Deck Profile: Jeff Jones’s Dark Magician Deck
Jeff Jones is known for his unique choices and preference for rogue strategies, so we can only expect that he’ll bring something spicy to this YCS. He definitely didn’t disappoint this weekend, as he has brought a Dark Magician strategy to the tournament! While most Duelists have sided with Seto Kaiba and the Blue-Eyes White Dragon, Jones is here this weekend to prove that Yugi Muto and the Dark Magician are still a team worth fighting for. Thanks to the new Dark Magician support from Legendary Decks II, Jones is hoping to take advantage of the undiscovered power of Eternal Soul.
Let’s take a look at his list:
Monsters: 13
3 Dark Magician
3 Magician of Dark Illusions
3 Magician’s Rod
1 Kycoo the Ghost Destroyer
1 Magician’s Robe
2 Maxx “C”
Spells: 14
3 Pot of Desires
3 Dark Magical Circle
2 Pot of Duality
2 Allure of Darkness
2 Illusion Magic
1 Dark Magic Attack
1 Book of Moon
Traps: 13
3 Eternal Soul
2 Magician Navigation
2 Breakthrough Skill
2 Solemn Strike
2 Quaking Mirror Force
1 Solemn Warning
1 Vanity’s Emptiness
Extra Deck: 15
1 Tempest Magician
1 PSY-Framelord Omega
1 Azure-Eyes Silver Dragon
2 Ebon Illusion Magician
2 Ebon High Magician
1 Mecha Phantom Beast Dracossack
1 Number 11: Big-Eye
1 Number 7: Lucky Straight
1 Number 74: Master of Blades
1 Red-Eyes Flare Metal Dragon
1 Gaia Dragon, the Thunder Charger
1 Dante, Traveller of the Burning Abyss
1 Stardust Dragon
Jones said the key to the Dark Magician strategy is fighting battles during the opponent’s turn. Because you have a ton of stuff like Magician of Dark Illusion and Magician’s Rod which have effects that can only be used during the opponent’s turn, you simply have more options and more plays to make. He noted that the best combo in his Deck is simply Dark Magical Circle along with Eternal Soul. Dark Magical Circle will banish a card every time a Dark Magician hits the field, so your opponent is forced to deal with your Dark Magician while you are able to repeatedly recur it with Eternal Soul. If your opponent doesn’t deal with the Dark Magician, you can just go for their Life Points; but if they do, Eternal Soul will resurrect your Dark Magician and trigger Dark Magical Circle to banish one of their cards. Magician’s Rod helps you find whichever piece you’re looking for, adding consistency as well as more tricks to the strategy thanks to its effect. You can use Magician’s Rod to enable your Eternal Soul by Tributing your Dark Magician to return Magician’s Rod from your Graveyard to your hand. Once the Dark Magician is in your Graveyard, you can revive it with Eternal Soul. Not only that, but after you return Magician’s Rod from your Graveyard to your hand with its effect, you can Summon it again on the following turn to get another search with its effect.
Eternal Soul also protects the Dark Magician you have in play from being affected by your opponent’s card effects. Jones made a point that this protection is invaluable in certain match-ups, especially against strategies like Pendulums. If they do not have an answer to the Eternal Soul, then the Dark Magician becomes super hard to deal with even without anything else going on. The single copy of Dark Magic Attack lets Jones immediately shift from defense to offense, searching it off of Eternal Soul and potentially blowing out back row heavy strategies.
Can Jeff Jones take his Dark Magician Deck all the way to the Top 32? Stay tuned to coverage to find out!
