Arcana Force Support

[Sandyscales]

Hello, friends! I don’t think I’m breaking anyone’s heart when I say that Arcana Force are…not the greatest. Which is a shame because an archetype based around tarot cards is a truly ingenious idea. But ultimately, two big factors hold Arcana Force back from being playable. The first is that their effects are unreliable, as their negative effects are incredibly detrimental to the point that one bad coin toss can cost you the duel, and even their “positive” effects are mediocre by modern-day standards. The second is that the deck is still a slow, bricky GX-era deck that struggles to generate power and field presence. The purpose of these cards is to mitigate these two problems, with some more Main Deck monsters, a few support cards, a new Field Spell, and even some Extra Deck support!

(Side note: For the artwork I simply used art of lesser-known monsters that fit the general “aesthetic” of Arcana Force. Hope that isn’t jarring for anyone!)

Luckily, KONAMI makes it easy for us to name these new Arcana Force monsters, since they actually left out a lot of the major arcanas when making the original monsters. So, these new monsters will simply be the 11 major arcanas not covered by the existing cards.

The Fool and The Magician already exist, so the first missing arcana is the High Priestess.

Obviously, the purpose of this card is to help Arcana Force make use of the Extra Deck. But we all know how KONAMI feels about Level 4 Tuners. That is, they can become problem cards if they don’t have enough restrictions. Which is why The High Priestess locks you out of summoning anything other than Arcana Force. As for the stats, another convention of Arcana Force is that each monster’s ATK/DEF is (their arcana number x 100) + 1000. I made High Priestess a combo piece to compensate for its rather low stats.

The Emperor and Empress already exist, so the next missing Arcana is The Hierophant.

This may be the most important card in this set, as it gives Arcana Force both swarming and searching capabilities. I realize that Speedroid Terrortop is Limited for similar reasons, but I hope the strength of this effect is mitigated by the fact that you can’t always control which effect you’ll get, as well as the fact that The Hierophant can only be summoned once per turn. I also allowed it to search Light Barrier, as that card is vital for Arcana Force to work. (Don’t worry, this includes the new field spell as well!)

The Lovers, The Chariot, and Strength already exist, so next is The Hermit.

Hopefully this card is rather straightforward, it’s all about protection, something else Arcana Force are in desperate need of. Of course it also may not be on the field for long, so I gave it Superheavy Samurai Flutist’s Graveyard effect for good measure.

Next is the first Extra Deck monster—Wheel of Fortune.

This card I feel most clearly shows off the new approach I took to Arcana Force's coin toss mechanic. The tails effect isn't bad, but not quite as good as the heads effect. I made this card's effect about affecting other monsters on the field since Wheel of Fortune's stats are rather low for a Level 8 Synchro. Taking control of an opponent's monster can sometimes be a game-winning turnaround--much like how the upright Wheel of Fortune represents a turning point in one's life, which is why I gave the heads effect the drawback of the monster losing 1000 ATK. But some other Extra Deck Arcana Force I've created have somewhat generic materials, so you could take advantage of the monster becoming a LIGHT Fairy. It also thematically fits with Arcana Force, as you can imagine your stolen monster is being brainwashed by the Light of Destruction.

Next arcana is the first Level 5 monster--Justice.

For any Laval players reading this, think of the heads and tails effects as Molten Conduction Field vs. Dustflame Blast. Justice is all about the Graveyard, with the heads effect being good for early in the game and the tails effect being good for late in the game. I thought about making the tails effect banish all Arcana Force from the Graveyard like Dustflame Blast, but as this effect is banishing your opponent's cards, not just destroying them, I worried that would be too powerful.

The Hangman already exists, so the next arcana is Death...

...but KONAMI has consistently censored that word in the TCG, so here's The Reaper.

As expected, The Reaper also deals with the Graveyard. Now, I have to be careful giving Arcana Force all these Special Summon conditions, because I can't make it too easy for them to summon The World and two other monsters. For those who don't know, Arcana Force XXI - The World's heads effect is that you can tribute two monsters during the End Phase to skip your opponent's turn. Giving Arcana Force too many ways to consistently set up this effect could lead to...troublesome combos that, in a real-world context, would likely result in The World getting banned. (This is why I decided against giving them Pendulums.) So, no matter what the result of the coin toss, Death must always tribute itself to activate its effect. Is that a waste of a 2300 ATK monster? Perhaps, but I feel I've given Arcana Force enough high-power monsters to make up for that.

Temperance already exists, so the next arcana is The Devil...

...but KONAMI has consistently censored that word in the TCG, so we hop back over to the Extra Deck to look at The Archfiend.

(Technically, the Fiend already exists as an anime-only card, but I was unaware of this at first, so...think of this as a retrain!)

The main idea behind the Archfiend is removal, to either backrow or monsters depending on the coin toss. Like with The Hermit, I feel this card is fairly straightforward. I also gave it a battle-oriented effect because, not many Arcana Force monsters have those.

From one Extra Deck monster to another, the next arcana is The Tower.

One effect is more defensive, while the other is more offensive. Do you steal your opponent's monster or focus on powering up your own? Equipping your opponent's monster represents the upright Tower: sudden change and upheaval. And raising its ATK by combining with your own Arcana Force represents the reverse Tower: personal transformation.

Next arcana is The Star:

The "100 ATK for every Arcana Force in the GY" boost is there to give The Star stats more fitting of a Level 8, 3-material Fusion, but not too out of hand. This card is designed for dealing heavy damage to your opponent, and both the heads and tails effects make that easier. I chose to limit the tails effect to Level 4 or lower Arcana Force, as being able to target the world and drop all your opponent's monsters' ATK by 3100 seemed like just a bit too much.

The Moon already exists, so the next Arcana is The Sun:

As you might expect, The Sun can burn your opponent. Alternatively you can focus on protecting your field from whatever backrow the Archfiend couldn't destroy.

Since The World already exists, the next arcana is the last of the monster lineup: Judgement.

Much like another certain Synchro monster with Judgement in its name, this card's heads effect serves as a field wipe, though not quite as potent since it only sends monsters to the Graveyard. However, it also avoids setting off monster effects that trigger when they're destroyed. Meanwhile the tails effect acts as a Gottoms' Second Call of sorts, but without the Battle Phase lockout. Again, I acknowledge that these are rather potent effects, but you won't always have Light Barrier on the field to guarantee the effect you want! This new support gives Arcana Force a sense of unpredicatability--for both you and your opponent!

With all the monsters out of the way, time to cover Spell/Trap support.

I noticed Arcana Force don't have many cards representing the minor arcanas, besides Cup of Ace. So I made a couple more, and decided to make them equip spells. One helps with power, one with Graveyard support, and one with protection...or more power depending on the coin toss.

The all-important archetypal Fusion Spell. Using monsters from the Deck to Fusion Summon is very strong, so I balanced that out with the Special Summon restriction. But unlike, say, Red-Eyes Fusion, it only locks you out of Special Summoning for the remainder of the turn.

This is the new Field Spell, which treats itself as "Light Barrier," so it's searchable by the Hierophant. It also helps with floating and searching, though not without a cost. And of course, if this Field Spell is active, you can't have the original Light Barrier active to control your monsters' effects. That helps balance it out, I feel.

And just because I felt they didn't quite have enough negates, I threw in an Arcana Force hand trap. But with a hard once per turn.

And that is my full wave of support for Arcana Force. I truly feel this could be a competent deck, while still maintaining its uniqueness, if this support were to be implemented. But what do all of you think? Is this too much? Not enough? Is there any way I could improve these cards, or do you have alternative ideas for certain arcanas altogether? I'm very excited to get this discussion going!

 

[Dokutah]

Welp thats a lot of card for my remaining mental juice and other reason i wont tell...but TL;DR im reviewing this in parts. Also i refer by their tarot number, cause....reasons

2: not what i expect from Arcana Force to be honest. They not really consitent in levels other than level 4 in which while most arcana force is bad the lower level has high consteration of very bad effects other than fool and from there they simply jump to high levels that too wonky for sync. And that restriction simply too harsh for what they have 

5: now this is support! bit luck based and only summon fellow arcana from hand hurts like hell, but its a good base. Note that its lack HOPT while arcana deck probably needs cards with lower restriction than HOPT IMO for now. Keep in mind 

9: a bit too defensive IMO. I rather have the new bosses or support given its needed protection globally without or work-around the coin toss gimmick instead. 

10: this would be a decent boss monster if not for the fact i have problem with High Priestees and having it only activate effect on synchro summon. To be fair taking control + stat buff + synergy augmenting is indeed amazing effect but in context of how arcana force play and again the wonkiness of running priestees its generic nature will serve other deck real fast which not what we want