Arcana Force

Arcana Force
From left to right: "The Lovers", "The Chariot" and "The Empress" From left to right: "The Lovers", "The Chariot" and "The Empress"
Japanese	アルカナフォース Arukana Fōsu (romanized)
French	Force Arcane
German	Arkane Macht
Italian	Energia Arcana Arcane Energy (translated)
Korean	아르카나 포스 Areukana Poseu (romanized)
Spanish	Fuerza Arcana
Sets Light of Destruction Limited Edition 10 Shonen Jump promotional cards Star Pack 2013
Anime appearances
Yu-Gi-Oh! GX Yu-Gi-Oh! ARC-V
Lists	Members Support

"Arcana Force" (アルカナフォース Arukana Fōsu) are an archetype of cards used by Sartorius in the Yu-Gi-Oh! GX anime and which debuted in Light of Destruction. The monsters are based on the Major Arcana tarot cards, each possessing a different symbolic meaning, while the Spell and Trap Cards come in the form of the Minor Arcana tarot cards, although, at the time of their release, there was not one for each card in a complete 78-card tarot card set that uses one of each card, as an almost full set consists of 22 cards in the "Major Arcana" set (excepted by The Star and The Sun), and 14 cards in each of the four "Minor Arcana" suits, which add up to a total of 56 "Minor Arcana" cards.

The monsters often attribute with coin flips to activate their effects, one positive and one negative. "Arcana Force EX - The Light Ruler" and "Arcana Force EX - The Dark Ruler" are the only ones which are not based on tarot cards, and the only ones who have a positive effect for both coin flips. The cards' appearances are inspired by the works of H.P. Lovecraft and taken from their appearance in Konami's own Silent Hill series. Arcana Force monsters keep their effects of the coin flip for the duration that the card is on the field.

These cards were introduced and exclusively used by the main antagonist of the second season of GX, Sartorius, and his psychic ability to look into the future. The card text is flip a coin, but in the anime and video games, the card keeps spinning and when the opponent says "stop" the card stops and its effect depends if it's right-side-up or up-side-down. The Light of Destruction possessing Sartorius manipulates destiny to consistently give him the positive card effect. It uses this ability and the effect that the opponent chooses when to stop the card's spinning to manipulate people during Duels, demonstrating that their belief they control their own destinies is false, but Sartorius has seen their future and they can change their destiny if they ally with him.

"Arcana Force EX - The Light Ruler" was, at first, the only Arcana Force card to be released. Many of the tarot "Arcana Force" cards were later released in Light of Destruction, which is considered the "official" debut of Arcana Force monsters. Certain key Arcana Force monsters were put into Yu-Gi-Oh! GX Tag Force 2 as game original cards, as well as many of the support cards. Most of the Arcana Force monsters whose number is given in Roman Numerals have an ATK and DEF of the respective number in their name × 100 + 1000; excluding "Arcana Force EX - The Light Ruler", "Arcana Force EX - The Dark Ruler" and "Arcana Force 0 - The Fool". The Deck focuses on trying to get the Heads Effect of the Arcana Force monster's to overpower the opponent.

Members

Arcana Force

No.	Monster	Origin
0	The Fool	The Fool
1	The Magician	The Magician
3	The Empress	The Empress
4	The Emperor	The Emperor
6	The Lovers	The Lovers
7	The Chariot	The Chariot
8	The Strength	Strength
12	The Hanged Man	The Hanged Man
14	Temperance	Temperance
15	The Fiend	The Devil
18	The Moon	The Moon
21	The World	The World

Miscellaneous

Major Arcana

Card type	No.	Tarot	Origin
Trap	2	Empress's Staff	The High Priestess
	5	Emperor's Staff	The Hierophant
	10	Reversal of Fate	Wheel of Fortune
	13	Tour of Doom	Death

Minor Arcana

Card type	Tarot	Origin
		Rank	Suit
Monster	Knight of Pentacles	Knight	Coins
Spell	Ace of Sword	Ace	Swords
	Cup of Ace	Ace	Cups
	Pentacle of Ace	Ace	Coins
	Suit of Sword X	Ten	Swords
Trap	Ace of Wand	Ace	Wands

Strategy

There are a few cards that are handy for an "Arcana Force" Deck, such as "Second Coin Toss" to make sure you get the right effect, while "Lucky Chance" can help you draw more cards. "By Order of the Emperor" is also useful in an Arcana Force deck because you can negate the effect if you're afraid of losing the coin toss, and draw a card. As all "Arcana Force" monsters have equal ATK and DEF, "Shield & Sword" will have no negative effects to you. The chance taken when flipping a coin during "Arcana Force" Summons can be negated by activating "Reversal of Fate". Another handy card for "Arcana Force" monsters is "Athena": by Tributing your "Arcana Force" monsters and summoning the same one from the Graveyard you would burn the opponent for 600 and you would be able to flip the coin again again giving yourself another chance to get the effect that you want. "Valhalla, Hall of the Fallen" is also useful, as all "Arcana Force" monsters are Fairy.

Because you are already using "Second Coin Toss", this Deck can benefit from all coin toss cards, such as "Tour of Doom", "Cup of Ace" and "Lucky Chance". Also, "Light Barrier" can let you apply either effect of an "Arcana Force" monster without tossing a coin, making it extremely useful in "Arcana Force" Decks. Also, "Honest", "Barrier Statue of the Heavens", "Sky Scourge Invicil", "Herald of Green Light", "Herald of Orange Light", and "Herald of Purple Light" can work well with "Arcana Force" Decks.

Weaknesses

Despite all the power this deck can have, it has many weaknesses. Most notably, if you can't get the right coin flip, this deck will destroy itself. Some anti-Light cards can either disable or destroy this deck like Ally of Justice monsters. In addition, all non-tribute Arcana Force monsters have low attack power, so having them stay around is a big problem.

Another enormous weakness for Arcana Force is The World and Rulers' reliance on sending monsters successfully to the graveyard. If a card like "Dimensional Fissure" or "Banisher of the Radiance" is in play, you won't be able to use The World's Turn Skip ability, and you won't be able to summon either Ruler. You also cannot use tokens to satisfy these costs because tokens cannot hit the graveyard.

The Arcana Force monsters are dependent on their effects so cards like "Skill Drain" or "Forbidden Chalice" can disable their effects. They do not regain their abilities if they temporarily lose them.

Recommended cards

Deck

Main Deck Monster Cards Effect Monsters Arcana Force 0 - The Fool Arcana Force I - The Magician Arcana Force III - The Empress Arcana Force IV - The Emperor Arcana Force VI - The Lovers Arcana Force VII - The Chariot Arcana Force XIV - Temperance Arcana Force XVIII - The Moon Arcana Force XXI - The World Arcana Force EX - The Dark Ruler Arcana Force EX - The Light Ruler Honest Athena Archlord Kristya Barrier Statue of the Heavens Splendid Venus Shining Angel Nova Summoner Tethys, Goddess of Light Spell Cards Light Barrier Second Coin Toss Lightwave Tuning Court of Justice Creature Swap Cup of Ace Constellar Belt One for One Terraforming Ties of the Brethren Trap Cards Arcana Call Beckoning Light By Order of the Emperor Lucky Chance Tour of Doom Reversal of Fate Extra Deck Synchro Monsters Ancient Fairy Dragon Ancient Sacred Wyvern Avenging Knight Parshath Light End Dragon Xyz Monsters Constellar Omega Fairy Cheer Girl Starliege Paladynamo

Trivia

• With the exception of The Fool, The Dark Ruler and The Light Ruler, "Arcana" monsters are the only cards in the OCG to have their names contain Roman numerals, as depicted by a typeface different from the one used on basic Latin characters. For example, while TCG cards use the Latin letter "V" to represent the Roman number five, OCG cards use the Roman form "V" instead.