[AGM] Skyship: Just when you thought Counters couldn't get more annoying!

[Dova]

[spoiler=Main Deck Monsters (5):]
If you control no monsters, you can Special Summon this card (from your hand). If this card is Summoned, place 2 Skyship Counters on this card. If there are no Skyship Counters on this card: Return this card to your hand. Once per turn: You can remove 1 Skyship Counter from this card; add 1 "Skyship" card from your Deck or Graveyard to your hand. If there is more than 1 Skyship Counter on this card, this card's Level is increased by 1. You can discard this card: Place 1 Skyship Counter on each monster you control. You can only use each effect of "Skyship Arctel" once per turn.

If this card is Summoned, place 2 Skyship Counters on this card. If there are no Skyship Counters on this card: Return this card to your hand. Once per turn: You can remove 1 Skyship Counter from this card, then target 1 monster your opponent controls: Return it to their hand. If there is more than 1 Skyship Counter on this card, this card's Level is increased by 1. You can discard this card, then target 1 other "Skyship" monster in your Graveyard; Special Summon it.

If this card is Summoned, place 1 Skyship Counter on this card for each "Skyship" monster you control. If there are no Skyship Counters on this card: Return this card to your hand. Once per turn, during either player's turn: You can remove 1 Skyship Counter from this card: "Skyship" cards you control cannot be destroyed or targeted by card effects this turn. If there is more than 1 Skyship Counter on this card, this card's Level is increased by 1. You can discard this card: Draw 1 card for each "Skyship" monster you control. You can only use this effect of "Skyship Lasgels" once per turn.

If this card is Summoned, place 1 Skyship Counter on this card for each "Skyship" monster you control. If there are no Skyship Counters on this card: Return this card to your hand. Once per turn, during either player's turn: You can remove 1 Skyship Counter from this card: "Skyship" monsters you control gain 800 ATK for each "Skyship" monster you control. If there is more than 1 Skyship Counter on this card, this card's Level is increased by 1. You can discard this card, then target 1 monster you control: It gains 1 Skyship Counter for each monster on the field.

If this card is Summoned, place 2 Skyship Counters on this card. If there are no Skyship Counters on this card: Return this card to your hand. If this card wasn't sent to the Graveyard this turn: You can banish this card from your Graveyard, then target 1 monster you control: Remove any number of Skyship Counters from that card, and, if you do, Special Summon a number of "Skyship" monsters from your Graveyard equal to the number of Counters removed. You cannot Special Summon monsters for the rest of the turn after you activate this effect If there is more than 1 Skyship Counter on this card, this card's Level is increased by 1. If you control a Level 4 WIND monster: You can discard this card, then target 1 "Skyship" monster in your Graveyard; Special Summon it.

[spoiler=Spells/Traps (2):]
When this card is activated: Place 1 Skyship Counter on this card. If a monster(s) is Summoned, place 1 Skyship Counter on each monster Summoned. If a card has no Skyship Counters on it: Return it to the hand. Once per turn: You can target 1 monster on the field: remove 1 Counter from it, then draw 1 card. You can only use this effect of "Skyship Enterprise" once per turn.

If a counter(s) is removed from a monster(s): You can place an equal number of counters equal to the amount removed on one monster on the field. You can only use this effect of "Skyship Civil War" once per turn. Monsters you control gain 500 ATK for each Skyship Counter on each of them.

[spoiler=Extra Deck Monsters (2):]
2 Level 4 monsters
If this card is Summoned: This card gains the same number of Skyship Counters equal to the total number of Counters on the cards used to Xyz Summon this card. If there are no Skyship Counters on this card: Return this card to your Extra Deck. During each of your Standby Phases: Place 1 Skyship Counter on every other face-up monster. Other "Skyship" monsters you control gain 500 DEF for each Skyship Counter on them. Once per turn: You can remove 1 Skyship Counter from 1 card on the field, then target 1 card your opponent controls; destroy it.

2 Level 4 monsters
If this card is Summoned: This card gains the same number of Skyship Counters equal to the total number of Counters on the cards used to Xyz Summon this card. If there are no Skyship Counters on this card: Return this card to your Extra Deck. During each of your Standby Phases: Target 1 monster; place 1 Skyship Counter on that target for every face-up monster on the field. Other "Skyship" monsters you control gain 500 ATK for each Skyship Counter on them. Once per turn, when a monster with a Skyship Counter(s) on it declares an attack: You can remove 1 Skyship Counter from that monster; Make that attack a direct attack.

 

A group of WIND Aqua-type monsters with a naming scheme based around ship types (Galley, Caravel, Trireme, etc.). When they are summoned, 2 or more counters are placed on them which have both offensive and defensive capabilities. When these counters run out, they are returned to the Hand. They also have discard effects that boost their levels & number of counters.

 

Text below is updated, lore on the card isn't. In any case, CnC?

[Dova]

Bump.

[Major's Shadow]

I'll chip in my $0.50 for you Dova

Again, everything is subjective, and I have been proven to be wrong. So if you think I got something wrong, let me know. Here we go:

 

Effect Monsters:

Skyship Arctel: MVP of the Deck. Adds counters to your ships, while also generating a free search and board advantage. Makes going into the Xyz's easier, and can remain a threat on the board, by searching another "Skyship" during your next turn, returning to hand, Special Summoning, and doing it all over again (impractical, but kinda neat). Not too sure on the clauses, cause you can just normal summon another Artcel, and recycle Rank 3's infinitely w/ its search effect, so I don't think SSing is the issue here.

Skyship Grantibine: Pretty decent, as its a 1500 Level 3 that bounces a free monster. Its discard effect seems trivial though, and its worded incorrectly (it increases levels of all Skyships by 1, not ones you currently control, or not until end of turn, so it technically lasts until the duel ends). Seems like a heavy cost to ditch a card from your hand to increase levels, but if the wording was intentional, then that could be insane.

Skyship Lasgeals: So, let me get this straight. I can SS a Arctel, get another Arctel, Add a Lasgeals, draw 2 cards, then overlay into a free Rank 3? Yeah, slow, but pretty broken. This is more of an issue with Arctel than Lasgeals, but giving the mechanic of potentially drawing 5 cards with a full board is nutty. Its field effect is pretty mediocre though.

Skyship Rontimo: That's cute, it's like a WIND Aqua Deskbot, except not nearly as good. This deck doesn't consistently flood the board with monsters like Deskbots do, so generating a +1000ATK or +1500ATK, while still powerful, is not quite enough. I could see this working with the Skyship Counters, rewarding players for generating more board advantage with the counter system (which I've hardly seen utilitzed), but as is, it's ok. Discard effect however is absolutely abysmal.

Skyship Lufte: That's kinda confusing. So if Grantibine already increases levels to 4, Lufte increases that monster summoned to 5? Or was the mechanic supposed to be temporary? Not too sure on that. You can use Arctel and Grantibine to make a Rank 4 play with this, but it is a -2 to make a Rank 4. Too high a cost to make Rank 4's, rather than the play I mentioned earlier with Lasgeals for a Rank 3 (but it does take your Normal Summon, unlike this combo).

 

Spell/Trap Cards:

Skyship Enterprise: The draw effect could be potentially good, but not in this deck's current iteration. Counters don't seem to have enough beneficial utility to warrant them in the design whatsoever, so giving the deck a field spell that does nothing but add more counters doesn't help much. Also, why would you add more counters, if you're looking to draw off the effects to return the cards to hand? This card pretty much highlights the confused design with the deck, and the counter mechanic that hardly works in the main deck.

Skyship Civil War: So again, we have counter support. I'm not sure why the counters are added to the Spell/Trap cards, and why they are returned to the hand if a counter is removed from them. There really isn't that many mechanics, if any, in the game that remove counters from other cards. It's not really something that needs to be added. However, what's worse is transferring counters via a Trap Card. There is absolutely no reason to run this card, as it takes a turn to enable the counter transfer system to work in the first place, which does nothing for the archetype as-is. Even if it was a Continuous Spell, with the deck's current iteration, I wouldn't touch this with a 39 1/2 foot pole.

 

Extra Deck Monsters:

Skyship Nedardothug: This is what I wish the archetype did in the first place. Generating advantage through the counter system, and manipulating your board state by removing counters from face-up monsters or cards you control. If the rest of the archetype used this mechanic, then it'd be absolutely amazing! Having the ability to rip counters from any card would provide so many plays for the deck, while always generating consistent advantage. It would leave the deck flawed, yes, but a whole lot more creative in its approach. I'll be talking about this more later.

Skyship Lopos: Ehh, yeah pretty bad. I can see the protection idea in-place here, but it's not very good. You can't use it as a generic Utopia-style effect, as it only gains 1 counter on its summon, and bounces back after the attack has been made (so it's like you never had a monster to begin with). Not to mention its stat division is odd, considering the type of effect it is. This card also just helps your opponent kill you faster, which is the last thing you need in a slow deck.

 

Overall: This deck is really cool. My review seems mostly pessimistic towards the deck, but that's because its current iteration is very confused. I would love to see the counter system being used to not only provide board presence, but also generate advantage, and manipulate the monsters you devote to the field by returning them to the hand after their effects have been used. This pertains more to the main deck than anything, and the counter system on the Spell/Trap cards kinda proved that. The idea of generating Xyz's from the cards you might want to devote more counters to in the first place  is kinda bad. The discard effects are all over the place, ranging from broken to bad. The deck has no other way to generate resources other than Arctel, and can't easily establish a board, again, without Arctel. A lot of the effects give bonuses to full boards, but that's not easy in a deck w/o some form of protection, or ways to generate larger boards w/ the counter system. With all of this, I still absolutely adore the idea, but the execution is sketchy. The entire deck would need a re-work, but here's some bullets for what I think could be changed:

• Change Counter System to reward players for generating larger boards, while also offering forms of protection to retain those board states. Give players way to manipulate counters via the Main Deck. Extra Deck idea can only stay if the counter system is re-worked.
• Either give the deck more protection, or more speed. It's very vulnerable, and currently relies solely on 1 card.
• Either give it more ways to control the board, or more ways to combo. You can't have 1 Rank 3 play justify a turn anymore, that's way too slow.
• Balance out the power levels of the OPT effects and the Discard effects, rather than having one suck, and the other broken. This also goes along with the rest of the mechanical tweaks
• Make the Spell/Trap cards useful
• Give them a Rank 3/4 engine, rather than a Rank 4 engine exclusively, if you still want to keep the Xyz's.
• Find more effective ways to make level manipulation (1 counter = +1 level, etc?)

[Dova]

Well, frig. I realize I made every card rather weak after Arctel, and I did change ideas for the counter system halfway through. Edits will be made. Thanks for the review!