First Look: Witchcrafter

Witchcrafter Schmietta

Loading... can tribute itself off in the main phase as a quick-effect by discarding 1 spell to special summon one Witchcrafter from the deck, it can then banish itself from the graveyard to send one Witchcrafter card from the deck to the graveyard except itself. Schmietta’s milling effect serves as a search effect for any spell in the archetype as they can all recover themselves from the grave during your end phase as well as providing an additional way to summon Loading... when combined with Loading... . As the tribute effect tributes for cost Schmietta’s effect is not negated by Loading... and as a quick effect it can be used to dodge common backrow such as Loading... or Loading... .

Witchcrafter Pittore

Pittore shares Schmietta’s quick effect of being able to tribute itself off and discard a spell to special summon a Witchcrafter from the deck, Pittore can also banish herself from the graveyard to draw one card then discard one witchcrafter card or else banish your entire hand. Like Schmietta, Pittore combos very well with Holiday if Madame Verre is currently in your hand by discarding Verre so it can be revived with Holiday whilst simultaneously drawing a card.

Witchcrafter Madame Verre

Loading... is the archetypes boss monster with the ability to reveal any number of spells with different names in the hand to boost the attack and defence of your battling spellcaster monster by 1000 during damage calculation for each card revealed, as well as being able to discard one spell card from your hand and negate the effects of all of your opponent’s monsters on the field for the rest of the turn as a quick effect.

RULING NOTE: - Judge Whirl's note (Thank you to my friend Whirlwynnd for giving me this information): Madame Verre's negate effect works differently than something like Fiendish Chain or Destiny Hero Plasma, it is much more akin to Loading... . Once her effect resolves the effect will negate the activated effects of monsters that activate on the field, even if the monster moves away to a different zone which plasma and chain do not.

• Using Loading... as an example: If your opponent summons Solitaire (or a monster with a similar effect to Solitaire) if you chain Madame Verre's effect, Solitaire will continue to have its effect negated, even when they go to tribute it for cost to summon a tuner from deck. Its effect when banished will not be negated (even if its banished on the field since it does not activate on the field and loses its current identity when it leaves the field zone).

Witchcrafter Holiday

Loading... simply allows you to special summon a Witchcrafter monster from the graveyard; this card provides additional ways to recover Madame Verre from the graveyard through Schmietta’s mill effect as well as Pittore’s discard effect and serves as another name to fuel Verre’s effects.

Witchcrafter Collaboration

Loading... allows a Witchcrafter to attack twice during the battle phase and stops the opponent from using spells or traps until the end of the damage step. This card is likely to be best used in a pure build where Madame Verre is the boss monster as opposed to a hybrid build relying on either Invoked or Lightsworn. Collaboration is the least useful of the spells but still finds use in the deck by acting as another spell name to give more fuel to Madame Verre’s boost effect and to serve as fuel for her negation effect and the other Witchcrafters quick-effects.

Witchcrafter Unveiling

The most important of the Witchcrafter spells, Loading... allows you to special summon a Witchcrafter from the hand, and for the rest of the turn your opponent cannot respond to the effects of your spellcaster monsters with cards or card effects. As a quick-play spell Unveiling can be used to special summon a Witchcrafter monster from your hand during your opponent’s turn, allowing you to surprise your opponent by special summoning a Verre from the hand on their turn and negating any future or current monster effects.

RULING NOTE: If Unveiling is used to special summon Verre on your turn and you have your toggle on, you can chain either of Verre’s quick-effects on summon to block your opponent from using a floodgate on your summoned Verre – This is due to you having turn player priority combined with Unveiled effects, preventing your opponent from having any opportunity to respond to the summon.

Aleister the Invoker (the Invoker Engine)

As Loading... is fire attribute and Loading... is water attribute, both can be used as fuel for Aleister to fuse into Loading... and Loading... ; furthermore Aleister has amazing synergy with Loading... as this spell stops your opponent from responding to Aleisters search effect, allowing you to more safely summon Aleister without having to worry about him getting negated by Loading... , Loading... , or an opponent’s Verre in the mirror match.

The Lightsworn Engine

The purpose of the Lightsworn engine is to fill the graveyard full of spells using Loading... alongside the effect of Loading... and then either summon a milled Witchcrafter using Loading... , or summon a Witchcrafter and float into Verre whilst simultaneously recovering the spells in the graveyard during the end phase. This engine grants very easy access to the archetypes spells with lucky mills and has the most explosive potential of all of them, giving the deck access to a variety of synchro options alongside a Verre in the best-case scenario, as well as giving the deck access to Lyla as possible emergency backrow removal and additional milling.

Backrow Protection

One of Witchcrafters biggest weaknesses is backrow due to their inherit lack of backrow and destruction protection, decks such as Cyber Dragons having access to Loading... and Shiranui with Loading... and Loading... alongside DM’s Loading... make Backrow removal incredibly important in this deck. The exact ratios of each are likely to be down to player preference but a mix of all potential backrow removal allows you to have more fuel for Loading... 's boost effect and improve these match-up.