Deep within the Dark Sanctuary, a realm of the dead and of the fiends, Dark Ruler Ha-Des was quietly walking among his minions. “I’m so sick of those Dark World guys doing absolutely nothing,” he thought to himself. Ha-Des, the ruler of all the demonic minions in the Dark Sanctuary, had gotten tired of his new minions, the Dark World squad. “All they do is gloat about how powerful they are, but they do nothing. It’s so irritating!” he thought. Ha-Des made his way to the house of the Dark World fiends. He made his way up to the door, which had the words “Dark World” hastily painted on it in red paint. He gave the door three loud knocks, but there was no answer. At this point, Ha-Des was beyond irritated, so he unleashed an earth-shattering bark that flung the door open!
The Dark World monsters were all sitting at individual computers, equipped with headphones as they traversed Azeroth as part of the Forsaken. “Instead of fighting against those blasted Warriors, you’re playing World of Warcraft!” Ha-Des shouted. Ha-Des grabbed Goldd, Wu-Lord of Dark World from his seat, which was more than enough to get Goldd’s attention. “Pardon me for interrupting your little game, Goldd, but I’m getting sick of Don Zaloog, Spirit Reaper, and D. D. Assailant constantly mocking me. You’re going to help me shoot down their egos, for if you don’t, I’m going to cancel your fiendishly fast broadband connection. You’ll be forced to play your game on a standard dial-up Internet connection!” shouted the Dark Ruler.
Goldd’s reaction was devastating. “No! That would truly be a world of punishment! We’ll do what you say, Lord Ha-Des—just don’t cancel the broadband! Come on, guys, we have to show those Duel Monsters what we’re made of!” The Dark World fiends shut down their games and took off within seconds, leaving Dark Ruler Ha-Des alone. “Good. I dare you to rob a duelist of those monsters named Don Zaloog,” Ha-Des said with a laugh. Realizing that he had nothing to do, Dark Ruler Ha-Des sat down at Goldd’s computer and started up a game of his own. “Hmm . . . maybe I should try being a human paladin. This is a roleplaying game, after all.”
Many duelists have waited for a new theme that can stand up to the Warrior Toolbox and Tomato Control decks that have been dominating recent Shonen Jump Championship tournaments. Thanks to the release of Elemental Energy, these duelists have been given that theme. The Dark World theme is one of the most interesting ones to be released in the past year, and the Dark World monsters have more than enough tricks to help you win the duel. Don Zaloog and Spirit Reaper lovers need to watch out, because hand destruction is soon going to get very risky at larger tournaments!
Thanks, Pal: Discard-Happy Monsters
The most prominent theme of the Dark World Fiends is their discard mechanism. Many of these monsters possess a useful ability if they’re discarded as a result of a card effect. For example, Broww, Huntsman of Dark World allows you to effectively lose no cards as a result of a discard. Card draw is almost always powerful*, and the Huntsman of the Dark World is no exception. Its ability allows you to cycle through your deck faster than many other deck types. Beiige, Vanguard of Dark World, Sillva, Warlord of Dark World, and Goldd, Wu-Lord of Dark World won’t help you cycle through your deck alone, but these cards effectively allow you to negate the downside to discarding cards. What makes these big Fiends even more threatening is their ability to be special summoned to the field. These abilities are ridiculously powerful when combined with your own Card Destruction or Morphing Jar, as they allow you to gain insane amounts of card advantage, and it allows the Dark World theme to rush the board and win the duel within a single turn!
While these discard effects are nice, you’re going to need cards that discard these Dark World monsters as effects. These new monsters will not have their abilities triggered if they are discarded as a cost, such as with Lightning Vortex and Phoenix Wing Wind Blast. Brron, Mad King of Dark World is the star of this new deck type. His ATK value is outstanding in this environment, as you can still deal damage to your opponent’s life points even if you send Brron into a D. D. Assailant. Dealing damage with Brron, Mad King of Dark World allows you to trigger your discard effects. When combined with Broww, Huntsman of Dark World, Brron becomes a solid monster that allows you to cycle through your deck at a rapid pace. When combined with monsters such as Goldd, Wu-Lord of Dark World, Brron allows you to devastate your opponent’s board or life points with ease.
Scarr, Scout of Dark World is the only Fiend who’s left out of this fun. This little monster has its uses, as you can cycle through the other copies of Scarr, Scout of Dark World in your deck, or you can add Brron, Mad King of Dark World or Broww, Huntsman of Dark World to your hand. However, the Dark World theme is designed to be very fast and even more furious. Scarr, Scout of Dark World requires time for its effect to work, making it a little too slow to fit in with the general theme. This doesn’t mean Scarr is a bad monster, as it may see play with Broww, Huntsman of Dark World in decks that are not necessarily based on the Dark World theme.
Beiige, Vanguard of Dark World isn’t a bad option either, but its ability is outshined by the effects of the other three Dark World monsters that trigger upon being discarded. Sillva, Warlord of Dark World can be special summoned if it’s discarded by any card effect, but if it’s discarded by an opponent’s card effect, it will be special summoned and your opponent will be forced to place two cards from his or her hand to the bottom of the deck. Goldd, Wu-Lord of Dark World has a similar effect, except that it destroys two cards on the opponent’s field if the opponent causes you to discard it. Broww, Huntsman of Dark World is a more powerful Electric Snake if your opponent accidentally causes you to discard it. These abilities far outshine those of poor Beiige, Vanguard of Dark World. While Beiige is still a good monster, the other Dark World fiends simply leave no available deck space for the Vanguard to be a part of a Dark World deck.
Morphing Jar is a card that should be instantly included with the Dark World theme. Thanks to the various discard effects of the Dark World monsters, the effect of Morphing Jar is bound to give you a three- to four-card advantage over your opponent. However, if your opponent is the controller of that Morphing Jar, you will probably score a seven- to eight-card advantage over your opponent. This is not just ridiculous—it’s also a game-ending effect. Even if your opponent has a card such as Dark Hole to clear your field, you will still have a massive hand size compared to your opponent’s very few options.
Thunderous Destruction: Spells for the Dark World
The best form of support that the Dark World fiends received in Elemental Energy was Dark World Lightning, which is a powerful new spell card. This discard-charged spell card allows you to destroy one face-down card on the field. If you can successfully execute this effect without your original target being turned face-up, then you must discard a card from your hand. This effect is especially powerful, since it’s a spell card that has both a powerful effect and a discard effect that can trigger fiends such as Broww, Huntsman of Dark World and Sillva, Warlord of Dark World. Outside of the Dark World theme, Dark World Lightning is a very powerful option. The discard is the last part of the effect that will resolve, which allows duelists to discard and trigger optional trigger effect monsters, such as Peten the Dark Clown and Archfiend of Gilfer.
Gateway to the Dark World is a recursion card that is just one downside short of being more powerful than Rite of Spirit, one of the best recursion cards to ever be released. This recursion spell can be played at just about point during either turn. Gateway to the Dark World has no actual card or life point costs, which makes it a solid topdeck if you find yourself in a bad situation. With the number of cards you’ll be discarding with this theme, there is a good chance that you’ll have a monster worth special summoning during your opponent’s turn.
Card of Safe Return is fantastic when it’s combined with the Dark World fiends. There are many ways in which you can special summon monsters from your graveyard in a Dark World deck. Card of Safe Return allows you to maintain your hand size while you discard big threats such as Sillva, Warlord of Dark World, but over the course of a few turns, this continuous spell card will generate a large amount of card advantage for you.
Card Destruction is also one of the largest bombs for the Dark World’s arsenal of discard weapons, and it’s a staple for the deck theme. Most of the time, you will lose no actual card advantage when you activate this spell card. However, it’s quite possible that you will actually gain an extra card or two due to your various card draw and special summoning effects. The activation of Card Destruction can lead to the special summoning of Goldd, Wu-Lord of Dark World, which can trigger the effect of Card of Safe Return. You now have a free big monster on the field with no loss to your hand size, which means you’ve earned an easy one-card advantage with that play.
Traps: Like Dark World Actually Needs More Tricks
The Forces of Darkness is one of the best cards available to a Dark World rush deck. It’s very easy to drop Dark World monsters into your graveyard, and The Forces of Darkness provides you with solid card advantage. This trap card is chainable, and it gives you the chance to recycle copies of Broww, Huntsman of Dark World. The Force of Darkness is also very useful in response to an attack from Don Zaloog or Spirit Reaper, as it decreases the odds that a hand destruction effect will actually harm you.
Dark Deal is a powerful form of Magic Jammer when used in the Dark World theme. The ability to effectively “negate” spell cards such as Dark Hole and Reinforcement of the Army is powerful, but unlike Magic Jammer, this trap card gives you a chance to trigger the full effects of your Dark World monsters. If a Dark Deal-modified spell card causes you to discard a monster such as Broww, Huntsman of Dark World or Sillva, Warlord of Dark World, then you’ll get the benefit of the second effect on these cards! This means that a potential loss of one card by using Dark Deal can instead become a powerful one-card advantage over your opponent.
However, the biggest issue with Dark Deal is that it can only target normal spell cards. This means that spells such as Snatch Steal and Card of Safe Return are immune to this trap card. The life point cost can also prove to be frustrating late in a duel where you may not have the 1000 life points to spend on this trap card. However, it’s still a very powerful option for Control decks, especially if they’re running Broww, Huntsman of Dark World.
Being a Fiend Can be Fun!
The Dark World theme is a powerful option in the current Advanced format. These new Fiends are even more ridiculous in the Traditional format, as long as you aren’t playing against any silly One-Turn Kill decks. Imagine all of these monsters that trigger on a discard effect when you have Mirage of Nightmare face-up on the field! Thanks to these new monsters, you can expect popular monsters such as Don Zaloog and Spirit Reaper to do far less attacking in larger tournaments. Discard effects may be powerful, but thanks to the power of the Dark World, they can cause you to lose duels.
Even if Dark World decks don’t catch on immediately, Broww, Huntsman of Dark World and Brron, Mad King of Dark World may easily see tournament play. These two cards are powerful outside of the Dark World deck, and Broww will definitely see some play in the side deck to combat those duelists who go overboard with hand destruction effects.
If there’s one thing to remember about Elemental Energy, it’s that this set has definitely unleashed its share of threats upon decks everywhere. Remember not to underestimate the power of Dark World, because these monsters are more than viable for tournaments everywhere.
If you have any questions or comments regarding today’s article, feel free to email me at Mrosenberg at Metagame dot Com.
*I would like to say that all card drawing is valuable, but Card of Sanctity exists. That poor spell card can’t receive any love.