The reveals for Doom of Dimensions keep coming. With this new expansion, Konami is seeking to bring back one of the oldest cards in the history of Yu-Gi-Oh! Trading Card Game.
The Level 3 Monsters, Magnifistorming: Megala, Erdam, and Suen
Shared Effects:
- You can only Special Summon with the (1)st effect of this card's name once per turn. You can only use the (2)nd effect of this card’s name once per turn.
- (2) If you have “Mystical Space Typhoon” in your GY, or your opponent controls no Spells/Traps, you can Special Summon this card (from your hand).
Megala:
(1) If a “Magnifistorm” Quick-Play Spell or “Mystical Space Typhoon” is activated: You can Special Summon 1 “Magnifistorm” monster from your Deck with a different name from the monsters you control, also you cannot Special Summon for the rest of this turn, except WIND monsters.
Erdam:
(1) If this card is Normal or Special Summoned: You can add 1 “Magnifistorm” monster or “Mystical Space Typhoon” from your Deck to your hand, except “Magnifistorming Erdam”.
Suen:
(1) If this card is Normal or Special Summoned: You can add 1 “Magnifistorm” Spell/Trap or “Mystical Space Typhoon” from your Deck to your hand.
We’re starting off this reveal with the smaller bodies from the main deck roster. Each of these three monsters shares a once-per-turn clause as well as the capability of self-summoning. This makes them excellent starters if the controlling player is going first.
The main conceit of the trio when going second is either having a Mystical Space Typhoon (MST) in the graveyard or the opponent having an empty back row. This archetype, as we will soon see, thrives in the former.
As for the latter, even outside of the archetype or using MST itself, there are many tools in the current Yu-Gi-Oh! card pool that can specialize in clearing out the enemy back row.
For their individual capabilities, Megala can daisy chain to any of your in-archetype monsters. Special summoning straight from the deck automatically bypasses standard hand traps like Droll & Lock Bird.
This is, however, under the auspices of activating an in-archetype Quick-Play Spell or MST itself, but it’s pretty negligible given how easy that requirement is to fulfill with all the tools in this list.
Megala also locks the controlling player into special summoning Wind monsters, though, so sequencing will be required for any generic non-Wind monster staples like S:P Little Knight.
Erdam and Suen are your standard RotA (Reinforcement of the Army) and back row search extenders, respectively.
While they’re still subject to the more standard hand traps, unlike Megala, just having these options so readily available is already a strong start to this roster’s capabilities.
Each of these monsters can all search out MST if it becomes necessary to do so. Allowing them to easily synergize with the biggest ‘garnet’ of the deck.
The Level 6 Monster: Magnifistorming Crothea
You can only use the (1)st and (2)nd effect of this card’s name each once per turn.
(1) If a Quick-Play Spell Card is activated: You can Special Summon this card from your hand.
(2) If this card is Normal or Special Summoned: You can add 1 “Magnifistorm” card and/or 1 “Mystical Space Typhoon” from your Deck and/or GY to your hand, except “Magnifistorming Crothea”, also you cannot Special Summon for the rest of this turn, except WIND monsters.
(3) Cannot be destroyed by battle or card effects while your opponent controls no Spells/Traps.
The only Level 6 monster in the archetype so far, Crothea starts off with the ability to piggyback off the activations of any Quick-Play Spell card, even if it’s the opponent's.
Once on the board, it’s another search for any in-archetype card and/or MST.
Crothea shares the same special summoning lock as Megala, so the timing of this card’s sequencing is crucial if you want to keep access to generic non-wind end-board pieces.
Even with this pretty glaring drawback, the ability to just potentially grab two cards from the deck is a highly tempting ability to slot in.
The Level 9 Monsters, Magnifistorm: Vortex Beauty Valrune and Great Pyre Phonix
Shared Effects:
- You can only use the (1)st, (2)nd, and (3)rd effect of this card’s name each once per turn.
- (1) If a Quick-Play Spell Card is activated: You can Special Summon this card from your hand.
- (3) If “Mystical Space Typhoon” is activated while this card is in your GY: You can Special Summon it.
Magnifistorm Vortex Beauty Valrune:
(2) When your opponent activates a monster effect and you have “Mystical Space Typhoon” in your GY (Quick Effect): You can negate that effect, then, if you have 2 or more “Mystical Space Typhoon” in your GY, you can destroy that monster.
Magnifistorm Great Pyre Phonix:
(2) If a Quick-Play Spell Card is activated: You can target up to 2 cards your opponent controls; shuffle them into the Deck.
Both these Level 9 monsters share in Crothea’s ability to special summon themselves from the hand when a Quick-Play Spell is activated.
As if that wasn't enough,both Vortex Beauty Valrune and Great Pyre Phonix take it a step further by being able to special summon themselves from the graveyard as well.
The self-special summoning and built-in recursion allow this archetype to play through a good amount of disruptions, should these two in particular find themselves sent to the graveyard.
As for the utility, Vortex Beauty Valrune is your monster negate at quick effect speed. This can easily protect your board from the giant rock (aka Nibiru, the Primal Being) or be used for board breaking, so long as you have at least one MST already in the graveyard.
The enhanced card destruction is nice icing on the package, but there’s already a lot of mileage to be had with just the negate Valrune offers.
As for Great Pyre Phonix, it’s basically a spin back into the deck. It’s simple, slides around a good amount of protection, and can deny recursion tactics. It’s not the most bombastic ability, but it’s still a powerful one.
The Quick-Play Spell Cards, Magnifistorming: Stanza Tribute, Summoning Technique, and Summoning Technique
Magnifistorming Stanza Tribute
- (1) Activate 1 of these effects (but you can only use each of these effects of this card name’s effect once per turn);
- Add 1 Level 4 or lower “Magnifistorm” monster from your Deck to your hand.
Magnifistorming Summoning Technique:
- (1) Activate 1 of these effects (but you can only use each of these effects of this card’s name once per turn);
- Send 1 “Magnifistorm” monster from your Deck to the GY.
Magnifistorming Sight Trance:
- (1) Activate 1 of these effects (but you can only use each of these effects of this card name’s effect once per turn);
- Draw 2 cards, then discard 1 “Magnifistorm” card or Quick-Play Spell, or, if you do not have any in your hand, discard your entire hand.
Shared Effect:
- Add 1 “Mystical Space Typhoon” from your Deck or GY to your hand.
- (2) If this card is destroyed by the effect of “Mystical Space Typhoon”: You can Set this card.
For the sake of brevity, we’re saying it here that each of these Quick-Play Spell cards all have the alternative option of searching or recurring MST from the deck or graveyard to hand alongside a once-per-turn clause.
With that out of the way, Stanza Tribute is another RotA, already adding to the ludicrous consistency this archetype has access to.
Summoning Technique is the Magnifistorm’s version of Foolish Burial, seeding the graveyard with whatever’s necessary at the time of activation.
Sight Trance, meanwhile, is the in-archetype version of Allure of Darkness, with a small twist that you need to discard a “Magnifistorm” card or Quick-Play Spell instead.
What’s interesting about these cards is their recursion package. They can become fodder for MST to target to seed the graveyard with an MST without losing card advantage.
Since all “Magnifistorm” monsters can be special summoned once MST is activated or in the graveyard already, the swarming capabilities of the archetype are just being hammered home.
The Lone Trap Card: Magnifistorming Sovereign Tyranny
1) Once per turn: You can target 3 Quick-Play Spells in your GY, including a “Magnifistorm” card; apply these effects, in sequence.
● Shuffle them into the Deck, then draw 1 card.
● WIND monsters you control will gain 300 ATK/DEF for the rest of this turn.
(2) Once per Chain, when “Mystical Space Typhoon” is activated: You can target 1 face-up card your opponent controls; negate its effects.
(3) If this card is destroyed by the effect of “Mystical Space Typhoon”: You can Set this card.
There’s an old joke in the Yu-Gi-Oh! community about MST being able to negate cards. Lo and behold, someone from Konami decided to make that true.
The main draw of this Continuous Trap card is turning the activation of MST into an on-field, targeted omni-negate.
Part of the insanity here is that a player could easily feed any of the above-mentioned Spell cards to an MST to get the negate going. Because of the “when” in the card effect, there are some timing rules a player would have to observe.
Thankfully, anyone well-versed in how Yu-Gi-Oh! operates can start doing some antics with Sovereign Tyranny and MST.
As part of its package, Sovereign Tyranny can also bring 3 Quick-Play Spell cards as long as a Magnifistorm is included.
This is essentially a diet Runick Fountain. Is it actually needed? Probably not. But it can still be a welcome tool if a situation calls for it.
Finally, Sovereign Tyranny can also be fed into an MST and just come back. So getting rid of this might be harder than it initially looks if a player has an MST ready to fire.
Great package, but currently no end goal
There is no denying how ludicrous this one archetype is in making Mystical Space Typhoon relevant. From all ability synergies to the swarming tactics to turning MST into an actual negate, this archetype has far-reaching capabilities as an engine. That said, it doesn’t have any extra deck pieces.
So while the MST synergy is admittedly humorous and powerful in its own right, it’s a little difficult to determine what the objective would be when setting up a board when going first.
Players do have access to some generic extra deck pieces even when under the special summon lock to Wind-type monsters.
Number 75: Bamboozling Gossip Shadow and Number 3: Cicada King can be a bulwark for disruption attempts. Phantom Fortress Enterblathnir still exists to just rip out a card from the opponent’s hand.
At the moment, we have yet to see what a board going first when using this archetype would look like.
It’s safe to say that a lot of players are hotly anticipating Magnifistorm to arrive in the TCG. We may have to temper our expectations as to what the final picture these cards will paint.