Hieratic

"Hieratic", known as "Hieroglyphic" ( Seikoku) in the OCG, is an archetype consisting of LIGHT Dragon-Type monsters. One of the few sets of cards based on Egyptian motifs, they are based on Egyptian hieroglyphs and Ennead, a group of Egyptian gods in mythology. Their logo is based on Wedjat, the eye of Horus, god of Sky, war, and protection. Also, in addition to Wedjat, if the monsters' backgrounds have either the sun or the moon, they get the respective Wedjat - right (sun) or left (moon).

The cards of this archetype rely on Special Summoning and destroying cards mainly by Tributing other "Hieratic" monsters. What makes this archetype powerful and interesting is that many of its monsters allow you to Tribute from your hand, in a manner similar to Ritual Summoning.

Another effect which all mid-Level monsters, such as Level 4, 5 and 6, have in common is that when they are Tributed, they are able to Special Summon a Dragon-Type Normal Monster either from the hand, Deck, or Graveyard. It is also mandatory to Special Summon, which means that even though you Tribute them for cost, this effect will still go through. So, despite the idea that you're getting rid of your own monster, you won't lose that much field advantage. Almost all "Hieratic" monsters have relatively simple Summoning conditions.

Playing Style
The greatest strength of this archetype lies in the ability that almost all its members possess: upon being Tributed, be it by cost or effect, you are able to Summon any Dragon-Type Normal Monster from your hand, Deck or Graveyard, at the cost of its ATK and DEF becoming 0. This gives the "Hieratic" archetype the ability to swarm the field and bring out powerful Xyz Monsters in a manner similar to Wind-Up and Inzektors. This deck's combos are a little similar to Six Samurai which focus on summoning many monsters to instantly dominate the duel.

Another interesting thing to note is the ease of Summoning the archetype's regular members, and the ease of which you may activate their effects. For instance, both "Hieratic Dragon of Nebthet" and "Hieratic Dragon of Su" are capable of getting rid of problematic monsters or Spells/Traps simply by Tributing a Hieratic monster from your field OR hand. Not only that, but by Tributing a Hieratic monster, you will also activate their effects to Special Summon a Dragon-Type Normal Monster from your hand, Deck or Graveyard, possibly to Xyz Summoning during that same turn.

"Hieratic Dragon of Eset" also greatly helps in the deck's Xyz Summoning routine, since its effect can instantly equalize the Level of all Hieratic monster on the Field to that of the Normal Monster you choose. Due to the nature of most Hieratic monsters, Summoning Normal Dragons to your Field is an easy task (even easier with "Hieratic Dragon of Tefnuit" in play). Eset can also be Normal Summoned for free, ready to Xyz Summon if you have a Normal Dragon monster.

Taking all these points into consideration, one can see the worth of having a Level 8 Normal Monster with 0 ATK and DEF as the mascot. Not only can it be used for the effects of the other Hieratics, but it can be Special Summoned by nearly all of the other Hieratics, can be used with "Trade-In" or "Advance Draw". This easily Summon-able Level 8 Normal Monster grants players access to the powerful "Thunder End Dragon", as well as the strongest card of the archetype, "Hieratic Sun Dragon Overlord of Heliopolis". Should one be fortunate enough to have three of them on the field, or two of them and one "Galaxy-Eyes Photon Dragon", it would then be possible to Summon the strongest Xyz Monster - "Neo Galaxy-Eyes Photon Dragon".

Since Hieratics can search any Dragon-Type Normal Monster at the cost of rendering them powerless, they can be used to support Fusion Monsters that use Normal Dragons as Fusion Materials such as "Blue-Eyes Ultimate Dragon", "Meteor B. Dragon", and to a lesser extent "King Dragun".

"Lightray" monsters can be helpful side deck options for a Hieratic deck. "Lightray Diabolos" and "Lightray Daedalus" provide powerful attackers with field control, and are easy to summon with how quickly Hieratics will cycle through their monsters to fill the Graveyard. If the player is reliant on "Hieratic Dragon of Sutekh", "Lightray Sorcerer" can combo with its effect, Sutekh banishing the valuable Hieratics in the Graveyard for Sorcerer to shuffle them back into the deck, while both also provide field control.

An interesting thing to know is that Hieratics can abuse "Inferno Reckless Summon", because any Dragon-Type monsters that are Special Summoned with their effects become 0 ATK and 0 DEF, which fits the conditions for "Inferno Reckless Summon", also the other copies of the Monster Summoned with "Inferno Reckless Summon" will have their original ATK and DEF restored. This can be used in conjunction with "Hieratic Dragon King of Atum", so you can Special Summon "Galaxy-Eyes Photon Dragon", drag out the other two copies with "Inferno Reckless Summon", and easily overlay for "Neo Galaxy-Eyes Photon Dragon" with its extra effect when Xyz Summoned with "Galaxy-Eyes Photon Dragon".

Red-Eyes Hieratics
One of the most basic builds for this archetype, it focuses on bringing out "Hieratic Dragon King of Atum" and through him "Red-Eyes Darkness Metal Dragon" for explosive plays.

Chaos Hieratics
While the Red-Eyes Hieratics and the Control-based Hieratic builds are somewhat more common, this deck utilizes the combos of both Hieratics and Chaos Dragons. Using cards like "Dragon Ravine", "Card Trooper", and some of Lightsworn monsters to dump cards into the Graveyard for use with cards such as "Black Luster Soldier - Envoy of the Beginning" or "Chaos Sorcerer", or even "Dark Armed Dragon", can help to make this deck more consistent. Another great card to make this variant even more consistent is "Divine Dragon Apocralyph", which can not only add consistency to the deck, but can get rid of dead draws and fuel the Graveyard for Chaos-based cards. It is also able for recovering "Red-Eyes Darkness Metal Dragon" to be used once again.

Weaknesses
Cards like "Mask of Restrict", "Fog King", etc. that prevents Tribute would lockdown this archetype's main goal of Tributing monsters. Also, "Light-Imprisoning Mirror" can also shutdown their effects in the Graveyard as their effects activate when Tributed, if they were to end up in the Graveyard this way, since they are all LIGHT-Attribute. "Koa'ki Meiru Drago" is one of the effective silver bullets against this deck, since most Hieratic decks relying on Special Summoning (most evident in Hieratic OTK style), and can even block the Summoning of both "Hieratic Dragon King of Atum" and "Hieratic Sun Dragon Overlord of Heliopolis". Since most of Hieratic cards are Level 5 or higher, "Evilswarm Ophion" and "Steelswarm Roach" can put this Deck into almost perfect deadlock situation, and cards's effect that negate summons can also stop this deck's summoning combos. Fossil Dyna Pachycephalo is also useful for preventing them from special summoning both their tokens and other monsters like Hieratic Dragon of Su, shutting down their means of summoning.

Another huge problem with the Deck is that it is common to dead draw, due to so many mid-level monsters in the roster of most Hieratic decks. A card like "Dark Hole" can destroy the player's momentum and leave them with no field and a weak hand. Cards like "Trial and Tribulation" and "Super Rejuvenation" are helpful for maintaining hand power and preventing this.

Hieratics have low DEF, so cards like "Enemy Controller" and "Book of Moon" render them vulnerable on the opponent's turn.

Against a deck running many WIND-attribute cards, "Mystic Fairy Elfuria" can badly slow down a Hieratic deck's Xyz Summoning choices through the limiting Rank 5, 6 and 8 choices with its monster effect. And even if "Mystic Fairy Elfuria" leaves the field, its effect remains active until your next End Phase.

Most of the competitive Hieratic decks are OTK-style decks, thus these kinds of deck always have almost nothing in terms of defense. Cards that can stop your OTK attempt such as "Battle Fader" can put a serious shock for any Hieratic players, since they almost never play any Trap Cards. Most of their usually-Summoned monsters are also high in ATK, which means any damage-reversing effects like "Magic Cylinder", "Dimension Wall" and "Daigusto Sphreez" can deliver fatal blows for them.

Trivia

 * The monsters in this archetype are based on the first four generations of gods in Egyptian mythology. Atum gave rise to Shu and Tefnut, who gave rise to Geb and Nut, who gave rise to Osiris, Isis, Nephthys, and Set. They were collectively known as the Ennead.


 * Each monster in this archetype has an Egyptian symbol somewhere on its body.


 * The monsters in this archetype have designs similar to "Galaxy-Eyes Photon Dragon" and "Neo Galaxy-Eyes Photon Dragon" for their illuminating bodies, scaly armors, and wings.


 * This archetype might have been released in order to celebrate the 2012 Year of the Dragon on the Chinese calendar.