Let’s Build with the new Chaos Ritual strategy!

Background:

The Chaos Ritual strategy has received some excellent new support cards in the upcoming Chaos Origins core set, so prior to starting this article, be sure to check out the new cards here if you haven’t seen the news: YGOrganization | The Legend Returns in “Chaos Origin”

Starting with the Light and the Darkness:

The Core Line-Up:

Regardless of hybrid build, I’ve found there to be a few key tenets of building a deck using this new Chaos Ritual support, so let’s cover the core first. Below is what I consider to be minimally required to reliably leverage this theme:

• 3 Black Chaos the Ultimate Magical Swordsman
• 1 Skull Archfiend of Chaos
• 2 Gurifoh
• 1 Black Luster Soldier – Soldier of Light and Darkness
• 1 Black Chaos the Dark Chaos Magician
• 3 Pre-Preparation of Rites
• 1 The Gaze of Timaeus
• 2 Ritual of Light and Darkness
• 1 Mind Shuffle

• Every build needs to have at least:
  • 1 non-theme way to get Skull Archfiend of Chaos to the GY without requiring the Normal Summon
  • 1 non-theme way to get 8 Levels of monster(s) to the GY, to banish for your first Ritual Summon, without requiring the Normal Summon
  • 2+ ways to field a Level 7+ Main Deck monster, that doesn’t mind being left on board, that you would also like returned to hand.

Now that you’re familiar with the core deckbuilding requirements, it’s finally time to meet the Hybrid builds that I want to present to you today. The first is what I perceive to be the intended pairing for the theme, by matching Chaos Ritual with Dark Magician and Kuriboh support cards. The second may become the most competitive variant of this deck, featuring Chaos Ritual with Red Dragon Archfiend support cards. The third takes the most advantage of Ritual Support by pairing Chaos Ritual with Archfiend Emperor and his Ritual Archfiend support suite. And finally, there’s my favorite pairing, which combines Chaos Ritual with Hecahands and other Illusion support cards. Without further ado, let’s get into the variants!

Variant One: Chaos Ritual with Dark Magician and Kuriboh

Replays:

If the embedded video does not function properly, check out this video on YouTube.

Strategic Summary:

As for my rules, you’ll see that this build uses Foolish Burial to cover the first, then all the Dark Magician combos and the Ritual Monsters to cover the second and third, so just go checkout the list already!

Sample Decklist:

Open the spoiler below for the full decklist!

Variant Two: Chaos Ritual with Resonator, Red Dragon Archfiend, and Branded Support

Replays:

If the embedded video does not function properly, check out this video on YouTube.

Strategic Summary:

Looping back to my three rules, the first is covered by both Foolish Burial and the non-theme access to Mind Shuffle via Gurifoh that is offered by any of your RDA starters (a 75% chance with the current build). The second rule is not only met by any combination of monsters for an RDA Synchro Summon, but it also happens to synergize with the deck due Ritual of Light and Darkness banishing monsters from your GY, for you to bring back to the board via Bystial Dis Pater. Then lastly, the third rule is met by Fidraulis Harmonia and Dogmatika Maximus, since both are so easily summoned to enable the second effect of Mind Shuffle.

Sample Decklist:

Open the spoiler below for the full decklist!

Variant Three: Chaos Ritual with Ritual Archfiend

Replays:

If the embedded video does not function properly, check out this video on YouTube.

Strategic Summary:

Closing out this variant on the rules, the first is covered with all of the search power for Archfiend Cards, as Skull is a lot easier to get to GY from the hand, and it also is covered by Duke Archfiend and Ghastly Glitch sending it directly to the GY. The second is met simply by the monsters the Archfiends send to the GY when Ritual Summoning, plus Archfiend Emperor can Special Summon its Fiend from the banishment if you happen to need to banish something you want to use later. Then lastly, the Archfiend Rituals themselves don’t mind being returned to hand for Mind Shuffle, or in a pinch, you can always return that Invader of Darkness you summoned with Emperor!

Sample Decklist:

Open the spoiler below for the full decklist!

Variant Four: Chaos Ritual with Hecahands Illusion

Replays:

If the embedded video does not function properly, check out this video on YouTube.

Strategic Summary:

Sample Decklist:

Open the spoiler below for the full decklist!

Alternative Tech Options:

Outro:

If you’ve made it this far, thank you for humoring me by taking the time to enjoy this new strategy. At the end of the day, the Chaos Ritual strategy can synergize with the gameplan of many other themes, especially since it doesn’t conflict at all with Extra Deck lock, and hopefully this article inspires you to try out some of the others that are out there. Even though this new support may still be a way off from release to TCG, it can’t hurt to start thinking ahead, no? Anyways, one last thank you for reading, and catch you next time when I return with my normally scheduled CDP content!

Note: This article revisited the style of Creative Deck Strategy articles that I used to write, designed to provide an indepth analysis of a theme to give you a greater understanding of its potential applications. That said, if you wish to see more CDS articles like this re-added to my normal content stream, please drop a note on the YGOrg Discord server, the comments section of any of my YouTube videos, or just post a comment in response to this article with your thoughts/feedback! On most YGO-related communities my username is Quincymccoy, so feel free to reach out. Current pending requested CDPs include: Crystal Beast, Suship, Rokket, Learning Elf, Artmage, Power Patron, F.A., RDA, Archfiend, Malefic, Chain Burn

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