Dark Magician Guide

Overview

Dark Magician is an archetype revolving around the vanilla monster Loading... , the main ace of Yami Yugi in the Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Monsters anime. Within the past two to three years of this guide's published update, the archetype has gained various new cards in Duel Links to help strengthen the Deck, with the 2023 release of cards like Loading... & Loading... , all the way to the 2026 release of cards like Loading... & Loading... . The Deck has also gained Skills in the form of Master of the Dark & Chaos & The Eye of the United Dragon , that make the Deck much more playable in the ever evolving meta game of Duel Links. Although the Deck is prone to various interruptions/counters that can stop the Deck dead in its tracks and may not be favoured by some, this guide aims to help those that are looking to improve their Dark Magician Decks and try new strategies to help push against all the odds and climb to the higher ranks. And most importantly, this guide aims to help others who are looking to have more fun with the Dark Magician archetype. Some abbreviations may be mentioned in this guide to shorten the guide a bit and will help players become familiar with terms used by many DM players. Not every abbreviation will be used but are notably included due to how common they are used. Here is a quick Glossary of terms you should familiarise yourself with:

Glossary

Updated Guide Contents

• September 10th 2024 Update: Bane of Darkness was released on the 27th of June 2024, along with the release of a Prismatic alternate art Loading... . The Skill provided players a brand new way to play Dark Magician, with a focus on getting either Loading... or Loading... onto the field and using them to either interrupt your opponent's plays (if you're going first) or OTK with them (if you're going second). This guide was updated to include notes, combos and Decks based on the Skill, as well as moving/adding cards into various sections based on their updated inclusion/viability. Loading... was added to the game on the 9th of September, 2024. Due to Skills at the not allowing DARK Dragons, it was mentioned in this guide as an unusable card. A 6th Extra Deck slot that players start with was added as well, increasing the maximum amount of Extra Deck slots you can have to 9! All Base Decks were been updated to reflect this.

• October 12th 2024 Update: Bane of Darkness had its text updated on the 8th of October 2024 to allow Level 7+ DARK Dragons with 2400 or less ATK, meaning that Loading... is now playable in this Skill. Guide has been updated to include this card, but other cards associated with Buster Blader are not mentioned so as to keep this guide about Dark Magician. Various cards in this guide have also been added/shifted around based on card usage and playability.

• December 6th 2024 Update: A Forbidden/Limited List was implemented that set Loading... to the Forbidden status. As such, a Deck that featured this card was swapped out with a Deck that is more accurate to the Forbidden/Limited list. Additionally, a couple of cards have been moved around based on card usage and playability, as well as more cards being added to the guide based on community recommendations!

• February 25th 2024 Update: A F2P section was been added to include an example of each Skill that works within F2P limitations as well as advice about Dream Tickets.

• October 4th 2025 Update: Master of the Dark & Chaos and 6 new cards were released on the 30th of September 2025, giving Dark Magician a whole new level of strategy and power! With these additions, card recommendations and sample Decks have been added/updated, as well as an Engine section being added for those looking to experiment! A couple of combos were updated to match the new card pool and the amount of combos for each recommended Skill have been reduced for simplicity sake. Loading... 's recommendation was removed due to it being a card choice that conflicts with DM's regular playstyle, as well as to keep this guide focused on Dark Magician. Finally, Magician's Magic as well as many other cards were moved to a new section due to being outdated and no longer recommended.

• December 8th 2025 Update: With the community having settled on new and improved combos, thanks in part to the December 2025 ban list having banned Loading... , combos and sample decks have been updated! Card recommendations have been swapped around and modified as well to suit, with a new term making its way to the Glossary too!

• January 18th 2026 Update: The Eye of the United Dragon & 2 new cards were released on the 1st of January 2026, providing Dark Magician even more options and more power! On the 12th of January 2026, Loading... was released as a free card to all players, significantly boosting the Deck's power even further! With the direction that Konami is taking the Deck and with older Skills being significantly powercrept, Battle Chronicle and Bane of Darkness have both been moved to a new section as they are no longer the focus of this guide, resulting in many card recommendations being updated. The Glossary has been updated, combos have been updated as well, and example decks have been updated as well, with a massive focus on the latest Skills.

What Skill to Use?

Before thinking of what cards you'll want to play, you'll need to first figure out which Skill you will be building your Deck around. Let's take a look at the 2 main Skills that many Dark Magician players are recommended for use:

Master of the Dark & Chaos

Released on September 30, 2025, Master of the Dark & Chaos is a Skill that takes away the ability to Normal Summon DM without Tributing, but grants players the ability to setup many cards like Loading... on the very first turn and provide us with so much advantage! This Skill can only be used by Yami Yugi and Yami Yugi (Street) , and can only be unlocked by Summoning Loading... (Ritual Monster and/or Normal Monster) 5 times while using Yami Yugi (Street) .

This Skill has specific summoning restrictions. You can only Normal or Special Summon the following monsters from your hand, Deck, GY or banishment:

• Level 8 LIGHT monsters
• Level 8 EARTH monsters
• DARK Spellcaster monsters
• Any Extra Deck monster (excluding from GY or banishment)

If you saw the "Any Extra Deck monster" part, you're reading that correctly. For the first time in what seems like forever, Dark Magician can finally summon ANY monster from the Extra Deck! Our DARK Dragon Fusions are finally playable and they can be put to good use in the right situation! If you fancy and are somehow able to, you can even Synchro Summon anything you want, just as long as the Tuners can be summoned. This restriction also enables any Loading... plays you'd like to perform, which can take apart the right Deck!

Moving onto the Skill's effects, it has two effects that can only be activated once per Duel. The first effect can only be activated by revealing any DARK Spellcaster in your hand to your opponent. At the cost of shuffling a card into the Deck and sending 1 DMG from your hand or Deck to the GY, you can add from your Deck to your hand any 2 cards that are Loading... or cards that mention "Dark Magician" in its text. This effect lets you set up Loading... , as well as allowing Loading... and Loading... to have their secondary effects live instantly. It also allows you to grab exactly what you need to start off whatever combo you're trying to go for!

The second effect can only be activated if only your opponent controls a monster. When activated, it will add Loading... to your hand, play Loading... to the field face-down (which cannot be flipped face-up in the same turn) and put Loading... in your GY (which can be Special Summoned). The best part about this effect? All 3 cards come from outside of your Deck and do not need to be included in your Deck! The only card you will need to put in your Extra Deck for them to be usable is Loading... . By using Ultimate Fusion while Blue-Eyes Ultimate Dragon is on the field, you will be able to destroy 1 face-up card your opponent controls, forcing them to respond!

The Eye of the United Dragon

Which Skill is Better?

Choosing Your Main Deck Cards

How About Some Spice?

The Extra Deck Choices

Staple Cards to Consider

Try An Engine!

Sky Striker (Engine)

Invoked (Engine)

Branded Fusion (Engine)

It's Time to Combo!