Abyssal Depth - Deep Sea Tribute Monsters

[Fluffyfish]

And here I am with another archetype.

This time I was feeling like doing a Tribute Summoning archetype, and since I had a bunch of sea creatures images stored waiting to be used (and I quite like the theme), this is the result.

 

The archetype's theme is about those creatures eating each other (the tribute for summon can be said to be literally a monster eating the other) and getting stronger.

- The small ones are all "prey" (the base of the food chain). They can Special Summon themselves easily and have decent protection and searching effects. Most of the time you should be able to summon at least 1 (while still having room for a tribute summon).

- The bigger ones can also be Tribute Summoned by using 2 tributes (even if its a Lv5-6 monster) or 1 Tribute Summoned monster, normally gaining extra effects when doing such (implying it is also feeding on the food its prey ate). Most have effects to overpower the opponent's monsters by battle or wrecking havoc when summoned. While also having a couple utility options (so even if most of your hand is made of Lv5+ monsters, you should still be able to play).

- They have tools to support tribute summoning once a turn consistently, and although having that tribute summon negated or the monster destroyed could slow you down significantly, they should be able to recover or protect themselves most of the time. Meanwhile a well-placed tribute summon (specially using 2+ tributes) can change the tides in your favor greatly.

 

In the depths of the ocean, there's no such thing as too big of a prey.

[spoiler=Lv4- Monsters]

Level 1 - WATER - Aqua/Effect - 0/700

If you control no monsters, you Special Summon this card (from your hand). You can banish this card from your Graveyard; add 1 "Abyssal Depth" monster from your Deck to your hand, except "Abyssal Depth Glowing Prey". You can only use this effect of "Abyssal Depth Glowing Prey" once per turn.

 

Level 2 - WATER - Fish/Effect - 1100/600

When this card is Normal Summoned: You can target 1 Level 5 or higher "Abyssal Depth" monster in your Graveyard; add it to your hand. After you Normal Summon this card, you can Tribute Summon 1 "Abyssal Depth" monster during your Main Phase this turn, in addition to your Normal Summon/Set. (You can only gain this effect once per turn.) During either player's turn, when a card or effect is activated that targets a Tribute Summoned "Abyssal Depth" monster you control: You can banish this card from your Graveyard; negate the activation, and if you do, gain 400 LP for each card your opponent controls. You can only use this effect of "Abyssal Depth Nutritious Anomaly" once per turn.

 

Level 2 - WATER - Aqua/Effect - 400/2000

During either player's damage step, if a Tribute Summoned "Abyssal Depth" monster you control battles an opponent's monster: You can send this card from your hand to the Graveyard; your monster gains 1000 ATK until the end of the Battle Phase, and if it destroys your opponent's monster by this battle, you can activate 1 of these effects:

- Until the end of the next turn, your monster gains 1 additional attack, but all battle damage it inflicts to your opponent is halved.

- Until the end of the next turn, your monster cannot be targeted or destroyed by card effects.

When an opponent's monster declares a direct attack: You can Special Summon this card from your hand, and if you do, all monsters your opponent controls lose 1000 ATK until the end of the Battle Phase.

 

Level 3 - WATER - Aqua/Flip/Effect - 800/1800

FLIP: Add 1 "Abyssal Depth" monster from your Deck to your hand.

If an "Abyssal Depth" monster(s) you control is destroyed by battle or card effect: You can reveal this card in your hand, and if you do, Special Summon this card in face-down Defense Position. You can only Special Summon "Abyssal Depth Sturdy Ammonite" once per turn this way. Once per turn, this card cannot be destroyed by battle.

 

Level 3 - WATER - Aqua/Effect - 1400/900

You can discard this card; add 1 Level 5 or higher "Abyssal Depth" monster from your Deck to your hand. You can only use this effect of "Abyssal Depth Sparkling Tail" once per turn. If your opponent controls more cards than you do: You can Special Summon this card from your hand, and if you do, this card can be treated as 2 tributes for the Tribute Summon of an "Abyssal Depth" monster. You can only Special Summon "Abyssal Depth Sparkling Tail" once per turn this way.

[spoiler=Lv5+ Monsters]

Level 5 - WATER - Fish/Effect - 2300/2000

You can tribute 2 "Abyssal Depth" tributes to Tribute Summon this card. If this card is Tribute Summoned by tributing 1 Tribute Summoned monster or 2 "Abyssal Depth" tributes, this card gains this effect: If this card destroys an opponent's monster by battle: You can target 1 card on the field; destroy it, and if you do, draw 1 card, then discard 1 card. Once per turn, you can target 1 face-up monster your opponent controls; it loses 800 ATK and DEF and its effects are negated until the End Phase. During the turn you activate this effect, if this card destroys that target by battle: This card cannot be destroyed by battle or card effects until your next Standby Phase. During either player's turn: You can discard this card; this turn, "Abyssal Depth" monsters you control cannot be destroyed by battle or card effects.

#In the wild depths, only those with the resolve to devour survive. Those who do not are turned into prey! ADVANCE SHOKAN! Level 5, Abyssal Depth Tenacious Devourer!

 

Level 6 - WATER - Sea-Serpent/Effect - 2400/2400

You can tribute 2 "Abyssal Depth" tributes to Tribute Summon this card. If this card is Tribute Summoned by tributing 1 Tribute Summoned monster or 2 "Abyssal Depth" tributes, this card gains this effect: If this card destroys an opponent's monster by battle, it can make a second attack in a row, and if it does, your opponent cannot activate card or effects until the end of the Damage Step. While your opponent controls a Special Summoned monster, this Tribute Summoned card gains 800 ATK and is unaffected by your opponent Spell/Trap effects. If this Tribute Summoned card is destroyed and sent to the Graveyard: Special Summon it during your next Standby Phase, and if you do, its ATK and DEF become 0 and it can treated as 2 tributes for the Tribute Summon of an "Abyssal Depth" monster.

#In the unseen depths, any chance to strike shall be taken. Hunter or prey, any who lowers their guard shall fall! ADVANCE SHOKAN! Level 6, Abyssal Depth Underworld Constrictor!

 

Level 7 - WATER - Sea-Serpent/Effect - 2700/2400

You can Tribute Summon this card by tributing 1 Tribute Summoned monster. If this card attacks a Defense Position monster, inflict piercing battle damage to your opponent. This card can attack all monsters your opponent controls once each. If this Tribute Summoned card destroys an opponent's monster by battle: It gains 400 ATK and DEF. Once per turn, during either player's turn, when a card or effect is activated that targets this card: You can negate the activation, and if you do, during the End Phase of this turn, this card loses 1000 ATK and DEF. You can discard this card; Special Summon 1 "Abyssal Prey Token" (Aqua-Type/WATER/Level 1/ATK 0/DEF 0). "Abyssal Prey Token" is treated as an "Abyssal Depth" monster for a Tribute Summon. You can only use this effect of "Abyssal Depth Light Hunter" once per turn.

#In the hidden depths, no moving being can escape. The creature that consumes everything in its path. AVANCE SHOKAN! Level 7, Abyssal Depth Light Hunter!

 

Level 8 - WATER - Aqua/Effect - 2500/2500

You can tribute any number of "Abyssal Depth" tributes to Tribute Summon this card (min. 1). If you do, Tribute Summoned monsters are treated as 2 tributes. This card gains 200 ATK and DEF for each Tribute used for its Tribute Summon. If this card destroys an opponent's monster by battle, treat this card as if it was tributed using 1 additional tribute. This card gains these effects, based on the number of tributes used for its Tribute Summon:

2 or more: Cannot be destroyed by card effects.

3 or more: Once per turn: You can target 1 card on the field; destroy it.

4 or more: If this card attacks an opponent's monster, that monster's effects are negated during the Battle Phase only.

5 or more: This card can make a second attack during each Battle Phase.

#In the Forbidden Depths, only Darkness reigns. And in amidst this darkness, shines only a single light. The last light any living will ever see! ADVANCE SHOKAN! Level 8, Abyssal Depth Final Light! 

 

 

[spoiler=Spell/Traps]

Spell/Normal

Target 1 "Abyssal Depth" monster in your Graveyard; Special Summon it, but its ATK and DEF become 0 and its effects are negated, also it can be treated as 2 tributes for the Tribute Summon of an "Abyssal Depth" monster. If exactly 1 "Abyssal Depth" monster you control (and no other cards) would be destroyed by battle or card effect, you can banish this card from your Graveyard instead.

 

Spell/Continuous

When this card is activated: Special Summon 1 "Abyssal Prey Token" (Aqua-Type/WATER/Level 1/ATK 0/DEF 0). "Abyssal Prey Token" is treated as an "Abyssal Depth" monster for a Tribute Summon. If a Tribute Summoned "Abyssal Depth" monster you control attacks an opponent's monster, it gains 400 ATK during damage calculation only, also your opponent cannot activate cards or effects until the end of the Damage Step. During your Main Phase 1: You can send this card to the Graveyard; add 1 "Abyssal Depth" monster from your Graveyard to your hand. You can only use each effect of "Urge to Hunt" once per turn.

 

Trap/Normal

Activate this card by targeting 1 "Abyssal Depth" monster you control: Its unaffected by your opponent's card effects and cannot be destroyed by battle, but all battle damage it inflicts to your opponent becomes 0. During the End Phase: Send this card to the Graveyard, and if you do, the targeted monster's ATK and DEF become 0 and its effects are negated, then you can add 1 "Abyssal Depth" monster from your Deck to your hand. You can only activate 1 "Marked for Prey" per turn.

 

 

 

So that's it.

Hope you enjoyed it and feedback appreciated.

Next time, I may try an archetype including humanoids for a change (I think all archetypes I ever posted here were 100% non-humanoids).

[Fluffyfish]

Sunday Morning Bump.

[Fluffyfish]

B/B/Bump.

A couple tweaks made. PSCT changes, name changes (there are still a couple names I'm iffy on).

The trap card was completely changed for a more intuitive effect.

[Sluggaholic]

Oh cool. I remember commenting on these monsters before, but it's good to see them all put forth like this. Now I can really check them out. Let's get to work.

 

Starting off: The meat of the deck (literally); the Tribute Fodder.

 

AD Glowing Prey: Beautifully constructed card. It does its job, and it does its job well: SS itself when in need then become tribute fodder for anything else. What's good is that, with no other reliable search card, this thing steps up to the plate and plays a second role: calling in more recruits. Easily run at 3 in any deck. Good to see you put a OPT clause on it. 5/5.

 

AD Nutritious Anomaly: Another great card, though it's last effect worries me. Still, good to see you have a reliable, floaty recycler that can only target your higher levels (nicely done), especially since Salvage and Surface exist to bring back the babies. It's eff reminds me of Constellar Sombre, in that it lets you make more plays by giving you an extra summon. Well done. However, given how powerful some of the higher level monsters seem to be, I'd recommend adding a harder OPT to this card, since it is just fodder. You'll probably run 2-3 copies of this, and having 3 chances to boost to 1000 the same turn it's sent is a bit overkill. Still, stellar design 5/5.

 

AD Dazzling Jelly: Way annoying. While its 2000 defense is manageable, it's still really good, and stops your opponent from gaming you at critical moments, which is what cards like this Jelly are supposed to do. Its effect to protect your monsters from effects is kind of moot given your Trap card, but I suppose it's okay in case you don't have it. Plus, who knows. You might've just saved yourself from a Magical Cylinder. 4/5, since its second effect is kind of irrelevant. (2 at max).

 

AD Sturdy Ammonite: Side note: I've used that exact image for my own Ammonite in my newest archetype. Funny. Still onto the card: Oh man, another searcher. However, this one, I feel, is the first of your cards that's genuinely outclassed by its previous archetype-mates. Being a Flip effect, without special cards, it's naturally a slow card, which is not something you want out of an even semi-meta deck. While the not being destroyed by battle once per turn thing is nice (and annoying), Jelly makes it irrelevant since generally there won't be many monsters that can get over it, since you'll need something at least as strong as Leo to get over its defense. Even its second effect is kind of dull, given that Jelly exists. Still, it gives you a second monster to potentially use for tribute fodder, so I suppose that's nice. 3/5 (1-2 in deck).

 

AD Sparkling Tail: Wow, the fastest card thus far. However, even still, it's a bit unreliable. It's good if you already have a prey in your hand because then you can discard this card without worry. However, its effect to summon from the hand is, unfortunately, outclassed by Prey's, since it also searches after being used. Still, they're almost interchangeable, in a way. I'd give that thing a OPT clause on its second effect, however, as it could get out of hand quickly: Special Summon two of these, Normal Summon an Anomaly, get two monsters with tribute capability. 5/5 (2-3 in deck).

 

- - - - - Now, onto the beaters of the deck- - - - -

 

AD Tenacious Devourer: First off: the grammars a bit confusing at the tail end there. I'd recommend specifying that it's Devourer who is not able to be destroyed. Now, onto the monster itself. Personally, I feel the thing's abilities should really be swapped. The destruction for a draw is nice, but not overly powerful. Sure, it's a draw per destruction, but chances are you're only going to get to pop a single monster. On top of that, its normal effect is already way strong. Drop a monster by 800 and negate its effects? All from one sacrifice? That seems a bit strong for a level 5 with 2300 attack, but that may just be me. Its discard effect is the card you'd use to go for an OTK, from what I read. While most people run things like Storming or Rippling Mirror Force (if at all), it still has major utility. During either player's turn, however, may be a bit much. Still, good card design. 5/5, a generic monster to tribute for, if you want to draw into more things. (3 in deck).

 

AD Underworld Constrictor: All in all... a very... well... boring card. I mean, it really has great utility in the deck, and adds a nice glue to it in order to allow the deck to be a bit faster, but can we all agree that glue's dull? Not that it's a bad card- it isn't in the slightest. It's just not very interesting. The whole resurrection thing is nice, I suppose, but a bit unnecessary, considering that Anomaly exists. Though, using this and Anomaly together would be harsh: Discard this card, special summon some rando AD, then normal summon Anomaly to recycle this card. A very, very nice combo there. As far as its destruction effect goes, I'd save it for the end of the Battle Phase, like Tiras, but that's just me. 5/5 as far as design goes (punishing special summons is nothing new tbh) (2-3 in deck).

 

AD Light Hunter: The pseudo-boss of the deck, I see. And this is the first card I think really does need a few changes. Right off the bat, I'd get rid of the whole "1 tribute" thing because, while nice, considering what the deck already does, that's irrelevant and a really rude thing to add to this monster, especially since you probably aren't going to run too many of them in the deck. Now, I have a few major issues with this card. The whole not letting your opponent use cards or effects until the end of the damage step is fine- tons of cards do that- but what I'm not okay with is its other effects. First off, this thing can attack every monster your opponent controls, can force them into attack position if they aren't already in it, and on top of that, gains attack whenever it destroys a monster? Well, if they have a full board of weak monsters, that's a free 2500, and considering Pendulum Decks are pretty relevant, along with decks that love swarming the field with 3+ monsters, I'd say that effect needs a change. Or, perhaps, making the cost higher to have all of that. And, added on top of that, if this thing is Fiendish Chained, it can just sacrifice a few attack points (probably the points it gained), and it's free to go. As if that wasn't enough, if this thing is destroyed by any means, it just comes back crisp and chipper, and on top of that, ready to be tributed. Over all, I just feel for such a powerful card, it'd be the boss of the deck, but I know that's NOT the case, and for that, I feel it does too much, even as the pseudo-boss. 3/5, simply because it does too much, but still does what it's supposed to (I assume) which is rack up damage and clear board (1-2 in deck).

 

AD Final Light: Oh boi. The true boss monster of the deck (and don't you try and convince me otherwise, mister). I really don't have much to say about this thing. As the boss, it does its job by making all of your Tribute Summoned monsters twice as valuable, literally, including itself. The only thing I recommend is that you add that its final effect can't be used the same turn it's sent to the Graveyard, as it can open up tons of other powerful plays, including adding back Sparkling Tail to re-summon, considering this archetype doesn't really swarm. 4/5, since from our battles, it rarely gets off any effect past its 2+. (3 in deck).

 

- - - - -Now, onto the Spells and Traps. Let's wrap this up, shall we?- - - - -

 

Abyssal Fishing: Essentially a Gospel of Revival of the deck, except it lets you automatically get your monster's effects. Need I say more? 5/5 (3 in deck, no doubt).

 

Emerging to Hunt: The generic power-up card of the deck that just about every deck seems to run. It has an added plus of being able to negate your opponent's Spells and Traps by sacrificing itself (and subsequently its boost). What's concerning isn't just that you can control more than one of these, but that you can freely sacrifice up to three to negate three spells or traps. I'd recommend having a hard OPT on that part, but feel free to keep it the same otherwise. 2.5/5, since your monsters don't really need the mediocre attack boost. (2 in deck).

 

Predator's Stare: Oh boy. Considering it's very unlikely you're to have more than one AD on the field you want to keep, this card is very, very powerful. As the only trap card in the deck, I feel it's justified that it does so much, but at the times it does it, it makes the card THAT much more powerful. First off, I'd recommend making it so that it protects from targeting and destruction, and not from everything, since that's simply too powerful. Along with that, I recommend making the monster immediately lose its abilities and stats. Change those things, I'd feel safe with that card. 4/5 another searcher, while good, is still a bit much. (3, for sure, in the deck.)

[Fluffyfish]

Nice. Thanks for the feedback.

You actually helped me with my doubts regarding Light Hunter and Constrictor (yes, Light both reviving and negating target effects was dumb). They got some tweaks and had a couple effects swapped (and I saw myself not using constrictor at all before because it didn't offered anything particularly desirable, hopefully this changes now).

The Continuous Spell was changed both because I wanted to not include some annoying control-esque effect in the deck, and because in my tests I had times where I started with tributes and spells but no fodders. So this Spell's main role now is to allow some extra fodder that is also usable turn 1 (the main issue the deck has is still getting started). This spell also received the recycling effect that was from Final Light (I have decided I don't want their secondary effects to allow plus, feels lame). 

Otherwise that, some minor tweaks made (some cards are still being taken in consideration for possible changes).

As a note, yes, Final Light is quite openly the deck's boss (because its, you know, the final light, plus its my Duel Portal pic until my next creation).

 

...

I also went full chunni and made #Summon Chants for all the tribute ones.

It kinda makes me like them more now (don't judge me).

[Sluggaholic]

Very nicely done on the continuous Spell card, Fluff. I love what you did with it- now it doesn't feel as out of place in the archetype as it did before. Also, the changes you made on the Tribute monsters were warranted as well, and well executed. Overall, I really don't think this archetype needs anymore work. You've done well enough so far, and I think touching it anymore would really ruin the clean-ness of the archetype. All in all, nice work!

[Fluffyfish]

Changes made here and there.

Probably the most important one is that I gave up on making the high Level monsters DARK and just made them WATER (I initially had in mind something slight different, namely they were alien/kaiju things, but in the end I went full overfed anglers and it felt better to me).

I will probably not change them much for now and this is probably the last bump.

Therefore just take your time to enjoy them.

Until next time.