In the world of Yu-Gi-Oh (and to be honest, most trading card games) an archetype is akin to a theme. It refers to a group of cards that work well when used together, and thus make sense to build an entire deck around. Yu-Gi-Oh is absoultely flooded with archetypes, providing no shortage of deck-building options for those looking to get into the game. Whatever playstyle you might be trying to cultivate, there’s an archetype for you.
As a big fan of Yu-Gi-Oh, I’ve definitely got my favorites. Here are the Top 10 of those favorites!
10) Fists of the Unrivaled Tenyi
So, this isn’t so much a fully-formed group of cards as it is a singular card that I decided to force into becoming an impromptu archetype, all because of a single combo that was too stupid to resist trying to pull off. See, “Fists of the Unrivaled Tenyi” is a card wherein, if it is destroyed by an opponent, you get to summon a super strong monster for free. So, I designed an entire (and entirely terrible) deck around the idea of baiting my opponents into accidentally destroying the card, only to then find themselves staring down “Blue-Eyes Ultimate Dragon” and its whopping attack stat. Even better, if multiple copies of that “Tenyi” card are destroyed at once, I can summon more than one gigantic dragon. It’s not good on a competitive or functional level, but it is hilarious!
9) Noble Knights
The Noble Knights are one of the first archetypes that I ever tried to wrap my young mind around when I was starting to take Yu-Gi-Oh a bit more seriously. The theme of this deck revolves around the knights of the round table, and they are represented by a group of beefy knight guys in shining armor. These knights receive any more buffs and benefits when you equip them with a second set of cards that mimic the mythology of ancient medieval weaponry (like Excalibur and Hauteclere). It’s a simple premise with simple execution, but that doesn’t make it less entertaining to charge the battlefield for the glory of Camelot!
8) Destiny Board
In any tabletop game, there is nothing more intrinsically appealing than some sort of special technique that can win you a game automatically. The most famous “insta-win” condition in Yu-Gi-Oh revolves around the “Exodia” card. However, my favorite has to go to the “Destiny Board” cards. All you have to do to win is to have five cards out on the field that spell out the word “FINAL”. It’s much easier said than done, of course, but your entire deck is tailored to help you get out those cards and protect them while they’re vulnerable. You can lock your opponent out of options, all while you casually assemble your pieces of victory and welcome your opponent into the sweet embrace of their “FINAL” slumber!
7) Harpie Lady
A classic archetype from the early days of Yu-Gi-Oh, and yet still a potent force to this day. This eclectic band of dangerous monster bird ladies is capable of sweeping the field in rapid succession and decimating your opponents Spells and Traps. They are able to easily summon themselves upon defeat, grow stronger as their numbers rise, and their archetype-specific boss monster “Cyber Slash Harpie Lady” is easily brought out onto the field and has an effect that can dismantle your opponent’s toughest monsters. The skill-ceiling (a term referring to a deck’s difficulty of mastery) is higher in this deck than others on this list, but that doesn’t make it any less fun to play.
6) Kozmo
This is one of the strangest decks in all of Yu-Gi-Oh, and that’s saying something. I wish I had sat in on the creative board meeting that birthed this archetype, because for some reason this deck revolves around a series of sci-fi Wizard of Oz characters piloting giant starships. It’s an insane concept, but a very fun one to utilize. The smaller monsters (like Dorothy, the Wicked Witch, etc.) have unique effects to mess with your opponent, and they all have the ability to tag themselves out for bigger and more powerful spaceship cards, even on your opponent’s turn! Your opponent will never know what trick you have up your sleeve, because you’ve always got options to turn the tide of battle with this deck.
5) Lunalight
Even as Yu-Gi-Oh continues to evolve into a crazier and more advanced game, it’s important to remember where we came from. Anyone remember the good old days of Fusion Summoning? Well, the “Lunalight” archetype remembers, and makes that the central gimmick of the deck, along with a dose of Pendulum Summoning. This deck is all about lunar-styled anthropomorphic monsters that join together into progressively more terrifying boss monsters, culminating in the fearsome “Lunalight Leo Dancer”. These cards are great at bouncing all around the field and graveyard, recycling themselves for repeated fusions. Your biggest cards in this deck are also great at punishing your opponent for over-extending, allowing you to turn a supposed defeat into a last-second victory.
4) Nephthys
Historically, Ritual Summoning has been one of the most mocked gameplay features in Yu-Gi-Oh. It isn’t hard to see why, as it can be both cumbersome to pull off and tricky to build into a manageable deck. Still, I’ve always found it appealing, and the Nephthys archetype really pushes the mechanic to its limit. The more you Ritual Summon, the stronger your board becomes, until you’re eventually able to pull out the indomitable “Nephthys, the Sacred Flame” to close out the game. It’s a good thing, then, that the deck is comprised of cards the reward you upon their destruction, which also makes it very tricky for your opponent to figure out a way to safely take you down. And, I mean, this is an Egyptian archetype, and Yu-Gi-Oh was always heavily inspired by Egyptian mythology!
3) Reptilianne
On first glance, the Reptilianne archetype does not seem particularly powerful, chiefly because so many of their monsters have low attack stats. However, the majority of the cards in a deck like this have the unique effect of permanently reducing your opponent’s monster’s attack stat to zero. It doesn’t matter how weak your own cards are, because anything at all can beat over a foe with a whopping zero as their attack! Then, you can use the bonus effects of such powerful boss monsters as “Reptilianne Echidna” and “Reptilianne Melusine” to take advantage of your opponent’s paltry strength and smack them over and over until they taste defeat! I managed to take down some very skilled players with the trickery of this deck.
2) Trains
For the longest time, I had absolutely no idea that this archetype even existed, but I am continuously grateful that I managed to eventually discover it. Trains are awesome! This is a deck that never stops being fun, and it has one of the simplest strategies in the entire game. You summon a few trains, use those trains to XYZ Summon a giant dreadnought which can deal damage to your opponent just by being summoned, and then it turns into an even bigger juggernaut of destruction that can attack your opponent for 6000 damage (or more, if you have “Limiter Removal”). It isn’t surprising to close out a game on only your second turn with this deck. Plus, you get to use a card called “Superdreadnought Rail Cannon Juggernaut Liebe”! How cool is that?
1) Amazoness
I could truly go on and on and on about how amazing this deck of buff warrior women is. There’s so many fun combos and strategies you can pull off, like Fusion Summoning “Amazoness Empress”, or flooding the field and then Link Summoning into something like “Five-Headed Link Dragon”. Instead, I’ll just try to encapsulate the amazingness of the deck’s singular best card.
That card is “Amazoness Onslaught”. It’s a trap card, and also a continuous one, which means it stays on the field until it is destroyed by an effect. While active, it means that any opposing monster that battles with one of your Amazoness monsters is immediately banished from the game after combat, no questions asked. When you combine this with “Amazonnes Queen” (who prevents your monsters from dying in battle), you have an invincible wall that dismantles any monster your opponent throws at you, without exception (barring a few very rare boss monsters). On top of this, “Amazoness Onslaught” allows you to summon an additional monster per turn, and if it is destroyed, you get to re-summon any defeated Amazoness back onto the field.
With this card alone, I’ve successfully managed to take down multiple high-ranking opponents using top-tier decks. Honestly, it’s kind of incredible how well this card handles newer and more advanced strategies. It also has the added benefit of being a part of the Amazoness deck, which is just not a deck many people use. So many of my opponents obliviously sent their strongest cards to the grave, all because they had never encountered an Amazoness deck before and didn’t know what it was capable of.
And, to top if all off, a wave of brand-new Amazoness support cards are about to come out. This excellent deck is going to be even more amazing very soon!
But hey, that’s just my opinion!
The Contrarian Corner 