General Strategy:

In a format where snowballing card advantage and disrupting your opponent's plays are two of the most potent win conditions, it should come as no surprise that Witchcrafter is an extremely powerful strategy. The end phase recursion of Witchcrafter spells allows the deck to keep up a large hand size, and the extremely powerful Witchcrafter Patronus amasses those spells in hand quickly. The deck comes loaded with a variety of synergies for your 1500-defense spellcasters (Witchcrafter Pittore, Incredible Ecclesia, the Virtuous, Servant of Endymion, and Zoroa, the Magistus of Flame to name a few) in the form of Grand Spiritual Art - Ichirin, Unpossessed, and Possessed Partnerships. Indeed, the cute interactions across archetypes in this deck makes it a real treat to pilot. And with secondary win-conditions in Mythical Beast Master Cerberus, Supreme Arcanite Magician, and Zoroa, the Magistus Conflagrant Calamity, this spellcaster strategy packs a variety of ways to send its opponent packing.

Opening Plays:

The simplest opening play is to summon one of your level-four-or-lower Witchcrafter monsters and tag out for Witchcrafter Haine. If you use Witchcrafter Schmietta for this, you can also banish her to send Witchcrafter Bystreet from your deck to the GY to net your Haine some protection (and fodder) for the coming turns. However, if you open Witchcrafter Patronus, any hand that can get a spellcaster-type monster into the GY will suffice to get the ball rolling. In such a situation, simply summon your ultra-searchable Endymion, the Magistus of Mastery and cycle a spellcaster-type Magistus monster from your extra deck (Rilliona, the Wondrous Magistus Witch Wardrobe or Zoroa, the Magistus Conflagrant Calamity) for Endymion's effect. Then, next turn, activate Witchcrafter Patronus to return that Magistus monster back to the deck in exchange for a search of Witchcrafter Creation. Keep in mind that this same strategy can be used to prepare fuel for Necro Fusion by dumping extra-deck Magistus monsters as fodder for Aiwass, the Magistus Spell Spirit or Supreme Arcanite Magician.

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The Win Condition:
Disruption reigns supreme in Trinity format, and Witchcrafter Haine is its queen. By timing your destructions in order to align with when your opponent is low on remaining summons, a Witchcrafter Haine protected by Bystreet can win games by herself. Of course, Mythical Beast Master Cerberus, capable of reaching over 5000 attack points and clearing its way for a direct attack, is another easy-enough solution for finishing out a game. Finally, don't forget that Zoroa, the Magistus Conflagrant Calamity is summonable if you use Incredible Ecclesia, the Virtuous as a material, who himself can close out certain matchups by shutting down your opponent's extra-deck options.

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Closing Thoughts:

Witchcrafter has access to a whole host of incredibly powerful individual cards, from Witchcrafter Golem Aruru to Unpossessed to Selene, Queen of the Master Magicians (easily summonable with Photon Sanctuary into Lyna the Light Charmer, Lustrous). With all of this power comes a load of different ways to build out the deck, and Witchcrafter could easily be pushed more towards Charmer or Dogmatika with ease. Heck, even Shaddoll have plenty of potential, as X69420 has shown repeatedly in tournament. If you're looking for a powerful strategy that snowballs spell advantage as though you were playing Spellbook of Judgment, Starter Deck Witchcrafter is where it's at.

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Written by WideWalrus