Demonic Temptation

Demonic Temptationis a staple card in both the Demonik-ElectroniK Control Decks and the Throne of Ra Utility based decks. This card allows you to get key Demon cards such asAzkar Rah,Bloodlusters, and Void Wolf directly into play as long as you have the terra available to do so. One of the best plays to make with this card is to search forDemon Lord Kaiand then get another card from your Void. If you have other expensive Demon cards in your deck, it really does help to use the Demonic Temptation to search for an Bloodlusters card as when this card comes into play it will allow you to put the other Demon into play. By using this card you will quickly find yourself outpacing your opponent and still have Terra to spare to react to your opponent's plays.

This card can also double as a removal effect with the -1 combat it can give to targets. This card is especially useful for removal early game targets such asArcanist of the Inquisition,Seeker of the Lost, and several of the Descendant cards such asUndercover Cheerleader. In decks that merely splice in some of the Demon Engines it is wise to use this card alongside the Demon Members as it will help raise the consistency of the combos and also give you another removal chance for pesky targets. Another thing to note is that this card can also give Demon cards +1 Combat counters until end of turn so you can buff to attack or more preferably use the card to activate abilities. Samson Bloodcoat and Void Wolf are some of the best cards to target as these cards will allow you to quickly regain card advantage in a single turn.

Assassinate

Assassinatecan be a very versatile card for the Demon Deck as it is super cheap to play and very easy to run is most Demon Deck builds. Based on your playstyle this may be the removal effect of your choice as this card costs virtually nothing and can get rid of most threats quite easily. When running theAzkar RahEngine you can useCommit Sin Vanityto get this card back into your deck for more quick damage. The real beauty of running this card with Demon cards is that you don't always have to runTimewave Zeroto deal with most bad matches, you can run this main deck and leave more slots open in your Sideboard. Since Shadow Architects are able to take damage for players that control them, this card works really well against them as you can attack and then immediately play an Assassinate afterwards. This will allow you to deal that last bit of lethal damage over to the Shadow Architect after making a successful attack against a player. In addition, if this card were to deal damage to a player and you are playing Bloodlusters you can play them from your Void. Once you are able to get one of yourBloodlusterscards out you can then get all your Bloodlusters cards on the field for free as they come into play form your Void whenever you play another Demon card.

Bloodlusters

Bloodlustersis one of the most interesting cards available in the Demon Arsenal. This card allows you to either play a demon card for free in addition to playing the Bloodlusters or when you play another Demon card you can play all copies of Bloodlusters from your Void. This makes for some great utility as the Bloodlusters have Assist which will allow them to gang up on an attacking character. Once you have acquired about two or three of these cards on the field, it becomes very easy to actually defeat several of your opponent's best cards. As mentioned prior you can useDemonic Temptationor Ballad of Sheto actually gain additional momentum over your opponent as you can play two or three cards for the price of one! Always try to play this card as quickly as possible as it gives you a great card to block and with Assist it can even be useful to block those pesky big characters as well.

Key Cards for your Demon Deck

Azkar Rah- This card can come into play and then activate to give you a Sin card of your choice. This is great when dealing with certain aspects of the game not going your way. You can search ofCommit Sin Wrathto deal damage to a player to retrieve your supporter demon cards or you can getCommit Sin Vanitywhich allows you to manipulate your hand to grant further hand advantage.

Plague Sphinx- This is one of your best options for quick removal with the Demon Designator. This card comes into play as a Three Combat and can get rid of your demon cards that you don't need. This will give it a +1 Combat counter and ALSO the counters that the demon would give when they would be consumed by the void. If performed properly you can use cards likeCwn Annwnand Dorfwhich are weaker late game to allow your Plague Sphinx to do up to 6-8 points of damage as soon as it hits the field. This card is also really great for recycling yourBloodlust Activistsand Bloodlusterscards as well since they are free fodder each time you play a Demon card or direct damage effect.

Samson Bloodcoat - What is there not to say about the Samson Bloodcoat? This card holds a very valuable slot in your deck at Two Terra for a Two Combat character. It is able to save itself from being the target of debilitating abilities and destruction cards. You can draw a card at any time as a Sequence to these actions and you can use Demonic Temptation to draw several cards a turn. Versatile in most Demon decks, the Samson Bloodcoat is often a great Two to play character in any deck. Combine it with Demon Lord Kai or Speaker of Darkness for some great Expertise enabled fun.

Void Wolf- You really can't go wrong when searching your deck and playing this card as it can immediately activate to remove up to two threats from the field or in a player's deck. One really good bonus is once it dies, it gives FOUR +1 Combat counters which can make any of your demons especiallyDemon Lord Kaiextremely hard to kill.

Weaknesses

The Demon Designator is by no means weak, but they do definitely have their dis-advantages. The biggest is that almost any player can sideboard into their deckTimewave Zero and this card can pretty much wreck any pure Demon based deck. The card slays any target character that has a written power of Three or less which pretty much covers 90%+ of the entire rollout of Demon cards. You will need to be ready to react to this card being played by having Demons that can either dispose the target to gain an additional ability or have a spare out that will benefit from the +1 Combat counters being attached to it. Additionally the Demon deck relays heavily onDemonic Temptationand its Sin cards in order to handle any large threats. Cards that hinder the searching of the deck or playing of Effect cards such asDrakkonen Timekilleror Fledgling Drakkonencan make this card almost useless as they can immediately stop the card from being played or immediately slay the chosen card. Since the Demon deck is a mid to late game paced deck, any cards that deal with discard can greatly hinder the Demon deck as they can easily dump needed cards such as Azkar Rahand Void Wolfbefore they can even hit play.

Azkar Rah- The Azkar Rah Engine can be shut down quite easily by hitting an Azkar Rah that is in the Exhausted Zone. It is best to hit this card quick as it is critical to allowing the Demon deck to react to your plays. You also don’t want this card to die as they can get it back withCommit Sin Vanityand it will give Three +1 Combat counters on a target of the player's choice.

Bloodlusters- This card is critical for most Demon decks to maintain momentum with cards likePlague Sphinxand to get their larger cards such asVoid Wolfinto play. Hitting one of these early game is a guaranteed three cards of their deck and greatly reduces the pacing of the demon deck. This card is a fairly safe target for Final Clashas it does not have +1 counters which several of the cards can remove.

Anti-Demon Support

Bastet, Cat Matriarch - This card looks like it would be something to greatly benefit your Demons, however it would be wise to examine how most of the Demons work. The Demon cards currently in the UCG utilize abilities that remove their +1 Combat Counters and then once they have depleted their strength, they would then hit the Void to grant the Combat Counters to another character. Bastet, Cat Matriarch greatly disrupts several aspects of the Demon Designator by making them all still be alive with no way to remove Combat Counters once they are at Zero. Alongside this disruption she is a fantastic Sideboard card for the Demon as she can activate to outright kill a character card with the Demon Designator.

Deny Thy Evil - Part of the "Darkness" Status Effects, this card can severely ruin your day when running an agro based Demon deck. This is why playing removal is a must when running Demons as when you encounter a card you cannot handle you can very easily lose board control. Since most of your Demon cards have to target in order to get rid of this card, you will need to rely on another source of removal such as an Effect card to deal with this card.

Phantom, Agent 001 - This card is of the Covert Stability, but just look at the abilities. This card can do some serious damage to Demon decks as he completely wipes them all out once it hits play and then can continue to disrupt your field each time it attacks. Keen eyed players of the game can use cards such as Evan Loez or Ignorance to constantly recycle the come into play ability of Phantom, Agent 001, making it a very uphill battle for your Demon deck. You can always use a card like Void Wolf to search their deck for this card if you know they are running it and Decimate it to make it a non-issue.

Play Style(s)

Demonik-ElectroniK (Control)

The Divinik-Demonik deck is a Demon Deck that focuses on controlling the playing field. This deck is a mid-game deck and the player that uses will need to have very strong early game removal to handle threats to establish field control. This deck does not need to depend on theAzkar Rahengine such as the other Demon deck builds, but it does need to have proper pacing. Many players always make the mistake of playing too many powerful demons and not enough effect cards to allow them to handle threats. This deck uses powerhouse demon cards such as theVoid Wolfand Plague Sphinxfor late game victory, but relies heavily on strong early game such as withDorfand Samson Bloodcoatto handle your opponent's initial attacks. This deck is very rewarding, but does prove to be one of the more difficult decks to master. When using cards such as Demonic Temptationand Ballad of She, always try to search for aBloodlustersas this card will allow you to play another Demon alongside it and you will also have to cheap out The Masterand Gwyn Ap Nudd for some quick board position. Who says controlling the power of Demons was an easy task?

The fallen gods of New Terra have been re-born as terrifying Demonic creatures. These gods are very happy to be ripped from their positions of power and have grown to be spiteful toward the living. The Throne of Ra deck focuses on using the cardAzkar Rahto create what we call the "Azkar Rah Engine" which allows you to constantly put into play Sin cards from your deck. This deck is much quicker to establish field control than other Demon deck builds, but has the weakness of depending on the Sin cards being readily available for use. If the Azkar Rah gets removed or your opponent is playing strong anti-effect cards the match could prove to be rather difficult. Many variants of this deck can include the direct damage portion of the deck as well by playing cards such asBlood Omenand Assassinate. These cards allow the player to establish very quick board control and can handle most character based threats. The Bloodlust Activistscard can come into play each time you use a direct damage card on the opposing player. A very helpful combination of cards to keep on the playing field would be a Commit Sin Envy and a Commit Sin Wrath, these two cards in combination can slay most characters. Use Azkar Rah to search out the card you do not have out each turn so you can handle most character based threats.