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.

The cards of this archetype relies 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 similiar to Ritual Summoning.

There is 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 may 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 an 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 "Inzektor".

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 activate its effect to Special Summon a Dragon-Type Normal Monster from your hand, Deck or Graveyard, which means you literally get to destroy your opponent's cards and get a free monster for your troubles.

Taking all these points into consideration, one should now be able to see the true 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 "Hieratic", but it can be Special Summoned by nearly any of the other "Hieratics", can be used with "Trade-In" or "Advance Draw", and being an easily Summonable 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 materials such as "Blue-Eyes Ultimate Dragon", "Meteor B. Dragon", and to a lesser extent "King Dragun".

Monsters

 * Black Luster Soldier - Envoy of the Beginning
 * Dragorado
 * Eclipse Wyvern
 * Hieratic Dragon of Gebeb
 * Hieratic Dragon of Nuit
 * Hieratic Dragon of Eset
 * Hieratic Dragon of Nebthet
 * Hieratic Seal of the Dragon King
 * Hieratic Dragon of Tefnuit
 * Hieratic Dragon of Su
 * Hieratic Dragon of Asar
 * Hieratic Dragon of Sutekh
 * Hieratic Seal of the Sun Dragon Overlord
 * Honest
 * Red-Eyes Darkness Metal Dragon
 * Blue-Eyes White Dragon
 * Galaxy-Eyes Photon Dragon

Spells

 * Burial from a Different Dimension
 * Dragon's Mirror
 * Enemy Controller
 * Future Fusion
 * Hieratic Seal of Convocation
 * Hieratic Seal of Supremacy
 * Super Rejuvenation
 * Silent Doom
 * Trade-In
 * White Elephant's Gift
 * Advance Draw

Traps

 * Hieratic Seal of Banishment
 * Hieratic Seal of Reflection
 * Hieratic Seal from the Ashes
 * Burst Breath
 * Champion's Vigilance
 * Dragon's Rage
 * Horn of Heaven
 * Photon Current
 * Xyz Reborn

Extra Deck

 * Daigusto Emeral
 * Five-Headed Dragon
 * Hieratic Dragon King of Atum
 * Hieratic Sun Dragon Overlord of Heliopolis
 * Inzektor Exa-Beetle
 * Lavalval Chain
 * Number 15: Gimmick Puppet - Giant Killer
 * Neo Galaxy-Eyes Photon Dragon
 * Photon Streak Bouncer
 * Sacred Pleiades
 * Sacred Ptolemys Messier 7
 * Super Dreadnought Cannon Express Gustaph Max
 * Thunder End Dragon
 * Trident Dragion
 * Queen Dragun
 * Neo 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. It has a fairly high One Turn Kill ratio.

Monsters

 * Divine Dragon Apocralyph
 * Dragorado
 * Galaxy-Eyes Photon Dragon
 * Hieratic Dragon of Eset
 * Hieratic Dragon of Nebthet
 * Hieratic Dragon of Su
 * Hieratic Dragon of Tefnuit
 * Hieratic Seal of the Sun Dragon Overlord
 * Honest
 * Red-Eyes Darkness Metal Dragon
 * Red-Eyes Wyvern

Spells

 * Burial from a Different Dimension
 * Dragon's Mirror
 * Enemy Controller
 * Hieratic Seal of Convocation
 * Future Fusion
 * Monster Gate
 * Share the Pain
 * Super Rejuvenation
 * Resonance Device
 * Trade-In
 * Advance Draw

Traps

 * Burst Breath
 * Champion's Vigilance
 * Dragon's Rage
 * Dragon's Rebirth
 * Horn of Heaven
 * Photon Current
 * Xyz Reborn

Extra Deck

 * Daigusto Emeral
 * Five-Headed Dragon
 * Hieratic Dragon King of Atum
 * Hieratic Sun Dragon Overlord of Heliopolis
 * Lavalval Chain
 * Neo Galaxy-Eyes Photon Dragon
 * Sacred Pleiades
 * Sacred Ptolemys Messier 7
 * Super Dreadnought Cannon Express Gustaph Max
 * Thunder End Dragon
 * Thunderclap Knight - Gaia Dragoon

Hieratic FTK/OTK
All you need to do to set this up is to make sure your opponent has exactly one monster out.

Cards needed:
 * Hieratic Dragon of Eset
 * Hieratic Sun Dragon Overlord of Heliopolis
 * Hieratic Dragon of Nebthet
 * Hieratic Dragon of Su
 * Hieratic Dragon of Tefnuit
 * Hieratic Dragon of Asar
 * Hieratic Seal of the Sun Dragon Overlord x3
 * Thunder End Dragon
 * Any Dragon you can Tribute, but doesn't Summon anything.

How it works:
 * Your opponent has one monster on your field. All you need are 6 cards in your hand and then you can pull it off.  The Seal need to start in your Deck, the other Hieratics listed need to be in your hand.
 * Since your opponent controls a monster, and you don't, you can Special Summon Tfeni.
 * Tribute Tfeni to Special Summon Shiyu. Activate Tfeni and Summon a Seal from your Deck.
 * Tribute Shiyu for Nephthe. Summon another Seal.
 * Tribute Nephthe for Aset, and Summon a 3rd Seal.
 * Activate Aset, making it Level 8.
 * Overlay Aset with a Seal to Summon Ennead.
 * Overlay 2 Seal for Thunder End.
 * Activate Ennead,(IMPORTANT NOTE: Make sure you detach a Seal, otherwise it won't work!) Tribute a dragon in your hand but not Usir, sending your opponent's monster to the Graveyard.
 * Remove Aset and the Seal in your Graveyard, to Special Summon Usir.
 * Attack with all 3 monsters for game.

3000 + 3000 + 2600 = 8600

-

Another way to OTK is more common Red-Eyes build that only needs 3 cards in hand to work. Wattdragon/Luster Dragon 2 is used instead of Hieratic Seal of the Sun Dragon Overlord.

Cards needed:


 * Hieratic Dragon of Eset or Hieratic Dragon of Tefnuit (if your opponent has a monster out)
 * Hieratic Dragon of Su x2 (one of them can be replaced by Hieratic Dragon of Nebthet)
 * Thunderclap Knight - Gaia Tragoono x2
 * Hieratic Dragon King of Atum x2
 * Wattdragon/Luster Dragon 2 x2 (which will be referred to as 'Normal Dragon' for ease)
 * Red-Eyes Darkness Metal Dragon x2
 * Super Dreadnought Cannon Express Gustaph Max

How it works:


 * All you need is one Aset (or Tfeni) and 2 Shiyu (one of them can be replaced by Hieratic Dragon of Nebthet) in your hand. Before you start, you can use something like Dark Hole or Heavy Storm to make sure the combo works as planned.
 * First, Normal Summon Aset or Special Summon Tfeni if your opponent has a monster out.
 * Then Tribute that monster to Special Summon Shiyu or Nephthe, and Special Summon a Normal Dragon.
 * Tribute Shiyu or Nephthe to Special Summon the 2nd Shiyu, and the 2nd Normal Dragon.
 * Overlay 2 Normal Dragons for Atumus and use its effect to Special Summon a Red-Eyes Darkness Metal Dragon from your Deck. Then, use Red-Eyes Darkness Metal Dragon's effect to Special Summon a detached Normal Dragon.
 * Overlay Shiyu and a Normal Dragon for the 2nd Atumus, then do the previous step (make sure you detach the Normal Dragon!).
 * Overlay 2 Red-Eyes Darkness Metal Dragons for Gustaph Max. You can use the effect now or after the battle.
 * Use 2 Atumus as Xyz Material for Gaia Tragoono.
 * Attack with all 4 monsters. If your opponent still has Life Points left, just use the effect of Gustaph Max for more damage (if you haven't used it in Main Phase 1).

2600 (Gaia Tragoono) + 2500/2400 (Wattdragon/Luster Dragon 2) + 3000 (Gustaph Max) + 2000 (Gustaph Max's effect) = 12700/12600

Weaknesses
Cards like "Mask of Restrict", "Fog King", etc. that prevents Tributes 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 (they go to the Graveyard this way), since all of them are LIGHT Attribute. Ally of Justice monsters, "Koa'ki Meiru Drago" and "Penumbral Soldier Lady" can pull their plug on the field also. Because most "Inzektor" cards like Inzektor Hornet don't care about being in the Graveyard, they can pose a decent threat against you. Since most of Hieratic cards are Level 5 or higher, "Verz Ophion" can put this Deck into almost perfect deadlock situation.

Finally, a huge problem with the Deck is that it is common to Dead Draw, which puts you in deep trouble, meaning once you lose all momentum to something like "Dark Hole", you might find yourself stuck until you find a card that can save you. This can be remidied somewhat with cards like "Trade-In" that lets you use your cards to draw more cards.

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.