Introduction
Darklord is an archetype in Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Links, introduced in the Lords of Shining minibox. The deck focuses on sending Loading... and Loading... to the graveyard (GY), allowing Darklord monsters on the field to activate the spells and traps from the GY for the cost of 1000 LP. Certain core cards, such as Loading... , allow deep digging into the deck for more setup and combo pieces which sets up the GY while also drawing 2 new cards. Another card like Loading... allows swarming the field with high-stated monsters to apply pressure onto the opposing field.
With cards like Loading... and Loading... the deck has a pseudo-search engine, which gives a slight bit of added consistency.
Initial Thoughts
The Darklord archetype can quickly and consistently bring out big monsters, protected with the effects from Loading... and Loading... . The effect to activate Darklord Spell and Trap cards from your GY is a quick play effect, which means you can use it on your opponent's turn in response to their plays. Darklords struggle against heavy backrow decks because they do not have built in spell/trap removal or negation in the current engine. Cards such as Loading... and Loading... can slightly mitigate this weakness.
Card Breakdown
The main focus of this guide will be to highlight which cards you absolutely want to get from Lords of Shining, along with some initial thoughts on the Darklords playstyle. The guide will be updated later when there are more results from future competitions.
Core Cards
One of the main openers in the deck. Loading... allows you to set up your GY by sending it with another Darklord card to your GY and drawing 2 cards. Loading... allows you to send any Darklord card including Loading... , Loading... and Loading... . This monster can copy and use your Darklord Spell/Trap cards from the GY as a Quick Effect.
You need to send 2 other Darklord cards to the GY to summon Loading... . It gets its value when sending Loading... and another Darklord card, following up with Loading... to revive it. Another possible combo is to send Loading... to have it set up in the GY and negate your opponent's monster effects, or simply gain some LP by negating your own.
This monster can copy and use your Darklord Spell/Trap cards from the GY as a Quick Effect.
The main extender in your deck. This is the card you want to send with Loading... , so you can summon it from your GY with Loading... and summon Ixchel with its own effect.
One thing to keep in mind is Loading... can miss timing when its effect becomes Chain Link 2. (For example, when you use Loading... from your GY with one of your monster effects, Loading... will miss timing and you will not be able to special summon another Darklord from your GY.)
Its first effect allows you to negate any monster effect on the field. You can activate this card's effect from the GY by using a Darklord monster which means it cannot be negated by cards like Loading... . With Loading... , you can consistently gain LP, which makes it a relevant bonus for this card since applying Darklord monsters’ on-field effects are quite costly.
This is the card you will be using to make most of your plays. A small setback is that it summons your monster in DEF position. However, you have cards like Loading... to summon a second Darklord monster in attack position and establish a board.
This card can only be activated once per turn. (Note: Keyword is “activate”, meaning if the card is negated, and you have another copy in your hand you can still activate it.)
Tech Cards
A powerful card. Loading... ’s effect sends monsters to the GY instead of destroying them. This effect is powerful because, for example, Six Samurai's have multiple forms of destruction protection but those are bypassed when they are targeted to be sent to the GY instead.
You only need to tribute 1 monster, which makes it fairly easy to summon in this deck. This card is best used as a tech for certain versions of the deck.
After you use Desire's effect and lose the 1000 ATK, you can then use Loading... to negate the -1000 ATK and gain 3000 LP, which makes for a neat combo.
Usually you do not want too many tribute monsters in your deck, so you likely will not be running this card and Loading... in the same deck. The cost for this one is slightly higher -- you need 2 tributes. However, it allows you to special summon any number of Darklords from your hand/deck equal to the number of effect monsters your opponent controls. Loading... cannot be targeted by card effects as long as other Darklord monsters are on the field. This card is best used as a tech for certain versions of the deck.
Loading... 's second effect is nice to get your GY set up with Loading... and Loading... and gain some LP.
Its effect to prevent destruction can be very powerful, but it is not always feasible to keep in your hand and still make your combo plays. Also, there are not a lot of monsters currently that can attack over your Darklords.
This monster can copy and use your Darklord Spell/Trap cards from the GY as a Quick Effect.
A strong card, but it requires a bit of setup. You need to have the right Darklord cards in your GY (and preferably in your hand) to gain full value from Loading... . You will most likely run this with Loading... , to add the card you sent to the GY with its effect (for example, Loading... ). This allows you to search for necessary cards if your starting hand is non-ideal, which boosts the consistency of the deck. If you also have Loading... in your hand, you can send it for Loading... effect and special summon it with Loading... . This card will most likely be used in combination with Loading... in certain versions of this deck.
This monster can copy and use your Darklord Spell/Trap cards from the GY as a Quick Effect.
Mainly a consistency piece. Running it provides you with more options. The main negative point for this card are its low stats. You will likely use it with Loading... to search cards. You can send any Darklord card to the GY from your deck, so this card does open up a lot of possibilities. This card will most likely be used in combination with Loading... in certain versions of the deck.
This card has no value. Its stats are too low, piercing damage will not be a lot. There is no reason to run this card.