Yu-Gi-Oh! Deck Debut: Mythical Ritual Dogmatika
Dogmatika are in the great pantheon of fan-favorite Yugioh decks for a variety of reasons. From their part in the Abyss storyline, to the capable midrange strategy they employ, but I would argue it is their relevance to design as a whole that gives them such importance. They were among the first reveals in Rise of the Duelist, the first time Yugioh broke away from being an anime tie-in, and the paradigm shift that came with such a change steered cards forevermore towards heightened complexity, and novel gimmicks. While Dogmatika hasn’t been meta-relevant for quite some time, their newer releases in Photon Hypernova have culminated in a pile I think might put them back on the piechart, with the help of some classic Pendulum pals. Presenting, Mythical Ritual Dogmatika.
Dogmatika Alba Zoa is truly a terrifying boss monster; beyond its obviously high stats, it boasts solid protection, alongside a game-warping ability to hamper the opponent’s access to their Extra Deck. In a gamestate where you’ve reached parity, as in, your opponent and you are roughly on equal footing, Alba Zoa can be a difficult-to-out monster that simply beats over everything. Of course, Alba Zoa loses to cards like Kashtira Fenrir, but against a deck like Spright, they usually won’t have options in their Main Deck to destroy it; we can plan around this fact, and design a decklist tailor-made to hamper Kashtira, and leave our engine pieces to deal with Spright.
Also in Photon Hypernova was the incredible Dogmatikamatrix, which adds 1-2 cards as a sort-of Pre-Preparation of Rites, and slowly whittles down the opposing Extra, or dumps pieces of your own for pops & draws. These last two pieces of the puzzle finally give the deck a reason to go deeper into its Ritual pool, which prior had only mediocre options.
These preexisting Dogmatika Ritual Monsters only really exist to give your Ritual Spells Pre-Prep targets, although there’s some utility to be had. White Relic of Dogmatika is a decent way to push for lethal by adding Alba Zoa’s 4000ATK to another monster, always assuring 8000 damage into an empty board, and White Knight of Dogmatika can be a reactive way to pitch from your Extra Deck, notable specifically for Elder Entity N’Tss, the best Dogmatika card without ‘Dogmatika’ in its name.
One card that’s popped up quite a bit recently in decklists is Book of Moon, as a clean, easy answer to the Kashtira lock, although single-target removal gets even better in this deck, given we’ve tailored the list to work around it. The spice that ties together every portion of this deck is Chaos Scepter Blast, one of the most potent single-target removal options in the game, and draws our build towards Level 8+ Spellcasters, such as Alba Zoa, White Knight, and more.
Mythical Beast Master Cerberus is a classic component of Pendulum decks, as a means to accrue Spell Counters in Endymion, or removal in something like Pendulum Magician. For our purposes however, he serves double-duty: In his line of Master Cerberus into Mythical Beast Jackal King, back into himself, Master Cerberus not only gives us a Level 8 Spellcaster on-field, but also one summoned from the Extra Deck. This allows us to freely Special Summon our starter, Dogmatika Ecclesia, the Virtuous, or use various other Dogmatika effects reliant on there being a face-up monster Summoned from the Extra Deck. While not inherently powerful as a card, Master Cerberus fills so many gaps in our list, and allows us to more consistently start our engines and play past interruptions.
Each of our Ritual Spells are useful in specific gamestates, and have some crucial differences: Dogmatikamacabre is able to bring back Ritual Monsters in our GY, and use pitched Extra Deck monsters to fulfill the requirement, while Dogmatikalamity sends from Extra, and Ritual Summons from hand. Due to this, Kalamity is best when you’re just starting out, and Macabre is much better once there’s been plenty of game played, with various pieces stuck in the GY. Coupled with the deck’s ability to send PSY-Framelord Omega to the GY consistently, this allows us to readily loop the Ritual Spells & Monsters similar to how Gishki operates, cycling between them with constant searching. While the monsters we’re summoning aren't the best, our ability to both put them onto the board, and recur them after destruction, is nearly outmatched.
Another new tool for the deck in Photon Hypernova, albeit not direct support, is Granguignol the Dusk Dragon. Granguignol operates similarly to Wind Pegasus @ignister, being a reactive piece we can put in the GY for later, except it’s far better: Instead of simply being removal, Granguignol ports into a Dogmatika monster from Deck, allowing us to add it to our bevy of loopable cards. Crucially, this can be used to activate Ecclesia twice in a turn cycle, which helps us to snowball resources as the game continues. Tying together all of the Dogmatika cards is Nadir Servant, one of the best search cards in the game, though here there’s a greater need to use it after our initial plays, given it Extra Locks us (meaning Master Cerberus & Diviner lines are turned off).
While the current iteration of the deck is still strong, this is another strategy that only gets better as time goes on, with cards like Guiding Quem, the Virtuous helping to make better use of our ample Special Summons, and even opening up Level 8 & 12 for Synchro plays. On that note, in Cyberstorm Access, we also get Despian Luluwalilith, a Level 12 Synchro that’s perfect to send for Dogmatikalamity, Summon with Granguignol, or Tune via Quem & any Level 8. These cards help diversify the deck’s options, and help it feel closer to something like Branded, as a Midrange deck that manages its HOPTs as a resource over the course of a complicated, midrange-y game.
This list is a little handtrap-light, and I think there’s some options which could be plugged in dependent on meta, such as Ash Blossom & Joyous Spring, or Infinite Impermanence. There’s also the option of forgoing the Diviner of the Herald package and adding in something like Adventurer, so Lava Golem acts as a secondary means to deal with Kashtira, though that again depends on meta. This list is a skeleton of sorts, with many of its tools & ratios able to be readily changed from play; maybe you find yourself wanting more copies of Dogmatika Fleurdelis, the Knighted, or prefer Evenly Matched to Book of Eclipse. I’ve had some success with this list, and I think the Mythical Beast component is vital, but there’s many gears & knobs to turn when it comes to a few cards.
The package of Dogmatika has been a staple of competitive play in Yugioh since its inception, even back when it was called ‘Dragma’ (A shame that name didn’t stick in the TCG). It’s very difficult for cards like Ecclesia & Nadir to not be at least a little good, with negation & pops available at many stages in the game, but much like Tri-Brigade, it’s more a lack of ceiling that’s kept Dogmatika out of current top cuts. We’ve reached a metagame where coinflipping into either a brick or a board lock is worthwhile, and it’s hard to see Dogmatika being a top player there, but with an upcoming banlist, and more cards on the way, perhaps there’s room to bin a whole Extra Deck.
There you have it, Dogmatika’s current iteration! Like everyone else, I love this archetype, and I hope it finds a position in the meta sooner rather than later; few strategies use the Extra Deck like Dogmatika does. What other builds of Dogmatika have a chance in this format? Is the Mythical Beast package worthwhile as a bridge between Chaos Scepter Blast & the Dogmatika cards? I’d love to hear your thoughts in the comments below!
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