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ShineSoldier on YuGiOh
Deck Analysis:
The Dark Paladin Deck
April 14, 2006 

A while ago, I received an e-mail of someone who wanted me to construct a Spellcaster Deck that was focussed around Dark Paladin. The idea sounded like a lot of fun, so I decided to write an article about it.

Dark Paladin

Dark / Spellcaster

Fusion / Effect

8*

‘Dark Magician’ + ‘Buster Blader’

“This monster can only be Special Summoned by a Fusion Summon. While this card is face-up on the Field, you can discard 1 card from your hand to negate the effect and the activation of a Spell Card and destroy it. Increase the ATK of this card by 500 for each Dragon-Type Monster on both sides of the field and in either player’s Graveyard.”

Dark Paladin is in my opinion the best Fusion Monster in the entire game. Only Thousand-Eyes Restrict, King Dragun and Gatling Dragon come close to this card’s potentials and powers. It has an excellent 2900 ATK, which is enough to take down anything that’s played nowadays. All the Monarches, Cyber Dragon and Chaos Sorcerer all fall prey to this wonderful monster. Then there is its effect. At the cost of one card from your hand, he can negate any Spell Card. Now that’s great. Cards like Smashing Ground, Brain Control, Snatch Steal and Premature Burial are all possible threats to this card, but thanks to its effect it can protect itself. His second effect increases its ATK by 500 points for each Dragon-Type Monster on the field and in either player’s Graveyard. So, to get the most out of this card, you want to have some Dragons in your Graveyard or on your field. Well, that’s what we’re going to do then.

A Dark Paladin Deck needs ways that can search out the necessary Fusion Material fast to take control of the game very quickly. In order to do that, cards like Emblem of Dragon Destroyer, Skilled Dark Magician and Skilled White Magician are absolutely necessary. When getting out Dark Paladin in the early game, your opponent will have a huge problem dealing with it. Since 14 out of the 40 cards in your opponent’s deck will be Spells, this card shuts down a fairly big part of the deck. At least, when you’ve got enough cards in your hand to do so. And that brings us to one of the problems of this deck: Hand Management.

Having to discard a card to negate a Spell Card is good, but when doing that each and every time, your hand might burn down quickly. And above that, the summoning of Dark Paladin requires three cards already, which means that your amount of recources left won’t be very high after the summoning of this card.

In order to keep your hand size fairly high, we’ll have to add cards that provide the Deck some draw power. Cards like Morphing Jar and Magical Merchant can do this. Magician of Faith forms a great addition to this deck as well. With the sub-theme of Spellcasters, Apprentice Magician will be in as well and he can search out Magician of Faith. And Apprentice Magician does a lot more than searching out Magician of Faith. Besides that, he provides some serious speed to the deck. Not only can it thin your deck by searching out Spellcasters, but it can also speed up the Spell Counter process that is needed to get off the effects of the two Skilled Magicians.

Then the next question pops up: Should we use Polymerization or Fusion Gate for the Fusion Summon of Dark Paladin. Both have pros and cons when compared to each other, but in order to make the right decision, you will have to look a bit deeper. When you think about it, the ATK of Dark Paladin, Dark Magician and Buster Blader combined can do up to exactly 8000 damage. 2900+2500=5400; 5400+2600=8000.

Now why am I saying this? Because it makes our choice a bit easier. Thanks to Return from the Different Dimension, you can swarm the field massively for one turn, but only if you’ve got the right monsters removed from play. And that’s what Fusion Gate does: Removing the Dark Magician and Buster Blader from play.

So with the cards I mentioned above, we can give this deck a lot of speed, as well as a winning strategy. Altough it’s pretty hard to get this winning strategy to work, it’s pretty much sure that you’ll win the duel when you do get it out. Before we continue, let’s build a sample monster line-up:

Monsters: 19x

Jinzo

Dark Magician

Dark Magician

Buster Blader

Buster Blader

Skilled Dark Magician

Skilled White Magician

Apprentice Magician

Apprentice Magician

Old Vindictive Magician

Magician of Faith

Magician of Faith

Morphing Jar

Night Assailant

Tsukuyomi

Magical Merchant.

Breaker the Magical Warrior

Treeborn Frog

Sangan

Fusions: 6x

Dark Paladin

Dark Paladin

Dark Paladin

Twin Headed Thunder Dragon

Twin Headed Thunder Dragon

Twin Headed Thunder Dragon

As you can see, the deck runs 5 Tribute Monsters. Now I know that it’s a lot, but the two copies of both Dark Magician and Buster Blader are absolutely necessary in order to summon Dark Paladin. Jinzo is godly in this deck. When you’re able to get both him as well as Dark Paladin out at the same time, you will have a nice lock that’s pretty hard to break through. Skilled Dark and White Magician are in, as said earlier, to bring out the two main cards of this deck faster. They’re both in this deck once only, since this deck doesn’t focus on bringing out Dark Magician or Buster Blader, just getting them to use them to summon Dark Paladin. Apprentice Magician has already been discussed: Speed and Deck Thinning are great in this deck and he provides it all. The copy of Old Vindictive Magician is to increase the utility of Apprentice Magician so that it has a higher amount of monsters to look for. But besides that, it clears the field from threats so that your Dark Paladin can get off a direct attack very easily when he´s brought out. Night Assailant is a card I accidentaly ran in to. When he´s discarded by let´s say Dark Paladin´s effect, you can return a Flip-Effect Monster from your Graveyard to your hand. That means that you could negate a Spell Card for free, actually. And thanks to this deck’s high amount of Flip-Effects, there will be one in the Graveyard most of the time. You could even get back Morphing Jar for some insane advantages. Tsukuyomi is a great card here. It works so damn good with all the Flip-Effect Monsters in this deck, but it also flips down Apprentice Magician to give Breaker an infinite amount of counters to use. And while we’re talking about Breaker anyway: He’s in this deck as well. He’s a Spellcaster and a staple. He’s a solid beaststick or a 1600-attacker that has provided you with a 1-for-0 advantage! Just wonderful. Treeborn Frog is another card I didn’t notice until a few minutes ago. With so many Tribute Monsters, you will have to have a decent Field Presence to defend yourself when your hand is full of Tributes. It provides some Tribute Bait as well, but it isn’t such a good idea to bring out your Dark Magician and Buster Blader other than by using Return from the Different Dimension. And finally, Sangan. It thins the deck, let’s you search for a monster...no real reason not to run him.

The Spells are next. They form the heart of this deck. We’ll need to think hard about how many times we’re going to include Fusion Gate and such. Let’s start!

Spells: 16x

Fusion Gate

Fusion Gate

Terraforming

Emblem of Dragon Destroyer

Heavy Storm

Mystical Space Typhoon

Snatch Steal

Premature Burial

Scapegoat

Messenger of Peace

Messenger of Peace

Graceful Charity

Nobleman of Crossout

Giant Trunade

Smashing Ground

Book of Moon

This is what I got after playtesting the deck a bit.

Fusion Gate is in twice, simply because it is a card that is absolutely necessary in this deck. Without it, the deck just doesn’t work. Terraforming provides some decent Deck Thinning, as well as another option of getting Fusion Gate. Then there are the two main Spell Cards that provide S/T Removal: Heavy Storm and Mystical Space Typhoon. They work excellent in almost every deck and especially in this one. It cleans the field from S/T threats so that your Dark Paladin can attack without having to worry about Sakuretsu’s and Mirror Force. The Snatch Steal and Premature Burial are both staples as well. They help this deck with gaining field presence and decreasing your opponent’s at the same time. Scapegoat is to take care of some much-needed defense, as is Messenger of Peace. Because the fair amount of tributes in this deck, you might suffer bad hands. That leads to situations in which you are unable to defend yourself with monsters. Cards like these two are just wonderful topdecks at those moments. Graceful Charity is stapled as well. Drawing three cards is just insane, and with the ability to discard one of the many tributes and revive them afterwards – the old trick – you could bring out some huge monsters all of the sudden. Nobleman of Crossout and  Smashing Ground are also for gaining field presence. When you’ve got both Dark Paladin and Jinzo out, only monsters could mean a threat to you. These two cards take care of them, face-down and face-up. Then there is Giant Trunade. It helps, just like Heavy Storm, to clear the field of all S/T cards to set up for your final assault or just as a basic defense. Finally, Book of Moon. With all of the Flip-Effect Monsters in this deck, Book of Moon defenitely deserves its spot here. Flipping down a Magician of Faith while there is a Graceful Charity in your Graveyard is just wonderful!

Last are the Traps. I’ll explain all of my choices after I’ve listed the Trap Cards that passed the playtests.

Traps: 7x

Return from the Different Dimension

Call of the Haunted

Torrential Tribute

Sakuretsu Armor

Royal Decree

Royal Decree

Mirror Force

With the inclusion of these 7 Trap Cards, we’ll be at a total of 42 cards. Let’s start with all of the explanations now.

Return from the Different Dimension is just one of the ways that could win you a duel. It is not this deck’s main strategy, just one of them. That’s why I only included one of them. Using more than one will lead to bad hands, and this deck can’t afford that. Call of the Haunted and Torrential Tribute are both stapled. Call could bring back discarded tribute monsters or a Magician of Faith while you’re holding Tsukuyomi or Book of Moon. Torrential Tribute can clear the field very easily, especially because the summoning of Dark Paladin is a Special Summon. That means that you could summon a Magical Merchant or something and chain with Torrential Tribute. All monster will then be destroyed and then you summon Dark Paladin to attack in an open field. Sakuretsu Armor and Mirror Force are for more defense when you’re left with an open field. They also provide solid Field Control. And finally, the two copies of Royal Decree. They are in to get out the lockdown combination that this deck could make faster. Instead of a Jinzo, you can also have this and Dark Paladin out to lock your opponent down.

Strenghts of the Dark Paladin Deck

A Dark Paladin Deck has a lot of ways to speed up its deck. That’s because that’s absolutely necessary in order to get out Dark Paladin. Because of the many cards that provide the deck with Deck Thinning, you won’t have a big problem with getting out the Dark Paladin. Then the true power of this deck is unleashed. As soon as Dark Paladin hits the field, you should win the duel. Just make sure that you’ve taken everything into account so that your opponent won’t finish your Dark Paladin off with a single Sakuretsu Armor. The strenghts of this deck lies in the fact that it can overextend without having to worry about threats. Jinzo and Dark Paladin are taking care of those threats, so that your monsters won’t be destroyed by annoying Traps.

Weaknesses of the Dark Paladin Deck

Like all decks in existence, this deck has its own weaknesses. Ironically enough, they are caused by its strenghts most of the time. The biggest downside of this deck is that it might have some trouble dealing with Hand Control. Bringing out Dark Paladin will cost you three recources right away. Because of this, the effect of Dark Paladin will sometimes be useless, since you don’t have any cards in your hand. That’s why you have to make sure your hand size is big enough to afford the loss of three cards. Thanks to this deck’s safe overextentioning ability, you might want to swarm the field with all sorts of monsters from your hand all at the same time to take out your opponent as quick as possible. In this deck, that’s not a good idea, unless you’re absolutely sure you’re going to win then. If Dark Paladin is out, you have to keep your hand size around 3 cards. If you’re only holding 1 card, then a double Smashing Ground could still take out your Dark Paladin.

Tips when playing with the Dark Paladin Deck

When you’re dueling with this type of deck, make sure that you think about every move you make. Carefully plan which recources you’re going to use on which threats, because that’s very important here. A bad-timed Smashing Ground could lead to situations in which a beaststick is beating you down, or even worse: a Spirit Reaper or Don Zaloog. Try to keep cards like that in your hand. Try to use them only at moments in which they are absolutely necessary. If you’re playing that way, your hand will be at a fair amount of cards during the entire duel, so that your Dark Paladin has enough cards to ‘feed’ its effect. Also, when you’re planning on summoning the Dark Paladin, make sure it’s safe. Don’t do it when your opponent hasn’t used his Mirror Force and he has a face-down card on his/her field. The best thing to do is to wait with his summoning until you have gathered enough cards to clear the field in one turn (Torrential Tribute + Heavy Storm/Giant Trunade) and begin your strike then. Cards like Messenger of Peace and Scapegoat will help defending your Life Points so that you’ll have enough time to get the main cards of this deck.

Ideas for the Side Deck of the Dark Paladin Deck

The Side Deck is something that is very important when you’re playing a Dark Paladin Deck. As soon as duel 1 is over and you won it, your opponent will know your strategy.He’ll probably side-in a copy of Reinforcement of the Army and Exiled Force, probably Mystic Swordsman LV2 or Sasuke Samurai as well, to counter your main strategy. This is when Solemn Judgment and My Body As a Shield become of great importancy. They can stop Exiled Force, even when Dark Paladin is out. Another great side deck choice is Thunder Dragon. If you do so, make sure you pack 3 of them in your Side Deck. They help thinning the deck even more and with Fusion Gate, you could also fuse them to bring out Twin Headed Thunder Dragon. If you combine that with Return from the Different Dimension, you’ll be able to deal up to 7000 damage in one single turn! Confiscation is also one of the best side-deck options nowadays. It helps to counter several decktypes, and because you get to SEE the hand of your opponent, Dark World becomes a bit less dangerous. Another great side-deck choice would be Wave Motion Cannon. When you’ve got out your lock (Dark Paladin + Royal Decree/Jinzo), your opponent will most likely only have Breaker and Mobius left to destroy your S/T Cards. That makes Wave Motion Cannon an excellent choice for this deck. Then, Spirit Reaper. It does such a good job at defending yourself when you’re in tough situations and together with Dark Paladin and a clear field, your opponent will have a very hard time taking him out, as you keep discarding cards from their hands. That gives you back some Hand Advantage. You could even consider to put this card in the main deck for that matter!

Of course, these are just suggestions. The final Side Deck is something you’ll have to build yourself.

Well, that does it for this article. I hope you liked it.

Feel free to mail me all of your ideas, comments decks and deck ideas to ShineSoldier@gmail.com. If you want to ask or say anything else, you can always mail me at that address as well. Your mail will be answered.

‘Til next time,

~ShineSoldier~