Doom-Z Awakening and New Artmage Arrival

 

Moving on to the new Doom-Z archetype (prounuced “doomz”, no idea why they Romanize it like that, other than for the sake of cool)…

 

Given that they have a Power Patron Main Deck and Extra Deck Monster in their ranks, it seems as though they and the Artmagias are going to be in the next round of backstory/lore-based card archetypes, whose lore and interactions we never get here in the US and we have to dig for online.

 

(One complaint my MTG-playing brother has with Yu-Gi-Oh is that there’s no clear backstory to the monsters.  But I hear the next Yu-Gi-Oh anime will be focusing solely on that, so I guess we’ll see.)

 

The Doom-Z archetype is apparently based on clocks and the moons of Jupiter, with each one’s name corresponding to a different moon and going in the order of each one’s discovery by man.  All of the Main Deck monsters are Dragon-Type and Dark Attribute, while all of their Xyz monsters are Machine-Type and Wind Attribute.

 

Now, since I’ve just brought up the Power Patron and the Extra Deck Monster that link them to the Artmagia cards, why don’t we start by introducing them first?

 

Like the Artmagia Power Patron before it, Power Patron Machine Doom-Z is a Level 1 Effect Monster with 300 ATK and 200 DEF.  It has the Wind Attribute and the Machine Type.  If this card is ever destroyed, you get to add any one Doom-Z card from your Deck to your hand.

 

But its special ability is where it really shines.  Once per turn, by selecting another Effect Monster you control (not sure why they added that clause), you automatically get to summon a Doom-Z Xyz Monster or a copy of Jupiter the Power Patron of Destruction from your Extra Deck, attaching that monster to it as an Overlay Unit and equipping it with Power Patron.  And all it costs you is, while Power Patron exists on the field as a monster, locking you out of all Extra Deck summons save for Xyz.

 

And, as to Jupiter the Power Patron of Destruction, he is a Rank 10 Wind Attribute Machine-Type Effect Xyz Monster with 3500 ATK and 2500 DEF.  Its Summoning Materials are 3 Level 10 monsters (without using the effect of Machine Doom-Z).  It also, fortunately, has a third summoning option, wherein you can use a monster you control equipped with 3 or more Equip Spell Cards as the full tribute, plus you get to attach any Overlay Units it might have had onto Jupiter.  It also gets to Equip any number of Equip Spell Cards from your Graveyard onto itself whenever it is successfully Xyz Summoned.  Next up, should it happen to have an Xyz Monster attached to it as an Overlay Unit, then Jupiter’s power will rise by another 3000 points.  And, finally, by using one Overlay Unit, you can not only summon back one Doom-Z monster from your Graveyard, but you then get to destroy any one card on the field.

 

Now that there is a boss monster if ever I saw one!

 

And Jupiter may be the strongest of the Doom-Z Xyz monsters, but it is by no means the only one.

 

Doom-Z Break Diactorus is a Rank 4 Wind Attribute Machine Type Effect Monster with 2400 ATK and 0 DEF (which, may I say, is kind of bananas for a Rank 4).  Its summoning materials are any two Level 4 monsters.  If this card is Special Summoned, you can destroy any one monster on the field at the cost of destroying a Doom-Z monster on your field or in your hand.  If this card is destroyed while it has a Doom-Z monster or Medius the Pure as an Overlay Unit, then you can either add to your hand or send to your Graveyard one Equip Spell from your Deck.

 

Yeah, remember Medius the Pure from my post about the Duelist Advance Artmagias?  Yeah, it looks like he’s relevant in this archetype, too.

 

Doom-Z End Drastrius, however, exists at the opposite end of the power spectrum from Diactorus, being a Rank 8 Wind Attribute Machine Type Xyz Effect Monster with 2700 ATK, 1500 DEF and a 3 Level 8 monster summoning requirement.  It can’t be destroyed once per turn, and it has some effects that can also only be activated once per turn.

 

Once this card is Xyz Summoned, you can select any one card on the field and equip it onto your Drastrius.  Now, that alone can be a serious game-changer, but the effects just keep coming.  Should your opponent happen to activate a monster effect on the field or in the Graveyard, by using one Overlay Unit, you can negate that effect and steal another face-up monster your opponent controls as an Equip Card.

 

The gameplan here is obviously to build up the number of Equip Cards attached to Drastrius until you can use it to Special Summon Jupiter.

 

Now let’s see how well the Main Deck Doom-Z cards can impact the effectiveness of these Extra Deck monsters.

 

Doom-Z V (Five) Amalthe is a Level 4 Dark Attribute Dragon Type Effect Monster with 1600 ATK and 1200 DEF.  Right off the bat, it lets you add any other Doom-Z card from your Deck to your hand whenever it is summoned or destroyed by a card effect.  Plus, while this card is Equipped with an Equip Spell Card, you can use this card to Xyz Summon a Wind Attribute Machine Type Xyz Monster with a Rank equal to its own, and attach both this card and all its Equip Cards onto said Xyz Monster as Equip Cards.

 

They’re almost making it too easy, here.

 

Doom-Z VII (Seven) Elara shares the Typing and Attribute of Amalthe, but with 1400 ATK and 1200 DEF.  Its summoning/destroyed by card effect ability enables you to automatically Set one Doom-Z Spell/Trap Card straight from your Deck to the field.  From there, it shares the same Xyz Summon-enabling effect as Amalthe, as well.

 

And Doom-Z XII (pronounced as Zero, not Twelve) Drastia is where the most bite of all the Main Deck monsters can be found.  With 2400 ATK and 1500 DEF, this Level 8 Dark Attribute Dragon Type Effect Monster breaks the mold by being able to be Special Summoned from the hand by destroying 1 Doom-Z monster you control.  And, once you’ve done that, you also get to Equip one Equip Spell straight from your Deck directly onto it.  From there, it shares the same quick-Xyz effect that the other two Main Deck monsters had.

 

Now, you’d think that an archetype so big on Equip Spell usage would probably have some Equip Spells of its own, but let’s just see.

 

Doom-Z Command D.O.O.M.D.U.R.G. (again, pronounced Doomdurk, with no G sound, and written in such a way for seemingly no other reason than to be cool), however, turns out to be the only in-archetype Equip Spell proper.  The controller of the equipped monster (usually you) may have to take 500 points of damage during every Standby Phase, but at least its effects can be used by either an equipped Doom-Z monster or a Wind Attribute Machine Type Xyz Monster that has it as an Overlay Unit.

 

After that is when the fun really starts.

 

Not only does D.O.O.M.D.U.R.G. render your monster untargetable, but you can also destroy one card you control in order to grant your monster ATK equal to its own Level/Rank times 100 and the ability to attack directly, at the cost of being destroyed at the end of the turn.

 

I could see combining it with the protection effect of Drastius in order to dodge that last little bit of obstacle.

 

Their Continuous Spell Card, Doom-Z Raider, lets you target and destroy one monster on the field whenever it itself is destroyed by a card effect.  But that’s just its secondary effect.  During your Main Phase, by destroying another Doom-Z card on your field or in your hand, you can automatically add to your hand or Special Summon one Doom-Z monster straight from your Deck, at the cost of being locked out of all non-Xyz Extra Deck summonings for the rest of the turn.

 

Doom-Z Destruction is thankfully just a Normal Trap, one that can be equipped onto a Doom-Z monster as an Equip Card.  Once it is, your opponent is locked out from adding cards to their hand except by drawing them.  Plus, if this card is destroyed by a card effect, you can equip one Doom-Z monster straight from your Deck onto any other monster on the field.

 

And, outside of the archetype proper, Theorealize from the last set has been given an Doom-Z-appropriate upgrade in the form of Theorealize Overdrive.  With this card, you can initially only summon back Medius the Pure from the Graveyard or Banish Zone.  But its second effect is where it really pops.  By banishing this card from your Graveyard, you can select one monster you control and change its Level from anywhere between 1 and 10.

 

That should make that Rank 8 Xyz Summon a bit easier.

 

Now, I get that the game is tremendously fast these days, so much so that many archetypal monsters don’t even get to battle or really use their effects at all and are just stepping stones into Xyz Summons or Link Summons, but frankly I find that a little sad.

 

I know they’re not real or anything, but nobody deserves to be just used up and thrown away.

 

And finally, tying into the Doom-Z archetype because they are apparently intertwined in the story lore, we move on to the new Artmagia support that will be released in Doom of Dimensions.

 

Artmage Movement-Lineage and Artmage Peripeteia-Turmoil are the latest in-archetype Normal Spell and Normal Trap, respectively.

 

If your opponent controls more monsters than you do, Lineage allows you to Special Summon any other Artmage straight from your Deck in Defense Mode other than any ones you already happen to control.  And, if you happen to send this card to the Graveyard to activate the effect of Artmage Academic Arcane Arts Acropolis, then you get to add another Artmage Trap Card from your Graveyard or Banishment Zone back to your hand, at the cost of being locked out of all non-Fusion Extra Deck summonings until the end of the turn.

 

And, if you happen to look at the artwork for this card, you can clearly see one of the Doom-Z monsters being lowered down out of some sort of chamber.

 

Could you be any more obvious?

 

Turmoil, however, enables you to revive an Artmage monster from your Graveyard with its effects negated, as long as you bounce another Artmage monster you control back to your hand or your Extra Deck.  And, in an inverse of Lineage, if this card is sent to the Graveyard due to Arcane Arts Acropolis, then you get to add an Artmage Spell from your Graveyard or Banishment Zone back to your hand.