Yu-Gi-Oh! Phantom Revenge brings 3 new archetypes into the fold in this latest deck-building set: Hecahands, Kewl Tune, and Enneacraft. We'll start by taking a look at Hecahands, a new Fusion Illusion strategy that revolves around stealing your opponent's monsters and using them for your means.

Monsters

The Hecahands monsters are all the Illusion type, which comes with the signature Illusion type trait of being unable to be destroyed by battle while also not being able to destroy other monsters in battle. But the deck can do more than just wall up and stall. Many of the strategy's main deck and Extra Deck monsters have an effect that allows you to steal your opponent's monster. Hecahands Breus allows you to steal a monster from your opponent's hand, Hecahands Gaigas gets you a monster from your opponent's deck, and Hecahands Godos gives you one from your opponent's GY. The monsters you'll want to kick off your plays with are Hecahands Yadel and Hecahands Ibtel. These starter cards will allow you to get a Hecahands Spell/Trap or allow you to special summon another Hecahands monster from your deck respectively.

Spells

There are only 2 Hecahands Spell cards with the release of Phantom Revenge. First is The Hidden Hecahands, which is your searcher Spell card. You can add a Hecahands monster from your deck to your hand. In addition, you can also set a Hecahands Spell/Trap if you sent a card you control to the GY when you activated the card as a bonus. It also has a GY effect that will help you special summon out some of the Hecahands monsters in your hand. The other Spell card we get it Hecahands Tartaros. It's first effect targets a Spell/Trap your opponent controls to return it to the hand. It's second effect allows you to Fusion Summon a Hecahands Fusion monster. It being a Quick-play Spell card is perfect to use on your opponent's turn as a form of disruption. We're likely to see additional spell cards added to the archetype later down the road.

Traps

The 2 Hecahands Trap cards released with the set are some of the most powerful cards of the strategy. Yad'al-Hecahands is a counter trap that negates the activation of an opponent's Spell/Trap card and destroys it while you control a Hecahands monster. Then you can set the destroyed Spell/Trap to your field. Pretty fun if ask me. Similarly, Ib'al-Hecahands negates the activation of an opponent's monster effect while you control a Hecahands monster and destroys it. You can then Special Summon the destroyed monster to your field. Since these are both Counter-Trap cards, your opponent can only respond to them with their own Counter-Traps.

Extra Deck

Hecahands get 2 Extra Deck monsters with this first wave of cards. Hecahands Jauzah is a Fusion monster requiring 1 Hecahands monster plus 1 Illusion monster. It's got an alternate summoning condition by tributing 2 monsters you control (1 face-up monster owned by your opponent and 1 Illusion monster). The payoff is that you can add any Hecahands card from your deck to your hand. This is an ignition effect that you can use once per turn given that it stays alive. The other boss monster is Hecahands Xeno. This Fusion required 3 Hecahands monsters and has the Quick-Effect that you cana look at 2 random face-down cards in your opponent's Extra deck and special summon one of them to your field. If Xeno is destroyed by your opponent's card effect, you can take control of any number of monsters your opponent controls. A nice little mass brainwashing effect fitting for a monster looking so otherworldly.

Strategy

The aim of this semi-control strategy is to put up strong defenses with your Hecahands monsters and steal your opponent's monsters to use against them, all while utilizing the full extent of your powerful Trap cards. The monsters themselves can hold their own but need some help getting on the field due to their high levels. Cards like Nightmare Apprentice and Spirit Sculptor really help get the ball rolling. Extra deck monsters like D/D/D Wave High King Caesar and Silhouhatte Rabbit can be strong end-board pieces that can bolster the in-archetype cards. The Chimera engine is an already established Illusion archetype that can be used alongside Hecahands. Mixing the two strategies adds a lot more recyclability to the deck that the pure deck lacks. There's also the potential for some synergy with other engines as well since none of the Hecahands cards locks you into only summoning a certain type of card. The success of the deck may largely depend on the future support cards it receives since there are bound to be more released in 2026. For now, we can all just enjoy resolving our Change of Hearts and Snatch Steals while our opponents die inside.

Thanks for reading!