Dark World

"Dark World" ( Ankokukai) is an archetype of cards 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" is not considered a "Dark World" card as its name in the OCG translates to "Demon World" 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 Chinese names is combinations of color/metal names and transcription/transliteration of English or Japanese words, in terms of phonetics.

Basic Strategy
"Dark World" cards in general are intended to gain Summoning, destruction, and abilities by discarding cards (through effects) from your hand into the Graveyard, and many of the "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, using its main boss monster, "Grapha, Dragon Lord of Dark World", who has a built-in destruction effect and the ability to Special Summon itself from the Graveyard, and is the key card in any "Dark World" Deck.

With the new Gates of the Underworld Structure Deck, this Deck has picked up more speed in Summoning and getting card effects. The aforementioned "Grapha", for power and destruction and "Snoww, Unlight of Dark World" allows for quick searches for any Deck thinning.

With the release of "Grapha", the Deck no longer needs 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. 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", also work when you have "Reign-Beaux, Overlord of Dark World", "Goldd", etc. To gain them a Special effect when discarded by opponent's card effect and wasting opponent's field space.

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 there are other ways to discard them than by "Dark World Dealings", "Dark World Lightning" or "Brron, Mad King of Dark World". This has become easy 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 cause "Dark World" monsters' effects to activate. See Discards for effect.

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, though incredibly vulnerable to cards that lock the Graveyard, namely "Dimensional Fissure", "Macro Cosmos" and so on. Thankfully, the same does not apply to "Necrovalley". To be safe, using several copies of "Mystical Space Typhoon" and "Heavy Storm" will help prevent these cards from hurting you.

Since "Dark World" monsters are Fiend-Type, you can add "Solidarity" to boost up the ATK of all "Dark World" monsters by 800 as long as there is at least one Fiend-Type monster in your Graveyard. Easily paired with Burning Abyss monsters.

"Beiige, Vanguard of Dark World" is a good monster because its effect allows you to spam "Grapha" out of the Graveyard without using up your vital Normal Summon.

"Dark World" monsters can also be used with "Deck Devastation Virus" and "Eradicator Epidemic Virus" for massive advantage destruction. This can also be used with Dragged Down Into The Grave to have and discard and draw, but look into their hand. Lastly, use Mind Crush since viruses and Dragged let you see their hand. Call out a card that might be trouble for you, or call it wrong so you can discard for effects. Note, you want ONE card in your hand for both Dragged and Mind Crush so the card that your opponent must discard the only card in your hand.

Also, 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. Level 4 allows it to be summoned easily, and its effect allows you to discard a "Dark World" monster to trigger its effect, and allow Trance to gain 500, which is useful for viruses mentioned above. Moreover, if it is destroyed by battle or effect it gives you a dark monster back from being removed from play. Tie this effect with Gates of The Dark World by banishing a Trance to have it recovered by another Trance and you have a nice cycle. Trance also makes easy Rank 4 monsters if you discard Beiige. Archfiend Heiress can be discarded to search for Trance and can be used along with "Tour Guide From the Underworld".

Skill Drain and Light Imprisoning Mirror are both excellent choices. Skill Drain negates effects on the field, not affecting Dark World monsters whose effects activate in the grave, and Mirror negates effects of light monsters on the field and in the grave, only hurting you if you have Raven on the field.

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".

"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".

"Necrovalley" affects this Deck only very slightly because "Necrovalley" can't negate the effect of monsters that Special Summon themselves from the Graveyard. Some cards that are affected are "Snoww, Unlight of Dark World," (only the second effect) "Gateway to Dark World" and "The Forces of Darkness".

"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.

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" or "Scarm, Malebranche of the Burning Abyss" which can either Xyz Summon with "Tour Guide" or you can bounce "Broww" to special summon Grapha from grave.

Weaknesses and Counter-Strategies
Decks that have a big influence or that can shut down this Deck are "Six Samurai" and Decks that stop you from discarding. "Shadow-Imprisoning Mirror" will completely shut down this Deck, but "Mystical Space Typhoon" or Side Decking a "Dust Tornado" would take care of those. Royal Decree might also be a good choice. The effects of "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, though a "Dark World" player would still be able to Normal Summon their stronger monsters and use "Dark World Lightning" to destroy face-downs. "The End of Anubis", "Shadow-Imprisoning Mirror", "Banisher of the Light", "Abyss Dweller" and "Banisher of the Radiance" will also completely negate all in-Graveyard effects, making "Dark World" cards nearly useless. "Soul Drain" will negate "Dark World" effects that start a Chain from activating in the Graveyard, except for the Special Summoning of certain "Dark World" monsters, such as "Grapha, Dragon Lord of Dark World", as its Special Summoning does not start a "Chain". "Dark World" cards are also all DARK Fiend-Types, making it possible for your opponent to tailor their strategy to counter those kinds of cards specifically, such as with "Tualatin". 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" 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. "Consecrated Light" is also a problem, as it stops you from being able to attack with or even Summon any DARK monsters, although an easy way to get rid of it is to simply discard "Grapha" to destroy it. "Dimensional Prison" and "Bottomless Trap Hole" are always a problem to "Grapha". An easy way to counter this is to chain "Eradicator Epidemic Virus" or "Deck Destruction Virus". Tributing "Grapha" is a cost to activate the "Virus" effect. Whether the effect is negated or not, "Grapha" will be sent to the grave causing any banishment effect to resolve without effect.