Mist Valley

"Mist Valley" ( Misuto Barē) is an archetype of WIND-Attribute monsters whose effects involve returning cards to their owner's hand. Many of them have their own effect(s) triggered when they are returned to the hand themselves, or involve returning one's own cards to the hand as a cost for triggering their effects. The "Mist Valley" monsters are predominately either Winged Beast or Thunder-Type monsters, so collectively they benefit from the Field Spell Cards "Rising Air Current" and "Mountain"; "Icarus Attack" and "Spiritual Wind Art - Miyabi" can be used alongside them. They were released to the TCG through Hidden Arsenal.

In particular, the only "Mist Valley" Synchro Monster, "Mist Valley Thunder Lord", is a very powerful and versatile monster in terms of its ATK and effect. By returning one card on your field to your hand, this monster's ATK increases by 500 to 3100, the highest ATK among common Synchro Monsters. Cards best to return include activated Continuous Spell or Trap cards like "Call of the Haunted", as well as used Effect Monsters. Also when combined with the "Blackwing" archetype, "Dark Simorgh" becomes very playable, not to mention the addition of the Draw cards; "Allure of Darkness" and "Hand Destruction" become more available. This archetype also has swarm capacity thanks to cards like "Divine Wind of Mist Valley", "Reborn Tengu" and "Genex Ally Birdman"

Duel Terminal Storyline
"Mist Valley" is one of the four most influential tribes of the Duel Terminal alongside "Ice Barrier", "X-Saber", and "Flamvell". During the "Worm" invasion, the four tribes created the Ally of Justice to repel off the Worms attacks. Later, the other three tribes started to change their vision, from destroying the Worms to capturing them and using them as a power source to empower the Ally of Justice armies. Disagreeing with this, the Mist Valley tribe left the other tribes and started to fight with their own power. Unfortunately, the Worms got the upper hand from the standing-alone Mist Valley tribe, which lacked the army and power to face the Worms. They later aligned themselves with the legendary Dragunity tribe who inhabited the ravine next to them. Both tribes started working together to repel the Worms. The Mist Valley tribe later vanished due to the rampaging Trishula, Dragon of the Ice Barrier who was desperately released by the Ice Barrier tribe as a last resort to end the chaos in the Duel Terminal World.

Valley Synchro
This type of the deck relies on swarming speed via the combination of "Divine Wind of Mist Valley" and "Mist Valley Thunderbird". This is done through the effect of "Thunderbird" who is automatically summoned after bounced to hand, followed by the summon of "Mist Condor" or "Genex Ally Birdman" from the hand. This will trigger the field effect while keeping "Thunderbird" due to its effect. Via the Field Spell's effect it's easy to search a "Reborn Tengu" from the Deck to perform a Synchro or Xyz Summon, Summoning another "Tengu" while keeping your hand size stable. In order to quickly set up your combos, some cards like Flying Kamakiri or Swallow's Nest can be used to deploy Thunderbird to your field quickly, and as hand modifier, cards such as "Magical Mallet", "Terraforming", or "Reload" are highly recommended. You can also use "Pot of Duality", with the risk of delaying one turn for your combo to run. Mist Valley Falcon and Mist Valley Soldier are other great cards that can help stalling until you get the cards that you need. With the release of Gusto archetype in Hidden Arsenal 5: Steelswarm Invasion, this type of deck can be more consistent as the Gustos can provide some sturdy defensive line in case the combo doesn't run smoothly.

Avian Lock Down
This deck focuses on using the Lockdown effect of "Mist Valley Apex Avian" with the effect of "Mist Valley Thunderbird", which Special Summons itself when returned to the hand. Apex Avian is the harder-to-summon monster, but the deck can employ cards such as "Tribute Doll", "Cost Down", or monsters that Special Summon themselves, such as "Genex Ally Birdman" or "Cyber Dragon". You can also Special Summon Apex Avian with cards like "Monster Reborn" or "Dragunity Darkspear".

The only way for an opponent to stop the Lockdown would either be to destroy either monster by battle, use Counter Trap Cards, or use multiple effects on a chain: if the targeted Mist Valley monster is no longer on the field when Apex Avian's effect resolves, the opponent's card will not be negated, and thus running out of Mist Valley monsters during the Chain will result in the loss of Apex Avian's effect. To protect your monsters from being destroyed by battle, use cards that can prevent this in some way, such as "Book of Moon", "Scrap-Iron Scarecrow", "Waboku", or "Mirror Force", or destroy the monster before it can attack with cards like "Bottomless Trap Hole" or "Solemn Judgment". "Royal Decree" or "Seven Tools of the Bandit: can be used to stop Counter Trap Cards, but the former will stop all of your Trap cards as well, and "Dark Simorgh" can prevent them from being Set in the first place. A variety of cards will also be needed to stop your opponent from utilizing multiple effects on a Chain, depending on which cards they use: "Divine Wrath" can stop Monster Effects like "Stardust Dragon" or "Effect Veiler", while cards like "Dark Bribe" and "Solemn Judgment" can stop Spell or Trap Effects.

With the release of Order of Chaos, this type of deck can become more competitive, since it's now possible to merge some Ninja cards to strengthen this deck, mainly Ninja Grandmaster Hanzo which can easily search for Ninjitsu Art of Transformation. Set the trap immediately and activate it during your opponent's Draw Phase, summoning Apex Avian from your deck.

NOTE : remember that Divine Wind of Mist Valley and Shrine of Mist Valley are also counted as Mist Valley cards that Apex Avian can bounce in order to activate it's effect. These field cards can be searched more easily with Terraforming and if your opponent tried to destroy them you can bounce them instead. It's now better to use those cards than Thunderbird who is vulnerable to attacks.

Black Valley
Black Valley Decks combine Mist Valley and Blackwing monsters. The Deck uses "Future Visions", "Anti-Spell Fragrance", and "Dark Simorgh" to force your opponent into a turn by turn lockdown where they can't set. Also, any monsters they Normal Summon will be removed from play the turn they are Normal Summoned, thanks to Future Visions. Due to the fact that many Mist Valley cards return cards back to the hand, you can use this to your advantage and return "Future Visions" to your hand to keep your opponent's monsters from returning to their side of the field. Mist Valley and Blackwings have many good Tuners, such as "Mist Valley Soldier" and "Blackwing - Gale the Whirlwind", which makes this Deck very Synchro-friendly. Most Mist Valley and all Blackwing monsters are Winged Beast-Type monsters so "Icarus Attack" is a good support card. Another card that could help this Deck is "Begone, Knave!", because many Mist Valley monsters, such as "Mist Valley Falcon", "Mist Valley Thunder Lord", and "Mist Valley Executor, can avoid this effect by returning it to your hand and you can reset it during your Main Phase 2. "Mist Valley Thunderbird" returns to your field when it is sent back to your hand can avoid it completely. "Mist Valley Apex Avian" can send another Mist Valley on your side of the field to your hand to negate its effect and keep it from returning to your hand. Many Blackwing monsters can Special Summon themselves from your hand to the field so they are not very affected either. The trump card of this Deck is "Dark Simorgh". However, keep in mind that "Royal Oppression" can negate "Dark Simorgh's" Special Summon so use the Mist Valley monsters to return cards to your hand on your turn to avoid this problem.

Useful Cards

 * "Flying Kamakiri 1": This card is useful for searching out "Mist Valley Thunderbird", one of the deck's most important cards, and "Mist Valley Shaman", a useful tuner. It also helps block attacks.
 * "Delta Flyer": Although this card is not part of the Mist Valley archetype, it can still benefit from many of the archetype's cards that support WIND monsters - "Mist Valley Divine Wind" and "Flying Kamakiri 1" (if you choose to use it) both count. Its level-boosting effect can help with Synchro summons too.
 * "Genex Ally Birdman": This card was practically made to work with Mist Valley. It's easy to summon, and triggers the effects of Thunderbird and Divine Wind = at the cost of being a one-use card. Use wisely.
 * "Swords of Revealing Light", "Big Bang Shot": use in conjunction with Mist Valley Falcon or Mist Valley Thunder Lord effect. Equip Big Bang Shot to your opponent faced up monster card to remove it from play while returning this spell to your hands.
 * "Terraforming": Considering how well Mist Valley can use the free special summons from "Mist Valley Divine Wind", it makes sense to have at least one "Terraforming".
 * "Begone, Knave!": This card is quite good in Mist Valley. It makes your opponent wary of attacking, but can work in your favor with "Mist Valley Thunderbird" and "Divine Wind". It's also particularly good with "Flying Kamakiri 1", as you can attack a high-ATK monster with the Kamakiri, destroying your monster and special summoning another from your deck. Meanwhile, because your opponent's monster dealt battle damage, it is returned to their hand! Finally, when you don't want to be hampered by this trap card, you can easily return it to your hand with "Mist Valley Falcon" and "Mist Valley Thunderlord".
 * "Compulsory Evacuation Device": You can return your own monster to your hand, triggering an effect - or return a difficult monster of your opponent's. The Evacuation Device is very versatile.
 * "Dragunity Darkspear": Revives your "Mist Valley Falcon"s and is searchable with "Divine Wind", usually a better alternative to "Mist Valley Shaman".
 * "Penguin Soldier": Allows you to bounce your opponents monsters and can also be used on your own mist valley monsters as well. can also be used as synchro material for "Dewloren, Tiger king of the Ice Barrier."
 * "Quill Pen of Gulldos": Allows you to put any 2 Mist Valley monsters back into your deck, as well as bounce either your cards or your opponent's.
 * "Summoner Monk" : Most Mist Valley decks tend to run a large number of Spell Cards, so this card can make use of the extra copies of "Divine Wind" and "Terraforming" in order to Special summon Mist valley Soldier, which leads to Level 8 Synchros or a level 4 Xyz.
 * "Safe Zone" : Keep Safe Zone face down and either use it to protect your own monsters in a pinch, or attach it to your opponent's big monsters and return it to your hand with Mist Valley Falcon or Mist Valley Thunder Lord to immediately destroy their monster and recycle Safe Zone for later.
 * "Spring of Rebirth" : = Since you're going to be bouncing a lot of monsters, this card could help with a Life Point income. Maybe with Begone, Knave! you can get back Life Points after a battle so the loss isn't that big.

Monsters

 * Mist Condor
 * Mist Valley Apex Avian
 * Mist Valley Baby Roc
 * Swift Birdman Joe
 * Mist Valley Falcon
 * Mist Valley Shaman
 * Mist Valley Thunderbird
 * Mist Valley Soldier
 * Lady Ninja Yae
 * Genex Ally Birdman
 * Genex Blastfan when searched via "Divine Wind" adds a "Genex Ally Birdman" to hand
 * Reborn Tengu
 * Winged Rhynos

Spells

 * Mist Valley Divine Wind
 * Spring of Rebirth
 * Quill Pen of Gulldos
 * Swallow's Nest
 * Swords of Revealing Light
 * Terraforming

Traps

 * Icarus Attack
 * Compulsory Evacuation Device
 * Spiritual Wind Art - Miyabi
 * Begone, Knave!
 * Starlight Road
 * Dark Bribe

Extra Deck

 * Mist Valley Thunder Lord
 * Mist Wurm
 * Vortex the Whirlwind
 * Daigusto Phoenix
 * Vindikite R-Genex
 * Ancient Fairy Dragon (special summon 1 level 4 or lower monster from hand once per turn at the cost of not being able to conduct your battle phase and to destroy a field spell to search out another field spell, gaining 1000 life points)