Malefic Skill Drain deck profile

The Malefic monsters were introduced in the Yugioh 10th Anniversary film, Bonds Beyond Time, as a series of cards used by the villainous Paradox. They are essentially corrupted versions of iconic Yugioh monsters, mainly dragons such as Blue-eyes and Red-eyes. In the original Japanese, they were known as the 'Sin' monsters (a pun on the Japanese word for 'truth', pronounced Shin, a play on words which represented Paradox's twisted worldview that these corrupted monstrosities were the true Duel Monsters), but was changed to 'Malefic' by the censors at 4kids in their tireless effort to make everything boring. The Malefic monsters all share some things in common- they require a Field Spell to be active, there can only be one Malefic monster on the field at a time, and are summoned by banishing the original 'good' version of the monster.

They also, basically, suck. At least, a lot of the Malefic monsters do, since their trading card game incarnations come with a whole host of drawbacks. Cards like Malefic Blue-eyes White Dragon and Malefic Rainbow Dragon need you to banish the original monster from your Main Deck, which can result in a ton of dead draws and make for a very inconsistent deck (don't even get me started on Malefic Red-eyes Black Dragon, which is just a terrible card). Not to mention, Malefic monsters stop your other monsters from declaring attacks. That's not to say that the Malefic archetype as a whole is worthless- on the contrary, a skillfully built deck can utilize the best aspect of the Malefic monsters (the ability to effortlessly summon high level monsters), while simultaneously working around their negative effects and limiting the opponent's ability to respond.

This deck utilizes two things in order to accomplish this. One, it uses the best main Malefic monsters in the game, the ones that are summoned by banishing their original form from the Extra deck rather than the main deck. These are Malefic Cyber End Dragon and Malefic Stardust Dragon, respectively a 4000 ATK beater and a monster that protects your field spells. The second thing is a variety of anti-meta cards, which can both maximize the effectiveness of the Malefic monsters while limiting the opponent's options. Cards like Skill Drain, Eradicator Epidemic Virus, and The Seal of Orichalcos are what make Malefic decks truly formidable.

The basic strategy of the Malefic Skill Drain deck is to use the field spells Geartown, Necrovalley, and the Seal of Orichalcos (Malefic World is included in the event that the deck's Synchro monster, Malefic Paradox Dragon, can be summoned). Geartown allows you to summon the mighty Ancient Gear Gadgiltron Dragon when it is destroyed, Necrovalley will prevent your opponent from utilizing their Graveyard, and The Seal will power up your monsters while simultaneously protecting itself from destruction. When a field spell is active, you can summon your big monsters like Malefic Cyber End. Skill Drain can stop your opponent's monster effects without hindering your own monsters (the Malefics will lose some of their drawbacks with Skill Drain active, and the deck also features monsters like Beast King Barbaros for more combos with Skill Drain), and the Virus cards can tribute your powerful Dark monsters to deal with your opponents Spells, Traps, or weaker monsters, further crippling them.

The rest of the cards included in the deck are up to personal preference. I've included Compulsory Evacuation Device and Forbidden Lance because they are very versatile cards that can be used for offense or defense, and The Huge Revolution is Over is a viable alternative to Starlight Road. While you won't often need to summon him, there is also a single Rank 8 Xyz monster in the form of Hieratic Sun Dragon Overlord, which in a pinch can clear your opponent's field. In a more competitive build, I'd advise against Malefic Parallel Gear and Paradox Dragon, but in this deck I have included them (Paradox Dragon requires the Malefic World field spell, but its still a 4000 ATK monster that can steal an opponent's Synchro Monster from the grave). 

So, without further ado, here is the deck list!

Deck List.

MONSTERS x 16

Ancient Gear Gadjiltron Dragon

Beast King Barbaros x3

Fusilier Drago, the Dual-Mode Beast

Malefic Cyber End Dragon x3

Malefic Parallel Gear x2

Malefic Stardust Dragon x3

Malefic Truth Dragon

Thunder King Rai-oh x2

SPELLS x 16

Dark Hole

Forbidden Lance

Geartown x2

Heavy Storm

Malefic World

Monster Reborn

Mystical Space Typhoon x2

Necrovalley

Pot of Avarice

Pot of Duality

Terraforming x3

The Seal of Orichalcos

TRAPS x 8

Compulsory Evacuation Device

Dark Bribe

Deck Devastation Virus

Eradicator Epidemic Virus

Skill Drain x3

The Huge Revolution is Over

TOTAL: 40

EXTRA DECK x 10

Cyber End Dragon x3

Malefic Paradox Dragon x3

Stardust Dragon x3

Hieratic Sun Dragon Overlord of Heliopolis