Time Thief archetype is a pretty fun archetype that can be somewhat of a control deck. Note for my build, some of the cards aren't officially out yet.
Some of the biggest issues with the deck are with consistency, not many monster effect negates, board control, or pump out big beaters to get over stuff. When playing the deck you want to play more defensive and more control based. I made the deck as a mix going 1st and going 2nd. As in having options while going 1st or 2nd. So in my build, I decided to tech 2 cards (Evenly Match and XYZ Import). And my extra deck has few board control options like Evilswarm Exciton Knight and Castle. But I will explain more about this deck while going on.
Monsters (19):
3x Ash Blossom - Standard Hand Trap. You need some sort of hand trap nowadays, too many can be cloggy so currently, Ash Blossom is one of the safest ones to main.
3x Time Thief Regulator - I recommend trying to bait out
Ash Blossom before summoning this guy 1st. This guy has 2 jobs for you, when he is normal to summon, you can tribute him while you have no monster to special summon 2
Time Thief monsters from your deck. I recommend for your targets to be
Winder and
Adjuster. Both of their effects will kick up once you summon them. It also has a GY effect where if your XYZ monster was destroyed by battle you can special summon it from the grave but it is banished when it leaves the field.
3X Time Thief Winder - He is practically the Stratos for this deck, he can search out
Time Thief cards and I would recommend using his effect to search out
Time Thief Retrograde or
Flyback. You can also special summon him from your hand by detecting materials from a
Time Thief XYZ.
2x Time Thief Chronocorder - I would recommend running 1 or 2 copies. It has a graveyard effect that can special summon itself when your XYZ (partially
Redoer) leaves the field with its own effect.
3 x Time Thief Adjuster - She can easily special summon herself if you normal or special summon a
Time Thief monster and has a "
Foolish Burial" effect that can dump any
Time Thief card in the grave. I would recommend using her effect to dump
Chronocorder or
Bezel Ship in the grave but heavily recommend using it to dump Time
Thief Startup/Time Thief Flyback in the grave using her effect. Since these cards have graveyard effects.
1x Time Thief Bezel Ship - I would recommend running 1 or 2 of this guy. It can special summon itself from the grave by removing
XYZ material from a
Time Thief XYZ but it banishes itself after it leaves the field.
For this deck, I am running a
"Performage" Engine.
1x Performage Damage Juggler - I recommend foolish burial him and either get
Trick Clown or
Hat Tricker to hand but if you draw into him you can still normal summon him or use him as a hand trap to not take damage.
1x Performage Trick Clown - one the best stall,
Foolish Burial target and
XYZ material card, his effect is "If this card is sent to the GY: you can target 1 "Performage" monster in your GY: Special Summon it, but its ATK/DEF become 0, then you take 1000 damage 1000 damage. You can only use this effect of "Performage Trick Clown" once per turn. I love this guy in my Lightsworns build but he is also handy here especially since you are trying to get into rank 4 XYZs. You can detach him as XYZ material and his effects still go off.
2x Performage Hat Tricker - One of the good Performage monsters even when you go 2nd. It special summon itself if there are more than 2 monsters on the field, so if you go 2nd, you can just special summon him easily and not lose your normal summon that turn.
Spells (12):
1x Instant Fusion - It is an extender to help get out your XYZ or even link plays. I am using this summon
Darkfire Dragon to kick off XYZ plays.
1x Foolish Burial - you have a few Foolish Burial targets in this deck such as
Trick Clown,
Damage Juggler,
Regulator,
Chronocorder, and
Bezel.
1x Monster Reborn and
1x Called by the Grave - They are good generic staples to have in hand.
2x Time Thief Startup - I mostly use it for its GY effect but it also works as a double summon to help to get
"Time Thief" monsters on board for XYZ plays. Its GY is written as "During your Main Phase: You can banish this card from your GY, then target 1 "Time Thief" XYZ Monster you control: attach 3 "Time Thief" cards of different types (1 Monster, 1 Spell, and 1 Trap) from your GY to that monster as Material". You can search this card using
Winder or dump it in grave using
Adjuster
1x Time Thief Hack - you don't have to run this card, but for my build, it is helpful to get over stuff or finish for the game. It also gives a protection effect for your "Time Thief" monsters during the turn they are summoned, they can't be destroyed by your opponent's card effects. This helps especially if you are going 2nd. You can even attack directly using its effect if you already have your opponent's material as XYZ material and give a 300 attack boost per material that is attached. I would recommend running 1 and it is searchable.
2x XYZ Import - This is a good going 1st card, especially if you know your opponent has to start their play with a monster that has less than your XYZ monster, most of the time you are going to start out with Redoer either way so anything less than 2400 ATK that your opponent controls will turn into an XYZ material. If you do it right, you can pretty much stop anything your opponent do for the turn.
2x Pot of Disparity - I generally prefer this card over Desires (especially since most decks do run
Ash) or Extravagance. Because you get to control what you are banishing, from your extra deck and try to dig out what card you need especially if you going for games 2/3 where you are trying to search out your key side deck card. Its Duality effect doesn't restrict special summoning which is important on turn 1. If you don't want to banish anything or want more draw power, I strongly suggest
Allure of Darkness 12 Dark Monsters, over something like Desires. I generally am against running Desires because Ash exists and also if you run decks that have a lot of darks or need cards in the grave.
1x Pot of Avarice - You are going to need to recycle all your monsters, XYZs or not. It can be cloggy running multiply so running 1 is good enough.
Traps (11)
3x Time Thief Retrograde - This card is your Spell and Trap shield and turns your opponent spell/trap into XYZ material.
3x Time Thief Flyback - You can stuff your opponent's GY cards if it is set as material if it is in the grave or stuff cards from your deck into Time Thief XYZ Monsters.
2x The Phantom Knights of Shade Brigandine - It is a trap monster that can be used for rank 4 XYZ, if you don't have traps in your grave on your 1st turn, you can activate him right away.
3x Evenly Matched - One of the best board wipes in the game and with Redoer's effect, you can easily use him on your turn if you have nothing field. And it is one of the best cards especially going 2nd. This card single handly will make Hero's player rage quit after they set up their board because of their lower monster count, take care of annoying unbreakable boards, etc.
Extra deck (15)
1x Darkflare Dragon - you only have him for
Instant Fusion target or banish for
Pot of Disparity if you want. You just it for that necessarily filler.
2x Time Thief Redoer - He is basically the boss monster for this deck and he is also a generic rank 4 that you can splash around in other decks. His effects read as
"Once per turn, during the Standby Phase: You can attach the top card of your opponent's Deck to this card as material. (Quick Effect): You can detach up to 3 different types of materials from this card, then apply the following effect(s) depending on what was detached.
The goal for this deck is to stuff cards into him either from your opponent's side or yours and using his effects to draw cards, banish itself to not get destroyed, or place a face-up back on top of the deck.
2x - Time Thief Perpetual - She has 2 good effects, during each standby phase she can stuff cards into Redoer, Doublebarrel, or another copy of herself. You can use her effect to special summon Time Thief monsters from the grave as well.
1x - Time Thief Doublebarrel - I would also recommend a 2nd copy but 1 is good enough because you need stuff cards in him instead of something natural like Redoer can do. But his effects are worth it. Because he can turn into mind control or negate the effect a monster your opponent controls on the field. His effects read as:
2x Castel - a decent rank 4 to go into and helps to get certain cards on the field
1x Evilswarm Exciton Knight - He is one of the best rank 4 board wipes to get out
1x Evilswarm Nightmare - Since you run a lot of dark attribute monsters, you can easily get this guy out to book your opponent monster, if they are running stuff like "Sky Strikers or heavy on the Link" he is useless but most decks, he is still good putting some board controls.
1x Abyss Dweller - Graveyard is like a 2nd hand, you can shut down your Opponent's second hand.
1x I:P Masquerena, Pheonix, Unicorn - Generic links that are good go-to.
1x Infinitrack Fortress Megaclops - "Unaffected by other monsters' effects, except those of Xyz Monsters. Cannot be destroyed by battle, except with an Xyz Monster. You can target 1 Xyz Monster in your GY and 1 card your opponent controls; Special Summon that monster from your GY, and if you do, attach that opponent's card to it as material, also for the rest of this turn, any damage your opponent takes is halved. You can only use this effect of "Infinitrack Fortress Megaclops" once per turn." This card is great for XYZ heavy decks and also a 4k beater to get over your opponent's monsters.
Side Deck (15)
3x Nibiru - for those heavy Special Summon and spam decks.
3x Gamma + 1x Driver - a good hand trap option especially if you are going 2nd.
1x Dimensional Fissure - You can run Dimensional Fissure as a possible floodgate. Because it doesn't banish XYZ materials. but put it when you are done setting up.
3x Cosmic Cyclone - A lot of meta decks have Spell and Traps with GY effects so it is better to get them banished.
3x Dark Ruler No More - Best go 2nd card after Evenly Matched, especially if you know they are running annoy stuff like Dragoon.
1x Red Reboot - If you go 2nd or you know your opponent runs a lot of annoying traps, this card takes care of them. Especially for the face, you can activate it from the hand.
Strategy:
When playing this deck, you want to be playing more defensively and as possible. Time Thief Winder and Regulator are your best starting plays. And when you are stuff cards in Redoer or even Doublebarrel, you particularly want to stuff them up with spells and traps. That is where Time Thief Flyback comes in and Time Thief Startup comes up while in the grave. I generally made this deck where you can go 1st or 2nd, it won't matter much. So that is why I run stuff like Evenly Matched as a main deck card. Ideally, when going 1st you want to get out Time Thief Redoer and then get out Perpetua. When going 2nd, I would recommend getting out Doublebarrel or a different XYZ/Link depending on the situation.
Either way, I had a lot of fun playing this deck and I hope you guys get to try it out!
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