Dark Magical Circle was my 23rd ranked card of 2016, so I didn’t see it as quite as impactful as my peers. Don’t get me wrong. I love me some Black Magician. I own both Bandai promos, the original Gameboy promo, and 4 copies of the Volume 1 ultra. He’s my boy. But Dark Magician’s new support didn’t launch him into the realm that Blue-Eyes White Dragon reached. While he’s impactful and even dangerous now, Dark Magician decks weren’t competitive at the highest levels. And even if he was, the co-MVP would be Eternal Soul, my 22nd ranked card.
 
I do agree, however, that there’s nothing wrong with putting Circle at #10, even if there were some far better cards released. Outside of maybe Cyber Dragon Infinity, I would argue there wasn’t a sexier card than Dark Magical Circle in 2016. Super pretty as a secret rare, it did crazy shenanigans, could crush any opponent in the right circumstances, and let’s be honest, it finally brought relevance to the Dark Magician we all wished for at some point or another. And while Dark Magicians aren’t tournament relevant at the moment, is there any other archetype besides Blue-Eyes that is practically guaranteed new periodic support over the lifetime of this game? If you have doubts, go check out the artwork for the card “Passionate Duelists” just announced for release in Japan in the OCG 20th Anniversary Pack Wave 1. Dark Magical Circle is a great card for an archetype with a bright future.
 
Advanced: 4.5/5
Future Potential: 5/5

i don't know if dark magician decks were ever able to succeed in any tournaments with good players in it.  until relatively recent support, dark magician decks were mostly just spellcaster decks with dark magician splashed in or it used normal monster support.  and in that case, you may as well have used Cosmo Queen (the 2900 atk lv8 promo from mcdonalds which required you to order enough burgers to get a stroke in order to pull).

okay, it had dark magic attack.  but the deck still lacked monster removal and speed.  but dark magical circle was the start of something good.  the deck both got a reliable searcher, as well as a very good removal option, killing two birds with one stone.  thousand knives wasn't doing much.  banishing instead of destroying is always preferable but is better even now in the pendulum era.  this card helps make dark magician good enough to win at a good locals tourney.

4/5

Hello Pojo Fans,
 
Dark Magical Circle starts off our end of the year list of top cards for this year.
 
This Spell Card was a long time coming for many fans and players that would've liked to have run a competitive deck based around the Dark Magician. Searchable with support offered in The Dark Illusion set, DMC will give you a card with “Dark Magician” somewhere in its name or text, and allow you to rearrange in any order the other 2 of 3 cards you flipped off the top of your deck. This can combo with other cards like Allure of Darkness. Whenever a DM is Normal or Special Summoned you get the option to banish a card on the field. With the widening range of ways to Special Summon Dark Magician, as well as a counterpart: Dark Magician of Illusions, DMC could be banishing a card during your opponents turn as well as your turn.
 
Dark Magical Circle was one of the cards the Dark Magician archetype needed to legitimize itself (the other being Eternal Soul). With it at 3, the player will have searching ability, deck control, and banishing potential on either players turn.
 
Advanced-4/5
Art-4/5
 
Until Next Time

Dark Magical Circle...#10 on our list of best cards of 2016!  This card is fun, and spells advantage and maybe lots, if you play this right.  Being Continuous is troublesome, but also helps the payoff, just be quick about it.  When you activate this card, you look at the top three cards of your Deck.  If you Draw a Dark Magician, or Magic/Trap card specifically with his name, you can reveal one of those cards, and add it to your Hand.  The cards are then returned to your Deck in the order you so choose.  If Dark Magician is Normal or Special Summoned to your Field (continuing to ignore during the Damage Step) you can target and remove one of your opponent's cards from play.  Each effect can only be used once per turn.  I mean, in short, if you're successful in removing a card before this gets destroyed, this is a 1-for-1.  This card lost for you, and whatever you remove of your opponents.  If you gain a card to your Hand via the first effect (the prior sentence assumes you didn't), AND remove a card before this gets destroyed, you +1.  If you gain nothing via the first effect, and lose this before you remove a card, it's a -1.  That, statistically, makes this card average.  Much like yesterday, fitting the good enough to not be bad category, but not game breaking.
 
Rating:  3.35/5 
Art:  5/5

Dark Magical Circle is the beginning of a glorious list for the Top Ten 2016 Cards. It scored a 4.5 from me and a 4.1 on average. While the deck hasn't reached its full potential, the card will forever have a spot in that deck. The only downside to this card is being a Continuous Spell making it vulnerable to MST effects. Otherwise you get to look at 3 cards and probably pull a Spell or Trap to your hand. If it survives, it banishes problematic cards on the field when Dark Magician is summoned during either player's turn. The ability to generate such advantage in this deck makes other decks envious of number 10, Dark Magical Circle. 
 
Score: 4.5/5 Still absolutely necessary 
Art: 1/5 Not Dark enough
 
-WarlockBlitz

Another year has come and gone. Due to my own personal experiences, I like most of the internet is ready for 2016 to end. But before it does, we have to count down the Top 10 New Cards of the Year!

This list was possibly the hardest one I’ve ever had to make; this year started off really strong with Breakers of Shadow (giving us arguably the strongest Deck in the history of the game), and it didn’t let up much from there. There were many cards I wanted to put on the list but couldn’t solely due to space.

Like I have done the previous two years, I will mention a card’s placement on my own personal list; this time around a grand total of seven of the cards I voted for made it onto the list, and all in relative positions to where I ranked them. So this will be exciting, as my opinions were very close to the general consensus.

With that being said, the #10 is a card I am actually quite confused as to how it made it: Dark Magical Circle!

Position on my list: N/A

I don’t know how this made the list; I never even considered it for a spot, but I guess enough other people did. Dark Magical Circle isn’t bad by any means, and if it was part of any other archetype, it would probably be insanely good.

But that’s the problem; Dark Magical Circle is part of the Dark Magician archetype. And sorry to say to all the DM fanboys, but Dark Magician is not a good archetype. It’s got some neat plays and can overwhelm the opponent when it draws right, but it’s not nearly consistent enough to do it regularly. This is Kaiba’s year after all, what with Blue-Eyes and ABC both being meta contenders compared to Dark Magician and Magnet Warriors.

The card is amazing as a disruptor when combined with Eternal Soul, but Dark Magician itself just isn’t great. Otherwise this card would be much better. It’s not terrible, but I think there are far more deserving cards for a Top 10 spot.

Rating: 3/5