Characters / Yu-Gi-Oh! Card Game M

Yu-Gi-Oh! Card Game character index
Storyline Cards/Characters: Duel Terminal | World Legacy | Abyss | Visas Starfrost | Diabellstar
Lore Cards/Characters: Atlantean | Dracoslayer | Endymion | S-Force | Six Samurai | Skull Servant
Other: Recurring Generic Monsters | HEROes | Numbers
A to B | C | D | E to F | G to I | J to L | M | N | O to R | S Part 1 | S Part 2 | T to U | V to Z

Characters from the Yu-Gi-Oh! card game, sorted alphabetically and starting from M.

---

Machina (and Unauthorized Bootup Device)

Machina, called Machiners in the OCG, is an archetype of army-themed EARTH Machine monsters. Their playstyle revolves around using the low-leveled monsters of the archetype to gather cards that can be used to summon stronger monsters, or to protect them. Their playstyle later evolved to include high-level monsters with the ability to special summon themselves at the cost of a discard and effects which involve destroying their own monsters and taking advantage of said destruction.

In lore, they are also linked to Unauthorized Bootup Device (Bootup Device Malefactor in the OCG), which reactivated the original Machina monsters as more powerful DARK versions of their original selves, with Machina Ruinforce being their strongest form.

They were used by Kirk Dixon in the Yu-Gi-Oh! R manga and by Saiga and Jin Himuro in the Yu-Gi-Oh! 5Ds anime and manga respectively.

---

• Back from the Dead:
  • Fortress' effect can be used to special summon from the graveyard as well as the hand.
  • If Machina Fortress is sent from the field to the graveyard, Machina Megaform will be able to take its place by summoning itself from the graveyard.
  • Machina Citadel can revive itself should any of the player's face-up EARTH Machine monster be sent from the field to the GY.
  • Machina Irradiator can revive a Machina from the graveyard with equal or lower level than a Machine monster they control in exchange for that same Machine being destroyed
  • Machina Possesstorage can, upon being Normal or Special summoned, revive any Machina from the graveyard, except another copy of itself.
  • Machina Ruinforce can only be summoned from the graveyard by banishing any number of Machine monsters whose total levels equal 12 or more.
• Early-Bird Cameo: Resavenger and Unclaspare first appeared as silhouettes in the artwork of Machina Possesstorage before they were released. Machina Ruinforce could also be spotted as a silhouette in the artwork of Machina Overdrive.
  • The same happened with Unauthorized Bootup Device which first appeared in the artworks of Possesstorage and its namesake Unauthorized Reactivation before it was revealed as a card.
• Equippable Ally: Gearframe and Peacekeeper, by virtue of being Union monsters, have the ability to equip themselves to any Machine-Type monster. Unauthorized Bootup Device is likewise a Union monster, but can equip to any monster instead of just machines.
• Fusion Dance:
  • In terms of appearance, Machina Force is the combination of Sniper, Soldier, and Defender.
  • Machina Megaform is a combination of Fortress, Gearframe, and Peacekeeper.
  • Machina Ruinforce, is a combination of Possesstorage, Resavenger, Unclaspare and a corrupted version of Machina Fortress. It also has multiple Unauthorized Bootup Devices powering it up.
• Leaning on the Fourth Wall: The Machinas' concept art portrays Fortress as a next-generation weapon intended to replace the legacy Machina hardware (including Soldier, Sniper, and Defender) which also served as the template for new machines to follow, reflecting how the archetype in the game shifted gears to revolve around Machina Fortress when it was introduced and left the original Machina monsters on the backburner.
• Mechanical Lifeforms: Unauthorized Bootup Device is described as an autonomous mechanical lifeform named Malefactor by the lore.
• Robot Soldier: The series' lore portrays the Machinas as a series of mechs built for military use by a government coalition.
• Superpowered Evil Side: Possesstorage, Unclaspare, and Resavenger are respectively Soldier, Sniper, and Defender taken over by the Malefactor AI, driven rogue, and made far more powerful than their older selves.
• Taking You with Me: While Machina Fortress does not have any protection, it can destroy one of your opponent's cards when it is destroyed by battle, and it can force your opponent to discard when it is targeted by card effect. Combining this with Machina Megaform's revival effect, it is difficult to get rid of Machina Fortress cost-effectively.
• Tank-Tread Mecha: Both Machina Citadel Machina Cannon (as shown above) fit this trope perfectly.
• Upgrade vs. Prototype Fight: The older Machinas controlled by Malefactor were pitted against the new-generation Machinas led by Citadel, and proved completely able to hold their own.

Madolche

There is always room for dessert.

Madolche monsters are an archetype of monsters based on French and Italian desserts. They rely on shuffling cards into the deck, and have the common effect to shuffle themselves into the Deck when destroyed. However their Field Spell "Madolche Chateau" allows them to add themselves to the hand instead. Combined with cards that allow them to search out from the Deck and Special Summon others from the hand, and they can swarm the field while maintaining advantage and depleting the opponent's. Their boss monster is their queen Madolche Queen Tiaramisu, who can shuffle Madolches in the Graveyard back into the Deck in order to shuffle the opponent's cards into their own Deck.

---

• Alternate Character Reading: The Kanji in the OCG for Madolche Nights, 魔導人形 madō ningyō (read as "Madolche" in kana), can be translated as "Magical Dolls".
• Authority Equals Asskicking: Madolche Queen Tiaramisu and Puddingcess. Both have powerful Xyz upgrades to show off their strength.
• Battle Butler: Madolche Butlerusk. He may seem weak, but he can search for Madolche Chateau. This shows that he is so devoted to the Madolche cause, he can summon the manor and give them a home field advantage.
• Back from the Dead: Whenever they die, they are shuffled back into the Deck instead. The Madolche Chateau Field Spell improves this ability, returning their cards to the player's hand instead. These indicate their Sugar Bowl nature.
• Bilingual Bonus:
  • Madolche Puddingcess's name is the combination of the words Pudding and Princess. If you imitate the Japanese pronunciation of "Princess" (purincessu), it sounds similar to the name of this card. It's also worth noting that a common Japanese word for "custard pudding" is プリン, aka "purin".
  • Madolche Magileine's Japanese name is the combination of the Japanese word for witch "Majo" and the name of a dessert, Madeleine. "Majo" + "Madeleine" = "Majoleine". The English name use "Magi" instead, from the word "Magician".
  • Madolche Cruffssant's Japanese name is the combination of the word "Wan", the dog's barking sound in Japanese, and Croissant. The English name uses the English "Cruff" instead.
  • Mewgnard Meowcaron's name is based on the mignardise and macaroon desserts
• Curtains Match the Windows: Madolche Marmamaide (red) and Messengelato (turquoise).
• Cuteness Overload: Madolche Chickolate. It change an opponent's monster into Defense Position. It can't change its position while Chick is on the field, can't attack another Madolche and its effects are negated. This basically shows how cute Chickolate is, it can completely freeze you.
• Cuteness Proximity: Madolche Bapple. It can change an opponent's monster into Defense Position, which indicates that it uses this as a way to defend itself.
• Death Is a Slap on the Wrist: The Madolches' main ability is to return to your Deck when destroyed by the opponent. Also, certain cards can take advantage on the "death" of the monsters.
  • Hootcake: Banish a monster from the Graveyard, special summon a Madolche (other than Hoot) from the Deck.
  • Madolche Chateau: On top of giving every Madolche an extra 500 ATK/DEF, it puts all Madolches in your Graveyard back into the Deck the moment it hits the field—and if any monster in your Graveyard goes back in the Deck by a Madolche monster's effect, Chateau can add it to the hand instead.
  • Madolche Lesson: Get a Madolche from the Graveyard, all Madolches you control gain a 800 ATK and DEF boost.
  • Madolche Ticket: When a Madolche returns to Deck or hand, get a Madolche from the Deck to your hand and if you control a Fairy-Type Madolche, you can Special Summon it.
  • Madolche Fresh Sistart: If anything would destroy it—whether a card effect or a battle—you can shuffle a Madolche from your Graveyard into your Deck instead.
• Early-Bird Cameo: Madolche Marmamaid can be seen rather offscreen in the artwork of "Madolche Lesson", with only her hands and the "Madolche Lesson" book she holds being shown.
• Gingerbread House: Madolche Chateau. It gives them a home field advantage and revives the Madolche in the Graveyard, giving them a second chance at beating their opponents.
• Guardian Angel: Madolche Anjelly. By tributing her, you can Special Summon another Madolche and it can't be destroyed in battle. Her self-sacrifice protects the new monster from damage.
• Let's Get Dangerous!: Puddingcess. At first, she just looks like a princess that, albeit having a decent destroying effect, is stuck with low ATK for her Level... And then she gets the 800 ATK boost that makes her actually dangerous.
• Little Miss Badass: Puddingcess and Petingcessoeur, who is all but confirmed to be the former's little sister.
  • Petingcessoeur can Special Summon itself to the field if there aren't any monsters in your Graveyard. It can also bring out another Madolche from the Deck if it's Special Summoned, but reduces its Level by 1 and prevents the player from Special Summoning outside the archetype for the rest of the turn. This can make the former a one-card Choco-a-la-Mode if done right.
• Living Toy: Close inspection on the limbs of the Madolche artworks (particularly the Beasts, including the horse that Madolche Chouxvalier rides) shows what appear to be sewing seams, implying they are all plushies or dolls. This is further evidenced by Mewfeuille and Tiaramisu's artwork, which have much smaller animals in them that look relatively normal, if a bit oddly-colored. This is confirmed in the artwork of Madolche Nights.
• Meaningful Name: Madolche is possibly based on "ma" and "dolce", the Italian words for "but/though" and "sweet". It also could be seen as combination of "madou," which is Japanese for "magic/magical," and "dolce," Italian for "sweet."
• Meido: Madolche Marmamaid. She's very weak in battle but has high DEF. Also, she can get back to your hand a Madolche Spell/Trap from the Graveyard when flipped.
• Nigh-Invulnerability: Glassouffle's effect can render any one Madolche monster on the field immune to other monster effects during that turn. It's also a Quick Effect, so it can happen any turn, any time.
• Nuns Are Mikos: Madolche Fresh Sistart, the archetype's resident Link Monster, looks and carries herself rather like a nun.
• Our Angels Are Different: Anjelly, which is also a portmanceau of Angel and Jelly.
• The Owl-Knowing One: Madolche Hootcake. It can summon another Madolche monster to the field after removing one monster from the Graveyard.
• Paint It Black: Puddincess gets a new black dress after becoming "Choco A La Mode".
• Requisite Royal Regalia: Puddingcess and Tiaramisu manage to be badass wearing Pimped Out Dresses and Cool Crowns.
• Sugar Bowl: Most of the Madolche deck is sugary sweets and desserts.
• Taking the Bullet: Madolche Chouxvalier's effect. This indicates Chouxvalier's loyalty to the other Madolche. Chouxvalier's willing to give up his life, so that the other Madolche can defeat their opponents in his place.
• Theme Naming: The archetype members' names appear to be a mix of royalty and French (or in the case of Tiaramisu, Italian) desserts and wines. The royalty is used to show that Madolches are nobility, while the desserts indicate that they are cutesy.
• Took a Level in Badass:
  • When Crossed Souls got released, Puddingcess got an Xyz mode called Chocolate a la Mode. She can shuffle Madolche monsters back into the deck and can Special Summon another Madolche to the field.
  • Tiaramisu would follow suit with Queen Tiara A-La-Fraise, complete with upgraded effects.

Magical Musketeer

"This magical bullet can truly hit anyone, just like you say."

The Magical Musketeers, or Magibullets in the OCG, are an archetype of monsters whose effects allow the player to activate the archetype's Spells and Traps from their hand, regardless of whose turn it is, and which can grant additional effects if any Spell/Trap is activated in the same column as that which they currently occupy. The monsters are based on characters from the German opera "Der Freischütz", which is centered around a marksman who sells his soul to the devil in exchange for seven bullets that are destined to hit his targets without fail. They are all Fiend-type monsters from the Light Attribute.

---

• Adaptational Villainy: Max, the noble protagonist of the original play, is the member of the archetype who is in the most advanced state of possession even more so than Zakiel's lieutenant, Caspar.
• Demonic Possession: Every monster that isn't Zakiel appears to be in the process of being taken over by him in their artwork. They are depicted with at least one of his fiery wings sprouting out of their bodies, and the arm holding their respective gun into the same shade of blue as Zakiel's own. Even the guns look possessed: each one has multiple red, demonic eyes sprouting from various places.
• Gun Fu: Starfire is depicted performing an acrobatic spinning move while shooting her guns in the artwork of Dancing Needle.
• Guns Akimbo: The ace of the archetype, Mastermind Zakiel, is depicted with two guns.
• Light Is Not Good: While they are LIGHT monsters, they are Fiend-Type and implied to be malevolent. Zakiel, as an Expy of the "black huntsman"—and thus, the devil—takes this one step further.
• Mexican Standoff: Invoked. When Link Summoned, Max can either give a player a number of Magical Musket Spells/Traps equal to how many monsters their opponent has on the field or special summon Magical Musket monsters from the deck equal to the number of Spell/Trap cards their opponent has out.
• More Dakka:
  • Wild has an RPG fitted on his right shoulder, MANPADS on his left, and a chaingun on each arm. Said chainguns also have a grenade launcher, a shotgun, and at least two other types of weapons mounted on them, giving Wild a total of twelve guns.
  • Starfire's artwork and that of Dancing Needle both show her with about as many guns—if not more—as Wild. Said weapons are all short-range derringers that are strapped to her person and under her dress, rather than the miniature armory Wild carries around in full view.
• Theme Naming: The OCG has a threefold example: the theme as a whole comes from the German folktale of the "Freikugeln", or "free bullets"—a series of seven magic bullets that will kill anything their shooter wishes; the seventh and final bullet, however, is at the mercy of the devil himself. The Magibullet monsters themselves fill the roles of several characters in the German opera Der Freischütz—perhaps the most well-known retelling of the legend—and, to top it all off, those that don't directly reference the characters themselves are named after various historical figures of the American West.
• Throwaway Guns: Dancing Needle depicts Starfire shooting and discarding her many, many pistols.
• Weak, but Skilled: Their strongest member only has 2500 attack points, but the synergy they have with their support cards makes them capable of all sorts of wily plays.

Magician / Sorcerer (ARC-V)

The Magician (魔術師, Majutsushi) archetype, and its related Sorcerer (マジシャン, "Magician") series, is an overarching archetype/series of Spellcaster monsters prominently featured in Yu-Gi-Oh! ARC-V. The Magicians and Sorcerers are used by several major characters from ARC-V, including protagonist Yuya Sakaki, Yuya's father Yusho, and main villain Zarc.

In gameplay, the Magician archetype focuses on Pendulum Summoning, and is strongly related to Yuya and Zarc's other cards, the Odd-Eyes, Performapal, and Supreme King cards, and the other Four Dimension Dragons (see other relevant subpages). There are two distinct kinds of Magicians: Yuya's Magicians work in form of duos, as each duo has similar, supporting Pendulum Effects. Zarc's Sorcerers and the four Magicians that support the Supreme King series (nicknamed "Z-ARC Magicians") focus on destroying themselves in the Pendulum Zone to trigger positive effects, and support Supreme King Z-ARC by being able to summon it with their effects or be treated as a Four Dimension Dragon material for its summon.

Due to the generic nature of the name "Magician", in both Japanese and English, the archetype is a bit of a nomenclatural nightmare, with monsters like Time Wizard having "Majutsushi" in their names in the OCG, or Dark Magician having "Magician" in its name in the TCG. For the purposes of this folder, the Magicians in question are the protagonist monsters featured in ARC-V that supports the Four Dimension Dragons and focus on Pendulum Summoning.^note They are also informally nicknamed "Pendulum Magicians" in the playerbase.

---

• Ambiguously Evil: The Magicians are the main character's monsters, and they support the Odd-Eyes and Performapal cards. However, the newest Magicians are modeled with the intention to summon Supreme King Dragon Zarc, which is a card based on the anime's Big Bad.
• Anti-Magic:
  • The Pendulum Effects of Stargazer Magician and Timegazer Magician prevents the opponent of activating Spell or Trap Cards respectively when a Pendulum Monster attacks.
  • Dragonpit Magician can destroys Spell and Trap cards on the field with his Pendulum Effect.
• Back from the Dead: If you Normal or Special Summon Oafdragon Magician, you can add an Odd-Eyes or Magician card from your graveyard to your hand, except another Oafdragon Magician.
• Camp: Violet Poison Magician appears to be one, possibly referencing Yuri's Agent Peacock tendencies.
• Cool Sword: Double Iris Magician wields a red and golden sword that strongly resembles Odd-Eyes Pendulum Dragon's head.
• Decomposite Character: In the anime, Astrograph Sorcerer represents the combination of Stargazer Magician and Timegazer Magician. In the OCG/TCG, he's redesigned as a counterpart of Stargazer Magician only, with Timegazer receiving his own counterpart in Chronograph Sorcerer.
• Identical Stranger: Xiangke Magician and Xiangsheng Magician share the same faces with Yuya and Yuzu, respectively. Yuya and Yuzu already have at least three human Identical Strangers.
• Light Is Good:
  • Stargazer Magician is clad in white and is good, even though he's a DARK monster.
  • Supreme King Gate Magician is a LIGHT counterpart of Astrograph Sorcerer (originally used by the villain of ARC-V, Zarc) and is clad in brilliant white and gold.
• Magic Knight:
  • Although all of the Magicians are Spellcaster-Type monsters, several of them use blunt or bladed weapons.
  • Enlightenment Paladin is Timegazer Magician Dual Wielding swords and dressed in knight's armor.
• My Friends... and Zoidberg: Thanks to the wording of the Japanese cards for the Pendulum Magicians, older cards such as Time Wizard and Night Wing Sorceress are technically considered part of the archetype, despite not supporting it in any way, or even being Pendulum monsters. Support intended for the pendulum archetype thus sidesteps the issue by always specifying it's for a "Magician" pendulum monster, which handily excludes all the technicalities.
• No-Sell: Timegazer Magician's Monster Effect protects the first one or two Pendulum Cards in the Pendulum Zones from being destroyed by an opponent's card effect.
• Ship Tease: Xiangke Magician and Xiangsheng Magician symbolize the bond between Yuya and Yuzu, as both share the same faces with Yuya and Yuzu, and they wear clothes themed after two Pendulum Dragon monsters used by Yuya. Xiangsheng Magician is Rune-Eyes themed, since Yuya created this card with Yuzu's Polymerization. And Xiangke Magician is Beast-Eyes themed, since Beast-Eyes was created by Yuya's own way of fusioning, who lacks a Polymerization card. Strangely though, these cards support Xyz Summons instead of Fusion Summons.
• Smurfette Principle: White Wing Magician is the only female member of the quartet, which heavily implies that Clear Wing is actually a female dragon.
• Stone Wall:
  • Stargazer Magician has 1200 ATK and 2400 DEF, and has a protective Pendulum Effect.
  • Dragonpit Magician has 900 ATK and 2700 DEF, which makes him the Magician with the highest DEF.
• What If?: Supreme King Gate Magician is part of a line of theoretical "good versions" of Supreme King Z-ARC's cards, with Supreme King Gate Magician himself being an alternate version of Astrograph Sorcerer.

Magician Girl

The Magician Girls are an archetype of Spellcaster monsters based on Dark Magician Girl, and some later additions. They were used by Yugi Muto. They are loosely affiliated with the Dark Magician archetype.

---

• Amazon Brigade: As the name "Magician Girl" implies, there is no male member of this archetype.
• The Baby of the Bunch: Berry Magician Girl looks to be a toddler, unlike all the other Magician Girls who seem to be young women. She even has a pacifier!
• Black Magician Girl: Dark Magician Girl is the trope namer herself.
• Dragon Rider: Dark Magician Girl the Dragon Knight, formed by Dark Magician Girl fusing with Timeaus. While not a Spellcaster-type, she is still considered a Magician Girl, and benefits from, and contributes to, effects like Kiwi Magician Girl's Status Buff.
• Edible Theme Naming: The flavor Magician Girls are named after five different flavors. Chocolate Magician Girl stands out, since she is not named after a fruit like the rest.
• Fun with Acronyms: The first letters in the names of the flavor Magician Girls in the order of their Levels spell "Black", a reference to the Japanese name of Dark Magician Girl: "Black Magician Girl", a Level 6 Monster.
  • Level 1: Berry Magician Girl.
  • Level 2: Lemon Magician Girl.
  • Level 3: Apple Magician Girl.
  • Level 4: Chocolate Magician Girl.
  • Level 5: Kiwi Magician Girl.
• Fusion Dance: Dark Magician Girl The Dragon Knight is visually a combination of Timaeus and Dark Magician Girl.
• Ms. Fanservice:
  • The Dark Magician Girl is up there as one of the hottest cards in the game, and is easily the most sexualized in fanwork. How hot is she? One of her variant artwork cards was never released outside of Japan because it was too risque, and artist Kazuki Takahashi refused to modify or censor her. For the curious, this is the artwork in question◊.
  • All the other Magician Girls, bar Berry Magician Girl, wear similarly fanservice-heavy outfits.
• Status Buff:
  • Dark Magician Girl and Toon Dark Magician Girl gain 300 ATK for each Dark Magician and Magician of Black Chaos in either player's Graveyard.
  • Apprentice Illusion Magician can be send from the field or hand to the Graveyard to increase the ATK and DEF of your battling DARK Spellcaster monster by 2000.
  • Kiwi Magician Girl can boost your Spellcasters either from the hand or while in the field.
• Summon Magic: Several of the Magician Girls (Apple, Berry, Chocolate, and Lemon) have effects that Special Summon other monsters.

Magikey

There are many doors in this world. To open them requires the Magic Key...

Magikey (魔鍵 Maken in the OCG) is an archetype of Level/Rank 4 and 8 monsters that focuses on summoning archetypal Ritual, Fusion, Synchro, and Xyz monsters, as well as using Normal Monsters of various attributes. The centerpiece of the archetype is Clavkiys, the Magikey Skyblaster, a Level 4 Normal Monster which can be used to summon the archetype's Ritual and Extra Deck monsters.

---

• Beast of Battle: In the artwork of Ansyalabolas, the titular beast acts as Clavkiys's mount. Due to Ansyalabolas's ferocity, Clavkiys struggles to keep it under control. According to the card lore, Ansyalabolas is just a copy of the original.
• Braids of Action: Clavkiys is an adventuring gunslinger with a long braid.
• Cool Key: The Magikey archetype is based on the concept of keys. Clavkiys is our intrepid protagonist who has to unlock a magical gate and Maftea is his key to unlock that gate. Clavkiys's name even derives from the latin word for key.
• Dark Is Not Evil: Clavkiys is a DARK monster and Mafteahl, Maftea's true form, is a Fiend. Both appear to be good people, however.
• Deal with the Devil: In order to gain power, Clavkiys uses his bracelet to make temporary contracts with various demon lords.
• Demonic Possession: Weparthu, Clavkiys's Rank 4 Xyz form, is possessed by an unknown figure, judging by one of his eyes turning red at the moment in the card artwork. The same goes for his Astartu form, given the inclusion of the angelic and demonic traits.
• Dragon Rider: In the artwork of Andrabime, Clavkiys is riding the dragon itself. Unlike Ansyalabolas, Andrabime is seemingly listening to Clavkiys's orders, seeing as Clavkiys is safely riding the dragon. According to the card lore, Andrabime is just a copy of the original.
• Elemental Powers: The archetype encourages playing monsters of different Attributes, as its Ritual and Extra Deck monsters all have effects that benefit from doing so. Some require that the Attribute of a Magikey or Normal Monster in the graveyard matches the Attribute of an opponent's monster, while others require being summoned using monsters with different Attributes.
  • Fittingly, the archetype itself contains monsters of all six main Attributes. Clavkiys, Batosbuster, and Ansyalabolas are DARK, Mafteahl and Astartu are LIGHT, Garesglasser is EARTH, Andrabime is WIND, Transfurmine is FIRE, and Weparthu is WATER.
• Familiar: Maftea acts as Clavkiys's familiar and his magical gun. Because of this, Maftea can change into a powerful chaingun and a wave-motion cannon. Its true form is Mafteahl.
• Fantastic Firearms:
  • Maftea, a magical, living pistol that can transform into a gatling gun and a cannon.
  • Clavkiys wields a powerful sniper rifle in the artwork of Magikey Avatar – Astartu. It's so powerful, energy is gathering at the tip of the barrel.
• Foreshadowing: Magikey World's art contains a number of doors with different-colored gems. Doors with blue and purple gems are lit up, while doors with white and black gems aren't. World was released with the first wave of Magikey cards, which contained Ritual and Fusion monsters, which have blue and purple frames respectively, matching the doors that were lit up. As the frames of Synchro and Xyz monsters are white and black respectively, this hinted that the archetype would receive those monsters in the future, which they did.
• Guns Akimbo: Weparthu's artwork depicts it dual-wielding the same pistols that Clavkiys uses (presumably another form of Maftea).
• Heroic RRoD: In the artwork of Magikey Lock - Lock, Clavkiys is quite exhausted after his transformation into Transfurmine. Maftea is even concerned for the poor boy.
• Hulking Out: Transfurmine, Clavkiys's Synchro form, seems to be much buffer than his normal form. In the card's artwork, Clavkiys is so enraged that he's lashing out at an unknown opponent while manipulating fire and thunder at the same time. According to the card lore, Transfurmine is Clavkiys agreeing to lend the demon lord his body for the time being.
• Lightning/Fire Juxtaposition: Possibly the explanation for Transfurmine's odd combination of Attribute and Type, being a FIRE Thunder monster. Thunder is overwhelmingly paired with the LIGHT Attribute, and had never before been paired with FIRE.
• Making a Splash: Weparthu is seen manipulating water in his card artwork.
• More Dakka: Clavkiys wields Maftea as a chaingun when he's Batosbuster. Clavkiys is even firing at an off-screen opponent while testing his new weapon out.
• Playing with Fire: In his artwork, Transfurmine is surrounded by flames, indicating that he can control them.
• Punny Name: The name of the archetype is a combination of the words "magic" and "key". Fittingly, the lore of the archetype has Clavkiys unlocking new powers thanks to the "magic key" Maftea.
• Shock and Awe: Transfurmine is holding a thunder bolt in his artwork, suggesting a mastery over electricity. To support this, his typing is Thunder.
• Theme Naming: Each character is named after the Ars Goetia, otherwise known as the first section of Lesser Key of Solomon, which furthers the key theming the Magikeys are going for.
• Vitriolic Best Buds: At times, Clavkiys and Maftea argue with each other, judging by the artwork of Magikey Duo.
• Yin-Yang Bomb: The archetype encourages using monsters of different Attributes to summon its Ritual and Extra Deck monsters. The archetype's first two non-Ritual Main Deck monsters, Clavkiys and Mafteahl, were even DARK and LIGHT. Astartu, Clavkyis's Rank 8 form, has a half-demonic and half-angelic aesthetic, hinting at his potential to manipulate light and darkness.

Magnet Warriors / Magna Warriors

The Magnet Warriors are an archetype of Rock-Type monster consisting in groups of three monsters with the ability to combine and become the powerful Magna Warriors. The original group of Alpha, Beta, and Gamma were used by Yugi Muto in the original manga and anime with Daichi/Bastion Misawa from Yu-Gi-Oh! GX using additional Magnet Warriors, though his never got a real life release and had a different playstyle.

---

• A Day in the Limelight: Beta the Magnet Warrior is the MVP for Yami Yugi during his Scripted Duel with Astral, being the one to take down Astral, with the aid of Dark Magician Girl the Dragon Knight.
• Anti-Magic: Imperion Magnum can negate the activation of any card effect once per turn.
• Back from the Dead: Magnet Field allows the player to summon a Magnet Warrior from the Graveyard if there is already a level 4 or lower EARTH Rock-Type monster on the field.
• Clipped-Wing Angel: The Electromagnet Warriors have the ability to summon Level 4 Magnet Warriors on their opponent's turn. Besides Delta, this ability can be used to summon the original Magnet Warrior trio who, while having higher attack points, have no effects of their own. Alpha the Magnet Warrior is actually weaker than his Electromagnet counterpart.
• Cycle of Hurting: If your opponent destroys Berserkion the Electromagna Warrior, he revives the three component Electromagnet Warriors that are banished. Their summonings trigger their effects, and Alpha the Electromagnet Warrior lets you grab another copy of Berserkion from the deck, so on your next turn you can banish the three and summon Berserkion again. With something to recycle copies of Berserkion from the Graveyard back to the hand or deck, you can do this again and again.
• Foil: They are one to the A-to-Z series, through their original users, Yugi and Kaiba. Both have three original components that combined to provide tribute fodder for their Egyptian Gods, both received support with a Structure Deck in 2016, and both gained 3 new monsters that combined into a new Fusion Dance of their own that could then combine with the original boss monster for an ultimate Fusion.
• Fusion Dance: The Magna Warriors are the result of three Magnet Warriors combining but neither of them are Fusion Monsters.
  • The first three Magnet Warriors can become Valkyrion the Magna Warrior.
  • The Electromagnet Warriors can combine to become Berserkion, the Electromagna Warrior.
  • The archetype finally got a Fusion Monster in the form of Imperion Magnum the Superconductive Battlebot, the combined form of Valkyrion and Berserkion. Symbolically this means it's a fusion of the three Magnet Warriors and the three Electromagnet Warriors, with components of them recognizable in its design.
• Ninja Pirate Zombie Robot: Imperion Magnum is a magnet-themed robot centaur knight with an electromagnetic Shoulder Cannon.
• Our Centaurs Are Different: Imperion Magnum has a centaur-like appearance.
• Taking You with Me: Once per turn, Magnetic Field causes an opponent's monster who was not destroyed in battle with an EARTH Rock-type monster to be bounced back to the hand (or Extra Deck)
• Theme Naming: The Magnet Warriors are named after letters from the Greek alphabet. The Magna Warriors are named for mythological Norse fighters, the valkyrie and the berserker.

Majestic

Majestic Dragon, the centerpiece of the archetype.

Majestic, known as Savior in the OCG, is an archetype of Dragon-Type Synchro Monsters who are upgraded forms of existing Synchro Monsters, requiring the Tuner monster Majestic Dragon to be Synchro Summoned. Their playstyle largely consists of negating the effects of an opposing face-up monsters and gaining advantages from doing so, but return to the Extra Deck during the End Phase and Special Summon the corresponding base Dragon back from the graveyard. They were used by Yusei Fudo and Jack Atlas in Yu-Gi-Oh! 5Ds.

Over a decade after their debut, they received support helping to make it much easier to summon and sustain them. For details on the Majestic monsters' base forms, see the Red Dragon Archfiend and Stardust folders on their respective pages.

---

• Attack! Attack! Attack!: Shooting Majestic Star Dragon gains additional attacks each Battle Phase for every Stardust Dragon and/or Synchro Monster with "Stardust Dragon" in its text in your graveyard.
• Collective Identity: Converging Wills Dragon is treated as Majestic Dragon while on the field or in the graveyard.
• Herd-Hitting Attack:
  • Majestic Star Dragon can be tributed to destroy all cards your opponent controls.
  • Majestic Red Dragon destroys all defense position monsters on the field if it attacks.
• Mythology Gag:
  • Converging Wills Dragon's name is based off the summoning chant commonly used by Yusei in the 5D's anime. A similar case with Shooting Majestic Star Dragon, whose name appears to originate from the chant for Shooting Star Dragon.
  • The artwork for Arrive in Light is based off the Synchro Summoning animation of a Majestic monster using Majestic Dragon in the Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D's anime, with the card's first effect being a reference to the Crimson Dragon adding Majestic Dragon to Yusei and Jack's decks in the anime when they were in dire situations. Meanwhile, its name is based on Yusei's summoning chant for Majestic Star Dragon.
  • The artwork for Majestic Absorption references Episode 66 of 5D's where Yusei summoned Majestic Star Dragon in his duel against Ghost to combat Meklord Emperor Wisel.
  • The artwork for Time to Stand Up is based off Episodes 83 and 84 of 5D's where Jack summoned Majestic Red Dragon in his duel against the fake Jack Atlas. The card’s name appears to be a reference to the English titles of said episodes, as well as the instance where Jack himself declares that "it's time for the real Jack Atlas to stand up" before having Majestic Red Dragon attack and destroy the fake Jack's three counterfeit Red Dragon Archfiends.
• No-Sell: Majestic Red Dragon cannot be destroyed by card effects.
• Power Copying: Majestic Star Dragon can copy an opponent's monster effect once after negating it.
• Power Nullifier:
  • Majestic Star Dragon and Majestic Red Dragon can target and negate the effects of an opposing monster until the end of the turn, with Majestic Red Dragon gaining ATK equal to the targeted monster's once per turn.
  • Shooting Majestic Star Dragon can negate an opposing Effect Monster's effects once per turn and can be banished until the End Phase to negate and then banish a card your opponent controls.
• Status Buff: After negating an opposing monster's effects, Majestic Red Dragon can gain ATK equal to the targeted monster's once per turn.
• Super Mode: Majestic Star Dragon and Majestic Red Dragon respectively are upgraded versions of Stardust Dragon and Red Dragon Archfiend granted by the Crimson Dragon through Majestic Dragon, giving them stronger effects and significantly higher stats for a short time. Shooting Majestic Star Dragon appears to be this for Shooting Star Dragon, going by its appearance, stats, and similar effects.
• Timed Power-Up: While Majestic Star Dragon and Majestic Red Dragon possess high stats and powerful effects, they also have the downside of returning to the Extra Deck during the End Phase and Special Summoning their respective base forms back from the graveyard. Averted with Shooting Majestic Star Dragon, who is the only Majestic counterpart that does not return to the Extra Deck.

Maju

The Maju is a series of Fiend-Type monsters whose ATK is equal or partially equal to the something that depends on your monsters; Maju Garzett gains ATK based on the monsters used for its Tribute summon, while Gren Maju Da Eiza gains ATK & DEF for all of your banished monster. Maju Garzett notably received a cameo in the movie, via an unknown duelist tribute summoning Maju Garzett during a duel against Jonouchi/Joey.

---

• All or Nothing: Summoning Legendary Maju Garzett means either you instantly kill your opponent, or you've lost all your monsters. Emperor Maju Garzett is also this to a lesser extent, with less risk for you when it's Summoned.
• Anime Hair: The hair flowing from the Garzetts' heads may be evocative of this. Doubly so in Legendary Maju Garzett's case, which has purple highlights on the end of its hair.
• Anti-Magic: Emperor Maju Garzett prevents the opponent from activating cards or card effects during the battle phase, which applies on both ends.
• Armor-Piercing Attack: Legendary Maju Garzett deals piercing battle damage if it attacks a monster in Defense Position.
• Badass Armfold: Both Great Maju Garzett & Legendary Maju Garzett have these.
• Big Red Devil: They all vaguely resemble some form of this.
• Bilingual Bonus: The name of the series loosely translates from Japanese to "devil beast".
• Bio-Armor: The pale red body parts on the Garzetts appear to be a sort of exoskeleton, which becomes golden in the case of Emperor Maju Garzett.
• Body Horror: Most applicable to Maju Garzett, which looks like some monstrous ghoul with an excessive amount of fur in the process of turning into a rather fleshy demon. All of the Garzetts also have disgusting teeth that look like stitches between their jaws.
• Boisterous Bruiser: The Garzetts are implied to be this, given that Yu-Gi-Oh! World Championship 2006, Great Maju Garzett's deck is simply named "I am the Great Maju!"
• The Cameo: Maju Garzett is used by a random duelist Joey faces in the movie, and it's card shows up as one of the 12 cards Yubel uses as the Level 7 Fusion Material for the Super Fusion God.
• Cannibalism Superpower: Their effect increases their ATK depending on how many monsters you've removed from play, or what monsters you tributed to summon them. They also greatly resemble wendigos, which in Native American/ Algonquian folklore are men who are permanently transformed into bipedal, decaying beasts after eating human flesh.
• Cape Wings: Emperor Maju Garzetts wings seem to evoke this, to fit its nobleman aesthetic.
• Cool Sword: Emperor Maju Garzett wields a huge claymore.
• Eldritch Abomination: Part man, part beast, part rotting corpse, and all butt-ugly.
• Evil Counterpart: Emperor Maju Garzett can be seen as this to, oddly enough, Number 39: Utopia, especially Number S39: Utopia the Lightning. Visually, Emperor Maju Garzett and Utopia are surprisingly similar, only if Emperor Maju Garzett's armor was an exoskeleton of sorts. As monsters, Emperor Maju Garzett and Utopia the Lightning are both massive beaters that simply cannot be stopped during the Battle Phase that require 3 monsters for their Summon (3 Level 5 LIGHT monsters as Xyz Material for Utopia the Lightning (Or just Utopia, which itself has 2 Xyz Material to make for 3), and any 3 monsters as Tributes for Emperor Maju Garzett).
• Evolutionary Levels: Maju Garzett —> Great Maju Garzett —> Legendary Maju Garzett —> Emperor Maju Garzett.
• Eyes Do Not Belong There: At least five yellow orbs on Legendary Maju Garzett's shoulders and forehead resemble these. Emperor Maju Garzett has at least 10 of these on his wings, head, chest, knees, shoulders, and possibly an eleventh or even twelfth on his sword, on top of becoming cherry red.
• Glass Cannon: The Maju Garzett monsters have 0 DEF, even after being powered up by their effects. However, their ATK can reach absolutely ridiculous levels, especially Legendary Maju Garzett & Maju Kaiser Garzett.
  • Decks making use of Gren Maju Da Eiza tend to be this, spending most of their resources into a massive Level 4 beatstick, such as Golden Castle of Stromberg decks, and have to swing big and hope you aren't disrupted or deck out.
• The Juggernaut:
  • Legendary Maju Garzett, who will usually have an obscene ATK stat on top of piercing damage when he's summoned.
  • Emperor Maju Garzett, while usually not able to have as ridiculous of an ATK stat as Legendary Maju Garzett and lacking the piercing damage, prevents the opponent from using any cards or effect during the battle phase, meaning it can attack freely without worry of being disrupted.
• Law of Chromatic Superiority: Emperor Maju Garzett, going off of Gold-Colored Superiority and Purple Is Powerful compared to the other Majus being red and blue or green.
• Light Is Not Good: Emperor Maju Garzett is decked out in golden armor (potentially his own skin), and is likely still just as evil.
• Meaningful Name: Majū loosely translates to "Devil Beast," which reflects the demonic appearances of all of them. Doubles as Names to Run Away from Really Fast, especially for Emperor Maju Garzett (Emperor Devil Beast Garzett).
• Mechanically Unusual Fighter: Unlike the Garzetts, who comprise 4/5ths of the series, Gren Maju Da Eiza gains both ATK & DEF based on the amount of monsters removed from play, and doesn't need to be tribute or special summoned due to it being a level 3 monster. It's also FIRE attribute rather than DARK attribute.
• Monochromatic Eyes: All of them have no pupils at all, though the yellow orbs on Legendary Maju Garzett might be a subversion of this.
• Monster Knight: Emperor Maju Garzett is visually implied to be this.
• Multi-Armed and Dangerous: Legendary Maju Garzett has two pairs of arms, one pulling a Badass Arm-Fold while the other does the Standard Power-Up Pose.
  • Strangely enough, he goes back to having two arms upon becoming Emperor Maju Garzett.
• No Mouth: Gren Maju Da Eiza lacks a mouth altogether, though his face in general looks like it was grown over with skin.
• Olympus Mons: Legendary Maju Garzett & Emperor Maju Garzett are played up like this to some extent, given the truly brutal beatdown they can cause with their extremely high ATK and the amount of monsters they need as Tributes (Emperor Maju Garzett needs exactly 3, making this more prominent). The Garzetts in general don't look too dissimilar to the Wicked Gods or Sacred Beasts either.
• Scary Teeth: All of the Garzetts and their needle-like teeth.
• Shoulders of Doom: Great Maju Garzett dons these, which get more prominent as he further evolves.
• Slasher Smile: Legendary Maju Garzett & Emperor Maju Garzett appear to have these, in contrast to the other Garzetts' scowls.
• Snake People: Gren Maju Da Eiza has a rather large tail in place of legs.
• Theme Naming: Name-wise, this series is based on the Mazinger Z manga as a whole.
• Weak, but Skilled: The series as a whole is this since all of them have an original ATK that is either ? or 0 but can gain high ATK thanks to their effects. The Garzetts also synergize really well with monsters with at least okay ATK that gain effects once sent to the Graveyard.
• Unskilled, but Strong: They manage to be this at the same time as Weak, but Skilled. While the Garzetts and Gren Maju Da Eiza can get ridiculously high ATK, they don't have much else in terms of substance beyond Legendary Maju Garzett's piercing ability. This is thrown out the window with the advent of Emperor Maju Garzett, who manages to be Strong and Skilled due to it's ability to prevent the enemy from activating cards or effects during battle.
• Winged Humanoid: Legendary Maju Garzett, Emperor Maju Garzett & Gren Maju Da Eiza.
• You Don't Look Like You: Maju Garzett, during it's cameo in the movie, had dark purple-ish blue fur, and skin/armor colored to look more like human flesh and bone.

Malefic

Now shall you deal with me, O Prince, and all the powers of Hell!

Malefics (known as Sin in the OCG) are a series of DARK monsters, with the majority of them being Dragon-Type monsters. They are introduced in the 10th Anniversary movie, where five of their original counterparts^note Cyber End Dragon, Rainbow Dragon, Stardust Dragon, Blue-Eyes White Dragon and Red-Eyes Black Dragon are stolen by the main villain Paradox, who then enslaves and corrupt them to create the Malefic monsters. Despite their enormous raw power, they need a Field Spell Card to maintain on the field.

Since Paradox uses them in a single duel, only eight Malefic monsters are known. The five enslaved monsters: Malefic Cyber End Dragon, Malefic Rainbow Dragon, Malefic Stardust Dragon, Malefic Blue-Eyes White Dragon and Malefic Red-Eyes Black Dragon; and the three original Malefic monsters are Malefic Parallel Gear, Malefic Paradox Dragon and Malefic Truth Dragon, which is the strongest of them. However, the Malefic card pool was later expanded with a handful of support cards.

---

• Achilles' Heel: If there is no Field Spell Card on the field, they are destroyed. Paradigm Dragon and Paradox Dragon further narrow things down, requiring Malefic World specifically so they don't self blow-up.
• Brainwashed and Crazy:
  • The five dragons listed above that are stolen and enslaved by Paradox.
  • When it's Synchro Summoned, Malefic Paradox Dragon can revive a Synchro monster from either player's Graveyard.
• Cast from Hit Points: When a Malefic monster you control is destroyed, you can Special Summon Malefic Truth Dragon from your hand or Graveyard when you pay half of your Life Points.
• Dark Is Evil: All of them are DARK monsters and very much evil.
• Evil Counterpart: The five dragons listed above are corrupted counterparts of their original counterparts.
• Flechette Storm: Malefic Truth Dragon's board wipe effect appears this way in the anime.
• Herd-Hitting Attack: When Malefic Truth Dragon destroys a monster in battle, its effect will destroy all face-up monsters of the opponent.
• Lost in Translation: The archetype's English TCG name, Malefic, simply refers to the fact that several of them are Evil Counterparts of pre-existing monsters, thus omitting the pun from which the Japanese OCG name derives.
• Meaningful Name: The archetype's Japanese OCG name, Sin, is a pun on both the English word "sin", and 真, which is Japanese for "truth" and phonetically similar to sin. This alludes to the truth of human nature as seen by Paradox, that humanity's errors (or sins) have led to the world's destruction.
• Mythology Gag: In the anime, Malefic Truth Dragon could only be Special Summoned via the anime-only Trap Card Malefic Paradigm Shift, which Special Summoned Truth Dragon from the hand, Deck, or Graveyard when a Malefic Paradox Dragon on the controller's field was destroyed and the controller paid half their LP as a cost. Truth Dragon's OCG Summoning conditions incorporate this into the card itself.
• Our Dragons Are Different: All of them are either Dragon-Type or have "Dragon" in their name. In truth, the only non-Dragon-Types are Malefic Cyber End Dragon (which is still a mechanical dragon) and the Gears.
• The Unfought: During the movie, Malefic Blue-Eyes White Dragon and Malefic Red-Eyes Black Dragon were not destroyed by the protagonists. However, those two dragon did fight the heroes, with only Blue-Eyes being successful.
• Unskilled, but Strong: Most of them have no useful effects, but all of them are very powerful. The only exceptions are Parallel Gear and Paradox Gear which are Weak, but Skilled, alongside Paradox Dragon and Truth Dragon which are both strong and have devastating effects.

Marincess

Marincess is an archetype of WATER Cyberse monsters. Their playstyle revolves around returning their cards from the graveyard back to their hand, allowing them to Link Summon without losing card advantage or recycle their Trap cards which can be activated from hand if they control a Link 3 or higher monster. They are used by Aoi Zaizen in Yu-Gi-Oh! VRAINS.

---

• Amazon Brigade: The archetype is composed of all female monsters.
• Animal Theme Naming: Most monsters from this archetype are named after various sea-dwelling creatures with the ones their Link monsters are named after being poisonous.
• Apparently Human Merfolk: The design of the Marincess also draws inspiration from their sea-dwelling creatures namesake, with both Crystal Heart and its upgraded version, Wonder Heart, being the least human-looking from them all.
• Back from the Dead: Coral Anemone can revive a WATER monster with 1500 or less ATK from the Graveyard. Additionally, several of their cards can return Marincess cards from the graveyard back to the hand.
• Distaff Counterpart: To Salamangreats as they have similar monster effects and playstyle, sans Reincarnation Link Summon, even sharing most monster attack points. The Marincess monsters are all feminine women based on sea creatures whereas the Salamangreats are based on fire animals. In the anime, it's created by the feminine Aqua, in contrast to the Salamangreat's creator Flame.
• Equippable Ally: Marincess Battle Ocean's effect can equip up to three different Marincess Link Monsters in the Graveyard to a Marincess monster that was Link Summoned to the Extra Monster Zone.
• Making a Splash: The effect of their trap cards and attacks are depicted as blasts of water in the anime.
• No-Sell:
  • Marbled Rock allows the controller to send a Marincess from the hand to the Graveyard to protect one of their monsters from being destroyed and prevent any damage from battle. Crystal Heart and Wonder Heart both have similar effects but the former can only protect itself or another monster it points to, while the latter does not need to discard a card but needs to be equipped with a Marincess monster and can only protect itself.
  • If Crystal Heart is is the Extra Monster Zone, it is unaffected by the opponent's card effects as will any monster that it battles. Additionally, if Battle Ocean is present on the field, any monster in the Extra Monster Zone that was Link summoned using Crystal Heart will also be unaffected by the opponent's card effects.
  • If the player controls a Link 2 or higher "Marincess" monster, Marincess Wave will make all monsters they currently control unable to be affected by the opponent's card effects until the rest of the turn.
• Power Nullifier: Marincess Wave can negate the effect of a face-up monster the opponent controls until the end phase.
• Status Buff:
  • Sea Star can be sent from the hand to the Graveyard to give a Marincess 800 ATK until the end of the turn. Said effect can also be activated twice per turn.
  • Marincess Battle Ocean grants 200 ATK to all Marincess monsters on the controller's field, as well as an additional 600 ATK for each Marincess card equipped to them.
  • Great Bubble Reef gains 600 ATK every time a monster is banished face-up until the end of the turn.
  • Marincess Cascade banishes any number of Marincess Link Monsters on the field and raises one monster's attack points by 300 times the total Link Rating that the banished monsters had.
• Water Is Womanly: An archetype of all-female WATER monsters dressed in royal attire. Their name is a combination of "Marine" and "Princess".

Mathmech

Do the math, or else...

The Mathmech cards, known as Zanki in the OCG, are an archetype of Cyberse monsters who uses Level 4 monsters to summon Synchro and Xyz monsters and use their effects to remove the opponent's cards or increase the amount of damage their monsters can deal. The archetype's boss monster is Geomathmech Final Sigma, a Level 12 Synchro monster with blanket card effect immunity and the ability to deal double battle damage while in the Extra Monster Zone. This archetype is used by Dark Kuroda in the OCG Structures manga.

---

• No-Sell: While it's in the Extra Monster Zone, Final Sigma will be unable to be affected by card effects other than those of Mathmech cards. Laplacian can protect Mathmech cards from being destroyed by card effect by detaching materials attached to it.
• Status Buff: Addition and Equation give a 1000 ATK boost to a monster. Multiplication doubles the ATK of a monster if sent to the Graveyard.
• Status Effects: Subtraction and Division both have effects which can reduce the ATK of opposing monsters.
• Theme Naming: Their monsters are named after arithmic operations and mathematical symbols. Their subsequent members Diameter and Circular are named after geometrical terms.
• There Is No Kill Like Overkill: When Final Sigma is in the Extra Monster Zone and is battling another monster, it deals double battle damage. Back this up with ATK-modifying effects from the other Mathmech cards and you can one-shot the opponent!

Mayakashi

Mayakashi is an archetype of Zombie monsters based on yōkai from Japan and China. Their main deck monsters are the human forms of the yōkai, and each of them have a Synchro Monster counterpart in the Extra Deck that depict their yōkai form. They are lore-wise directly related to the Shiranui archetype.

In terms of gameplay effects, their Synchro Monsters can Special Summon themselves from the Graveyard by banishing another Zombie from the Graveyard (provided a certain type of monster is destroyed beforehand), and gain effects if they are brought back.

---

• An Ice Person: Yuki-Onna, the Absolute Zero Mayakashi's icon in Master Duel describes her ice abilities rather succulently. "With icicles that can freeze [the Shiranui's] roaring blaze, she banishes everything in her wake to absolute zero."
• Anti-Magic: If Tengu is Special Summoned from the Graveyard, it can destroy a Spell or Trap Card on the field.
• Asian Fox Spirit: Their leader is Yoko, the Graceful Mayakashi, a humanoid kitsune monster. Her human disguise, Dakki, is named after Daji, the consort of King Zhou of Shang who was portrayed as a huli jing in the classic Chinese novel Fengshen Yanyi.
• Big Bad: Dakki/Yoko is portrayed as the leader of the Mayakashi and their most powerful member. She's also the most active one after they were sealed away by Shiranui Sunsaga, seeking to regain her power and challenge Shiranui Squire.
• Enemy Mine: The artwork of "Ghost Meets Girl - A Masterful Mayakashi Shiranui Saga" shows Yoko and Squire teaming up to beat Yuki-Onna. It's not made clear whether this is the result of Yoko coming to care about Squire as a friend or just getting back at Yuki-Onna for trying to upstage her.
• Gashadokuro: "Gashadokuro, the Skeletal Mayakashi" is the bulkiest and highest-levelled Mayakashi Synchro Monster, and is depicted towering over its fellow yokai in "Mayakashi Mayhem". If Summoned from the GY it also becomes unaffected by other card effects.
• Hidden Agenda Villain: While Yoko is the more visible threat of the Mayakashi in the Shiranui Squire arc, Yuki-Onna is implied to have been scheming behind the backs of both the Mayakashi and the Shiranui, before swooping in to take Skillsaga Supremacy's power when she clashes with Yoko and wielding it for herself.
• Night Parade of One Hundred Demons: Expressed in their playstyle, where their main combo permits them to Synchro Summon through their entire Synchro Monster lineup, then Link climb through all forms of Yuki-Onna in a single turn, setting the Graveyard up for their revival triggers and forcing the opponent to beat through every one of them in succession. "Mayakashi Mayhem" also depicts them wreaking havoc on the town like this.
• The Night That Never Ends: They seek to cause this so that they have unlimited access to their powers and can rule uncontested.
• Night Time Transformation: The Mayakashi monsters only have access to their true monstrous forms and Yokai magic at night. During the day, they are forced to assume human forms with their powers curtailed.
• No-Sell:
  • Oboro-Guruma renders the controller's monsters indestructible by battle during the turn it was Special Summoned form the Graveyard.
  • Gashadokuro can render itself immune to other card effects during the turn it was revived.
• Overly Long Name: "Ghost Meets Girl - A Masterful Mayakashi Shiranui Saga" holds the record of having one of the longest card names in English. The text has to be significantly compressed to fit on the card!
• Power Nullifier: Yuki-Onna, the Absolute Zero Mayakashi has an effect that negates the activated effects of the opponent's banished monsters, which is tailor-made to suppress the Shiranui, which opposes her in lore. Another effect allows it to negate the effects of a face-up monster on the field if a monster is Special Summoned from the Graveyard, or a monster effect is activated in the Graveyard.
• Punny Name: "Mayakashi" is a portmanteau of "ma" and "ayakashi", both terms for various (usually malevolent) spirits; "mayakashi" is also Japanese for "deception", reflecting their practice of disguising as humans to manipulate and deceive them.
• Super Mode:
  • The archetype's Extra Deck monsters can be seen as this to the Main Deck monsters with the same title. According to their lore, the Main Deck monsters transform into the Extra Deck monsters at night and gain access to their full powers. This is depicted in the artwork of Mayakashi Metamorphosis.
  • Yuki-Onna, the Absolute Zero Mayakashi and Yuki-Onna, the Icicle Mayakashi are this to Yuki-Onna, the Ice Mayakashi. The latter transformed into the former after stealing the staff of Shiranui Skillsaga Supremacy in the artwork of Ghost Meets Girl - A Mayakashi's Manuscript.
• We Used to Be Friends: "Shiranui Squire" and "Dakki, the Graceful Mayakashi" used to be friends, as seen in the artwork of Ghost Meets Girl - A Shiranui's Story. They clash with each other as "Shiranui Skillsaga Supremacy" and "Yoko, the Graceful Mayakashi", respectively. According to lore, however, Dakki only approached Squire as a friend so she could discover the secrets of the Shiranui clan.
• Yin-Yang Bomb: Yuki-Onna, the Absolute Zero Mayakashi portrays Yuki-Onna after stealing Skillsaga Supremacy's power as seen in Ghost Meets Girl - A Mayakashi Manuscript, wielding it alongside her own yokai powers.
• Yuki Onna: All three forms of Yuki-Onna, the Ice/Icicle/Absolute Zero Mayakashi. Her increasing power is also reflected in her potency of "freezing over" the opponent's monsters — first with a conditional stat reduction, then an effect negation, then two instances of negation and ATK reduction. The harshness of "Mayakashi Winter," depicted as one of her powers, is also conveyed as a stat reduction.

Mecha Phantom Beast

The Mecha Phantom Beasts, or Phantom Beast Aircraft (幻獣機 Genjūki) in the OCG, is an archetype of WIND Machine monsters. Their theme is of animal-themed flying vehicles, and they summon "Mecha Phantom Beast Tokens" in various manners, then tribute them to use their effects. As an added bonus, many of them increase in level with the Tokens in play, allowing flexibility in Synchro and Xyz summons.

The archetype is technically a sub-archetype of the Phantom Beasts series of monsters, though the two have no gameplay relations.

---

• Airborne Aircraft Carrier: Phantom Fortress Enterblathnir is the mothership of the Mecha Phantom Beasts in lore, and is a massive flying aircraft carrier with some vague animal traits.
• Cool Plane: A large number of the members look like planes with parts stylized to look like animals.
• Do a Barrel Roll: It's a card and a Shout-Out.
• Giant Flyer: Particularly Drago-SAC
• Hologram: "Mecha Phantom Beast Tokens" are depicted as holograms copying "Mecha Phantom Beast" monsters in their own artworks.
• Mook Maker: Almost all of the members summon Mecha Phantom Beast Tokens.
• Nigh-Invulnerability: Mecha Phantom Beasts cannot be destroyed by anything as long as their controller has at least one Token on the field with them.
• Quantum Mechanics Can Do Anything: The advanced technology of the Mecha Phantom Beasts includes quantum-output machines. The decoys created by these machines are nearly indistinguishable from the original on radar and are said to be so efficient at drawing away fire, that as long as a single decoy has been deployed, the original machine cannot be shot down.
• Shout-Out: "Do a Barrel Roll" is a support card for the Mecha Phantom Beasts, which makes sense, as they are all planes. The English name is an obvious reference to the Star Fox 64 quote, "Do a barrel roll!" which is a very popular Internet meme. When a Spell Card, Trap Card, or monster effect is activated: Tribute all "Mecha Phantom Beast Tokens" you control; negate the activation, and if you do, destroy it.
• Suicide Attack: Concoruda's capable of converting the decoys into energy to perform a suicide attack that breaks the sound barrier. However, the risks to Concoruda are immense, as the burden on the aircraft is immense, enough that it causes it to self destruction. Represented in-game by Sonic Boom, which gives a Mecha Phantom Beast double its original ATK and piercing damage at the cost of blowing up your field at the end of your turn.

Megalith

Megalith Portal featuring the Level 4 Megaliths (Ophiel, Och, and Hagith).

Megalith is an archetype of seven Level 2, 4, and 8 EARTH Rock Ritual Monsters. Uniquely for a Ritual-based archetype, it has no Ritual Spells. Instead, the monsters Ritual Summon each other with their own effects. Depending on the level of the Megalith, the Ritual Summoning effect activates either in the hand or field, can Ritual summon either from the hand or deck, and can even do so as a Quick Effect.

Once summoned onto the field, the Megaliths have a rather standard set of positive effects. They also have a unique Quick-Play Spell that acts as an archetypal Ritual Spell of sorts, Megalith Unformed, which exclusively Ritual Summons from the Deck, and requires Tributing monsters from the hand/field whose total Levels equal exactly twice the summoned monster's Level.

---

• Back from the Dead:
  • Emergence can Special Summon a Megalith monster from the graveyard.
  • Portal and Phul can return a Ritual Monster from the graveyard to the hand.
• Barrier Warrior: Aratron can protect cards from cards and effects the opponent activates, but must place a Ritual Monster from the graveyard on the bottom of the deck to do so.
• Bling of War: Downplayed, but the Megaliths are all decorated with gold filigree.
• Do Well, But Not Perfect: While recurring monsters from the Graveyard to repeatedly tribute them to perform Ritual Summons is often good, it can actually be detrimental if done too much in Megaliths, as their strongest effects all require having multiple Ritual Monsters in the Graveyard.
• Light/Darkness Juxtaposition: Ophiel and Phaleg are made of white stone, while Hagith and Bethor are made of black stone. The remaining three, Phul, Och, and Aratron, are made of both.
  • Female Angel, Male Demon: Ophiel and Phaleg resemble feminine angels, while Hagith and Bethor resemble masculine demons.
  • Good Wings, Evil Wings: Ophiel and Phaleg have bird wings, while Hagith and Bethor have bat wings. Och and Aratron have both kinds of wings, while Phul has neither.
  • Yin-Yang Bomb: As noted above, Phul, Och, and Aratron are made of both white stone and black stone. Coincidentally, they're also the only Megaliths that can Ritual Summon as a Quick Effect.
• Literally Shattered Lives: The portal that shows up in the art of Unformed and Phul appears to be made of pieces of the Level 8 Megaliths, implying that this trope happened at some point to them earlier.
• Living Statue: The Megaliths all look like statues. And since they're all EARTH Rock monsters, they likely are statues.
• Meaningful Name: "Megalith" means "large stone". Quite fitting for an archetype of Living Statues.
• Mechanically Unusual Fighter: As already noted, Megaliths are unique as a Ritual archetype in not having a Ritual Spell, instead relying on the Megaliths themselves to Ritual Summon each other. They did later receieve a Spell that can Ritual Summon, though it's a Quick-Play rather than a Ritual.
• Mook Promotion:
  • The main use of their fittingly-named Trap card, Megalith Promotion. It doubles the Level of a Level 4 or lower monster until the end of the turn. And since all the Level 4 or lower Megaliths can Ritual Summon by tributing themselves, they can then replace themselves with a higher-Level Megalith.
  • Phul's ability to recur a Ritual Monster from the Graveyard and change its own Level to match that monster's allows it to replace itself with that monster, which will likely be a higher Level as all the Megaliths besides Phul have a higher Level.
• Out-of-Turn Interaction: Megaliths have a number of ways to Ritual Summon during the opponent's turn, allowing them to drop a Bethor and destroy the opponent's field in their turn, or (with Och specifically) drop a non-archetypal Ritual Monster with powerful on-summon effects (e.g. Shinobaron Peacock).
• Status Buff: Phaleg buffs allied monsters, including itself, by 300 ATK and DEF for each Ritual Monster in its controller's graveyard.
• Stone Wall: As is typical for Rock monsters, most Megalith monsters have higher DEF than ATK. In addition, Megalith Portal can protect Ritual Summoned monsters from battle destruction, making them even harder to get rid of.
• Theme Naming: They're all named after the Olympian spirits.
• Tron Lines: Not as obvious as most example, but the Level 8 Megaliths have lines of glowing energy running through them.

Meklords

Meklords, called Machine Imperials (機皇 Kikō) in the OCG, are an archetype of Machine-Type monsters that are designed as Anti-Synchro cards, absorbing them to increase their power. They're pivotal in the 5D's anime, where they're represented as five individual parts that combine as one and can upgrade and interchange parts to gain new abilities. In the real card game they're stand-alone cards, and have considerably less impressive versatility.
The Meklord Emperors were used by the Three Emperors of Yliaster. Meklord Emperor Wisel was wielded by Placido/Primo, Skiel by Lucciano/Lester, and Granel by Jose/Jakob. All three Emperors were used alongside the rest of the archetype by the Three Emperors' combined form, Aporia.

---

• Anti-Magic: Wisel can, once per turn, negate the activation of a spell card and its Synchro Absorption counterpart can tribute itself to negate any card or effect that would destroy another card on the field. And should a Meklord monster be destroyed while Meklord Assembly is on the field, it allows the player to destroy a face-up spell card on the field.
• Armor-Piercing Attack: Meklord Army of Wisel can, once per turn, allow another Meklord to inflict piercing damage if said monster battles a defense position monster.
• The Assimilator: All of the three Meklord Emperors and Mekanikle can absorb Synchro monsters while Triskelion can absorb any monster in the opponent's Extra Deck to equip to themselves, gaining their ATK in the process.
• Boss in Mook Clothing: The Meklord Emperors. They may be Level 1 monsters but their stats rival those of higher-level monsters.
• Cognizant Limbs: The Meklord Emperors' anime-only gimmick, where each Emperor is composed of five separate monsters with the main Emperor card simply being the central core.
• Combining Mecha: In the anime, each one of the Meklord Emperors is made up of five separate components with effects that support one another, and can be replaced or upgraded to make the Meklord Emperor more powerful. Only Placido used parts from another Emperor on his own. While the real games simply condense all parts into a single card, the video games are more than happy to give Meklord Emperors a summon animation depicting their parts assembling around the core. The Tag Force games and Duel Links include the separate Meklord parts as cards, although the Emperors themselves in Duel Links are present in their TCG/OCG incarnations, meaning that in addition to supporting Emperors on the field, the parts can also facilitate the summon of a Meklord Emperor due to self-destructing if there isn't one in play.
• Crippling Overspecialization: Other special effects aside, they are reduced to little more than beatsticks in the face of anything other than a Synchro monster. Their own anti-Synchro effects are rather limited as well, since they only offer bigger ATK numbers or big burn damage and don't really do much to stop the opponent's own Synchro monsters from fighting back.
• Cyber Cyclops: All of them appear to be this in some form.
• E = MC Hammer: Mekanikle's Japanese name "Machinicle Infinity Cubic". How one cube is infinity is anyone's guess.
• Everything's Better with Sparkles: Wisel has a pair of boosters on its upper legs that emit a trail of sparkles in the anime.
• Fashionable Asymmetry: Wisel's Shoulders of Doom are different designs from eachother. Additionally, it has a Blade Below the Shoulder on its left arm only.
• Gaia's Vengeance: In the anime they were created by the Momentum to eliminate the cause of the system's instability, which was due to the human race becoming greedy, apathetic, and conceited with progress.
• Humongous Mecha: While Meklord Emperors Wisel and Skiel aren't that humongous, Granel certainly is. And then there's the gigantic monstrosity that is Meklord Astro Mekanikle.
• Ironic Name: Despite its name, Meklord Emperor Wisel - Synchro Absorption lacks the Meklord Emperors's signature ability to equip Synchro monsters to itself. However, the artwork depicts Wisel as it was when it had absorbed Stardust Dragon in the anime with the card's third effect being similar to Stardust Dragon's own, so it counts as both this trope and Meaningful Name.
• Killer Robot: They effectively wiped out humanity in the Bad Future of 5D's.
• Large and in Charge: The Meklord Emperors are big, especially Granel. This also applies to Mekanikle and Asterisk as well.
• Man of Kryptonite: They are this against Synchro Monsters.
• Mechanical Monster: All of them, with Skiel & the Astro Dragons being more notable examples due to their more animalistic appearances.
• Mythology Gag:
  • Meklord Army Deployer Obbligato's upper body is based on Fortissimo the Mobile Fortress with which it shares its Musical Theme Naming. In addition, Obbligato's effects are meant to evoke those Fortissimo had in the anime with one that summons Meklord Army monsters to the field and another which inflict a small amount of effect damage. Meanwhile, the design of Obbligato's legs is similar to Mekanikle's own and both monsters share the same attribute.
  • Meklord Astro Dragon Triskelion's design is based on Aporia's Duel Runner, and its wings resemble the ones Aporia himself had while connected to it.
  • The appearance of Mekanikle as a shadowed silhouette in the artwork of Meklord Control is similar to how the monster appeared in the fifth opening theme of 5D's.
  • Meklord Astro the Eradicator features Meklord Astro Dragon Asterisk, the original three Meklord Armies and Fortissimo the Mobile Fortress. All five of these cards were played by Aporia in his duel against Jack, Rua and Ruka.
• No-Sell: The Resolute Meklord Army makes all Meklord Army monsters unable to be destroyed by battle while in attack position but with the downside of negating their effects.
• Numerological Motif: With the exception of the Meklord Armies, they all have an infinity sign on their chest.
• Our Dragons Are Different: Astro Dragon Asterisk is a... mechanical, wormy, thingy. With an asterisk-resembling head.
• Plot-Based Photograph Obfuscation: All of the Meklord Emperors as well as Mekanikle itself appear in the opening credits, but until they have actually appeared in the show, they are mostly hidden by shadow.
• Red Eyes, Take Warning: Every unit except Meklord Emperor Skiel.
• Robot War: What they caused in the dark future of 5D's.
• You Will Not Evade Me: Anime-only. Unlike Wisel and Skiel, Granel has the ability to prevent Synchros that it attacks from removing themselves from the field. Adding more is that it can drag out the Synchro from the Graveyard into its body.

Melffy

Melffy is an archetype of EARTH Beast monsters that resemble animals from a children's storybook. The Main Deck monsters, all of which are Level 2, have a "hide and seek" motif to them: if an opponent Summons a monster or declares an attack, they can return themselves to the hand to "hide", at which point they can "seek" out friendly Beasts by searching them or Special Summoning them. During the End Phase, they can Special Summon themselves to the field to begin the process again.

---

• Attack Reflector: At her strongest, when at least five materials are attached to her, Melffy Mommy can inflict damage to the opponent equal to the ATK of any monster that even thinks of battling her.
• Cuteness Overload: If another Melffy returns to your hand, Melffy of the Forest's effect can target an enemy monster and prevent it from both attacking and applying its effects while it's face-up—almost as if the mere sight of it is so adorable that the enemy can't help but Squee at it.
• Let's Get Dangerous!:
  • Melffy Playhouse is an unexpectedly aggressive card for the archetype it's part of. It detaches as many materials from Beast Xyz Monsters as you want, and then targets and returns that many opponent's cards to their hand. Then your Beast Xyz Monsters gain 500 ATK for each material detached for the rest of the turn.
  • Similarly, Joyous Melffys' effect lets you detach a material to give every Melffy a direct attack that turn—including itself and its 2000 ATK, the highest by far in the archetype. Not bad for a bunch of cute furballs.
• No-Sell: Depending on how many materials are attached to it, Mommy can't be destroyed by battle, and any damage you suffer when it battles goes poof.
• Ridiculously Cute Critter: Good lord. Enforced by "Melffy Staring Contest", which basically indicates that "Melffys" are so cute that the opponent's monsters can't help but lower their guard.
• Stone Wall: Rabby has 0 ATK but 2100 DEF—very high for a Level 2 Normal Monster, and indeed the highest DEF in the archetype.
• Sugar Bowl: The entire archetype looks (and in Rabby's case, reads) like it hopped straight out of a pre-K cartoon.
• Wolfpack Boss: In a sense. Joyous Melffy's other effect can return a friendly Beast Xyz Monster to the Extra Deck, then revive other Melffy monsters from the Graveyard up to however many materials were on that returned monster.

Melodious

Melodious, also known as Fantasia (幻奏 Gensō) in the OCG, is an archetype comprised of music-themed LIGHT Fairy-Type girls debuting in Duelist Alliance. The weaker Melodious monsters are the Melodious Diva monsters, while the stronger ones are the Melodious Maestra monsters. They are used by Yuzu Hiiragi/Zuzu Boyle in the ARC-V anime.

---

• Amazing Technicolor Population: Almost all of them have unnatural skin colors.
• Amazon Brigade: So far, none of them are males.
• Cool Mask: The Melodious Divas wear half masks that are on one of their eyes (in Canon's case, both). The masks resemble music notes or other symbols (e.g. in Serenade's case it's a heart). Strangely, despite the masks are colored, you can see the eyes and eyebrows through the masks, but in their original color. And the masks don't have holes, which is obvious when they close their eyes.
• Dub Name Change:
  • From Fantasia ("Gensō") to Melodious.
  • The names of some Melodious monsters are altered and monsters with obvious male names are feminized.
  • Prodigy Mozart -> Mozarta.
  • Laureate François -> Shopina.
  • Serena -> Serenade.
• Flower Motif: The Melodious Choir monsters are themed after flowers. Along with the Lyrical Lusciniae, the Wind Witches and Lunalights, they all represent the four kanji of the Kachou Fuugetsu principle. The Melodious archetype is partially based on the flower kanji "ka".
• Foil: To the Lunalight archetype, which makes sense, since their anime owners are Identical Strangers to each other. The Melodious archetype is played defensively and gains benefits from swarming the field with their Main Deck monsters, which is the core strategy. The Lunalights on the other hand are a highly offensive archetype that focuses on summoning One-Woman-Armies from the Extra Deck with little swarming capabilities.
• Light Is Good: They are used by a YGO heroine — Yuzu.
• Lovely Angels: One of the main strategies is Special Summoning both, Aria and Elegy, on the field.
• Meaningful Name: The Melodious Diva monsters are named after famous styles and themes of music, Melodious Maestra monsters are named after composers of classical music and Melodious Songstress monsters are named after vocal ranges.
  • Aria's name came from the term "Aria", a long musical piece sung by a solo singer, mostly without orchestra.
  • Canon's name came from the term "Canon", a musical style that repeats the same tone, one following the others.
  • Sonata's name came from the term "Sonata", musical piece played by orchestra without a singer.
  • Elegy's name came from the term "Elegy", a kind of musical piece or poem typically used to lament the dead.
  • Shopina's Japanese name came from the composer François Baschet while her English name comes from Fryderyk Chopin.
  • Mozarta's name came from the composer Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart.
• Musical Assassin: All of them attack with music, as visually shown in the anime.
• Musical Theme Naming: The Melodious Diva and Melodious Songstress monsters are named after musical terms, while the Melodious Maestra monsters are named after famous music composers.
• Monochromatic Eyes: The Melodious Maestra's have no pupils and irises.
• Nigh-Invulnerability:
  • Elegy can protect all Special Summoned Melodious from getting destroyed by card effects, including herself if she is Special Summoned. If Aria is Special Summoned, all Melodious monsters can't be destroyed by battle or be targeted by card effects. Having both of them Special Summoned on the field creates a powerful layer of protection with limited ways to get rid of. With The Sanctuary in the Sky, the player won't even take battle damage.
  • Bloom Diva cannot be destroyed at all and she even prevents the player from taking battle damage. She can still be targeted though.
• Plant Person: Like the Plant Princesses, Bloom Diva the Melodious Choir's upper body is sprouting out of a flower. Despite this, she's not a Plant-Type monster.
• Punny Name: The Japanese OCG name Gensō (幻奏) is a word play; it is "illusion" (幻想) written with the Kanji of "playing music" (奏). It is also a pun on the Japanese word "ensou" (演奏), which means "musical performance".
• Status Buff:
  • If Special Summoned, Sonata increases the ATK and DEF of all Fairy-Type monsters you control by 500.
  • If Special Summoned, Elegy increases the ATK of all Fairy-Type monsters you control by 300.
• Super-Toughness: Having both Aria and Elegy being Special Summoned on the field gives you a nigh-invincible protection, as they prevent Melodious monsters from being destroyed under most circumstances.
• Tomboyish Name: Played with. The Melodious Maestra are named after famous musicians from the past. In the OCG, they keep the exact same name, e.g. Mozart. However, keep in mind that these names are actually the surnames of the musicians. On the other hand, it's played straight with Shopina, who is named Francois in the OCG.
• Unskilled, but Strong: Opera is a Level 4 monster with 2300 ATK, but she cannot attack during the turn she is Normal or Flip Summoned.
• Weak, but Skilled: They are not impressively strong at first, but when some them are Special Summoned, their can increase their ATK thanks to Sonata and Elegy, and Aria and Elegy can protect all Melodious monsters, making it difficult for the opponent to get rid of them.
  • Although she only has 1000 ATK, Bloom Diva's immunity to destruction and her ability to destroy Special Summoned monsters and inflict damage equal to the difference between their original ATK makes her dangerous.
• Winged Humanoid: Almost everyone of the Melodious Diva monsters have a single wing that resembles a sharp on their back. The Melodious Maestra monsters have two wings that resemble butterfly wings with piano-key designs.

Memento

What is dead may never die,
but rises again, harder and stronger.

Memento is an archetype introduced in Valiant Smashers, composed of skeletal retrains of Normal Monsters from the game's early days. Their effects involve gaining an advantage in resources by destroying or discarding themselves, and then using the accumulated cards in the Graveyard to gain further advantage—either by Special Summoning them from the Graveyard or shuffling them back into the Deck.

The archetype primarily revolves around their boss monster, Mementoal Tecuhtlica - Combined Creation: a Level 11 EARTH Wyrm with 5000 ATK/DEF, with many cards in the archetype either having effects that support it directly, or can only be activated while it is on the field.

---

• Anti-Magic: Mementomictlan prevents your opponent from activating Spells and Traps while a Memento monster is battling.
• Back from the Dead: As long as there are at least five different Memento monsters in the Graveyard to return to the Deck, Tecuhtlica can keep on Special Summoning itself from the Graveyard as well as the hand. Tecuhtlica can also do much the same for any Memento monster in the hand or Graveyard if your opponent activates a card or effect.
• Dem Bones: Fitting for an underworld-themed archetype, the monsters all have a skeleton motif in their artworks.
• Herd-Hitting Attack: Tecuhtlica is capable of attacking each monster the opponent controls once each if it's the only friendly monster on the field. The Quick-Play Spell Bone Party can also banish itself from the Graveyard to grant a Memento monster piercing damage that turn.
• I Am Your Opponent: The Continuous Trap Cranium Burst forces your opponent to attack the highest-leveled Memento monster on your field.
• Palette Swap: In accordance with their remember theming, the Memento monsters are Aztec-themed redesigns of famous Yu-Gi-Oh monsters.

Metaphys

The Metaphys are an archetype comprised of LIGHT Wyrm-type counterparts to older monsters. Their effect revolves around banishing their own monsters.

---

• Anti-Magic: Metaphys Nephtys can banish all set Spell/Trap cards on the field.
• Early-Installment Weirdness: The first two Metaphys monsters, released before the archetype received any support, lack any effect related to banishing like the latter ones do.
• No-Sell: So long as it was special summoned by the effect of a Metaphys monster, Metaphys Tyrant Dragon is unaffected by Trap cards.
• Unskilled, but Strong: Being a Normal monster, Metaphys Armed Dragon doesn't have any effect but possess 2800 ATK which makes it the strongest level 7 Normal monster in the game.

Mikanko

"Sun, sun, sun, here she comes … "

Mikanko is an archetype of monsters with 0 ATK/DEF who can either gain or inherently possess the inability to be destroyed by battle, and to reflect any battle damage that would normally be taken by their controller onto the opponent instead. The archetype also features a substantial number of Equip Spells, all themed around dances, that allow the Mikankos to either build up their own field or disrupt the opponent's own.

---

• Animal Motifs: A cat, a rat, a fox, and a rooster for Ni-Ni, Ha-Re, Hu-Li, and Ohime, respectively.
• Attack! Attack! Attack!: "Heavenly Gate of the Mikanko" forces your opponent to attack any monster you control that has an Equip Card. On the other side of the field, it can let your battling Mikanko monster make a consecutive attack on an enemy monster by getting rid of an Equip Card on your field.
• Beetle Maniac: In her days as a Miko, Ha-Re loved collecting beetles.
• Broken Ace: Hu-Li is a genius when it comes to the Mikanko arts, but struggles with being open about her feelings and tends to be awkward at times.
• Cat Girl: Ni-Ni's spirit beast is the Nekomata, giving her a catgirl aesthetic when she uses her powers.
• Dance Battler: The Level 3s specialize in dance-battling, as seen by their support cards. According to the lore, Ni-Ni makes an effort in creating new dance styles in combat.
• Embarrassing Nickname: Ha-Re is often called Nezumikko and Harechuu by her fellow Mikanko.
• Gold and White Are Divine: Ohime the Manifested Mikanko is based off Amaterasu, the Shinto sun god, and wears predominantly yellow- and light-colored robes to drive the comparison home.
• Hot-Blooded: Ha-Re belongs to a clan of Mikanko who are known for their hot-blooded nature.
• Hypno Fool: Ha-Re can easily be hypnotized, according to Hu-Li the Jewel Mikanko's concept art.
• Kitsune: Hu-Li's spirit animal is the Youko, giving her a fox girl aesthetic when she uses her powers. Her upgraded form, Arahime the Manifested Mikanko, even has nine tails.
• Magic Mirror: According to her concept art, Ni-Ni can create water-elemental mirrors by twirling her baton.
• Miko: "The Great Mikanko Ceremony" implies that both Ha-Re and Ni-Ni started off as these.
• Must Have Caffeine: According to her concept art, Ha-Re loves drinking coffee. She prefers it black.
• No-Sell:
  • Ha-Re, Ni-Ni, and Hu-Li can negate any battle damage their controller takes if they aren't equipped with an Equip Card—but if they are, they can't be destroyed by battle, and that battle damage is reflected back to the opponent instead of being nullified. Ohime and Arahime, being the Ritual boss monsters of the archetype, have these latter effects already.
  • Hu-Li can also prevent Mikanko cards from being targeted by enemy card effects while an Equip Card is on your field.
  • Most of the Equip Spells keep the monster equipped with them from being destroyed by card effects.
• Red Oni, Blue Oni: Ha-Re and Ni-Ni have the FIRE and WATER Attributes, respectively, and color schemes to match. The "dances" associated with them have different strategies as well: Blazing Dance and Purifying Dance depict Ha-Re, and can only be equipped to Mikanko monsters; while Arabesque and Inviting Rondo, each of which feature Ni-Ni, work to disrupt the opponent's monsters.
• Tempting Fate: In the past, Ha-Re wanted to be a tiger-themed Mikanko, but sadly became a rat-themed Mikanko like Ni-Ni suggested.
• Weak, but Skilled: None of the monsters have any ATK or DEF, but their ability to nullify or redirect battle damage makes up for it.
• Weapon Twirling: Both Ni-Ni and Hu-Li love to spin their magical items, making a spectacle of them in the process.

Moja

Moja is a Beast-Type monster who has two other Beast-Type cards that benefit from its usage: King of the Beasts and Beast Striker. All three cards revolve around Special Summoning from the graveyard.

---

• Animalistic Abomination: King of the Beasts is a tall mass of black fur with skeletal legs and face. It may have been based on the legendary Wendigo
• Badass and Child Duo: Beast Striker seems like Moja's protector, as he can revive him from the graveyard and his high ATK make it hard to target Moja without retribution.
• Dem Bones: King of the Beasts has no skin or muscles underneath his fur.
• Metamorphosis Monster: King of the Beasts used to be this. Then he grew up...
• Miracle-Gro Monster: King of the Beasts starts out as Moja before growing up.

Mokey Mokey

An outcast angel. Nobody knows what he is thinking at all. Sometimes he gets mad and that is dreadful.

Mokey Mokeys are LIGHT Fairy-Type monsters who focus on swarming the field and getting their ATK drastically boosted using Mokey Mokey Smackdown. They are used by Mokeo Motegi/Belowski in Yu-Gi-Oh! GX.

---

• Artificial Human: Their cameos on the assembly lines of Dark Factory of Mass Production and Dark Factory of More Production and their appearance in Surprise Chain suggest that Mokey Mokeys are actually manmade in origin, designed to function as some kind of household product.
• Asteroids Monster: When Mokey Mokey King is removed from the field, its owner can summon as many copies of Mokey Mokey to the field from their graveyard as possible.
• Beware the Silly Ones: You wouldn't be able to tell at first glance that this weak, cartoony, pillow-shaped fairy is capable of much until it bulks up using Mokey Mokey Smackdown. Its appearances in D.D. Trap Hole and Floodgate Trap Hole also suggest it to have a malevolent side, shown by it being the one to throw other monsters into said holes with a sinister look on its face in the latter.
• Breakout Character: To an extent. Mokey Mokey has had cameo appearances in several Spell and Trap Cards, most of which pertain to either their dubious nature, their status as weak low-level Normal Monsters, or their ability regarding their huge power boosts.
• Collective Identity: Mokey Mokey Adrift becomes Mokey Mokey and is treated as a Normal Monster while face-up on the field or in the graveyard.
• Fusion Dance: Three Mokey Mokeys can be fused to create Mokey Mokey King.
• King Mook: Mokey Mokey King. A gigantic Mokey Mokey that's got the same stats as the original.
• Lethal Joke Character: Mokey Mokeys have a base ATK and DEF of only 300 and 100 respectively, making them some of the weakest monsters in the game. However, through Mokey Mokey Smackdown, they are capable of turning into 3000 ATK beatsticks each whenever a Fairy-Type monster on your field is destroyed. This is referenced in their flavor text.
• The Rival: They appear to have this with Ojamas, as depicted in The League of Uniform Nomenclature and Treaty on Uniform Nomenclature.
• Suicide Attack: One of the best ways to make use of Mokey Mokey Smackdown offensively is to have a Fairy-Type monster you control other than Mokey Mokey suicide itself against a stronger monster so that your Mokey Mokeys can deliver heavy hits up to a total of 9000 ATK. Be sure to also have The Sanctuary in the Sky on the field to avoid taking battle damage before attempting this tactic. An alternative method if you don't have the aforementioned Field Spell is to destroy one of your Fairy-Type monsters through the effect of cards like Spark Breaker before conducting your battle phase, allowing for the possibility to deal damage without having to sacrifice your own life points.
• You Wouldn't Like Me When I'm Angry!: Mokey Mokey Smackdown depicts Mokey Mokey in a severely angry mood, and with it comes a huge 3000 ATK boost whenever a Fairy-Type monster on your side of the field is destroyed. "Sometimes he gets mad and that is dreadful" indeed.

Monarch

When the monarchs demand tributes, you'd best oblige.

Monarch, called Emperors (帝, Tei) in the OCG, is a series of Level 6 and 8 (with one Level 5) monsters covering all six main Attributes. They are supported by the Monarch archetype of Spell and Trap cards, as well as the Vassal series of monsters.^ExplanationIn the OCG, the Monarch monsters all use the symbol 帝, while the Monarch Spell and Trap cards use the symbols 帝王 (Teiō). And because effects specify the character string 帝王 and not 帝, the Monarch Spells and Trap cards are an archetype, while the monsters are only a series. This distinction was muddled in the TCG when both 帝 and 帝王 were translated as simply "Monarch."

The original six Monarchs, one for each main Attribute, are Level 6 (barring Zaborg, a Level 5) monsters each with 2400 ATK and 1000 DEF and an effect that activates when Tribute Summoned, usually focusing on removing cards from the field. Each of these monsters later received a Mega Monarch form, a Level 8 with 2800 ATK and 1000 DEF, a Tribute Summon effect like their previous forms, and the ability to be Tribute Summoned using a single Tribute Summoned monster. Later Monarch monsters would follow this pattern, with their Level determining their ATK and DEF values, which are used to search them out. The focus on Tribute Summoning remained with these later cards, even as the game progressed more and more towards Special Summoning, both with Main Deck and Extra Deck monsters. As though to emphasize this, some later Monarch cards restrict their controller from summoning from the Extra Deck or even having cards in it.

In GX, four of the Monarchs are used by the four members of Mizuchi Saiou's/Sarina's Four Monarchs/Light Brigade: Ikazuchimaru/Thunder, Kourimaru/Frost, Honoomaru/Blaze and Iwamaru/T-Bone. In ARC-V, Moebius and Mega Mobius are used by Shingo Sawatari/Silvio in episode 7.

---

• Afro Asskicker: Zaborg has a green one, though as the Emperor of Lightning, it becomes more spiky and flowing, before it becomes full Anime Hair as Zaborg the Mega Monarch.
• Animal Motifs: Raiza the Storm Monarch could be derived from Romulus when a circle of birds flew over him, signifying that he would be king probably explaining why "Raiza" has a bird like crest on his head, or when later on in Romulus's rule when a storm came and everyone left except Romulus, when the storm was over Romulus was gone without any explanation.
• Asskicking Leads to Leadership: As referenced in the artwork of "By Order of the Emperor", "Caius" may be a leader over all the other Monarchs. As further evidence of this, Caius's effect is arguably the strongest, being able to target any card on the field, while most other Monarchs have restrictions on what their effects can target, and they only destroy their targets while Caius banishes his. Also, Caius shares his name with Augustus, the first Roman Emperor, and his uncle Julius Caesar. The artwork of "The Dominion of the Legendary Monarch" appears to establish Erebus as the leader, as the original six Monarchs are shown kneeling to him. Caius may therefore be his second-in-command.
• Back from the Dead: While he's in the Graveyard, Erebus can send one monster in it with 2400 (or more) ATK and 1000 DEF back into the player's hand if they discard a Monarch Spell or Trap card. He can even bounce back himself with this effect.
• Badass Cape: All of the monarchs wear a cape.
• Blow You Away: Raiza's wind storm can blow enemies away.
• Butt-Monkey: Raiza is occasionally depicted as this in other card art.
• Co-Dragons: Mobius and Raiza seem to be this to Caius. Raiza is a more noticeable case of The Dragon, as he was the last one released before Caius and has the second most powerful effect, while also being the other closest to Erebus in Domain of the True Monarchs. Both of them appear beside Caius as well in By Order of the Emperor, and show up the most frequently of all the Monarchs in card artwork.
• Crystal Dragon Jesus: "Kuraisu", Kuraz's name in the OCG, is an abbreviation of "Kuraisuto", an affected phonetic translation for Jesus Christ. This can also be supported by this monster having a similar position to Christ nailed to the True Cross, as well as the circular piece on Kuraz's back resembling a halo.
• Dark Is Evil: Caius and Erebus, possibly, given that they wreak havoc everywhere they go.
• Dishing Out Dirt: Granmarg's rock smash can destroy hidden enemies.
• Dragon-in-Chief: Caius appears to be this to Erebus. Not only does he have the most powerful effect of the main 6 Monarchs, share his Attribute, and show up fairly frequently in card artwork, he's directly infront of all the other Monarchs in March of the Monarchs and is, with Raiza, the closest one bowing to Erebus in Domain of the True Monarchs, who himself seems to be an Orcus on His Throne going off of card artwork.
• Dub Name Change: Emperor —> Monarch. Additionally, Caius is called "Gaius" in the OCG.
• Early-Installment Weirdness: Zaborg, the first Monarch to be released, was Level 5, as opposed to the others, who are Level 6.
• The Emperor: More in the OCG, where their titles are translated as "Emperor" ("帝"/"Tei").
  • Erebus himself seems to be the Shadow Emperor version of this, a powerful king dwelling within the underworld for the other Monarchs to answer his beck and call.
• Evil Minions: The "Vassal" subseries are all designed to support the summoning of the Monarchs in various ways. Samsara Kaiser counts as one as well, due to him being primarily tribute fodder.
• Face Framed in Shadow: Face framed in light, rather, for Erebus in The First Monarch and Domain of the True Monarchs.
• Female Angel, Male Demon: Ehther is the female emperor of heaven and Erebus is the male emperor of the underworld. This comparison even gets highlighted in the artwork for Pantheism of the Monarchs.
• Fusion Dance: Thestalos the Shadow Firestorm Monarch appears to be a fusion of Caius and Thestalo art-wise. It's not an Extra Deck monster in gameplay as that goes against the Monarch Tribute Summoning playstyle.
• Gender Flip: Aither, in the original Greek mythology, is male. Here, Ehther is female. This makes sense, if they want a contrast between the ruler of Heaven and the ruler of the Underworld.
• Glowing Eyes of Doom: Caius, Mobius, Raiza, and Zaborg have these. Caius and Zaborg get bonus points for also having theirs in red.
• Good Counterpart: Ehther and Kuraz are this to the rest of the archetype, as the other Monarchs appear to be evil while neither the afformentioned two appear kneeling to Erebus or among the fire-laden support cards. Ehther (the Heavenly Monarch) is the counterpart to Erebus, (the Underworld Monarch); Kuraz (the Light Monarch) is the counterpart to either Delg (the Dark Monarch) or Caius (the Shadow Monarch). The former is more likely; Kuraz may serve the same role to Ehther that Caius serves to Erebus.
  • Master Duel's story mode explicitly shows this to be the case with Ehther, with the Monarchs' scenario showing that she appears in the aftermath of the other Monarchs' destruction and begins to heal the land from the devastation they caused.
• Hoist by His Own Petard: While not really displayed visually, Zaborg is on the receiving end of this in Icy Crevasse when paired with the effect.
• Holy Hand Grenade: Kuraz and Ehther wield these powers.
• Horns of Villainy: The fiendish Caius in his regular and Mega forms, as well as Angmarl and Erebus. Zaborg and, to a lesser extent, Mobius, Raiza, and Thestalos also have these on their shoulders in their Mega forms. Granmarg in his Mega form has horns both on his head and shoulders.
• An Ice Person: Mobius' Frost Blizzard can destroy up to 2 face-down Spell/Trap Cards the opponent controls. Additionally, icicles can be seen from behind him in his card artwork.
• Irony: Zaborg the Thunder Monarch could be derived from Tullus Hostilius, who was struck down by lightning due to his pride.
• Kubrick Stare: Seems to be Caius's specialty.
• Large and in Charge: "The Dominion of the Legendary Monarch" shows the original six Monarchs kneeling to Erebus, and he is gargantuan, with the second-biggest, Granmarg, only reaching to his knee.
  • All of the Monarchs themselves are this, by virtue of being emperors themselves and being towering figures in comparison to other monsters, especially Granmarg and Zaborg.
• Laser-Guided Karma:
  • Raiza's effect allows him to return a monster to the top of the Deck when Tribute Summoned. He is seen getting charged off a cliff by a boar in Super Rush Recklessly, the effect being able to shuffle him into the Deck. Intercept, meanwhile, features him getting caught in a net, with the effect being able to let you take control of an opponent's monster when it's Tribute Summoned (i.e. Raiza).
  • Zaborg gets this too, seen falling into a chasm in Icy Crevasse, which has the effect of sending a monster your opponent controls to the GY and dealing burn damage if 1 monster you controlled was destroyed by a card effect (such as Zaborg's).
• Lost in Translation: The Monarch support cards ironically do not actually reference the monarchs themselves in the card text. This is due to the fact that the term "Monarch" belongs to an entirely different archetype in the OCG, and the Monarchs in this folder are really Emperors according to the original kanji. They still benefit from the cards regardless, though, as the support cards reference their attack and defense, and not their names.
• Meaningful Name: 'Samsara Kaiser' can be roughly translated into 'Emperor/Monarch Sacrifice'; both its armor and its use suggest that it was designed as a card to directly support the Monarchs because it is returned to the hand when tributed, allowing you to activate the Monarchs' effects, summon Samsara Kaiser again and summon another Monarch to use his effect.
• Mighty Glacier: The Monarchs have quite powerful effects and solid ATK, but since most of them require to be Tribute Summoned, it's hard-to-impossible to splash the field with Monarchs in a few turns. Even with recent support, the deck is rather slow, but once they are on the field, the opponent probably is already in trouble.
• Named After Someone Famous: Escher the Frost Vassal is named after graphic artist M.C. Escher.
• No-Sell: While it doesn't make them invincible by any means, March of the Monarchs makes it so that Tribute Summoned monsters you control can't be targeted or destroyed by card effects so long as it's on the field. The Monarchs Awaken is an arguably stronger normal Trap card that makes a Monarch completely immune to all card effects during the turn it was activated provided that the Extra Deck is empty.
• Old Master: Zaborg is a weird case of this. He was the first Monarch released, and though his effect was fairly standard, he received a retrain in all but name before the rest of his peers; the Emperor of Lightning, one of the elusive and powerful Match Winners. His actual Mega Monarch form is also arguably the most powerful and feared of them all thanks to his ridiculous effect that can really disrupt a wide array of Decks, and with a fairly strong body as well.
• Playing with Fire: Thestalos has command over fire, which is a given seeing as he's holding up a flame in his card artwork without it damaging his armor.
• Shock and Awe: Zaborg, as he has a bolt of lightning between both palms of his hands.
• Shoo Out the New Guy: Kuraz and Delg were given a good amount of fanfare, and often got treated as the real rulers of the archetype in games rather than Caius. They also broke the theme by having straightforward naming schemes (Light and Dark as opposed to Frost, Firestorm, or Shadow) and not needing to be Tribute Summoned. However, fans found the pair to be too slow and indirect, stuck with the original six, and by the time of ARC-V, with the release of new Monarch support, Kuraz and Delg are nowhere to be seen on card art.
• Shoulders of Doom: Almost all of them have these, and if they don't, they certainly do in their Mega forms, Zaborg and Granmarg having the most standout examples.
• Shout-Out:
  • Escalation of the Monarchs features Caius and Thestalos performing a Combination Attack in the same vein as Goku and Vegeta.
  • These cards may be a reference to the seven kings of Ancient Rome, but with the addition of "Delg the Dark Monarch", this is somewhat doubted, though "Delg the Dark Monarch" may be a reference to the eighth king of Rome in the book of Revelation. (Rev 17,9-11: "Here is a clue for one who has wisdom. The seven heads represent seven hills upon which the woman sits. They also represent seven kings: five have already fallen, one still lives, and the last has not yet come, and when he comes he must remain only for a short while. The beast that existed once but exists no longer is an eighth king, but really belongs to the seven and is headed for destruction.")
• Sinister Silhouettes: Caius, Mobius, and Raiza don these in By Order of the Emperor. All of them have a variation of this in March of the Monarchs, especially Granmarg, Thestalos, and Zaborg.
• Slouch of Villainy: Erebus on his card art, though he actually stands when he's summoned in the ARC-V manga.
• The Smurfette Principle: While not the only female member of this archetype, Mithra the Thunder Vassal is the only female Vassal monster card.
• Team Power Walk: March of the Monarchs◊ is a particularly badass one, with everyone walking Out of the Inferno side-by-side. Doubles as Unflinching Walk if the fire behind them is caused by an explosion.
• Took a Level in Badass: Mega-Monarchs are higher-level versions of the Monarchs, both trope-wise and in-universe. "Emperor of Lightning" is the ultimate form of Zaborg; "Emperor of Lightning" is another name for "Zaborg the Thunder Monarch", as Monarchs are called Emperors in the OCG.
• Top-Heavy Guy: Granmarg is practically a cross between Smough and the Heavy in this regard. For reference, the Monarchs in general are quite big, even compared to other humanoid monsters. Granmarg's forearms are as large as the Monarchs, with only Zaborg being any bigger than them. This, paired with his massive torso, sharply contrasts his really short and stumpy legs and his comparatively tiny head.
• Vehicular Theme Naming: Thestalos and his vassal, Berlineth, derive their names from Ferrari models (Testarossa and Berlinetta Boxer).
• Your Size May Vary:
  • In the artwork of Prideful Roar, Mobius is only about a head taller than Breaker, but on Inverse Universe, Mid Shield Gardna barely comes up to his knee.
  • Thestalos is a fair amount taller than Caius, Mobius, and Raiza in March of the Monarchs despite being farther from the viewer than them (around the top of Zaborg's chest), but is barely any taller than them (about equal with Caius) and marginally shorter compared to Zaborg in Domain of the True Monarchs.

Monk

"Everybody was kung fu fighting..."

Monks are EARTH Rock and Beast-Type monsters whose members include Monk Fighter, Master Monk, and Chu-Ske the Mouse Fighter, who can be supported using specific Spell and Trap Cards to give them advantages in battle.

---

• All Monks Know Kung-Fu: Seems to be the asthetic for Monk Fighter and Master Monk, hence their names.
• Attack! Attack! Attack!:
  • Master Monk can attack twice in one turn.
  • The series in general is heavily reliant on battling with other monsters to activate their effects. Kaminote Blow allows for the destruction of an opposing monster that battles with any member of the aforementioned trio at the end of the damage step, while Legendary Black Belt allows the equipped monster to inflict damage to your opponent equal to the DEF of any monster they destroy by battle and send to the graveyard.
• Bruce Lee Clone: Chu-Ske the Mouse Fighter is based off of Bruce Lee.
• Glass Cannon: Master Monk has 1900 ATK, but only 1000 DEF.
• Nigh-Invulnerable: Lone Wolf can make Chu-Ske, Monk Fighter, or Master Monk unable to be destroyed by battle or be targeted by your opponent’s monster effects. However, it only works if the one and only monster on your side of the field is one of the three listed monsters.

Morphtronic

Left to right: Boarden, Celfon, and Remoten

Morphtronics, called Deformers in the OCG, are a series of low-level Machine monsters. Their effects change depending on which battle position they're in, represented in the anime by the Morphtronic transforming into a humanoid form in Attack Position and changing to some sort of appliance in Defense Position. Their boss monster is the Synchro monster Power Tool Dragon. In the anime, they're the signature cards of Lua/Leo in Yu-Gi-Oh! 5Ds.

---

• Bowdlerize: The OCG version of the USB drive-themed Datatron was the lighter-themed Chakkan. But the lighter-cannon looked too similar to a realistic rifle barrel, so for the international version it was removed and a USB drive number was added.
• Fragile Speedster: They are seriously lacking in the ATK and DEF departments, but a well put together Morphtronic deck can easily turbo through the deck at insane speeds, giving you a field full of Synchro monsters from none. The Morphtronic archetype is rather (in)famous for their ability to get two Shooting Quasar Dragons out on the field in one turn.
• Homage: These cards may be based on the entire Transformers toyline that are still very popular. (Transformers have the ability to change from objects/animals/vehicles to humanoid robots and vice-versa.)
• Morphic Resonance: Like the aforementioned Transformers, they have parts of their bodies that correspond to the respective form they convert into.
• Stealth Pun: The two magnet-based monsters, Magnen and Magnen Bar, both have one effect that's useful and one effect that outright cripples you, which subtly references magnets having "positive" and "negative" sides.
• Transforming Mecha: They are depicted in how they "morph" when they change their Battle Position, which changes their effect and appearance (humanoid form in Attack Position; item form in Defense Position). They transform into small household items, like magnets and mobile phones.
• Uncatty Resemblance: Morphtronic Earfon is a pair of earbuds that transforms into robots that look similar to the twins Leo and Luna of 5Ds, the former of whom used Morphtronics in the anime.
• Weak, but Skilled: "Morphtronics" are low in Level and have low ATK and DEF but many have effects that can rapidly boost their collective power. Amassing enough collective power, "Morphtronics" can produce powerful OTKs and strong defensive locks.

Moth

Moth is a series of EARTH Insect-Type monsters used by Weevil Underwood (Insector Haga in the Japanese language manga and anime). The series focuses on Summoning Petit Moth, then equipping it with Cocoon of Evolution from the hand. After waiting a set number of turns and Tributing the equipped Petit Moth, the controller can then Special Summon a specific monster (Larvae Moth, Great Moth, or Perfectly Ultimate Great Moth) from their hand based on how many turns had passed since Petit Moth was equipped with Cocoon of Evolution.

---

• Adaptation Deviation: In the Duelist Kingdom arc, Great Moth can spread scales from its wings onto opposing monsters and reduce their ATK. This effect is absent on the actual card in the card game, but instead adapted into a different card, Corrosive Scales, which equips itself to an Insect-Type monster and reduces opposing monsters' ATK/DEF whenever the opponent summons a monster or activates a card or effect.
• Big Creepy-Crawlies: They are all Insect-Type monsters.
• Draw Aggro: Corrosive Scales prevents the opponent's monsters from attacking the controller's monsters, except for the Insect-Type monster that Corrosive Scales is equipped to.
• Equippable Ally: Cocoon of Evolution can equip itself from the hand to a Petit Moth on the field, and changes Petit Moth's original ATK and DEF to that of its own. After a certain number of turns have passed since Coccon of Evolution was equipped, the controller can Tribute Petit Moth to Special Summon a specific monster (Larvae Moth for four turns, Great Moth for eight turns, and Perfectly Ultimate Great Moth for twelve turns) from their hand.
• Fusion Dance: Perfect Great Insect is visually a combination of Great Moth and Insect Queen.
• Magikarp Power: Petit Moth is a weak Normal Monster with 300 ATK. However, if the controller equips it with Cocoon of Evolution and it is left on the field uninterrupted for the requisite number of turns, it can be Tributed to Special Summon Perfectly Ultimate Great Moth, a 3500 ATK behemoth.
• Moth Menace: As their names suggest, Great Moth and Perfectly Ultimate Great Moth are giant moths.
• Mythology Gag: The artwork of Corrosive Scales depicts Perfectly Ultimate Great Moth battling Gaia the Dragon Champion, while the former douses the latter in scales from its wings. The card references Haga's duel against Yugi in Duelist Kingdom, wherein the former Special Summoned Great Moth and used it against Yugi's Gaia the Dragon Champion. In particular, in that arc, Great Moth had an effect wherein it could spread its scales onto opposing monsters and decrease their ATK. This effect is represented by Corrosive Scales' effect to place Scale Counters on the opponent's monsters whenever the opponent Normal or Special Summoned a monster, or activated a card effect, with the affected monsters losing 100 ATK and DEF for each Scale Counter they have.
• Status Buff: When Cocoon of Evolution is equipped to Petit Moth, its original DEF becomes the same as that of Cocoon of Evolution's DEF (2000). Considering the fact that Petit Moth's original DEF is 200, it is very likely that this will result in a buff to that stat.
• Status Effects:
  • When Cocoon of Evolution is equipped to Petit Moth, its original ATK becomes the same as that of Cocoon of Evolution's ATK (0). Considering the fact that Petit Moth's original DEF is 300, it is very likely that this will result in a reduction of that stat.
  • When the opponent Normal or Special Summons a monster, or activates a card effect while Corrosive Scales is equipped to a monster, its effect places a Scale Counter on each monster the opponent controls. Monsters the opponent controls lose 100 ATK and DEF for each Scale Counter they have.
• Tiered by Name: As this trope suggests, Perfectly Ultimate Great Moth with 3500 ATK is a stronger monster than the more mundanely named Great Moth, which has 2600 ATK. The former also requires waiting four more turns after equipping Petit Moth with Cocoon of Evolution than the latter does.

Myutant

Something was creeping and creeping and waiting to be seen and felt and heard.

Myutants are an archetype of monsters of various Attributes and Types, primarily WATER Psychic-Type monsters, released in the TCG version of Phantom Rage. Their members each have effects respondent to their Levels; the Level 2 and 4 monsters (all WATER Psychics) maintain consistency while Special Summoning the Level 8 monsters in place of them by Tributing themselves and banishing cards of a specific type (Monster, Spell & Trap).

The Level 8 monsters have unique Types and Attributes, but share a generally consistent theme. They cannot be targeted by the card effects of one of the three card types, have Quick Effects that involve banishing cards from the controller's field when the opponent activates a card of another one of the three card types, and search out one of the controller's banished Myutant cards of the last card type when they are destroyed by an opponent's card.

The Level 9 and 10 monsters are Fusion Monsters that have effects that cover all three card types in one effect, and allow the controller to add their banished Myutants to their hand when the opponent destroys them. Their boss monster is the pictured Fusion Monster, Myutant Ultimus.

---

• Animalistic Abomination: Beast is a ghastly, six-legged creature with traits of various other taxonomies and far too many eyes and mouths.
• Anti-Magic: Beast is capable of negating your opponent's Spells. Ultimus has an effect akin to Ultimate Providence or Invoked Mechaba, albeit also being able to banish from your GY to negate your opponent's card effects.
• Attack of the 50-Foot Whatever: Myutant Cry shows just one or two of Ultimus' tentacles; it dwarfs the pair of helicopters next to it and the several burning buildings below. In Ultimus' art, it doesn't even need to have its tentacles straight for them to reach all the way into the skies.
• Back from the Dead: GB-88 can Special Summon Myutants from the GY. Additionally, it can recover them even while they're banished.
• Botanical Abomination: The best that Mist can be described as is a colorful, flower-like entity with spellcasting appendages and crystals shooting out of it.
• Colour-Coded for Your Convenience: A unique example: Beast, Mist & Arsenal are EARTH, WIND and FIRE respectively, matching the color of the specific cards used to Special Summon them (Monster, Spell & Trap respectively) and are unable to be targeted by.
• Combat Tentacles: Most of them have these. The Fusions are almost nothing but these.
• Dug Too Deep: Myutant Mutant shows it apparently being discovered or excavated, possibly overlapping with Sealed Evil in a Can but there's no way to be sure.
• Eldritch Abomination: Goodness. This is most blatant with their Fusions, Synthesis and especially Ultimus, but generally all of them cover a different flavor of the look.
• Extra Eyes: Beast and the Fusions have eyes scattered around their bodies.
• Fusion Dance:
  • Synthesis requires two Myutants with different Attributes as Fusion Material, visually resembling M-05, ST-46 and GB-88 merged together (in line with the artwork for Myutant Fusion).
  • Ultimus requires three Level 8 or higher Myutants. Bits of Beast, Arsenal, and (to some extent) Mist can be seen in the Fusions as well. Fittingly as a combination of the Level 8s, it's able to respond to all three card types at once, rather than only a single type as those three are.
• Genetic Engineering Is the New Nuke: The archetype consists of ever-evolving bioweapon-like organisms. The Fusions are seen being created through the weaker Myutants escaping captivity and contacting each other.
• Haunted Technology: A variation, as Arsenal is clearly a machine of sorts (it's even Machine-type) inhabited by the Myutant lifeform growing within it.
• Instant Runes: Mist can project these, explaining why it's oddly a Spellcaster rather than a Plant or Rock monster.
• Invincibility Power-Up: Synthesis can respond to an opponent's card effect by making itself immune to that card type for the rest of the turn.
• Kaiju: Ultimus is a massive creature, as shown clearly in the art for Myutant Cry.
• Meaningful Name:
  • M-05 and ST-46 are acronyms for Monster and Spell/Trap, which they can each respectively search on Summon (and are seen mutating into in the artwork for the Level 8s). GB-88, meanwhile, stands for Graveyard/Banish, the areas it can retrive the stronger Myutants from.
  • For the Level 8s, Beast is a chimera of sorts, while Arsenal is an armed machine. Mist is much more dubious, unless its Instant Runes are supposed to be evocative of such.
  • Synthesis is a combination of forms in a system, fitting for the monster in question to be a Fusion Monster between the weaker Myutants.
• Mechanical Abomination: Arsenal is a heavily armed machine that's rupturing apart from the mutations it's experiencing, quite possibly serving as nothing but armor for the mass within.
• Mix-and-Match Critters: Beast is clearly one of these, given it's various appendages are from several different animals and for different functions, though it's folded, hooved hind legs stabilized with it's smaller pair, the huge, splayed claws, and fish or tadpole-like tail and general posture imply something aiming to be overall amphibious.
• Mutants: Obviously, with each of them (primarily the Level 8s and the Fusions) generally aiming for a different take on it visually.
• My Nayme Is: The name of the archetype is just the word "mutant" with a "Y" in it. Justified due to how archetypes work in the game, as an archetype with a uniquely spelled name makes it more easy to exclude other cards (such as those with "Mutant" in their names) from being supported by its support.
• Mythology Gag: To the Reactor archetype. Each archetype has a trio of monsters that each react when the opponent uses a card of a certain type (Monster, Spell, or Trap), with the Myutant trio being the Level 8 monsters and the Reactor trio being the Reactor monsters. In addition, each trio has a combined form which can react to all three card types rather than just one, with the Myutant combined form being Myutant Ultimus and the Reactor combined form being Flying Fortress SKY FIRE.
• No-Sell: Synthesis can make itself unaffected by all your opponent's monster, Spell, or Trap cards for an entire turn. But it can only choose one each turn, based on what card or effect the opponent activated earlier that turn.
• Rock Monster: Mist is evidently made out of several minerals on top of its clear plant-like form.
• Shout-Out:
  • Myutant Beast's coloration, six muscular limbs (some clawed) and especially the bottom mouth bring to mind William Birkin's fourth mutation.
  • Ultimus' general appearance matches some depictions of the Dark Young.
• Starfish Aliens: The Myutant Mutation Solo Gate in Master Duel reveals them to be this, with Myutant Mutant being the original creature that landed on the world and scientists subsequently taking it to a research lab to investigate it.
• Too Many Mouths: Beast has two mouths that look entirely different from one another.
• Vertebrate with Extra Limbs: On close inspection, not only does Beast have the clawed, muscular forearms and folded hind legs that end in hooves, it has a second pair of legs in front of the aforementioned pair, which are much more reptilian.

---