Jumpin' Jack (Time Thieves Pure)

You might be surprised when I say that Time Thieves are capable of a lot more than you'd initially imagine. Narrowly dodging effects and attacks, pulling fast ones on your opponent, swiping some of their best cards and resources, plenty to go over. This deck features predominantly Time Thief Main Deck monsters while revolving heavily around that one special Time Thief Xyz, along with his fellow counterpart that brings a whole new layer of utility. In this summary, I'll be going over each of the main components of the deck, monsters, backrow, and extra monsters, and how each correlates to the other in one fashion or another.

Main Deck Monsters

The one monster in your deck to perfectly get things started is Time Thief Regulator. If he's the only monster you control, you get to Tribute it and Special Summon two more Time Thief monsters with different names from your deck in defense in its place. This is perfect for setting up your very first Xyz right off the bat, as well as search for powerful resources, which I'll get to in just a bit.

Your primary target for the aforementioned Regulator is Time Thief Winder. Upon Normal or Special Summon, he allows you to search your deck for any Time Thief card, other than itself. This way, you can easily amass resources for the future, either other useful Time Thieves that buff up your Xyz monsters or for the essential backrow of the deck. Alternatively, you could bring him to the field at no Normal Summon cost using his hand effect, which simply has you detach a material from an Xyz you control.

Another primary monster and target for Regulator includes Time Thief Bezel Ship. While face-up on the field, it has a Quick Effect to tribute itself and attach any card from your opponent's GY to a Time Thief Xyz you control as material. This is perfect for getting materials and effects off in a flash, not to mention leading to its GY effect, which allows you to Special Summon it back simply by detaching a material from an Xyz you control, much like Winder. Do bear in mind that if it Tributes itself again after this or is used for a Link Summon, it will become banished immediately after, so the best way to recycle it is for material of another Xyz Summon.

 

Time Thief Time Recorder may seem like an arbitrary addition to the Main Deck, but if you read into it, there's more than meets the eye. Its own Quick Effect lets it Tribute itself during your opponent's turn to make sure they take the next battle damage, not you. This is ideal for when your opponent has a big, scary high ATK monster that's about to attack directly or hit you for some seriously big points. Just keep in mind that your opponent could potentially attack with a weaker monster first so they take less damage and then attack directly or towards another weak monster using their own big bad tool. Recorder also revives itself in the grave if a Time Thief leaves the field by a card effect, including their own, making it another good choice for future Xyz material or getting its effect off again in dire situations.

The two Danger! monsters in the deck that are primarily used for additional Xyz fodder are Danger! Mothman! and Danger! Chupacabra!. Being easy to summon even after using up your Normal Summon, they can also allow you to draw additional cards or send grave-centric materials to the GY, such as Recorder, Bezel Ship, Startup or Flyback. You could also use them as the discard cost for Twin Twisters, which comes in handy if you need juuuuuuuuuust a little more quick backrow protection.

Summoner Monk excels as both a Level 4 DARK monster to Xyz with, as well as a way to bring out more Level 4's like Winder and Bezel Ship by discarding an unwanted Spell for the turn like a Double or Nothing! that was in your regular draw or opening hand. Not much else to say, just surprisingly useful given the archetype of deck it's in.

Spells/Traps

Time Thief Startup is a new Quick-Play Spell that allows you to instantly Special Summon any Time Thief from your hand, letting you get off Regulator and Winder's effects off perfectly. You could also use them after your regular Xyz material monsters have been used to bring out Bezel Ship or Recorder to bolster their longevity. Arguably its better effect is in the grave, where you get to banish it and target one of each Time Thief card type from your grave (Monster, Spell, and Trap) to a Time Thief Xyz you control as material. Absolutely perfect for recycling materials and getting your Xyz effects off.

Time Thief Hack not only protects your Time Thief Xyz monsters upon summon for the turn, but also powers up said monsters for every material attached to them using its targeting effect. Even better, if the Time Thief targeted with it has a material owned by your opponent (which, given Redoer and Bezel Ship is almost always a guarantee), they get to attack directly and breach all your opponent's best tools. And even if it gets sent to the grave, Startup will make sure it doesn't go to waste.

Time Thief Flyback has two great uses in one, the primary being attaching a Time Thief card from your deck to an Xyz you control as material, typically another Flyback or even a monster or spell to get the banishing or drawing effects off. What you'll likely be mainly using it for, however, is by banishing it from the grave, even during your opponent's turn, to enact a Bezel Ship-like effect and attach any card from your opponent's grave to an Xyz. Even if your opponent destroys it while it's set, they're not safe from its grave effect for the turn.

No Time Thief deck is complete without the ever-essential Time Thief Retrograde, the brand-new Counter Trap. Simply by having a Time Thief Xyz on the field, you can negate an opponent's Spell/Trap and attach that card to said monster you control. That way, your opponent's only fueling Redoer's wrath and potential to make them pay for thoughtless and strong plays.

Aside from the main Time Thief backrow, Instant Fusion is used as a quick, easy way to bring out Xyz material in the form of Mudragon of the Swamp. Not only is it Level 4 and therefore great for bringing out your Xyz monsters, but its Quick Effect can protect your DARK monsters for the turn as well.

The Phantom Knights of Shade Brigandine is another amazing material for bringing out Redoer, being a free summon on your first turn and acting as a Trap when attached, letting you get the Monster and Trap detachment effects of Redoer off in tandem right from the get-go.

Lost Wind is used as a good, inexpensive way of warding off your opponent's powerful Special Summoned monsters, being able to recycle itself once from the grave when your opponent brings out an Extra Monster. This way, you're essentially playing four in the deck, but you're more than welcome to add in an extra and play six, essentially.

Foolish Burial is a card whose most common targets will include either Bezel Ship or Recorder, given their grave effects. You could potentially swap this or other cards out for Foolish Burial Goods, for either Startup or Flyback's respective grave effects, if you're feeling eager.

Extra Deck

The undisputed boss monster of the deck is none other than Time Thief Redoer himself. He ties the whole deck together, being able to swipe your opponent's cards every Standby Phase and use them to his advantage like it's nothing. Its Quick Effect can do all sorts of crazy stuff when your opponent least expects it. By detaching a Monster, it banishes itself until the End Phase of the current turn. This makes it perfect for escaping powerful attacks and then following up with Recorder to reflect potential damage, or dodging and negating targeting or destruction effects like Effect Veiler, Infinite Impermanence, and the like. Keep in mind that if it has a backrow card attached as well when activating this effect, it's best to detach them too to get multiple useful effects off at once. Detaching a Spell lets you draw a card, not much else to say. But its other devastating effect comes with detaching a Trap, which lets you return any face-up card your opponent controls back to the top of their deck in a jiffy, punishing them for either heavy attacks or devastating effects they thought would be wise to get off with Redoer on the field. Even better, if used on your opponent's turn, next turn you get to attach that same card you returned atop the main deck to Redoer as material, to add further insult to injury. I can't tell you how many times I'd duped people with this particular effect, it's insane.

The other essential Extra Deck monster is Time Thief Perpetua, commanding two amazing effects in one. By detaching a material from her, you get to revive any Time Thief from your grave, including the main deck monsters or Redoer. It's ideal to use when Redoer's been used for the material of a Link Summon or the like, mainly for Gravity Controller or Wee Witch's Apprentice. Its Quick Effect also allows you to attach a Time Thief card from your deck to Redoer for absolutely free, letting you get more effects off faster. It's an amazing support card for the deck, and I sincerely hope and pray it comes stateside real soon.

The Utopia Engine is great to use already, given the deck's emphasis on Xyz monsters. Number 39: Utopia Double acts as an easy way to bring out far more powerful monsters while you have barely any other options, namely Number 39: Utopia for attack negation or massive Double or Nothing! -boosted attacks, or Number S39: Utopia the Lightning for wonderful 5000 ATK destruction without fear of your opponent's cards being activated in response to its battles. You can also use any of these three monsters to get off the effects of Winder and Bezel Ship, fortunately enough. They provide great synergy with your existing timeline-jacking juveniles.

Abyss Dweller is a vital monster that can be brought out just as easily as any of your other Xyz Monsters, the rationale for its utility being its Quick Effect that prevents your opponent from activating card effects in their GY for the turn. It and Tornado Dragon, which acts as a walking MST, make perfect use of any Bezel Ship or Recorder that have been summoned from the grave via their respective effects so you can keep on recycling them as you please.

Weaknesses

Though Time Thieves are capable of some surprising muscle, they're not without their flaws. For one, the deck relies almost entirely on the Extra Deck for strong attacks and staying alive, the main deck monsters acting as mainly fodder for them and providing some quick utility here and there. Furthermore, when faced with high ATK monsters themselves, the deck faces issues regarding remaining LP from damage, especially after paying the Instant Fusion cost once or twice, hence the way Recorder is used in this situation. Wee Witch's Apprentice helps mitigate this a good bit, given the 500 ATK/DEF boost it grants to all DARK monsters and the 400 ATK/DEF drop it gives to LIGHT monsters.

Common hand traps like Ash Blossom & Joyous Spring and Ghost Ogre & Snow Rabbit also give Redoer plenty of trouble if they're used in response to it, the former since its Quick Effect is easily negated due to including a drawing effect and the latter which straight-up destroys Redoer for activating its Quick Effect at all. For these reasons, consider substituting cards in the main or side deck for Called by the Grave if they scare you too much.

Shaddoll monsters, in general, are a problem, given how heavily they combat Special Summoned monsters. Given how heavily Redoer and other Extra Deck monsters are used in the deck, it's no surprise as far as the challenge they pose. If your fingers are crossed, a good Lost Wind will hopefully send them home packing after an activation and some sound thinking from there on out.

Conclusion

At the end of the day, Time Thieves show a ton of potential given the way they run and the surprise of being on the receiving end of them. And I believe that with enough support and close planning, they could very well become a meta deck someday. Maybe that's just my wishful thinking, but I've got high hopes for these Ren Amamiya-esque little fighters.