Prophecy

"Prophecy", known as "Magical" ( Madō) in the OCG, is an archetype of mostly Spellcaster-Type monsters with effects based around "Spellbook" Spell Cards. It is supported exclusively by "Stoic of Prophecy". It is used by Kev Ravenwood in the Yu-Gi-Oh! ARC-V anime.

Due to their Japanese names containing, a number of older cards, such as "Armor Exe" ("Magical Armor Exe") and "Dark Paladin" ("Super-Magical Swordsman - Black Paladin"), also fall into this archetype. Even some cards released after "Stoic of Prophecy", such as "Ebon Illusion Magician", that fall into this archetype do not include "Prophecy" in their English names. However, because TCG and OCG support for this archetype only works on Level 3 Monster Cards in the Main Deck, none receive support and lack synergy with the Deck.

Origin
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 French-language tarot decks.

Several Prophecy monsters ("Stoic of Prophecy", "Empress of Prophecy", "High Priestess of Prophecy", "Hierophant of Prophecy", "Prophecy Destroyer", and "World of Prophecy") have the same ATK/DEF as several of Yugi Muto's signature monsters ("Kuriboh", "Dark Magician Girl", "Dark Magician", "Magician of Black Chaos"/"Dark Magician of Chaos", "Summoned Skull", and "Dark Paladin", respectively) while many others match monsters used by other characters of the era.

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 every turn.

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 adding Spellbooks to your 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 aid 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.

Infected Gloomy Warlocks
By using "Eradicator Epidemic Virus" and "Deck Devastation Virus" with "Reaper of Prophecy", "Prophecy Destroyer", "Fortune of Prophecy" and some others DARK Spellcaster-type monsters for the tribute. Also with "Reaper of Prophecy's" effect to swarm the field with high level DARK Spellcasters and with "Sorciere de Fleur"'s effect to make it a One Turn Kill.

Counter-Strategies
The "Prophecy" archetype is overall so diverse in terms of monster stats (minus their Type) and strategies that it's almost impossible if at all to completely render this Deck moot as well-built "Prophecy" Decks can be very resilient and multi-faceted in terms of play strategies. However, there are some cards that can deter these kind of Decks:


 * "Spell Canceller", "Cursed Seal of the Forbidden Spell", "Morphing Jar 2" and/or "Eradicator Epidemic Virus" - Can deadlock "Spellbook" Spells from being played, however the first may also lock your own Deck. The second could be a temporary reprieve if you run a good amount of Spells, but may backlash against you if your opponent gets monsters out, which well-built "Prophecy" Decks will have a diverse way of doing so. The third may often rely on chance, yet if your opponent lacks monsters in their Deck or better yet have used most of them along with having a lot of them on the Field, it could severely Deck your opponent out.  The last card does not stay on the Field and 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 damage as well.


 * "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, if any at all.


 * "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, especially in the current meta, which has focused more on Field control.


 * "Deck Lockdown" and/or "Mistake" plus/minus "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 cards can extensively make Hand advantage much more sluggish by making Toolbox card effects useless.


 * "Puppet Plant" - This card can flich a high-powered "Prophecy" monster in a pinch; it's not as easy to interdict unless it is discarded beforehand or if "Mind Drain" is used. Better yet, the monster can afterwards be either Tributed, used for an effect or even as Synchro or Xyz Material (i.e. with Xyz Summons, use two of this card to embezzle two "High Priestess of Prophecy"s and then Xyz Summon "Number 11: Big Eye" (in the TCG) or "Mecha Phantom Beast Dracossack").

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.
 * 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 Prophecy monsters (except "Prophecy Destroyer") wear long flowing ribbons or sashes that feature magical runes on them.
 * All of the Prophecy monsters and Spellbooks feature the mirror-like crest of the Prophecy archetype.