Dark Magician (archetype)

"Dark Magician", known as "Black Magician" (ブラック・マジシャン Burakku Majishan) in Japanese, is an archetype that has been a part of the Yu-Gi-Oh! franchise since its beginning, with "Dark Magician" appearing as Yugi Muto's ace card. During the Battle City arc and subsequent arcs, more cards were introduced, such as "Dark Magician Girl". Originally a series, the release of "The Eye of Timaeus" cemented its status as an archetype. The archetype also contains a sub-archetype, "Dark Magician Girl".

"Dark Magician of Chaos" and "Skilled Dark Magician" are not "Dark Magician" cards because they do not have 「ブラック・マジシャン」 in their Japanese names.

Naming in the TCG

 * In French, the "The Eye of Timaeus" supports "Dark Magician" monsters and "Dark Magician Girl" as an individual card, due to the gendered nature of the language causing the term "Dark Magician" to differ between "Dark Magician" ("Magicien Sombre") and "Dark Magician Girl" ("Magicienne des Ténèbres").
 * In German, the "The Eye of Timaeus" instead supports "Dark Magician" and "Dark Magician Girl" as individual cards instead of as an archetype, due to the gendered nature of the language causing the term "Dark Magician" to differ between "Dark Magician" („Dunkler Magier“) and "Dark Magician Girl" („Dunkles Magier-Mädchen“).
 * In Portuguese and Spanish, the effect of "The Eye of Timaeus" supports "Mago(a) Negro(a)" and "Mago/a Oscuro/a", respectively, which includes both the name of "Dark Magician" ("", "") and part of the name of "Dark Magician Girl" ("", "") in that language.
 * In Italian, despite the term for "Dark Magician" differing between "Dark Magician" ("") and "Dark Magician Girl" (""), only the former is supported.

Commonalities
"Dark Magician" monsters have several features in common:


 * The armor of most "Dark Magician" monsters is a collection of shiny, curved plates with sharp edges, all of the same color, which covers the torso and shoulder areas. On the edges of the plates are curved trimmings of contrasting shade.
 * Some of these monsters also have hats which appear to be similar to a stereotypical wizard's hat, which is usually crooked, leaning forward at the tip and with several rings which segment it. These rings are of the same color of the curved trimmings seen elsewhere on its attire.
 * Some of these monsters have Spell Counters embedded in their staff, shield, sword or armor.
 * Some also have the Arcana Seal depicted in the background.

Play style
The monsters of this archetype are fairly strong on their own, however, they rely a lot on a large amount of support cards to keep them going. The later releases revolve around spell counters. Depending on the way the Deck is built, this archetype can be very slow or fast archetype, occasionally able to out-trump even the "Blackwings", or the "Six Samurai" depending on the draw and how often "Dark Magician" can be Special Summoned. "Magical Dimension" is a great card in order to rush your "Dark Magician" out fast. Protecting a "Skilled Dark Magician" as he gathers up his counters is another way to go, but this strategy relies on how many spell cards you can allow your opponent to play before they gain the upper hand.

A "Dark Magician" Deck can also be used to easily Xyz Summon Xyz Monsters. It's possible to Summon Dark Magician on the first turn by Normal Summoning "Goblindbergh"/"Tin Goldfish" to Special Summon "Armageddon Knight"/"Elemental HERO Prisma", then use one of the latter cards to send "Dark Magician" from the Deck to the Graveyard. Then Xyz Summon "Daigusto Emeral" using the 2 Level 4 monsters, then use the effect of "Daigusto Emeral" to Special Summon "Dark Magician".

A Deck utilizing this engine will use many Level 4 Warrior-Type monsters, so "Reinforcement of the Army" is highly recommended to boost up its consistency. "Summoner Monk" is also a good choice for easy Rank 4 summoning.

The "Dark Magician" archetype also meshes nicely with the general Spellcaster control decks, allowing for fast field control while shutting down an opponent's ability to use Spells and Traps, likely rendering their hand unusable.

Weaknesses
Consisting primarily of Spellcaster-Type monsters allows this archetype to potentially be crippled by "Last Day of Witch". Other cards like "Zombie World" can prevent the Tribute Summoning of "Dark Magician" or "Dark Magician Girl" as well as lockout any effects that require the presence of a Spellcaster-Type monster. These can be averted by using "Magical Dimension", "Skilled Dark Magician" or "Dark Magic Curtain" instead of Tribute Summoning. "Secret Village of the Spellcasters" can be used to prevent the opponent from using Spell Cards, particularly crippling ones such as "Zombie World".

"Koa'ki Meiru Drago" can also hurt cripple this deck, because its effect prevents the Special Summon of LIGHT and DARK monsters, which most monsters in this Deck are.

This archetype also lacks support, with only "The Eye of Timaeus" supporting the archetype as a whole. Most support for cards in the archetype is for "Dark Magician" or "Dark Magician Girl" as individual cards, or Spellcasters in general.