Boss Duel - Legendary Knights

[Meme Devourer]

This is a boss deck based on the legendary knights and dragons from the last season of the 1st anime. I used pictures from the game (except Doom Virus Dragon, found it on google images). I feel the whole 1 picture for all 8 cards and naming them "Boss Deck Card/A" is just confusing and boring.
 
[spoiler=Legend of Heart]
 
Up to twice per turn, cannot be destroyed. At the start of an opponent's turn: Special Summon either 1 "Blue-Eyes White Dragon Token" (Dragon/LIGHT/Level 8/ATK 3000/DEF 2500), 1 "Dark Magician Token" (Spellcaster/DARK/Level 7/ATK 2500/DEF 2100), or 1 "Flame Swordsman Token" (Warrior/FIRE/Level 5/1800 ATK/1600 DEF) to their field in Attack Position. If a "Timaeus", "Critias", or "Hermos" Spell Card(s) is sent from the field to the GY, except during the turn it was activated: Special Summon 1 monster from your hand, Deck, or GY with the same name. You can tribute 3 "Legendary Knight" monsters OR if 3 "Legendary Knight" monsters leave the field at the same time: Special Summon 1 "The Knight of Destiny" from your hand, Deck, or GY, and if you do, halve your LP.

 

 

Legend of Heart was the hardest part of the boss deck to make. It didn't do much in both the anime and the game except just summon the knights, so I made its role a bit more important by giving the opponent tokens, and having the summoning of the knights resolve through it.
 
[spoiler=The Eye of Timaeus]
 
(This card is also always treated as "Legendary Dragon Timaeus".)
Send 1 "Legendary Knight Timaeus" from your hand, Deck, or you control to the GY; activate one of the following effects:
• Send (or Tribute, if it is a Token) 1 "Magician" card or Spellcaster monster from an opponent's Deck or they control to the GY, and if you do, Special Summon 1 "Dark Magician Girl the Dragon Knight Token" (refer to Token).
• Special Summon this card as a Normal Monster named "Amulet Dragon" (2900 ATK/2500 DEF) (NOT treated as a Spell), and if you do, banish all Spell Cards in the GY's and face-up on the field, and if you do that, it gains 100 ATK for each card banished this way.
• Equip this card to a monster. That monster's ATK becomes 2900, its DEF becomes 2500, and its Type becomes Dragon.

 

 

Made a "refer to Token" clause on Timaeus and Critias because including all the effects of the tokens wouldn't fit.
 
[spoiler=The Fang of Critias]
 
(This card is also always treated as "Legendary Dragon Critias".)
Send 1 "Legendary Knight Critias" from your hand, Deck, or you control to the GY; activate one of the following effects:
• Send to the GY (or Tribute, if it is a Token) 1 "Mirror Force" card from an opponent's Deck or face-up they control, and if you do, Special Summon 1 "Mirror Force Dragon Token" (refer to Token.)
• Send to the GY (or Tribute, if it is a Token) 1 "Virus" card from an opponent's deck or face-up they control, and if you do, Special Summon 1 "Doom Virus Dragon Token" (refer to Token.)
• Special Summon this card as a Normal Monster named "Tyrant Burst Dragon" (2900 ATK/2500 DEF) (NOT treated as a Spell), and if you do, it gains the following effect: • Can attack all monsters your opponent(s) controls, once each. You can equip this card to a monster you control. It gains 400 ATK and DEF and can attack 5 times during each Battle Phase.

 

 

You cant send tokens anywhere as a cost, so I put a "or Tribute, if it is a token" clause.
 
[spoiler=The Claw of Hermos]
 
(This card is also always treated as "Legendary Dragon Hermos".)
Send 1 "Legendary Knight Hermos" from your hand, Deck, or you control to the GY; Special Summon this card as a Normal Monster (2900 ATK/2500 DEF) (NOT treated as a Spell). Then, after that, you can send to the GY (or Tribute, if it is a Token) 1 Spellcaster, Dragon, and/or Warrior monster from an opponent's Deck or they control, and if you do, gains the following effects based on what monsters you sent (and/or Tributed) with this card's effect:

• Spellcaster: At the start of the Damage Step, if this card battles a monster: You can roll a six-sided die, and if you do, banish that opponent's monster until the Standby Phase of the Nth turn after this effect's activation (N = the result).

• Dragon: Gains 1000 ATK, and 500 ATK and DEF for each Dragon and "Dragon" monster (except this card) on the field and in the GY's.

• Warrior: Can attack twice during each Battle Phase. Inflicts piercing battle damage. Negate the first effect activated by an opponent during each Battle Phase.
You can equip this card to a monster. The equipped monster gains this card's applied effects.

 

 

Didn't make a new line on each bullet to save space and make the text on the card bigger
 
[spoiler=Legendary Knight Timaeus]
 
Must be Special Summoned with "Legend of Heart", and cannot be Summoned by other ways. If Summoned: You can banish 1 Spell/Trap Card on the field. If this card battles or is targeted by a card effect: You can target 1 Spell Card in a GY; Set that target. That Set card can be activated during this turn if it is a Quick-Play Spell Card.

 
[spoiler=Legendary Knight Critias]
 
Must be Special Summoned with "Legend of Heart", and cannot be Summoned by other ways. If Summoned: You can banish 1 Spell/Trap Card on the field. If this card battles or is targeted by a card effect: You can target 1 Trap Card in a GY; Set that target. That Set card can be activated during this turn.

 
[spoiler=Legendary Knight Hermos]
 
Must be Special Summoned with "Legend of Heart", and cannot be Summoned by other ways. If Summoned: You can banish 1 Spell/Trap Card on the field. If this card battles or is targeted by a card effect: You can target 1 Effect Monster in a GY; name becomes that target's, and gains that target's effects.

 
[spoiler=The Knight of Destiny]
 
Must be Special Summoned (from your hand) with "Legend of Heart", and cannot be Summoned by other ways. Summon cannot be negated. Cards and effects cannot activate in response to Summon. Unaffected by other cards' effects. Cannot be Tributed or used as Summoning Material. Destroy this card if you do not control "Legend of Heart". Once per battle, if this card battles, during damage calculation (Quick Effect): You can make this card's ATK and DEF become equal to the ATK of the monster on the field with the highest ATK (your choice, if tied). When destroyed by battle: You can Special Summon 3 "Legendary Knight" monsters from your hand, Deck, and/or GY, ignoring their Summoning conditions.

 

 

Lastly, the tokens.
 
[spoiler=Dark Magician Girl the Dragon Knight]
 
Special Summoned by "The Eye of Timaeus". You can only control 1 "Dark Magician Girl the Dragon Knight." Once per turn (Quick Effect): You can send 1 card from your hand to the GY; banish 1 card on the field.

 
[spoiler=Mirror Force Dragon]
 
Special Summoned by "The Fang of Critias". You can only control 1 "Mirror Force Dragon." If a monster(s) you control is targeted for an attack or by a card effect (except during the Damage Step): You can activate 1 of the following effects;
• Destroy all monsters 1 opponent controls, and if you do, inflict damage to that opponent equal to their monsters' combined ATK.
• Return all monsters 1 opponent controls to the hand.
• Flip all monsters 1 opponent controls, face-down. They cannot change their battle postions.
You can only use each of these effect's once per turn, per opponent.

 
[spoiler=Doom Virus Dragon]
 
Special Summoned by "The Fang of Critias". You can only control 1 "Doom Virus Dragon." If Summoned: Check your opponent(s)' hand, all cards they control and draw until the start of your 3rd turn (this turn counting as the 1st turn) after this effect's activation, and apply 1 of the following effects (even if this card leaves the field):
• Destroy all monsters among them with 1500 or more ATK, 1500 or less ATK, or 1500 or less DEF.
• Destroy all Spell Cards or all Trap Cards among them.

 

 

Any and all criticism is welcome.

[Delibirb]

OK, now I can dive into this.

 

There are two things that I notice as a general issue through the whole deck: Everything is either needlessly overcomplicated, completely underpowered, or both.

 

Some of my own Boss Decks are victims of the former, but having learned my mistakes I feel I can more effectively aid in these. The original Boss Decks are fairly simple in all of their wording. Some of them have longer texts, but are still concise for what they are: very powerful cards. Its ok to have longer texts if the effect needs it, but if it is needed because it's overcomplicated, it becomes problematic.

 

Specifically in this regard, I refer to the Legendary Dragons. The Boss Deck cards are simple primarily because they aren't intended to think very much or be particularly versatile. They win by pure value, not by outplaying the players. They're meant to be a challenging undertaking, not a competitor. Thus, cards with modal effects are probably too complex. Especially when their individual effects are so long and complicated that the Tokens they summon can't even be fully explained on the card itself, but on the Token, which is a real no-no. The need to specify this here is precisely what I'm talking about.

 

Didn't make a new line on each bullet to save space and make the text on the card bigger

 

You should not have be changing the way text is formatted on a card to make text fit, especially on a card that should be much more simple. This is why the original Boss Decks, and my own, generally were designed for an antagonist from the show, rather than a concept or protagonist: Their deck did one thing, it was simple, streamlined, and very powerful. Boss Duels are a casual format, the less reading, explaining, and decision making that needs to be done on behalf of the players or by the challenge deck, the better.

 

Not only that, but this deck seems underpowered in general. You have to wait and jump through hoops to use the Legendary Dragons as anything but bad Normal monsters, which are basically your only form of interaction until they die so you can play the Legendary Knights, which are also unimpressive for the effort needed to play them. The boss of the Boss Deck, Knight of Destiny, is less of an inevitability and more of an "if you don't interact with me I win even more dur hurr." The fun of facing of a Boss Deck is trying to prepare yourself for the eventual arrival of the boss monster, or else find some way to hold it off long enough to do the former. Stopping Knight of Destiny from hitting the board? That's not challenging at all. Not to mention you have to halve your LP if you do succeed in playing him, which is clearly an attempt at balance for a card that should be intentionally imbalanced in the Boss Deck's favor.

 

My suggestions: I think the Legendary Dragons should be one in the Start, one at 1 and one at 2. They should all only Summon a Token (with all text and relevant info on the card, not the Token), and nothing else. Legend of Heart should allow you to discard one to Summon the appropriate Legendary Knight once per turn, and allow you to shuffle all three Legendary Knights into the Deck to Summon Knight of Destiny from your hand. This way, Legend of Heart and the Legendary Dragons become much less complicated, the summoning of the Knights makes more sense, and Knight of Destiny becomes an inevitable boss monster. You also don't need to specify that Knight of Destiny's Summon can't be negated, because it's another card's effect Summoning him anyway. Also get rid of the tribute and material stuff because its completely irrelevant. That should make the experience much more enjoyable for the Boss and the challengers.

[Meme Devourer]

Commenting so I can come back to this, as I too am I designer of Boss Decks. Can't look in-depth atm tho.

 

Looking forward to your thoughts. I've looked at past posts and saw some of your own Boss Decks.

[Flash Flyer - Sakura]

I'll give him a week to modify the post, then apply appropriate action as deemed necessary under CC rules.