Of the Hearth [WRITTEN, AGM]

[Tinkerer]

Hello, fine peoples!

I wanted to try this prompt:

The basic stuff was easy enough, but I’d had a bunch of other elements I’d wanted to add. As such, the result is a weird amalgamation of aspects and effects, with a bit of a Xenophobic streak. The lack of HOPTs on most of the monsters was intentional, but I’m unsure of how problematic it could be. If anyone knows of any issues, let me know and I’d be willing to slap restrictions on ‘em.


[spoiler Monsters]
Firestoker of the Hearth
FIRE 7*
Spellcaster/Effect
If this card cannot be Special Summoned, you can Normal Summon this card without tributing. When this card is Summoned: you can send 1 "of the Hearth" monster from your Deck to the Graveyard; add 1 "of the Hearth" card from your Deck to your hand. Once per turn, you can discard 1 "of the Hearth" monster; reduce this card's level by 2, also, until the End Phase of your next turn, neither player can Special Summon monsters with a higher level than this card on the field.
2500/2000

 

Coiler of the Hearth
FIRE *****
Dragon/Effect
If you activate a Spell, Trap, or Monster Effect, you can Special Summon this card when it resolves. If Special Summoned this way, this card gains the appropriate effect while face-up on the field:
- Spell: You cannot activate Spell cards for the rest of the turn. Each player can only activate 2 Spell cards/effects per turn.
- Trap: You cannot activate Trap cards for the rest of the turn. Each player can only activate 2 Trap cards/effects per turn.
- Monster: You cannot Special Summon monsters from your hand for the rest of the turn. Each player can only activate 2 monster effects per turn.
1000/2100

Protector of the Hearth
FIRE *****
Warrior/Effect
If this card cannot be Special Summoned, you can Normal Summon this card without tributes. If this card is Summoned, you can change its Battle Position. Once per turn: you can send 1 "of the Hearth" monster from your Extra Deck to the Graveyard; increase or decrease this card's level by 2, also, you can Normal Summon 1 monster in addition to your Normal Summon/Set. Neither player can target cards for effects except this card.
1200/2400

Coalbearer of the Hearth
FIRE ***
Spellcaster/Effect
If you control a level 5 or higher monster, you can Special Summon this card from your hand. Once per turn, you can send 1 "of the Hearth" monster from your Deck to the Graveyard; this card's level becomes the same as the sent monster's, also, until the End Phase, neither player can activate the effects of monsters with a lower level than this card.
900/1800

Bellowblower of the Hearth
FIRE ***
Warrior/Effect
If this card is Normal Summoned on a turn it cannot be Special Summoned: you can increase this card's level by 4, and if you do, immediately after this effect resolves, Normal Summon 1 "of the Hearth" monster. Neither player can activate a card effect that would move a card in the Graveyard to a different place.
1600/300

Council of the Hearth
FIRE *
Pyro/Effect
You can reveal this card in your hand, then send 1 "of the Hearth" monster from your Deck to the Graveyard; Special Summon this card from your hand, and if you do, its level becomes the level of the sent monster. You cannot Special Summon monsters while this card is face up except Xyz Monsters. All monsters on the field become this card's level. This card cannot be destroyed by battle.
200/200

[spoiler Spells/Trap]
Heart of the Hearth
Field Spell
During your Draw Phase: You can shuffle the face down cards in your Extra Deck: reveal the top card of your Extra Deck. If the card revealed was an "of the Hearth" monster: you can draw 1 additional card. At the start of your Main Phase 1: you can send 1 monster from your hand or Extra Deck to the Graveyard. If you do not, destroy this card. Neither player can declare an attack. If this card is destroyed (except by its own effect), Special Summon 1 "of the Hearth" Xyz monster from the Graveyard (this Special Summon is treated as an Xyz Summon).

Light of the Hearth
Continuous Spell
"Of the Hearth" cards' and effects cannot be negated. Once per turn: you can discard 1 "of the Hearth" monster; for the rest of the turn, you cannot Special Summon monsters, also, Normal Summon 1 monster. If you activate "Heart of the Hearth": you can add 1 "Firestoker of the Hearth" from your Deck or Graveyard to your hand. You can only activate this effect of "Light of the Hearth" once per turn.

Life of the Hearth
Spell
If you control no monsters: Special Summon 1 level 4 or lower "of the Hearth" monster from your Deck. You cannot Special Summon monsters for the rest of the turn after you activate this effect, except Xyz Monsters. If "Heart of the Hearth" is destroyed while this card is in the Graveyard: you can add 1 "of the Hearth" Spell/Trap card from your Deck or Graveyard to your hand except "Life of the Hearth". You can only activate 1 "Life of the Hearth" effect per turn, and only once that turn.

Blessing of the Hearth
Spell
If you control a level 5 or higher "of the Hearth" monster, you can Special Summon 1 level 5 or higher "of the Hearth" monster from your Deck. You cannot Special Summon monsters with the Summoned monster's level for the rest of the turn. If "Heart of the Hearth" is destroyed while this card is in the Graveyard: you can discard 1 random card from your opponent's hand. You can only activate 1 "Peace of the Hearth" effect per turn, and only once that turn.

Gift of the Hearth
Spell
Discard 1 "of the Hearth" monster; draw 2 cards. If "Heart of the Hearth" is destroyed while this card is in the Graveyard: you can banish up to 3 cards from your opponent's Graveyard, and if you do, all monsters on the field lose 300 ATK and DEF for each.

Tools of the Hearth
Equip Spell
Target 1 "of the Hearth" monster in your Graveyard. Special Summon that target and equip it with this card. You cannot Special Summon monsters with the same level as that target. If you Normal Summon an "of the Hearth" monster: change the equipped monster's level to the level of the Summoned monster. The equipped monster cannot be used as Xyz Material. If "Heart of the Hearth" is destroyed while this card is in the Graveyard: you can discard 1 "of the Hearth" monster; add this card to your hand. You can only activate this effect of "Tools of the Hearth" once per turn.

Anger of the Hearth
Continuous Trap
Other "of the Hearth" Spell/Trap cards you control cannot be destroyed by your opponent's card effects. Once per turn, you can target 1 other Spell/Trap card you control; destroy that target, and if you do, until the End Phase of the next turn, while this card remains face-up on the field, neither player may Special Summon monsters from the Extra Deck. If "Heart of the Hearth" is destroyed by this card's effect: negate the effects of all face-up cards on the field.

[spoiler Xyzs]
Elemental of the Hearth
FIRE R9*
Pyro/Effect
Must be Special Summoned from the Graveyard by the effect of "Heart of the Hearth" and cannot be Special Summoned by other ways. Once per turn, during the Main Phase, if this card has no Xyz Materials (Quick Effect): You can banish this card; destroy all cards on the field. During your next Standby Phase after this card was banished by this effect: return this card to the field, and if you do, attach 1 "of the Hearth" monster from your Graveyard to this card as Xyz Material (if possible). If a "of the Hearth" card you control would activate an effect by sending a monster(s) from your hand, Deck or Extra Deck to the Graveyard: you can detach 1 Xyz Material from this card instead.
2950/2950

Incense Holder of the Hearth
FIRE R***
Warrior/Effect
2 level 3 FIRE Monsters
Once per turn, you can detach 1 Xyz Material from this card: draw 1 card and reveal it. If it was a FIRE Monster, after this effect resolves, you can Normal Summon 1 FITE Monster. If this card is sent to the Graveyard, you can discard 1 "of the Hearth" monster; until the End Phase of the next turn, neither player can Special Summon a monster(s) unless they discard 1 card.
1700/1800

Smoke Dragon of the Hearth
FIRE R*****
Dragon/Xyz/Effect
2 level 5 FIRE Monsters
Once per turn, you can detach 1 Xyz Material from this card: add 1 "of the Hearth" card from your Graveyard to your hand during the next Standby Phase. If this card is sent to the Graveyard, you can target 1 Xyz Monster you control with no Xyz Materials; attach this card to that target as Xyz Material. You can only activate this effect of this card's name once per turn. If this card has no Xyz Material: players can only Special Summon 1 monster per turn.
2600/2100

Blasphemer of the Hearth
FIRE R7*
Spellcaster/Xyz/Effect
2 level 7 FIRE Monsters
"of the Hearth" monsters you control cannot be destroyed by card effects. Once per turn, during your opponent's Standby Phase, you can detach 1 Xyz Material: shuffle up to 3 cards from your Graveyard into your Deck, and if you do, your opponent cannot Normal Summon until the Main Phase 2. If this card is sent to the Graveyard, you can target 1 other "of the Hearth" monster in your Graveyard and 1 "Heart of the Hearth" you control (if possible); destroy the second target, regardless, Special Summon the first target.
2800/2300

 

 

 

So, playstyle-wise, on taking the prompt, I was initially going to go with some kind of control deck with maybe a self-destruction undertone (considering the nuke effect of Elemental), but that morphed into something completely different when I decided to make the primary playmaker a level 7.  Really, the idea is to have out a bunch of the strong floodgate monsters on your opponent's turn, then Xyz's them away for the more consistency building and heavier hitting Xyzs to use during your turn.  I took a lot of the card inspiration from the Photon/Galaxy archetypes, but instead of more aggressive tactics, I tried to slow the entire deck down by restricting Special Summons more often than not and left the self-destruction to be kept to the field spell exclusively.  Though I did make this for the AGM (pre-Link format), I wouldn't mind if anyone wanted to discuss this Deck's viability in Link format since their field spell does enable Xyz Summons from the Grave.

 

All in all, its been kinda weird making a super restrictive archetype. I think my past few things have been generic or at least could be used partially as an engine, but I guess in some ways it's easier as I don't have to overly consider irl stuff as much in my designs.  Anyways, as always, CnC much appreciated!

 

Cheers!

[Dova]

Just wondering, is the "If this card cannot be Special Summoned: you can Normal Summon this card without tributing." effect meant to activate? If it does activate, it Normal Summons in addition to your standard NS/Set this turn, and can infinitely stack.

[Tinkerer]

Just wondering, is the "If this card cannot be Special Summoned: you can Normal Summon this card without tributing." effect meant to activate? If it does activate, it Normal Summons in addition to your standard NS/Set this turn, and can infinitely stack.

 

I meant it as a condition rather than an effect that activates.  I wasn't sure if the wording was clear for it myself tbh, since it isn't exactly a condition that's been used before.  I'll replace "tributing" with "tributes", so that rather than implying an action it implies a state; hopefully that makes it a bit clearer.

 

Thanks for pointing that out!

[Dova]

Simple way of making it a condition is not including a colon. A colon or semicolon implies an activating effect; if you just use a comma, like in "If you control no cards, you can Normal Summon this card without Tributing." then it should be fine. In fact, I should've said that in my original post. Also, be sure to specify where you Normal Summon a monster from, if you choose to do so with an activating effect (such as Bellowbearer) just to make it clear.

 

Council is immediately the best play-starter for the archetype; setting up the GY, SSing itself regardless of your field (well, if you have no limiting monsters atm), protection from the most basic kind of removal, and allowing you to Xyz no matter what your hand is like. Not a huge fan of that last point, as it feels like cheating around Xyzs, and besides, even if you do remove it, you still have the option to match whatever's in your hand by choosing what you send to the GY. I'm unsure about the rulings for Bellowbearer in tandem with this card (is it able to reduce the Level before Council changes it back? Also, I think the wording should be "If this card is Normal Summoned on a turn it cannot be Special Summoned: You can increase this card's level by 4, and if you do, immediately after this effect resolves, Normal Summon 1 "of the Hearth" monster from your hand." unless you want it to be a second activating effect?), but I don't think the "and if you do" is needed anyway.  Anyway, Council does enable practically all of your monsters. Unfortunately, with all this Normal Summoning, your hand is being heavily eaten up, and you don't really need cards like Coiler. Might make a nice once-off, and it is searchable, but it doesn't provide the support the archetype so desperately needs, even with the Extra Deck. Coalbearer isn't going to be live very often, considering most of your monsters are going to be gotten out when you can't already Special Summon. Only really works with Firestoker. Speaking of Firestoker, it's actually a pretty neat idea for a main monster, with all effects very intrinsic to your intended design of the archetype as a whole. Really great card. Protector is a decent card, not much to say there, other than: is the effect intended to leave a lingering Normal Summon for you to use that turn if you want? If so, you need to word it like Seraphinite, as...well, you really can only gain one of them per turn.

 

Interesting how Heart shuffled your ED face-down, and I don't really see any issues with that. I was briefly considering using this card as an attack-wall in lock decks, but the timings slightly off in places just enough to make it useless unless you are aiming for the long-term, so that works. Safe use of a new mechanic, so good stuff there. Light, despite granting you a search for your main monster, only does so in a specific scenario, and it eats too much into your hand advantage to be of much use. Life is immediately great, grabbing from your Deck instead of your hand, and of course, the card don't really care about that restriction. It's last effect, while being situational like Light, suffers even more from how if the Field is removed any other way (e.g. you activate another Field Spell) it's not really active. Why not have it simply get you the search if you banish it another of the Heart Spell/Trap from your GY? Blessing is similar, getting you the stronger monsters only if you can actually Summon them, and I would suggest a similar change for its second effect as with Life, but perhaps something different to keep them apart. Alright, only just now realized in the review that all of your Spells/Traps have that theme...but I would suggest ditching it. Again, it's not guaranteed in any way that your Field Spell is going that way, even from your own archetype (I gathered from the prompt that the Summon of the Xyz monster would destroy it, or you would have to destroy it with another card effect in order to get out your R9, and what you're left with, even with the potential on MP1 destruction, is meh) Perhaps leave some Spells with that GY effect, but as it stands, you're going to be left with a bunch of dead cards until your Field Spell is destroyed, but when it is destroyed....wham. Massive plus. Seems a little inconsistent, but whatever. Gift is good for consistency and draw power, and Tools interestingly takes the recycling approach, getting around some of the restrictions put in place with your monsters. It even combos with Council. One of the best cards in the archetype, especially with its recycling effect and even with the Xyz prevention. Anger is weird, but...functional? I would suggest that you can still destroy your own cards; just protect them from your opponent's cards or effects, otherwise its too painful for you.

 

I'm not going to say much for the Extra Deck, partially because I feel drained and partially because...there's not really much to say. They're well design and helpful to the ideals of where you've taken this prompt. You have Xyz monsters for every single scenario, although I would suggest some S/T prevention in there somewhere, as you already have a lot of Summoning prevention.

 

Not a bad set, actually. Not a fan of what you've done with the prompt's big-boss Xyz Monster's Summoning conditions, but it sort of works? A few other bad design choices here and there, along with OCG errors, but really, this is one of the most refreshing sets I've seen here recently. Nice work!