Decklists: Toaru-verse/Science Side

The Science Side of the Index-YGO crossover features two branches of Duelists.

First are the Espers, who have access to Esper abilities that can be activated anytime, as long as the requirements are met. These are effects tied to their person, rather than any card in particular. Since most of the effects boost consistency greatly for LP cost, Espers have access to their power plays much earlier than non-Espers. Espers of Academy City use Synchro and Xyz Summoning, which (in this canon) are the Summoning methods derived from science. They usually do not Ritual or Fusion Summon, as the Esper power curriculum has fundamentally changed their bodies to such an extent that they can't use those antiquated methods without posing serious harm to their bodies.

Second are the Researchers, most of whom are from the Dark Side of Academy City. Although they have no Esper abilities, they can simulate Espers' calculations with their technology, allowing them to Synchro and Xyz Summon. Additionally, there is no restriction on their ability to Ritual or Fusion Summon. Many of them run floodgate cards such as Capacity Down to completely shut down Espers who try to rebel against them. = Main Characters =

Touma uses a  Deck, focused on disrupting the opponent's plans with banishment tactics and effects that undermine Special Summoned monsters. He includes several cards, such as "" and "", that banish the opponent's resources and renders them unable for use, while he himself is not affected by such tactics. His secondary plan is to get out large beaters such as "" and "" to simply run over the opponent's attempts to bring out boss monsters. Touma's ace card is "Helios Fantastikos - Imagine Breaker", which wipes the entire field clean of Special Summoned monsters, punishing opponents who overextend without dedicating themselves to a boss monster and paving way for a final finishing blow.

As accumulating field presence is difficult, Touma also includes Pendulum Monsters that, even on an empty field, have disruptive effects. "Selene - The Elegance of Helios" can change the Levels of monsters, making it more difficult for the opponent to Synchro or Xyz Summon, and "Asteria - The Starlight of Helios" can negate the existence of face-up Spell Cards for some time, making it extremely difficult for the opponent to use cards such as runes or "Polymerization" to Fusion Summon monsters.

This, combined with his unique ability that makes him completely immune to other Esper abilities that would affect him or his cards, makes him a very challenging opponent despite not having any "true" innate powers. While his Deck and skills match up excellently against the many combo Decks present among magicians and espers, he falls greatly to the (comparatively rare, in this universe) control- and beatdown-based strategies that can trade monsters easily, 1:1 trade away his resources, and do not care as much about their cards being banished.

Explanation: The entire Deck's premise is a reference to Touma's Imagine Breaker ability in the source material, where his right hand negates any sort of supernatural attack. Instead of winning fights by having superior supernatural powers, Touma undermines the opponent by negating many of the setups that others struggle with, and using his street fighting skills to snatch the win. Here, Touma has several cards that rely on the Banished Zone and which banish his opponent's cards, disrupting their usual plays. As many of the other characters' adapted Decks are Graveyard-reliant, Touma can win against them by virtue of disruption alone, just like in Index.

Accelerator runs a  Deck, focused on control tactics. "Monarchs" on their own generate massive field presence and card advantage with draw and search cards like "" and "". They generate Tribute fodder with cards such as "" and "", which helps the larger monsters, such as "", come out. These monsters possess abilities that can disrupt the opponent's field, such as non-targeting non-destruction removal from "Erebus", and Tribute Summons on the opponent's turn with "". The number of Tributes each Level 8 Monarch requires is further cut down by "", which also allows these Monarchs to run over almost anything.

Ultimately, Accelerator's Deck is strong, but his esper abilities make fighting him a completely impossible task. His "Deflection" (4) and (3) abilities allow him to not only ignore battle and effect damage, but also to make the opponent pay the price instead, either from them taking the battle damage (from (4)) or having all monsters they control lose ATK equal to the effect damage he would have taken (3). He can also use his (3) to negate the cost of his own esper abilities AND still decrease the opponent's ATK by how much he would have paid. That ability also allows him to hurl copies of "" into his Graveyard to serve as further Tribute fodder. His (1) ability also allows him to destroy a card his opponent controls if they manage to destroy one on his field. What truly makes fighting Accelerator impossible, however, is his (5) ability: Accelerator can negate the existence of his own Extra Deck whenever he feels like it. This allows him to essentially lock out his opponent from the Extra Deck with "Domain" while he can still Xyz Summon whenever the situation calls for it. Even without the use of his deflection, Accelerator can simply lock out Extra Deck-reliant opponents from playing anything at all while he whittles down at their life with his gigantic Tribute Summoned Monarchs.

Mikoto uses a  Deck, focused on all-out offensive tactics. Initially, she incorporated only a  secondary engine to complement the "Performapals" (the DracoPal strategy). After discovering of the conspiracy of the Sisters, she adds  support to her Deck and begins focusing on those monsters more than the "Dracoslayers".

Between "", "", and "Performapal Clavichorse", the "Performapals" have a multitude of ways to search out key combo pieces. Supplemented by the "Dracoslayer" cards' abilities to place themselves on the field easily as well with searchers such as "" and "", Mikoto can swarm the field extremely quickly, leading into mass Synchro and Xyz Summoning of extremely disruptive monsters that can ruin the opponent's game plan and overwhelm them. However, this is not the main goal of the Deck. Mikoto primarily uses her monsters as an engine to bring out "" and its upgrades. Her signature move is to rush to bring out "", then use her "Railgun" (5) esper ability to boost its ATK to 12500 and OTK the enemy immediately, with no chance for any counterattack. This is especially effective because many lower-leveled espers do not have access to disruption tactics or anything with more than 4500 ATK, but will leave monsters in Attack Position, leading to their easy defeat.

Even though Mikoto's Deck can already generate massive card advantage on its own, Mikoto's esper abilities amp the Deck's speed up to ridiculous levels. Her (4) esper ability allows her to draw cards equal to the number of her own monsters that she destroys, making "Pendulum Sorcerer" essentially a +4 if it resolves correctly, not even taking into account that it can be Pendulum Summoned again. Additionally, her (2) esper ability prevents opponents from targeting her monsters while they attack, making battle traps almost completely ineffective against them. Finally, against individuals who try to summon large Machine-type monsters with protection to defend against her ridiculous attacking potential, Mikoto can use her (3) esper ability to take control of those monsters, or just outright banish them.

Explanation: Mikoto runs DracoPals because just like in her canon Index appearance, she has a tendency to like cute things that are considered "childish." However, behind these interests lie a frightening combatant who can finish off unprepared foes in seconds. "Performapals" are generally cute circus animals or entertainers that possess devastating effects unfitting of their appearances. The "Dracoslayer" engine reflects the brasher, more violent part of her personality. Her associated "Number" is "Utopia", fitting for an individual associated with electricity ("Utopia the Lightning") who also goes to great lengths to protect those she holds dear.

Kuroko uses a  Deck, focused on relentless offense and "tagging out" of weaker monsters to summon strong floaters. Many opponents have been decimated by her "Kozmo Dark Cross", as lower-leveled goons have no response to the disruption that it brings to the table. Even if they do manage to get past it, "Dark Cross" can just float down into smaller monsters that maintain card advantage and field presence. Her Field Spell, "", allows her to fix her hands and recycle banished monsters.

Kuroko's "Kozmo" Deck is amplified even more by the inclusion of her esper abilities. Her "Teleport" (4) esper ability allows her to add any Quick-Play Spell she wants from her Deck; the most common target is, fittingly, "", which allows her to grab any smaller pilot she needs to keep a play going, or just add more damage onto the board. The large pool of useful Quick-Play Spells that have utility in all kinds of scenarios makes this power one of the most versatile Esper abilities around. Her (3) and (1) esper abilities allow her to destroy "Kozmo" ships in her field and hand, respectively, which immediately trigger their floating effects. This means that even without the use of her other abilities, she can turn even traditionally bricked hands that are full of ships around into a great asset.

Kuroko is one of the few Espers who rarely relies on their Extra Deck, preferring the immediate power and interactions that her "Kozmo" monsters provide. However, in a pinch, she is able to bring out her signature "Number" to assist in fighting the opponent, that card being "", which provides a Spell negate that can be crucial in shutting down combo-heavy Esper playstyles. This monster, coupled with "Cosmic Xyz", provides Kuroko a way to break the boards of opponents who attempt to end on Level 8 monsters, most notably her nemesis in teleportation, Awaki Musujime.

Explanation: Kuroko's usage of Kozmos reflects her status as a member of Judgment. The rapid, constant recycling and searching of resources allows her to quickly defeat even large waves of enemies, while they struggle to do much back due to the overwhelming speed at which she can bring out strong beaters. In canon, Kuroko fights by using reflexes and teleportation to land strong, single hits onto her foes at a time, instead of going all in at once. This is similar to how Kozmo pilots tag themselves out for ships, some of which have trigger effects to make life that much harder for the opponent. Her constant searching of "Emergency Teleport" also references her teleportation powers. However, Kuroko isn't considered the best Teleporter in Academy City in canon (in terms of raw teleportation capability). This is referenced in the nature of her Kozmo ships, which are overall weaker than their real TCG counterparts, with more stringent activation conditions and lower ATK values. (Her new "Kozmo" cards' names are loosely based off a crossover between Alice in Wonderland and Battlestar Galactica.)

Kazari uses an  Deck. Contrary to many other Decks run by Espers, which focus on huge plays on the first turn, this Deck is defensive and relies on the recruiting effects of the "Evoltile" monsters to Special Summon the normally underwhelming "Evolsaur" monsters with added powerful effects. "" is the main way of accessing these "Evolsaur"s; with 1900 DEF, it is not always easily taken out, allowing it to linger on the field as Kazari accumulates resources. Further supporting the Deck's defensive capabilities are the "Evolzar" Xyz Monsters, which lock the opponent from activating various effects.

Some of the serious flaws in a traditional "Evol" Deck are that the "Evoltile" monsters are largely useless if left as standalone cards, as they are almost never at the proper Level or Type to use as material for the "Evolzar"s. The former flaw is fixed by Kazari's (1) Esper ability, Thermal Hand, which can change the Levels of 2 FIRE monsters on the field to any Level in-between (inclusive), and the latter is fixed by Evo-Mutation, which can make every "Evol" on her field into a Dinosaur-Type monster. This is more than enough to give her an advantage against Level 0s and most other Level 1s, whose abilities rarely synergize this well with the Decks that their AIM fields generate.

Ruiko runs a Gusto Deck. The "Gusto" playstyle is largely defensive, protecting the user from battle damage while building up resources for a massive counterattack. The archetype relies on a "recruiter loop" for this defense; "" summons "" when destroyed, which summons "", which summons "Winda" once again. Cards such as "" and "" allow easy searches of any of these pieces, and new additions to the Deck such as "" allow her to play aggressively if need be, making her strategy not simply a one-trick style.

Once enough resources are amassed in the Graveyard, the counterattack can begin upon the summoning of "", who can immediately bridge into a variety of powerful WIND Synchro Monsters. "" is often at the forefront of Ruiko's strategy; by reflecting all battle damage taken to the opponent, she can crash her recruiters into the opponent's powerful boss monsters over and over again as they Special Summon each other upon destruction, possibly resulting in an OTK if the opponent has no way to stop it. If Ruiko is able to access "", she can potentially end the Duel on the spot by giving it to an opponent's monster and making them take completely ludicrous battle damage off a single attack.

As a Level 0 student despite all her hard work, Ruiko's strategy cannot hope to stand up to the more powerful Espers in Academy City. Unlike Touma, she has no built-in anti-supernatural capabilities like the Imagine Breaker; without the ability to even the playing field, her "Gusto" monsters simply do not have the speed or innate protection to stand up to their more aggressive, swarming playstyles. Where her strategy truly shines, however, is against the non-Espers of the Academy City Underground. Often times, Ruiko steps up to the challenge when all of her Esper friends and allies are incapacitated by cards such as Capacity Down, as she is immune to them due to being Level 0. Additionally, those opponents often try to overwhelm Espers with high-ATK monsters that have tons of protection, which mean absolutely nothing in the face of the damage-redirecting effect of "Daigusto Sphreez". Due to this, she's crucial in opening up a huge hole in the opponent's defenses while no one else can do anything, opening them up to a decisive counterattack by her own allies- essentially a larger scale version of how her own strategy plays out in an individual Duel!

= Supporting Characters =

Misaki utilizes a variety of Decks to combat her opponents in Academy City, but all of them share the distinction of being LIGHT Rank 8 based Decks. That being said, she rarely needs to Duel directly, as her Esper ability, Mental Out, allows her to essentially auto-win any confrontation she finds herself in. With it, she is capable of mind-controlling other individuals and taking over all of their turns during a Duel, preventing them from ever even laying a finger on her or her allies unless equipped with specific ways to stop her power. Not only does Mental Out allow Misaki to control an opponent in the moment, it also permanently gives her access to all of their card data. This means that Misaki has by far the largest pool of cards to choose from in Academy City among Espers, even eclipsing the quantity of cards held by those working in the Academy City Underground.

During the Exterior conspiracy, Misaki uses a Cipher Deck to combat Gensei Kihara, thinking that the mad scientist would likely be prepared for her standard strategy, and also to prevent said opponent from accessing the "Exterior" limiter release code, as the code is contained within a "Cipher" card. She plays this Deck in a reactive style, preferring to bait her opponents into overextending so that the ace of this Deck, "", can turn the tables on them in an instant with its monster-stealing abilities. "" and "" allows her "Cipher Dragons" to hit for ludicrous amounts of battle damage, which she seeks to end the Duel quickly with. In a pinch, Misaki can also bring out "" through either her "Cipher Dragons" or her true ace monster, "", to run over all of the opponent's monsters. Misaki's preferred arena for this Deck, the facility housing Exterior, is full of traps such as "Hag's Hug" and "Graviton Panel Pitfall" that are designed to lower the opponent's LP into this range.

Misaki's true Deck is a Blue-Eyes/Galaxy strategy. Through the usage of "", "", and "" to load the hand and Graveyard with resources, Misaki can turbo out a wide variety of "Numbers" and other Synchro/Xyz Monsters with powerful disruption effects. Her first-turn combo usually seeks to completely lock down the opponent with untargetable, indestructible Dragons, even going as far as to use other characters' "Number" cards such as "". If the opponent can survive the initial onslaught, Misaki has several other boss monsters that can easily be brought out to turn the tides on the opponent once again, including her aforementioned "Cipher Dragons" or the Ranked-Up version of her signature "Number", "Number S62: Galaxy-Eyes Transcendental Photon Dragon", which is immune to all card effects should it be brought out with "Prime Photon Dragon". However, these are only some of the options available to her and opponents can easily find themselves staring down a borrowed "Number" perfectly suited to countering their strategy. To these ends, Misaki's greatest asset is her unpredictability as a wild card of Academy City, unknown in her motives as well as the execution of her plans and Duels.

* These cards do not appear in Misaki's Deck, but are owned by her and appear during her Duel in the Exterior facility.

= Academy City Underground =

Motoharu Tsuchimikado
Motoharu is first introduced as using a Normal Monster Pendulum Deck, with several "joke" cards such as "" and "" thrown into it alongside the Normal Pendulum engine. This is to maintain his image as a poor student who is Level 0 and never takes anything seriously. Despite this, he is known to "accidentally" defeat higher-leveled opponents with this Deck, since it is ultimately still functional, with access to draw cards such as "" allowing him to turbo out Pendulum Monsters against unprepared opponents.

His true Deck is a  Deck, capable of performing Fusion, Synchro, Xyz, and Pendulum Summons to completely overwhelm the enemy. Motoharu has full mastery of this Deck, knowing all of the combos, and recycling with cards such as "" and "" to outstanding effect. He would be one of the most fearsome opponents to face in this state if not for the fact that he has entered the esper training curriculum, and thus cannot use magic (Fusion) without harming his own body and Life Points. Not even "" can save him, because every time a Fusion Monster he control has its effect even applied (not necessarily activated), he loses half his Life Points, causing "d'Arc"'s healing effect to backfire on him most of the time before he can reap its benefits. This is highly problematic, because he must Fusion Summon multiple times to create large boards, but if he cannot afford to lose Life Points or tire himself out, he is left with only the Synchro and Xyz capabilities of his Deck, which do not have anywhere near the same combo potential as his Fusion cards.

Explanation: Motoharu is described in canon as a prankster and a liar, but also someone who takes his job as an agent for various organizations seriously. His Normal Pendulum Deck reflects the former part of his personality, being filled with suboptimal joke cards that deceive others about how strong he truly is. His "D/D"s, which symbolize business practices, reflect the latter part- if given a serious task, he will fulfill it to the best of his ability. The fact that he willingly runs a Deck with a Fusion component, and uses Fusion even though he knows it will harm his body, only strengthens that connection.

Awaki runs a   Deck. Unlike Kuroko's Deck, which focuses on consistency and grinding down the opponent until an OTK is possible, Awaki focuses on creating unbreakable fields from the start. By abusing the effects of "Fire King Island" and the "Kozmo" monsters, creating loops of Special Summons and destructions that burn resources from the Deck, Awaki can make terrifying Xyz Monsters such as "" and "" to overwhelm the enemy and inflict massive damage. Her esper effects help her in this regard; destroying monsters from the Deck is superior to Kuroko's ability of destroying from the hand, allowing her to float into whatever she needs at any time, rather than still having to rely on drawing those cards.

Explanation: Awaki's Deck construction reflects her personality and differences from Kuroko. Awaki starts out as a mercenary in the dark side of Academy City, and as Kuroko points out, is a pragmatist who never picks fights she doesn't feel she can win. This is reflected with her choice of "Fire King Island" to support her innate "Kozmo" engine; instead of playing the resource game where she interacts with the opponent, she would rather secure the win objectively, by either preventing them from doing anything, or outright OTKing them. Additionally, Awaki ironically fears her own power; she does not want to use it to hurt others. None of her powers inflict effect damage, and she usually pelts her own field with the "Kozmo" ships' targeting destruction effects, mostly to destroy her own Field Spells, instead of using them on the opponent. Additionally, she does not benefit as much from being able to search Quick-Play Spells, as she relies on getting ships in the hand, not pilots.

Frenda Seivelun
Frenda runs a  Deck focused on Synchro Summoning. She emphasizes slower play of "Shaddolls", as without "", she has no quick way of getting them into the Graveyard to activate their effects. Instead, she uses cards such as "Shaddoll Tune" and "Shaddoll Shroud" to slowly gain card advantage. Additionally, instead of shutting down the opponent's Special Summoned monsters' effects and summons with Fusion Monsters, Frenda emphasizes rapid burn damage tactics, some of which gain in power the more the opponent Special Summons or searches. For example, "Nil Shaddoll Phlogiston" inflicts 300 damage each time the opponent tries to add a card to their hand outside their normal draw, and "Nil Shaddoll Satellite" inflicts 100 damage for each card the opponent has in their Extra Deck when a "Shaddoll" inflicts battle damage. Her ace cards are "Nil Shaddoll Flats", which gains ATK equal to the total Levels of all "Nil Shaddolls" that have been Summoned plus any effect damage the opponent took that turn, and "Nil Shaddoll Bermuda", whose ATK can be double that of any "Shaddoll" in the field or Graveyard, with a deadly banishing effect.

To support her Deck's usage of multiple Attributes, Frenda incorporates several smaller engines into the Deck. "" cards given to her by Mugino Shizuri allow her access to LIGHT and FIRE Synchros; "" allows for WATER Synchro access while also simultaneously providing Rank 4 fodder; furthermore, Takitsubo Rikou's "Heraldic Beast Berners Falcon" allows her to Rank 4 with any Xyz or lower-leveled Shaddoll, as well as easily go into "Nil Shaddoll Miasma" both on the field and via "Shaddoll Tune", which can be added to her hand via the effect of "".

Explanation: Frenda's style reflects her involvement in ITEM, where she is a paid mercenary who is trained to take out her targets efficiently and mercilessly. Even if she can't get the job done, opponents will be hard-pressed to escape a Duel with her unscathed, as her passive Level 0 esper ability prevents the negation of effect damage. Thus, the opponent will be ideally brought low enough in vitality and Life Points for other members of ITEM, such as Shizuri Mugino, to finish them off easily.

Saiai uses a Phantasm Spiral Deck. The "Phantasm Spiral" archetype revolves around gaining incremental advantage from summoning Normal Monsters, with "" allowing a search of any archetype Spell/Trap upon such summons and buffering the field with Tokens should the opponent activate any effects. The Equip Spells in the archetype help bring out the boss monster "", while the Traps provide extremely versatile disruption, being able to be activated from the hand if "Pacifis" is on the field. This puts immense pressure on the opponent to time their effects precisely to get through this seemingly impenetrable wall of Normal Monsters that provide excellent offense and defense.

Foes that expect to exclusively deal with Normal Monsters, however, will be in for a nasty surprise as Saiai introduces two major spins to the "Phantasm Spiral" strategy. The first is her esper effect, Offense Armor, which essentially prevents all damage dealt to her that doesn't deal more than half her LP. Combined with the constant token generation from "Pacifis", opponents need not only a way to break her monsters and tokens but also a monster of their own with over 4,000 ATK, just to crack her defense open. The second is her signature "Number" monster, "", and its powerful "Number C" upgrade. Saiai includes cards that treat the Summoning of her Xyz Monsters as the Summon of Normal Monsters, allowing her to utilize these cards with no penalty. With the ATK reduction and mass effect negation that they provide, Saiai shuts down any attempts to wall out her offense with indestructible monsters.

Explanation: Saiai's powers in canon involve controlling the atmosphere; she was then modified to become more like the Accelerator, changing the focus of her powers to specifically controlling nitrogen, to form a barrier around herself that protects her from most attacks. However, attacks with raw strength can overwhelm this barrier due to her small size. The "Phantasm Spiral" archetype loosely reflects this, where otherwise-weak Normal Monsters are propped up to the extreme by highly disruptive Spells and Traps, and draw from the power of the "atmosphere" of a lost city. The modifications done to her powers are reflected by the presence of "Number 37", as her innate Deck does not synergize at all with Extra Deck monsters and required extra support to make work. In the end, despite this, Saiai remains a formidable foe who has many options to deal with other espers and anti-esper strategies alike.

Shizuri uses an aggressive Dracoslayer/Performage Deck, focused on swarming the field with Xyz Monsters for a quick OTK. The "Performages" all have effects to Special Summon themselves from various places on the board or search out/Special Summon other "Performage" monsters, allowing her to conduct multiple Xyz Summons in quick succession even without using Pendulum Summoning. With Pendulum taken into account courtesy of the "Dracoslayer" engine loading up the Extra Deck with Level 4 monsters (and some of their Pendulum Effects being able to trigger ""'s broken effect), Shizuri can pump out a ludicrous number of monsters onto the field with very little issues.

Her strategy is bolstered by the presence of her Esper ability Meltdowner, which allows her to "spread" her Xyz Monsters' targeting effects to as many cards as possible. The most common use of this is with "", where Meltdowner allows Shizuri to target all of her face-up monsters and give them a double attack, allowing her to easily destroy the opponent. "Silicon Burn", the supplementary card to her Meltdowner ability, can be searched out if 3 or more monsters are Pendulum Summoned, allowing her to thin her Deck and use this game-breaking tool at no cost.

Because she is a member of the mercenary group ITEM, as well as a Level 5 Esper, Shizuri has access to many support networks which allow her to use out-of-archetype cards, a luxury among Academy City espers. Shizuri supplements her strategy with cards like "", which synergizes extremely well with certain "Performage" monsters. Monsters such as "" and "" are also especially deadly when powered up with the Meltdowner, as they can singlehandedly spin or bounce the opponent's entire board in one turn.

Explanation: As the #4 Level 5 esper whose powers involve manipulating electrons, Shizuri's Deck is naturally a dark reflection of Mikoto's. They both use the same secondary engine (the "Dracoslayers") and have very similar main archetypes (Performapals v.s. Performages) that even share support cards in the real card game, with both Decks aiming for an OTK, although through different means that reference their powers in Index. Mikoto's signature move, the Railgun, concentrates power and energy into a single source which can then be launched to annihilate the target, which is reflected by her constant usage of a 12,500 ATK "Utopia the Lightning" to finish enemies in one shot. Shizuri's Meltdowner spreads out the power into multiple beams that decimate the area in front of her, which is referenced by her "Trapeze Magician" here giving all of her monsters a double attack to run over the opponent.

Rikou runs a  Deck, focused on quick Xyz Summoning with the engine's enablers such as "" and "," as well as shutting down Xyz-based strategies with the "Heraldic" and "Heraldry" Xyz Monsters. The core of her Deck is very similar to a normal "Heraldic Beast" Deck; however, Rikou's overall strategy is significantly different. Instead of toolboxing to bring out Xyz Monsters that fit the situation, she greatly emphasizes the resource grinding capabilities of the "Heraldic Beasts," and focuses on outlasting the opponent.

To this end, she utilizes monsters that lock down the opponent's options. "Number C69: Heraldry Stalker" prevents the opponent from Special Summoning monsters with ATK equal to its own ATK, and it can change its ATK once per turn to any multiple of 50 up to 3000. This synergizes perfectly with her Esper ability (4), the AIM Stalker. At the cost of 1000 LP, Rikou can choose one monster in her opponent's Extra Deck and inflict 1000 damage to them during each Standby Phase if that card stays in the Extra Deck. If Rikou is lucky enough to open with "Ability Body Crystal," she can target 2 monsters instead, guaranteeing at least 2000 damage on the board. If "Ancient Heraldry AIM" is out on the field, this damage is doubled, forcing the opponent to find a way to get rid of "Heraldry Stalker" without the ace monster that it's keeping locked away in the Extra Deck. This is very difficult to do, as "Heraldic Beast Esox" can shut down monster effects, while "Heraldry Stalker" has built-in Spell/Trap protection. One-trick Espers who rely on one monster to carry them will find themselves hard-pressed to do anything as their LP are whittled down quickly.

Explanation: In Index canon, Rikou's AIM Stalker ability lets her track down any Esper and determine their exact location and distance away, so long as she has their AIM diffusion field calculated. This is done mostly to help her team,, hunt down their targets, and has no offensive use on its own. However, her ability at a higher level may be able to not only track, but disrupt other Espers' AIM diffusion fields. This could be a world-breaking power as she would basically be able to make anyone's powers backfire on them. Rikou's Deck here represents a halfway point between what she has shown in canon and what is theoretically possible for her ability.

Yoshio uses a fully custom Robo Type Deck, centering around his signature monster, "Robo Type: Great Dane." His entire Deck is focused around bringing out as many "Great Danes" or Tokens of said monster as possible, swarming the field and overwhelming his opponents with sheer numbers, and powering them up with "Robo Command" cards. Although he has no Esper abilities of his own, he is able to take down opponents much higher-ranked than him due to his analytical skills. Yoshio picks his fights very carefully, preferring to Duel opponents whose powers and strategies he's already studied so that he can form an appropriate counter to their strategies. He lures these unsuspecting opponents into areas where their powers are much less effective, then uses his swarm of "Great Danes" to grind them down.

Against completely unfamiliar opponents, he can approximately ascertain the nature of their abilities, which he will attempt to use to push them just enough to wipe them of their resources, before moving in for the finishing blow. His confidence against Espers of all levels can, however, be his undoing; he tends to underestimate even higher-leveled Espers who are more unpredictable in their power application. In situations where he's overwhelmed by surprise, he attempts his emergency backup plan: "Robo Type: Mosquito." This card can deliver the ultimate cheap shot to any distracted opponents who weren't expecting it; if there are no cards in this deadly Trap's column, the "Mosquito" will inject them with a paralyzing nanodevice that completely immobilizes them, while dealing 7,000 points of damage. Even if the effect damage isn't enough to finish them off, opponents will never be in a capable state to continue the Duel once afflicted.

However, once opponents are privy to all his layers of defense and trickery, Yoshio easily crumbles. Since he lacks the raw power in his Deck available to the vast majority of his opponents, he will almost never win in a fair fight. Yoshio's Deck has no true backup plan, nor does it have any negation to slow opponents' plays, and once his "Great Danes" are out of the picture, the Duel is essentially completely over regardless of any LP lead. While his boss monster "Robo Type: Mantis" does indeed have high ATK, its levels of protection are simply too feeble to make an impact against any competent opponent; not to mention, he has no way of recovering his "Great Danes" from the Graveyard without retreating and completely restarting the Duel and the playing field.

Mitori uses a Gimmick Puppet Deck, which plays a "grappling" style that waits for the opponent to overextend before launching the appropriate counterattack with deadly Xyz Monsters. Getting "Gimmick Puppets" out onto the field can be somewhat troubling due to most of them having high Levels or certain Special Summoning requirements, so she employs monsters such as "" and "" and cards such as "" to put her monsters exactly where she needs them for her plays. Once those monsters hit the field, Mitori possesses a wide variety of ways to demolish the opponent's board, including several "Number" monsters that can be used to devastating effects.

Fitting for a high-ranked Level 4 Esper, she has three such "Numbers": "" can pick off Special Summoned monsters, "" boasts high ATK and can pressure the entire field by threatening mass monster destruction, and "Number 88: Gimmick Puppet Destined Leo" is an even stronger body that has protection against Spells and Traps, and has a Duel winner effect should the opponent be unable to deal with it in time. When ranked up, each of these "Numbers" is easily able to end the Duel in a single turn if the conditions are right. "Gimmick Puppets" are conventionally a very weak Deck going first, but Mitori includes several key cards that serve to alleviate this weakness. "Gimmick Puppet Acid Mask" and "Gimmick Puppet Sculpture" provide extremely powerful disruption on the opponent's turn, and the Trap Cards "" and "Remote Puppet" can stage completely unexpected aggressive plays on the opponent's turn.

The most frightening part of Mitori's strategy, however, lies in her Esper ability, Liquid Shadow. With it, she can create a clone of herself using up to half her current LP that can conduct Duels remotely. This clone cannot be attacked directly and is immune to effect damage, making it a major annoyance for her enemies to overcome. The variable LP count of this clone allows Mitori to easily put said clone (and herself) in activation range for otherwise very inconsistent cards, such as "", to further harass opponents and wear them down. By the time her enemies make it to the actual Duelist behind the shadow clones (assuming they can even do so in the first place), they will be faced with an unfavorable environment to Duel in, likely already battered by the devastating effects of the "Gimmick Puppets." Unless said opponent is exceptional, they will be unable to defend themselves from Mitori's last-resort strikes.

(Leader)
The Leader uses a Psypredator Deck. "Psypredators" rely on playing a longer Duel, gaining incremental but significant advantage off of cards being banished, while also inconveniencing opponents with said banishing effects. To achieve these longer grind games that favor the "Psypredator" cards, Rita utilizes a "PSY-Frame" engine to stall out the opponent, negating their attempts to build a large board or make any sort of progress on her Life Points. Once set up properly, Rita quickly turbos out deadly Rank 7 Xyzs through her "Psypredators"; her two "Numbers", "" and "", are extremely disruptive and can destroy the opponent's resources at a moment's notice, increasing in value even more the more the Duel has already gone on.

In a straight-up confrontation, Rita usually cannot afford to play a slow and steady game, due to the fast-paced, Special Summon-centric nature of most Esper playstyles. This is where her Esper ability, Predator, kicks in. As with all surveillance-type Esper powers, Predator allows Rita to begin and maintain Duels remotely, as well as search for her intended target regardless of location. In her case, she can simply declare a card name, then search Academy City for a Duelist with that name to target. She can then begin her plays and set up resources while the opponent is completely disoriented. Her team of Scavengers will also actively close the distance during this time, such that if Rita is ever actually put in danger, the opponent will quickly find themselves in a 1v4 situation with no time to react.

(Naru)
Naru utilizes a Paper Fluffal Deck revolving around Equip Spells. The boss monster of the Deck, "Dangerous Fluffal Giant Rabbit", can be brought out flexibly with any same-Leveled "Fluffal" monsters, and has a Quick Effect to equip itself with any "Paper" Equip Spell of its choosing at any time. In-archetype support cards such as "World of Paper" and "Frightfur Ceasefire" ensure a steady stream of materials going into "Giant Rabbit", allowing it to build up impressive backrows of offensive and defensive equipment to slowly but powerfully pressure the enemy.

"World of Paper" also converts monsters in both players' Graveyards into "Fluffal" monsters, including after they're Special Summoned from the Graveyard. This allows Naru to easily fulfill "Fluffal" Xyz Summoning requirements with cards such as "", and greatly hinders the enemy as cards such as "Paper Missiles" can exploit the presence of the opponent's "Fluffals" to generate massive field presence and card advantage.

Like the rest of Scavenger, Naru despises the educators of Academy City, believing them to be the root of all evil. Due to this, she includes very specific countermeasures to the strategies of typical anti-Esper organizations of "teachers," such as Anti-Skill. Several of her Equip Spells, such as "Paper Fist" and "Paper Hammer", prey specifically on high-DEF Machine monsters that these groups often rely on to block attacks, with the two of them combined being able to easily OTK any such member of Anti-Skill.

Shinobu runs a DARK Synchro Deck, with a focus on the Destiny HERO engine to perform Synchro Summons and lock down her opponent. She utilizes cards such as "" and "" to throw monsters into the Graveyard to later for mass Special Summons, most often "", "Destiny HERO - Dancer's Mirror", and "", among many others. These monsters are then used to toolbox into Synchro Monsters such as "" and "", all of which are difficult to take down by conventional means. To further support these monsters, Shinobu plays cards such as "D - Authority" and the Field Spell "Satirical Theatre" to give her monsters blanket protection or effect negations. Fitting with her defensive strategy, Shinobu also plays many burn cards and cards that force the opponent to burn her (and sometimes themselves), which can increase "Beelze"'s ATK to ridiculous levels over the course of a long Duel. Shinobu's "Destiny HERO" Synchros all lend into this strategy, hijacking opponents' efforts to remove them by replacing their usual effects with burn effects that only serve to power her monsters up. This dark spin on the usual "Destiny HERO" strategy puts the opponent on a quickly ticking timer, where they have to find a way to break apart her board before "Beelze" gets too powerful or the burn damage does them in.

While Shinobu has no useful esper abilities, she is excellent at bluffing, making her opponents believe that she has deadly powers. She often claims that she possesses an ability called "Critical", which petrifies her opponents' monsters and makes them unable to use their effects; at the same time, her "Beelze" will rise in ATK as it drains the opponents' LP, eventually resulting in them losing the Duel as well as their lives. She often aids in this bluffing by turning off the lights and obscuring what she is actually doing in the Duel, tricking her opponents into thinking that the aforementioned effect-hijacking from her "Destiny HERO" monsters is actually her own continuous esper effect that cannot be fought against. Opponents who are frightened by her claims fail to realize that many of these effects are only once per turn and often faint before the Duel is even over, giving her an automatic win from them failing to act for one minute.

While her Deck is frighteningly strong when it goes off, Shinobu unfortunately cannot contest esper abilities that are not tied to card effects. These abilities can remove or nullify key parts of her game plan, making her strategy much less reliable. was able to easily defeat her since she could negate all of the burn damage that would've been dealt to her with a passive ability, while waiving away battle damage with her Offense Armor effect. This gave her much more time than the average Duelist to find weak points in Shinobu's fortress and exploit them accordingly.

Notes: The "Destiny HERO" archetype has references to British culture, and Shinobu's custom "Destiny HERO" monsters and support cards are no different:
 * "Destiny HERO - Dignified" references Elizabeth Bennet, the protagonist of Pride and Prejudice. Her OCG name, "Darcy's Gal", refers to Mr. Darcy, her love interest in the plot.
 * "Destiny HERO - Dancer's Mirror" is based on the Black Mirror episode "San Junipero". Its effect to Set a Field Spell directly from the Deck, as well as conduct a Synchro Summon from the GY, references the virtual reality that the main characters immerse themselves into, and how they can continue to exist in it even after death.
 * "Destiny HERO - Critical", of course, is a reference to Shinobu's "Critical" bluff from the original Index series. However, it also takes inspiration from the British medical drama Critical, where the characters attempt to save a critically ill patient in just one hour. Its two effects can be seen as the outcome of a success and a failure.
 * "Destiny HERO - Detective" is based on Miss Marple, a central character in British author Agatha Christie's detective novels.
 * "Destiny HERO - Double Helix" refers to Rosalind Franklin, whose work was instrumental in determining the structure of DNA. Its second effect of adding a Spell/Trap during the End Phase that it was sent to the GY references how she did not receive credit for her work on DNA until after her death.
 * "Destiny HERO - Driven" is based on Charlotte Cooper, a British tennis player who became the first female Olympic champion. Her OCG name refers to the "drive volley," an aggressive move that gives the opponent very little time to react.
 * "Satirical Theatre" is another reference to Black Mirror, as it is a satirical series that comments on modern human relations and technology. It also fits the theme of the first batch of "Destiny HERO" monsters, which were largely anti-heroes with dark twists in their respective novels.

= Minor characters =

The Elder Sister uses a Rock Deck, focused on bringing out "Outcrop Dragon" and powering it up by loading the Graveyard up with Rock monsters.

= Non-espers =

Harumi uses a Malefic Deck that draws upon the power of the victims of the Level Upper, in a practice known as Multi-Skill. With it, she has full access to all of their Decks and strategies, and corrupts that power to fit her own needs. Her usual strategy relies on simple beatdown tactics, with her guaranteeing a draw into her large beatsticks through "" and other "Malefic" support cards to overwhelm the enemy with raw power. Additionally, "" allows her to steal the Synchro Monsters that are common within Academy City's ranks, turning even her opponent's power against themselves if given the chance to.

Due to the unstable nature of Multi-Skill, Harumi can very easily lose control of her power should the Duel last for too long. "Malefic Entity - AIM Burst" is a manifestation of this, taking the form of a behemoth boss monster that is borderline unfair to fight, as it is immune to almost all forms of conventional removal. Should the opponent get past Harumi's initial wave of "Malefics," they will have to find a way to contend with this nearly unstoppable force before it runs over their entire Deck.

Therestina Kihara Lifeline
Initially, Therestina plays a Qliphort Deck. This Deck focuses on mass Pendulum Summoning to swarm the board and acquisition of resources in the Extra Deck extremely quickly with the searching power of "".

While it is extremely powerful, it does lock Therestina out of her true ace monster, the Over-Hundred Number "", as well as her various "A.C. Invention" Xyz Monsters. If such cards are needed, Therestina has plenty of options to remove her Pendulum Scales in order to summon them. She still opts to play this Deck because many Espers do not have the ability to deal with this Deck effectively. As many Academy City residents are reliant on Special Summons and using toolbox monsters to remove the opponent's win conditions, they completely lose to "Apoqliphort Towers", which weakens their monsters and is extremely hard to remove except by battle. This means that when Therestina plays this Deck against 90% of Duelists in the city, she obtains a very easy win.

During her final Duel with Mikoto's group, Therestina switches over to her true Deck- a Silent Honor Deck that abuses Pendulum Xyz to its fullest potential. Its monsters have devastating effects that activate off of attaching Xyz Materials to Xyz Monsters on the field, which can easily be accomplished with the aforementioned "Number 101" as well as their various methods of Pendulum Summoning monsters. Therestina also includes support for Rank-Ups in this Deck, further making the huge monsters she brings out nearly untouchable.

Amata Kihara
Amata runs a Battlin' Boxer Deck designed to generate advantage during the Battle Phase. While the "Battlin' Boxers" are usually a slower archetype, using cards like and  to throttle the opponent's field and destroy their monsters by battle while slowly establishing a large field presence (a strategy still usable with his Deck), Amata's personal additions speed up the Deck greatly in a way that allows for the counterattack to begin much sooner. He incorporates both Pendulum and Fusion into the strategy seamlessly, allowing him instant access to a huge number of powerful monsters that can, if not defended well against, completely overwhelm the opponent.

Many of Amata's Deck strategies are designed specifically to counter the Accelerator's abilities. "Battlin' Boxing Weights" completely shuts down Accelerator's attempts to negate Battle Damage, allowing Amata to beat over Accelerator's Monarchs with his ludicrously-high ATK monsters. Additionally, "Lead Yoke"'s effect discourages Accelerator from attempting to destroy Amata's monsters, as he can negate the destruction and power "Lead Yoke" up in the process. If "Lead Yoke" is not on the field, Amata can use the second effect of "Weights" to his advantage; by dropping his monsters' ATK to 0 and using his assigned Over-Hundred Number, "", to redirect battle damage to Accelerator, Amata can essentially OTK Accelerator by running 3 of his "Battlin' Boxers" into a 2800-ATK Monarch. This makes him one of the only people in Academy City who can not only hold his own against, but defeat, the most dangerous Esper in existence.