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Submit Cards / [Scripted] Archetype Submission - Skydians (Yes. Skydians.) 
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on March 30, 2022, 08:12:48 pm to Zeriel Verlith
Introduction:
The time has come, after the 3 Link Monsters have long been approved, I will take a leap into the lion's den with my historically most controversial and also one of my oldest creations: Skydians. Older members of YGOCC may remember the Warrior Super Engine, that if let loose/approved, would turn the YGOCC Meta uspide down and turn everything into Warriors. And back then, they would most likely have been right. Ever since their creation back in 2016, Skydians have seen nerf after nerf, without ever getting submitted, to make them more reasonable until I felt comfortable with submitting them today.
What are Skydians?
Skydians are a Warrior "Engine", and I am inclined to put that in quotation marks now. To clarify, Skydians aren't a standalone Archetype, they are basically a bridge between the already approved Ichyaltas, Golden Skies and Silent Stars (further called "Skydianborn"). Think a Zefra, but for those 3 Archetypes only. Originally, they were completely unhinged but with the state of Warriors in the recent years, there's no way they can stay unrestricted, which is why I put "Engine" in quotation marks. Now, Skydians full lock you to Warriors if you want to use one of the Synchro, Xyz or Fusion's effect. And honestly, that is very needed.
The Playstyle can be described as simply Warrior Spam, with the Extra Deck monsters all giving you a choice. They have an effect that can activate both on correct summon or being banished and an Ignition Effect on the field, but you can only use one per turn, each turn.
The Cards:
Liana and Ratha are two sides of the same coin, in which they search Spells (Liana) or Traps (Ratha) by banishing themselves from the Graveyard. Additionally Liana can Special Summon a Level 4 or lower Warrior from your hand on being Normal Summoned and Ratha, who is also a Tuner, is a Book of Moon on being Special Summoned by a Skydian card.
Less similar are Frejia and Esmera, of which, again, the DARK one is the Tuner, this time in Esmera. If we Summon Frejia by the effect of a Skydian card, she can pop a card of the opponent and while she's in the Graveyard, she can Quick Summon any Skydian Extra Deck monster. This makes Frejia a powerhouse, especially paired with one of the Traps we're going to look at in a bit. This luckily is gated by the SHOPT, but she is still fairly strong.
Esmera on the other side has a Self Summon effect, which requires the discard lf any other Skydian card in hand, but she gets banished if this Summon was performed from the Graveyard. If Esmera hits the field by the effect of a Skydian card, except her own, courtesy of SHOPT Industries, she serves as a monster searcher for Skydians.
How here's the big 3, the Alpha, the Omega, the Beginning of the End and End of the Beginning. Okay, jokes aside, these are the 3 Core Extra Deck Monsters, the building blocks of what makes Skydian Skydian and the first 3 Skydians ever made, Darivia, the watcher of Ichyaltas, Elmina, the watcher of Silent Stars and Viridia, the watcher of Golden Skies.
Darivia and Viridia are fundamentally the same. On Summon or being banished, they add to your hand one Skydianborn monster from the Deck/GY and as their ignition effects they banish Skydians from the ED to Special Summon a Level 4 or lower Skydianborn monster from those locations.
Elmina is a little bit different. On her on Summon/Banish she bounces a card and as her Ignition Effect she can, as a Quick Effect, banish a Skydian from the ED to Summon a banished Warrior.
Additionally, all of these need at least one Skydian or related Archetype's monster to be Summoned.
For the Spells, we have these two. The Skydian's Careful Watch is basically the ROTA of this Archetype. A ROTA with Extra Steps and multiple purposes. It is a +1 by functionality, courtesy of Darivia's search and the Graveyard effects of Liana, Ratha and one of the Traps that's going to come up. It can also serve as removal going second, by banishing Elmina, for example. It's a rather versatile card if I do say so myself.
Less straight forward is Armament, which is basically just a Fusion Spell for Warriors, that can banish itself from the Graveyard to shuffle all banished Skydian cards into the Deck, though not on the turn it was sent to the GY. Rather good card to keep you in the game.
Now finally onto the Traps and these are actually interesting and playable! Partially courtesy of easy access via Ratha. Advent is basically a ROTA while in the GY, and therefore your primary drop target for Careful Watch. On the field it serves as a D.D.R. without the discard or the Equip aspect, which is doubly good because it also triggers the Main Deck Skydians' effects. At least for the three that have such effects.
Determination is a more interesting card. It is a Continuous Trap that has the ability to pop a face-up card when a Warrior Synchro, Fusion, Xyz or Link Monster hits the field, but dies afterwards if that Summoned card wasn't a Skydian. During your own Main Phase, it also serves as a Monster Reborn by banishing itself from the Graveyard.
Afterword:
Honestly, a lot of love and a lot of work has been put into these cards in the past 5 years, so I hope whoever ends up taking a look at it will give it the time it needs. By today, I see my identity more within VECTOR than within Skydians, but these are still the first thing I made on YGOCC I truly resonated with. And I value that very highly.
The time has come, after the 3 Link Monsters have long been approved, I will take a leap into the lion's den with my historically most controversial and also one of my oldest creations: Skydians. Older members of YGOCC may remember the Warrior Super Engine, that if let loose/approved, would turn the YGOCC Meta uspide down and turn everything into Warriors. And back then, they would most likely have been right. Ever since their creation back in 2016, Skydians have seen nerf after nerf, without ever getting submitted, to make them more reasonable until I felt comfortable with submitting them today.
What are Skydians?
Skydians are a Warrior "Engine", and I am inclined to put that in quotation marks now. To clarify, Skydians aren't a standalone Archetype, they are basically a bridge between the already approved Ichyaltas, Golden Skies and Silent Stars (further called "Skydianborn"). Think a Zefra, but for those 3 Archetypes only. Originally, they were completely unhinged but with the state of Warriors in the recent years, there's no way they can stay unrestricted, which is why I put "Engine" in quotation marks. Now, Skydians full lock you to Warriors if you want to use one of the Synchro, Xyz or Fusion's effect. And honestly, that is very needed.
The Playstyle can be described as simply Warrior Spam, with the Extra Deck monsters all giving you a choice. They have an effect that can activate both on correct summon or being banished and an Ignition Effect on the field, but you can only use one per turn, each turn.
The Cards:
Liana and Ratha are two sides of the same coin, in which they search Spells (Liana) or Traps (Ratha) by banishing themselves from the Graveyard. Additionally Liana can Special Summon a Level 4 or lower Warrior from your hand on being Normal Summoned and Ratha, who is also a Tuner, is a Book of Moon on being Special Summoned by a Skydian card.
Less similar are Frejia and Esmera, of which, again, the DARK one is the Tuner, this time in Esmera. If we Summon Frejia by the effect of a Skydian card, she can pop a card of the opponent and while she's in the Graveyard, she can Quick Summon any Skydian Extra Deck monster. This makes Frejia a powerhouse, especially paired with one of the Traps we're going to look at in a bit. This luckily is gated by the SHOPT, but she is still fairly strong.
Esmera on the other side has a Self Summon effect, which requires the discard lf any other Skydian card in hand, but she gets banished if this Summon was performed from the Graveyard. If Esmera hits the field by the effect of a Skydian card, except her own, courtesy of SHOPT Industries, she serves as a monster searcher for Skydians.
How here's the big 3, the Alpha, the Omega, the Beginning of the End and End of the Beginning. Okay, jokes aside, these are the 3 Core Extra Deck Monsters, the building blocks of what makes Skydian Skydian and the first 3 Skydians ever made, Darivia, the watcher of Ichyaltas, Elmina, the watcher of Silent Stars and Viridia, the watcher of Golden Skies.
Darivia and Viridia are fundamentally the same. On Summon or being banished, they add to your hand one Skydianborn monster from the Deck/GY and as their ignition effects they banish Skydians from the ED to Special Summon a Level 4 or lower Skydianborn monster from those locations.
Elmina is a little bit different. On her on Summon/Banish she bounces a card and as her Ignition Effect she can, as a Quick Effect, banish a Skydian from the ED to Summon a banished Warrior.
Additionally, all of these need at least one Skydian or related Archetype's monster to be Summoned.
For the Spells, we have these two. The Skydian's Careful Watch is basically the ROTA of this Archetype. A ROTA with Extra Steps and multiple purposes. It is a +1 by functionality, courtesy of Darivia's search and the Graveyard effects of Liana, Ratha and one of the Traps that's going to come up. It can also serve as removal going second, by banishing Elmina, for example. It's a rather versatile card if I do say so myself.
Less straight forward is Armament, which is basically just a Fusion Spell for Warriors, that can banish itself from the Graveyard to shuffle all banished Skydian cards into the Deck, though not on the turn it was sent to the GY. Rather good card to keep you in the game.
Now finally onto the Traps and these are actually interesting and playable! Partially courtesy of easy access via Ratha. Advent is basically a ROTA while in the GY, and therefore your primary drop target for Careful Watch. On the field it serves as a D.D.R. without the discard or the Equip aspect, which is doubly good because it also triggers the Main Deck Skydians' effects. At least for the three that have such effects.
Determination is a more interesting card. It is a Continuous Trap that has the ability to pop a face-up card when a Warrior Synchro, Fusion, Xyz or Link Monster hits the field, but dies afterwards if that Summoned card wasn't a Skydian. During your own Main Phase, it also serves as a Monster Reborn by banishing itself from the Graveyard.
Afterword:
Honestly, a lot of love and a lot of work has been put into these cards in the past 5 years, so I hope whoever ends up taking a look at it will give it the time it needs. By today, I see my identity more within VECTOR than within Skydians, but these are still the first thing I made on YGOCC I truly resonated with. And I value that very highly.
