Prophecy

"Prophecy", known as "Magical" ( Madō) in the OCG, is an archetype of Spellcaster-Type monsters with effects based around "Spellbook" Spell Cards.

Each Prophecy Monster is based on a Tarot card of the Major Arcana. The English names come from the Rider-Waite tarot deck which uses the names "The High Priestess" and "The Hierophant" instead of "The Popesse" and "The Pope" which is found in other decks. The Japanese names of the Prophecy monsters make reference to the Tarot of Marseilles tarot deck.

Several other cards include in their Japanese names and are thus technically a part of this archetype. Examples include "Armor Exe", "Defender, the Magical Knight", "Magical Scientist", etc. However, these cards do not have effects relating to "Spellbook" cards so they could be seldom of use to the Deck as they lack synergy.

Playing Style
The archetype focuses on Spellcaster-Type monsters and the effects and presence of "Spellbook" Spell Cards. "Spellbook" cards focus on creating advantage, like raising a monster's ATK ("Spellbook of Power"), protecting monsters ("Spellbook of Wisdom"), or Xyz Summoning ("Spellbook of Life"), and manipulating the amount on the field, in the hand and in the Graveyard to activate effects.

Spellbook Recycle
A loop is possible using "High Priestess of Prophecy" that can ensure the monster gains 1000 ATK every turn, provided that she destroys a monster. You also need "Spellbook of Power" and "Spellbook of Eternity". Have "High Priestess of Prophecy" on the field, then play "Spellbook of Power". When it is in the Graveyard, use "High Priestess of Prophecy" to banish the Spellbook then attack to destroy a monster. The effect of "Spellbook of Power" activates and you can search for "Spellbook of Eternity". Next turn you can use "Spellbook of Eternity" to add "Spellbook of Power" to your hand. This loop can be prolonged by using "The Grand Spellbook Tower" to return "Spellbook of Eternity" to your Deck. If you need to dump Spellbook cards into your grave for whatever reason this can be possible by searching for "Spellbook of Secrets" instead of "Spellbook of Power". Then you can use "Spellbook of Secrets" to search for "Spellbook or Power" to continue the loop or a separate "Spellbook" card if needed.

Another loop is using "High Priestess of Prophecy" with "Spellbook of Secrets", "The Grand Spellbook Tower", "Spellbook of Eternity". This is as follows: Have Tower and High Priestess on the field. Use Secrets to get Eternity. Use Priestess effect to destroy a card by banishing Secrets. Then use Eternity to get Secrets back. Next turn; use Tower to put Eternity back in deck. Then repeat. This a good combo with "Spellbook Star Hall"; you are guaranteed to get 2 counters everyturn

This loop is easily broken if you cannot destroy a card with the effect of "High Priestess of Prophecy" or cannot destroy a monster by battle. However if this is your situation you may use the same technique to reuse "Spellbook" cards by banishing needed cards instead, then adding them to your hand via "Spellbook of Eternity".

Used in conjuction with "Spell Absorption" this loop can potentially be an extra 1000 life points every turn and an extra card in every standby phase.

Another way to recycle Spellbook of Power is with "The Grand Spellbook Tower" and "Spellbook of Secrets". Play "Spellbook of Power", use it to search for "Spellbook of Secrets". Then use "La Maison" to put "Spellbook of Power" back into the deck.

You can also perform a mini-loop using "Strength of Prophecy", by summoning it, and using Spellbook of Power to bring Strength to 2500 attack. Next you can use Strength's effect to recycle Power from the grave to bring itself to 3000 attack. Then attack a monster and destroy it to add a Spellbook of Secrets from the deck via Spellbook of Power.

Spellbook Manipulation Xyz
By using add Spellbooks to hand and taking advantage of them in your Graveyard, using cards like "Fool of Prophecy", "Justice of Prophecy", "Spellbook Magician of Prophecy", "Spellbook of Secrets", and "Spellbook of the Master", you can use them to add you in Special Summoning Xyz Monsters. Using "Spellbook of Secrets" and "Spellbook of the Master", you can add "Spellbooks" to your hand to easily Special Summon "High Priestess of Prophecy". With "Gagaga Magician", you can bring out Rank 7 Xyz Monsters. When manipulating "Spellbooks", banishing a few of them will be inevitable so "Spellbook of Eternity" and "Spellbook of the Master" can help recycle them for more usage and many "Spellbooks" will hit the Graveyard, so "The Grand Spellbook Tower" can give you additional draw power and help bring out a Spellcaster from your Deck when the right amount of "Spellbooks" are in the Graveyard. To protect your Spellcasters from getting destroyed, "Gagagashield" can come in handy so you have monsters to use as Xyz Materials for an Xyz Summon.

Counter-Strategies
The "Prophecy" archetype is overall so diverse in terms of monster stats (minus their Type) and strategies that no particular card will be enough to completely render this Deck moot as well-built "Prophecy" Decks can be very resililent during a Duel. However, there are some cards that can deter these kind of Decks:


 * "Spell Canceller", "Cursed Seal of the Forbidden Spell" and/or "Eradicator Epidemic Virus" - Can deadlock "Spellbook" Spells from being played, however the former may also nick your Deck and the middle could be a temporary reprieve if you run Spellcasters too, if not backlash against you if your opponent gets monsters out; well-built "Prophecy" Decks will have a diverse way of doing this (in addition to Normal Summons, of course.) The latter-most card would be the best choice as it does not stay on the Field and it forces your opponent to reveal every card they draw for a few turns but not every Deck will be able to use it either at all or very easily, given its pre-effect Cost.


 * "Spell Shattering Arrow" - While more Staple S/T removal (i.e. "Mystical Space Typhoon") can also be temporary alleviators against "Prophecy" Decks too, this card in particular can be harshly judgmental by not only wiping Spell Cards ''en masse' at no cost to the user but also inflicting hefty Life Points Burning as well (especially in the current metagame with "Heavy Storm" banned.)


 * "Attention!" and/or "Unification" + "Gozen Match" and/or "Battle of the Elements" - These two pairs of cards go hand-in-hand as "Prophecy" monsters have a diverse range of Levels and Attributes. However, like the above two cards, these cards can harm your strategy too if you're not careful and a simple "Dark Bribe" or "Solemn Judgment" can quickly interdict these cards.  Even if that's not the case "Prophecy" monsters like "High Priestess of Prophecy" and "Hierophant of Prophecy" can quickly clear the field of these deterrents
 * A more efficient way to temporarily relive their Field presence is "Last Day of Witch", which can serve as a "Raigeki"-esque turnaround against "Prophecy" monsters, so long as you don't run too many Spellcasters yourself.


 * "Nanobreaker", "Armed Dragon LV5", "Armed Dragon LV7" and/or "Shreddder" - Can clear the opponent's field of the lower-level "Prophecy" monsters, especially those that could have game-changing effects. Like the directly above noted cards though, cards like "High Priestess of Prophecy" and "Hierophant of Prophecy" can hastily end this opposition.


 * "Droll & Lock Bird", "Prohibition" and/or "Psi-Blocker" - Can stop many Spellbook-theme cards: "Spellbook of Judgment", "Spellbook Library of the Heliosphere", "Spellbook Star Hall", "Spellbook of Power", "Spellbook of Secrets", and "The Grand Spellbook Tower" as well as key "Prophecy" monsters from being used. Again though, these "one-card armies" can be easily put down.


 * "Deck Lockdown" and/or "Thunder King Rai-Oh" - "Prophecy" Decks often times substantially rely on Toolbox tactics to add "Prophecy" monsters and "Spellbook" Spells from the Deck to the Hand to keep Hand resources and play options motley. That being said, these two cards can extensively make Hand advantage much more sluggish by making Toolbox card effects useless.

Trivia

 * These cards are similar to the "Arcana Force" archetype in that they are based on Tarot Cards.
 * These cards are similar to the "Koa'ki Meiru" archetype in that they revolve around the use of a specific name of spells.
 * The ATK/DEF values and Level/Rank of "Empress of Prophecy", "High Priestess of Prophecy", and "Hierophant of Prophecy" are the same as the ATK/DEF and Level/Rank of the Dark Magicians.
 * Except for XYZ monsters, "Hierophant" and "Empress". Empress is Rank 5, just one Rank below the Level of "Dark Magician Girl"; and Heirophant is rank 7, one below Dark Magician of Chaos.
 * The Xyz "Prophecy" Monsters show the relationship they have with other "Prophecy" Monsters.
 * "High Priestess of Prophecy" being a Level 7 and being The High Priestess, which can be called by, The Popess. "And "Hierophant of Prophecy" being a Rank 7 and being The Hierophant which can be called by, The Pope.
 * "Empress of Prophecy" being a Rank 5 and being The Empress. And "Emperor of Prophecy" being a Level 5 and being The Emperor.
 * These cards have elements in this order; WATER (Levels 1-2), EARTH (Level 3), WIND/FIRE (Level 4), DARK (Levels 5-6, 8), LIGHT (Level 7,9).


 * All of the members (except Prophecy destroyer whose characters are on its sword) wear long flowing white ribbons that have characters on them.


 * All of the members including the spellbooks have a mirror-like crest on them somewhere which seems to be the offical symbol of the archtype.