Dark Scorpion

Dark Scorpion
Front: "Chick"; middle, left to right: "Cliff", "Don Zaloog", "Meanae"; back: "Gorg"; featured in the artwork of "Dark Scorpion Burglars"
Japanese	黒（くろ）蠍（さそり） 黒蠍 (base) くろさそり (ruby) Kurosasori (romanized) Black Scorpion (translated)
French	Scorpion Noir Black Scorpion (translated)
German	Dunkler Skorpion
Italian	Dark Scorpion
Korean	전갈 全蠍 (Hanja) Jeon-gal (romanized) Scorpion (translated)
Portuguese	Escorpião das Trevas
Spanish	Escorpión Oscuro
Sets Magician's Force Dark Crisis TCG Pharaonic Guardian Dark Revelation Volume 1 Dark Beginning 2 Gold Series: Haunted Mine Speed Duel GX: Duelists of Shadows OCG Pharaonic Guardian (Japanese) Champion of Black Magic Threat of the Dark Demon World Duelist Legacy Volume.5 Expert Edition Volume.1 Beginner's Edition 2 Beginner's Edition 2 (2011) Korean Expansion Pack Vol.3
Anime appearances
Yu-Gi-Oh! GX
Lists	Members Support

"Dark Scorpion" tattoo

"Dark Scorpion", known as "Black Scorpion" (黒（くろ）蠍（さそり） Kurosasori) in Japan, is an archetype of DARK Warrior monsters who have Trigger Effects that activate when they inflict battle damage to their opponent, giving the controller a choice of two effects. The majority of these card effects disrupt the opponent's field, hand or Deck, with the exception of "Dark Scorpion - Meanae the Thorn" who instead searches out other "Dark Scorpion" cards. All members of this archetype are Level 3/4 monsters, except for the Level 5 "Dark Scorpion - Gorg the Strong". The "Dark Scorpions" have been featured on numerous Spell and Trap Cards. "Don Zaloog" and "Dark Scorpion Burglars" were introduced in Pharaonic Guardian, "Cliff" in Magician's Force, and the rest in Dark Crisis.

Design

Members of the Dark Scorpions in their civilian disguises.

Depicted here is Meanae in full Dark Scorpion regalia as well as her in civilian clothing.

The Dark Scorpion's outfits consists of a grey, sleeveless, skin-tight top, featuring studs on the stomach, pants sectioned into grey and red layers, and grey wristbands with red tips. All members have a tattoo on their right arm of a scorpion, the name-giving "Dark Scorpion". Each member carries a distinct weapon, and sometimes feature additional holsters on their costume for them. All members appeared in Yu-Gi-Oh! GX and, in addition to their normal attire, they all wore civil disguises. Cliff appeared as a security guard, Gorg as a janitor, Meanae as a school nurse, Chick as a Slifer Red student, and Don Zaloog as a police detective in a Sherlock Holmes guise.

History

Main article: Master Guide 1 card storylines § Together, These Five Are...The Dark Scorpion Burglars!!

Playing style

The "Dark Scorpions" all have effects that trigger upon them dealing battle damage to your opponent, as seen in the following list:

Monster	Variable effects
	Option 1	Option 2
Chick the Yellow	Target 1 card on the field; return that target to the hand	Look at the top card of your opponent's Deck, then return it to the top or bottom
Cliff the Trap Remover	Target 1 Spell/Trap Card on the field; destroy that target	Send the top 2 cards of your opponent's Deck to the Graveyard
Gorg the Strong	Target 1 monster your opponent controls; return that target to the top of their Deck	Send the top card of your opponent's Deck to the Graveyard
Meanae the Thorn	Add 1 "Dark Scorpion" card from your Deck to your hand	Target 1 "Dark Scorpion" card in your Graveyard; add that target to your hand
Burglars	Your opponent sends 1 Spell Card from their Deck to the Graveyard.
Don Zaloog	Discard 1 random card from your opponent's hand	Send the top 2 cards of your opponent's Deck to the Graveyard

Therefore, "Dark Scorpions" bring their own amount of removal effects, albeit them being relatively complicated to apply on a regular basis. They are fairly weak physically, but can benefit greatly from Spell and Trap Cards that boost their power or weaken the opponent's monsters. There are also further options to apply the battle damage of the "Dark Scorpions": Monster removal like "Raigeki" or "Dark Hole" can clear the path before attacking with your monsters. Additionally, Equip Spells can help the group the get up to respectable ATK values. Examples include "Moon Mirror Shield", which will make the equipped monster run over everything while still applying the effect due to the 100 damage dealt or "United We Stand" to increase the ATK of the equipped monster by potentially huge sums. "Don Zaloog" is the only Dark Scorpion that cannot be searched out or retrieved with the effect of "Meanae the Thorn", so including some copies of "The Warrior Returning Alive" and a copy of "Reinforcement of the Army" will be handy in a Dark Scorpion deck. Also, it is a good idea to have 3 copies of each of the Dark Scorpions except "Gorg the Strong" and "Chick the Yellow". "Dark Armed Dragon" is very handy for clearing the field to let the Dark Scorpions attack. Their DARK Attribute also makes them eligible for "Dark General Freed", protecting them from Spells and searches some of them out. "The Dark Creator" and "Dark Horus" can also be used to bring them back from the Graveyard. Should you successfully activate "Dark Scorpion Combination" you may wish to give some thought as to which Dark Scorpion's abilities you use in what order. You may use the effect of "Chick the Yellow" to check the top of the opponent's Deck, then use another Dark Scorpion's effect to send the top card of their Deck to the Graveyard, or use the effect of "Gorg the Strong" to send a monster to the top of their Deck and then discard it the same way. After pulling off a "Combination", use "Meanae the Thorn" to retrieve the "Combination" card to play again next turn. A commonly used Trap with Dark Scorpions is "Robbin' Goblin", and sometimes "Robbin' Zombie". Since the archetype focuses on inflicting battle damage to trigger effects (even if the damage is not great due to the Dark Scorpions being rather weak) those two cards will quickly deplete the opponent's hand and Deck, especially if you activate "Combination" and hit the opponent five times in a turn. Another card that can combo easily with Dark Scorpions is "Armor Breaker", allowing you to destroy an opponent's card whenever you successfully inflict battle damage (on top of protecting the equipped Scorpion from destruction once). Since "Chick the Yellow" and "Meanae the Thorn" have 1000 ATK, they can be used with "Crush Card Virus".

Recommended cards

Deck

Main Deck Monster Cards Effect Monsters Dark Scorpion - Chick the Yellow Dark Scorpion - Cliff the Trap Remover Dark Scorpion - Gorg the Strong Dark Scorpion - Meanae the Thorn Dark Scorpion Burglars Don Zaloog Armageddon Knight Dark Armed Dragon Dark Grepher Dark Honest Marauding Captain Fire Flint Lady Lord of the Heavenly Prison Tuner monsters T.G. Striker Spell Cards Normal Spells Mustering of the Dark Scorpions Allure of Darkness Creeping Darkness Reinforcement of the Army Heroic Call Ready Fusion Secret Pass to the Treasures Foolish Burial Goods (with "Three as One") Equip Spells Divine Sword - Phoenix Blade Living Fossil Moon Mirror Shield United We Stand Cursed Bamboo Sword + Original Bamboo Sword Continuous Spells Reinforcement of the Army's Troops Infected Mail Trap Cards Normal Traps Dark Scorpion Combination Battleguard Howling Armory Call Expendable Dai Dark Sacrifice Three as One Counter Traps Dark Illusion Continuous Traps Call of the Haunted Robbin' Goblin Robbin' Zombie Extra Deck Fusion Monsters Dragoness the Wicked Knight/Karbonala Warrior (as targets for "Ready Fusion") Synchro Monsters Iron Chain Dragon Xyz Monsters Number 3: Cicada King Number 66: Master Key Beetle The Phantom Knights of Break Sword Blade Armor Ninja Heroic Champion - Claivesolish Link Monsters Isolde, Two Tales of the Noble Knights Wee Witch's Apprentice Ra'ten, the Heavenly General Ferocious Flame Swordsman Dharc the Dark Charmer, Gloomy

Weaknesses

• Dark Scorpions have no tricks at all to survive on their own on the field, and are heavily dependent on Spell and Trap support to be effective; your opponent will be targeting your backrow Spells and Traps if they see you are running Dark Scorpions.
• Certain archetypes will punish the use of the most common Dark Scorpion effects: "Dark World" cards benefit from hand destruction tactics, and "Lightsworn" and Dark counterpart Decks thrive on having their cards sent from the Deck to the Graveyard.
• Decks that put a lockdown on the Graveyard and negate the bringing back of cards will work against the effects of "The Dark Creator", "Dark Armed Dragon" or "Dark Scorpion - Meanae the Thorn", therefore making plays for the "Dark Scorpion" more difficult. By the same token, effects that banish cards instead of putting them into the Graveyard, such as "Dimensional Fissure", "Macro Cosmos", "Banisher of the Light" and "Banisher of the Radiance" will work against certain "Dark Scorpion" strategies.