Decklists: Toaru-verse/Science Side/Railgun Protagonists

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". On their own, "Performapals" have multiple ways to search their combo pieces, between "", "", "", and "Performapal Clavichorse". Supplemented by the "Dracoslayer" cards' abilities to place themselves on the field easily and build Extra Deck ammo 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.

Her incredibly powerful Esper effects further fuel her plays; her quadruple-ATK-change ability meshes well with the stat-manipulating effects of the "Performapals", and the fact that she gets to draw cards once per turn equal to the number of her cards destroyed by card effect is simply ludicrous. Many Pendulum cards gain advantage from being destroyed already, and providing draws on top of that gives her tons of card advantage for free, essentially allowing her to infinitely extend her plays to grind out the opponent until they have no resources left.

Mikoto also uses her monsters as an engine to bring out her signature "Number" monster, "", and its upgrades. Her signature move is to rush into "", then use her "Railgun" esper ability to quadruple its ATK change during damage calculation, making "Lightning" a 12,500 ATK monster whose attack cannot be responded to. Anything left in Attack Position with 4,500 ATK or less means instant defeat with very little that the opponent can do to stop it, as throughout each turn, they have to also disrupt Mikoto's searching, and her Normal Summon, and her Pendulum Summon, and also stop her from drawing too many cards through her own Esper effects so that they don't simply get run over by sheer card advantage. Mikoto's strategy simply poses too many problems for a normal opponent to feasibly solve, making her one of the most frightening Duelists to face in Academy City, and well-deserving of her Level 5 status.

Explanation: Mikoto runs "Performapals" for several reasons. Her character reason is that in her canon Index appearance, she has a tendency to like cute things that are considered childish for someone her age, such as the Gekota line of merchandise. However, behind this unassuming front is a frightening combatant who can finish off unprepared foes in seconds. The OCG name for Performapals, "Entermate", is also abbreviated as 「ＥＭ」, which is itself a pun on her powers as it can also stand for "electromaster" (which is the class of power that her Railgun ability falls under) or "electromagnetism".

The "Dracoslayer" engine, on the other hand, reflects the brasher, violent, and stubborn part of her personality, having effects that destroy her own cards to gain overwhelming advantage against opponents. Over time, as her character develops to rely more on her friends in times of need, she phases out most of the "Dracoslayers" and replaces them with the more flexible "Odd-Eyes" cards. The "Odd-Eyes" are also used by Mikoto's clones, the, who were mass-produced for experimentation and slaughter at the hands of Academy City's researchers, and were involved in a horrific experiment that she could not stop by herself, no matter how hard she tried. Thus, the change to "Odd-Eyes" is simultaneously a representation of her development and her newfound mentality of accepting help when needed, as well as a lingering reminder of her greatest failure that forced her to rely on others for the first time.

Her associated "Number" is "Utopia", a relatively weak monster in the modern game by itself with only the ability to block attacks. However, just as Mikoto rose through the ranks to become a Level 5 instead of being born as one, "Utopia" shows its true power through Rank-Ups that make it a complete beast of a monster capable of ending games by itself. "Utopia the Lightning" also thematically fits Mikoto, as its effect is a perfect mirror of her Railgun power.

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. Initially, contrary to many other Decks run by Espers, this Deck was purely defensive and relied on the recruiting effects of the "Evoltile" monsters to Special Summon the normally underwhelming "Evolsaur" monsters with added powerful effects. She utilized simple 2- or 3-card combos, such as "" + "", or slower methods of accumulating advantage such as with "", to slowly build up resources for Xyz Summons of the "Evolzar" Xyz Monsters. These monsters are highly disruptive to the opponent once Summoned, being able to negate and destroy many of their key cards as they try to play through their usual combos.

Needless to say, this slow style of play did not match up well against other Espers in Academy City. Despite her out-of-combat utility in being able to hack through state-of-the-art security systems, she often loses in a very lopsided fashion when faced with direct confrontation. This would change drastically after the events surrounding Kazari's abduction in the Jailbreaker Arc. Faced with imminent danger threatening her and her friends, Kazari turned many of the AIM Jammers in the facility on herself, awakening an unpredictable and unprecedented power within her. This change in her powers gave her access to much stronger cards such as "Lost Colosseum" and "", enabling her to more aggressively set up her negates and disruption, as well as powerfully counterattack against opponents who manage to break her defenses.

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!

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.

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 "", 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.