Phantom Knight is a powerful combo deck with effects that are continuously activated from the grave, linked together to create super powerful Bosses with the ability to negate or OTK in a flash. These knights will continually rise from their graves and spread terror to those unlucky enough to encounter them.
Instructions for playing Phantom Knight ft. Burning Abyss
Sections covered in this guide:
Core cards
First, we will learn about the cards needed and the number needed to play in the deck.
Important cards of Archtype Phantom Knights
Coming to today's main characters, Phantom Knights with different effects combine to create a diverse combo gameplay for them.
The Phantom Knights of Torn Scales (x3)
The Phantom Knights of Torn Scales
ATK:
600
DEF:
1600
You can discard 1 card; send 1 "Phantom Knights" card from your Deck to the GY, except "The Phantom Knights of Torn Scales". If another "Phantom Knights" card in your GY is banished, while this card is in your GY: You can Special Summon this card, but banish it when it leaves the field. You can only use each effect of "The Phantom Knights of Torn Scales" once per turn.
You won't want to play less than 3 Torn Scale in a Phantom Knights deck. This is a Stater of the deck (cards often used to start combos) and is also an important card in Phantom Knights' combos.
The Phantom Knights of Silent Boots (x3)
The Phantom Knights of Silent Boots
ATK:
200
DEF:
1200
If you control a "The Phantom Knights" monster, you can Special Summon this card (from your hand). You can only Special Summon "The Phantom Knights of Silent Boots" once per turn this way. You can banish this card from your GY; add 1 "Phantom Knights" Spell/Trap from your Deck to your hand. You can only use this effect of "The Phantom Knights of Silent Boots" once per turn.
Silent Boots is also an important card of the deck, it acts as both an Extender (cards to expand combos) and can search for spell traps of the deck. Playing 3 will be the optimal choice.
The Phantom Knights of Ancient Cloak (x2)
The Phantom Knights of Ancient Cloak
ATK:
800
DEF:
1000
If this card is in Attack Position: You can target 1 DARK monster on the field; change this card to Defense Position, and if you do, that monster gains 800 ATK/DEF until the end of your opponent's turn. You can banish this card from your GY; add 1 "The Phantom Knights" card from your Deck to your hand, except "The Phantom Knights of Ancient Cloak". You can only use each effect of "The Phantom Knights of Ancient Cloak" once per turn.
Cloaks are also quite important for knights, right? Ancient Cloak will play a role in helping us search for monsters in the deck, but we will only play 2 because its usefulness is not as useful as Torn Scale or Silent Boots.
The Phantom Knights of Ragged Gloves (x1)
The Phantom Knights of Ragged Gloves
ATK:
1000
DEF:
500
A DARK Xyz Monster that was Summoned using this card on the field as Xyz Material gains this effect. ● If it is Xyz Summoned: It gains 1000 ATK. You can banish this card from your GY; send 1 "Phantom Knights" card from your Deck to the GY. You can only use each effect of "The Phantom Knights of Ragged Gloves" once per turn.
This will be an important card when sending any Phantom Knights card to the grave in the middle of a combo. However, we will only play 1 copy and that's enough.
The Phantom Knights of Stained Greaves (x1)
The Phantom Knights of Stained Greaves
ATK:
1200
DEF:
600
If a "The Phantom Knights" monster(s) is Special Summoned to your field (except during the Damage Step): You can Special Summon this card from your hand, then you can increase the Level of this card by 1. You can banish this card from your GY; Special Summon 1 "The Phantom Knights" monster from your hand, except "The Phantom Knights of Stained Greaves", then you can increase its Level by 1. You can only use each effect of "The Phantom Knights of Stained Greaves" once per turn.
Like Ragged Gloves, this will be a card that will help make our combos smoother in the middle phase. Playing 1 copy would be the most reasonable for this card.
Phantom Knights' Fog Blade (x3)
Phantom Knights' Fog Blade
Activate this card by targeting 1 Effect Monster on the field; negate that face-up monster's effects, that face-up monster cannot attack, also monsters cannot target that face-up monster for attacks. When it leaves the field, destroy this card. You can banish this card from your GY, then target 1 "The Phantom Knights" monster in your GY; Special Summon it, but banish it when it leaves the field. You can only use this effect of "Phantom Knights' Fog Blade" once per turn.
Next we will learn about Phantom Knight's spell trap system. At the forefront is the Fog Blade, which not only acts as a negate effect of monsters but can also prohibit monsters from attacking. In addition, it can also remove itself from the grave to call monsters from the grave. A great card of the deck, playing 3 is out of the question.
Phantom Knights' Sword (x1)
Phantom Knights' Sword
Activate this card by targeting 1 face-up monster on the field; it gains 800 ATK, also if that target would be destroyed by battle or card effect, you can destroy this card instead. When it leaves the field, destroy this card. You can banish this card from your GY, then target 1 "The Phantom Knights" monster in your GY; Special Summon it, but banish it when it leaves the field. You can only use this effect of "Phantom Knights' Sword" once per turn.
Plays the role of calling monsters from the grave with Fog Blade. Although other effects are not very useful, we can use them in certain situations.
The Phantom Knights of Shade Brigandine (x1)
The Phantom Knights of Shade Brigandine
Special Summon this card in Defense Position as a Normal Monster (Warrior/DARK/Level 4/ATK 0/DEF 300). (This card is NOT treated as a Trap.) If you have no Traps in your GY, you can activate this card the turn it was Set. You can only activate 1 "The Phantom Knights of Shade Brigandine" per turn.
Next is Shade Brigandine, this is a card that can summon itself as a Trap Monster (monster created from trap cards) helping us summon Link monsters for our combos.
Phantom Knights' Rank-Up-Magic Force (x1)
Phantom Knights' Rank-Up-Magic Force
During the Main Phase: Banish 1 or more DARK monsters from your GY, then target 1 DARK Xyz Monster you control; Special Summon from your Extra Deck, 1 "The Phantom Knights", "Raidraptor", or "Xyz Dragon" Xyz Monster, whose Rank equals that of the targeted monster you control + the number of monsters banished, by using it as material, also for the rest of this turn after this card resolves, you cannot Special Summon monsters from the Extra Deck, except Xyz Monsters. (This is treated as an Xyz Summon. Transfer its materials to the Summoned monster.) You can only activate 1 "Phantom Knights' Rank-Up-Magic Force" per turn.
The last card in the Phantom Knights spell/trap set that we use. This card will help us perform Rank-up combos to call Phantom Knights' big bosses such as Dark Requiem XYZ Dragon.
Engine Tour Guide, Burning Abyss - An indispensable friend of ghost knights.
As the title suggests, this is a very important engine in our deck, making Phantom Knights' combos smoother than ever.
Tour Guide From the Underworld (x3)
Is a super strong Starter of the deck with the ability to 1 card combo. The effect of calling a Fiend straight from the Tour Guide deck is really powerful, making it perfectly compatible with the Burning Abyss engine we use below. Play 3 copies because you will always want to see the Tour Guide in your hand as soon as possible.
Cherubini, Ebon Angel of the Burning Abyss, Cir and Malebranche of the Burning Abyss, Graff and Malebranche of the Burning Abyss (x1 per card)
Cherubini, Ebon Angel of the Burning Abyss
ATK:
500
LINK-2
Link Arrow:
Bottom-Left
Bottom-Right
2 Level 3 monsters Monsters this card points to cannot be destroyed by card effects. If this card would be destroyed by battle or an opponent's card effect, you can send 1 other card you control to the GY instead. You can send 1 Level 3 monster from your Deck to the GY, then target 1 "Burning Abyss" monster on the field; it gains ATK/DEF equal to the ATK/DEF of the monster sent to the GY, until the end of this turn. You can only use this effect of "Cherubini, Ebon Angel of the Burning Abyss" once per turn.
Cir, Malebranche of the Burning Abyss
ATK:
1600
DEF:
1200
If you control a monster that is not a "Burning Abyss" monster, destroy this card. You can only use 1 of these effects of "Cir, Malebranche of the Burning Abyss" per turn, and only once that turn. ● If you control no Spell/Trap Cards: You can Special Summon this card from your hand. ● If this card is sent to the Graveyard: You can target 1 "Burning Abyss" monster in your Graveyard, except "Cir, Malebranche of the Burning Abyss"; Special Summon it.
Graff, Malebranche of the Burning Abyss
ATK:
1000
DEF:
1500
If you control a monster that is not a "Burning Abyss" monster, destroy this card. You can only use 1 of these effects of "Graff, Malebranche of the Burning Abyss" per turn, and only once that turn. ● If you control no Spell/Trap Cards: You can Special Summon this card from your hand. ● If this card is sent to the Graveyard: You can Special Summon 1 "Burning Abyss" monster from your Deck, except "Graff, Malebranche of the Burning Abyss".
The cards we will play in this engine are 1 Craff, 1 Cir, and finally the link monster 2 Cherubini. This engine, when combined with Tour Guide, will give us the ability to create a series of terrible bosses with one card combo. In addition, Cherubini's effect when sending a level 3 monster from the deck to the grave is counted as a cost, meaning that even if its effect is negated by your opponent, you have still achieved your goal of sending pieces. Phantom Knights go to the grave for the combo to continue. Very strong, right?
Sangan (x1)
This is a very good card and suitable for this engine. In case you already have Graff in your hand, this will be the Tour Guide's second choice to summon and thanks to Sangan's effect, we can search for hand traps or an extender card that we will talk about later. the latter part is Psychic Wheeleder.
Phantom Knights Deck Extenders
The next part of the deck is the Extender cards that have the ability to summon themselves, helping us expand our combos.
Used to extend combos
Danger!? Tsuchinoko?
ATK:
1300
DEF:
0
You can reveal this card in your hand; your opponent randomly chooses 1 card from your entire hand, then you discard the chosen card. Then, if the discarded card was not "Danger!? Tsuchinoko?", Special Summon 1 "Danger!? Tsuchinoko?" from your hand, and if you do, draw 1 card. If this card is discarded: You can Special Summon this card. You can only use this effect of "Danger!? Tsuchinoko?" once per turn.
Psychic Wheeleder
ATK:
600
DEF:
0
If you control a Level 3 monster other than "Psychic Wheeleder", you can Special Summon this card (from your hand) in Defense Position. You can only Special Summon "Psychic Wheeleder" once per turn this way. If this card is sent to the GY as Synchro Material: You can target 1 monster on the field with less ATK than the Synchro Monster that used this card as material; destroy it. You can only use this effect of "Psychic Wheeleder" once per turn.
Danger!? Jackalope?
ATK:
500
DEF:
2000
You can reveal this card in your hand; your opponent randomly chooses 1 card from your entire hand, then you discard the chosen card. Then, if the discarded card was not "Danger!? Jackalope?", Special Summon 1 "Danger!? Jackalope?" from your hand, and if you do, draw 1 card. If this card is discarded: You can Special Summon 1 "Danger!" monster from your Deck in Defense Position, except "Danger!? Jackalope?". You can only use this effect of "Danger!? Jackalope?" once per turn.
We will play level 3 Extenders in this deck. Playing Danger in the Phantom Knights deck will be very beneficial as it will help us discard our necessary combo pieces to the grave.
The staples used in the Phantom Knights deck
Staple used in the Phantom Knights deck will be divided into 2 types, first is hand traps and next are Spells/Traps.
Maxx "C" and Ash Blossom & Joyous Spring (x3)
Ash Blossom & Joyous Spring
ATK:
0
DEF:
1800
When a card or effect is activated that includes any of these effects (Quick Effect): You can discard this card; negate that effect. ● Add a card from the Deck to the hand. ● Special Summon from the Deck. ● Send a card from the Deck to the GY. You can only use this effect of "Ash Blossom & Joyous Spring" once per turn.
Maxx "C" and baby "Xuan" are two trap hands that can be said to be national in the game at the moment. Their benefits are undeniable as Ash Blossom can negate most of the effects that decks need to operate. And Maxx "C" helps us catch an opponent's turn when they are afraid of going too far with combos, which will help us draw many cards to play for the next turn.
Reinforcement of the Army (x1)
Next is the Spell/Trap part. Reinforcement of the army will be a good choice for the Phantom Knights deck when it is possible to search for any Phantom Knights monster in our deck. Play 1 because it's limited.
Forbidden Droplet (x3)
Forbidden Droplet
Send any number of other cards from your hand and/or field to the GY; choose that many Effect Monsters your opponent controls, and until the end of this turn, their ATK is halved, also their effects are negated. In response to this card's activation, your opponent cannot activate cards, or the effects of cards, with the same original type (Monster/Spell/Trap) as the cards sent to the GY to activate this card. You can only activate 1 "Forbidden Droplet" per turn.
The next choice will belong to Droplet, a card that helps us when going behind can destroy the opponent's field, helping us overcome fields with many negates to make combos more comfortable. Furthermore, paying the cost of Droplet will also help send the necessary Phantom Knights pieces from hand to grave, which fits very well with our deck mechanism. Play 3 copies.
Called by the Grave (x2)
Because this is a combo deck, the opponent can use hand traps to sabotage our combo. That's why Called by the Grave is always a great choice to prevent hand traps, helping us to combo more smoothly. Play 2 copies because it's semi-limited.
Solemn Judgment (x3)
Finally, we will play 3 Solemn Judgments. Because of the characteristics of our deck, when the combo is complete, there will be many key monsters capable of negating the effects of monsters, however, there are no monsters capable of negating the effects of the opponent's Spells/Traps. defense. 3 Solemn Judgments will fill this hole in our deck, avoiding many cases where you lose just because your opponent's spells/traps sabotage you without having anything to defend against.
Phantom Knights Extra Deck
Finally we will come to the Extra Deck, where powerful allies of the Dark Knights reign.
Cherubini Ebon Angel of the Burning Abyss (x1)
Cherubini, Ebon Angel of the Burning Abyss
ATK:
500
LINK-2
Link Arrow:
Bottom-Left
Bottom-Right
2 Level 3 monsters Monsters this card points to cannot be destroyed by card effects. If this card would be destroyed by battle or an opponent's card effect, you can send 1 other card you control to the GY instead. You can send 1 Level 3 monster from your Deck to the GY, then target 1 "Burning Abyss" monster on the field; it gains ATK/DEF equal to the ATK/DEF of the monster sent to the GY, until the end of this turn. You can only use this effect of "Cherubini, Ebon Angel of the Burning Abyss" once per turn.
As mentioned in the Engine Tour Guide & Burning Abyss section, Cherubini is an important card that we need to play and only play once.
Monsters in the extra deck of Archtype Phantom Knights
Raider's Knight
ATK:
2000
DEF:
0
2 Level 4 DARK monsters (This card is always treated as a "The Phantom Knights" and "Raidraptor" card.) You can detach 1 material from this card; Special Summon from your Extra Deck, 1 "The Phantom Knights", "Raidraptor", or "Xyz Dragon" Xyz Monster that is 1 Rank higher or lower than this card, by using this face-up card you control as material, but destroy it during your opponent's next End Phase. (This is treated as an Xyz Summon. Transfer its materials to the Summoned monster.) You can only use this effect of "Raider's Knight" once per turn.
Dark Requiem Xyz Dragon
ATK:
3000
DEF:
2500
3 Level 5 monsters If this card has "Dark Rebellion Xyz Dragon" as material, it gains these effects. ● Once per turn: You can detach 1 material from this card, then target 1 face-up monster your opponent controls; change its ATK to 0, and if you do, this card gains ATK equal to that monster's original ATK. ● When your opponent activates a monster effect (Quick Effect): You can detach 1 material from this card; negate the activation, and if you do, destroy that card, then you can Special Summon 1 Xyz Monster from your GY.
The Phantom Knights of Break Sword
ATK:
2000
DEF:
1000
2 Level 3 monsters Once per turn: You can detach 1 material from this card, then target 1 card you control and 1 card your opponent controls; destroy them. If this Xyz Summoned card is destroyed: You can target 2 "The Phantom Knights" monsters with the same Level in your GY; Special Summon them and increase their Levels by 1, also you cannot Special Summon monsters for the rest of this turn, except DARK monsters.
Arc Rebellion Xyz Dragon
ATK:
3000
DEF:
2500
3 Level 5 monsters This Xyz Summoned card cannot be destroyed by card effects. You can detach 1 material from this card; this card gains ATK equal to the total original ATK of all other monsters on the field, then, if this card has a DARK Xyz Monster as material, negate the effects of all other face-up monsters on the field. After this effect resolves, you cannot declare attacks with other monsters for the rest of this turn. You can only use this effect of "Arc Rebellion Xyz Dragon" once per turn.
The Phantom Knights of Rusty Bardiche
ATK:
2100
LINK-3
Link Arrow:
Bottom-Left
Bottom-Right
Right
2+ DARK monsters During your Main Phase: You can send 1 "The Phantom Knights" monster from your Deck to the GY, then Set 1 "Phantom Knights" Spell/Trap directly from your Deck to your Spell & Trap Zone. If a DARK Xyz Monster(s) is Special Summoned to a zone(s) this card points to, while this monster is on the field (except during the Damage Step): You can target 1 card on the field; destroy it. You can only use each effect of "The Phantom Knights of Rusty Bardiche" once per turn. Cannot be used as Link Material.
Here we have two very important monsters, Rusty Badiche and Break Sword, which give us the ability to bombard and operate deck combos.
- Dark Requiem XYZ Dragon with the ability to negate unlimited monster effects each turn helps us control the match.
- Arc Rebellion
Apollousa, Bow of the Goddess and Accesscode Talker (Other Boss monsters of the Deck)
Apollousa, Bow of the Goddess
ATK:
0
LINK-4
Link Arrow:
Bottom-Left
Bottom
Bottom-Right
Top
2+ monsters with different names, except Tokens You can only control 1 "Apollousa, Bow of the Goddess". The original ATK of this card becomes 800 x the number of Link Materials used for its Link Summon. Once per Chain, when your opponent activates a monster effect (Quick Effect): You can make this card lose exactly 800 ATK, and if you do, negate the activation.
Accesscode Talker
ATK:
2300
LINK-4
Link Arrow:
Top
Left
Bottom
Right
2+ Effect Monsters Your opponent cannot activate cards or effects in response to this card's effect activations. If this card is Link Summoned: You can target 1 Link Monster that was used as material for its Link Summon; this card gains ATK equal to that monster's Link Rating x 1000. You can banish 1 Link Monster from your field or GY; destroy 1 card your opponent controls, also for the rest of this turn, you cannot banish monsters with that same Attribute to activate this effect of "Accesscode Talker".
Both of these monsters have 4 links and are quite easy to summon. Apollosa will play a role in helping us control the battle with at least 2 negates of unlimited monster effects per turn, in addition she also plays an important role in combos so we can overcome them. through your opponent's Nibiru, The Primal Being card.
Number F0: Utopic Draco Future and Number F0: Utopic Future (x1)
Number F0: Utopic Draco Future
ATK:
3000
DEF:
2000
3 Xyz Monsters with the same Rank, except "Number" monsters (This card's original Rank is always treated as 1. This card is always treated as a "Utopic Future" card.) You can also Xyz Summon this card by using "Number F0: Utopic Future" you control as material. (Transfer its materials to this card.) Cannot be destroyed by battle or card effects. Once per turn, when your opponent activates a monster effect (Quick Effect): You can detach 1 material from this card; negate the activation, then, if that monster is on the field, gain control of it.
Number F0: Utopic Future
ATK:
0
DEF:
0
2 Xyz Monsters with the same Rank, except "Number" monsters (This card's original Rank is always treated as 1.) Cannot be destroyed by battle, and neither player takes any battle damage from attacks involving this card. At the end of the Damage Step, if this card battled an opponent's monster: You can take control of that opponent's monster until the end of the Battle Phase. If this face-up card on the field would be destroyed by a card effect, you can detach 1 material from this card instead.
Another Boss of the deck we can play is Number F0: Utopic Draco Future. First, we will reach Number F0: Utopic Future with two XYZ monsters with the same rank, which are 2 Leviair The Sea Dragon. Then from Future we can Rank-up to Draco Future with the ability to negate the effects of the opponent's monster once per turn and can gain control of that monster if it is on the field. It's scary, isn't it?
Leviair the Sea Dragon (x2)
Leviair will play the role of recalling Phantom Knights that have been eliminated by their effects, helping us continue the combo. This is also the material for us to be able to get Number F0: Utopic Draco Future as mentioned above.
Link Spider (x1)
The last slot in the extra deck we will reserve for Link Spider, this will be a backup plan when unfortunately we are hit by Nibiru and want to continue the combo.
Some Cards you may consider playing
Below are some cards you can consider playing in your deck.
Twin Twisters, Number 75: Bamboozling Gossip Shadow and Number 86: Heroic Champion - Rhongomyniad (Cards you can consider playing)
Number 75: Bamboozling Gossip Shadow
ATK:
1000
DEF:
2600
2+ Level 3 monsters Once per turn, when an opponent's monster activates its effect (Quick Effect): You can detach 2 materials from this card; the activated effect becomes "both players draw 1 card". You can target 1 other "Number" Xyz Monster you control; attach this card to it as material. (Transfer its materials to that monster.) You can only use this effect of "Number 75: Bamboozling Gossip Shadow" once per turn.
Number 86: Heroic Champion - Rhongomyniad
ATK:
1500
DEF:
1500
2 or more (max. 5) Level 4 Warrior monsters Once per turn, during your opponent's End Phase: Detach 1 material from this card. This card gains effects based on the number of materials attached to it. ● 1+: Cannot be destroyed by battle. ● 2+: Gains 1500 ATK/DEF. ● 3+: Unaffected by other cards' effects. ● 4+: Your opponent cannot Normal or Special Summon monsters. ● 5: Once per turn: You can destroy all cards your opponent controls.
- Twin Twister will be a card that helps us bombard our opponents' annoying Floodgates such as Skill Drain.
- Couple Number 75 and Champion Number 86 may be what you need when you want to feel like you "dominate" the whole game. However, the reason I don't choose to play Number 86 is because making a combo will require a lot of resources and you will easily be "broken" by your opponent, leading to an unsuccessful combo.
Basic combos
Phantom Knights' combos are very diverse and multi-directional. In this article, I will guide you through a typical basic combo of the Deck, from which you can vary more combos.
Combo Tour Guide + Any card
We will start the combo with a Tour Guide and any card, the combo steps will be as follows:
- Normal summon Tour Guide, use its effect to summon Graff from the deck.
- Use Tour Guide and Craff to summon Link to Cherubini, at which point Graff's effect will activate to summon Cir from the deck.
- Use Cherubini's effect, pay the cost by removing Ragged Gloves from the deck to the grave to increase ATK.
- Use Cherubini and Cir to Link onto Rusty Badiche, Cir's effect activates, recalling Cherubini from the grave.
- Using Rusty Badiche's effect, remove Torn Scale from the deck to the grave to place Fog Blade from the deck on the field.
- Use Ragged Gloves' effect, remove it from the grave to send Ancient Cloak from the deck to the grave. At this point, Torn Scale's effect is activated, recalling it from the grave.
- Use Torn Scale's effect to discard random cards in your hand to send Phantom Knights Sword to the grave.
- Use the Sword's effect to banish it from the grave to recall Ancient Cloak to the field in attack position. At this point, remember to activate Ancient Cloak's effect, switch it to defensive position to increase Rusty Badiche's ATK by 800, and get a little advantage.
- Use 2 level 3 Torn Scale and Ancient Cloak to Overlay on Leviair The Sea Dragon. Use its effect to detach Ancient Cloak to recall Ragged Gloves from the banish zone.
- Use Ancient Cloak's effect to release it from the grave to search Silent Boots' hand.
- Special summon Silent Boots from hand via its effect. Use it and Ragged Gloves on the field to summon a second Leviair.
- Use Leviair detach Silent Boots' effect to recall Ancient Cloak from the banish zone. Then use Silent Boots' effect to remove it from the grave to search for Shade Brigadine.
- Because there are no traps in the grave, we can place Brigadine on the field and activate it this turn, calling it up like a monster.
- Use Brigadine, Ancient Cloak and Cherubini to Link 4 to Apollosa.
- Use 2 Leviairs to summon Number F0: Utopic Future and then get Number F0: Utopic Draco Future.