DARK

DARK monsters are perhaps the most numerous of all monsters. Many well-known monsters are of the Dark attribute, such as Dark Magician of Chaos and Jinzo. Fiends and Zombies are usually DARK types and so are all the Destiny Heroes and Allies of Justice. Many Spellcasters are also DARK, such as "Dark Magician" and "Dark Magician Girl". Although LIGHT is the polar opposite of DARK, neither side has a true advantage over the other in general, although there are cards such as "Luminous Soldier", "Penumbral Soldier Lady", "Hoshiningen" and "Witch's Apprentice" which lower the stats of the opposing attribute, as well as the recent archetype Allies of Justice which focuses heavily on DARK monsters that power up by destroying LIGHT monsters. A recent card, "Consecrated Light", also plays against the Dark Attribute by preventing them from being summoned or attacking at all while it is face up, as well as being unable to be destroyed by battle by any DARK monster.

Being one of the most versatile and common Attributes, Dark monsters and the cards akin to them can work with many different Deck Types, and rarely does a typical deck lack at least one. Because they are so widespread, DARK monsters have themes comparable to many other Attributes (for example, there are enough burn-damage DARK monsters to rival FIRE monsters). However, the one thing that DARK monsters specialize in more than any other Attribute are card effects relating to the Graveyard, often by using it as a resource in some way (though the all-DARK Gravekeeper's Archetype notably prevents the use of the Graveyard as a resource).

There are many all-DARK archetypes, but they tend to also be restricted to monsters of a particular Type (such as Blackwings, which are all DARK, Winged Beast type monsters). The only multiple-type archetype to focus on DARK monsters in general are the "Dark counterparts", composed of DARK versions of many existing popular monsters.

DARK monsters even have their own Structure Deck, Structure Deck 12: Curse of Darkness.