Malefic Deck List & Card Guide

Malefic is an Aggro deck in Yu-Gi-Oh Master Duel, specializing in powerful monsters that are summoned by banishing Extra Deck Monsters. Check out the core deck list, key combos, as well as how to play & counters!

Malefic Deck List

Main Deck: 40 cards
x3	x3	x3	x3	x3
x3	x2	x3	x3	x2
x2	x2	x1	x1	x1
x1	x2	x1	x1	-
Extra Deck: 15 cards
x2	x2	x2	x1	x1
x1	x1	x1	x1	x1
x1	x1	-	-	-

Malefic Breakdown

Monsters

Spells

Traps

Extra

Rarity	Name	Qty
	Malefic Paradigm Dragon	3
	Maxx "C"	3
	Malefic Stardust Dragon	3
	Malefic Paradox Gear	3
	Malefic Parallel Gear	3
	Malefic Rainbow Dragon	2
	Malefic Cyber End Dragon	3

Rarity	Name	Qty
	Dark Ruler No More	1
	Triple Tactics Talent	1
	Triple Tactics Thrust	1
	Malefic Territory	3
	Allure of Darkness	2
	Pot of Prosperity	1
	Malefic World	3
	Malefic Selector	2

Rarity	Name	Qty
	Evenly Matched	2
	Skill Drain	1
	Gozen Match	1

Rarity	Name	Qty
	Cyber End Dragon	2
	Stardust Dragon	2
	Geomathmech Final Sigma	1
	Divine Arsenal AA-ZEUS - Sky Thunder	1
	Superdreadnought Rail Cannon Juggernaut Liebe	1
	Superdreadnought Rail Cannon Gustav Max	1
	Tyrant Red Dragon Archfiend	1
	Baronne de Fleur	1
	Swordsoul Supreme Sovereign - Chengying	1
	Chaos Angel	1
	Bystial Dis Pater	1
	Malefic Paradox Dragon	2

Tier Evaluation

Tier Ranking
Rogue
Deck Archetype		Deck Difficulty
Aggro		Medium
Deck Evaluation
Uses "Malefic" counterparts of certain Extra Deck Monsters to have monsters with high ATK on the field easily Can also do Synchro Summons, mostly featuring a Tuner on the field and a monster on hand as material Extremely reliant on a Field Spell being active; "Malefic" monsters on the field are automatically destroyed if no Field Spell is active.

Malefic Deck Guide: How to Play

Playstyle and Win Condition

The Malefic Cards

The Malefic Deck are best described as a beatdown archetype, as they specialize in Special Summoning monsters with high statlines with relative ease. It makes use of the Extra Deck partially as a resource, as it needs to banish certain counterpart cards in order to summon them.

Key cards in part of the archetype are the Field Spell Malefic World, which is a borderline mandatory card to have in this Deck at 3 copies. While active, this allows the player to search a "Malefic" card and make the opponent search for it.

Having trouble in getting the Field Spell? Malefic Territory makes it easy to have it active on the field. It also acts as card protection against targeted effects against Field Spells, and completely changes the shared effect of having only one "Malefic" Monster on the field at any given time to something more managable.

As mentioned, the main way to summon the "Malefic" monsters is to banish their counterparts from their Deck or, for this Deck Recipe, the Extra Deck. Each of them have their own effects, like Malefic Stardust Dragon being another layer of protection for Field Spells, and Malefic Cyber End Dragon controlling the aggression by making monsters you control unable to declare an attack.

The key monster worth summoning the most is Malefic Paradigm Dragon, which has a Foolish Burial effect for "Malefic" Monsters, shuffles back a banished Synchro monster, and then Special Summon it straight from the Extra Deck in a single effect.

Supporting Cards

With a card heavily leaning on aggression, it needs cards that can enable the playstyle, or simply gain advantage with resource management. Triple Tactics Talent and Triple Tacitcs Thurst are nice cards to have when the opponent has hand traps, and depending on how the player builds a Deck, these two cards can go up to more than one copy. Same goes to Dark Ruler No More, even if the trade off for using it is unable to deal damage for the rest of the turn this card was activated.

Synchro Rumble can help out with Synchro plays, and if opting to have Crimson Dragon in the Extra Deck it will also act as a layer of protection. Meanwhile, Skill Drain turns off all effects of monsters on the field, and Gozen Match bottlenecks both players into controlling only 1 Attribute of monster; in which the Malefics are predominantly DARK.

Core Combos and Interactions

Malefic Sample Hand 1

Cards On Hand
Step	Description
1	Activate Malefic Territory; with its effect, activate Malefic World onto your Field Spell Zone straight from the Deck.
2	Banish Malefic Paradox Dragon from the Extra Deck to Special Summon Malefic Paradigm Dragon from the hand. Then, Normal Summon Malefic Paradox Gear.
3	Activate Malefic Paradox Gear's effect; send itself to the GY, then Special Summon from the Deck Malefic Parallel Gear. Immediately afterwards in the same effect, search out Malefic Cyber End Dragon from the Deck.
4	Using Malefic Paradigm Gear on the field and Malefic Cyber End Dragon from the hand as materials, Synchro Summon Geomathmech Final Sigma onto the Extra Monster Zone.
5	Activate Malefic Selector; banish Malefic Paradigm Gear and Malefic Parallel Gear from the GY, then search copies of Malefic Stardust Dragon and Malefic Rainbow Dragon from the Deck.
6	Banish Stardust Dragon from the Extra Deck to Special Summon Malefic Stardust Dragon from the hand.
7	Activate Malefic Paradigm Dragon's effect; send a Malefic monster from the Deck to the Gy; then send the banished Stardust Dragon back to the Extra Deck, and Special Summon the same Synchro Monster onto the field.

Field Spell: Malefic World
			X
-		-	-	-

Malefic Sample Hand into Geomathmech

Sample Hand 2
Step	Description
1	Normal Summon one of the two copies of Malefic Parallel Gear.
2	Using its effect to be able to use cards from the hand as materials, use itself and either Malefic Cyber End Dragon or Malefic Rainbow Dragon as material to Synchro Summon Geomathmech Final Sigma. Make sure to summon it on the Extra Monster Zone.

Boss Monsters

	Malefic Paradigm Dragon
	Malefic Paradigm Dragon is one of the many Malefic Monsters that can be summoned by banishing a prerequisite card from the Extra Deck. This card can essentially bring back a banished Synchro Monster without even needing to Synchro Summon, by sending a Malefic card from the Deck to the GY.
	Malefic Paradox Dragon
	Usually banished to summon the above monster, Malefic Paradox Dragon is an optional boss monster for the Malefic archetype. It is especially strong against Synchro-centric Decks, as it can Special Summon a Synchro Monster from either players' Graveyard once per turn.
	Swordsoul Supreme Sovereign - Chengying
	dsoul Supreme Sovereign - Chengying having generic material requirements for a Level 10 Synchro Monster works well with a "Malefic" Deck, especially as it has a penchant to banish cards in order to Summon. This would trigger Chengying's effect where it can banish two cards in one effect; one from the field, and one from the Graveyard.
	Baronne de Fleur
	Baronne de Fleur is yet another Level 10 Synchro Monster that has generic materials for requirements, and is the go-to monster when a Deck can reach this monster Level in a Synchro Summon. Its omni-negate, card destruction, and Special Summon effects are far too valuable not to consider being added.
	Geomathmech Final Sigma
	Because of the Levels of the "Malefic" Monsters and the Tuners in the archetype, they also have access to Level 12 Monsters, and among them Geomathmech Final Sigma is one of the hardest to remove from the field. It can only be affected by other Mathmech effect, and when it attacks while it is in the Extra Monster Zone, the damage is doubled on calculation.
	Superdreadnought Rail Cannon Juggernaut Liebe
	Often paired with Superdreadnought Rail Cannon Gustav Max, Superdreadnought Rail Cannon Juggernaut Liebe is usually summoned afterwards for a cheeky one-turn kill combo. It can be Xyz Summoned with the aforementioned Level 10 Xyz Monster, and in using its effect it can double its attack from 3000 to 6000.

Malefic Counters: How to Beat

Best Decks to Use Against Malefic

Runick Stun

Runicks are easily the worst matchup against a Runick Deck, with its ability to constantly interrupt any play possible. Special mention is Runick Destruction, which can be recycled into the Deck with the help of Runick Fountain.

Runick Deck Lists
Pure Runick	Spright Runick
Ishizu Runick	Naturia Runick

Labrynth

Labrynth is also a very difficult matchup for the Malefic archetype. With so many interruptions with Trap Cards, combined with the card destruction effect of Labrynth Labyrinth, it might be extremely hard to gain advantage as a Malefic player.

Labrynth Deck List & Card Guide

Tearlaments

In terms of aggression, Tearlaments can be unmatched with its combos, and can even match the Malefic archetype against the monsters. Its own Field Spell, Primeval Planet Perlereino, is also a threat for the Malefic Deck's own Field Spell.

Tearlaments Deck List & Card Guide

Snake-Eye

As of writing, the best Deck in the game is Snake-Eye. With the Diabellstar Deck Engine, it constantly has card advantage, and in one fell swoop this Deck can completely overpower and overwhelm the Malefic Deck.

Snake-Eyes Deck List & Card Guide

Best Cards to Tech Against Malefic

The main weakness of a Malefic Deck is its dependence on Field Spells. Most "Malefic" Monsters will be destroyed on summon resolution if there is no Field Spell at all active on your side of the field. When facing this Deck, target the Field Spell, or just have it be collateral damage when clearing the field.

	Divine Arsenal AA-ZEUS - Sky Thunder
	Divine Arsenal AA-ZEUS - Sky Thunder is a great monster to use when sweeping the field clean, and all it takes is using an Xyz Monster that was able to launch an attack as material. It does not even have a hard once-per-turn clause, which means as long as it has enough material, it can keep clearing the entire field.
	Kashtira Arise-Heart
	Among the Xyz Monsters that can completely mess up a Deck, it's Kashtira Arise-Heart. It can keep absorbing cards that are banished as materials, meaning a usual Malefic play will immediately put it into a disadvantage.
	Cosmic Cyclone
	Any form of card destruction that can destroy the backrow can easily make a Malefic Deck completely inept by targeting the Field Spell. Cosmic Cyclone gets special mention as it banishes the Spell/Trap Card it targets.
	Imperial Iron Wall
	So long as Imperial Iron Wall is face-up and active, both players cannot banish cards in any way--be it for cost, effect or tribute. That also includes the summon mechanic that "Malefic" monsters share among themselves.

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