Those Who Planned to Extinguish The Sun's Light
Mayakashi is an archetype of multi-attribute Zombies, and has shared lore with Shiranui, that was introduced to Duel Links through the Flames of the Heart Mini-Box. However, due to the lack of Link Monsters at the time of their release, Mayakashi would be forced into a completely different play style than intended until receiving the majority of their missing cards in the Phoenix Blaze Main Box which is where their story truly begins.
The goal of Mayakashi is to utilize the constant summoning of Loading...
to load the GY with their pool of Synchro and Link Monsters, then controlling the game with a combination of in-archetype cards and at times a splash of generic Zombie support.
Main Deck Monsters
Something to note before getting into the cards themselves is that every single Main Deck Mayakashi monster (except Dakki) have a continuous effect locking their controller to only being able to Special Summon Mayakashi monsters from the Extra Deck, which is relevant for one card in particular.
Dakki, the Graceful Mayakashi
A level 2 Tuner with the effect to
Special Summon herself from your Graveyard when a Mayakashi is Special Summoned from the Extra Deck to your field. This effect is not a once per turn in any way meaning that the same copy of Dakki in addition to any other Mayakashi monster represents your entire combo. It also means that if you manage to get 2 copies into the GY you can use both in the same chain allowing you to dodge GY negation like
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or minimize the impact of banishing effects like
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(bearing in mind you can only control one Dakki at a time).
Hajun, the Winged Mayakashi
Hajun is able to
Special Summon any Mayakashi monster from the deck, except another copy of itself, on Normal or Special Summon on a hard once per turn. Before the release of their respective skill you would have needed to Special Summon Dakki with this effect to establish combo, but thanks to the skill you can now create a slightly stronger presence by Special Summoning Yuki-Musume instead.
Yuki-Musume, the Ice Mayakashi
While Dakki is the most pivotal card for Mayakashi, I'd argue Yuki-Musume is their best card in isolation.
While you control any Mayakashi monster, other than another copy of Yuki-Musume, you can Special Summon Yuki-Musume from your hand or GY, then send ANY ZOMBIE MONSTER from your deck to the GY. This one card is almost entirely responsible for the deck's capability to play through multiple pieces of interruption as well as access pieces of generic Zombie support through its Foolish-like effect. By extension this also means that in addition to either Dakki or Yasha you’ll have full combo if your opening hand doesn’t allow access to Hajun.
Yasha, the Skeletal Mayakashi
The only high level among the Main Deck line-up. Yasha is able to
Special Summon himself by discarding another Mayakashi monster on a hard once per turn. As mentioned before this allows for full combo in combination with Yuki-Musume as well as a potential extender if Hajun gets negated by cards such as
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or
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. While this level of extension is obviously appreciated it relies on the rest of your hand to accommodate it which isn’t helped by the fact that Yuki-Musume on her own can usually fulfill Yasha’s job just fine.
Tsukahagi, the Poisonous Mayakashi
Tsukahagi sure is a card that exists.
When a Mayakashi monster in your possession is destroyed by battle or an opponent’s card effects, except another copy of itself, you can Special Summon Tsukahagi from the hand only being able to control one copy similar to Dakki. It’s not that this form of extension never comes up, but relying on extension only through destruction is a tad bit too specific for me to have a positive opinion of this card especially since destruction is becoming a less common form of interruption as time goes on.
Shafu, the Wheeled Mayakashi
On Normal or Special Summon Shafu can Special Summon a Mayakashi monster from your GY with its effects negated. While a typical follow-up card may seem nice it doesn’t blend well with a deck like Mayakashi as once you’ve gone through your combo you’re set for the rest of the game. It working on Special Summon means nothing as the card has no way to enable its own Special Summon unlike your other extenders. Put simply, don’t play this one.
Spells
Mayakashi Return
The archetype’s R.O.T.A. Allows you to
add any other card in the entire Mayakashi archetype to your hand or send the desired card to the GY instead whether it be a starter, extender, or another Spell/Trap except another copy of itself.
Mayakashi Winter
A Continuous Spell with two on field effects. A continuous effect to
reduce the ATK/DEF of all your opponent’s monsters by 100 for each Mayakashi monster with a different name in your GY and an effect to
send itself and a Mayakashi monster on your field to the GY to Draw one card. Where this card shines though is in its GY effect which allows you to
banish itself and a Zombie-type monster from your GY to target one Mayakashi monster in your GY and Special Summon it, essentially being an in-archetype
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.
Traps
At the cost of a discard Metamorphosis allows you to
Special Summon a Mayakashi monster from your GY or Banishment in addition to making the monster it brings back untargetable for the turn and locking you into Mayakashi Extra Deck summons for that same turn. Essentially an extra copy of
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that reads nicely on paper, but the discard cost really holds this card back. Most of the time your hand is ending up completely empty and leaving a potential extender or staple in your hand simply to enable Metamorphosis isn’t worth it.
Mayakashi Mayhem
A Continuous Trap with 4 different effects that can each be triggered once per turn when a Zombie-type Synchro Monster is Special Summoned from anywhere except the Extra Deck. The most relevant of these is the third effect which
sends the monster with the lowest attack on your opponent’s field to the GY. While non-targeting removal isn’t something the deck struggles with, non-destruction removal is completely unknown to the deck aside from this card making certain match-ups an uphill battle if you don’t run Mayhem. The other effects include
drawing one card, setting another Mayakashi Spell/Trap directly from the deck and dealing 400 damage to the opponent ‘cause why not?
These are your payoffs, transformed versions of the entire Main Deck line-up in the form of Synchro and Link Monsters. All of the Synchros share an effect to Special Summon themselves from the GY when a Synchro Monster you control who is 2 levels higher is destroyed by battle or an opponent’s card effect, except Gashadokuro who needs a Link Monster to be destroyed instead, at the cost of banishing another Zombie-type monster from your GY in addition to only being able to have one of any given name on the field at a time. From there, each of the Synchro Monsters have a unique effect when Special Summoned from the GY not having to be by their effects specifically. The deck's skill of choice puts the Level 3, 7, and 11 Synchros in the Extra Deck at the start of the duel.
Oboro-Guruma, the Wheeled Mayakashi
The Level 3 Synchro,
when Special Summoned from the GY you can activate its effect preventing destruction by battle for all your monsters that turn. Usually just the last in line when the rest of your Synchros get destroyed, which is rare, but its battle protection can occasionally come into play on its own.
Tsuchigumo, the Poisonous Mayakashi
The level 5 Synchro,
when Special Summoned from the GY you can activate its effect to have each player send 3 cards from the top of their deck to the GY. Like Oburo-Guruma you usually only summon this once the Level 7 Synchro is destroyed, but unlike Oburo-Guruma the effect of Tsuchigumo is usually done just because you can.
Tengu, the Winged Mayakashi
The Level 7 Synchro and where it starts to get good.
When Special Summoned from the GY you can activate its effect to destroy one Spell/Trap your opponent controls, notably not targeting. Having in-archetype access to backrow hate is always appreciated and the fact it doesn’t target means that if your opponent decides to use one of their backrow in response to Tengu
(provided it’s not negation) you end up clearing two Spell/Traps instead of one.
Yoko, the Graceful Mayakashi
The Level 9 Synchro and the one you will summon far more than the others.
When Special Summoned from the GY you can activate its effect to destroy one monster your opponent controls, notably not targeting. Non-targeting monster removal on a 2900 ATK body that threatens a non-targeting backrow removal if destroyed in the form of Tengu makes for the closest thing the archetype has to a true boss monster. There's a reason any and everything uses this card to represent Mayakashi as a whole.
Gashadokuro, the Skeletal Mayakashi
The Level 11 Synchro and the last Synchro of the deck.
When Special Summoned from the GY you can activate its effect to make itself unaffected by other cards’ effects for the duration of that turn. It’ll usually be summoned when one of your Links is destroyed and more likely than not secures your safety until the next turn as a 3300 ATK unaffected tower can be a struggle for many decks to get over if they don’t remove it before its effect is resolved.
Yuki-Onna, the Ice Mayakashi
First of the Link Monsters is a Link-2 with two on field effects. Her first effect is a continuous effect which
prevents her from being targeted for attacks while pointing to a Synchro Monster and the second effect allowing you to
target one monster your opponent controls and halve it’s ATK/DEF when a Synchro Monster you control is destroyed by battle or an opponent’s card effect. Its on field effects are perfectly fine, especially the attack prevention, but most of the time it serves as banish fodder for the GY effects of your Synchro Monsters and Winter.