Decklists: Toaru-verse/Magic Side

The Magic Side of the Index-YGO crossover features Duelists who have access to Magician Cards. These are Continuous Spells that can be placed face-up at the beginning of the Duel, granting them extra effects that give them an immediate edge in battle, at the cost of a single Spell/Trap Zone slot.

Magicians use the Ritual and Fusion Summoning methods, which are considered to be antiquated in the Index crossover universe. The Ritual and Fusion Monsters that they use are usually legacy support for obscure or overlooked Normal Monsters from the Duel Monsters era. Higher-ranked Magicians also use powerful creatures adapted from the Magic: The Gathering card game.

As Duels are linked to one's own body in this universe, Magicians are physically unable to Synchro or Xyz Summon. This is because in order to conjure those monsters, one must also manipulate their through complex mathematical calculations, which Magicians are unable to do.

Index runs a  Deck. Many of the monsters she runs are classic Normal Monsters from the original series, such as the aforementioned "Dark Magician", "", and "". However, the Deck is far from just an amalgam of Normal Monsters as she uses cards like "" to amass a great amount of monsters in the hand for later Fusion Summons. In her normal mode, since her magic is sealed away, she cannot properly use Fusions without unknown consequences, so she relies on loopholes to summon her Fusion Monsters, such as "Limited Polymerization", which cannot be searched. While her Fusion Monsters are undoubtedly powerful, with "Curse of Dark Magician" boasting 3000 ATK and many of them having equally strong effects, most of those effects are only applied when Index Fusion Summons them, not when she Special Summons them. As such, she is not too challenging of an opponent under regular circumstances due to her inconsistency.

Stiyl runs a  Deck that uses the Red-Eyes monsters as an engine to get to his powerful Rituals and Fusions. His ace card is "Innocentius, Ruler of Magic Slayers", which can never be removed from the field as long as he has a Continuous Spell Card active; he usually has multiple with the runes he places before the Duel begins, making it difficult for opponents to fully remove all of them. His searching also forms a loop of sorts; since his Ritual Monsters are also used as Fusion Material, he can search the Ritual Monsters with cards like "", then Summon them, which in turn activates their effects to search out "" cards. Some of his Fusion Monsters also have effects that add those "Fusion" cards back into his hand, starting the loop over again.

Kaori uses a /Saint  Deck, focused around the concept of effect inheritance. The "Saint HERO" monsters all pass on special effects when used as material for the Fusion Summon of a monster of their Attribute, and several "Saint HERO" Fusion Monsters relay all of their effects if used as material. This puts pressure on opponents to stop Kaori's Fusion Monsters early before they get out of control.

However, this is where the "Shaddoll" engine kicks in; if her opponent dares bring out an Extra Deck monster to try to contest her, "" will generate significant card advantage while bringing out various monsters that can completely block out the opponent's game plan, such as "", which limits the amount of Special Summoning that the opponent can do. This synergy is further compounded by "Saintly Fusion", which can return monsters from the Graveyard to the Deck, making sure that Kaori almost never runs out of resources. This, combined with the raw attacking potential of her "Saint HERO" Fusions, makes her an extremely difficult opponent to overcome.

The dual nature of Kaori's Deck reflects her status as a Saint and her dual affiliation with the Amakusa Church and Necessarius. The Amakusa's fighting style is more covert, like how the "Shaddolls" fuse from the Deck and have many flip effects at their disposal, while Necessarius's goal to counter magicians using magic themselves is reflected with the justice-leaning "HERO" archetype. As explained above, each engine covers the other's weaknesses, and have amazing synergy together that would be impossible to replicate if either engine operated alone or with another archetype.

Esther runs a Pseudo-Soul strategy focusing on Ritual Summoning. Her Magician's Card, "Preparation of the Necromancers", allows her to add Ritual Spells from her Deck to her hand if her Draw Phase is skipped, allowing her to generate as much advantage as possible out of cards with otherwise debilitating drawbacks to skip that Phase. This paves the way for her Summoning of the "Pseudo-Soul" Rituals, using low-level Zombie-type Normal Monsters as an engine to swarm the field and provide Tribute fodder for such cards.

"Pseudo-Soul" monsters tend to have very high ATK for their Level and excellent protection and disruption effects, and the consistency of which they can be searched out with "Preparation of the Necromancers" and even the Ritual Spells themselves makes fully outing them a monumental task. However, none of these monsters can actually operate when they're on Esther's field, and only unlock their strength when they're given to another player. As the current head of a long line of necromancers, Esther does this transfer on a player who has recently died, reanimating them to fight and serve her through the use of the "Pseudo-Souls". This two-in-one (or possibly even more) nature of her strategy allows her to play a supportive role in the background while her "Pseudo-Soul" possessed vessel attacks the opponent, allowing her to keep herself safe in any confrontation.

However, if the opponent finds a way to defeat the vessel, Esther becomes significantly exposed. The rest of her Deck, while competent in defending herself, lacks the raw firepower to be able to take on higher-tiered opponents. If left to fend for herself, she must Duel perfectly and take every opening allowed to just keep up with an aggressive foe, making maintaining the health of the reanimated vessel key to her longevity in a confrontation.

* Esther is the original owner of these cards, but does not have possession of them during the main events of the story.

Agnese uses an Orthodox Deck revolving around Fairy monsters, and the use of "Forbidden" Quick-Play Spell Cards.

She makes use of the Magician Card "Orthodox Forces" to quickly load her Graveyard with these Spells, allowing the rest of her cards to activate their powerful effects. Her overall Dueling can be described by a "protect the fortress" strategy; she usually summons one strong monster, equips it with her signature Equip Spell "Lotus Wand", and protects it with the "Forbidden" cards and "Lotus Parry". "Mediator" is usually her favored Summon, since it hits 2800 ATK after being equipped, and boasts an effect that synergizes extremely well with "Lotus Wand". By repeatedly targeting her own Equip Spell with its effect, she can trigger its burn damage effect multiple times and shave LP off the opponent very quickly, causing up to 3200 damage in a single turn. If her full combo is set up, opponents will find it difficult to break past her monster with high ATK and invulnerability to destruction and targeting.

Agnese does not make much use of Ritual or Fusion Summoning compared to other magicians, instead preferring the reliability of her usual combo. However, in the case that the opponent is capable of removing her monster, she is also able to Ritual Summon "Orthodox Stronghold Guard" to fend them off.

Itsuwa uses a Fortress Whale Deck focused on Ritual and Fusion Summoning the namesake classic boss monster. Like the other members of the Amakusa-Style Church, she makes extensive use of Deck Fusion, being able to preserve the resources in her hand and field while gaining board presence.

Terra of the Left uses a LIGHT Flying Deck.