Magician (archetype)

"Magician" (, Majutsushi) is an archetype consisting of Spellcaster-Type monsters used by Yuya Sakaki that debuted in Starter Deck 2014 with "Stargazer Magician" and "Timegazer Magician". The archetype is related to the "Odd-Eyes" and "Performapal" archetypes.

Due to their Japanese names, a number of older cards, such as "Time Wizard" and "Night Wing Sorceress", also fall into this archetype. Also, several older cards, such as the "Dark Magician" archetype and "Magician of Faith", include "Magician" in their names but are not part of this archetype. However, because TCG and OCG support for this archetype only works on Pendulum Monsters, neither have been an issue.

Design
So far, the "Magician" Pendulum Monsters appear to be divided in pairs, with each member of a pair having the same naming scheme of the other representing opposing concepts, and a Pendulum Scale that allows a wide range of Level if placed with it. Additionally, each pair supports a particular Special Summoning method and each one can be Pendulum Summoned by using the corresponding counterpart as one of the Pendulum Monsters.

Play style
"Magician" Pendulum Monsters have average ATK and DEF ("Antithesis Magician" has the highest attack, with 2500, while "Dragonpit Magician" has the highest defense, with 2700), and their Levels vary between 3 and 7.

While the "Magician" Pendulum Monsters are not powerful on their own, they have formidable effects in the Pendulum Zones, with Pendulum Effects which include swarming the field and searching out other "Magicians".

The major strength of this archetype is having easy access to its monsters, since Pendulum Monsters that would be sent from the field to the Graveyard are instead placed in the Extra Deck, from where they can easily be Pendulum Summoned. Due to having multiple monsters at Levels 3, 4, and 7, it can easily perform Xyz Summons. With the help of the Tuner monster "Noble Dragon Magician" combined with "Odd-Eyes Pendulum Dragon", the Deck also allows Synchro Summons, making it quite versatile.

The Pendulum Scales of "Magician" Pendulum Monsters are usually either very low (1, 2, or 3) or very high (8), making it easy to Pendulum Summon most monsters. Two "Magician" monsters have a scale of 5 ("Noble Dragon Magician" and "Insight Magician"), but their effects allow them to remove themselves from the Pendulum Zone ("Noble Dragon" destroys itself if there is not a "Magician" in the other Pendulum Zone, moving it to the Extra Deck to be Pendulum Summoned later; "Insight" destroys itself to search another "Magician" Pendulum Monster and places it in its Pendulum Zone, even allowing "Timegazer Magician" to be placed on the field while controlling monsters).

By discarding one card (preferably "Noble Dragon Magician"), "Pendulum Call" can search any two "Magician" Pendulum Monsters with different names, as long as the player hasn't already activated the Pendulum Effect of a "Magician" Pendulum Monster this turn.

Since the Deck uses lots of Spellcaster-Type monsters, the Deck can use many Spellcaster support cards.

"Odd-Eyes Pendulum Dragon" can be searched by "Fusion Conscription" (if "Rune-Eyes Pendulum Dragon" is in the Extra Deck), and then used for its Pendulum Effect to search for any "Magician" Pendulum Monster (except "Antithesis Magician", "Peasant Dragon Magician", or "Dragonvein Magician"). It can also be searched by "Sky Arc" by destroying a card on your side of the field. This effect can be used to destroy a card in a Pendulum Zone to clear space for another Pendulum Monster, such as "Odd-Eyes Pendulum Dragon" itself due to its searching effect. "Sky Arc" also protects "Magicians" in the player's Pendulum Zones from being targeted by the opponent's card effects.

Having "Dragonvein Magician" and "Dragonpit Magician" in your Pendulum Zones allows you to discard a Pendulum Monster to destroy one monster and one Spell/Trap Card per turn. If "Noble Dragon Magician" is discarded for this cost, it can use its effect to Special Summon itself from the Graveyard (if the player controls an "Odd-Eyes" monster).

If "Peasant Dragon Magician" is in a Pendulum Zone, once per turn it can add a "Magician" card from the Extra Deck to the player's hand. If it adds "Insight Magician", "Insight Magician" can then be used to search another "Magician" Pendulum Monster again, ideally one with a Pendulum Scale of 8, which would allow the Pendulum Summon of a large number of monsters.

With "Synthesis Magician" and "Antithesis Magician" in the Pendulum Zones, the player can Pendulum Summon "Odd-Eyes Rebellion Dragon", but they are also incredibly useful on the field. "Antithesis Magician" has the highest ATK of all "Magician" cards; once per turn, "Synthesis Magician" can copy the ATK of another monster you control.

Official Magician Deck
Here is an Official Magician deck release by V Jump.