In the Domain, anything goes… as long as you keep your Evil Eye on the prize.

Welcome to Pareidolia:

The Watchers, Their Familliars, and the Rulers:

Next up on our archetype tour is the Familliars, otherwise known as the Link fodder with additional supportive effects. Catoblepas, Familiar of the Evil Eye is a Level 3 Fiend (Think Tour Guide) that can Special Summon itself from the GY whenever you control an Evil Eye monster, but it gets banished afterwards. This is a great card at just getting more Link fodder to your field, as the “Evil Eye” theme does not hurt for good Link Monsters to go into. Catoblepas also has the secondary effect of being able to protect a face-up “Evil Eye” Spell or Trap until the end of your opponent’s turn, which can be useful to protect the Eye protecting your Serziel – but honestly, this effect will not see much play, especially since Knightmare Unicorn exists. The second familiar (and the one that helps enable some sweet combos) is Basilius, Familiar of the Evil Eye. Similar to Catoblepas, whenever you control an Evil Eye, you can Special Summon Basil to the field, but from the hand. The supportive effect is the much more powerful one here, as you can send any “Evil Eye” Spell/Trap from the Deck to the GY, a la Foolish Burial Goods for the archetype. This is AMAZING on so many levels due to the support suite available to the deck, but it also allows for quick Link Summoning to get your gameplan off and rolling early on.

Decklist:

Why did you include those tech cards?

As for the other questionable choice – the random Pendulumucho. To be frank, I wanted a searchable low scale, and that’s what the little bird gave me. (Note that if you use Tour Guide from the Underworld into Sangan, you can still search with Sangan if you Link Summon with the little fluffball). As you’ll discover in the next couple sections, the odds of ending your opening turn with a free Eccentrick Archfiend are very high, so by including an additional low-scale Pendulum, I can actually enable Pendulum Summoning as a side option for the deck… especially due to the fact that constantly bringing back free monster destruction every turn definitely helps in a grind game.

Other Tech Options:

Opening Play Sequences can be Advantage-Positive with Masterking Archfiend:

Unrestricted Start A: Serziel + any 4 other cards (69.93%):

Summon Serziel, using its effect to grab Domain (if you didn’t have to use it to get Serziel), then in either line of play, add Basilius to hand. Special Basilius, use its effect to send the Eye to the GY.

Unrestricted Start B: Serziel + any Evil Eye card + any 3 other cards (63.03%):

Summon Serziel, using its effect to grab Domain (if you didn’t have to use it to get Serziel), then in either line of play, add Basilius to hand. Special Basilius, use its effect to send Evil Eye of Gorgoneion (YGOrg Translation) to the GY. Use Gorgoneion’s GY effect, banishing itself and discarding other your Evil Eye card to add Evil Eye of Selene to hand. Equip the Eye to Serziel. End result: Serziel is online and ready to go with a face-up Domain.

Semirestricted Start A: Serziel + any Evil Eye Spell or Trap card + any 3 other cards (54.02% or 52.09%):

Summon Serziel, using its effect to grab Domain (if you didn’t have to use it to get Serziel), then in either line of play, add Basilius to hand. Special Basilius, use its effect to send Evil Eye of Gorgoneion (YGOrg Translation) to the GY. Use Gorgoneion’s GY effect, banishing itself and discarding your Evil Eye S/T to add Evil Eye of Selene to hand. Equip the Eye to Serziel. Next, you can Link Summon Masterking Archfiend. Use the eff of the Eye, banishing your other S/T and paying 1000 to set itself to the field, which triggers Masterking’s 2nd effect. Masterking then can send Archfiend Hieress to the GY, which then activates in a chain with Masterking’s 3rd effect. If you’re lucky, Hieress will be summoned to the field or added to your hand (for free extra advantage), but if you are not, you still add Eccentrick Archfiend to the hand. End result: You have a Masterking, a set Eye, a face-up Domain, and an Eccentrick in hand.

Semirestricted Start B: Serziel + Basilius + any 3 other cards (33.91%):

Summon Serziel (or first activate Domain to get Serz), using its effect to add Evil Eye Awakening to hand. Special Basilius, use its effect to send the Eye to the GY. Then, you can Link Summon Masterking Archfiend. Activate Awakening to Special Summon Serziel back to your field. Next, use the eff of the Eye, banishing your Awakening and paying 1000 to set itself to the field, which triggers Masterking’s 2nd effect. Masterking then can send Archfiend Hieress to the GY, which then activates in a chain with Masterking’s 3rd effect. If you’re lucky, Hieress will be summoned to the field or added to your hand (for free extra advantage), but if you are not, you still add Eccentrick Archfiend to the hand. Finally, equip your set Eye to Serziel. End result: You have a Masterking, a Serizel with an Eye, a face-up Domain, and an Eccentrick in hand.

Semirestricted Start C: Serziel + Evil Eye of Selene/Basilius/Evil Eye Awakening + any 3 other cards (49.89%):

This is actually the real probability of ending on the same result as Semirestricted Start B, since you can make a more complex play with any combo of Serz. If you started with Selene for example: Summon Serziel (or first activate Domain to get Serz), using its effect to add Basilius (or Domain to get Basilius) to hand. Special Basilius, use its effect to send the Evil Eye of Gorgoneion (YGOrg Translation) to the GY. Then, you can Link Summon Masterking Archfiend. Use Gorgoneion’s GY effect by banishing itself and discarding Eye of Selene, which then adds Evil Eye Awakening to hand. Activate Awakening to Special Summon Serziel back to your field. Next, use the eff of the Eye now in your GY, banishing your Awakening and paying 1000 to set itself to the field, which triggers Masterking’s 2nd effect. Masterking then can send Archfiend Hieress to the GY, which then activates in a chain with Masterking’s 3rd effect. If you’re lucky, Hieress will be summoned to the field or added to your hand (for free extra advantage), but if you are not, you still add Eccentrick Archfiend to the hand. Finally, equip your set Eye to Serziel. End result: You have a Masterking, a Serizel with an Eye, a face-up Domain, and an Eccentrick in hand.

Demystifying artifically lowered percentages?

In terms of responding to an established board, Evil Eye also have a ton of options. Once Serziel is equipped with the Eye, your opponent will have a hard time outing him, so they will generally throw all of their negation at the Eye. The biggest thing to remember is that you always have alternate removal options as well. Whether it is going into a Cerberus co-linked to your Gorgoné to gain advantage while outing a threat, utilizing your backrow Evil Eye toolbox, or simply relying on Falling Down: you have options. And that’s important in the modern game.

Conclusion:

With that, I believe I’ve said all I have to say about this really neat archetype. The Evil Eye really do have their eye on securing the victory through any means, especially if it requires disrupting the opponent. I specifically love their ability to incorporate so much consistency into their plays as well. At the end of the day, I hope that this article might inspire you to try something new with an archetype you’ve noticed – there is plenty of potential out there for so many archetypes, maybe you could figure out how to build the next standout!

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.