Bandit Brotherhood [AGM, WRITTEN]

[Tinkerer]

Hello, fine peoples!
 
It's been a bit since I'd actually posted a set so I wanted to make something real quick before jumping back into obscurity.  Decided to run with this prompt:
 

Bandit Brotherhood is an archetype that steals your opponent's life points. As yours increase, your opponent's decreases. They do this by having normal spells that summon them from your deck and on-summon effects that give you life points. They then have a field spell and a few monsters that inflict damage to your opponent as you gain LP. To keep it interesting, they also have a deck-out strategy by having high rank XYZs that can banish cards from your opponent's deck face-down.

 
Unfortunately, I grabbed the prompt then was away from my computer all day, forgetting most of it except the highlights (LP stuff + high rank Xyzs), so I'd ended up taking a number of liberties in working with it.
 
Anyways, on to the cards!
 
[spoiler=Monsters]
Bandit Brotherhood Opal Eye
EARTH ***
Beast-Warrior/Effect
When this card is Normal or Special Summoned: gain 400 LP.  Twice per turn, during a turn where you gained LP: You can increase this card's level by 3 until the End Phase.
1000/1000
 
Bandit Brotherhood Pearl Paw
EARTH ***
Beast/Effect
Once per turn: you can Special Summon 1 "Bandit Brotherhood" monster from your hand, and if you do, gain 500 LP.  Increase this card's level by 3 for each other "Bandit Brotherhood" monster whose original level is 3.
800/1200
 
Bandit Brotherhood Silk Wing
DARK ****
Winged Beast/Effect
If you control no monsters, you can Special Summon this card from your hand.  Twice per turn, if you inflict damage to your opponent, you can increase this card's level by 1, and if you do, gain LP equal to this card's level x 100.
1700/1200
 
Bandit Brotherhood Dye Cloak
DARK ****
Spellcaster/Effect
This card's level in the Graveyard can also be treated as 3, 5, or 6.  Twice per turn, you can target 1 "Bandit Brotherhood" monster you control: increase or decrease its level by 1, and if you do, gain 300 LP.
1400/1800
 
Bandit Brotherhood Silver Hand
WIND *****
Warrior/Effect
You can Normal Summon this card without tributing, but its level becomes 3 and its ATK/DEF are halved.  Once per turn: you can gain LP equal to the level of this card x 100.
2400/1000
 
Bandit Brotherhood Gold Nebuchadnezzar
LIGHT 6*
Dragon/Effect
Cannot be Normal Summoned/Set.  You can Special Summon this card (from your hand) by discarding 1 "Bandit Brotherhood" or "Bandit Path" card from your hand.  If another monster's effect activates, target that monster: inflict damage to your opponent equal to the original level/rank of that target x 100.  You can only control 1 "Bandit Brotherhood Gold Nebuchadnezzar".
2400/1800

 
Simple effects that increase LP, inflict damage, or manipulate levels.  Nothing super noteworthy about how the deck's supposed to be played from exclusively this bunch other than Nebuchadnezzar.
 
Nebby's effect is intentionally not once per turn which, while punishing hand traps and forcing the opponent to think through their plays, also (unfortunately) allows for burn loops.  However, getting it onto the field (outside a Bandit Brotherhood deck) is difficult, making it much less dangerous and thus less prone to FTK burn loops... I think.  Let me know if ya think it's still potentially too dangerous.
 
[spoiler=Spells]
Bandit City Golden Babylon
Field Spell
Once per turn, if you gain LP, you can send 1 "Bandit Path" card OR 1 "Bandit Brotherhood" monster whose Level x 100 is equal to the amount of LP gained from your Deck to the Graveyard. Once per turn, if you inflict damage to your opponent's LP, You can target 1 "Bandit Brotherhood" monster in your Graveyard whose Level/Rank x 100 is equal to the amount of damage taken; Special Summon that target, and if it is an Xyz Monster, you can attach up to 2 "Bandit Brotherhood" monsters from your Graveyard to that target.

 

Bandit Path - Opal Scouting
Spell
Target 1 "Bandit Brotherhood" monster you control: Special Summon 1 "Bandit Brotherhood" monster from your Deck with the same level as the level/rank of that target.  If you gain LP, you can banish this card from your Graveyard; inflict 400 damage to your opponent.
 
Bandit Path - Pearl Meeting
Spell
Special Summon 1 "Bandit Brotherhood" monster from your hand.  If the monster Special Summoned by this effect is the same level as the level/rank of a monster on the field, draw 1 card.  If you gain LP, you can banish this card from your Graveyard; inflict 500 damage to your opponent.
 
Bandit Path - Silk Vanishing
Spell
Target 1 "Bandit Brotherhood" monster you control: return it to your hand, and if you do, add 1 "Bandit Brotherhood" monster from your Deck to your hand whose level was the same as the level/rank of that target on the field.  If you gain LP, you can target 1 monster you control and banish this card from your Graveyard; inflict damage to your opponent equal to the level/rank of that target x 100.
 
Bandit Path - Dye Mimicking
Spell
If the level of a "Bandit Brotherhood" monster you control is different from its original level: add 1 "Bandit Path" card from your Deck to your hand.  If you gain LP, you can banish this card from your Graveyard; inflict 300 damage to your opponent.  You can only activate 1 "Bandit Path - Dye Mimicking" per turn.
 
Bandit Path - Silver Stream
Quick-Play Spell
When you gain LP: you can send up to 2 "Bandit Brotherhood" or "Bandit Path" cards from your Deck to the Graveyard; inflict damage to your opponent equal to the amount of LP you gained.  If you gain LP, you can target 1 monster you control and banish this card from your Graveyard; inflict damage to your opponent equal to the level/rank of that target x 100.

 
Each Bandit Path is supposed to increase consistency and inflict the burn damage while Golden Babylon is your primary way of making plays turn after turn.  If anyone could help trim down Babylon's text though, that would be great (I'd be willing to ditch the protection effect, but I'd need to then make another card to help recycle the Spells).  Unfortunately while "blah x X00" is fairly common, "blah divided by X00" is one that I don't believe has a precedent.
 
[spoiler=Extra Deck]
Bandit Brotherhood Ivory Fang
FIRE R***
Reptile/Xyz/Effect
2 level 3 monsters
Once per turn, during either player's turn: you can detach 2 Xyz materials from this card and target 1 monster on the field; negate that target's effects.  Once per turn: you can target 1 other "Bandit Brotherhood" monster you control; banish cards from the top of your opponent's Deck face-down equal to the level/rank of that target, and if you do, inflict damage to your opponent equal to the number of cards banished by this effect x 100, and if you do that, gain LP equal to the damage inflicted.
2100/200
 
Bandit Brotherhood Platinum Ship
WATER R*****
Aqua/Xyz/Effect
2 level 5 monsters
Once per turn, during either player's turn, you can detach 2 Xyz materials from this card and target 1 card on the field and 1 banished card; return both targets to their owner's hands.  When your opponent takes effect damage: banish the top card of their Deck face-down.
1800/2700
 
Bandit Brotherhood Diamond Nebuchadnezzar
LIGHT R6*
Dragon/Xyz/Effect
2 level 6 "Bandit Brotherhood" monsters
If you gain LP, except by the effect of this card's name: gain LP equal to the amount of LP gained.  If you inflict effect damage to your opponent, except by the effect of this card's name: inflict damage to your opponent equal to the damage inflicted.  If this card is targeted by your opponent's card (by battle or card effect), you can detach 1 Xyz Material from this card: negate that attack or effect, and if you do, banish that card.  Negate the effects of all "Bandit Brotherhood Gold Nebuchadnezzar" on the field.
2800/2200
 
Bandit Brotherhood Spirits of Nebuchadnezzar
DARK R9*
Wyrm/Xyz/Effect
3 level 9 monsters
You can also Xyz Summon this card using a "Bandit Brotherhood" Xyz Monster you control with no Xyz Materials as Xyz Material.  If Summoned this way, this card cannot declare an attack this turn.  If this card has no Xyz Materials, its effects are negated.  This card's ATK equals half your LP.  When this card is Special Summoned: you can activate 1 "Bandit City Golden Babylon" from your Deck or Graveyard.  If this card would be destroyed or banished, you can detach 1 card from this card instead.  Once per turn, during either player's turn: you can target 1 "Bandit Brotherhood" monster in your Graveyard; banish that target, and if you do, this card gains that target's name and effects until the End Phase.

?/3000

 

 

 
The actual main win conditions of the deck.  Whether you're using them to burn excessively, beat face with high stats, or banishing the entirity of your opponent's deck, these each focus on taking down your opponent.  They also have stun effects which lets you interrupt your opponent in case you cannot build up a winning combination early enough.
 
[spoiler=A couple side notes]

• Yes, you can triple/quadruple up on your healing/burn if you have 2/3 Platinum Nebby's out.  You can't loop with each other though and Gold Nebby cannot inflict infinite damage with them out.
• Spirits was initially going to be rank 7, but I'd changed it to 9 and altered Pearl Paw and Opal Eye so that, if you get lucky, you can bring Spirits out using 3 level 3 Bandit Brotherhoods (I just really like the idea of the weakest cards being able to bring out the most powerful).

 

 
I think this was really fun to design, but I think I fell back into some of my older card making habits like trying to make the archetype do everything and using awkward text which makes card text extremely long.  On the plus side, I kinda hit my goal in what I'd wanted to make with this archetype (namely, having an archetype with very loose OPTs while still constraining you to run the archetype pretty much pure).
 
As always, CnC much appreciated!  Cheers!

[Dova]

Well, you certainly got close to the "simple yet effective" mark, which is something I always strive for and yet never quite reach. Maybe it's just the prompts I pick, but quite often I find myself working around them rather than with them, and yet you managed to do the latter quite well. Also, I finally understanding your Level syntax! I always thought it was a mish-mash before, but now I see that you indicate the number only if the Level is greater than 5. Interesting. Certainly easier to read, that much is obvious.

 

Pearl Paw's effect could probably be worded as "Increase this card's Level by 3 for each "Bandit Brotherhood" monster you control whose original Level is 3." I only point this out because I misread it then wrote a paragraph explaining why it gaining Levels is stupid when it doesn't grab the original Level and I'm really salty. Good to have Monarch stats on Silver Hand. Nebuchadnezzar is surprisingly not broken. There's Flare Metal, but it doesn't activate, and while there is another Trap that activates and does a similar thing, it's a Trap, so, for the moment, he's fine. Why does he target, though? It just makes life a pain for effects that activate by shuffling themselves into the Deck, or effects in the hand, as you can't target them.

 

For your field spell, an idea is:

 

Once per turn, if you gain LP, you can send 1 "Bandit Path" card OR 1 "Bandit Brotherhood" monster whose Level x100 is equal to the amount of LP gained from your Deck to the Graveyard. Once per turn, if you inflict damage to your opponent's LP, You can target 1 "Bandit Brotherhood" monster in your Graveyard whose Level/Rank x100 is equal to the amount of damage taken; Special Summon that target, and if it is an Xyz Monster, you can attach up to 2 "Bandit Brotherhood" monsters from your Graveyard to that target.

 

Left the OCG such as colons to your standard so it's easy for you to copy/paste. Felt the OR change was necessary for readability, but your call there. Really, it's only a few words shorter. As for the rest of the spells, aside from Opal and mayhaps Pearl, they aren't really effective at getting out your monsters. To be honest, I would be completely against Pearl if it didn't grant you that draw, as a card that just SSs from your hand a -1 at best, but in this case it works.The Field Spell can handle late-/mid-game alright, but its Level dependence means you can't rely on it too much and it forces you even more to draw well when you open.

 

A major problem is that with all your monsters, it is incredibly easy to brick if you don't open your field spell. Without having any Traps and with most of their effects being mere sweeteners, this archetype doesn't succeed at either building up a good field to pass on OR hitting the opponent for massive damage, unless of course you can combo massively with said card. It doesn't even have a searcher.

 

The Extra Deck isn't very supportive, with their strong but one-time effects meaning it would only take one handtrap or negator to kill their speed. Why do they all detach 2 Xyz Materials, by the way? Ivory Fang right now is much better in any fast Deck that can Summon it than in this one, being a quick and easy punch with high stats immediately getting its cards back in the GY. It's almost too generic. You could nerf the main effect and have a secondary, non-Material related archetypal one to keep the ball rolling, for example. Platinum and Diamond are much better cards, but Platinum quickly runs out of steam whereas Diamond is too slow to be as helpful as the cards need it to be. I will say that this is more because of the main cards; the best the monsters can do in regards to support is Pearl SSing from the hand, meaning it's going to be one of the major key cards, and the Spells, despite dealing more in bringing out the main deck monsters, run out of steam really fast.

 

Your Rank 9 is meh at the best times; I'd rather try going into Diamond than it, unless it was super-early game and my opponent had Leo Dancer or something. It's a shame he can't use any Xyz abilities without having a "Bandit Brotherhood" monster; I'd personally suggest making the archetypal connection somewhere else than only allowing him to detach his archetype ever.

 

The long and short of it is that the archetype needs to open the Field Spell to get a good start, but even then the cards don't have the means to keep up the speed. However, I am loathe to really change the core themes of this archetype, as if you ignore this, it's basically a much better designed version of Trickstars.

[Tinkerer]

Thanks Dov!  I'd really ended up liking how this one turned out despite its shortcomings.  Looking at the deck in a more objective light and taking into account what you'd mentioned, I don't actually think the deck has a particularly solid win condition.  I think it's looking like a deck with solid Rank 3-6 capacity, but with little else actually pushing it.  I'd wanted to make the Xyzs that win condition yet keep them generic which... is tough to do without a unique mechanic to tether an effect to.

 

...Anyways, I'm rambling.  I made some of the suggested wording changes and changed up Ivory Fang a bit.  Platinum Ship I'd changed to being able to target any card to return to hand (it would greatly improve the ability for the Deck to get out Spirits of Nebby on turn 1).  Spirits I'd changed up pretty significantly; its protection is generic, it can search out the field spell, and it has an archetypal Gem-Knight Master Diamond effect.

 

...

 

I'm really pushing the FTK enablers aren't I?  The archetype's now got an infinite burner via Gold Nebby, a self-bouncer via Platinum Ship, and a effect copier with Spirits of Nebby.  It's really a good thing that the deck doesn't have any means of burning for lots of damage or enabling any of these, but dang.. Oh well!  XD