Castlevania - Dracula Set

[MarioFanaticXV]

I made this set a couple years back... This was before Vampire Kingdom was out, and I had intended to follow it up with a Belmont set, but this never came to fruition... I kind of still want to, but I've never really foudnt he motivation to do such. I wanted the set to feel powerful, but also balanced and believable. I chose Castlevania specifically because it's owned by Konami, and I know they've done a series of Gradius cards in the same vein as these- I wanted to capture the flavor and feel of the series, while also trying to stay true to Yu-Gi-Oh!. Thus, balance and Official Card Grammar help is requested (though mind you, I was working balance when Xyz were a new concept). Despite this, they ARE based off a prexisting franchise, so I decided to post them here in Pop Culture instead of the Realistic Cards section, though I was aiming to make them both, more or less (with one notable exception).

 

 

 

Of course, what better card to start off the Dracula set with other than Dracula himself? I wanted this card to feel powerful, but also leave room for improvement for one of  his countless "true forms". Not sure why I went specifically with Dark Magician's Atk/Def, it might not have even been something I did consciously.

 

 

And then we have the single most powerful card in the deck, and the main one I'm concerned that I may have gone overboard with. I tried to make him difficult to get out, and to the best of my knowledge, he cannot to be searched (though with a slew of new Vampire cards since I researched this, I may well be wrong), so I'm hoping it's not too far out there. He's really just an ehanced version of Dracula's base form, but considering he can only be summoned while Castlevania is out, he effectively has 4000 Atk and Def... But we'll get to that later.

 

 

Aside from Dracula himself, Death is meant as another heavy hitter. He's obviously inspired heavily by Spirit Reaper/Reaper on the Nightmare, and meant more or less as a more powerful version of those cards.

 

 

Shaft's main purpose is to give an alternative method to getting Dracula on the field. He's also the only card in the set whose type is neither Zombie nor Fiend when Castlevania is on the field. However, since there is no limit to the number of blood counters he can hold, he could potentially be used for lifepoint boosting with Vampiric Feast.

 

I have to wonder: Is he overpowered because he helps you get out Dracula more easily? Or is he underpowered because he only works on Dracula from the hand? Would it be better to only be able to target a Dracula in the Graveyard (it'd certainly be more thematic that way)?

 

I had originally wanted to make a Shaft's Ghost card that would of course be Zombie type, but I couldn't figure out a good effect for it that wouldn't be just another rehash of this card... And considering I already have one rehashed second form in this set, I decided against it.

 

 

Is essentally just a level six version of...

 

 

A very basic card, not much to say about her other than I felt that I needed a "generic" vampire from the series.

 

 

And now we have the most boring card in the deck... If I had just made her a fiend type to begin with, she'd be a normal monster.

 

 

Obviously heavily inspired by Goblin Attack Force, much like...

 

 

...This guy was heavily inspired by Berserker Gorilla. For both the Minotaur and...

 

 

...For Dullahan, I'd really like some advice for Official Card Grammar... To the best of my knowledge, there was no card in 2012 with an effect similar to this, and I've been out of touch with the game since then (heck, even then, I only played it for a few months after a major hiatus after the original series ended...) If there is an official monster card with a similar effect, please point me to it so I can rectify the wording. If there is no similar card, I'd love to know what you guys think of such an effect.

 

 

Mummy is meant to feel more like a "typical" Zombie card. He's also meant to help get out Death from the Graveyard or Bone Golem from the Extra Deck quickly.

 

 

I'm thinking that maybe I should have made this one a 0 Def monster too, but not sure why I decided against it. Regardless, I do know that I wanted to have another card with Blood Counters, and I liked the idea of having a monster that lost them instead of gained them as time went on.

 

 

And finally we come to the lone Extra Deck card in this set... There were very few Xyz monsters to compare it to at the time, and Utopia was certainly an inspiration for its effect.

 

You may notice this one has a date of 2013, unlike the others; I actually made this card at the same time as the others, but this site didn't have the capabilty of making Xyz monsters then, so I used another site... It didn't look as nice, so before posting it on the GFAQs forum (where several users pointed out the then impending release of Vampire Kingdom), I went ahead and redid it on here.

 

 

And what would a Castlevania set be without the titular Devil's Castle? When I had made this card, I was worried its efect might be a bit overpowered. Then Vampire Kingdom came out and that assured me that this was fine.

 

 

Vampiric Feast was meant to give Blood Counters an alternative use. Nothing fancy. I specifically made it so that it only takes counters from monsters, as not to allow it to use counters from...

 

 

Does this card make it worth it to limit Vamiric Feast to only monsters? Or is it reason to allow it to effect all your cards on the field? An extra 900 LP doesn't sound like that much, especialy considering a now near-useless will give 1000 LP on its own with no strings attached.

 

 

And, finally, we come to the lone trap of the deck. This was meant more as a joke card than anything, but, ironically enough, it's actually the first card in the set I came up with, and the one that inspired me to make the others. I was toying around with the idea of a self-destructing evil lair collapsing when a villainous mastermind is defeated as the central theme of a card, and came up with this. While searching for an appropriate image, the Castlevania one really stuck with me and got me into the whole "if Gradius can have YGO cards, why not Castlevania?" mindset, and I immediately begun by making Dracula and Shaft, and spreading out from there.

 

So, what do you guys think? I'm especially curious for comparisons on how it interacts with official Vampire cards- both those from 2012 when I made it, and up through the modern sets with cards with all the new ones made to interact with Vampire Kingdom.

[pwnyo]

These cards are actually quite good! My advice:

1. Capitalize Normal Summon, Special Summon, Graveyard, ATK, DEF, and Set; as well as use numbers instead of words when referring to counters (Vampire Countess and Vampire Maiden).
2. Death's effect should read a little more like this: [Once per turn: target 1 monster on the field; destroy it, and if you do, inflict damage to your opponent equal to the target's Level/Rank x 100.]
3. I don't think Demon Lord Dracula is too overpowered, given his very difficult and entirely Nomi summoning conditions.
4. You also might want to re-upload "Castlevania" so it shows the Field Spell symbol. 
5. The pictures are also a bit... iffy, but I don't think that's your fault

All in all, these are pretty well made! Good job, and keep at it! :D