Spell Counter Deck

A deck based on Spell Counters generally focuses on using the numerous destruction and burn effects of monsters that require them. This deck uses a variety of different cards to rapidly gain Spell Counters. The main method of gaining spell counters is through the field spell Magical Citadel of Endymion which gains a counter each time a spell card is activated and it also allows you to once per turn use its stored counters to activate another card's effect. Other methods to gain counters usually involve monsters that gain spell counters whenever a spell card is played, such as Magical Exemplar, or that gain them when summoned, like Breaker the Magical Warrior. Some card effects, like Pitch-Black Power Stone, Alchemist of Black Spells, and Crusader of Endymion allow Spell Counters to be placed on other cards. Spell Counters have a variety of uses depending on the card. Some of these effects are increasing the attack of a monster, destroying cards on the field, or drawing more cards.

The head cards for a Spell Counter deck tend to be the Synchro Monsters Explosive Magician, Arcanite Magician, and Tempest Magician, but they can also be Legendary Flame Lord or Mega Ton Magical Cannon.

Uses & Tips
This type of deck can be used for a variety of purposes. If you have enough spell counters on the field, Defender, the Magical Knight can be used for stalling, as it allows you to save some of your spellcasters. A spell counter deck can also be used as a Burn Deck, with the effects of Rapid-Fire Magician, Tempest Magician, and Dark Eradicator Warlock. Normally, these type of decks are used for control of the field until higher level monsters can be played. Since most of the cards used for this deck are spell cards, Spell Absorption is also a good card to have, allowing you to gain 500 Life Points every time a Spell Card is played. Magical Marionette is a great card card for gathering spell counters (It gets one spell counter every time a spell card is played) and this card gains 200 attack points for each spell counter on it. Magical Plant Mandragola is also perfect for gathering spell counters on every card on the field. A good combo is two Magical Marionette, two Magical Plant Mandragola, and Mega Ton Magical Cannon;after you eliminate every card on your opponents side of the field you can attack them directly with whatever you have in face up attack position.

In Traditional Format, you can use Gearfried the Iron Knight and Butterfly Dagger - Elma to create an infinite number of spell counters.

Another way to generate Spell Counters is to use the Continuous Spell Recycle. This card, for 300LP, can take any non-monster card from your Graveyard and place it on the bottom of your deck. You may only use this effect During your Standby Phase. It is recommended to only use it on one of each of the following cards per turn.
 * Spell Power Grasp, Its effect places one spell counter on the field (along with one on every card that generates their own) and pulls another Spell Power Grasp from your deck to your hand. Can only use one per turn.
 * Gather Your Mind, This Spell Card works exactly as Spell Power Grasp above except it doesn't add a spell counter on a card. This is only useful if you do not have a Spell Power Grasp in your hand or you have no face-up cards that can handle spell counters. Not likely in a Spell Counter deck... Can only use one per turn.
 * Toon Table of Contents, This card is normally used to help a Toon Deck, however due to its wording, it can search for another Toon Table of Contents. Along with Recycle, you can use this every turn and can use it multiple times in a turn. This is the only card of these three that it would be useful to use Recycle to replace both in your deck. The other cards have that "once per turn" limit.

This deck can also be used for an OTK. First have a Magical Citadel of Endymion with 4 or 5 spell counters, then try to keep Summoner Monk in the field while Frequency Magician,or another level 2 Tuner is in your Graveyard, then summon Junk Synchron and use its effect to bring that level 2 tuner monster to your field. After that use the effect of Summoner Monk to bring a Level 4 spellcaster from your Deck. Then you can synchro summon Arcanite Magician using Junk Synchron and Summoner Monk, and with its effect remove the spell counters from Magical Citadel of Endyimion to clear the field. After that synchro summon Tempest Magician, using the other monsters,then with its effect put more spell counters in Arcanite Magician to boost its ATK points and attack your opponent directly with both. If that is not enough to win then finish with the second effect of Tempest Magician!.

Another OTK can be created by summoning Summoner Monk and using its effect to special summon Magical Exemplar and activate Terraforming to search for Magical Citadel of Endymion and activate it. Activate Instant Fusion to get Musician King out and then activate Foolish Burial dumping a LV2 Spellcaster Tuner to the graveyard. Use Exemplar effect without using Endymion to revive the Tuner. Do this until you have Arcanite Magician,Explosive Magician and more importantly Tempest Magician last. Add a Spell Counter onto Arcanite and use Endymion effect to clear the attack and game. (3400+2500+2200=8100). If you cannot win with battle damage alone then use Tempest's effect since it is highly unlikely that you have to destroy more than four cards using Arcanite's effect.

With the release of Starstrike Blast, Spell Counter Decks can now run a Synchro Fusion named Supreme Trainer Arcanite Magician. Synchro summoning Tempest Magician or Arcanite Magician is very easy and the deck can now run Super Polymerization. This is a powerful card because of Summoner Monk and the Gravekeepers being run as Synchro engines and also Arcanite Magician being run as a control card. If using Magical Citadel of Endymion or other cards, this card ends the game with loads of monster destruction and free draws on top of a 3400 beatstick.

Strengths
A Spell Counter Deck's main advantage lies in the mid to late game, by which point they will have usually generated enough counters to destroy a large number of their opponent's cards and keep up the rate of destruction by "reloading" their monster or using the Citadel's counters.

Spell counter decks can also be very versatile. Monsters that use spell counters can cause spell and trap destruction, monster destruction, burn damage, and hand discard.

The Spell Counter specific Synchros all have effects that can use counters from anywhere on the field which, with enough counters, can make Arcanite Magician and Explosive Magician greater than Judgment Dragon and Heavy Storm respectively.

Tempest Magician can reload cards like Breaker the Magical Warrior or Dark Valkyria for more destruction, or with enough counters she can win the duel by inflicting a massive amount of Effect Damage.

Weaknesses
One of the weaknesses this deck has is its need to rely on the Spell Counters and much more directly to the Magical Citadel of Endymion which even with its invincibility effect could be targeted by cards that could return it to the hand and in this action discarding all the stored up Spell Counters. This deck becomes a very tough contestant in the middle-late game, but in the very early game it could have some problems getting started up.

Because this deck heavily relies on gaining Spell Counters, cards that negate the activation of Spell Cards can counter this deck. A Horus the Black Flame Dragon LV8 on the opponent's field will lock this deck down, as well as Spell Canceller. Counter Cleaner and Exhausting Spell can clear all the Spell Counters on the field instantly.

Magical Citadel of Endymion can still be destroyed by your opponent playing a new Field Spell Card, making you lose all your spell counters. Field Barrier can prevent your opponent activating a new Field Spell Card, and it's second effect will prevent you from having to sacrifice a spell counter every time Magical Citadel would have been destroyed. Consider using Magic Jammer to avoid bounce cards like Giant Trunade.

Monsters

 * Alchemist of Black Spells
 * Apprentice Magician
 * Breaker the Magical Warrior
 * Chaos Command Magician
 * Chaos Sorcerer
 * Crusader of Endymion
 * Dark Red Enchanter
 * Dark Valkyria
 * Defender, the Magical Knight
 * Disenchanter
 * Effect Veiler
 * Endymion, the Master Magician
 * Frequency Magician
 * Maiden of Macabre
 * Magical Exemplar
 * Magical Plant Mandragola
 * Magical Marionette
 * Magicat
 * Magidog
 * Magician's Valkyria
 * Night's End Sorcerer
 * Old Vindictive Magician
 * Royal Magical Library
 * Silent Magician LV4
 * Silent Magician LV8
 * Summoner Monk
 * Sunny Pixie
 * The Tricky
 * Tuned Magician
 * Rapid-Fire Magician

Spells

 * Arcane Barrier
 * Bait Doll
 * Book of Moon
 * Field Barrier
 * Fissure
 * Gather Your Mind
 * Mage Power
 * Magical Citadel of Endymion
 * Magical Dimension
 * Magical Stone Excavation
 * Mega Ton Magical Cannon
 * Miracle Synchro Fusion
 * Mist Body
 * Pot of Avarice
 * Recycle
 * Solidarity
 * Spell Power Grasp
 * Swords of Revealing Light
 * Terraforming
 * Magic Jammer

Traps

 * Hidden Book of Spell
 * Magician's Circle
 * Pitch-Black Power Stone
 * Spellbinding Circle
 * Magic Cylinder
 * Spell Reclamation

Extra Deck

 * Arcanite Magician
 * Chaos Goddess
 * Explosive Magician
 * Arcanite Magician, the Supreme Wizard
 * Tempest Magician