This week, I’ll be covering a card I’m extremely excited about: The Dark Creator. Like the Chaos monsters of the past, he allows for simple, free utilization of the graveyard. Ideally, he’s a way to recycle cards you’ve already used to allow for huge moves and game-deciding plays. Personally, I think he’s one of the best cards coming out of Phantom Darkness. However, he’s also incredibly powerful as a combination card in builds that have proven to be the most consistently powerful in the format.

The Dark Creator
Thunder
Dark / Level 8
2300 ATK / 3000 DEF
This card can’t be normal summoned or set. The Dark Creator can only be special summoned, by having five or more Dark monsters in your graveyard while you control no other monsters. Once a turn, you can remove a Dark monster in your graveyard from the game to special summon a Dark monster from your graveyard.

Dark monsters are, almost without a doubt, the most powerful monsters in the Yu-Gi-Oh! TCG. Sangan, Destiny Hero - Disk Commander, and Jinzo are all incredible game-shifting cards. The Disk Commander engine has been fairly dominant this format, utilizing a Dark monster count almost stable enough to run The Dark Creator. The first (and for many the most obvious) synergy with The Dark Creator is his use with Disk Commander. By removing a Dark monster from your graveyard from play, you receive two free cards in hand and a monster on the field. That’s a game-breaking move.

My favorite quality of The Dark Creator is his striking similarity to Chaos monsters.

 He is a 2300 ATK monster with the ability to swing card presence without any notable cost. Ideally, you’ll draw into this monster and (without any particular effort) quickly recycle cards and have more than your opponent. A late-game draw of The Dark Creator and the special summon of Disk Commander is almost game sealing. You’ve restocked your hand and created a large threat for your opponent to deal with in the process.

With the relatively recent release of Foolish Burial, the deck becomes even more consistent: it drops Dark monsters into the graveyard quickly and with abandon. The Dark Creator is also fairly impressive when special summoning Jinzo, a card which can often win games single-handedly. There’s barely anything as game-changing and amazing as negating all of your opponent’s traps and playing a monster with a high ATK. Your opponent must then destroy a monster that already paid for itself—a position you always want your opponent to be in.

This card may also see some play in conjunction with D.D. Scout Plane. You’ll be able to remove it from the graveyard to special summon a monster and return the Scout Plane to the field during the end of the turn. It’s a great way for the deck to come from behind and win a game that seemed doomed otherwise.

This card has a lot of potential next to Return from the Different Dimension and Dimension Fusion. It’s no longer just a way to recycle cards in a deck like this, but also adds to those big single-turn plays that could quickly turn a game around. You can remove a Dark Magician of Chaos from the graveyard which was sent via Card Trooper or Foolish Burial, and return him to the field for a turn, which could probably win you the game.

With the acceptance of multiple recursion cards in such a deck, the inclusion of Card of Safe Return becomes very possible. Removing Jinzo from the graveyard to special summon Destiny Hero - Disk Commander while Card of Safe Return is on the field means you’re drawing three cards, special summoning a monster, and then setting up Jinzo to be brought back from out of play. All of that for the low price of . . . nothing!

Playing The Dark Creator with D.D.M. - Different Dimension Master can create huge loops involving Dimension Master and Dark Magician of Chaos to win a game in one turn.

The Dark Creator will definitely see table time in the immediate future: his ability to find use in both late and early game stages makes him exceptionally powerful. If there was ever a format where a new Chaos-esque monster could rise and take hold of players’ imaginations, this is probably it. You’re reusing cards to turn a series of card-for-card trades against an opponent into a series of far better deals that benefit your total card presence, leaving the opponent with nothing and you with several large monsters. The Dark Creator can offer you more hand presence, beatsticks to special summon from the removed-from-play pile, or just raw power in bringing monsters back directly from the graveyard.

You can bet there are going to be other monsters that benefit from multiple copies of Dark monsters in the graveyard. The Dark Creator’s effect isn’t just incredible: it’s fairly easy to satisfy. You’ll be filling a fast graveyard and taking advantage of it, so don’t miss your chance to try it out at the Phantom Darkness Sneak Previews!