The Number Five position was occupied by a man named Conrad Selig with a Malefic Deck, something that was relatively unheard of at the time. For those who have never played against Malefic Monsters personally, they are not your average modern deck. In fact, they have as distinctly retro feel to them, something I see as a definite redeeming characteristic of a game otherwise being overrun by egregiously overused and broken cards. They represent many of the older ideals of the game, aspects that are all-too-easily forgotten. For that reason, I see Malefic as an archetype sorely needed in the current Meta (or perhaps as Anti-Meta), if for no other reason than to remind people that it wasn’t always this way. There are five huge reasons I see them in this light, each of which I will address at length.
Oh, and keep in mind that what I’m saying is just my own personal observations and opinions, most of which are neither Socratic-level philosophical nor stone-written advice. Don’t be that guy at the local card store who puts cards in his Deck just because I say they’re a good idea; in fact, that’s contrary to the points I’ll be making later.
Straightforward Play Style
In case you’re fairly unfamiliar with them, Malefic Monsters certainly have a very unique way of being used. There’s no need for existing field presence or massive combos; simply banish the Malefic Monster’s counterpart for your Deck or Extra Deck (for Malefic Rainbow Dragon, add hand as well), and slap that monster down from your hand. Of course, such a massive monster has huge drawbacks: they need field spells to survive (though this is very easily usurped), you can only have one out at a time, and most bar your other monsters from attacking. That being said, they’re usually the most powerful thing you have out anyway, so it’s not a huge problem. Also, they have no additional effects of their own (save for a select few members). In short, they are one thing and one thing only: Beaststicks. However, two members of this troupe are a little more complicated than that: Malefic Paradox Dragon (a Synchro Monster with a very specific Tuner, Malefic Parallel Gear, who Tunes from the hand) and Malefic Truth Dragon (summoned as a replacement for the old Malefic for half your Life Points), but they’re rarely run outside of dedicated Malefic Decks.
For this reason, they have a much simpler and more user-friendly approach to them. There are no long, drawn-out combos long enough for your opponent to make a Tim Horton’s run; put down a Malefic, make maybe two more card plays or so, attack, done. You could practically use a high school chess clock to time your moves. That being said, those moves tend to be fairly weighty compared to decks like Plants; while that Deck may take 3 or 5 turns just to set up a combo, Malefics start from the get-go. Think of them as the ideal deck for Leroy Jenkins.
Field Presence (A.K.A. the “Tortoise and Hare” Principle)
For this next point, I’d like to compare Malefics to another big DARK Deck, one that used to be Meta: Blackwings. Put simply, the two are polar opposites; while Backwings swarm fast but quickly lose hand presence and often fall victim to overextending, Malefics summon one or two monsters at a time. Thing is, those monsters tend to last a long time; with ATK high enough to survive most battles, an opponent needs to dip into their pool of destruction effects to stop them, something which gets quite costly rather quickly. I have had many duels where an opponent Solemn Warnings one Malefic, only for me to bring down another one that they’re now defenceless against.
This fact is one reason why you may choose to run Paradox Dragon and Parallel Gear; when the opponent sees Parallel Gear come down, they realize they should have saved that Warning. I had one game where an opponent used Compulsory Evacuation Device on my Malefic Stardust, so I summoned Parallel Gear and made Paradox Dragon instead. Now, instead of having to face a 2500-point monster fighting alone, they have to face a 4000-point monster plus a Synchro Monster from the Graveyard of my choosing (there’s just something to satisfying about stealing a Sams player’s Shi En, non?). That being said, Paradox Dragon should be used very cautiously’ it’s the only Malefic where a Solemn Warning/Judgment costs you more than one card.
Versatility/Creativity
Despite all their power, Malefics have almost no support of their own. They are a 10 card set, 8 of which are monsters. The last two are Malefic World, a field spell that gives you a Freed the Matchless General effect; and Malefic Claw Stream, a straight-up destruction spell. Thus, Malefic Decks have to employ cards from other series to achieve an effective strategy.
What’s interesting about this, however, is that Malefics have such a straightforward strategy that they can be run in a multitude of different ways, as S and I have discussed at length. They have multiple draw engines they can use for Deck Thinning: Trade-In, Allure of Darkness and Advance Draw are the most straightforward, giving you an even trade and often taking advantage of either the lack of a field spell or an existing Malefic that needs to go. They also have Terraforming to search for a Field Spell, which in the Deck at GenCon was Geartown for even more search. Plus, the Field Spells themselves often add advantage.
Let’s look at some of the most common or effective builds:
Standard Malefic/Malefic Beatdown – Using Malefic World as the main Field Spell, it ensures a constant supply of monsters; and with Claw Stream, keep the opponent’s monsters suppressed. Not much to discuss though, as it’s very bland. The other two are much more interesting.
Malefic Town – The 5th Place Deck at GenCon this year was exactly this, taking advantage of the powerful summoning effects of both Malefic Monsters and Geartown. Since Ancient Gear Gadjiltron Dragon is a Level 8, it can be dropped with Trade-In as one of 8 targets in the Deck – 3 Stardust, 3 Beast King Barbaros and 2 Gadjiltron. Geartown allowed for the Special Summon of that Dragon from the Deck or Graveyard, which coupled with a Malefic Stardust or Cyber End (the only two Malefics it ran) and a Barbaros equalled massive damage.
For inspiration, you can find Selig’s Decklist at this link, but I would not advise straight net-decking under any circumstances. There are 2 Malefic Decks on that list with similar principles but relatively different line-ups, just to show how versatile they are; his is the first of the 2.
Gravekeeper Malefic – This was hardly a surprise, as people began using Malefic Stardust in Gravekeeper’s when it first came out in order to protect Necrovalley. It makes huge amounts of sense; use a Malefic to establish field dominance, Royal Tribute to strip their hand and the Gravekeeper engine to strip their field bare. Cue massive damage.
There are also quite a few cards which go well with Malefics in and of themselves, and as such are seen in most decks with them. I shall warn you now that this is a long list: 20 cards to be exact, and that’s just what I came up with off the top of my head.
Skill Drain: A no-brainer. Removing your negative effects while shutting down your opponent’s can be a game-killer, especially for Six Samurai Decks that need Kagemusha’s Special Summon or Gadget Decks relying on search power.
Deck Devastation Virus/Eradicator Epidemic Virus: These cards allow you to turn a monster that is otherwise a mere field holder into a plague that utterly strips your opponent of either their low-powered monsters or half their non-monsters. These cards alone can win you games, as your opponent has nothing to fight back as you slowly beat their face in…
Future Visions: Since Malefics are all Special Summons, they’re unaffected by this; but your opponent’s monsters are suddenly unable to stay around. Coupled with Skill Drain above, enemy monsters are unable to use effects before they leave the field. Nothing they can do about it.
Forbidden Chalice/Axe of Fools: These ones are often overlooked, but still good. A one-monster Skill Drain that gives it a point boost and can be played from the hand is a boost to Malefics. The former is only for one turn and the latter burns you, but they have a lot going for them if you can’t wait for Skill Drain. Especially fun about Chalice is that you can Giant Trunade to clear the field, then chain Chalice to the destruction effect and keep your beater for a turn while your opponent is defenceless!
Fusilier Dragon, the Dual-Mode Beast/Beast King Barbaros: Two strong monsters that come out for free and then are wiped of their effects allows for extra beatsticks. The former is an Allure and Virus Target and the latter a Trade-In target, adding to the enjoyment.
Monarchs: Special Summon a Malefic, Tribute for a Monarch, summon another Malefic. ‘Nuff said.
Safe Zone: This card is a huge plus for Malefics, for many reasons. First, using it on a Malefic in response to an attempt to destroy the Field Spell means your monster will stay on the field, and their precious destruction card is wasted. Secondly, it prevents their death by cards like Torrential Tribute, Mirror Force, Bottomless Trap Hole and Dimensional Prison. The fact they can’t direct attack becomes mute when you consider the odds of your opponent being completely without a monster are slim. Finally, in a Deck running Truth Dragon, it lets you make your opponent waste a second destruction effect on Safe Zone, allowing you to bring down Truth Dragon; or, you could even just save Safe Zone for Truth, giving you a field-clearing beater that your opponent cannot touch.
Kaiser Coliseum: If you’re only going to have 1 monster or so at a time on the field anyway, you may as well limit your opponent to that many monsters. A Six Samurai, Plant, Gadget, X-Sabre, Scrap, Karakuri or Blackwing player relies on swarm, and this card brings those decks down to your level. The difference is, Malefics can survive a one-on-one fight.
Gozen Match/Rivalry of Warlords: Want to really screw up your opposition? Sams and Plants especially love to use different attributes; but all Malefics are DARK, and you’ll rarely control more than one monster anyway (until, that is, you make your last move). Bring down Kagemusha with Kageki? Nope, sorry pal. Bring out Dandylion with Lonefire Blossom? No can do. On the type side is Rivalry of Warlords; again Plants fall victim for using multiple types, and X-Sabres and Scraps do the same. Just be warned that Rivarly does not stop Sams, and neither trap stops Karakuri, Blackwings or Gadgets (in fact, those Decks often side it).
Royal Oppression: This one may seem strange at first glance, but with a properly-protected Malefic what it does is prevent your opponent’s fast-paced Decks from gaining any traction. For 800 Life Points, you can stop Kageki, Debris Dragon or Scrap Chimera cold, kill it, and potentially attack for 4000 damage or more next turn. Duel economics 101. If you need more power, you can ram your Malefic Stardust into the opposing Shi En and have it die, so you can bring down Truth Dragon in the Damage Step (where they’re powerless to activate Oppression’s effect).
The End of Anubis: Holy God, the things this card does to current Meta Decks. X-Sabers lose Gottoms’ Emergency Call and Darksoul’s search, Plants can’t get Dandylion, Spore, Glow-Up, Debris Dragon OR Junk Synchron off, Sams lose Double-Edged Sword Technique, Gravekeepers lose Stele… not to mention the utter loss of cards like Monster Reborn, Call of the Haunted and Pot of Avarice (the first two of which you’re not all that sad to lose, as most Malefic players don’t even run them). Not to mention being as strong as Shi En, being a target for both Viruses, and the most it deprives you of is reviving Gadjiltron Dragon with Geartown (hardly a threat considering you probably have another one in your Deck).
Future Fusion: In a more Dragon-based build, you can use this to pitch Truth Dragons to the Grave like a supped-up Foolish Burial. A Stardust can even be removed for Red-Eyes Darkness Metal Dragon for heavy swarm, leaving the opponent royally fucked.
Thunder King Rai-Oh: Selig sided 3 of this card, and with good reason; Gadgets, Sams, X-Sabers (via Darksoul), and Scraps are powerful largely because of high searching abilities. Being forced to rely on what they draw can be a huge pain for those Decks. Also, since nearly every Deck uses Synchro Monsters (and now Xyz Monsters), he becomes a cost-free Solemn Warning (in which case he is unaffected by Skill Drain). Finally, he has high ATK for a Level 4 monsters, enough to get over most defenders (though beware a set Kageki or Debris Dragon).
Meklord Emperor Granel: Since Malefics can destroy themselves with their own effects, dropping Granel when Skill Drain isn’t out means keeping a (potentially) 4000 beatstick down that your opponent has to kill again. Scraps players will tell you that this card wins games; they’re not lying.
Gorz the Emissary of Darkness/Battle Fader: If your opponent uses Trunade on you, chances are you’ll end up with no monsters either. This lets you recoup from a loss either by getting two giant beaters, or skipping on damage entirely. Either way, it means keeping yourself established long enough to start beating down again.
Big Boss
One of the things that baffles me most about Malefic decks is the lack of use for Malefic Truth Dragon in Malefic Decks. Selig didn’t use it, and I’ve seen very few others use it. I can understand the logic; half your Life Points is a lot to pay when you’ve already spent on Skill Drain and Solemn Warning/Judgment. However, like Solemn, you can ALWAYS pay half your Life Points. For that half, you get a 5000-points beater, tied for the strongest monster you’re going to see played these days for straight points (the other being Five-Headed Dragon). Even with Limiter Removal to help, Gadgets’ trump card Machina Fortress just ties that, and chances are it was that card’s attack that brought down your Malefic in the first place. Plus, keeping a monster around means your opponent still can’t swarm if Kaiser Coliseum is out. As an added bonus, he can’t miss the timing because of that little “If” at the start of his summon method; and since he can summon himself from the Grave, he can come out as long as you’re alive.
Once it’s down, it lacks one of the hugest drawbacks of Malefics: stopping your other monsters from attacking. The Field Spell thing is tolerable, and the 1 Malefic thing you can’t do anything about; it’s stopping other attacks that makes Malefics slower than most decks. Truth Dragon doesn’t need a Skill Drain, Chalice or Axe of Fools; in fact, he’s one of the few Malefics with a good effect of his own. When this bad boy tears through an enemy monster in battle, he destroys all my opponent’s face-up monsters. According to Konami rulings, he doesn’t need to survive that battle; in the above scenario of tying Machina Fortress, he would kill the rest of their squad and prevent an OTK. Would you pay half your Life Points to survive a turn and wipe out their front row?
This card has won me games, straight and simple. Bringing it down when my Stardust is killed by Mirror Force, then attacking and stripping my opponent’s field is just so satisfying. In one duel, I had a Skill Drain out and my opponent summoned something stronger than Stardust, but was afraid to attack. On my turn, I rammed Stardust to bring out Truth, and then attacked for game. In another duel against Dark World, my opponent brought down 2 of Grapha to kill my Stardust, and I brought out Truth in retaliation. That prevented him from OTKing me, and forced him to bring down his Graphas in Defence Position. His unwise use of draw power meant he ended up with no back row; as of my turn, I had Dust Tornado, Monster Reborn and Eradicator Epidemic Virus in my hand. So guess what I did? Killed one Grapha, the effect of Truth killing the other; then, I revived one of his Graphas with Reborn. My opponent promptly scooped.
Now, I’m not saying this card is the be-all and end-all. I’m just saying the card has won me games and been very helpful; so all I ask is you at least play-test it. If the card doesn’t work for you, no problem; but don’t just disregard the card outright.
Obscurity
Up until this last GenCon, Malefic Decks were never seen except as Billy Decks, meaning that most players would be completely unprepared for their strategy. Even now they’re a rarity; analyzing that GenCon list finds only two Malefic Decks and about 10 Synchro (meaning Tengu-Plant) Decks. People side against Sams, X-Sabers, and sometimes Plants; when a Malefic Deck comes along, they’re completely caught off guard. This is how the game used to be; when you played an opponent for the first time, you likely had no idea what they were running. However, keep in mind that most decks do pack Giant Trunade and 2 MSTs to stop Field Spells, so don’t think that Malefics are just as easy as show up and win.
Now that Malefics have gotten to Top 8 though, people are much more aware of them, and so make side choices like Imperial Iron Wall or their own Royal Oppression to stop them, and extra spell destruction to target Tield Spells. I would recommend siding lots of cards to deal with these pesky traps, such as the Xing Zen Hu that Selig ran. Other than that, there are few cards that actually can stop these guys from coming out; they’re basically free, so any attempt by your opponent to stop them just nets a loss. This is why I love them so much; they are, simply put, a tank, slow but armoured.
Well, that’s my analysis of Malefics and their impact on the game. Until next time I’m M saying play hard, play fair, and play with originality.
