search any Psychic Monster from your Deck to your Hand. That's a very welcome addition to your Deck. 

Pandaborg on the other Hand is yet another Floater similar to Giant Rat and friends. What makes him good is his 1700/1400 Statline and the fact that when he's destroyed by Battle you can pay 800 LP to Special summon any L4 Psychic Monster from your Deck in any Battle Position, him included. 

Okay okay Battle reliant floaters in this day and age are very suspicious for sure but from my experience with this Deck especially in Master Duel I can say it works most of the time just good enough to get you into an OTK position with a Psychic End Punisher. Since Emergency Teleport is still Semi Limited in that Format I add an additional Doctor Cranium instead. 

You also have many effects which enable looping of Pandaborg and/or Doctor Cranium. To be exact: Armored Axon Kicker , Final Psychic Ogre , Genetic Woman , Psychic Tuning , and Overmind Archfiend all have the ability to revive/recycle them for another usage. 

Now let's talk about all the Maindeck Monster Options from top to bottom to see what we can do with them: 

Master Gig: L8 with 2600/1400 Statline. Once per turn by paying 1000 LP you can destroy Monsters from the opponent equal to the Psychic Type Monsters you control. This effect doesn't target which is great but you cannot use it if you control more Psychic Monsters then the opponent controls Monsters. Even so he can be searched through Doctor Cranium and then be summoned easily with Teleport. Combine that with Psychic Commander and you just got a very easy 2 Monster line into Psychic End Punisher. 

Storm Caller: L6 with 2300/2000 Statline. He gives a passive Ability to all your other Psychic Monsters. When they destroy Monsters by Battle you can put these Monsters on top of the Deck. If he's destroyed by card effect the current controller of this card takes 2300 Damage. The first effect can be very devastating if the opponent has any kind of Bricky Monster on the field and act like an Yata-Garasu kind of lockdown in certain Situations. The 2nd effect can be used to your advantage if you give this card to the opponent through Psychic Jumper's effect and then destroy him with Psychokinesis. Like that the opponent will take 2300 Damage and loose two Monsters while you get a Monster from the opponent and only loose 2000 LP in the process. 

Armored Axon Kicker: L6 with 2200/1800 Statline. Can be Normal summoned without tribute if you control a Psychic Monster. If he destroys a Monster by Battle you take damage equal to Half the destroyed Monsters ATK. Then you can special summon a Monster from the GY with ATK less then or equal to the Damage you took. Having an easy L6 to summon is great to get into easy L8 and L9 Synchro plays. His reborn effect is mostly useful to get Doctor Cranium , Psychic Jumper or Mind Protector back onto the field. If you combine him with Psychic Snail he's able to use this effect Twice per turn. Also if you use Psychic Sword on him you can enhance him to be a 4200 ATK threat which can then revive pretty much anything you desire. 

Overdrive Teleporter: L6 with 2100/1200 Statline. Can't be Special summoned. Once while on the field you can pay 2000 LP to Special summon 2 L3 Psychic Monsters from the Deck. This effect opens up a very easy L6 or L9 Synchro line. Since you cannot Special summon him you have to be creative using him. Use Brain Research Lab to summon him in one turn. Then use Psychic Lifetrancer and Genetic Woman after that to get him back to your Hand or just Final Psychic Ogre to do the same. Like that you are able to use his effect again if you still have targets. There are 4 Monsters in total who can be special summoned in this Deck through his effect. 

Final Psychic Ogre: L5 with 2200/1700 Statline. If he destroys a Monster by Battle you can pay 800 LP to return a Psychic Monster from your GY back to your Hand. Combine him with Psychic Snail to use this effect up to twice per turn and really start generating advantage. Psychic Sword can ensure he has enough ATK to get this effect triggered more easily. Since he's L5 he's also nice to go into easy L7 and L8 Synchro lines. 

Psychic Snail: L4 with 1900/1200 Statline. To this day this card fascinates me. With 1900 ATK it's already a pretty chonky Snail but let's look at the effect. You can Pay 800 LP and target another Psychic Monster. It can now attack 2 times during each Battle Phase this turn. During the turn you use this effect Psychic Snail can't attack. This is not a once per turn so you can Power Up all your Monsters to have 2 attacks instead of one in this turn. She's easily your best OTK enabler in the Deck. Combine this with Psychic Sword and Psychic End Punisher and you will find yourself in a very advantageous Position. Pandaborg can bring her out from the Deck easily whenever she may be needed. 

Genetic Woman: L4 with 1700/1200 Statline. Once per Turn you can pay 1000 LP and target one of your banished Psychic Monsters and return it to the Hand. Now there are only few cards in this Deck which banish. Use her to recycle HTS Psyhemuth who used his effect or any Monster banished through the effect of Psychic Lifetrancer. Emergency Teleport , Overmind Archfiend and Psychic End Punisher also are able to banish your Monsters for this cards effect to work but are more rarely to come up in Combination with Genetic Woman.

Destructotron: L4 with 1600/400 Statline. If he's the only Psychic Monster on your field during the End Phase he will be destroyed so don't summon him with Pandaborg if you are unable to have 2 Psychic Monsters on the field. Without a once per turn you can pay 1000 LP to target and destroy 1 set backrow from the opponent. He's obviously nice to remove any threat in the way of your OTK. Pay 5000 LP destroy 5 Spell & Traps and make way for an Psychic End Punisher OTK, nice. Just beware that any card the opponent flips up in response won't be destroyed. 

Power Injector: L4 with 1300/1400 Statline. He can Pay 600 LP to give a 500 ATK Boost to all Psychic Monsters during this turn. The good part is that if you combine him with Psychic Snail and other OTK cards you can generate a massive amount of damage. Also you can use him as synchro material and resummon him to give all your Monsters another 500 ATK Boost. He can become pretty dangerous if left unattended. Just beware yet again since this ATK Boost applies to opponents Psychic Monsters too. 

Psi-Blocker: L4 with 1200/300 Statline. He can declare a card name and that card can't be used until the end of the opponents next turn and it's effects will be negated. Now you use him as Synchro Material and revive him with for example Psychic Tuning and declare a 2nd name which will be Prohibited. Then thanks to Psychic Tuning he's treated as a tuner and you can Synchro summon again. Then you revive him again and declare a 3rd card and... I think you get the point by now. With him you can slowly disable the opponents Deck and make way for an easy OTK from that position. 

Psychic Commander: A L3 Tuner with 1400/800 Statline. If a Psychic Monster Battles you can pay 100 to 500 LP to make the opponents Monster loose that Much ATK/DEF until the end of the turn. If the opponent has a way to strong Monster on the field you can use your Monsters to run into him and slowly weaken his Monster. Combine that with Pandaborg and you can seriously decrease the opponents Monsters ATK and DEF. Since he's a Pseudo 1900 ATK Tuner and can easily pay a lot of LP he's my L3 Tuner of Choice. Even if you don't find Synchro Access right away, he's not to be underestimated. 

Mind Protector: L3 with 0/2200 Statline. Prevents non Psychic type Monsters with 2000 or less ATK from attacking and has a mandatory 500 LP maintenance cost (He's destroyed if you cannot pay LP). He's a target for Overdrive Teleporter and can be used as a Wall with Emergency Teleport. Even more creative is it to give this card to the opponent with Psychic Jumper so he has to pay the mandatory 500 LP Maintenance Cost and has a Monster that pretty much always only benefits yourself. Obviously he will most likely try to link it away quickly but that's okay since you already got a Monster from him anyway with Psychic Jumper.

Krebons: A L2 Tuner with 1200/400 Statline. He's THE L2 Tuner of the Century, or at least he was back in "The Duelist Genesis" Format. Without a once per turn you can pay 800 LP to negate the attack when he's attacked. Nowadays he's still okayish to be used. Sometimes you can lure your opponent into attacking him multiple times to then punish him with a Psychic End Punisher on the following turn. He's also a good way to survive one Battle Phase if summoned with Emergency Teleport.

Psychic Jumper: A L2 Tuner with 100/1500 Statline. He's your final L2 Tuner. Once per turn you can pay 1000 LP to target one face up Monster from the opponent and one other Psychic Monster you control and switch control of those Monsters. They cannot change their Battle Position during that turn. You keep permanent control of the Monster and can set up creative Synchro plays with this card. He also enables easier OTK lines and you can also easily loop this effect with revival effects. He's a overall pretty good card nowadays and aged like a fine Wine. 

Lifeforce Harmonizer: L2 with 800/400 Statline. Can be discarded to negate and destroy a card from the opponent which inflicts Damage. You can use this card whenever a card is activated from the opponent that inflicts Damage, no matter to which player. He can be useful to not loose against certain burn cards and get rid of them in the process. Use Final Psychic Ogre to recycle him back to the Hand and use him again Also having a L2 non tuner opens up much more creative Synchro lines too. Overall he's more useful then you would think at first sight. 

The Psychic Overminds appear

Now it's time to take a look at the big Psychic Boss Monsters and what to do with them: 

Your first Boss is the L8 Thought Ruler Archfiend, a true classic in terms of Synchro Boss Monsters with 2700/2300 Statline. When he destroys a Monster by Battle you gain LP equal to it's original attack. Also when exactly one Psychic Monster is targeted by an Spell or Trap effect you can pay 1000 LP to negate and destroy that Spell or Trap. Note that he can also for example negate a Monster Reborn from the opponent, should he target your Psychic Monster in the GY. If the opponent is using Psychic Monsters you can also interrupt his plays with this effect. He's more versatile then you might think at first sight. 

Let's continue with Hyper Psychic Blaster a L9 Synchro Boss with 3000/2500 Statline. He inflicts piercing Damage and if he attacked a defense position Monster you gain LP equal to the difference between it's DEF and the ATK of this card. This card is the Blue-Eyes White Dragon of the Psychics. Easy to summon and just a decent beater with some upsides. 

There's another L9 Synchro in the form of Overmind Archfiend. Unlike other cards in this decks he needs to be summoned with 2+ non tuners not just one. Then again he has a 3300/3000 Statline and can once per turn banish any Psychic Monster you like from the GY. When he's send to the GY you special summon as many of the banished Monsters through this effect as possible. It's easy to banish your other Synchro Bosses with him to prepare an army of Boss Monsters should he be send to the GY. It's a great card to discourage usage of removal against him and he doesn't exclude himself with this effect so if you manage to summon two copies from him you can banish one Overmind Archfiend with the other Overmind Archfiend. You do get a nice loop here since whenever one is send to the GY the other returns. With a L2 Tuner you can go into Psychic End Punisher or you tribute them for your 5 Maindeck Tribute Monsters, or give control of it to the opponent and then run over it to trigger it's effect for you. Just imagine Mind Master would be legal.... infinite Combos waiting to be explored. 

These 3 "Boss Monsters" so far can't compare to the one and only Psychic End Punisher. He's a L11 chonk with 3500/3500 Statline. He is unaffected by your opponents activated effects if you have equal or less LP then him. Once per Turn you can pay 1000 LP to banish 1 Monster you Control and target 1 card from the opponent and banish it. At the Start of each Battle Phase you can make him gain ATK equal to the LP difference between you and your opponent and this ATK gain is permanent. He's the culmination of everything this Deck wants to achieve and your Heart and Soul which you always want to see on the field. If the opponent manages to get rid of him be sure to use Genetic Woman or Final Psychic Ogre to get him online again with his protection effects available. 

Enhancing the Psychic Horizon

There's more stuff I have yet to talk about hidden within this Deck so let's get that out of the way too: 

Psychic Sword is an equip Spell. It will give your Psychic Monster up to 2000 ATK if your LP are lower, calculated by the difference from your LP to your opponents LP. This card is great to use since you always pay LP and can almost always use it to maximum advantage. Combine this card with Psychic Snail and almost everything in this Deck can threaten an OTK. 

Psychokinesis is simple. If you control a Psychic Monster you can target and destroy 1 Card on the field and take 1000 Damage. You can deal with annoying cards from the opponent, or if you feel like generating advantage instead destroy your own Overmind Archfiend with this card. Psychokinesis is quite versatile and useful in many situations. Like mentioned earlier you can also destroy a card like Storm Caller which you gave to the opponent to inflict 2300 Damage. 

Psychic Tuning is a Call of the Haunted For Psychic Monsters but the summoned Monster from the GY will be treated as a Tuner. If Psychic Tuning is sent to the GY you take damage equal to the level of the summoned Monster x400. This card enables easy lines into all of your Synchro Monsters and is a must play for me. The amount of times this card won me Duels made me appreciate this card a lot. 

There are a few more little Synchro Monsters to be found. The L5 Magical Android with 2400/1700 Statline heals you for 600 LP for every Psychic Monster you control during your End Phase. In Theory you can gain up to 3600 LP with her which is quite a lot. Even more if you use 2 Copies of this card. She's pretty much just a Monarch at the end of the day but I like her. 

Your first L6 Synchro is the 2400/1800 Statline HTS Psyhemuth. This card has the exact same effect as D.D. Warrior Lady which makes him a nice removal for any annoying Monster since it's a non targeting banishing effect. He may then be returned to the Extra Deck with Genetic Woman to be used again. 

The other L6 Synchro is the 2400/1800 Statline Psychic Nightmare. Once per turn you can choose 1 card in the opponents Hand and guess if it's a Monster, Spell or Trap. If you are correct Psychic Nightmare will have 3400 ATK until the opponents End Phase. In any case you will see and confirm the card in his Hand which makes a follow up play with Psi-Blocker very interesting to prohibit that card. 

Finally Psychic Lifetrancer is the only L7 Synchro we have with a 2400/2000 Statline. Once per turn you can banish 1 Psychic Monster from the GY to gain 1200 LP. This effects sets up Genetic Woman who can then recycle the banished Monster. Also having 1200 LP more is nice to be able to keep activating your other effects. 

Oh no it's Mind Crush! 

A Psychic focused Deck is not perfect. You pay a lot of LP and your overly strong and useful Brain Research Lab might loose you the game sometimes, because of your low LP. You might think this Deck is bad against burn but that's quite the opposite. Magical Android and Psychic Lifetrancer will keep you alive in these matchups. Also Lifeforce Harmonizer exists in these Situations too. 

Another weakness is your lack of Draw advantage. You have a lot of recycling but if your field gets broken you have a difficult time to find a comeback chance. Also a lack of removal could prove to be your downfall in some matchups. Psychokinesis prooves to be very essencial to get rid of Skill Drain and friends. 

The overall tempo of this deck is very varying. You have instant Psychic End Punisher access with easy OTK lines and your slower and sometimes unreliable Pandaborg / Doctor Cranium lines which are sometimes to slow against OTK or mass negation Decks. 

Overall you have to rely on Genetic Woman and Final Psychic Ogre to keep your Hand looking fresh and that won't always work.

The Final Brainwashing

A Psychic Deck is a versatile fun pile full of combos and potential which you can unlock. This Deck is not suited for beginners since you need an advanced understanding of when to use which cards, to unlock the whole potential of this Deck. You can manipulate your LP easily and go into many different plays at almost all times. 

It may not look like it but I only scraped the bottom of the Barrel with this Deck Profile (Yes it's that deep and complicated). If you like what you've been seeing and reading here this Deck is for you and it will greatly reward you through practice and dedication. 

At first I was surprised to see I could reach Platin league in Master Duel with this Deck but the more I play it, the more I understand what to do and when to do it. I changed the ratios in this Deck quite often until coming to this definitive Version. 

Final Rating: 

★★★★★★★ OTK Potential

★★★★★★☆ Defensive Tools

★★☆☆☆☆☆ Control Options

★★★★☆☆☆ Removal Options

★★★★★★☆ Recovery/Recycling

★★☆☆☆☆☆ Card Advantage

Overall Rating: ★★★★☆☆☆  27/42★

Arcadia Movement Special Instructions

As you might expect there are quite a few rules to look out for when you play with this Deck: 

Master Gig: You can only activate his effect when the opponent has equal or more Monsters then you do, it does not target. 

Storm Caller: His first effect is optional and can prevent cards like Giant Rat or Crystal Beasts from triggering their effects. 

Armored Axon Kicker: His effect which special summons a Monster from the GY does not target. This is extremely useful against Called by the Grave.

Psychic Snail: 1. The effect that allows a Monster to attack twice is active during the turn you activated that effect only. 2. You cannot use this effect on a Monster which can't attack. One Snail can target another Snail but that one can't target the first Snail. (We only play one anyway). 

Power Injector: His ATK Boost applies to monsters on the field at resolution, opponents Monsters included. 

Psi-Blocker: After you declared a card that card cannot be used and it's effects are negated even if it's already on the field or Psi-Blocker leaves the field. 

Psychic Commander: His effect doesn't start a Chain and the LP cost can't be prevented with Brain Research Lab.

Brain Research Lab: 1. None of these effects start a Chain. 2. If you negate the effect of this card with Psi-Blocker all Psychic Counters will be removed from this card. 

Psychic Sword: The Equipped Monster only gains ATK while your LP are lower then your opponents, not the opposite.

Psychic Nightmare: The opponent has to show the card you choose to confirm whether you guessed right or wrong. 

Thought Ruler Archfiend: As long as only one Psychic Monster is targeted the place where it happens doesn't matter (Hand, GY, Banished Zone).