Want to find out what bag of tricks does the Trickstars have?

Hi everyone, we are back here this week with a new article. This time, we will continue from previously and explore cards that Trickstars can ally themselves with.

Support

As LIGHT Fairy-type monsters, the Trickstars receive plenty of support.

Nova Summoner and Celestial Transformation can help swarm the field, although the former might not be suited for the current metagame where monsters can be easily destroyed by card effects instead of battle.

Cards from the Sky can be used for draw power.

Athena

Effect Monster

Level 7 / LIGHT/ Fairy

ATK 2600 / DEF 800

Each time a Fairy-Type monster(s) is Summoned: Inflict 600 damage to your opponent. Once per turn: You can send 1 face-up Fairy-Type monster you control to the Graveyard, except “Athena”, then target 1 Fairy-Type monster in your Graveyard, except “Athena”; Special Summon that target.

Fairy Archer

Effect Monster

Level 3 / LIGHT/ Fairy

ATK 1400/ DEF 600

During your Main Phase, you can inflict 400 damage to your opponent for each face-up LIGHT monster you control. This card cannot attack during the same turn you activate this effect. Only one “Fairy Archer” can have its effect activated per turn.

Heatrice together with Vahalla, Hall of the Fallen can be used to support Athena which has a burn effect of her own. Fairy Archer would also be a good support if not for her less-than-ideal stats.

Honest should be an obvious choice, seeing how it can arm your Trickstars with sufficient attack points to overpower opponent’s monsters and protect your monsters from attacking threats as well.

However, the common issue I face is the lack of monsters to summon rather than having trouble to summon them out, seeing how the Trickstar monster pool is currently still quite small.

For that matter, I would like to introduce more archetypes to pair with Trickstars

Darklord

Darklord Ixchel

Effect Monster

Level 10 / DARK/ Fairy

ATK 2500/ DEF 2900

You can discard this card and 1 “Darklord” card; draw 2 cards. During either player’s turn: You can pay 1000 LP, then target 1 “Darklord” Spell/Trap Card in your Graveyard; apply that target’s effect, then shuffle that target into the Deck. You can only use each effect of “Darklord Ixchel” once per turn. You can only Special Summon “Darklord Ixchel(s)” once per turn.

Darklord Ixchel and Darklord Superbia along with Trade-In is an idea that I have for Trickstars as well. Darklord Superbia is chosen due to its ability to potentially revive Trickstars monsters and its level, which can be used alongside Trade-In.

Spells from the archetype such as Banishment of the Darklords and Darklord Contact can be added to support the engine as well.

It is worth keeping in mind that Darklords are DARK Attribute whereas Trickstars are LIGHT Attribute. “Chaos” monsters like Black Luster Soldier – Envoy of the Beginning and Chaos Emperor Dragon – Envoy of the End are also Level 8, fueling the cost for Trade-In if needed.

Zoodiac

To this day, the Zoodiacs remain resilient and staple. With the Zoodiac engine, the deck can now have removal options (Zoodiac Whiptail‘s effect) and a larger ATK monster which the Trickstar archetype can’t afford on its own.

Since there are no feasible means of destruction in the deck, Zoodiac Ramram can be excluded. A possible Zoodiac engine for a Trickstar deck can consist of the following:

Zoodiac Thoroughblade x 3 Zoodiac Whiptail x 3 Fire Formation – Tenki x2

Kagetokage

Kagetokage

Effect Monster

Level 4 / DARK/ Reptile

ATK 1100/ DEF 1500

Cannot be Normal Summoned/Set. When you Normal Summon a Level 4 monster: You can Special Summon this card from your hand. This card cannot be used as a Synchro Material Monster.

Kagetokage not only supports the Trickstar by contributing to field presence. It can also act as an extension of the Zoodiac engine. By putting another Level 4 onto the board, it allows the player to summon Zoodiac Broadbull twice in a turn; first by a 2-into-1 Xyz Summon, and another by Xyz Summoning it by using another Zoodiac monster as an Xyz Material.

This enables two searches instead of one, thinning the deck at a faster rate and making your Zoodiac Xyz Monsters have a higher ATK since you can get multiple copies of Zoodiac Whiptail to hand.

It is a DARK so it opens up the possibility of a Chaos Trickstar deck build, although it might sound too ambitious at the moment.

Draw Engines

Apart from the previously mentioned Cards from the Sky there are a few cards worth mentioning and considering:

Card Of Demise can work well in a deck with a low monster count like Trickstars.

can work well in a deck with a low monster count like Trickstars. Pot of Duality and Pot of Desires each has its own merits, although Pot of Duality ‘s restrictions will likely delay Trickstar Lycorissica ‘s summon for a turn. You will hence miss out on the burn damage Trickstar Lycorissica can provide during your opponent’s next Draw Phase.

and each has its own merits, although ‘s restrictions will likely delay ‘s summon for a turn. You will hence miss out on the burn damage can provide during your opponent’s next Draw Phase. Chicken Game can work but there is a need to consider how to get rid of it afterwards since it prevents your opponent from taking any form of damage.

can work but there is a need to consider how to get rid of it afterwards since it prevents your opponent from taking any form of damage. Upstart Goblin may be counter-intuitive in a Burn deck, but it can work in the following deck build that I am going to propose.

Contract with the Don Thousand

Continuous Spell

When this card is activated: Both players lose 1000 LP, and if they do, each draws 1 card. All cards that are drawn while this card’s effect is applied must remain revealed. While a player’s Spell Card in their hand is revealed by this effect, that player cannot Normal Summon/Set monsters. You can only activate 1 “Contract with Don Thousand” per turn.

Contract with Don Thousand is a more creative and lesser-known option. It has the ability to lower your opponent’s lifepoints and net you a draw at the same time. Don’t rely too heavily on its second effect though, since your opponent can easily play around it by setting a drawn spell instead. On that note, so can you, so that effect won’t hinder the user either.

Deck Destruction

The Deck Destruction version of Trickstars takes a very different approach. Casting aside options such as Disturbance Strategy and the Droll & Lock Bird combo, the deck aims to make your opponent deck out by capitalising on the effects of Present Card and Trickstar Reincarnation.

Cards such as Cup of Ace and Gift of Greed are also used to expand the opponent’s hand size to turn Trickstar Reincarnation into a lethal weapon. Cup of Ace presents a win-win situation as a coin toss in the user’s favour will gather more resources, whereas a Tails result aligns with the deck’s strategy.

Under this variant, Storming Mirror Force is preferred over Blazing Mirror Force as the deck departs from the Burn strategy. By returning your opponent’s monsters to the hand, it increases the number of cards in their hand.

In the current metagame, I would argue that this variant is capable of success. Ash Blossom & Joyous Spring discourages the use of That Grass is Greener 60-card decks, which Deck Destruction Trickstars will not be able to handle. As current decks do plenty of searches are deck thinning, it is still possible to pull the strategy off when leading second in a game.

As Lifepoints and Special Summons are no longer a concern, cards such as Pot of Duality, Upstart Goblin and Chicken Game can be added to the deck to improve its consistency.

The ability to interfere with staples such as Pot of Desires is an added bonus of the strategy.

True Draco

True Draco Trickstars is nothing new. We witnessed its success shortly after Trickstars’ debut in YOTHK. However, in such a deck, the Trickstars will take on the support role instead.

True Draco monsters will perform the heavy lifting and farming for resources via Dinomight Knight, the True Dracofighter. Meanwhile, Trickstar Candina can apply pressure to the opponent and limit their ability to activate Spells/Traps.



Hack Worm

Hack Worm

Effect Monster

Level 1 / DARK / Machine

ATK 400 / DEF 0

If your opponent controls no monsters, you can Special Summon this card (from your hand).

Hack Worm debuted in Code of the Duelist as a Common in the OCG. It is a Level 1 that can be special summoned to the field on its own. When combined with Where Arf Thou, you can search out the Level 1 Droll & Lock Bird.

For this strategy to work, a player must open, and lead first in a game, with Hack Worm and Where Arf Thou. While this seems impractical to even entertain as an idea, it can probably work better in a True Draco Trickstars build. In that deck, Hack Worm can be offered as a Tribute Fodder or simply be destroyed away by Dragonic Diagram.

I admit that this is a desperate method to search out the Hand Trap. But the ability to empty out your opponent’s hand might be worth your while.

The same strategy can be replicated by using One for One to summon out a more practical Level 1 monster as well.

Melodious

Melodious monsters can form a tough wall for your opponent to overcome. Aria the Melodious Diva protects your Melodious monsters from being targeted by card effects or destroyed by battle. Elegy the Melodious Diva completes the coverage and prevents destruction via card effects, protecting from mass field destruction too.

The Melodious Fusion monsters are also surprisingly aggressive. This means that you can catch an opponent off-guard and deal significant damage when the opportunity presents itself.

Both Melodious and Trickstars are LIGHT Fairy monsters, meaning that they can benefit from shared support (E.g. Cards from the Sky) due to their shared type and Attribute.

The following is the current build that I have arrived at:

It is currently still work in progress but it should give you a general idea on the ratios.

The remaining 5 cards in the Extra Deck can go to Link Monsters such as Missus Radiant, Trickstar Holy Angel and Proxy Dragon.

Others

Fire Cracker has two effects that can contribute to the Trickstar’s burn game. Skipping your next Draw Phase will be less harmful if you are leading in resources after managing to empty your opponent’s hand.

Chain Strike can fit into the deck since high Chain counts are easily achieved.

Another deck idea that I considered but did not explore was Trickstar-WindWitch-Invoked.

It would involve the Trickstar engine as a Link-2 engine, with Trickstar Candina fetching Trickstar Lilybell, hence summoning Trickstar Lilybell out, enabling Trickstar Holy Angel. This will allow me to summon up to two Synchros/Fusions. Trickstar Candina‘s effect of fetching another copy of itself can also be seen as a remake of the Thunder Dragon engine.

Conclusion

I hope that with this article, I managed to cover some ground on what a Trickstar deck can evolve into.

I look forward to future members of the archetype being released, with better attention and support paid to these scheming group of Fairy-types. The recently announced Structure Deck R: Surge of Divine Radiance may also have some useful cards too.

Some mention that it is very likely for continued support for Trickstars since it is used by one of the protagonists from the Yu-Gi-Oh VRAINS Anime. Then again, that was what I felt for Yosenjus from Yu-Gi-Oh Arc-V, then Sawatori proceeded to change his entire deck and archetype.

Well, only time will tell. Until then…

This is Ken Sirr, and I thank you for reading this article.

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