Darquess

An archetype of DARK and primarily Spellcaster Monsters, harnessing Ritual and Fusion Summoning through the unique Ritual and Fusion Spell Darquess Rising, revolving around banishing cards and dealing damage to the player themselves.

Cards

Monsters

Spells

Traps

Overview

All Monsters have 0 DEF.

Level 4

The 3 Lv4 Monsters have 1900 ATK and share the following effect:

If another card is banished: You can either add this banished card to your hand, or Special Summon this card from your hand.

Each has an effect to search another card on Summon, which also deals damage to the player themselves:

If this card is Normal or Special Summoned: You can {...}, and if you do, take 700 damage.

Monster	Aiza	Azia	Zaia
card
effect	banish a ‘Darquess’ Spell/Trap from Deck	Set a banished ‘Darquess’ Spell/Trap	bury a ‘Darquess’ Monster

Level 7

This self-dealt damage allows the 3 Lv7 Monsters to be Summoned, which each have 2300 ATK.

If either player takes damage: You can Special Summon this card from your hand or Graveyard, then you can increase this card’s Level (max 12) by 1 for every 100 damage taken.

They can then banish a card from the hand or Grave to search a Ritual-related card:

You can banish 1 card from your hand or Graveyard; add 1 ‘Darquess’ {...} from your Deck or Banished Pile to your hand.

Monster	Cythris	Lyfris	Syndris
card
search	‘Darquess’ Spell	‘Darquess’ Monster	‘Darquess’ Ritual card

Level 9

The 3 Lv9 Monsters have 2700 ATK, and serve as powerful removal, interrupts and sacrifices for Ritual Summons.

They share the following effects:

You can banish 2 other DARK Monsters from your field and/or either player’s Graveyard; Special Summon this card from your hand or Graveyard, then you can banish 1 {...}.

Hykarice and Kyralice can negate Spell/Traps:

When a {Spell/Trap} card or effect is activated, while you control a Level 13 ‘Darquess’ Monster (Quick Effect): You can banish this card from your hand or field; negate the activation, also banish that card, and if you do, take 700 damage.

Vyktica is slightly different:

When a DARK Monster declares an attack or activates its effect, while you control a Level 13 ‘Darquess’ Monster (Quick Effect): You can banish this card from your hand or field; banish that monster, and if you do, take 700 damage.

Monster	Hykarice	Kyralice	Vyktica
card
banish	faceup Spell/Trap	facedown Spell/Trap	Grave
interrupt	Spell	Trap	Monster

Level 13 Ritual

The 3 Ritual Monsters are each Lv13 with 3000 ATK. All 3 are Limited, so the player can only ever control 1 of each. They share the Summoning condition that they must be Ritual Summoned by a ‘Darquess’ card. Upon Ritual Summon, they can each search any ‘Darquess’ Trap from the Deck.

If this card is Ritual Summoned: You can Set 1 ‘Darquess’ Trap from your Deck.

Each then has a continuous floodgate effect, an ignition effect involving banishing, and a non-activated effect.

Monster	Raiza	Laiza	Vaiza
card
continuous	neither player can Normal Summon non-DARK Monsters	neither player can Special Summon non-DARK Monsters from the Extra Deck	DARK Monsters lose ATK equal to their original DEF
ignition	banish 1 DARK Monster from either player’s field or Grave	Special Summon 1 banished DARK Monster	gain LP equal to a DARK Monster’s ATK when it is banished or Summoned
other	banish top card of opponent’s Deck face-down each time you take damage	inflict 350 damage each time a card is banished	‘Darquess’ Monsters can use effects as Quick Effects

Level 13 Fusion

The 3 main Lv13 Fusion Monsters each have 3300 ATK, requiring 2 of the 3 Ritual Monsters as Material. They feature a powerful floodgate effect of their own, while sharing the following effect:

If this card is targeted (Quick Effect): You can make 1 other DARK Monster on the field become the target instead.

Monster	Elaiza	Levaiza	Vraiza
card
continuous	neither player can Normal or Special Summon non-DARK Monsters	opponent‘s Monsters are changed to Defense Position, and Monsters they control in Defense Position cannot activate effects	negates the effects of DARK Synchro, Xyz, and Link Monsters

Spell Support

The archetypal Field Spell is Realm of Darquess, which provides the critical conditions for the rest of the archetype to function effectively.

The archetypal Ritual and Fusion Spell is Darquess Rising, which can recover itself as long as it is banished.

Rising	Realm

Trap Cards

Many opening and searching cards that would usually be Spells are instead Traps, some of which have the ability to be activated immediately by taking damage. Most important of all are the Monster and Spell/Trap searchers, Awakening of Darquess and Runes of Darquess, which can also search the Field Spell if it is not already active.

Awakening	Runes

Otherwise of note are the 3 Continuous Traps, which like the Ritual Monsters are also Limited. They provide the Ritual Monsters with protection and recover LP that the player loses from all the self-damage. They also have the useful effect to recover another banished ‘Darquess’ Trap when banished themselves, allowing for efficient recursion.

Trap	Magnificence	Perfection	Nightmare
card
continuous	battle and Monster effect destruction	Spell/Trap effects	opponent skips their Main Phase 1
LP	gain 350 LP each time opponent activates a card or effect	gain 350 LP each time opponent places a card on the field	inflict 350 damage each time opponent activates a card or effect

Support

{...}

Monster	Lynuca	Kes
card
effect	banish activated card or effect, negate effects of all cards with that name until the end of next turn	bury Darquess Monster from the Extra Deck to search Soul of Darquess or Darquess Falling

Strategy

{...}

Deck

Last updated: June 2023

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• Tip: hover over a card to view its card text.
• Note: the number of copies are not exact – they only indicate a card’s place within the archetype.

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Main Deck

Extra Deck

Trivia

• This entire archetype was born from Raiza, a childhood card I created.
• The archetype features many triplets of cards.
  • There are 3 Monsters for each class – Lv4, Lv7, Lv9, Lv13 Ritual and Lv13 Fusion.
  • There are 3 Continuous Traps.
• Within each triplet, there also tends to be a card slightly different from the rest.
  • Lv4 – Zaia searches another Monster instead of Spell/Traps.
  • Lv7 – Syndris searches a Ritual card instead of any Monster or Spell.
  • Lv9 – Vyktica only banishes without negating.
  • Lv13 Ritual – Vaiza has no ignition effect, instead turning the other Ritual Monsters far deadlier.
  • Continuous Traps – Nightmare inflicts damage instead of gaining LP, and hinders the opponent instead of protecting the Ritual Monsters.
• Darquess is somewhat a pun on ‘Darkness’, and derives from the name of Darquesse, a character in the Skulduggery Pleasant series.