[Written] Wind Totem - Link Archetype

[TekFish]

This is a Link-based archetype I thought up recently, It's based on the Aztec gods of the wind. There are 5 monsters in total, each representing one of the gods. The names of the gods are probably too long to actually include all of it, so they have been shortened.

 

Master Wind Totem - Ehecatl - Ehecatl

Wind Totem of the North - Mictlan - Mictlanpachecatl

Wind Totem of the West - Cihua - Cihuatecayotl

Wind Totem of the East - Tlalo - Tlalocayotl

Wind Totem of the South - Vitztlam - Vitztlampaehecatl

 

They are a Wind-Attribute deck, that focuses on returning their own cards to the hand in order to gain effects. They are therefore supported by cards such as Divine Wind of Mist Valley. Also, except the Link Monster, they each have a quick effect that can activate in the hand, by returning another "Wind Totem" to the hand.

The idea behind the deck is to use the on-field effects and then return the cards to the hand so that the in-hand effects can be used to guard yourself on your opponent's turn.

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Master Wind Totem - Ehecatl

Wind

Winged Beast Link Monster

Link 4

Bottom Left, Bottom, Bottom Right, Top

3000 ATK

 

4 "Wind Totem" Monsters with different names

 

All "Wind Totem" Monsters linked to this card gain 500 ATK.

When this card is Link Summoned: Special Summon 1 "Wind Totem" Monster from your hand, then activate 1 "Wind Totem" Spell/Trap card from your Deck.

Once per turn, during either player's turn, you can return to the hand any number of "Wind Totem" monsters this card points to, and, if you do, return cards on your opponent's field to the hand, equal to the number of "Wind Totem" monsters returned to your hand by this effect. Once per turn, during your opponent's turn, if this card would be destroyed by battle or by card effect, you can return 1 "Wind Totem" Monster you control to the hand instead. You can only control 1 "Master Wind Totem - Ehecatl".

 

This is the main boss monster of the deck. It has a very powerful and disruptive effect. I think this is balanced by the loss of field presence you suffer, its relatively steep summoning condition and the fact it gives your opponent a zone to summon to. It has an in-built protection effect as well, to help it survive on field, but is vulnerable to effects that activate on your turn, such as your opponent's traps and such. Although, this may be possible to avoid with the main deck monsters.

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Wind Totem of Night - Tezcatli

Wind

Winged Beast Link Monster

Link 3

Top, Bottom Right, Bottom Left

 

When this card is Link Summoned: Special Summon 1 "Wind Totem" Monster from your hand or activate 1 "Wind Totem" Spell/Trap card from your deck.

Once per turn, during either player's turn, you can target 1 card linked to this card: Return that card to the hand, and if it was a "Wind Totem" Monster; Special Summon 1 "Wind Totem Monster from your GY to a zone this card points to. Once per turn, during either player's turn, you can return this card you control to the Extra Deck; Special Summon 3 "Wind Totem" Monsters from your Hand, Deck or GY to your side of the field in face-up Attack Position. You can only control 1 "Wind Totem of Night - Tezcatli".

 

Allows you to do something with the advantage you gain, and also allows you to bring those monsters back to the field to go into Ehecatl.

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Wind Totem of the North - Mictlan (V2)

Wind

Winged Beast Effect Monster

Level 4

1800 ATK

0000 DEF

 

Once per turn: You can return 1 "Wind Totem" monster you control to the hand, then target 1 monster your opponent controls; return that target to the hand. If your opponent would activate a Spell Card (Quick Effect): You can return 1 "Wind Totem" Monster you control to your hand, then discard this card; negate that Spell Card, and if you do, destroy it. You can only use this effect of "Wind Totem of the North - Mictlan" once per turn.

 

Mictlan is the deck's spot removal card, it helps to remove problematic monsters from the field. It's not usable all the time however, as it does target the opponent's monster, and you require resources to use the effect. The in-hand effect is quite simple, although powerful. It does however also require resources to activate.

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Wind Totem of the West - Cihua (V2)

Wind

Winged Beast Effect Monster

Level 4

1600 ATK

1400 DEF

 

Once per turn: You can return 1 "Wind Totem" Monster you control to the hand, then add 1 "Wind Totem" Monster from your Deck or GY to your hand. If your opponent would activate a Monster effect (Quick Effect): You can return 1 "Wind Ritual" Spell/Trap you control to your hand, then discard this card; negate that Monster's effect and destroy it. You can only use this effect of "Wind Totem of the West - Cihua" once per turn.

 

Cihua is the ROTA of the deck. It also adds back from the GY, so you can reuse effects. It also provides protection against Monster effects whilst in the hand.

It has the same kind of restrictions as the other main deck "Wind Totem"s.

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Wind Totem of the East - Tlalo (V2)

Wind

Winged Beast Effect Monster

Level 4

1400 ATK

1600 DEF

 

Once per turn: You can return 1 "Wind Totem" Monster you control to the hand, then add 1 "Wind Ritual" Spell/Trap card from your Deck or GY to your hand. If your opponent would Special Summon a monster(s) (Quick Effect): You can return 1 "Wind Ritual" Spell/Trap you control to your hand, then discard this card; negate that Summon and destroy the monster(s). You can only use this effect of "Wind Totem of the East - Tlalo" once per turn.

 

Tlalo is a ROTA for spells and traps that parallels Cihua in the way it functions. It also functions as a semi-solemn warning while in the hand.

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Wind Totem of the South - Vitztlam (V2)

Wind

Winged Beast Effect Monster

Level 4

0000 ATK

1800 DEF

 

Once per turn: You can return 1 "Wind Totem" Monster you control to the hand, then target 1 Spell/Trap card your opponent controls, return that target to the hand. If your opponent would activate a Trap card (Quick Effect): You can return 1 "Wind Totem" Monster you control to your hand, then discard this card; negate that Trap card's effect and destroy it. You can only use this effect of "Wind Totem of the South - Vitztlam" once per turn.

 

Vitztlam mirrors Mictlan. It returns Spell/Traps instead of monsters and negates traps instead of spells.

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Wind Totem of Four Winds - Quetza

Wind

Winged Beast Xyz Monster

Rank 4

3 "Wind Totem" Monsters

2000 ATK

1000 DEF

 

If a "Wind Totem" or "Wind Ritual" card you control would be returned to the hand by a card effect, you can target an appropriate target in your GY; return that target to the hand instead.

You can detach 1 Xyz Material from this card; then Special Summon 1 "Wind Totem" Monster from your Deck or GY. You can only activate each effect of "Wind Totem of Four Winds - Quetza" once per turn.

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Shaman of Wind Totem (V2)

Wind

Winged Beast Effect Monster

Level 4

1200 ATK

1200 DEF

 

If you control a "Wind Totem" Monster with a different name, you can Special Summon this card from your hand. If this card is returned to your hand by a card effect, you can Special Summon 1 "Wind Totem" Monster that has a level from your Deck in Attack Position. Whilst this card is in you hand, if a "Wind Totem"or "Wind Ritual" Card would be returned to the hand for the effect of a "Wind Totem" or "Wind Ritual Card, you can send this card from the hand to the GY instead. You can only activate each effect of "Shaman of Wind Totem" once per turn.

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That's it for the monsters, now for the spells/traps. They are all continuous, and like the monsters, have an on-field effect and a discard effect.

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Wind Ritual of Northern Skies (V2)

Continuous Spell Card

 

If a "Wind Totem" Monster is Summoned to your side of the field, you can return this card to the hand; then Special Summon 1 "Wind Totem" Monster from your Deck.

While this card is in your hand, if a "Wind Totem" Monster is targeted for an attack or card effect, you can discard this card; negate that attack or effect, then return 1 "Wind Ritual" card from your side of the field to the hand, Special Summon 1 "Wind Totem" Monster that has a level from your GY in Attack Position. You can only activate each effect of "Wind Ritual of Northern Skies" once per turn.

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Wind Ritual of Southern Skies (V2)

Continuous Spell Card

 

If a "Wind Totem" Monster is Summoned to your side of the field, you can return this card to the hand; then Special Summon 1 "Wind Totem" Monster that has a level from your GY.

While this card is in your hand, if a "Wind Totem" Monster is targeted for an attack or card effect, you can discard this card; negate that attack or effect, then return 1 "Wind Ritual" card from your side of the field to the hand, Special Summon 1 "Wind Totem" Monster from your Deck in Defence Position. You can only activate each effect of "Wind Ritual of Southern Skies" once per turn.

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Wind Ritual of Western Skies (V2)

Continuous Trap Card

 

If a "Wind Ritual" or "Wind Totem" card you control returns to the hand, you can return this card on the field to the hand; then Special Summon 1 "Wind Totem" Monster from your Deck. 

While this card is in your hand, if a "Wind Totem" Monster is targeted for an attack or card effect, you can discard this card; negate that attack or effect, then return 1 "Wind Ritual" card from your side of the field to the hand, activate 1 "Wind Ritual" Spell/Trap from your GY. You can only activate each effect of "Wind Ritual of Western Skies" once per turn.

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Wind Ritual of Eastern Skies (V2)

Continuous Trap Card

 

If a "Wind Ritual" or "Wind Totem" card you control returns to the hand, you can return this card on the field to the hand; then Special Summon 1 "Wind Totem" Monster that has a level from your GY. 

While this card is in your hand, if a "Wind Totem" Monster is targeted for an attack or card effect, you can discard this card; negate that attack or effect, then return 1 "Wind Ritual" card from your side of the field to the hand, activate 1 "Wind Ritual" Spell/Trap from your Deck. You can only activate each effect of "Wind Ritual of Western Skies" once per turn.

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Preparation of Wind Ritual 

Continuous Spell Card

 

Once per turn, during the End Phase, you can return this card to the hand, then add "Wind Totem" or "Wind Ritual" cards from your Deck or GY to your hand, up to the number of "Wind Totem" or "Wind Ritual" cards returned to the hand this turn. (Max. 3) Whilst this card is in your hand, you can target 1 "Wind Totem" Monster you control, discard this card, then Special Summon 1 "Wind Totem" Monster, with a different name to the selected target, from your Deck in face-up defence position. This effect can only be activated once per turn.

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Sacrifice of Wind Ritual

Continuous Trap Card

 

Once per turn, during the End phase, you can destroy this card, then return cards your opponent controls from the field to the hand, up to the number of "Wind Totem" or "Wind Ritual" cards destroyed this turn. (Max. 3) Whilst this card is in your hand, you can target 1 "Wind Totem" Monster you control, discard this card, then Special Summon 1 "Wind Totem" Monster, with a different name to the selected target, from your Deck in face-up defence position. This effect can only be activated once per turn.

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Temple of Wind Ritual

Field Spell Card

 

All "Wind Totem" Monsters on the field gain 300 ATK. If this card is activated: You can add 1 "Wind Totem" Monster or 1 "Wind Ritual" Spell/Trap Card to your hand, except "Temple of Wind Ritual". Once per turn, if a "Wind Totem" Monster or "Wind Ritual" Spell/Trap Card you control is returned to the hand by a card effect (Quick Effect): You can return this card to the hand, Special Summon 1 "Wind Totem" from your Deck or Graveyard. 

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That concludes the cards in the Deck, I think that the idea is good, even if the cards themselves may need some tweaking.

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Strengths of the deck

Good consistency - There are a lot of ways to toolbox the cards you need, and the effects don't have big costs.

Powerful Boss Monster - Has a good, non-targeting, non-destroying effect that can affect up to 3 cards.

Tricksy - The Deck can dodge a lot of targeting effects thanks to the fact they bounce their own cards, allowing you to possibly trick your opponent into wasting resources.

Cycling - The deck has a lot of ways to add cards from the deck to the hand and reuse cards from the GY, meaning it can grind pretty well if you play well.

Good defence - The in-hand effects are very useful for protecting your monsters.

 

Weaknesses of the deck

The effects can feel small - The deck doesn't do a lot of destruction, just returning, and usually only one card at a time. This can make it feel less explosive that other decks until you break out the boss monster.

Weak to banishing - This is intentional. I didn't really want the deck to deal well with banishing, it needed a good weakness. Instead I focused on making the GY and Deck easier for this archetype to abuse.

Cards with high attack - the strongest card in the deck is 3000 ATK, and although this can be got around with the return to hand effects the deck has, if these are negated, or for some reason fail, you are in trouble.

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Let me know what you guys think of the idea. Any constructive criticism would be greatly appreciated. If something seems OP or UP just say and I'll see what I can do. I plan on coding this in LUA to put them into YgoPro or something like that, so I want them to be decent, but not busted.

[Dova]

I appreciate the effort you've put into informing the potential reviewer about your intentions. Nice work! Because your OCG is a little off regarding colons and semicolons, I'll just give you a quick tip thing. 
 
Quick card grammar info! Effects are written like so: "Condition: Cost; effect" Condition is information regarding the timing of the effect (Once per turn, during either player's turn, etc.) or when you can activate it (When your opponent activates a Spell Card). It is always followed by a colon, and the colon is always followed by a capital letter. Cost is a little bit of a misnomer, but I think it runs off the tongue; basically, it indicates all actions performed immediately when the effect activates and before your opponent can respond (discarding a card, targeting a monster). These are actions performed to actually activate the effect, and if you can't do them, the effect can't go through. This is optional, but if you do place it in, it is followed by a semicolon, and you don't have to capitalize the following effect. Effect is just stuff that happens when it resolves: your actual Special Summoning and the like.

Wind Totem of the North - Mictlan
Once per turn, while this card is face-up on the field: You can return 1 "Wind Totem" monster you control to the hand, then target 1 monster your opponent controls; return that target to the hand. During either player's turn, If your opponent would activate a Spell Card (Quick Effect): You can return 1 "Wind Totem" Monster you control to your hand, then discard this card; negate that Spell Card, and if you do, destroy it. You can only use this effect of "Wind Totem of the North - Mictlan" once per turn.

Effects, unless otherwise specified, only apply while the monster is face-up on the field. Monster is only capitalized when referred to by subtype (Fusion, Xyz), actual type (Reptile, Beast) or Attribute. Because targeting is part of the cost, I separated it and your own self-bouncing from your opponent's bouncing. Spell/Trap Card is capitalized. Adding "and if you do" to the destruction to fit in with the standard negation, but if you really don't want it included, you can remove it. (Quick Effect) is the new OCG replacing "During either player's turn", and always goes just before the colon in the Condition portion. You can take these fixes for all the Main Deck monsters.

 
Also, if you don't include any colons of any sort, and no HOPT, your effect won't activate, simply apply. See Armades for an example of this. It's much harder to negate. Hopefully this was helpful! If you don't understand anything, there's a useful, if slightly outdated, guide in the main Advanced Card section.

 

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The first thing that strikes me about this archetype is its speed, or lack thereof. You mention this in your "weaknesses" portion, but I believe it's a lot worse than you think. All of your cards require some form of returning to the hand in order to be viable, save for Preparation and Sacrifice. In fact, outside of those two cards, you barely have any means to get out more than 1 monster. While you have Northen Skies which is viable with any face-up Wind Ritual and can SS any of the archetype from your Deck, it has a heavy cost, losing you a card from your hand, relying on a card on the field, then if said card is a Trap, forcing you to set and reactivate. Not only that, but its only active when you lose a Wind Totem, and to destruction no less. I would suggest reworking the entire theme of the the S/T support; you have enough removal in the monsters' effects; try and actually have the Wind Ritual cards speed up the archetype.

 

Northen Skies first effect, for example, is not helpful at all. Yes, you could tag-in Preparation and Sacrifice in the hand, but despite their useful searching, YOU WANT THEM IN THE HAND BECAUSE YOU HAVE NO ALTERNATIVE. Other than that, there's barely any reason to just swap spells. As for the Traps, they do handle the speed in regards to the swarming just a little, BUT they do not handle keeping up field presence with Wind Rituals. Another major problem springing up is lacking speed in regards to the Wind Rituals as well, as they return themselves to the hand...but don't replace themselves. You're losing major field advantage, and on the off-chance you do eventually bring out your boss, having used up all your cards on your side of the field to do so, you won't be able to support him.

 

How to fix this? Well, take more liberties with the effect. Chuck in some swarming, remove effects which just return to the hand for the theming of the archetype; you have enough of that already. Try not to make too many cards that do the same thing; have each different card fit 1 or more different utilities in the archetype. The monsters are samey enough, and while I can't fault you for that, I would suggest planning interesting combos to do with the cards; have more placing from the Deck onto the field, be it SSing or just into the S/T Zone, with the actual returning to the hand effects. But what about potential abusing? Add limits to the extra fast swarming for the S/T and monsters that force you to either only active Wind Rituals, or Summon WIND monsters or Wind Totem monsters.

 

It's not just strength; try be interesting too. Go wild with bouncing and spamming from the hand; make the hand another part of the field for the skilled player. Judging from the grasp on OCG and mechanics already, I don't think you really need many other tips. Just an overhaul, but be sure never to lose sight of your original idea. If you have to change it, do so, but don't force it to be balanced in a way that's not fun for you.

 

I hope to come back with a more positive review when/if you update these!

[TekFish]

Changed effects are marked (V_)

Number denotes version of the card.

 

Changes for version 2.

Main deck monsters updated card text for OCG wording (thanks Dova)

 

Wind Ritual of _______ Skies cards have been upgraded to be more useful. They now focus on swarming the field with "Wind Totem" monsters, so that you can activate their bounce effects easier and have more monsters on the field to perform Link Summons.

 

I have also added an Xyz Monster, so they can access an archetype specific monster easier.

Edit 2: Added an archetype specific Field Spell and another monster.

[TekFish]

Bump.

[TekFish]

Bump.

[Dova]

Sorry for taking so long to get back to this! Congrats on your OCG by the by.

 

Firstly, reading through your Wind Rituals, you really have buffed the Continuous Spells. Their HOPT limited yet extremely useful Summoning effects were exactly what this archetype needed. Your MD monsters now work much better in tandem with them, as you have a lot more freedom as to when you can activate cards, and how many monsters you can get on the field at any one point. 

 

Not much to say with potential interactions, considering how archetypal most of the cards are. It's not exactly a bad thing, but it mostly limits the archetype to its own plays, and means that, although it won't have terrible potential combos with little known cards...outside of new support, and archetype like this is going to stay at the same strength.

 

Nothing bad to say in regards to Quetza: It's a cute little addition to the archetype, which is relatively easy to make. Just another suggestion regarding your Link monster: Make it require 3+ or similar requirements, as limiting it to 4 monsters means that you can't make a smaller Link monster later to add to the archetype.

[TekFish]

I would lower Ehecatl's requirements, but the thing is, thematically, it makes no sense. You see, the four main deck monsters (Shaman not included) are based on the Aztec gods of the North, East, West and South winds. In Aztec mythology, Ehecatl is the god of the winds of ALL FOUR cardinal directions. Hence, why he requires 4 monsters. I will add 1 more Link 3 monster though. Thank you for the suggestion.

 

Shaman modified to give HOPT (oops. :P)

Tezcatli added as a Link 3

[TekFish]

Bump.

[TekFish]

Bump.