Dark World

"Dark World" ( Ankokukai) is an archetype consisting mostly of DARK Fiend-Type monsters. They were introduced in Elemental Energy, with further support in Strike of Neos, Gates of the Underworld Structure Deck and Primal Origin.

They are based around effects that activate when they are discarded from the hand to the Graveyard by a card effect. This does not include costs that require the user to discard, such as "Lightning Vortex" or effects that send cards from the hand to the Graveyard, without discarding, such as "Hand Destruction". "Dark World" cards benefit from the use of cards like "Card Destruction", "Dragged Down into the Grave", "Morphing Jar", "Trance Archfiend" and "Fabled Raven".

Brron, Mad King of Dark World uses this archetype in the Yu-Gi-Oh! GX anime.

The anime-only "Dark Corridor" also belongs to this archetype since its kanji name contains "暗黒界".

"Darkworld Thorns" and "Cyber Soldier of Darkworld" are not "Dark World" cards, reflected by their names using "Darkworld" instead of "Dark World".

Naming
The names of "Dark World" monsters are mostly based on colors, many of which feature prominently in their artwork and their army positions. The English names are based on the words for the colors with extra letters added. The Japanese names are based on the transcriptions of the English words for the colors with one ore more morae deleted. The Chinese names are combinations of the color names and transcription/transliteration of English or Japanese words, in terms of phonetics.

Basic strategy
"Dark World" cards are generally intended to gain advantage by activating Summoning, destruction, and other effects through discarding cards (through effects) from your hand into the Graveyard. Many "Dark World" monsters gain extra effects if discarded by an opponent's effect.

"Dark World" monsters can rapidly and aggressively swarm the field and overwhelm the opponent by destroying and discarding your opponent's cards. The deck's main boss monster, "Grapha, Dragon Lord of Dark World", has a built-in destruction effect and the ability to Special Summon itself from the Graveyard; coupled with its high ATK, it is the key card in any "Dark World" Deck.

With the Gates of the Underworld Structure Deck, the Deck picked up more speed in Summoning and getting card effects. In addition to the aforementioned "Grapha", it introduced "Snoww, Unlight of Dark World", whose effect allows for quick searches and Deck thinning. On the other hand, the Deck no longer needed to rely on "Goldd, Wu-Lord of Dark World" and "Sillva, Warlord of Dark World" for power. Their high Level means that they will often sit unused in the hand (although they can still be viable for some strategies, such as a Rank 5 Xyz Summon). Using your discard outlets for other cards such as "Grapha" or "Snoww" is often more favorable to either immediately remove a threat, or search the Deck for a card you need.

Another uncommon strategy is discarding "Ceruli, Guru of Dark World" when you have a "Dark World" monster that gains effects when discarded by an opponent's card effect (e.g. "Reign-Beaux, Overlord of Dark World", "Goldd", or "Snoww"). Since the effect of "Ceruli" summons itself on the opponent's side of the fireld, you are the target of its discard effect; this gives your "Dark World" monster a special effect and wastes the opponent's field space. However, beware of the opponent using Ceruli for a Tribute/Synchro/Xyz Summon.

Discard effects
This section will show exactly which effects are activated with any "Dark World" monster's discard. This also shows exactly the additional effect that happens when the opponent's effect is the cause for the discard.

"Dark World" cards do not activate if they are discarded as part of a cost (e.g. "Lightning Vortex" or "Monster Reincarnation"), but they have several cards that force discards as an effect (e.g. "Dark World Dealings", "Dark World Lightning" or "Brron, Mad King of Dark World"). The difference has become easier to determine with the July 2011 "Problem-Solving Card Text" solution. Now all cards with a "discard" effect occurring after a semicolon, ";", are effects that will cause "Dark World" monsters' effects to activate. (See Discards for effect for a list of such cards.)

In general, a "Dark World" Deck should not rely too heavily on card effects that require the opponent to force a discard. Although the archetype has some means of forcing the opponent to make you discard, their situational nature means that you will often have difficulty making the most of the effects.

Recommended cards
"Dark World" cards have effects that activate when they are discarded from your hand to the Graveyard by a card effect. By taking advantage of this effect, players are able to both create easy field presence and turn the opponent's discard effects against them.

Thanks to its potential speed, this Deck can be very aggressive and powerful; however, it is incredibly vulnerable to cards that lock the Graveyard, such as "Dimensional Fissure" or "Macro Cosmos" (on the other hand, "Necrovalley" will not have as many restrictions). Using several copies of "Mystical Space Typhoon" and "Heavy Storm" will help prevent these cards from hurting you. "Imperial Iron Wall" is another option, but remember that it will also prevent you from using the second effect of "The Gates of Dark World".

Since all "Dark World" monsters are Fiend-Type, you can add "Solidarity" to boost the ATK of all "Dark World" monsters by 800 as long as there is at least one Fiend-Type monster (and no other Types) in your Graveyard. This has excellent synergy with "Fabled" or "Burning Abyss" monsters.

"Grapha, Dragon Lord of Dark World" is one of the key cards of this Deck. Not only is it quite powerful, but its second effect allows easy point destruction on a discard, and its first effect makes it extremely easy to Summon over and over. "Beiige, Vanguard of Dark World" is a good monster for the Deck, because its effect allows you to spam "Grapha" out of the Graveyard without using up your vital Normal Summon.

"Dark World" Decks can run cards such as "Dark Spirit Art - Greed" or "Advance Draw" to benefit from their easy Graveyard summons (e.g. the effects of "Goldd", "Gateway to Dark World", and especially "Grapha"). They can also be used with "Deck Devastation Virus" and "Eradicator Epidemic Virus" for massive advantage or destruction. "Dragged Down Into The Grave" acts similarly to "Dark World Dealings", allowing you to discard and draw, but also enabling you to look into the opponent's hand.

"Mind Crush" is an effective option, especially if combined with a Virus card or "Dragged Down Into the Grave"; you can either call out a card that might be trouble for you, or call it wrong so you can discard for effects. Note that you want ONE card in your hand for both "Dragged" and "Mind Crush" so your opponent only has one choice for the discard effects.

If you plan to use Synchro Monsters, the most useful Tuner monster would be "Fabled Raven", as its effect triggers the effect of "Dark World" monsters, and increase its own Level and ATK. In fact, "Fabled Raven" discarding either "Goldd" or "Sillva" will give you Level 8 Synchro Monster materials. "Fabled Raven" is also a Fiend, so it gets an ATK increase from "The Gates of Dark World" and can be banished or discarded for its effect.

Trance Archfiend is a nice catalyst for the deck. At Level 4, it can be Summoned easily, and its effect allows you to discard a "Dark World" monster to trigger its effect while giving itself 500 ATK, which is useful for the Virus cards mentioned above. Moreover, if it is destroyed by battle or effect, it lets you add a previously-banished DARK monster to your hand. This works well with "The Gates of Dark World"; by banishing a "Trance Archfiend", you can later recover it by another copy's effect for a nice cycle. "Trance Archfiend" also makes easy Rank 4 monsters if you discard Beiige with its effect. "Archfiend Heiress" can be discarded to search for "Trance Archfiend", or be used along with "Tour Guide From the Underworld".

You can mix certain "Fabled" monsters into a "Dark World" Deck, since they have synergy with each other. In addition, since they are LIGHT-attribute, you can use "Black Luster Soldier - Envoy of the Beginning" or "Chaos Sorcerer".

"Skill Drain" and "Light-Imprisoning Mirror" are both excellent choices for Trap support. "Skill Drain" negates effects on the field, but most "Dark World" monsters are unaffected, since their effects usually activate in the Graveyard. "Light-Imprisoning Mirror" negates effects of LIGHT monsters on the field and in the grave, only hurting you if you have "Fabled Raven" or other LIGHT monsters on the field.

"Van'Dalgyon the Dark Dragon Lord" works well in a "Dark World" deck. In addition to adding some extra power, you can use it's effect, in conjunction with "Dark Illusion", to counter an opponents card, and then special summon a powerful monster in the Graveyard (such as Goldd, Reign-Beaux, or Grapha).

"Allure of Darkness" can offer draw power, then you can Special Summon the monster you banished with "Leviair the Sea Dragon", which can also be used to Summon monsters banished by the effect of "The Gates of Dark World".

"Dark Armed Dragon" can be useful, as all "Dark World" monsters are of the DARK Attribute.

Although not necessary to activate the monsters' effects, "Forced Requisition" is a great addition to this Deck. For every card you discard, your opponent has to discard the same amount, negating your hand disadvantage. A similar effect can occur if you activate "Appropriate" and have several cards that let you draw. Both of these work extremely well for "Dark World Dealings", so you could draw three cards and discard one, and your opponent draws one card and discards two.

"Card Destruction" and "Morphing Jar" are very useful for "Dark World" Decks as they can provide many discards and draws at once.

"Fiendish Rhino Warrior" is an effective addition to the Deck. It protects other Fiends from card effects and destruction by battle while it's on the field, and when sent to the Graveyard, it can take another Fiend with it from the Deck. The latter effect makes "Fiendish Rhino Warrior" another excellent target for discard effects or "Tour Guide From the Underworld"; get it to the Graveyard, and it can add "Grapha" for future Summoning tricks.

You can also use "Scarm, Malebranche of the Burning Abyss" in the Deck. It searches out "Broww, Huntsman of Dark World" and "Tour Guide From the Underworld" during the "End Phase" of the turn it was sent to the graveyard. It will work good with "Dark World Dealings" and cards that provide a discard effect.

"Dark World" also heavily benefits from "Tour Guide From the Underworld", which can be used to Summon "Broww, Huntsman of Dark World", "Fiendish Rhino Warrior", or "Scarm, Malebranche of the Burning Abyss", which can Xyz Summon with "Tour Guide" for a Rank 3 Xyz Monster. Alternately, you can bounce "Broww" to Summon Grapha from the Graveyard; as a bonus, "Broww" will be back in the hand to use its discard effect when necessary.

Weaknesses and counter-strategies

 * "Dark World" Decks are vulnerable to "Six Samurai" Decks, which can shut down the discard effects of their Spells and Traps. Running monsters with discard effects, such as "Fabled Raven" or "Trance Archfiend", can help mitigate this somewhat.
 * Any Decks that stop you from discarding will completely shut down the "Dark World" Deck's main strategy. Alternately, "Magical Thorn" can inflict severe damage by forcing the opponent to take 500 LP damage every time they discard a card.
 * "Shadow-Imprisoning Mirror" will completely shut down "Dark World" monsters.
 * The effects of most "Dark World" monsters activate in the Graveyard, so banish strategies that revolve around "Dimensional Fissure", "Karma Cut" or "Macro Cosmos" almost completely invalidate their threat.
 * Several Continuous effects will utterly cripple a "Dark World" Deck. However, remember that most "Dark World" Decks can simply discard "Grapha" to destroy the offending card.
 * "Consecrated Light" prevents DARK monsters from attacking or being Summoned.
 * "The End of Anubis", "Shadow-Imprisoning Mirror", "Banisher of the Light", "Abyss Dweller" and "Banisher of the Radiance" will completely negate all in-Graveyard effects, making "Dark World" cards nearly useless.
 * On the other hand, "Necrovalley" will have little effect on a "Dark World" Deck. This is because the effects of most "Dark World" monsters affect cards out of the Graveyard or target themselves for Special Summoning, neither of which are affected by "Necrovalley". Some cards that are affected include "Snoww, Unlight of Dark World" (second effect only), "The Gates of Dark World" (second effect only), "Gateway to Dark World", and "The Forces of Darkness".
 * "Soul Drain" will negate "Dark World" effects that start a Chain from activating in the Graveyard. Note that this will not stop the Special Summon of certain "Dark World" monsters, such as "Grapha, Dragon Lord of Dark World", as its Special Summoning does not start a Chain.
 * Since the majority of "Dark World" monsters have to be Special Summoned to gain their effects, they can be handled with cards that prevent Special Summoning, such as "Vanity's Ruler" or "Vanity's Fiend".
 * "Dark World" cards are also all DARK Fiend-Type, making it possible for your opponent to tailor their strategy to counter those kinds of cards specifically, such as with "Tualatin" or "Exile of the Wicked".
 * "Dark World" Decks may also run into complications when facing other "Dark World" Decks, as some of the key discard cards that let the "Dark World" monsters trigger their effects have both Duelists discard, which will activate the more dangerous effects of an opponent's "Dark World" monsters.