yugioh A guide to making custom archetypes

[Mzse1216]

On 10/30/2024 at 5:07 AM, WhiteThunder777 said:

Of course.  I'd be happy to. 
The Mask/Masked beasts would be very good as support - it sticks to the theme are the archetype.  A word of advice here, you'd want to get the resources you need which this shows.  And these are very well formatted retrains because they stick to the original.  IF you want to keep on making support, think about how it thematically connects to Lumis and Umbra first and then stick with that while making.

The Mirror Force archetype with monsters really good as a concept.  For a control deck, the goal is to disrupt your opponent before they have a chance to react. This control's strategy is forcing the opponent to attack, so you could have a Trap that forces the opponent to attack.

Thank you for giving me feedback! I'm really glad you like the formatting and the concepts. 
I'm curious what you mean about getting the resources with the "Mask" support. Are you saying that that is an issue with the deck?
I also wanted to say that "Mirror Mages" have a field spell that forces the opponent to attack, as well as 1 monster and 1 trap that has a weaker version of that effect. 

[WhiteThunder777]

On 10/31/2024 at 8:06 AM, Mzse1216 said:

Thank you for giving me feedback! I'm really glad you like the formatting and the concepts. 
I'm curious what you mean about getting the resources with the "Mask" support. Are you saying that that is an issue with the deck?
I also wanted to say that "Mirror Mages" have a field spell that forces the opponent to attack, as well as 1 monster and 1 trap that has a weaker version of that effect. 

No issue with the deck.  The way is to think about it like this. But these are good ideas.  Always tie the stuff TO the archetype.  Every card in the archetype has to relate to your game plan for that archetype which I can truly see.

[WhiteThunder777]

If your mechanic is wide and innovative, you can create new cards without the risk of worrying about bloating (which is putting too many mechanics in an archetype, and power creep which is where newer cards overshadow the older cards).  

Let's look at BEWD and Dark Magician the archetype as an example.  Because these archetype revolve around a specific monster, every card of the archetype must be entered around the monster.  But as the years went by, they wanted to be more competitive.  Overtime, this led to both of these archetypes being rigid in design because you have to play them a specific way.  What this teaches is ... that if one builds an archetype which centers a Normal monster - all cards of that archetype must support that Normal monster.  This is the same case with Phantasm Spiral Dragon and its Pacific strategy.  All of these cases led to bloating which eventually caused these archetypes to be power crept. 

Now let's look at another example of innovative design, consider an archetype of Cyberse monsters who manipulative Equip Spells in various ways, with the Equip Spells when sent to the GY or banishment, does something.  First off, the Equip Spells design are very vast, allowing one to explore various possibilities, and the monsters can have other stuff related to the Equip Spells like Summoning conditions, protection, etc.  

Edited November 5 by WhiteThunder777

[WhiteThunder777]

So to wrap this up, do YOU REALLY need to play yugioh to know how to make custom cards? No you don't.  All you need is your passion, your ideas, and how to implement your ideas to form one cohesive archetype.  If you think of something that never has been done before implementing it would be worthwhile.

Even the smallest of ideas can have the largest amount of design space, meaning you can design cards without the risk of bloating or powercreep.  Remember the archetype with Cyberse monsters with various attributes who manipulate Equip Spells that when sent to the GY or banishment do things with 2 types, one being if sent to the GY or banishment do X, and the other one if sent to the GY: Do X, and if banishment, do Y.  This shows that the Equip Spells contribute to the large design space of the idea itself because you can substitute X and Y for something.  

Keeping your cards generic is not worth it, because you want your cards to have their unique play style.  And generic cards can be splashed in any deck, which causes problems when deck testing.

ALWAYS keep the banlist in mind when designing your custom cards.  They will tell you that if a card is banned or limited, it's best NOT to put that card in the archetype, but semi-limited cards are worth it if you can tone down their power.  Unlimited cards are worth it, because they do NOTHING to break the game.  

So this is the end of the road, nothing more to see here.  Good luck designing!!

 

[Nehemiah Beltran]

I like people like you.