Enneacraft is the third new archetype out of Yu-Gi-Oh! Phantom Revenge and I'm here to break down all the information about these cards. Enneacrafts combine 2 of Yu-Gi-Oh's most neglected strategies, Flip Effects and Pendulums. It's a bizarre combination that we may likely never see again in this card game. What's even stranger is that these monsters don't even attempt to Pendulum Summon. They can, however, dish out a considerable amount of burn damage while your opponent sits across from you looking confused. If you're a fan of Sci-Fi spacecrafts or maybe just Man-Eater Bug, Enneacrafts might be for you. Let's dive into it.

Monsters

The monster lineup consists of 4 level 1 monsters and 4 level 9 monsters. All Enneacrafts share the same effect of being able to reveal themselves in the hand to then special summon a monster from your hand in face-down defense position. By swarming the field with these effects, your opponent will be left guessing as to where your strong monsters are hiding in wait. The small level 1 Enneacrafts all have a search effect when in the Pendulum Scale, which lets you pay 900 Life Points to reveal 3 Enneacraft cards in your deck, then your opponent randomly chooses 1 for you to add to your hand. The good thing about this effect is that you can reveal 3 of the same card to get exactly what you need.

Enneacraft monsters can trigger their Flip Effects while in face-down defense position in response to your opponent's actions. When your opponent adds a card from their deck to their hand, you can flip up Deftero Enneacraft - "alazoneIA" to add 1 Enneacraft card from your deck to your hand then trigger its Flip Effect to banish 1 random card from your opponent's hand until the End Phase. When your opponent activates an effect that Special summons a monster, you can flip up Ekto Enneacraft - "tromarIA", which will add an Enneacraft to hand then trigger its flip effect to negate the effects of 1 Effect Monster your opponent controls until the end of the turn. Similarly, Enato Enneacraft - "oknirIA" triggers it's Flip Effect to shuffle 3 cards from your opponent's GY/Banishment back into their deck. Proto Enneacraft - "orgIA" is Man-Eater Bug when flipped.

Now for the monsters that will be doing the heavy lifting. Enneacraft - Atori.MAR can flip itself up to negate a card or effect on the field. It also changes all your opponent's monsters to face-down Defense position when flipped. Enneacraft - Asta.PIXEA can negate a card that targets something you control, then banish 1 random card from your opponent's hand face-down. Enneacraft - Archa.TAIL and Enneacraft - Aiza.LEON both have burn effects dealing 900 points of damage any time a monster goes to your opponent's GY or gets added to their hand, respectively. Your level 9s are the cards you want to control and be ready to react with on your opponent's turn.

Spells

Enneacrafts receive their own field Spell, Enneapolis, that is perfect for their Flip effect shenanigans. Up until now I haven't mentioned the shared Pendulum effect the monster has, which is each time a monster is flipped face-up, place 1 E.C. Counter on an Enneacraft card(s) in the Pendulum Zone. The Field Spell allows you remove these counters during the End Phase and deal 900 points of damage for each. Play your cards correctly and all that effect damage might just steal you the game.

Enneapolis also allows you to return your Enneacrafts to the hand. A perfect way to reset their Flip effects for the following turn. Or if you're in a hurry you can use the 2nd effect of Enneacraft Reverth to change 1 face-down defense position Enneacraft monster you control to face-up defense position. Its first effect allows you to shuffle Enneacrafts from your hand into your deck to draw the same number of cards. A good tool to fish for hand-traps or other missing cards.

Enneacraft Release rounds out the Spell Card lineup. With it you can place 1 Enneacraft Pendulum Monster from your Deck in your Pendulum Zone. Its GY effect offers some recyclability and gives you an Enneacraft back from your face-up Extra Deck. Unsurprisingly, there are no Trap Cards for the strategy: At least, not yet. But that doesn't mean the deck can't benefit from powerful traps.

Strategy

The game plan for Enneacrafts is fairly straightforward. Swarm the field using your in-hand effects, making sure to prioritize the boss monsters like the whale Enneacraft - Atori.MAR, which can disrupt your opponent's most important moves. Your Spells are there to help get your Flip Effects going and to establish a grind game. Using your extra bodies in the Pendulum Zone to rack up counters anytime your monsters are flipped for the effect damage is a nice way to whittle your opponent down.

You won't be going into the Extra Deck very often since the Special summon effect in the hand locks you into only Summoning in face-down defense position. That's why it's important to back up the strategy with strong support cards. Destructive Daruma Karma Cannon and Sol and Luna are two cards that synergize well with the strategy and can heavily cripple your opponent's monsters. Junk Sleep offers another way to trigger your flip effects without waiting on your opponent's specific actions.

As with all Pendulum strategies, the deck has a natural weakness to Droll & Lock Bird. It also struggles to deal with effects that form a Chain since you want to respond to effects one at a time. Will you be taking Enneacraft to your next local tournament?

Thanks for reading!