Dark World

Around the corner lurks the boogie man of Yu-gi-oh. Dark World. A brutal deck which actually gains advantage by discarding its own cards, while at the same time being able to discard yours. Fast, versatile, and with the new structure deck set to release later this month it will be extremely common to run into.

Much like Lost Sanctuary, Gates of the Underworld fill feature an old archetype (Dark World) and bring it back with a face lift-- and of course a 2700 ATK monster who you can bring out for nearly no cost.

The full deck list can be found here. Today I will be posting three decks-- First a budget deck using only cards found within multiple copies of this structure, then I will post two deck lists with no limit to build towards depending on style or flavor.

Dark World "Budget" Build

Monsters 21
3 Grapha, Dragon Lord of the Dark World
3 Goldd, Wu-Lord of the Dark World
3 Brron, Mad King of the Dark World
3 Snoww, Unlight of the Dark World
3 Beiige, Vanguard of the Dark World
3 Broww, Huntsman of the Dark World
1 Sangan
2 Tragoedia

Spels 14
1 Allure of Darkness
1 Card Destruction
3 Gateway to Dark World
3 Dark World Lightning
3 Dark World Dealings
3 The Gates of the Dark World

Traps 5
2 Mind Crush
3 Deck Devastation Virus

This deck is obviously not highly competitive yet and is missing key staple cards that most every deck should run. It does, however, provide very nice replacements which are core for the strategy which will in the long run help it win.

The strategy is simple, combine nearly any Dark World spell with nearly any Dark World monster, and gain advantages. This deck also boasts the ability to support Deck Devastation Virus. There are anywhere between six and eight viable targets for this card, and with Gateway to the Dark World acting as a quick play Call of the Haunted or Monster Reborn you'll be able to pull it off consistently, as well as enable your Mind Crush as you have new knowledge of your opponents hand.

Mind Crush by itself is not a bad play though, because you can always call incorrect cards in order to discard your own Dark World monsters to gain advantage. This is not ideal but it can defiantly help in a bind.


Full Dark World Build

The previous build is a great jumping off point, but there are obviously missing parts to make the deck win consistently staple spells and traps should rarely, if ever, be skipped when deck building. Lots of fluff needs to be cut out and ratios need to be modified. This deck is for the most part inexpensive to build. This build is based primarily off of a build by Michael Bonacini at Death Aspect blog.

Monsters 16
3 Grapha, Dragon Lord of Dark World
3 Snoww, Unlight of Dark World
3 Beiige, Vanguard of Dark World
3 Broww, Huntsman of Dark World
1 Fabled Raven
2 Tour Guide from the Underworld
1 Sangan

Spells 16
1 Monster Reborn
1 Dark Hole
1 Heavy Storm
1 Book of Moon
1 Foolish Burial
1 Card Destruction
1 Mystical Space Typhoon
2 Dark World Lightning
2 Dragged Down to the Grave
2 Dark World Dealings
3 The Gates of Dark World

Traps 8
1 Starlight Road
1 Torrential Tribute
1 Mind Crush
1 Trap Dustshoot
1 Solemn Judgement
1 Solemn Warning
2 Bottomless Trap Hole

As you can see, many of the Dark World monsters we used before like Bronn or Goldd have been removed, in favor of fitting in more spells, some staples, and Tour Guide. I feel Tour Guide is easily replaceable with 2 Bronns or any card of your choice really, she simply helps with a quick and easy rank 3 Xyz, which is great if you have access to it.

The deck has a very powerful draw engine, and an added bonus of Dragged Down to the Grave giving you knowledge of your opponents hand. This deck is much more based off of Grapha, generally the only normal summons you'll perform will be for the sake of bouncing them for Grapha's effect.

The extra deck is much less important in Dark World. As a new or returning player without many Synchros or XYZ monsters this makes a very good variant. There is one tuner in here, however, its effect is it's primary purpose in the deck. Any synchros at that point are simply icing on the cake.


Dark World, Chaos Variant
It just wouldn't be the September 2011 ban-list without a Chaos Variant of a deck. This deck will act primarily the same as the previous deck, but with the added advantage of Black Luster Soldier - Envoy of the Beginning.

Monsters 18
1 Black Luster Soldier - Envoy of the Beginning
3 Grapha, Dragon Lord of Dark World
3 Snoww, Unlight of Dark World
3 Beiige, Vanguard of Dark World
3 Broww, Huntsman of Dark World
1 Fabled Raven
1 Sangan
3 Effect Veiler

Spells 16
1 Monster Reborn
1 Dark Hole
1 Heavy Storm
1 Book of Moon
1 Foolish Burial
1 Mind Control
1 Card Destruction
1 Mystical Space Typhoon
2 Dark World Lightning
3 Dark World Dealings
3 The Gates of Dark World

Traps 6
1 Starlight Road
1 Torrential Tribute
1 Trap Dustshoot
1 Solemn Judgement
2 Bottomless Trap Hole

As you can see this is for the most part the exact same build. The exception here is that you should not run Dragged Down to the grave, as you now have several cards you would not like to see discarded (BLS, effect veiler) and as a result Mind Crush loses its power slightly. This deck also now has 4 Tuners, so an extra deck will be more valuable. I felt that because of this Mind Control should make its way back into the deck.


I hope you enjoyed this post and found it helpful regarding the new Dark World cards that will soon storm the format. Please feel free to comment and leave your thoughts below, and follow this blog if you enjoy my work!