One of the things that makes Edison deckbuilding so interesting is how so many decks, especially top tier decks, aren’t doing just one thing. Lots of Edison decks are smashed together out of different packages, or engines, of synergistic cards that don’t in and of them selves make a complete deck. It’s like the French mother sauces, or the Taco Bell menu. Today we’re checking out one of the most popular and powerful of these engines: the DARK engine.
Dark Armed Dragon is one of the most powerful cards in the format. In 2008 he was the undisputed king of Yu-Gi-Oh, dominating and naming the ReturnDAD and TeleDAD formats. This performance would get the card limited1 but it remains an insane piece of cardboard. Having exactly 3 DARK monsters in grave is easier than you might think, with many popular DARK monsters having easy or easy-ish ways to get out of the graveyard. And once DAD is on the field he’ll quickly tear apart the opponent’s board. The DARK engine would see play without DAD, probably, but DAD is the payoff.
Allure of Darkness is a different type of busted YGO card. Draw spells in Yu-Gi-Oh are even more powerful than in other similar games due to the lack of a resource system. So long as you run enough DARK monsters to have something to banish2 Allure will give you consistency and card selection to keep things running smoothly. Allure is also limited in Edison due to domination in TeleDAD format.
Next up is the Warrior package. Armageddon Knight and Dark Grepher are slightly different cards, but both are Level 4 Warrior monsters that can get DARK monsters from your deck to your grave, and are thus both perfect party starters for any deck running the DARK engine. RotA is an eternal staple of YGO, limited in Edison because of, you guessed it, misdeeds during TeleDAD format, but honestly this isn’t RotA’s first rodeo, card’s been excellent for a very long time.
There are many excellent DARK monsters to send to grave with your Warrior package, but many of them are more deck-specific. One staple in any DARK deck though is Plaguespreader Zombie, maybe the best Tuner in the format. We’ll get into Tuners and Synchro monsters another time, but know for now that they let you access incredibly powerful monsters. In addition to Synchro access, Plague can be useful as a tribute if you’re in a pinch. This versatility landed Plague on the limited list, but even at 1 copy it’s still an incredible card.
The most likely reason you’d want tribute fodder is this guy. Caius is one of the defining cards of Edison Format. He’s not even really part of the DARK engine, despite seeing play in almost every DARK engine deck. He’s a bona fide staple. Flexible removal stapled to a strong body makes Caius an answer and a threat all in one.
And the rest. Choosing where to draw the line with the DARK engine can be a bit of a judgment call; there are lots of very good DARK monsters that frequently see play. DARK staples such as Gorz and Tragoedia will be waiting for another day to get covered. But these three, to me, feel like frequent includes when a deck wants to go just a little bit harder on DARK plays. It’s basically a Mystic Tomato subpackage, as the battle recruiter lets you access Spirit Reaper, Gale, and even Plaguespreader and Armageddon Knight. Reaper is a longtime classic, working on defense and as an offensive threat (attacking your opponent’s hand, rather than going directly for their lifepoints). And Gale is another excellent Tuner, with an effect that lets you neutralize any big beatstick bearing down on you. Both these cards are also limited, Reaper for being generically good for a very long time, and Gale to keep the Blackwing deck in check (more on them in a future article)
An observant reader may have noticed that a lot of these cards involve the graveyard. YGO is a game that can often treat the GY like a second hand. So next time we’ll be covering an engine that focuses on exactly that dynamic. Stay tuned!
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