[Sakura AGM] Praise based YCM mods! [YCM Heavenly Sovereign] (15/15)

[Flash Flyer - Sakura]

DISCLAIMER:

 

The creation of this Archetype DOES NOT imply that the YCM moderators are above other members. We are still listening to your concerns, and take them very seriously in the handling of this site's affairs.

 

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YCM Heavenly Sovereign - Sakura the Hurricane Dragon
Level 10 - WIND - Dragon/Ritual/Effect
3300/2500
You can Ritual Summon this card with any "YCM Heavenly" Spell Card. Must be Ritual Summoned without using any Level 10 monsters and cannot be Special Summoned by other ways. You can only use the ② and ③ effects of this card's name once per turn. ① Other "YCM Heavenly Sovereign" monsters you control cannot be targeted or destroyed by card effects. ② You can target up to 2 cards your opponent controls and/or in their Graveyard; banish them. ③ During either player's turn, if a card or effect is activated: You can negate that effect, and if you do, banish it.

 

YCM Heavenly Sovereign - Kurayami the Nightmarcher
Level 10 - DARK - Zombie/Ritual/Effect
3000/2800
You can Ritual Summon this card with any "YCM Heavenly" Spell Card. Must be Ritual Summoned without using any Level 10 monsters and cannot be Special Summoned by other ways. You can only use each effect of this card's name once per turn. ① When a monster is Special Summoned from the Extra Deck, its effects are negated. ② You can target up to 3 monsters on the field; return them to the hand. ③ During either player's turn: You can discard this card and 1 "YCM Heavenly" monster; neither player can Special Summon monsters, except from the Graveyard, until the end of this turn.

 

YCM Heavenly Sovereign - Huǒlóng the Raging Dragon
Level 8 - FIRE - Dragon/Ritual/Effect
2800/1500
You can Ritual Summon this card with any "YCM Heavenly" Spell Card. Must be Ritual Summoned without using "YCM Heavenly Sovereign - Huǒlóng the Raging Dragon" and cannot be Special Summoned by other ways. You can only use each effect of this card's name once per turn. ① Once per turn: You can banish 1 monster on the field, then your opponent takes damage equal to the higher of its ATK or DEF. You must control another "YCM Heavenly Sovereign" monster to activate and resolve this effect. ② During either player's turn, if a monster would be Summoned: You can banish 1 "YCM Heavenly Sovereign" monster from your Graveyard and discard this card; negate that Summon.

 

YCM Heavenly Sovereign - Akuyūgō the Galactical
Level 8 - LIGHT - Machine/Ritual/Effect
2600/2000
You can Ritual Summon this card with any "YCM Heavenly" Spell Card. Must be Ritual Summoned without using "YCM Heavenly Sovereign - Akuyūgō the Galactical" and cannot be Special Summoned by other ways. You can only use each effect of this card's name once per turn. ① If another "YCM Heavenly Sovereign" monster you control is targeted for an attack: You can negate that attack, then banish the attacking monster until the start of your opponent's next turn. ② During either player's turn: You can discard this card, then target 1 "YCM Heavenly Sovereign" monster; it gains 1200 ATK until the end of this turn.

 

YCM Heavenly Sovereign - Zextra the Spiraling Serpent
Level 6 - WATER - Sea Serpent/Ritual/Effect
2200/1500
You can Ritual Summon this card with any "YCM Heavenly" Spell Card. Must be Ritual Summoned without using "YCM Heavenly Sovereign - Zextra the Spiraling Serpent" and cannot be Special Summoned by other ways. You can only use each effect of this card's name once per turn. ① You can target 1 face-up card on the field; its effects are negated while on the field. ② During either player's turn: You can discard this card, then target 1 face-down card on the field; that card cannot be flipped face-up (however, face-down monsters can still be flipped up by battle).

 

YCM Heavenly Sovereign - Nanashi the Void Entity
Level 6 - DARK - Fiend/Ritual/Effect
2100/2800
You can Ritual Summon this card with any "YCM Heavenly" Spell Card. Must be Ritual Summoned without using "YCM Heavenly Sovereign - Nanashi the Void Entity" and cannot be Special Summoned by other ways.  You can only use each effect of this card's name once per turn. ① You can target 1 monster your opponent controls; its name becomes "Nameless", also its effects are negated while this card is face-up on the field. ② During either player's turn: You can discard this card, then target up to 3 cards from either player's Graveyard; banish those targets.

 

YCM Heavenly Sovereign - Trebuchet the Wandering Mech
Level 6 - EARTH - Machine/Ritual/Effect
2000/1800
You can Ritual Summon this card with any "YCM Heavenly" Spell Card. Must be Ritual Summoned without using "YCM Heavenly Sovereign - Trebuchet the Wandering Mech" and cannot be Special Summoned by other ways. You can only use each effect of this card's name once per turn. ① During either player's turn: You can target 1 "YCM Heavenly Sovereign" monster you control; this turn, when the targeted monster battles, your opponent cannot activate cards or effects until the end of the Damage Step. ② You can discard this card, then target 1 "YCM Heavenly Sovereign" monster in your Graveyard; Special Summon it.
 

YCM Heavenly Sovereign - Smear the Artist
Level 4 - EARTH - Spellcaster/Ritual/Effect
2000/1500
You can Ritual Summon this card with any "YCM Heavenly" Spell Card. Must first be Ritual Summoned. You can only use each effect of this card's name once per turn. ① You can return up to 2 of your banished "YCM Heavenly" cards to the Graveyard. ② During either player's turn: You can banish this card you control; Tribute "YCM Heavenly Sovereign" monsters from your hand or field, then Ritual Summon 1 "YCM Heavenly Sovereign" monster from your hand whose Level exactly equals the total Levels of the Tributed monsters.

YCM Heavenly Sovereign - Zaibatsu the Enabler
Level 4 - LIGHT - Machine/Ritual/Effect
1600/1600
You can Ritual Summon this card with any "YCM Heavenly" Spell Card. Must first be Ritual Summoned. You can only use each effect of this card's name once per turn. ① You can add 1 "YCM Heavenly" card from your Graveyard to your hand. ② During either player's turn: You can discard this card; Tribute "YCM Heavenly Sovereign" monsters from your hand or field, then Ritual Summon 1 "YCM Heavenly Sovereign" monster from your Graveyard whose Level exactly equals the total Levels of the Tributed monsters.

 

Kaisu, Soldier of the YCM Heaven Sovereign
Level 4 - EARTH - Warrior/Effect
1500/1800
① Your opponent cannot activate cards or effects in response to the effect of a "YCM Heavenly Sovereign" monster you control. ② If a "YCM Heavenly Sovereign" monster would be destroyed by battle or card effect: You can banish this card from your Graveyard instead.

 

Draconus, Acolyte of the YCM Heavenly Sovereign
Level 3 - FIRE - Fairy/Effect
1200/1200
You can only use the ② effect of this card's name once per turn. ① If you Ritual Summon exactly 1 "YCM Heavenly Sovereign" Ritual Monster with a card effect that requires use of monsters, this card can be used as the entire requirement. ② You can shuffle this monster from your Graveyard into the Deck: Add 1 "YCM Heavenly" Ritual Spell Card from your Deck to your hand.

 

YCM Heavenly Shrine Mirror
Ritual Spell
This card can be used to Ritual Summon any "YCM Heavenly Sovereign" monster. You can only activate each effect of this card's name once per turn. ① Tribute monsters from your hand or field and/or banish "YCM Heavenly Sovereign" monsters in your Graveyard, then Ritual Summon 1 "YCM Heavenly Sovereign" monster from your hand whose Level exactly equals the total Levels of those monsters. ② If you control no monsters: You can banish this card and 1 "YCM Heavenly Sovereign" monster from your Graveyard; add 1 "YCM Heavenly" Spell/Trap Card from your Deck to your hand.

YCM Heavenly Duality Mirror
Ritual Spell
This card can be used to Ritual Summon any number of "YCM Heavenly Sovereign" monsters. You can only activate each effect of this card's name once per turn. ① Tribute 1 monster from your hand or field, or send 1 monster with a Level from your Extra Deck to the Graveyard, then Ritual Summon any number of "YCM Heavenly Sovereign" monsters from your hand whose total Levels exactly equals the Level of that monster. ② If you control no monsters: You can banish this card and 1 "YCM Heavenly Sovereign" monster from your Graveyard; add 1 "YCM Heavenly" monster from your Deck to your hand.

 

YCM Heavenly Quick Mirror
Ritual Spell
This card can be used to Ritual Summon any "YCM Heavenly Sovereign" monster. You can only activate each effect of this card's name once per turn. ① Send "YCM Heavenly Sovereign" Ritual Monsters from your Deck to the Graveyard, then Ritual Summon 1 "YCM Heavenly Sovereign" monster from your hand whose Level exactly equals the total Levels of those monsters. ② During either player's turn: You can banish this card from your Graveyard; any damage you take this turn is halved.

 

YCM Heavenly Forbidden Mirror
Ritual Spell
This card can be used to Ritual Summon any "YCM Heavenly Sovereign" monster. You can only activate each effect of this card's name once per turn. ① Excavate 1 "YCM Heavenly Sovereign" monster from your Deck, then Tribute monsters from your hand or field whose total Levels exactly equal the excavated monster's Level, then Ritual Summon that monster from your Deck. ② During either player's turn: You can banish this card from your Graveyard; this turn, if a "YCM Heavenly Sovereign" monster battles an opponent's monster that was Special Summoned from the Extra Deck; destroy it.

 

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[spoiler=Design notes and stuff]

The original prompt said to make them Rituals (which these are), but I modified it a bit to be more practical (original one was something about all the members being 4K+ monsters and Level 10). That being said, Rituals still have that problem of not being worth enough to warrant investing Tributes into summoning, so that was also a factor.

 

(As such, this DOES play similarly to Nekroz, or rather it's a YCM equivalent, with the staff members at the time this was originally conceived, with notable extras). I have based their effects on the member's personality and if they play this game, what Decks they are associated with.

 

The ATK/DEF of the main members are roughly correlated to post count and reps (overall); sometimes I will scale either of the fields to an appropriate value. Draconus contributed the card with his name on it, so that one is his design; not mine (I only fixed the OCG and stuff).

 

Correlation things

• Mine is partly derived from the protection effect that is/was common on Sakura-themed cards I made in the past; also boss-level effects and stuff to reflect status at the top. No, this does not mean I am better than the Super Mods, but as mentioned, going by post count and yeah, I have a lot more post count and reps to boot.
  • Also, Shooting Star Dragon stats because they partially correlate to my post count / reps (well, give/take a couple hundred posts at the time I posted this). The name also borrows slightly from my current user title (should probably read Psychic Dragon instead of Hurricane, but Shippuden reference for those who've known me long enough.)
• Flame Dragon's one is FIRE Dragon, so burn effect. If I played MtG, maybe I'd get a better idea of his likes in that game and design something accordingly.
• evilfusion's is based on Galaxy Eyes (Prime) Photon Dragon, which should come as no surprise given how long he's had that avatar (currently Starve Venom)
• Zextra's card is based on Milotic and associated sets. Unfortunately, I don't know what Decks he likes (as he's told me about his absence from the game lately)
• Nai's card (extending one to him because he was still staff at the time the original prompt came up) is partially themed on the card Nameless / Nanashi (or whatever the dub calls it now); also because part of his current name, and Infernoids (well, at least the banishing part).
• Gadjiltron borrows a bit from Nekroz Catastor and Ancient Gears (because of Gadjiltron Dragon and all)
• Smear is a recycler to grab stuff you banished for the Ritual Spells (or suppose if you have to deal with rogue Dark Laws and stuff). Also insta-hand Ritual if you don't draw into the normal cards.
• Zai recycles your dead cards (so...any of the other mods you discard) or revive them from the Graveyard by banishing, should you choose. You'll mostly be summoning the Level 6+ stuff though, since he and Smear can still be summoned off Senju/Manju.
• Shrine and Duality Mirror work the exact same as their Nekroz equivalents, so won't say much on them. Quick Mirror should be obvious in its function.
• Draco's card is supposed to be a Shurit equivalent of sorts; this was originally contributed by him in the AGM thread (I only fixed the OCG and added hard OPT on his effects because they originally had none).

OTHER STUFF

• I will NOT be making an equivalent of Unicore or Brionac in here.
• There will be another Level 10 besides me; likely will have Scar-Red Nova stats to counter mine.
• Will go: 2-2-3-3 (2 Level 10s, 2 Level 8s, 3 Level 6s, 3 Level 4s)
  • Level 10s need at least 2 monsters to summon (so 6+4, or Tribute Draconus)
  • 6 and 8 can use other members as Tributes, but not themselves.
  • 4s can be revived later, IF you properly summon them first.

 

I have the LEGACY tag up, but this also can work under the VRAINS stuff too (well, because Rituals are Main Deck).

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EDIT LOG

 

- 3/31/2017: Added Nai and Smear. Also moved descriptions to a separate spoiler. FIxed Zai's 2nd effect to banish instead of discard (gives Smear something to recur).

- 4/5/2017: Modified Zextra's effect to be less confusing concerning battling face-down monsters (you can still flip them up after attacking). Draconus has his 1 / 2 effects swapped (overall function remains unchanged)

- 4/9/2017: Flame gets an Archetype requirement (why did I overlook that?), Nai changed to targeted banishing, Draconus loses searching effect and has banish effect restricted to Archetypal Rituals. Modified Ritual Spell banishing effects (well, at least Duality/Quick)

- 4/21/2017: Buffed my card to also hit the Graveyard (I think I alluded to that with my Arashizakura thread), also addition of Night, Kaisu (support member) and another Ritual Spell based on Darj's idea to Ritual Summon from the Deck. Zai and Smear modified accordingly [smear got a slight ATK boost).

 

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Anyway, CnC.

Reps given for properly written reviews under the Advanced Clause (and/or I'll try to review your stuff).

[Flash Flyer - Sakura]

Added two more Ritual Monsters: Smear and Nai. 

 

I may end up modifying the original floor plan a bit if the need arises (considering the Level 6s are technically done if I follow the current draft). There will be a Level 10 made to go alongside me, but it's a matter of designing it properly based on the member who it's intended to be (and it's one who's done a great deal of work during his modship). That being said, if he does not wish for a card to be made, I will respect that request and base the other Level 10 off someone else.

 

There are a lot of members in here and you won't necessarily use them all during the course of a single duel, but you can side them in and out as you deem necessary.

 

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Right, and moved my "design notes" into a spoiler tag. As I mentioned beforehand, while this Archetype does play similarly to a certain Deck (which is somewhat inevitable given the nature of Ritual Monsters [need to have effects that warrant the investment needed], I will NOT be making "clones" of particular members.

[MUDKIPISAWESOME!!!]

Couple things that'll sound a bit nitpicky:

Wouldn't most of these cards' Summoning Restriction effects be worded "without Tributing" instead of "without using" as Ritual Monsters Tribute, not 'use' whatever that word really means in YGO?

I feel like every time you write "Can only use the (#) and (#) effects of (card) once per turn" it would be better to just put the other effect first and then say "You can only use the following effects of (card) once per turn" like Buster Whelp of the Destruction Swordsman does. Draconus is a good example of this, as I seem to recall other cards effects similar to his (2) effect that have those effects at the start of the card and then follow with their once per turns.

Continuing above nitpick, writing "this card's name" sounds confusing - perhaps just leave it with the written name of the card instead like the TCG/OCG cards do unless you were putting 'this card's name' so that you didn't have to type all those long names again and I just missed the obvious cue.

Huolong should say something like "Inflict damage equal to the ATK or DEF the Monster had on the Field(whichever is higher)" but I don't know exactly how to word it to be proper so double-check with someone who does.

I'd change Akuyugo to say "Also" instead of "Then" so that you can still use the second part if your opponent somehow stops you from negating attacks(I'd be surprised if someone on here hasn't already tried that kind of thing to be anti-Utopia), but that may just be me.

Zextra causes difficulties when used to target Face-Down Monsters - what happens when I attack it but it isn't flipped up because it can't be? Not sure how to fix the wording, but just figured I'd throw that out there so you knew that was an issue.

You can literally just Summon Trebuchet without any Ritual Spells by using his effect to discard him, then select him to Special Summon. To fix this, I'd change the order of the effect, making you target a Summon target before discarding him.

That's all I have time for tonight, I'll try to remember to get back on tomorrow to finish looking through the rest and edit this to say what I think about the concept in general.

[Flash Flyer - Sakura]

Couple things that'll sound a bit nitpicky:

 

1. Wouldn't most of these cards' Summoning Restriction effects be worded "without Tributing" instead of "without using" as Ritual Monsters Tribute, not 'use' whatever that word really means in YGO?

I feel like every time you write "Can only use the (#) and (#) effects of (card) once per turn" it would be better to just put the other effect first and then say "You can only use the following effects of (card) once per turn" like Buster Whelp of the Destruction Swordsman does. Draconus is a good example of this, as I seem to recall other cards effects similar to his (2) effect that have those effects at the start of the card and then follow with their once per turns.

 

2. Continuing above nitpick, writing "this card's name" sounds confusing - perhaps just leave it with the written name of the card instead like the TCG/OCG cards do unless you were putting 'this card's name' so that you didn't have to type all those long names again and I just missed the obvious cue.

 

3. Huolong should say something like "Inflict damage equal to the ATK or DEF the Monster had on the Field(whichever is higher)" but I don't know exactly how to word it to be proper so double-check with someone who does.

 

4. I'd change Akuyugo to say "Also" instead of "Then" so that you can still use the second part if your opponent somehow stops you from negating attacks(I'd be surprised if someone on here hasn't already tried that kind of thing to be anti-Utopia), but that may just be me.

 

5. Zextra causes difficulties when used to target Face-Down Monsters - what happens when I attack it but it isn't flipped up because it can't be? Not sure how to fix the wording, but just figured I'd throw that out there so you knew that was an issue.

 

6. You can literally just Summon Trebuchet without any Ritual Spells by using his effect to discard him, then select him to Special Summon. To fix this, I'd change the order of the effect, making you target a Summon target before discarding him.

That's all I have time for tonight, I'll try to remember to get back on tomorrow to finish looking through the rest and edit this to say what I think about the concept in general.

 

Let me address these in order.

 

1. I took the summon restrictions from how Nekroz are worded; they use the same format I have here. That being said, if Konami has changed the wording for them (which I don't believe they have), then I'll update mine accordingly.

 

As for how they're worded, it borrows from hybrid PSCT (or using the OCG format of writing effects with TCG's PSCT). Technically, the TCG does not use the numbers, but I like to use this to avoid having to write multiple hard OPT clauses; also clear up what is negatable by Skill Drain and the like.

 

For Draconus, I moved the effects around; change the position of his Shurit effect with that of the on-summon one.

 

2. COTD (first set of VRAINS) changed the formatting for this; instead of the card's actual name in question, it now reads "this card's name". Granted, I don't know what TCG will do to this wording once we get SD2017 and COTD, but yeah. I suppose it saves a few words in writing out stuff most of the time, but yeah.

 

3. I'll need to check on specifics, though I think there were some cards that do say "higher of its ATK or DEF" but may apply to just stat changing; believe this would be Em Mirror Conductor or something. (I'll go double check the YGOPro database; easier than me having to comb the Wikia to find stuff.)

 

4. Yeah, I can do that; though even with that change, S39 still locks it off (but don't we all have issues with him?).

 

5. Zextra should only prevent the opponent from flipping them face-up on their own (should be similar to Quaking Mirror Force's lock; affected monsters can't change battle position). Attacking face-down monsters should still flip them up (and that's what it's intended to be doing).

 

Not sure how that would look in PSCT, but modified that effect to permit face-down monsters to be flipped up by attacks. Might've forgotten about that when writing the cards initially.

 

6. Trebuchet/Gadjiltron has a Nomi clause on him, so he cannot be SS'd by his own effect (you must Ritual Summon him; same goes for everyone who isn't Smear and Zai [but even they need to be properly Ritual Summoned first]). So yeah, you can revive Smear, Zai and Draconus with his discard effect, but no one else.

 

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For other planned designs, Night will be here as a Level 8 (might as well do the Super Mod trinity in its entirety) and maybe another Level 6 Ritual (perhaps Dad). Other Level 10 to go alongside me should be somewhat obvious, but again, if he does not wish to have a card form in here, then I'll respect his wishes and either leave mine as the only Level 10 or think of something else (may involve shifting Night to the Level 10 slot instead).

 

Trying to determine an appropriate effect for Night at the moment based on him as a whole, because I have a good deal of respect for him (and the rest of my colleagues).

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[spoiler=Other notes]

As much as I don't like ripping off Nekroz to some extent (didn't I already mention this in design notes?), that's pretty much the only way Rituals even have a chance right now in the meta; considering the lack of Ritual decks that can either recycle their materials and/or worth the overall investment. (I think Saffira Heralds sort of addressed that issue to a degree, but yeah).

 

 

[Darj]

IDK what exactly goes on in AGM, but these actually could get a more realistic vibe if you removed YCM from their names.

Just a couple of thoughts, have not read all the cards yet:

- Following the Nekroz recipe makes them kinda meh IMO; I can get behind the gimmick on Ritual Monsters having discard effects for the flexibility, but once I read the Ritual Spells having practically the same effects, including the "banish to add an archetype Spell/Trap Card" that is good because of free pluses... yeah it lost the charm for me. I was hoping for you to spice things up with the Ritual Spells at least by a bit.

- Nitpick here but I know Zextra is based on Milotic, a pure Water-Type, but still, I think it would fit better as LIGHT/Sea Serpent. Whenever I noticed his avi, it was a Milotic looking all majestic with multicolored light and/or bubbles, at least IIRC, so that's from where I get the vibe of LIGHT attribute.

- The Acolyte looks kinda busted IMO. It's pretty much a better Shurit and a bit too flexible, and look where Shurit currently is in both TCG and OCG. Yeah...

- On the other hand, really feeling like being a bit evil with Smear and Zaibatsu make its Ritual Summoning effect a Quick Effect so you can drop a sovereign Ritual during the opponent's turn and possibly disrupt stuff; also Battle Phase shenanigans for extra damage.

- The discard effect of Huolong is insane. It's not even archetype-dependent, allowing you to splash in any deck. Pretty sure would be effectively an staple due to its ability of stopping a Summon even when your opponent goes first. Really, this effect badly needs a condition that binds it to Heavenly Sovereign, think of Valkyrus requirement of banishing a Nekroz card from the grave to stop the attack, and even then, Summon-negation hand trap would be quite potent.

- Likewise, the discard effects of Nanashi and Zextra are splashable, but that seems intended and shouldn't be as potent as Huolong's

- Not quite sure why some effects don't target. I understand Holong for the non-targeting removal, but then you have Smear's and Zai's field effects, as well as Nanashi's discard effect also with non-targeting. I mean, it's not terribly broken to make them not target, but targeting is a standard for fairness.

[Flash Flyer - Sakura]

AGM is basically meta, but w/out Yuya.dek or whatever is topping now. (I probably swear that some of the stuff we have right now is just as deadly as the current game, if not more potent; this probably being one of those power decks).

 

[As much as we'd like to test them out, you probably know about DP being offline right now]

 

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I did say that I wasn't fond of having to borrow from the existing Ritual Spells (or even Nekroz), but yeah changes. I modified Quick Mirror to do something else entirely (if halving damage does anything; suppose it can block you from getting OTK'd or severely damaged, but then it is generic right now, which may prove to be an issue); other two will probably stay the same right now, except maybe Duality searching monsters. (Not as efficient as Brio's search power, but I explicitly mentioned that I will NOT make a clone for it)

 

Draconus's card was from him; not me, but yeah, I'm not fond of it either due to it being better Shurit for most intents/purposes. Removed that searching effect (though he can still act like Ritual Raven and the like). Think he designed that card after I posted some of the existing stuff at the time (or at least card themed on me).

 

Can look into making Smear/Zai "quick-play" Ritual Summons and let them trigger during either player's turn. Didn't update it right now, but will need to think it over considering I have two other cards in mind which could abuse it (and probably the whole Deck).

 

Flame Dragon changed to requiring another mod to banish on his effect; I'll hate myself for not remembering to put an Archetype clause beforehand.

 

Nai changed to target the banished cards in the Graveyard. Smear and Zai will probably remain as they are, as they just recover resources and not going to be proactive against the opponent, though Smear's job is likely to recycle the Spells and other monsters so Flame has fuel to work with. If I need to change them to target, then I will.

 

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Only cards you haven't gotten to yet are mine, evilfusion and Gadjiltron/Trebuchet. But otherwise, I probably drew myself into a hole with this prompt, considering its Ritual-based nature and various other things [hence why I had to put the disclaimer up]. (I think a lot of us would've appreciated other Ritual decks that don't act like Nekroz, but could still function competitively, but yeah).

 

Removing YCM from the name is an option, but would still be obvious as to its origins, given the names. (That, and need to make sure that the cards don't get tangled up with other existing stuff with the name "Heavenly").

[Darj]

So, they are intended to be as strong as the top tiers, huh.

That's interesting because I don't find them that threatening; I get the vibe they would barely stand up against True Dracos, Zoodiacs and Lawnmowing Infernoids and Paleozoics; they are lacking Nekroz' biggest players: their maindeck Trishula, his best friend Exciton because it's currently banned in TCG, Unicore disrupting any Extra Deck based deck plus enabling Rank4s like the aforementioned Exciton, and the Valkyrus that kept them alive. Really, as I see it, the only thing that would hold this archetype up is Acolyte, due to its sheer advantage generation, and the grave effects of the Ritual Spells.

 

And I disagree with the Nekroz approach being the only way to make a Ritual archetype relevant. There are other ways, but you got to be a bit more clever. For instance, have you considered Ritual Summoning from the Deck, or Ritual Pendulums, which would assist with mitigating their dead-draw-ish nature? Or at the very least spice the formula a bit: for example instead of carbon-copying the grave effects of the Ritual Spells, you can try other effects, like reviving an archetype monster, or an archetype Jar of Avarice (think of Zoodiac Combo's grave effect), rather than all of them having the same effect.

 

 

EDIT:

I just noticed the changes you did that address the above. But still, a reborn or Zoodiac Combo as grave effects for the Ritual Spells should be good options.

 

Afterthoughts:

- In fact, they are much farther from Nekroz since they are missing their consistency in Clausolas and Brionac.

- Another balance measure that occurred to me is to also put a hard OPT on the grave effect of Ritual Spells. Otherwise you could attempt milling tactics with Lawnmowing, and banish multiple Ritual Spells to get Ritual Spells and monsters.

- Turning the archetype into Pendulums would allow sinergy with Sky Iris and Odd-Eyes Advent, to Summon Sakura and Huolong.

[Flash Flyer - Sakura]

(Well, AGM is more/less our version of the meta; what the precise power level is right now [individually], I don't know because the pool is even bigger than the two formats in DP combined; roughly. Would probably say it's a close mirror to the actual meta; some are top tier-ish and others are more on the casual end.)

 

I can take into consideration having a Ritual Spell that can summon from the Deck instead; that way, you can just summon whatever you need to. That, and giving them other ways to recycle sources faster than having to get Smear/Zai out. Other things that could be considered are adding modified copies of Brio/Trish (can just modify the (2) effect on mine to extend to the hand/Graveyard for latter; won't be as instantaneous as Trish is on summon, but will make up for being triggerable on future turns) and either the eventual Night/Dad card can get a Brio search effect (oh wait, I gave that role to Duality Mirror, albeit more costly; can let one of them be a Unicore of sorts). 

 

Pendulums could be an option here, since I did design this for ARC-V and they won't be affected by the new changes (though with that being said, I did plan on making them at least functional in Standard to an extent). That being said, wouldn't really do them too much good since only Zai and Smear can be P-Summoned after being summoned correctly, unless I give one of them a way to bypass those conditions. Advent support would work since Flame and I are Dragon-Type monsters (Flame is obvious; mine has some links to my user title and other stuff).

 

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All of the Mirrors still have hard OPT on each effect, so you can't trigger them all; unless you're referring to having only 1 Mirror trigger per turn.

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But yeah, I'll look into making further changes with the suggestions above once the next two or so cards are up. 

[Darj]

(Well, AGM is more/less our version of the meta; what the precise power level is right now [individually], I don't know because the pool is even bigger than the two formats in DP combined; roughly. Would probably say it's a close mirror to the actual meta; some are top tier-ish and others are more on the casual end.)

 

I can take into consideration having a Ritual Spell that can summon from the Deck instead; that way, you can just summon whatever you need to. That, and giving them other ways to recycle sources faster than having to get Smear/Zai out. Other things that could be considered are adding modified copies of Brio/Trish (can just modify the (2) effect on mine to extend to the hand/Graveyard for latter; won't be as instantaneous as Trish is on summon, but will make up for being triggerable on future turns) and either the eventual Night/Dad card can get a Brio search effect (oh wait, I gave that role to Duality Mirror, albeit more costly; can let one of them be a Unicore of sorts). 

 

Pendulums could be an option here, since I did design this for ARC-V and they won't be affected by the new changes (though with that being said, I did plan on making them at least functional in Standard to an extent). That being said, wouldn't really do them too much good since only Zai and Smear can be P-Summoned after being summoned correctly, unless I give one of them a way to bypass those conditions. Advent support would work since Flame and I are Dragon-Type monsters (Flame is obvious; mine has some links to my user title and other stuff).

 

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All of the Mirrors still have hard OPT on each effect, so you can't trigger them all; unless you're referring to having only 1 Mirror trigger per turn.

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Nope, I indeed meant an individual hard OPT clause. I overlooked that it included both effects already.

 

And if you really want these to reach Nekroz levels, then sure, go ahead and make their own archetype versions of Brionac and Clausolas; that will boost them a ton.

You can also play around with Pendulum mechanics, like treating a Pendulum Summon as a Ritual Summon instead, still requiring Tributes of course and you can only Pendulum-Ritual Summon 1 monster from hand or Extra Deck, or give a Ritual Summoning effects to a couple of Pendulum effects; think of a reverse Zefrasaber.

On the other hand, at this point you may as well keep the Ritual Pendulum idea for another archetype instead of overhauling these guys; you are mostly on the right track with the Nekroz approach, anyway.

[Flash Flyer - Sakura]

I'll just leave this as a list of stuff to take care of, once I get time later in the week to add.

• Make equivalents of Clausolas and Brionac (albeit latter being modified as to not be a literal clone).
• 4th Ritual Spell Card to summon from the Deck (you can choose which one fits your needs based on playstyle).
• Do stuff in previous posts (maybe consider Quick-Play Ritual effects off Smear/Zai); will need to check that it's not going overboard in conjunction with future supports. (But at minimum, just make the power level high enough to contend with the current meta)

[Flash Flyer - Sakura]

Bumping with updated stuff; see the log for more details. (So yeah, you have another Level 10 besides mine [you can figure out who Kurayami is based on], Smear/Zai got updated and a new regular monster [which is named after one of my longtime YCM friends who is pretty much inactive nowadays]).

 

At this point, Archetype is more/less complete (sans maybe the Clausolas equivalent, but think the new Ritual's banishing effect should generally make up for that).

 

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