Holiday Archetypes: Santa Sends His Regards

(Read an update to this post HERE.)

 So a while back, I talked about how the general admiration that many players have for Ghostricks could possibly lead to more holiday archetypes in the future. And since I don't have time to sit around and wait for Konami to fulfill all of my dreams, I came up with a concept for a Christmas Deck!

Since I couldn't imagine most of the Christmas-related things I thought of as monsters, I've chosen Santa's 9 Reindeer (Dasher, Dancer, Prancer, Vixen, Comet, Cupid, Donner, Blitzen and Rudolph) to be the main monsters of this theme. My basic idea is that when you control more than one of them, they will become Level 10. This makes the deck unique and will make it the first archetype with serious Rank 10 access. Gustav Max is a very scary card when it can be used multiple times throughout a game, and Skypalace Gangaridai is no slouch either.

I won't specify effects for all of them here, but here are some basic concepts for a few of them (based mainly on just their names) so that you can get a feel for what I intended.

Dasher the Icefall Reindeer
Wind / 3 / Beast / 1300 / 500
If you control an "Icefall" monster other than "Dasher the Icefall Reindeer", this card's Level becomes 10. During either player's turn: You can banish this face-up card. During your Main Phase, if you control an "Icefall" card: You can Special Summon this banished card in face-up Defense Position.

Comet the Icefall Reindeer
Wind / 4 / Beast / 1900 / 1500
If you control an "Icefall" monster other than "Comet the Icefall Reindeer", this card's Level becomes 10. During either player's turn, when a Trap Card is activated: You can reveal 1 "Icefall" card in your hand; negate the activation of that Trap Card and destroy it. This effect can only be used once while this card is face-up on the field.

Blitzen the Icefall Reindeer
Wind / 4 / Beast / 1700 / 300
If you control an "Icefall" monster other than "Blitzen the Icefall Reindeer", this card's Level becomes 10. If this card destroys an opponent's monster by battle and sends it to the Graveyard: You can Tribute this card; Special Summon 2 "Icefall" monsters from your deck and they each lose 800 ATK (this is a Quick Effect).

Rudolph the Icefall Reindeer
Wind / 4 / Beast / 1500 / 900
If you control an "Icefall" monster other than "Rudolph the Icefall Reindeer", this card's Level becomes 10. Once per turn, if you control an "Icefall" card other than "Rudolph the Icefall Reindeer": Target 1 Set card your opponent controls; reveal that target, then return it to its original position.

So you can see that instead of using the word Christmas directly, I figured Konami might use some other word and chose Icefall (after all, it is Ghostrick Ghoul, not Halloween Ghoul). The fact that they're Wind is of course due to the fact that they fly, as well as the fact that I love the Wind attribute and feel there's a serious lack of themes that are mostly Wind. Here are some examples for support cards:

Icefall Sleigh Bells
Normal Spell
Add 1 "Icefall" monster from your Deck to your hand, then gain 700 Life Points. You can only activate 1 "Icefall Sleigh Bells" per turn.

Icefall Sacred Tree
Continuous Spell
Once per turn, if an "Icefall" monster would be destroyed by battle: It is not destroyed by that battle, then you gain 700 Life Points. If you control a Spellcaster-Type "Icefall" monster or have any in your Graveyard: You can Tribute this card; draw 2 cards.

Christmas is all about giving gifts, so I think it makes sense for some of the cards to give you the gift of Life Points or drawing cards. One problem though: if all of the Reindeer are Beasts, then how do you unlock the Spellcaster-based draw effect of the Sacred Tree? Well, I'm glad you asked! Here is an idea for Santa himself:

Icefall King Santa Claus
Water / Rank 10 / Spellcaster / 3000 / 2500
2 "Icefall" monsters
When this card is Summoned, cards and effects cannot be activated. Once per turn: You can detach 1 Xyz Material from this card and target 1 "Icefall" card in your Graveyard; return that target to your hand, then gain 1000 Life Points. When this card is destroyed: Draw 1 card.

There are tons and tons of other cards that can be created for this archetype based on several different kinds of Christmas materials, but this is just a basic sketch of my ideas at the moment. In the future, I may go ahead and try my hand at other ideas for theme decks. Thanks for reading!