Take your seats – because with DUOV, this deck is ready to perform!

Entrance of the Abyss Actors:

For those of you who have never seen this theme before, hopefully this gives you a bit of insight into what they can do. But nothing shows off the sheer potential of this theme like a combo string, so let me run through one from my test duels to showcase the true hidden power of this theme.

 

Sample Combo:

Background:
Opponent went first, ended on a board of Ultimaya Tzolkin, Crystal Wing Synchro Dragon, Destiny HERO Malicious, and 2 set backrow.
I opened with a hand of Curtain Raiser, Superstar, Wild Hope, Comic Relief, Fire Dragon’s Lair, and a second Superstar.

 

Avoiding the Restrictions:

What I failed to mention earlier when describing the key components of this archetype and its supporting subtheme was that there are a ton of restrictive conditions placed on its effects. If you use the monster effect of Hyper Director or Extras, or the Pendulum effect of Madonna or Wild Hope, you are locked into summoning Abyss Actors only for the rest of the turn. Therefore, you have to be extremely judicious with the outside support you choose to run with the theme. But as with most Pendulum themes, the answer doesn’t fall too far from the network of synergistic cards…

 

Sample Decklist:

Click here to view the decklist in the Official Card Database.

Spoiler
Monsters:
||| Abyss Actor – Comic Relief
||| Abyss Actor – Curtain Raiser
||| Abyss Actor – Extras
||| Abyss Actor – Mellow Madonna
||| Abyss Actor – Superstar
||| Abyss Actor – Wild Hope
||| Magicians Souls
| Mythical Beast Jackal King
|| Mythical Beast Master Cerberus

Spells:
|| Abyss Script – Abysstainment
| Abyss Script – Fantasy Magic
| Abyss Script – Fire Dragon’s Lair
|| Abyss Script – Opening Ceremony
|| Abyss Script – Rise of the Abyss King
|| Abyss Script – Romantic Terror
| One for One
||| Where Arf Thou?

Traps:
|| Abyss Actors’ Curtain Call

Extra Deck:
||| Abyss Actor – Hyper Director
| Beat Cop from the Underworld
| Black Luster Soldier – Soldier of Chaos
| Borreload Dragon
| Borrelsword Dragon
| I:P Masquerena
| Knightmare Phoenix
| Knightmare Unicorn
| Linkuriboh
| Relinquished Anima
| Selene, Queen of the Master Magicians
| Underclock Taker
| Zefra Metaltron

 

The Remaining Abyss Scripts:

 

Additional Tech Options:

 

Looking Forward:

So if you are asking yourself how this could help, just think back to Fantasy Magic. Just use that Abyss Script on Twinkle, and 3 of your opponent’s monsters get returned to the hand. Sure, this comes at the cost of LP, but this opens up so many more OTK possibilities. Or, as briefly mentioned above, combine Twinkle’s Pendulum effect with Evil Heel, whose monster effect lets you recover a Script each time it destroys a monster by battle. That’s a +6 swing in card advantage. This one card would help the theme come full circle, until at least they receive legacy support again in some future reality…

 

Conclusion:

As the performers take their bows, I hope that you reflect and realize that your opinion of this Pendulum theme has changed. This deck is not anime garbage anymore, not since the game original Hyper Director was released, and even then, this had some fun trick plays up its sleeve. It can put on a show like no other deck – destroying monsters with easy with a flip of the Rise of the Abyss King script or spinning them away with a bit of Fantasy Magic. For at the end of the day, the playhouse takes no hostages as the show must go on. So get on board the Wild Wagon already (hopefully someone got this pun), and join in the fun of the theater. And you might not be banished to the Abyss when you face someone who has. Thanks for reading, and catch you next time with a trip to the gardens.

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Reminder, I also take suggestions for future CDS articles! I really want to see some input from you! If you wish to see a CDS article about the archetype, theme, or strategy you love, feel free to private message me on the YGOrg Discord server, the YGOrganization Forums, or just post a comment in response to this article on our Facebook page with your ideas to keep under consideration! On most YGO-related communities my username is Quincymccoy, so feel free to reach out. As of now, I have a couple of outstanding requests that I am looking into: Cyberse, Generaider, HERO, Mecha Phantom Beast, Shaddoll, Speedroid, Vehicroid.