Phantoms of the Night:
A Phantom Knight Overview
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In celebration of Halloween and the aptly named Phantom Rage set soon to be release, the spotlight is on the Phantom Knight archetype. Alongside Orcusts, they've seen some fringe Trinity tops, from MBT, to Burrito, and most recently, Impy. Yet PK has yet to see the light of day in Finals. Will the Phantoms' feature set be enough for them to take over?
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New to the Knighthood
A Dark Grepher for the archetype, that grants easy access into Break Sword. If Tear Scale is used as XYZ material, such as Vambrace into Javelin, it can be reused in the graveyard for even more advantage. Can even be a 1-card Bardiche with no setup by discarding Orcust Harp or Knightmare, which is an amazing feat only shared by Girsu and Foolish Burial. Absolutely a staple, no question.
Simply put, a bad card. Allows you to extend plays by summoning itself from hand, or a different Phantom Knight when you banish it from the graveyard. Unfortunately, in the context of the summon limit, this is very mediocre, and Greaves grants no form of card advantage, unlike it's brethren Tear Scale. Sadly, it's even unable to link off into Almiraj. This will be a brick more times than not, and therefore is not worth playing.
A departure from the Knight theme, Raiders' Wing is one of the new Raidraptor crossovers. A fantastic card, similar to Tear Scale, yet more rewarding on resolution. Overlaying into Raiders' Knight, then Arc Rebellion creates an untargetable, indestructible attacker that negates your opponent's board, and turns them into ghosts. Somewhat difficult to activate, but undoubtably worth the slot.
Surprisingly the archetype's first Rank 4 monster, Radiers' Knight does not disappoint. Facilitates OTKs by upgrading to Arc Rebellion, or derank to Break Sword to control the board. Stranger Falcon is a neat target as well, allowing you to loop it's effect once more (be wary of your summon limit though). Armageddon Knight gets it out with a summon leftover, by milling Boots or Cloak for Brigandine. A must play for sure.
While not technically part of the Phantom Knights, being the poster card of Phantom Rage, and the new honorary boss monster for PK Orcust made Arc Rebellion worth a mention. Absolutely ridiculous card, that can and will singlehandedly win you the game when uninterrupted. Maneuvers around inescapable board states with ease, and breaks bosses like Beelze with a breeze. Don't be spooked when Arc gets restricted.
Another way to flex into a variety of Dark XYZs. Easy access to Arc Rebellion is amazing by itself, but you can get pretty creative with enough fodder. Final Fortress Falcon is frighteningly fantastic, possibly even banworthy if it becomes consistent enough. Satellite Cannon says goodbye to set 5 pass. Both would likely require Raiders' Knight as the target, but you can easily go into it with RUM PK Force as well.
An interesting retrain on Bardiche in a trap. Pretty situational, and it's lingering effect is usually just going to be a win-more effect with Bard boy on board. Gives a reuse for Rank-Up Magics, which is neat, but at the whim of your opponent destroying it. Has somewhat counter productive synergy with Bardiche ironically enough, because it's pretty bad when set by his effect. This is gonna be a pass.
The addition of Claw now lets Bardiche tutor any type of trap, so that's kinda cool. This is the biggest tossup of the new inclusions, it could be extremely clutch or a big old brick. Because this will generally be searched for, your opponent will know it's coming, and that hurts Claw's effectiveness quite a bit. If you're confident with your deck's consistency, it might be worthwhile, but be wary of playing too many garnets.
Revived with Revenge
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With Girsu going to 1/2 Point, Phantom Knights had lost their shell, and seemed dead once again. The new support has brought them back to life, though, possibly stronger than ever. A starting point for PK Orcust Post PHRA is listed below:
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* Decklist provided by Impy
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As shown, some great extenders for making Bardiche as early as possible are Fiend's Sanctuary, Phantom Skyblaster, and easy ways to link for I:P like Dandylion. Instant Fusion can useful, but the extra deck space is tighter than ever. Even if you don't plan to play PK Orcust, it's good to know what to expect from them. Bardiche go brrr.
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Written by: Iceberg
October 31st, 2020
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