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Dreamer Monsters


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Ladies and Gentlemen, I give you Dreamer Monsters! This is a bit of a bizarre and complicated monster card type, but I'm trying to find ways of balancing it. There's actually three deviation forms of Dreamer Monsters (not counting Pendulums/similar card types): First, the vanilla Dreamer Monster itself (which can be Normal or Effect). Next, a special subtype of Dreamer Monsters called Daydreamers (they're still Dreamer Monsters, but not a separate type or anything; think of them like Synchro Tuners...sorta), which (under special conditions) can be treated as an Effect Monster while on the field. Finally, there's Nightmare Monsters, which are basically like Dreamer Monsters' version of Dark Synchros.


 


The Dreamer mechanic is a little hard to work with, admittedly, but I'm confident that, with a little bit of polish, it can be made into an amazing way to turn the tide in your favor; please keep in mind, these are ABSOLUTELY NOT coordinated for Link Support (in fact, several archetypes within Dreamer decks have been built with the intent of punishing players from relying exclusively on Link Summoning). So, here's the summary for playing Dreamer Monsters (and, to a lesser extent, Nightmare Monsters which can be seen as their literal opposites): 


 


Basics (some of these might be reserved for a special permanent Field Spell that enables these effects, like 'Speed World'): 


-Dreamer Monster cards are pink (or rather magenta) and covered in stars randomly scattered across the card; they are played in the Main Deck (though I've thought of changing this to Side Deck instead, but I've played YGO since the very start and played with Synchro, Xyz, and even Pendulum formats in duel simulators like YGOPro and Legacy of the Duelist, and I STILL don't know what the Side Deck is even for or when--if ever--it's even used in-game).


-Dreamers come with a new Attribute, DREAM, and a new Monster Type: Cosmic.


-Like Xyz Monsters, Dreamers have their own form of Levels in the form of Nebula; like Ranks and Pendulum Scales, a Dreamer Monsters' Nebulas can range anywhere between 0 and 13.


-When a Daydreamer is summoned to the field (assuming the proper conditions have been met to treat it as an Effect Monster), its Level is equal to its Nebula with Nebula 0 Monsters treated as Level 1.


-To perform a Dream Summon, you must send the appropriate cards (which are referred to as Sleep Materials) to the Graveyard. Most Dreamer Monsters will require you to "Erase" (read: banish from GY) to activate effects.


-Both players can only control 3 Dreamer Monsters each (however, cards like 'Dreamer Utopia' or Daydreamers can circumvent this limit).


-If you do not control at least 1 non-Dreamer Monster on your side of the field, none of your Dreamer Monsters can attack, hence the need for the Daydreamer cards.


-Dreamer Monsters can be played in the Spell/Trap Zone as well as the Main Monster Zone, and cannot attack/be attacked if there's a monster in front of them. However, during your Main Phase 2, you can move 1 Dreamer Monster from the Spell/Trap Zone to the Monster Zone (and vice versa) but you cannot change its battle position until your next turn. Daydreamers cannot be removed from the Main Monster Zone. 


-When destroyed, Dreamer Monsters go to the bottom of your Deck instead of the Graveyard (unless banished by card effects, including their own; Pendulum-Dreamers still go to the Extra Deck when destroyed. Therefore, you cannot resurrect them from the Graveyard. (See Side Deck point, but I feel like that's too similar to Pendulum Monsters; I could just have them banished instead of going to the GY though).


-Dreamer Monsters all have uneven stats: instead of counting by 100's, Dreamers' ATK/DEF start at 0 and go up by 10's. The biggest difference being that their ATK nor DEF can ever end in '00' (100, 1000, 1500, 2000, and so on).


-Nightmare Monsters are very similar to Dreamers with the card frame covered in stars, but their card frame is indigo instead, and what separates them from any other Monster cards is that they're printed upside down (Type and ATK/DEF on the top, Name/Level on the bottom).


-Nightmare Monsters follow almost the exact same rules as Dreamer Monsters except for these differences: they can be summoned to the Extra Monster Zone instead of the Spell/Trap Zone, they lack an equivalent to the Daydreamer monsters, can have ATK/DEF that ends in '00' (though the 'Boogeymonster' archetype has nothing BUT Monsters with an ATK and/or DEF of 00), they can NEVER be LIGHT-Attribute, and--while they retain the same 3 per field rule--this rule counts ONLY towards them meaning you can have up to 3 Dreamer and 3 Nightmare Monsters EACH. Lastly, instead of going to the bottom of Deck they're banished.


 


Strengths: 


-Can be played in the Spell/Trap Zone as a backup Monster Zone (similar to the Seal of Orichalcos, with the same rules of cannot attack/be attacked if a monster is in front of them).


-Dreamer Monsters in the Spell/Trap Zone can be moved to the Main Monster Zone if there's nothing in front of them.


-Sleep Materials are sent to the Graveyard, and some Monsters' effects will actually allow their Sleep Materials to be re-summoned to the field or even shuffled back into the Deck.


-Daydreamer Monsters, which are Dreamer Monsters that are treated as Effect Monsters with a Level equal to their Nebula (Nebula 0 Dreamers are just treated as Level 1), are able to circumvent the 3 Dreamer Monsters per field rule (though they're returned to your hand if this effect is negated). What's even better is, because their Nebula becomes a Level, it means that Dreamer Monsters can be used for Synchro and Xyz Summons.


-Because Dreamers' Sleep Material traditionally refers only to Type and/or Attribute, this means--provided you have the resources on your field--you can chain multiple Dream Summons to swarm the field or get out your powerful boss monsters.


 


Weaknesses:


-This ability ends up limiting Spell/Trap Zone usage, and leaves backrow monsters susceptible to the same weaknesses as Trap Cards and can even have their effects negated by cards like 'Jinzo', which can be crippling to Daydreamers.


-This can only be done with one Dreamer Monster per turn, during your Main Phase 2 only.


-Most Sleep Materials are "Erased" (read: banished from GY) to activate effects, similar to Overlay Units on Xyz Monsters but with a greater cost.


-Sleep Materials are usually Attribute and/or Type Specific, depending on the card.


-Dreamer's unique method of recycling is only useful to Decks that have a lot of cards that involve shuffling your Deck. Otherwise, it's rendered useless.


-WIthout specific cards or Daydreamer Monsters, both players can only have 3 Dreamer Monsters on their field at a time, and are virtually worthless unless your Deck is filled with nothing but Daydreamers or mixed in with non-Dreamers; Nightmare Monsters have the same 3 per field rule, but they're not counted as Dreamers and lack a counterpart to Daydreamers.


-As stated above, Nightmare Monsters aren't considered Dreamers and therefore cannot trigger a Daydreamer Monsters effect when in play.


-Because Nightmare Monsters are printed upside down, there's no Pendulum-Nightmare Monsters. Furthermore, Nightmare Monsters can never be LIGHT monsters.


 


https://sta.sh/01nzwq3fyacn (I'm going to link to a sample of the Dreamer/Pendulum-Dreamer Monster cards, which also includes their new Attribute DREAM and the Nebula power indicator)


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I had the idea of taking some of these abilities (namely placing them in the backrow, using the opponent's monsters for summoning material (though this applies to a very rare, very small number of Dreamers), or having them sent to the bottom of the Deck instead of being banished when destroyed, for example) and having them placed into a Permanent Field Spell (y'know, a card like Speed World that's always active in certain types of duels and can never leave the field or be negated); for now, let's call that as-of-yet unmade card "Carnival of Wishing Stars" (or something). However, I fear that might end up limiting Dreamer Monster in the same way that Toon decks are shackled to "Toon World" and completely useless without it.

 

(EDIT: I've reworked the Dreamer Summoning method; the Sleep Materials are banished from the get-go, and it's only with the special Field Spell that they're sent to the bottom of your deck where without it, they're simply banished like Nightmare Monsters.)

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