In the Yu-Gi-Oh! TCG, forbidden monsters are generally quite powerful and useful. You might assume that I’m talking about monsters that have been placed on the Forbidden List, like Magical Scientist and Yata-Garasu, but there’s a whole other category I’m referring to. The club of monsters with the word “forbidden” in their names got off to a glorious start with the first set, Legend of Blue-Eyes White Dragon. Exodia the Forbidden One lets you automatically win the game as soon as you assemble the different pieces. A “forbidden” monster that creates a victory trigger through its effect? It doesn’t get any better than that.

Disciple of the Forbidden Spell is a wonderful new monster in Shadow of Infinity that’s absolutely bursting to the seams with a potential powerful enough to be forbidden. Boasting solid stats of 1700 ATK and 800 DEF, it can push through almost any of the flip effects in the game. And while it may take some grief from the format’s current heavy hitters (Cyber Dragon, Chaos Sorcerer, and Jinzo spring readily to mind), it’s one of the few monsters out there that can spring right back and destroy them. In fact, its ability is one of the most powerful in the game! This article will focus on unlocking the powerful properties of Disciple of the Forbidden Spell.

Mechanics of Advantage from Disciple of the Forbidden Spell

The ability to immediately destroy any face-up monster in the game through battle makes Disciple of the Forbidden Spell a highly intriguing monster. By manipulating certain effects to send multiple copies of the card to the graveyard, we can create conditions where Disciple hits calling the Light and Dark attributes. Because it’s a Light monster, it creates great synergies with Chaos Sorcerer. This will be a Disciple build that will fully support three copies of Chaos Sorcerer and multiple copies of Return from the Different Dimension.

Build: Disciple of the Forbidden Spell concept

General Synergies and Goals:

1) Utilize graveyard manipulation to cycle copies of Disciple to the graveyard, then use its effect.

Pivotal Cards:

1) Disciple of the Forbidden Spell

Constructing the Monster Lineup for the Disciple Concept

The three best cards that manipulate the graveyard are Morphing Jar, Magical Merchant, and Card Destruction. Naturally, we’ll include the maximum number of each in our deck. Let’s create a list of cards that have synergy with these three options.

Disciple Support:

3 Magical Merchant

1 Treeborn Frog

1 Jinzo

1 Dark Magician of Chaos

3 Disciple of the Forbidden Spell

3 Thunder Dragon

1 Morphing Jar

1 Night Assailant

Take a look at this monster lineup. Merchant has numerous favorable targets to dump to the graveyard, including three copies of Disciple, Dark Magician of Chaos and Jinzo, Treeborn Frog, and others. Morphing Jar can also be used to send the tributes, Frog, or Disciple to the graveyard with great speed. Rounding out the list, Thunder Dragon provides the link to three copies of Chaos Sorcerer, and it also works wonderfully with Card Destruction.

General Support:

2 Gravekeeper’s Spy

3 Chaos Sorcerer

1 Breaker the Magical Warrior

1 Sangan

1 D. D. Warrior Lady

1 Dekoichi the Battlechanted Locomotive

The rest of the monster line includes some of the best Dark monsters that can preserve field presence while allowing us to support the three copies of Chaos Sorcerer. The inclusion of Card Destruction mixed with all of the different graveyard effects makes the inclusion of three Sorcerers a rather easy choice.

The Spell and Trap Support for our Forbidden Disciple of Danger

Again, we’ll begin with strong spells that simply can’t be ignored.

Spell Staples:

1 Graceful Charity

1 Mystical Space Typhoon

1 Heavy Storm

2 Nobleman of Crossout

1 Premature Burial

1 Snatch Steal

Conceptual Spell Support:

1 Card Destruction: One of the key cards in this deck. The card has about eight solid options that it can work in conjunction with. Because of the way we constructed the monster lineup, this card will almost never be a dead draw.

1 Swords of Revealing Light: Essential for creating a slower-paced game. It also works with all three Sorcerers and Disciples by flipping pesky face-down monsters face up to use effects with. If you named Dark with Disciple, it can then clear out a pesky Spirit Reaper or other such monster.

1 Scapegoat: Again, this card is essential for slowing down the game. Ideally you’ll want to draw numerous cards and pass, hoping for a huge Graceful Charity or Card Destruction. Scapegoat helps you achieve this slower tempo.

1 Lightning Vortex: In the event your opponent chooses to play Rush Recklessly, you’ll have one of the better forms of mass removal left to use. Its cost is offset by your ability to pitch Dark Magician of Chaos, Thunder Dragon, Night Assailant, Treeborn Frog, Jinzo, or Disciple.

1 Pot of Avarice: This is essential for card advantage purposes. More options are always better, but Pot also serves the dual purpose of putting Disciples back into the deck. Because your Disciple on the field has already had its effect set in stone, the Disciples in your graveyard that were shuffled back in can use the current card for their own effects when drawn.

Trap Staples:

1 Torrential Tribute

1 Mirror Force

1 Call of the Haunted

Conceptual Trap Support:

2 Dust Tornado: For your Disciples to get their effects, you’ll need to attack successfully in battle. Your best bet for this is to use multiple copies of Dust Tornado, which work great in conjunction with Return.

2 Return from the Different Dimension: This card boasts numerous synergies with other cards in your deck. Disciples get their effect when special summoned, so you can use them as free monster-clearing tools. Of course, the usual suspects like Jinzo and D. D. Warrior Lady are well-supported, but other new friends like Dark Magician of Chaos and Gravekeeper’s Spy can also be exploited.

Expected Matchups with the Best Decks in the Format

The deck packs numerous early turn summons and sets. Spies, Treeborn Frog, D. D. Warrior Lady, Sangan, Merchants, Dekoichi, Assailant, and Morphing Jar can all work in the early game to sustain a field presence while drawing more options. Because Merchant can dig for key spell support (the best of which are Graceful Charity and Card Destruction), the synergies are tremendous. The main goal of the deck in the early game is to set up a favorable situation for the mid- to late game, when both players’ graveyards are relatively full.

Dropping multiple copies of Disciple and Sorcerer at these points creates immense advantage that cannot be ignored. Each turn you’ll summon a monster that can immediately take out one of your opponent’s monsters, limiting his or her options. When coupled with that, there’s always the threat that Return will simply end the game.

New Grounds Verdict: This is another solid deck that mixes the best elements of Chaos Return with something new.