Maze of Muertos is Yu-Gi-Oh!'s latest side set that offers new cards, support for old archetypes, and reprints. We've seen classic Yu-Gi-Oh! themes receive support from these sets like Gate Guardian and Flame Swordsman. This time, it's Yugi's turn to shine with the new Dark Magician support cards. Let's dive into the specifics of what makes these cards shine.

What's New

Your two Secret Rares in the Set are Dark Magician of Destruction (DMOD) and The Gaze of Timaeus. DMOD essentially acts as a Link-1 for your Level 6 or higher Dark Spellcaster monsters due to its alternate summoning condition that you'll use to summon it 99% of the time. With him, you'll be able to get Gaze or any of your other cards that mention Dark Magician.

The Gaze of Timaeus is a sort of retrain of the original The Eye of Timaeus that still lets you Fusion Summon but can be searched. In typical Yu-Gi-Oh! fashion, there's a really weird ruling that doesn't allow The Eye of Timaeus to be searched by other Dark Magician search cards, but I won't get into that. Still, with this card you'll be able to summon out your boss monsters more easily.

Timaeus the United Magical Dragon is Timaeus' new armored form that comes as an Ultra Rare. Its effect gives itself protection for at least two turns which is very valuable in modern Yu-Gi-Oh! The Quick-Effect to pop 1 Spell/Trap on the field is nice as well since your opponent will need to be careful with what they're trying to set up.

Lastly, we have a new Trap Card in the form of Dark Magic Talisman. It's easy to miss since it's only a Rare but the effects are strong. It can negate monster effects that activate in response to your in-engine card effects. It also has a Dragon's Mind-like effect to pay Life Points and reset itself.

Secrets of Dark Magic and Dark Magical Circle both have nice new alternate arts in this set. Consider yourself lucky if you're able to pull them.

How to Play & Applications

These new Dark Magician support cards have a ton of applications and best use scenarios to help speed up the strategy. Let's start by revisiting the alternate summoning condition of DMOD. Since you need to banish a Level 6 or higher Dark Spellcaster monster the turn you activated a Spell card, two great ways to achieve this are through the Shining Sarcophagus or Sinful Spoils engines.

Dark Magician Girl the Magician's Apprentice is a great starter that gives you access to Shining Sarcophagus. The same can be said for Diabellstar the Black Witch which gives you access to cards like Deception of the Sinful Spoils and Azamina Ilia Silvia. What's even better is that neither of these ladies take up your Normal Summon so you can still summon your Magician's Rod later in the turn.

By using DMOD to search Gaze, you can turbo out your Red-Eyes Dark Dragoon. Just keep in mind that it gets banished during the End Phase of the next turn. I love the fact that Gaze is a Quick-Play Spell that you can use in a pinch or during your opponent's turn.

Besides Dragoon, another way to shut down your opponent is by Magician of Black Chaos MAX. This card can be Ritual Summoned from Secrets of Dark Magic (also searchable by DMOD). Your opponent won't be able to use Monster effects for the turn once it's summoned unless they have a way to stop it.

The new cards give you powerful tools to start or continue your plays even through some disruption. They help solve some of the clunkiness of the deck and meld excellently with other recent Yugi support.

Other Factors to Consider

The Dark Magician strategy still excels as a semi control deck when used with the Primite engine. Using Secrets of Dark Magic to fuse Primite Dragon Ether Beryl and Dark Magician will net you a Dragoon with enough cards in the hand to discard for its negate effect. Primite Drillbeam offers another form of disruption that can be recycled.

Magicians' Souls can send Dark Magician Girl the Magician's Apprentice from Deck to GY which can then be later added to your hand by Miasma Necromancer. She can bypass the restriction of Miasma Necromancer since her effect to summon doesn't activate.

Turn Silence is a nice tech card that can insulate your plays in some situations and can be searched with Shining Sarcophagus. If you're using Sinful Spoils cards, Sinful Spoils of Doom - Rciela is another card to grab off of Diabellstar. Using is with Dark Magician has won me some games where my opponent just forgot what it does but your milage may vary.

We'll see DMOD and Gaze splashed into a variety of decks due to the fact that you can turbo out Dragoon, which is still a very powerful boss monster.

Conclusion

It's no wonder why everyone is clamoring for the new Dark Magician cards. They are a gamechanger if you are a fan of the deck. At the very least, I hope this gives you a better understanding of what the deck is capable of with the new cards. We've still got a lot to look forward to for the strategy, so stay tuned!