You may be stubbornly trudging through the Yu-Gi-Oh Duel Links ladder sticking by your good old Dark Magician deck. While it may not be the most powerful deck in the game, it is one of the most satisfying to play for us long time fans of the franchise. Heck, before I sat down to write this article I was climbing in the current KC Tournament using a variant of the Dark Magician deck.

Dark Magician decks are a Yu-Gi-Oh Duel Links deck that is centered around the famous Dark Magician monster card. The Dark Magician card is a wonderfully drawn purple staff-wielding magician with 2,500 attack power and 2,100 defense points.  He has no monster effect but boasts a respectable attack power and is used as material to bring forth even more powerful and awesome magicians.

The Dark Magician card is one of the main cards that Yugi Moto uses from the Yu-Gi-Oh anime. For this reason alone, you might be attracted to the Dark Magician deck. Dark Magician decks have such a reliable and consistent ability to summon the great Dark Magician unto the field. That’s one of the best things about these decks, Dark Magicians for days!

5. Dark Magician Girl

This list displaying the best Yu-Gi-Oh Duel Links decks would never be complete without a Dark Magician deck that is solely centered around the beautiful Dark Magician Girl. While not the most competitive Dark Magician deck that exists in the Duel Links game, this Dark Magician Girl deck will give many try-hard duelists a run for their money. By running three Dark Magician girl monster cards, you will find yourself summoning the powerful “The Dark Magicians” card all too often.

I have easily played myself into Legend rank while running three Dark Magician Girls. By playing this deck, you can satiate your anime deck needs. Let’s be honest, the Dark Magician Girl has always been one of the most visually appealing cards since the anime started airing on Toonami all those years ago.

Positive points

Anime deck: Before you judge me for pointing this out as a positive point about this deck, just know that many people who play Yu-Gi-Oh value the anime side of things. An anime deck is a deck that includes cards which are probably female and drawn in a cutesy style that resembles Japanese anime.

Support cards: If you run this deck you will come to understand the importance of support cards such as D.D. Crow and Effect Veiler. These are a couple of the most useful and important support cards in the game so it’s a huge benefit to learn how to use them.

Extra deck: This Dark Magician Girl deck heavily relies on summoning monsters from the extra deck so you’ll be sure to become familiar with using it.

Card list

Main deck:

Dark Magician Girl (x3)

Apprentice Illusion Magician (x3)

Effect Veiler (x3)

D.D. Crow (x3)

Buster Blader (x1)

Dark Magician (x3)

Forbidden Droplet (x2)

Secrets of Dark Magic (x2)

Fusion Conscription (x3)

Dark Magical Circle (x3)

Magical Dimension (x1)

Magicalized Fusion (x1)

Treacherous Trap Hole (x2)

Extra deck:

The Dark Magicians (x3)

Dark Cavalry (x1)

Dark Paladin (x1)

Quintet Magician (x1)

Ebon Illusion Magician (x1)

Wee Witch’s Apprentice (x1)

4. Magician Girls

This kawaii deck is full of gorgeous magicians of the female variety of human. They’re not only cute, they boast the skills to pay the bills and bring back victory upon victory in the Yu-Gi-Oh Duel Links verse. It’s almost necessary to start with a Berry Magician Girl on your first hand, that’s why you should run two of them. For this reason, the deck can be slow to start but it’s nothing too serious.

You should play this deck if you are a fan of the Magician Girl squad and enjoy how their combos play off of each other. Because the deck can be a bit slow, we should find ways to stall our opponent, which is accomplished with trap cards such as Call of the Haunted and Treacherous.

At the end of the day, any deck that can reach King of Games is a good deck to play; and this Dark Magician deck has the ability to do just that.

Positive points

Combo understanding: Some Yu-Gi-Oh Duel Links decks are more straightforward than others. This Magician Girls deck has many cards that are related to one another and utilize lengthy combos so if that’s up your alley then this is a great deck for those of you.

Cute: The monster cards in this deck are generally cute in appearance and have that fairy aesthetic that I know some people are into.

Disruption: With spell cards like Book of Moon and trap cards like Call of the Haunted you’ll have plenty of weapons in your arsenal to halt your opponent in their tracks. They won’t know what to do anymore once you drag them away from their plan (commence evil laugh).

Card list

Main deck:

Chocolate Magician Girl (x2)

Berry Magician Girl (x3)

Apple Magician Girl (x1)

Kiwi Magician Girl (x2)

Pot of Duality (x3)

Book of Moon (x3)

Dark Hole (x1)

Lost Wind (x1)

Floodgate Trap Hole (x1)

Call of the Haunted (x2)

Treacherous Trap Hole (x1)

Extra deck:

Number 70: Malevolent Sin (x1)

Sylvan Princessprite (x1)

Knightmare Unicorn (x1)

Linkuriboh (x1)

Knightmare Cerberus (x1)

Knightmare Phoenix (x1)

Draco Masters of the Tenyi (x1)

LANphorhynchus (x1)

3. Toon Magicians

Toons in Yu-Gi-Oh Duel Links are not yet tiered but they are competitive. This particular Toon build is competitive and most importantly, will send opponents to the shadow realm as your “toonified” Dark Magician giggles like a maniac in the background. Toon Dark Magician Girl is your win condition a lot of the time with this deck and you only need to run one of them because the deck is equipped with a variety of ways to search for her.

In the past, Toon decks have always been a bit of a joke. They’re still not the strongest option out there, but they have been getting some attention lately. You can actually OTK (one turn kill) your opponent relatively easily as long as you have one of your three Dark Magicians, any toon card, and Chocolate Magician Girl.

Positive points

Iconic: Toons are Iconic! Anyone who has seen the Yu-Gi-Oh anime ever has heard of Toon World! It’s just unfortunate that they’re not a practical contender for tournaments.

Quick win: If you draw the right cards you can end the duel very quickly with this Dark Magician toon deck.

King of games: You can become King of Games with this deck. I know this because I’ve personally done it and if I’ve done it then you most definitely can.

Card list

Main deck:

Toon Dark Magician (x3)

Toon Black Luster Soldier (x3)

Toon Dark Magician Girl (x1)

Anchamoufrite (x1)

Red-Eyes Toon Dragon (x2)

Into the Void (x1)

Toon Kingdom (x1)

Comic Hand (x2)

Toon Bookmark (x3)

Toon Table of Contents (x2)

Toon Briefcase (x2)

Extra deck (N/A)

2. Magician of Chaos

The Magician of Chaos is a seriously epic card and you can squeeze him into this particular Dark Magician deck nicely. You don’t see him in many Dark Magician decks lately because he would be a bit useless but it works well in this interesting and powerful deck.

You can also run a Black Luster Soldier in this deck due to the effect of the Magician of Chaos card. This deck is pretty terrifying and has the ability to populate your board with many powerful and high attack powered monsters. Who doesn’t like to instill fear inside of their opponent before unleashing three simultaneous Dark Magician spells unto them?

Positive points

Interesting: This deck is very interesting! By using a Magician of Chaos in your Dark Magician deck, you are playing a card that many other duelists are not currently playing. You will likely have more fun with this deck than other Dark Magician decks.

Fun: Speaking of fun, this deck is my personal favorite deck to play currently. There’s just something so satisfying about bringing out your one and only Magician of Chaos card; there’s a great sense of accomplishment that comes with it.

Cost efficient: You can get most of the cards from this deck just by playing the game. It doesn’t cost a whole lot of gems to put it together.

Card list

Main deck:

Magician of Chaos (x1)

Chronicle Magician (x1)

Apprentice Illusion Magician (x3)

Chronicle Sorceress (x1)

Black Luster Soldier (x1)

Dark Magician (x3)

Successor Soul (x1)

Secrets of Dark Magic (x1)

Dark Magical Circle (x3)

Piercing the Darkness (x1)

Magicalized Fusion (x1)

Compulsory Evacuation Device (x1)

Eternal Soul (x1)

Champion’s Vigilance (x1)

Extra deck:

Blue-Eyes Ultimate Dragon (x1)

The Dark Magicians (x1)

Dark Cavalry (x1)

The Great Double Casted Caster (x1)

Number 11: Big Eye

Ebon Illusion Magician (x1)

Knightmare Phoenix (x1)

Imduk the World Chalice Dragon (x1)

1. Chronicle Dark Magician

I also like to refer to this Dark Magician deck as the Battle Chronicle deck. Battle Chronicle is a Yu-Gi-Oh Duel Links skill that is used for the most competitive Dark Magician decks in the current meta. This skill makes it so that if you summon your Chronicle Magician then you no longer need to tribute. It doesn’t need to be said that this is a great skill for this particular Dark Magician deck.

You will not be running any Dark Magician Girl cards in this deck, and you’ll want two Apprentice instead of three. You can also use the Battle Chronicle skill to search for a disruption spell which is such a big asset in the current meta where people are just going to finish you off before you can even lift a single finger.

Overall, this Dark Magician deck is a great choice if you want to play Battle Chronicle Dark Magicians. You also get to experience Yu-Gi-Oh in a refreshing way by using old cards that are nostalgic for many of us.

Positive points

Versatile: If you wanted to you could have even more fun with this deck and throw in a couple Blue-Eyes cards, particularly the Blue-Eyes White Dragon.

Powerful: This is a very strong variation of a Dark Magician deck and a good option if you want to play Dark Magicians and actually win most of your duels.

Skill: Many of your tactics while playing this deck are based on the usage of your Battle Chronicle skill. Using this Dark Magician deck will familiarize you with the skill feature in the Yu-Gi-Oh Duel Links game.

Card list

Main deck:

Chronicle Magician (x2)

Apprentice Illusion Magician (x2)

Chronicle Sorceress (x2)

D.D. Crow (x1)

Dark Magician (x3)

Successor Soul (x1)

Secrets of Dark Magic (x1)

Book of Moon (x2)

Dark Magic Circle (x2)

Illusion Magic (x1)

Treacherous Trap Hole (x1)

Mischief of the Gnomes (x3)

Extra deck:

The Dark Magicians (x1)

Skull Knight (x2)

Number 11: Big Eye

Voloferniges, the Darkest Dragon Doomrider (x1)

Ebon Illusion Magician (x1)

Knightmare Phoenix (x1)

Imduk the World Chalice Dragon (x1)