Seeking Feedback: Alternate Victory Condition Archetype - The Lethal Lords

[XxST0RMxX]

I love the concept of alternate victory conditions, the tension of knowing your opponent is drawing exodia pieces or spelling out "FINAL" on destiny board. However, alternate victory conditions have a couple of serious problems:

1. They usually promote a solitaire-style of gameplay with little interaction with your opponent, which isn't fun.

2. Most of them just aren't very good. They are often extremely inconsistent and difficult to pull off. This isn't necessarily a bad thing, but I think we can do better without making the game less fun for your opponent.

So, this archetype/series retrains the old match-winning cards as an Alternate Victory Condition "Duel Winner" archetype with a semi-coherent theme. They all require 3 tributes to normal summon (A nod to the original match winners), but this requirement is waived if you play without an Extra Deck. Besides domain monarchs, I haven't seen Konami seriously experiment with this, and I think there is room for interesting card design by imposing this restriction. They also lock you out of all special summons while on the field. This archetype is meant to be slow, as the individual monsters are easy to get out and all quite powerful.

The trap cards being "hand traps" is inspired by the "Boss Duel"  cards which had literal hidden effects. This archetype/series doesn't have a lot of protection effects, and completely lacks any floodgates or negates, though I realize the lack of special summoning makes it easy to use with some floodgates like "Lose 1 turn" or Vanity's. As much as possible, I want to avoid effects in this archetype that prevent my opponent from playing the game with me

An IMGUR gallery of the cards can be found here.

Queen of Fate - Eternia

Level 8 LIGHT Fairy/Effect

ATK 2400 / DEF 2000

Cannot be Special Summoned. Requires 3 Tributes to Normal Summon (cannot be Normal Set). If you have no cards in your Extra Deck, you can Normal Summon this card without Tributing. You cannot Special Summon. Your opponent cannot activate cards or effects when your monsters with a Duel winning effect declare an attack. If this card destroys 3 monsters your opponent controls, you win the Duel.

As Eternia was a potential design for Ruin, Queen of Oblivion, her effect to support the archetype is based off Ruin, Angel of Oblivion. Her alternate victory condition is based off phantasm spiral assault. The text "Duel winning effect" I based off Desperado Barrel Dragon's use of the phrase "Dice Rolling Effect." As a lot of the archetype depends on attacking and going into battle, she supports by giving them an armades-like effect.

Armament of the Lethal Lords

Level 8 DARK Warrior/Effect

ATK 2500 / DEF 2500

Cannot be Special Summoned. Requires 3 Tributes to Normal Summon (cannot be Normal Set). If you have no cards in your Extra Deck, you can Normal Summon this card without Tributing. You cannot Special Summon. Once per turn: You can target 1 monster with a Duel winning effect; it gains 1000 ATK/DEF, also until the end of this turn, it can make up to 2 attacks during each Battle Phase. You can Tribute 2 other monsters with Duel winning effects; If this card inflicts battle damage to your opponent this turn, you win the Duel.

While all the lethal lords have big bodies, none of them exceed 3000 attack on their own, so there are many boss monsters that can beat them. Armament supports the theme by beefing himself or an ally up, making it more likely they'll be able to use one of their victory conditions, mainly Eternia or Victory Dragon. His alternate victory condition is a combination of the pendulum match winners granting a match-winning effect by tributing, and Obelisk the Tormentor's anime effect giving himself infinite attack by tributing 2 monsters.

Testament of the Lethal Lords

Level 10 LIGHT Spellcaster/Effect

ATK 3000 / DEF 3000

Cannot be Special Summoned. Requires 3 Tributes to Normal Summon (cannot be Normal Set). If you have no cards in your Extra Deck, you can Normal Summon this card without Tributing. You cannot Special Summon. If this card is Summoned: You can add 1 “Lethal Lord” Spell/Trap from your Deck to your hand. If this card is sent to the GY by your opponent’s card effect: Banish it. If 3 of your “Testament of the Lethal Lords” are currently banished, and were all banished by this effect, you win the Duel.

The main searcher. Figured this kind of card would almost always be run at 3, so its victory condition is based off Jackpot 7 which also requires 3 copies of itself.

Lorelei, the Symphonic Arsenal

Level 8 LIGHT Machine/Effect

ATK 2400 / DEF 2000

Cannot be Special Summoned. Requires 3 Tributes to Normal Summon (cannot be Normal Set). If you have no cards in your Extra Deck, you can Normal Summon this card without Tributing. You cannot Special Summon. Once per turn: You can target 1 set card your opponent controls; destroy it. Then, if it was a Spell/Trap, you can Set it on your field. If this card remains on the field for 5 of your opponent’s turns, you win the Duel.

Her victory condition is based off Destiny Board, however as a monster she can be killed more easily than a spell/trap. Because she can only destroy set cards, the opponent can play around this.

King of Destruction - Xexex

Level 10 DARK Fiend/Effect

ATK 3000 / DEF 2500

Cannot be Special Summoned. Requires 3 Tributes to Normal Summon (cannot be Normal Set). If you have no cards in your Extra Deck, you can Normal Summon this card without Tributing. You cannot Special Summon. Once per turn: You can target 1 face-up card your opponent controls; destroy it. Then, if it was a Monster, inflict damage equal to its original ATK. If you control 5 monsters with different names with a Duel winning effect, you win the Duel.

A design considered for Demise - King of Armageddon. However, a free field nuker seemed a bit excessive, so this effect is based off Destruction Dragon, albeit only targeting face-up cards so the opponent has an opportunity to play around it. Its alternate victory condition is based off a less memey "True Exodia."

Victory Dragon

Level 8 DARK Dragon/Effect

ATK 2400 / DEF 3000

Cannot be Special Summoned. Requires 3 Tributes to Normal Summon (cannot be Normal Set). If you have no cards in your Extra Deck, you can Normal Summon this card without Tributing. You cannot Special Summon. Your monsters with a Duel winning effect cannot be targeted, or destroyed by, your opponent’s card effects. If this card attacks your opponent directly and reduces their Life Points to 4000 or less, you win the Duel.

Sadly I used to own one of these, but for some reason I trade it for a Raviel, Lord of Phantasms. He provides protection for his whole team, however as a monster he's easier to get rid of spells/traps usually are. His alternate victory condition is based off his match-winning one, but change to work within a duel.
 

Gilgamesh the Hero

Level 6 DARK Warrior/Effect

ATK 2600 2400 Def 1000 (Edited for compatibility with Monarch support)

When a monster you control declares an attack: Banish 3 cards from the top of your opponent's Deck face-down. You can only use each of the following effects of "Gilgamesh the Hero" once per turn.

● During your Main Phase: You can add 1 Monster with a Duel winning effect from your deck or GY to your hand.

● During your Main Phase, you can Normal Summon 1 Monster with a Duel winning effect, in addition to your Normal Summon/Set.

I thought the idea of a weaker monster typically being tribute summoned using a much more powerful one was hilarious. In the "lore", this guy would hunt the lethal lords. He is mainly designed to speed up the archetype, and as a bonus he has his own alternate victory condition - milling. However, he's even easier to kill than the other lethal lords as he lacks a duel winning effect and doesn't get any of their protection or spell/trap support.

Lethal Lords’ Resurrection

TRAP

Target 1 monster with a Duel winning effect that is banished or in your GY; immediately after this effect resolves, add that target to your hand, and if you do, Normal Summon 1 monster. If you have no cards in your Extra Deck, you can activate this card from your hand. You can only use the effect of “Lethal Lords’ Resurrection” once per turn.

The most important spell/trap, lets you get a duel winner back, whether killed or banished, and normal summon it.

Lethal Lord’s Omnipotence

TRAP

Target 1 monster with a Duel winning effect; it gains 1000 ATK/DEF, also until the end of the next turn, it gains these effects.

● When this card battles an opponent’s monster, but the opponent’s monster was not destroyed by the battle: You can banish that opponent’s monster.

● If this card attacks a Defense Position monster, inflict piercing battle damage.

If you have no cards in your Extra Deck, you can activate this card from your hand. You can only use the effect of “Lethal Lords’ Omnipotence” once per turn.

The Battle trap, gives the series the ability to beat over monster immune to battle destruction, like Blue-Eyes Twin Burst dragon, or just survive another turn.

Lethal Lords’ Worship

TRAP

Declare 1 card type (Monster, Spell, or Trap); Until the end of this turn, monsters with a Duel winning effect cannot be Tributed, also they are unaffected by the effects of cards of the declared card type other than this card. If you have no cards in your Extra Deck, you can activate this card from your hand. You can only use the effect of “Lethal Lords’ Worship” once per turn.

The main protection effect. I originally considered something like the monarch's awaken, but decided to restrict it to tributing + one other card type so that its easier for the opponent to play around.

Lethal Lords’ Wrath

TRAP

If your opponent negates the Normal Summon or effect of a monster with a Duel winning effect: Activate 1 of these effects;

● Draw 2 cards.

● Destroy all cards your opponent controls.

If you have no cards in your Extra Deck, you can activate this card from your hand. You can only use 1 “Lethal Lords’ Wrath” effect per turn, and only once that turn.

This doesn't stop the opponent's negate, as that negate could be critical in preventing me from getting a cheesy instant-win, but it provides the series some compensation by punishing the negate afterwards.

Homeland of the Lethal Lords

Field SPELL

Once per turn, this card cannot be destroyed or banished by card effects. You can only use each of the following effects of “Homeland of the Lethal Lords” once per turn:

● You can shuffle 2 “Lethal Lord” Spells/Traps from your GY into your Deck; Draw 1 card. (Edited as I needed to specify)

● If a monster with a Duel winning effect you control leaves the field: Draw 1 card, then you take no damage this turn.

The field spell is designed to recover the traps which I expect would get used a lot, and give me some breathing room if one of my Lethal Lords is killed and I'd normally be wide open for attack. Both effects are drawing instead of searching as I want to limit the amount of information my opponent gets to keep the "hidden effects" hidden if I can.

[Tinkerer]

Overall, I love the design concept of these!  Taking the old match winners (and their awesome art) and turning them into something a bit more practical.  Since you'd be mixing a ton of alternate win conditions into your deck, it actually means the opponent doesn't actually know how you might aim to win, which gives you a kind of advantage in just pure knowledge.

These are quite fair, making the cards decent beaters with some extra effects, but restricted enough that you shouldn't be able to do shenanigans to get an insta-win (at least, I can't think of a way to cheat out an FTK with these).  Obviously, the most important of these are Testament (3k Spellcaster that searches) and Victory Dragon (Level 8 DARK Dragon is just... a really good typing on top of giving some of the best protection in the game).  I can see the others used at various ratios depending on the contexts.  I am a little disappointed that Gilgamesh doesn't have Monarch stats; I suppose it (lore-wise) wouldn't be able to defeat many of the Lethal Lords with only 2400 ATK, but it would probably be a lot more functional as a 2400 ATK monster.

The field spell is surprisingly versatile, allowing the deck to plus off of single cards that would normally not be super useful.  Anyway, once you've got the field spell, something like "Advance Draw" seems like it might not be too bad with this deck, especially when combo'd with Testament.  The deck could also run "Strike of the Monarchs" which is pretty cute.  One thing about the field spell though: You need to specify where you shuffle the spell/traps from.

Other than that, the other spells/traps are pretty functional and very interactive.  I can't imagine that this archetype would likely get many wins on its own, but I do really enjoy the idea of them!

 

[XxST0RMxX]

Thank you, this is very helpful! I hadn't considered that Gilgamesh is almost compatible with all the monarch support, so 200 less ATK and the ability to beat over some of my own monsters is a lot less important to me then that extra cohesion/deck building options.

I'm cool with Testament and Victory being the most useful, as testament is intended to be run at 3 anyways and Victory Dragon was the OG match winner.

Good point on the field spell, I will specify you shuffle "from your GY".

I'm cool if this deck isn't top tier, as I'd be playing these casually and never want anyone to feel I "stole" a win from them haha, but what could I do to make this archetype/series better? Ideally without compromising too much fairness or interactivity haha.