Introduction
Hi, I'm Axel, a 19-year-old college student from Florida. I’ve been playing Yu-Gi-Oh since I was 4 years old, and I still play the TCG competitively. I’ve gone to every North American Nationals since 2009. The Fortune Lady archetype has been my favorite since its TCG release in September of 2009, and I’m very excited to finally be able to play the deck in Duel Links as well.
About the Archtype
Fortune Ladies are Spellcaster-type monsters, each with their own Attribute and level, which make them unique. All Fortune Lady monsters also have “?” Attack and Defense, which will increase or decrease based on their level. This allows you to utilize your skill Time Passage to run over monsters, as well as utilizing the change in level to optimize synchro summoning plays. Fortune Ladies were recently added with both the Destiny Decided! Dark Signer Carly Carmine event, as well as the Valhalla Calling Main BOX. The deck is a combo-oriented synchro deck, that utilizes their ace monster, Loading... , to control the card advantage and field presence.
Skills
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Time Passage :
Currently the tried and true skill for Fortune Ladies. Up to twice per duel, you are able to increase a Fortune Lady’s monster level by 3. The significance of this is doing your combos optimally. Loading... (Lady Past) is a level 1, and you don’t play any level 5 or 6 monsters in the deck to synchro into your ace card, Loading... . The alternative to this is using Time Passage to increase your Lady Past’s level to 4, then activate her effect to decrease it back to 3 (you can find more information on this in the Combos section of the guide). Time Passage also has the ability to increase a newly summoned Lady Every’s attack to 4,000 - Providing perfect damage for an OTK! -
Balance :
The only other way the deck has been designed with as of now. The main bonus of running Balance is to have a higher chance of opening your Loading... or Loading... . The downside of this skill is you would need to run suboptimal monsters in order to combo that would just result in more bad hands than if you were not running balance.
Core Cards
Fortune Lady Light (1-2x):
One of the main combo cards of the deck. This is an absolute must at a minimum of 1, as the classic combo it enables is very strong. To this point you can only obtain Loading... from the event, Destiny Decided! Dark Signer Carly Carmine. Lady Light is the style card of the archetype, as she has the effect to summon another Fortune Lady monster from the deck when she leaves the field by card effect. She’s used best in conjunction with your Loading... , banishing Lady Light from the field to alter your monster levels, providing a multitude of synchro plays to be made. The reason many people are moving to 1-2 Lady Light is due to the fact that after your first Lady Light + Lady Past combo, your returns on using this combo diminishes exponentially for each consecutive use.
NOTE: Lady Light CAN MISS TIMING! Her effect will only work properly if her leaving the field is the LAST thing that happens. For example, using Loading... tributing Lady Light will not trigger her effect, because the last thing that happens is you gaining control of a monster.
Fortune Lady Past (2-3x):
Lady Past is another main monster in most synchro combos, as it is the Archetype’s only tuner. Lady Past has some nice combos by banishing other Fortune Ladies from your hand, field, or graveyard to manipulate levels. Her key partner in crime is Loading... , because when she banishes Lady Light from the field with this effect, Lady Light can summon any Fortune Lady monster from the deck. Most deck will play 3 Lady Past, but some builds, such as the Loading... build, often only run 2.
Fortune Lady Wind (1-3x):
This one’s mostly based on how the rest of your deck is built as to how many copies you play. Loading... (Lady Wind) is not a monster typically used in the traditional Synchro combo, but has utility with other tuners, such as Loading... and Loading... . Lady Wind has the effect on normal summon to destroy backrow equal to (NOT less than) the number of face-up Fortune Lady monsters you control. The great part about this effect is that it doesn’t target, so your opponent will not know what you’re trying to destroy until it’s too late.
NOTE: You can main deck 0 in a tournament setting, but if you do so, you should side at LEAST 1 copy. This card is too good to not have against many matchups.
Fortune Lady Water (1-2x):
Many players strongly advocate for 2 of this card, but there is an argument to be made for just playing 1. Loading... (Lady Water) is the final monster in the main combo of the deck, usually summoned from the deck by the effect of Loading... or Loading... . When summoned this way, as long as you have another Fortune Lady monster on the field, you’re going to draw 2 free cards!
Fortune Lady Calling (3x):
An absolute must at 3 in the deck. Loading... is THE best card of the deck, as it enables almost all of your synchro plays through the archetype. Use it in conjunction with any Fortune Lady that was summoned from the hand to special summon one for free from the deck! The main combo will have you summon Loading... or Loading... (whichever one you don’t normal summon), but I’ll touch more on that in the Combos section of this guide.
NOTE: You CAN play with 2 calling, and a couple players have already hit King of Games with just 2, but it’s never recommended if you want a fully optimized deck. This is more for the players that are on a budget/don’t have enough gems.
Fortune Vision (1x):
I would absolutely say to play 3 of this card if we were enabled the ability to, but it was released exclusively as a level 35 reward for Carly Carmine, so you can only obtain 1 at this point in the game. The main effect is it adds any Fortune Lady card from your deck to your hand on activation! This includes not only your main Fortune Lady monsters for your combos, but potentially your Loading... if you do not currently have it in your hand.
Tech Cards
Cockadoodledoo
Cockadoodledoo is another engine starter that can be paired with most Fortune Lady monsters to make synchro plays, but I'll touch a little more on that in the Combos section of the guide. The Doodle build has slightly fallen out of favor, however, due to players’ performances with builds utilizing Loading... instead.
Silent Magician Package:
Different players will advocate for 2 or 3 Loading... (Magician), if any, depending on their own playstyle. If you plan to play the Magician variant, I would advocate for playing 3 Magician in order to best optimize consistency. She pairs well with Loading... (Lady Every), sending her to the graveyard as the summoning condition of Loading... . Doing this will keep Lady Every off the field until your opponent’s end phase, where she’ll re-summon herself by banishing a Fortune Lady monster from your graveyard.
Psychic Wheeleder:
This card is very similar to Loading... , in that it enables synchro plays that previously were not accessible. Psychic Wheeleder is also a great tech because of its ability to Destroy a Face-up monster when used as a synchro material.
Cosmic Cyclone:
I strongly advocate for some form of backrow removal/protection, and this is the best cards for the job. You can consider running 1 or 0 CC if you play the Loading... build, but it's recommended in tournaments to, at minimum, side deck copies.
(Alternatives to this card includes Loading... , Loading... and more copies of Loading... ) (Alternatives to these cards include Loading... and more copies of Loading... )
Enemy Controller
Enemy Controller (E-Con) is in a similar boat to Loading... , as both are semi-limited. The downside of E-Con is you cannot trigger effects like that of Loading... when tributed. Also, E-Con’s first effect will leave the opponent’s monster face-up, which still enables decks like Darklord to activate their quick effects. The plus of E-Con, though, is it dodges effects to negate cards like Loading... and keep her safe in the GY until your opponent’s end phase.
Paleozoic Canadia:
Loading... (Canadia) has been making a big showing as a trap card since its release. Its ability to flip an opponent’s monster face-down can really hinder your opponents’ combos and OTK potential. Its secondary ability to summon itself from your GY as a level 2 can also enable synchro plays not previously doable.
Treacherous Trap Hole:
Loading... (TTH) is a card that cannot be played in conjunction with other trap cards, due to its stipulation of not being able to be activated if you have a trap in your GY. Being semi-limited to 2, you cannot play 2 copies of TTH with 2 copies of Loading... , so most people advocate to run E-Con over this card, if any at all.
Counter Traps:
Because you are running more monster engine starters than spell engine starters, you'll inherently have more excess monsters in your hand than you will spells. Because of this, cards like Loading... can be quite beneficial, discarding your monster to negate any monster effect and destroy it. This will also get monsters into your graveyard for effects like Loading... resummoning herself or Loading... 's effect to manipulate levels. During your primary combo (more on that later), you'll have access to Loading... 's effect to draw 2 cards. This can also be useful for drawing into discard fodder for your Counter Traps, as well as drawing additional counter traps to keep the effect of Loading... live. Loading... is a good alternative to Divine Wrath, as it effectively achieves the same goal of negating monster effects.