Darklord

From Yugipedia
Jump to: navigation, search
Darklord
"Darklord Morningstar" and "Darklord Rebellion"
Japanese
  • てん使
  • 堕天使 (base)
  • だてんし (ruby)
  • Datenshi (romanized)
  • Fallen Angel (translated)
French
  • Ange Déchu
German
  • Finsterlord
Italian
  • Signore Oscuro
Korean
  • 타락천사
  • Tarakcheonsa (romanized)
  • Fallen Angel (translated)
Portuguese
  • Senhor(a) Obscuro(a)
Spanish
  • Señoroscuro/a
Sets
TCG
OCG
Korean
Anime appearances
Manga appearances
Lists

"Darklord", known as "Fallen Angel" (てん使 Datenshi) in the Japanese version, is an archetype comprised primarily of DARK Fairy Effect monsters. They are used by Midori Hibiki in the Yu-Gi-Oh! GX manga, and by Anna Des in Yu-Gi-Oh! OCG Structures.

Though members of the archetype have existed since 2001, the archetype had no support until the release of Booster SP: Destiny Soldiers in the OCG and Destiny Soldiers in the TCG, both in 2016.

History[edit]

In the OCG, many of the early members of this archetype were released as V Jump promotional cards.

In the TCG, the archetype's first two members, "Darklord Marie" and "Darklord Nurse Reficule", were both formerly known as "Marie the Fallen One" and "Nurse Reficule the Fallen One" respectively, suggesting that "Fallen One" was planned to be this archetype's original name in the TCG. However, since the release of "Darklord Zerato" in the TCG version of Phantom Darkness; all subsequent cards of the archetype introduced in all English media prior to Destiny Soldiers had "Darklord" in their names. "Marie the Fallen One" and "Nurse Reficule the Fallen One" were renamed to their current names upon their reprints in Destiny Soldiers, to clearly mark their status as "Darklord" cards.

Lore[edit]

Members[edit]

Nearly all members of this archetype (except for three; see below) are based on figures or concepts from Judeo-Christian and Abrahamic theology, and are the contrasting DARK and Fairy types to represent their status as fallen angels.

Darklord Origin
Amdusc Amdusias
Asmodeus Asmodeus
Desire Mammon
Edeh Arae Arae
Ixchel Ixchel
Ixtab
The First Lucifer
Morningstar
Reficule
Marie Mary
Nasten Mastema
Nergal Nergal
Superbia Superbia ("pride" in Latin)
Tezcatlipoca Tezcatlipoca
Ukoback Ukobach

Three particular Darklord monsters are not based on theological figures, but instead based on characters featured in the artworks of various "Forbidden" and "Solemn" cards.

Darklord Character Origin Name Origin
Capricious Right figure in "Solemn Scolding" Gluttony
Indulged Left figure in "Solemn Scolding" Lust
Condemned Condemned Maiden/Condemned Witch N/A

Playing style[edit]

A "Darklord" Deck focuses on sending its cards to the Graveyard and then reviving their monsters from there, especially "Darklord Superbia", who then in turn can also revive another Fairy monster.

With the exception of "Darklord Morningstar", all of the Level 6 and higher Main Deck "Darklord" monsters from Destiny Soldiers and onwards share the following conditions and effect:

  1. "You can only Special Summon "CARD NAME(s)" once per turn."
  2. "(Quick Effect): You can pay 1000 LP, then target 1 "Darklord" Spell/Trap in your GY; this effect becomes that target's effect when that card is activated, then shuffle that target into the Deck. You can only use this/each effect of "CARD NAME" once per turn."

These monsters have their own unique effects:

Darklord Effect
Amdusc Can discard itself and one other "Darklord" card to add 1 targeted "Darklord" card in the GY to the hand
Ixchel Can discard itself and one other "Darklord" card to draw 2 cards.
Nasten Can discard two other "Darklord" cards to Special Summon itself from the hand.
Nergal Makes all Fairy monsters deal inflict piercing battle damage.
Tezcatlipoca Can discard itself to protect a "Darklord" monster(s) from being destroyed by battle or card effects.

Sending "Darklord" cards to the Graveyard can be done with monster effects such as those of "Amdusc, "Ixchel", "Nasten" which send from the hand. Meanwhile, "Darklord Ukoback" and "Darklord Asmodeus" can send "Darklord" cards or Fairy monsters (respectively). Bringing back "Darklord" monsters requires a more permanent solution rather than relying on one-time use cards such as "Monster Reborn", "Call of the Haunted" or "Ribbon of Rebirth" but within the archetype, "Darklord Contact", "Darklord Descent" and "The First Darklord" are viable choices. Although Special Summoning from the Graveyard is a major theme of "Darklord", a swarm play-style is unsuitable, due to many of the archetype's newer Main Deck members being limited by this shared condition. This, as well as the variety of Levels "Darklord" monsters have, makes it difficult to Xyz Summon with this archetype (except for Rank 8, as "Superbia" and "Zerato" do not have these Summoning restrictions).

The "Darklord" Spell/Traps are as follows:

Name Effect and notes
Banishment of the Darklords A Spell that adds 1 "Darklord" card from the Deck to the hand, except itself. It is the archetype's main searcher.
Darklord Contact A Spell that Special Summons 1 "Darklord" monster from the GY in Defense position. Note that due to the effect of "Superbia" being a "when" optional effect, Special Summoning "Superbia" via a "Darkord" monster copying this card's effect does not allow "Superbia" to activate its effect.
Darklord Descent A Trap that Speical Summons up to 2 "Darklord" monsters from the GY, which have the same Level as 1 face-up monster the opponent controls.
Darklord Enchantment A Trap that takes control of 1 of the opponent's monsters until the end of this turn.
Darklord Rebellion A Trap that dstroys one card on the field.
Darklord Uprising A Trap that Fusion Summons 1 DARK Fusion Monster using materials in the hand or field. It serves as the archetype's main method of Fusion Summoning their sole Fusion Monster "The First Darklord"
The Sanctified Darklord A Trap that negate the effects of one monster on the field and gain LP equal to its ATK.

The shared Quick Effect of the "Darklord" monsters allows even a single copy of a "Darklord" Spell/Trap to be potentially "used" twice even on the same turn (despite their only once per turn card activation limitations) or during the opponent's turn whilst recycling them into the Deck. The applications of this effect include an additional search with "Banishment of the Darklords", an additional revival with "Darklord Contact" or "Darklord Descent" and using the other Trap effects to disrupt the opponent's plays which can be done more quickly and easily with the "Darklord" monsters' Quick Effects rather than activating the Trap Cards normally (which all of them except "Darklord Descent" share the card activation cost of sending a "Darklord" monster from the user's hand or field, causing the player to lose hand/field advantage while "Darklord Descent" requires half of the player's LP to be activated). This gives the "Darklord" Traps better utility of being used as discard costs for the effects of other cards or being sent from the Deck with "Ukoback". "Condemned Darklord", "Darklord Morningstar", "Darklord Uprising" (through activating the card itself) and "The Sanctified Darklord" all have effects which can increase LP to off-set the LP costs of using the effects of "Darklord" cards.

In addition to Special Summoning from the Graveyard, "Darklord" has also historically featured Tribute Summoning their high-Level monsters more easily. "Darklord Zerato" and "Darklord Desire" can each be Tribute Summoned with just 1 Tribute (under the appropriate condition in the case of "Zerato"). The Tribute Summon strategy is a supported by a few "Darklord" cards that works with every Fairy monster; namely "Condemned Darklord" who enables the Tribute Summon of a Fairy monster that requires 2 Tributes by banishing any 2 monsters from the Graveyard, while "Capricious Darklord" allows the user to Tribute Summon a Fairy monster at any time during the Main Phase as a Quick Effect. They facilitate an easier access to Tribute Summon "Darklord Morningstar", which has an on-Tribute Summon effect to potentially Special Summon a large horde of "Darklord" monsters from the Deck, then potentially mill several "Darklord" cards for LP recursion, for "Darklord" monsters to copy their effects or revive said monsters.

This deck, due to the large accumulation of DARK monsters, can also run DARK monster Deck support cards such as "Dark Illusion", "Allure of Darkness", "Armageddon Knight" or "Dark Grepher". Due to the Deck being able to regulate the number of "Darklord" monsters in the Graveyard (or rather, DARK/Fairy monsters in general), "Archlord Kristya" and "Dark Armed Dragon" can also be used. "Angel O1" can help support the archetype's Tribute Summon playstyle or provide a free Link Material on the field for "Condemned Darklord". Additionally, "Trade-In" can be used due to a number of Level 8 monsters present in the deck. The addition of "Shadow's Light" and "Duality" can lead into a few useful choices to Summon; for Level 8 ("Superbia", "Zerato", "Nergal" and "Asmodeus") there are "Archlord Kristya" and "Invoked Augoeides", and for Level 4 ("Indulged" and "Capricious") there is "Herald of the Arc Light". Summoning "Archlord Kristya", by the mixture of the aformentioned cards in a typical "Darklord" deck, usually serves as the Deck's main "win condition". Even though the user is locked under "Kristya's'" effect, the user can simply negate its effect or destroy it with "The Sanctified Darklord" or "Darklord Uprising" respectively if they want to Special Summon freely, or just continually Tribute Summon their high-level Fairy monsters "for free" with "Condemned Darklord".

While "Darklord" card effects make them suitable for supporting Fairy monsters in general, they can pair well with "Branded-Despia" since almost all Main Deck "Despia" monsters are DARK Fairy monsters, making them elligible Fusion Materials for "The First Darklord"; furthermore, "The First Darklord" can be more easily Fusion Summoned with the effects of various "Branded" Spells and Traps (ie. "Despia, Theater of the Branded", "Branded in Red" and "Branded Banishment") which are searchable with "Aluber the Jester of Despia" rather than relying on just "Darklord Uprising". In addition to searching out "Despia" monsters, "Branded Opening" can also help protect "The First Darklord" from being destroyed by a card effect, making it much harder for the opponent to remove on top of its 4000 ATK/DEF and its effect of providing protection from the opponent's targeting card effects. In return, the "Darklord" monsters are also elligible Fusion Materials for the "Despia" Fusion Monsters, their related support and the Fusion Monsters that mention "Fallen of Albaz" as material. Given that most of those Fusion Monsters are DARK, they can also be Fusion Summoned with "Darklord Uprising".

Recommended cards[edit]

Recommended cards