[Written] Archfiend Support

[Armoire]

Archfiend Mazera
LV8 DARK
Fiend/Effect
2800/2300
If this card is Special Summoned: You can send the top 3 cards of your deck to the GY, then your opponent randomly sends as much cards as possible from their hand to the GY, up to the number of "Archfiend" cards sent to the GY by this effect. If this card is destroyed (either by battle or card effect): You can Special Summon 1 "Archfiend" monster from your Deck, but it cannot attack this turn. You can only use this effect of "Archfiend Mazera" once per turn.


Mazera Deville incarnation. This is meant to give Archfiends a strong first-turn play via Archfiend Palabyrinth and also give offensive options (in the form of hand control) with some floating.

The floating leads to more fluid combos and easy access to the rest of the deck. I believe this card to be a powerful addition to the archetype because it can potentially whittle down your opponent's resources and floats into other archfiends. However, I don't think it will break the archetype.

I did consider having Mazera mill from the Extra Deck rather than the hand, but decided against it as it felt unfair.


[spoiler=Notable Combos]

• Normal Summon Emperor → Palabyrinth effect → SS Mazera → Opponent sends 0-3 cards from hand to GY.
   
• Mazera uses effect  → mills Heiress → add any Archfiend card to hand.
   
• Mazera in GY → Archfiend's Roar → SS Mazera → Opponent sends 0-3 cards from hand to GY → pops Mazera in EP → SS Archfiend monster from deck.
   
• Mazera in GY → Cavalry on field  → pop Cavalry with Commander  → SS Mazera → Opponent sends 0-3 cards from hand to GY.
   
• Mazera on the field → SS Commander → pops Mazera → Mazera summons Archfiend from deck → SS Empress → if Empress gets destroyed, SS Mazera  → Opponent sends 0-3 cards from hand to Grave.
  
  Pandemonium can also extend combos involving destruction of Archfiends.
  As an example, the following combo assumes Pandemonium is active:
   
• Mazera on field → SS Commander → pop Mazera → add Commander → SS Cavalry/Empress...END TURN
  
  ...NEXT TURN: SS Commander → pop Cavalry/Empress → add Commander/other Archfiend → SS Mazera  → opponent sends 0-3 cards from hand to Grave → Normal summon something  → next turn, you can start the broken cycle over.

[Armoire]

Bumpin' for thoughts.

[Eshai]

Archfiend Mazera
DARK - Level 8 - Fiend/Effect - 2800 ATK/2300 DEF
If this card is Special Summoned: You can send the top 3 cards of your Deck to the GY, then your opponent randomly sends as many cards as possible from their hand to the GY, up to the number of "Archfiend" cards sent to the GY by this effect. If this card is destroyed (either by battle or card effect): You can Special Summon 1 "Archfiend" monster from your Deck, but it cannot attack this turn. You can only use this effect of "Archfiend Mazera" once per turn.

 

The fact it says up to and your opponent means they get to choose how many cards in their hand get discarded, but it also says "as many cards as possible" so those parts become a bit redundant if my knowledge serves me. I think it would be "your opponent randomly send cards from their hand to the GY equal to the number of "Archfiend" cards sent to the GY by this effect." 

 

I'm a bit concerned about how much luck is involved with the card. I get that Archfiends don't have a lot, but making it so you could possibly send 3 cards from their hand to the GY is a bit much, especially since you can destroy it to Special Summon another from the Deck, in which the effect activates again. This may be just because I don't like discarding cards from the opponents hand because I'd rather just have you draw cards instead, which I think would be a lot cooler considering how slow Archfiends are.

[Armoire]

The fact it says up to and your opponent means they get to choose how many cards in their hand get discarded, but it also says "as many cards as possible" so those parts become a bit redundant if my knowledge serves me. I think it would be "your opponent randomly send cards from their hand to the GY equal to the number of "Archfiend" cards sent to the GY by this effect." 

 

The reason I worded it like that is so that the opponent would discard their entire hand should the number of cards they have is less than 3 (or whatever number shows up). I thought that if I worded it like how you did, the effect wouldn't activate (like Hand Destruction if the opponent has less than 2 cards or Nekroz of Trishula if there isn't a card in the GY, Hand, and field). But I guess I could change it to that.

 

 

I'm a bit concerned about how much luck is involved with the card. I get that Archfiends don't have a lot, but making it so you could possibly send 3 cards from their hand to the GY is a bit much, especially since you can destroy it to Special Summon another from the Deck, in which the effect activates again. This may be just because I don't like discarding cards from the opponents hand because I'd rather just have you draw cards instead, which I think would be a lot cooler considering how slow Archfiends are.

 

The send 3 thing's a reference to Mazera Deville's original effect of discarding 3. But I don't think it's too much to send cards from your opponent's hand to the GY. Especially when a lot of cards are still pretty active in the GY or your opponent could benefit off of it. I also think the fact that you have to mill 3 "Archfiend" cards in succession to discard all 3, when realistically you'd mill 1-2; so I think the luck factor does balance out the powerful effect. As for summoning another copy of him from the deck with his own effect, I suppose I could add an "except Archfiend Mazera" to fix it.

 

You make a good point about "Archfiends" being a slow archetype, so I'll keep that in mind; but I think I have an idea for a draw card for them as a spell. 

 

Thanks for the input!