Let's go on a journey together! Adventurer Deck

[BGMaxie]

Greetings people. This time I'm bringing what is the first set of a Deck I'm planning to develop for a long time. This is gonna be the first Link-extensive Deck I'll work on, so I hope it grows well as we get to know more of the mechanic. The premise of this Deck is to have a similar feeling to that of a main character Deck, so this Deck will grow and develop along with VRAINS, so in a sense it is a real Adventure!! The Deck is based off a franchise I love from the bottom of my heart, one I think you'll have no trouble identifying but I'll leave that for the members themselves. It has all the cool things possible for Link Summon as well as to go in this journey. So would you travel with me? Let's see our party shall we? ;)

 

[spoiler=Our Party Members]

Once per turn, this card cannot be destroyed by battle or by card effect. If this card was sent to the Graveyard because it was destroyed by battle, or was sent there by a card effect, or was used as Link Material: You can target 1 "Adventurer" card in your Graveyard other than this card; add it to your hand.

 

Note: A fairly resilient card. Its sturdiness and its recycling ability both will help you greatly with Link Summon. You may not have identified yet what franchise I'm talking about or have you? Anyway the recycling ability comes from the fact "Warriors" can "heal" in a handful of the games in the series, as well as to provide extra utility.

 

If you control an "Adventurer" monster other than "Adventurer Thief", you can Special Summon this card (from your hand). Once per turn, you can target 1 monster your opponent controls; change its battle position, and if you do, it loses 500 ATK or DEF (your choice), then this card gains 500 ATK, also monsters you control, except "Adventurer" monsters cannot declare an attack. These changes last until the end of this turn.

 

Note: Have you discovered yet? No? Yes? Well let me explain what this guy's about. Its Special Summon ability is based on the Speed characteristic of the Thieves. Its second effect is based on actual "Theft". They assault you where you're most defenseless and stealing stats is kinda the only way I could come with a Steal that wasn't a "take control of..." which would be too much.

 

When an "Adventurer" monster is Normal or Special Summoned to your side of the field: You can Special Summon this card from your hand. During your Main Phase: You can gain 800 LP. You can only use this effect of "Adventurer White Mage" once per turn.

 

Note: By now I think this girl and her name must have made it very evident what franchise I'm talking about ain't it? Her SS on response to a Normal Summon is based on two things: Support and that White Mages are usually found in the backrow, so she "supports" her comrades from behind. As characteristically of the White Mages, they heal, so she heals. Heal + Link Fodder is bound to be useful.

 

You can Special Summon this card (from your hand) by banishing 1 "Adventurer" card from your Graveyard. During your Main Phase: You can inflict 800 damage to your opponent. You can only use each effect of this card's name once per turn.

 

Note: You cannot have White Mages, without Black Mages in this series, right? ;) since Black Magic is offensive and the opposite of White Magic, this guy burns the opponent. I thought in destroy at first but I'm leaving that for something else. Its SS through banishing.......think of it as MP consumption. Once more Link Fodder + Burn should have its uses, and with White Mage, it basically doubles the advantage you make.

 

Once per turn, during the start of the Damage Step that this card battles an opponent's monster with higher ATK than this card: You can have this card gain 400 ATK.

Once per turn: You can have this card gain 1000 ATK. You cannot attack directly during the turn you use this effect. At the end of the Damage Step that this card battles, it loses all ATK gained by this card's effect.

 

Note: Monks are known for their high HP values and their immense Strength numbers. They top tier damage dealers, so that's why he gets an ATK gain. However I'm seriously considering changing its ATK gain for a temporal but immense ATK boost one, rather than a smaller one that builds up. Thoughts? Upon further consideration, I decided to make him gain a MASSIVE ATK boost. However it is temporal as all ATK gained is gone after an attack and no direct attack for the turn, which mirrors their Focus ability. It helps some problems rather than create them.

 

Link 2 - monsters - 2

Monsters in a Linked State with this card (including this card), gain 500 ATK for each monster at this card's Link Point. If this card is destroyed by battle, or if this card in its owner's possession is destroyed by an opponent's card effect: You can target 1 "Adventurer" monster in your Graveyard, except "Adventurer Young Hero"; Special Summon it.

 

Note: An iconic symbol of this series, the Young Hero (as called in this card's name) is one of the earliest and most well known elements of this franchise. Being a basic well-rounded combatant, usually weak at first, but grows stronger as time passes. Its ATK gain reflects that and it allows himself and everything connected to it to gain 500 ATK for each monster at the Markers/Points. Ergo if you have 3 of them Linked up, A - B - C, then you have B points to A, and C, that's two monsters which equals a 1000 ATK bonus, so all of them A, B and C gain 1000 ATK from B alone!! and that's not all, since A and C have B with their respective points, that's an extra 500 ATK boost for the A - B pair AND another 500 ATK bonus from the B - C pair. In total A and C would become 3500 and B would become 4000. Amazing potential isn't it!! its second effect on death is meant to help you keep your game up, it also symbolizes how the Job it represents is meant to change into others.

 

Link 3 - Effect Monsters - 2 Link 4 - Effect Monsters - 2

You can Link Summon this card with 1 less material for each monster Special Summoned from the Extra Deck that your opponent controls. Once per turn, if this card is Special Summoned and is on a Linked State with a monster, or a monster is Summoned at this card's Link Point: You can target 1 card on the field; destroy it. During either player's turn, while this card is in a Linked State with a monster: You can target either this card or 1 of those monsters; once during this turn, it cannot be destroyed by battle or be affected by your opponent's card effects. You can only use this effect of this card's name once per turn.

 

Note: The real symbol of the series. Hero of Light is perhaps the first thing and first name (albeit slightly different in the original source) that you hear when you play this out, so it cannot be left out!! As a real Hero, this guy packs a lot and makes extensive use of the Link mechanic. Whenever he's summoned and Links to something, he pops something. Whenever something is summoned into his points, he pops something. While Linked to something, he can either protect himself or his comrades from dying from battle or become affected by the threat of the opp's card effects!! Temporal immunity is a new thing, and even if it lasts once, it is still pretty good, for it doesn't matter if it targets, if it destroys, banishes, or if it is a S/T or monster, whoever is shielded will be sure that whatever eff is thrown at it will resolve doing absolutely nothing, that's great and it can to some degree match with the looming threat of Firewall Dragon. So he either can open a path for you with his sword, or protect you with his shield. He's a true Hero alright.

I do have a question tho. I did post this in Singles (tho it didn't get much attention), in that thread his Markers are places akin to Decode Talker's, but then I thought that using the current Gaiasaber schema, could allow for further flexibility for his effects. What do you think is the better positioning? Upon further consideration I think that making it a Link 4 is fair, however it has a way to make its summoning easier but is very much reactive. Also given its min. 2 clause, it will still require 2 monsters at minimum to get out.

 

So, are you ready to make a journey with this party? They won't disappoint ;)

EDIT: Some changes have been made. Removed content is crossed, new content is in bold.

[Dova]

Guessing Final Fantasy, but I really am unfamiliar with that franchise, so I can't comment much on flavour ;-;

Warrior does have staying power, but MD low-levels don't generally rely on that. The search in the grave seems cool, and the lack of HOPT means it can actually have a utility by being reused, and is further balanced by getting it off the field in the first place. Sent to the Graveyard as well would probably simplify matters without pushing it too far in regards to strength.

 

I don't like monsters which SS from the hand with no HOPT (see Sonata the Melodious Diva), especially in Link Format. Basically, if you draw 3, that's an instant 3 monsters, ignoring the fact that you may already have an Adventurer. The last effect on the other hand, doesn't require an attack restriction. You get to change one monster's battle positions and get a little attack. So what? No reason to not have it steal all ATK or DEF, even with the attack restriction removed, especially as it only lasts until the end of this turn.

 

Restriction to Normal Summon leaves White Mage only active once per turn, at a maximum. I would suggest buffing it to when you Summon exactly 1 Adventurer, and no HOPT required as its only active at specific points (timing). 800 LP isn't much, although leaving the LP gain would fit well for a healer. Perhaps target 1 face-up monster you control and gain LP equal to its ATK? 16k LP isn't hard to get rid of. And even then, you can remove the HOPT on the last effect.

 

Black Mage has some real speed in the archetype, and is the easiest to get out. Unfortunately, it doesn't synergize well with Warrior, as that card empties your Graveyard. Yes, you are prioritizing flavour, but a consistent theme never hurt anyone. Perhaps Warrior could give you a HOPT search from Deck instead? At least you have some sort of main theme with speed, with most cards having alt Summoning methods, also leaving Warrior behind. 800 damage isn't much again, but dealing damage equal to ATK would be too much. Perhaps buff it to 1500 as you already have HOPT on it? Dunno why you didn't just have OPT on the damaging and healing effects in terms of activation speed.

 

Okay, nevermind, Battle monk is the weakest. He contributes nothing to the archetype that cannot be solved by the Link monsters, and only does one thing. I would suggest a 1000 ATK boost no matter what it battles with, perhaps give it the protection instead of the Link monster, and adjust the Warrior to be more supportive. You could probably think of a better change to fit with flavour, but right now the archetype is lacking.

 

Why does Young and Light allow for any monster to be used as material? Perhaps limit Young to Effect monsters, and Light to Adventurers. That would allow you to buff Light, but anywho, back to Young. The only place you can Summon your first ED monster to is to one of the two zones between the two fields, so Young would never be active first, and you would always have to Summon Light to attempt to use Young, or another ED monster. In any case, Young isn't a very good opening play. Dunno about the OCG, but I have no idea how Link OCG works, so nevermind that. ATK boost and SS effects are fine on their own, however.

 

Light is too strong currently, as it can be run in everything. If you take my suggestion of making it less generic that would be even better in regards to balance. Other effect is fine, good support, although if you do make it more specific to Adventurers it would prevent it from being run in literally every other deck as extra popping and protection. Do have an issue with "cannot be affected...once per turn". Very iffy as to how this would play out in the actual game. 

 

Mostly pretty weak, suffering from flavour priority, with the except of Light out of nowhere being too generic and strong. I see the effort taken to make the archetype connect to FF (I think), and to have a look at potential combos, but you have to remember to take the actual current meta into account. What cards are being played, what is considered standard.

 

 

 

[BGMaxie]

Guessing Final Fantasy, but I really am unfamiliar with that franchise, so I can't comment much on flavour ;-;

 

Warrior does have staying power, but MD low-levels don't generally rely on that. The search in the grave seems cool, and the lack of HOPT means it can actually have a utility by being reused, and is further balanced by getting it off the field in the first place. Sent to the Graveyard as well would probably simplify matters without pushing it too far in regards to strength.

 

I don't like monsters which SS from the hand with no HOPT (see Sonata the Melodious Diva), especially in Link Format. Basically, if you draw 3, that's an instant 3 monsters, ignoring the fact that you may already have an Adventurer. The last effect on the other hand, doesn't require an attack restriction. You get to change one monster's battle positions and get a little attack. So what? No reason to not have it steal all ATK or DEF, even with the attack restriction removed, especially as it only lasts until the end of this turn.

 

Restriction to Normal Summon leaves White Mage only active once per turn, at a maximum. I would suggest buffing it to when you Summon exactly 1 Adventurer, and no HOPT required as its only active at specific points (timing). 800 LP isn't much, although leaving the LP gain would fit well for a healer. Perhaps target 1 face-up monster you control and gain LP equal to its ATK? 16k LP isn't hard to get rid of. And even then, you can remove the HOPT on the last effect.

 

Black Mage has some real speed in the archetype, and is the easiest to get out. Unfortunately, it doesn't synergize well with Warrior, as that card empties your Graveyard. Yes, you are prioritizing flavour, but a consistent theme never hurt anyone. Perhaps Warrior could give you a HOPT search from Deck instead? At least you have some sort of main theme with speed, with most cards having alt Summoning methods, also leaving Warrior behind. 800 damage isn't much again, but dealing damage equal to ATK would be too much. Perhaps buff it to 1500 as you already have HOPT on it? Dunno why you didn't just have OPT on the damaging and healing effects in terms of activation speed.

 

Okay, nevermind, Battle monk is the weakest. He contributes nothing to the archetype that cannot be solved by the Link monsters, and only does one thing. I would suggest a 1000 ATK boost no matter what it battles with, perhaps give it the protection instead of the Link monster, and adjust the Warrior to be more supportive. You could probably think of a better change to fit with flavour, but right now the archetype is lacking.

 

Why does Young and Light allow for any monster to be used as material? Perhaps limit Young to Effect monsters, and Light to Adventurers. That would allow you to buff Light, but anywho, back to Young. The only place you can Summon your first ED monster to is to one of the two zones between the two fields, so Young would never be active first, and you would always have to Summon Light to attempt to use Young, or another ED monster. In any case, Young isn't a very good opening play. Dunno about the OCG, but I have no idea how Link OCG works, so nevermind that. ATK boost and SS effects are fine on their own, however.

 

Light is too strong currently, as it can be run in everything. If you take my suggestion of making it less generic that would be even better in regards to balance. Other effect is fine, good support, although if you do make it more specific to Adventurers it would prevent it from being run in literally every other deck as extra popping and protection. Do have an issue with "cannot be affected...once per turn". Very iffy as to how this would play out in the actual game. 

 

Mostly pretty weak, suffering from flavour priority, with the except of Light out of nowhere being too generic and strong. I see the effort taken to make the archetype connect to FF (I think), and to have a look at potential combos, but you have to remember to take the actual current meta into account. What cards are being played, what is considered standard.

Yes you're right on that.

 

1) I guess we're fine with this hmm.

 

2) Well he's meant to be speedy, so I gave him freedom to get out, not unlike some Blackwings (tho they do have "other than same name" clause so I guess I can add that). Position switch is strong given it puts monsters where they are the weakest and with stat modification that doubles the advantage. Sharp Lanius has that and it works only once, Cyberse Wizard has that but it has higher limitations although it allows piercing. So it was fair to put some restraint on that effect.

 

3) That suggestion isn't half bad........I guess I can change her so her SS eff is more flexible.

 

4) Not completely true, I mean Warrior can return this guy to the hand, so Warrior becomes a fodder so a combo with both can work just fine. As for why Warrior doesn't search, is because searchers will be added later through other monsters, this is a start phase right now. Also take into account they are basic monsters, they aren't meant to do too much on their own so 800 is fine (originally 1000 each, but given it is manual rather than trigger like that Tellarknight whose name I forgot).

 

5) I think I can agree with this and I have an idea of how to make him significantly stronger in terms of beating output.

 

6) Because that's part of the theme. They are meant to be generic, as generic as a main character Deck and those are made to be generic and easy to exploit. Besides there are some stunts to be done with him as a 1st play. For example suppose I NS Warrior, Special Thief, Link into Young, Warrior adds Thief to the hand, SS Thief, Link into Hero, banish Warrior for Black Mage, SS White Mage (with your suggestion) go for another Young, revive the Young in your Graveyard (through some card like CotH or whatever, there will be revival here). Then you have Hero, and 2 Young linked with each other and one of them being at the Link Point of Hero, as in A (Hero) -> B (Young 1) <-> C (Young 2) both Young will gain 500 off each other and Hero will gain 500 as well for 2500 x2 and a 3000 ATK monster with a pop. Convoluted? Yeah but that's kinda what Link is pushing us to do. Young may be not be a T1 standing monster by himself, but it can help given its effs and the fact Link can use Link as fodder, that opens up a lot of doors so its potential is there.

 

7) Again he's meant to be generic (I'm thinking of making it a Link 4 to better exploit his effects as well as to make it an "even match" vs Firewall Dragon so to speak, but with a Summoning ease). Hero is strong, but I'd like to think he's not absurd strong. Firewall Dragon is ridiculous with that Spam eff and Quick M7 bounce eff. That's bound to be very very stupid in no time and taking lessons from ABC, Drancia and Master Peace........Quick removal is one of the most powerful kind of effects you can see around, but Hero's is Trigger rather than Quick. That makes him usable rather than abusable. Its second effect is meant to keep your field stable as well as to provide some protection against monster like Firewall or Bomber Dragon who are meant to decimate fields. 

 

Some cards will be revised upon your suggestion, but while flavour is part of the Deck it is also meant to synergize with it gameplay-wise too. Some stuff will make more sense later on as I create more cards. As I've said, this will develop as the VRAINS era unfolds, so there is a lot that has yet to be said. I'll let you know of the changes ;)

[Dova]

6) Because that's part of the theme. They are meant to be generic, as generic as a main character Deck and those are made to be generic and easy to exploit. Besides there are some stunts to be done with him as a 1st play. For example suppose I NS Warrior, Special Thief, Link into Young, Warrior adds Thief to the hand, SS Thief, Link into Hero, banish Warrior for Black Mage, SS White Mage (with your suggestion) go for another Young, revive the Young in your Graveyard (through some card like CotH or whatever, there will be revival here). Then you have Hero, and 2 Young linked with each other and one of them being at the Link Point of Hero, as in A (Hero) -> B (Young 1) C (Young 2) both Young will gain 500 off each other and Hero will gain 500 as well for 2500 x2 and a 3000 ATK monster with a pop. Convoluted? Yeah but that's kinda what Link is pushing us to do. Young may be not be a T1 standing monster by himself, but it can help given its effs and the fact Link can use Link as fodder, that opens up a lot of doors so its potential is there.

 

You jumped over my major problem: You can only Link Summon to one of the in-between zones, meaning Young doesn't allow you to Link Summon other monsters as both of his Links point to where monster zones aren't.

[BGMaxie]

You jumped over my major problem: You can only Link Summon to one of the in-between zones, meaning Young doesn't allow you to Link Summon other monsters as both of his Links point to where monster zones aren't.

That is incorrect. If you use Young as a Material, you can Link Summon, in which case the Link Monster will go to the EMZ, even if the Link Monster's Markers do not point anywhere you can place monster, you still can Link Summon provided you meet the requirements.

 

For example see this video here (official video) 

in 3:50 it shows using Links as Material. In the example you use Honeybot (which is <- ->) and a Link Slayer to Summon Decode Talker.

[Dova]

That is incorrect. If you use Young as a Material, you can Link Summon, in which case the Link Monster will go to the EMZ, even if the Link Monster's Markers do not point anywhere you can place monster, you still can Link Summon provided you meet the requirements.

 

For example see this video here (official video) 

in 3:50 it shows using Links as Material. In the example you use Honeybot (which is ) and a Link Slayer to Summon Decode Talker.

 

Sorry, said it badly. What I mean is that you will be unable to open with a Young and use his effect. Yes, you can use him as a material, but you can't really do anything with him on the way.

[BGMaxie]

Sorry, said it badly. What I mean is that you will be unable to open with a Young and use his effect. Yes, you can use him as a material, but you can't really do anything with him on the way.

It is a setup play, which isn't bad. Also a lot of Links don't do anything unless you have something to Link with, so Young being one of those is not bad really.

 

PS: I've changed some cards, you can see their new effs above.