A long with Ninjas, Skull Warriors (and consequently, the Demon Way attribute) were the other archetype to have came out when Katana World was released. They're based off of yokai from Japanese mythology or different undead animal spirits. They are the first deck I got into the game with and is one of my personally favorite decks even if it's not competitively viable.
Buddyfight Season 1
Skull Warriors were first introduced in the Cyber Ninja Squad set. In the anime, Jin Magatsu plays the deck. They were introduced as a control/aggressive play style with a risk/reward mechanic. Many Skull Warriors have above average stats but in exchange, many die at the end of the battle. Such an example would be Blood Knife, Kimensai. He gets free penetrate but in exchange he dies at the end of the turn.
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| Damned if you do. Damned if you don't. |
Tempest, Garo-oh is another example. He could be a good turn one attack/wall with that 5,000 defense. If the player needs the offensive push though, they can pay a gauge to give him 3,000 power and double attack but he dies at the end of the turn. The ability is not once per turn so Garo-oh's power can keep increasing to deal with a wall on the field as long as the gauge is available.
All of these abilities are a decent trade off but after a couple turns, the player will run out of steam from all their monsters destroying themselves with nothing to really show for it.
That's where Evil in Heart, Yamigitsune (OG Yamigitsune) comes in! If a Skull Warrior deals damage to the opponent, Yamigitsune could use its "To Darkness" ability to put (not destroy) the monster to the drop zone. If he does, the player draws a card and luckily, he does not destroy himself at the end of the turn. Making him good fodder to call to the center for some defense.
Their spells compliment their self-destructive play style. Demon Way is the spell/impact attribute that are meant for Skull Warriors. Return to the Underworld is the original, signature set spell. By paying 1 gauge, the player can call a size 1 or less Skull Warrior WITHOUT paying their call cost. This innately means that Yamigitsune is the default choice but any Size 1 Skull Warrior can be chosen ultimately. There can also be multiple Return to the Underworld set spells on the field and they can all be used since the ability is a soft once per turn.
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| Return FROM the Underworld makes more sense |
Skull Warriors are very gauge reliant so Clear Serenity is a solid choice. Especially since up to this point, it was the best card that gave the move amount of gauge and it was still at counter speed.
I found it baffling why the two cards or less requirement is needed on the Demon Way, Karakurenai. Especially since nothing in Skull Warriors had discard effects (yet). Over the course of the years, it got harder and harder to pull off this impact because of all the card advantage introduced into the game.
Immortal Entities only had one Skull Warrior and man does it suck. Evil Sins, Shumokuzame was super expensive at 3 gauge. When he entered the field, you may choose a Demon Way from the drop zone and put it to your hand. If you do, put up to three cards from the opponent's drop zone to the bottom of the deck. Didn't fully understand why he existed but he was something to play if the opponent required certain cards in the drop (like Wizards). I would've preferred to play Demon Way, Sakurafubuki and just nullify Great Spell, My Grandfather Clock. I suppose the player could always grab back Clear Serenity so they don't lose the 3 gauge from Shumokuzame's call cost.
Drum's Adventure had the next line of main support with only two new Skull Warriors. Aftermath Gagaku was a big, size 1 beat stick. 7,000 power on a size 1 is actually a big deal back in the day. Most cards that had 7,000 or more power were either size 2 or 3.
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| He can be in my avant-garde "death" metal band as the flutist |
On to Break to the Future! At this point, I guess I wasn't sure what Bushiroad's general game plan with Skull Warriors were going. The only clear win con that they gave was calling a full size 1 board with Yamigitsune.
Now they added Treachery, Jakikarasu and Diversion Troublemaker, Bakemujina. Two monsters with move but it doesn't make a whole lot of sense. Other than Yamigitsune being destroyed in the center and the above two monsters could move to cover the center.
The real winner of the set is Cat Shadow, Aoihime. She set up the drop perfectly. Then, the player tutors Return to the Underworld to call the monster that was discarded back. It's unfortunate that she is a size 2 but her ability outweighs that downside.
The Golden Buddy Pack only had one decent card. Defiant, Sabifukuro helped accelerate putting a Skull Warrior into the drop instead of relying on Art of Explosive Hades Fall. Then it could be resurrected back with Return to the Underworld.
Buddyfight Hundred
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| Still one of my favorite pieces of card art |
Pay 2 gauge. Then, put any number of Skull Warriors from the field to the drop and draw that many. This was a good fall back card if the field couldn't be sent to the drop by Yamigitsune's effect. However, 2 gauge was expensive back then so I doubt it was a super viable card. Thankfully, a better version of this card came out later but we'll get to that soon enough.
Omni Lords were introduced in Buddyfight Hundred. The first Omni Lord belongs to Skull Warriors. First Omni Beast Lord, Ziun came out in Galaxy Burst. He didn't belong to the size 1 field rush deck that Yamigitsune supported in Season 1. In fact, his play style wasn't that well supported and pretty boring. The play style was to just punch with 3 critical and penetrate that couldn't be nullified. This was a scary play style but the pay off wasn't drastic enough. He was overall just ignored usually.
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| The hero we didn't deserve but the hero we needed |
Hiunmaru helped the gauge shortage with Skull Warriors but wasn't the solution. What did help more was Odd Ritual, Skull Festival. By paying 1 life, the player could call a size 2 or less Skull Warrior WITHOUT paying its call cost. This helped alleviate the gauge consumption from constantly using Return to the Underworld.
Sure, Almighty, Dokakusai or Outlander, Bokunryu could be called with Odd Ritual but the better option was usually either Hiunmaru or Thunderclap Goraiko. Goraiko can activate Yamigitsune's "To Darkness" during the main phase which helped the deck speed up a little and cycle for a useful card.
As far as defense is concerned, Demon Way, Oborogenbu and Lightning Speed, Tsukiusagi helped Skull Warriors deal with link attacks since prior to these cards, no nullify could stop an open center link attack to the player. Since Skull Warrior's defenses have always been on the weak end, it isn't uncommon for the opponent to destroy Yamigitsune in the center prior to their battle phase.
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| Save me R-N-Gesus! |
Hundred Demons General, Gishingyuki could be called from the drop by paying 1 life, sacrificing a Skull Warrior or Hundred Demons and paying his call cost (2 gauge). Sure it's expensive but if you're low on hand cards, he is an option. Keep in mind it only states "Hundred Demons". That means you could sacrifice Odd Ritual, Skull Festival for him.
The last card I want to mention is Hundred Demons Sorcery, Hyakaryouran. It's not a great card since it relies on milling a monster for the attack to be nullified and gain 2 life. However, I did make a casual deck of 44 monsters and 6 spells with 3 of them being Hyakaryouran just for fun. The other 3 spells were draw spells.
In the extra booster, Buddy Allstars+, Skull Warriors were given two new cards. Yamigitsune (finally) gained a new form. Boy Transformation, Yamigitsune is a size 0. It's ability "Sense Synchronization" puts (not destroy) a Skull Warrior to drop when it deals damage to the opponent. that deals damage to the opponent equal to the size of the monster sent to the drop. This gave some viability to running a size 3/0 build based around First Omni Beast Lord, Ziun. Ziun couldn't be nullified then, with Boy Transformation, Yamigitsune's ability, the player could deal 6 damage on turn 1.
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| Your death will not be in vain |
Arakuyou did mark a small but significant change in the Skull Warrior game play. Later on in subsequent seasons, Skull Warriors stopped "putting" their monsters to the drop and fully embraced just destroying themselves which helped their game play flow better. This wasn't the case just yet which is apart of the reason why I thought the card was bad. As I explain future cards, it will become more obvious how helpful Arakuyou would become and my opinion of the card took a complete 180 degree turn.
Back then, I was looking for answers to actually get Yamigitsune's skill to go off. Not a contingency plan. What I did realize is the player should use Yamigitsune's skill as a façade. The real goal was for the opponent to waste hand cards destroying your Skull Warriors or nullifying attacks during the player's battle phase. Then, at the end of the turn, when 2 or more Skull Warriors destroyed themselves total during the turn, draw 3 to replenish the hand. Sure, this draw tactic was slow since it was at the end of the turn but the problem with Skull Warriors at this time was once the opponent stopped them for one turn, the figurative train ran out of steam. Arakuyou helped keep the train going.
Terror of the Inverse Omnilords actually gave some solid support for both the full board of size 1 Skull Warriors and the size 0/3 build.
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| *Waves back* |
Remember how I hated Arakuyou initially but grew to love it? Yeah the exact opposite happened with Demon Way, Jugonrensa. On paper, it looks awesome. Gaining a gauge, draw and life for calling the normal field sounds great. I don't know if it was just me but I saw this card way too much. At 3 or 4 copies, it was cluttering my hand. If I saw one, a second one would always be right behind it. At 2 or less, I never saw it and then I questioned why I ran it.
The problem with Jugonrensa ultimately but it was too slow. The reason why Dragon Emperor Legend (DEL) is so strong and has the same effect is because it has no prior requirements so it's fast during the main phase. Jugonrensa was only at the same level as DEL once everything was set up on the field. It didn't assist with getting to that ideal board so it was practically a dead card with one or no Skull Warriors set up, less than ideal with two Skull Warriors on the field and just as good but slower with the full set up.
For the size 0/3 builds, INV First Omni Beast Lord, Kage Ziun and First Omni Beast Messenger, Goishi Goma were the hot cards. Kage Ziun had 4 critical that couldn't be nullified if the player paid 1 gauge and really just helped the build have more consistent access to good size 3s for Boy Transformation, Yamigitsune.
Goishi Goma was very flexible in what decks it could be played in since it reduced the gauge cost of size 2 or greater Katana World monsters. Meaning not only was the size 3/0 Ziun build an option, but so was Gojinmaru in ninjas but he wasn't worth it in ninjas since there were better options.
Buddyfight Triple D
Just like with Ninjas, Skull Warriors also got their first impact monster in the Buddy Rave set with a hell of a name. Skull Warrior Bones of the Four Birds, "Akuten Haba" was a impact monster with randomness build into its effect. I did put it in my casual 44 monster, 6 spell Skull Warrior deck since the point of that deck was to do the ideal 6 damage from the impact monster. It was fun when it went off correctly.
Even though I built a fun deck around it, I was ultimately disappointed with Akuten Haba since Skull Warriors received no new impacts since Miracle Impakt and even then, that was mediocre. If there is one thing I personally do not like is a lot of randomness in card effects.
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| You could say he was a... game changer |
The rest of the set had some of the best support Skull Warriors ever had at this point. The new monster to call to the center that gave some good defense for the deck was Revelation Tactician, Keiganryu. With him, Skull Warriors were now a size 1/3 build instead of just size 1's. Keiganryu also made Arakuyou much more of a valid card. Keiganryu could easily be destroyed twice in one turn which does fulfill its requirement of two or more Skull Warriors destroyed in one turn. Even if it is the same Skull Warrior.
Also, the new strategy was to call impact Yamigitsune and re-stand Keiganryu to deal 5 damage during the final phase.
The other size 1's in the set helped a lot as well. Snake Princess, Setsuna was a nice addition to the game. Have a secondary way to call monsters from the drop besides the set spells. With her, the player would usually resurrect either Demon Kid Hiunmaru for a free call or Godly-Speed, Natsubame and draw a card. Plus, since all the above mentioned cards destroy themselves at the end of the turn, it sets up Arakuyou easily. Hopefully by this point, you can see why I started to love the card.
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| Talk about a pop up book |
Four Dimensions certainly had Skull Warrior monsters and Demon Way spells but they were more designed for the new Searing Executioner deck. The spells worked more with Skull Warriors to a certain degree but were not meant to be directly supporting them. Those being Demon Way, Akeshigure, and Demon Way, Jigokuezu.
Akeshigure would be a mid to late game draw spell for Skulls since they didn't mill as fast as Executioners. For all intents and purposes, Arakuyou was still better but the option to draw more was at least there.
Demon Way, Jigokuezo was Bushiroad's way for the size 3 Skull Warriors to be able to be called from the drop zone. Most of the time, you wouldn't retrieve the spell from drop it by paying the 2 gauge cost. It was mainly used to recall Keiganryu from drop. It's much more flexible than Return to the Underworld but it can get pretty expensive.
The climax booster, Dragon Fighters, didn't have much support for Skull Warriors. It did reprint Strength Summoner, Kotenso which was originally a promo card. It's weird that they deemed this card important enough to be reprinted. The original promo couldn't be foil. They also messed up his name and called him Strength Beckoner, Kotenso by mistake. Woops! Gameplay wise, he did help occasionally but most of the time, the +2,000 attack wasn't needed. He was side board at best.
What was a hot card for Skull Warriors from the set was Companion Katana of Magatsu, Yamigitsune. He is the first Yamigitsune that actually destroyed the Skull Warrior instead of putting it to the drop. Again, this help with all the previous support going in this direction. If you want to read more in depth on what I think about the card and its strategies, check out my article here that I wrote because I was so hyped for it.
Buddyfight X
Set 1 of the X season, The Dark Lord's Rebirth, only had two cards related to Skull Warriors printed and one of them was a reprint. The reprint was Demon Way, Oborogenbu. It had terrible para foiling. The foiling was barely noticeable but the artwork and flavor text was much funnier than the original print which I appreciate.
The second, more important card that was printed was Premature Passing, Bibikawazu. He is a size 0 and was free to call. When he was called from hand, the player could put a total of two Skull Warriors (or Water) from the deck into the drop. His attack could also no be nullified if attacking alone but he's not played because of that ability. As crazy as it sounded, I was hesitant to say he was good upon initially reading him but after some play testing, I started to see his uses and he's been in my deck ever since.
The drop zone set up is way too strong to ignore. From there, the player could use Demon Way, Jigokuezu to call Revelation Tactician, Keiganryu and have some solid defense. Or alternatively, use Jigokeuzu to call a Yamigitsune form and attack with Bibikawazu. His attack can't be nullified so it's more of a safe bet that the attack will land.
In the Chaos Control Crisis, there was only one Skull Warrior I wanted to mention. CHAOS Nine-Headed Dragon Sword is (for some reason) a Skull Warrior. He is a dual world card (Dragon/Katana) with mediocre stats then dies at the end of the turn. He doesn't have any use that any other card up to this point didn't already do better.
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| Master eyes hider since 2014 |
There is only one card I want to mention from the Evolution & Mutation set and that is Yamigitsune Hidden in Garments (from here on just called Garments). Garments is very similar to Evil in Hearts, Yamigitsune.
He's a dual world Darkness Dragon World and Katana World card. He costs a life more but when a monster or item (not just Skull Warrior) deals damage to the opponent, you may destroy it and draw a card and gain 1 life.
Since Skull Warriors started to outright destroy themselves, I wondered if there could be an errata for OG Yamigitsune to destroy instead of put. Once Garments was released, I realized Bushiroad would rather reprint a new version of Yamigitsune to do almost the same thing than errata old cards which is a fine solution and makes things less complicated in the long run.
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| Best thing about this card is the monacle |
The dual world cards continued to be printed with the LVL Up! Heroes and Adventurers set. This time, the two Skull Warrior support cards were both being shared by Dungeon World. For a long time I was wanting a Dungeon/Katana World Jin Magatsu card. Many other characters from the anime were getting their own dual cards.
I was severely disappointed when Merchant of Darkness, Jin was announced for several reasons. First, he is a worse Odd Ritual, Skull Festival. He costed a gauge and a life to call a size 2 or less while still requiring the call cost to be paid. Second, he took up the space that a Yamigitsune form would take so he had no staying power unlike Odd Ritual, Skull Festival being a set spell. Third, even though it is a bad ability and expensive, it was a hard once per turn ability.
The second card from the set completely relieved me of any frustration. I wasn't expecting Yamigitsune to get a new Dungeon World/Katana World form in the same set. Master Clown, Dark Fox was an unexpected gift. Up until now, Skull Warriors have been struggling to deal with decks that can set up even a mediocre wall. Their numbers weren't high enough to deal with 8,000+ defense monsters. Sure they had Demon Way, Geppakugiri and Double Loss but those card were feeling the power creep from the X season and weren't as effective anymore. Their whole play style wants them to directly attack the opponent and they lose steam easily when dealing with closed center decks.
Enter Dark Fox! His ability is a mouthful. At the end of the battle that a Skull Warrior (or Adventurer) on the player's field attacked, the player chooses a monster on the opponent's field. Then, the player may destroy a monster on their field and if they do, they remove a soul and destroy the chosen card on the opponent's field. The ability isn't once per turn either so start popping your monsters without a care!
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| Game changer 2.0 |
Lynx-Eyed Military Deviser, Keiganryu was a shock to say the least. Revelation Tactician, Keiganryu was starting to not be as powerful as he once was but I didn't expect a retrain of him to be made. I'm totally fine with the retrain though. He costed the usual 2 gauge but he now needed to be called on top of a Skull Warrior.
His abilities include the usual soulguard and size 1 reduction but he has two new abilities. First is penetrate. Second, he gets to call a size 1 or less Skull Warrior from drop by paying their call cost. He helped set up hand or gauge based on the occasion. The best strategy was to call Bibikawazu to put two Skull Warriors from deck to drop. Then, call Keiganryu on top of Bibikawazu. Then, during battle, either call Natsubame to draw a card or Hiunmaru to gain a gauge. After turn one, just call whatever Skull Warriors would work for the current match up.
With the advent of Chaos monsters in the X season, many monsters became "chaosified" and basically look like cybernetic enhancements were added to them. This included Blood Knife, Kimensai. His chaosified version is CHAOS Kimensai. He barely has any legitimate uses in Skull Warriors. If he was going to be used, it would be with Boy Transformation, Yamigitsune but Ziun's forms do it better. This card is perfectly acceptable to be ignored.
Demon Way, Akishigure, and Clear Serenity were the Demon Ways that got reprinted in New World Chaos. The new Skull Warriors that were printed in New World Chaos were Tumultuous Omni Lord, Ziun, Hundred Mechs General, CHAOS Gishingyuki and Evil Ocular Arts, Yamigitsune.
Ziun is the pretty much the same as other Ziun variants. It's still the best in the size 0/3 Boy Transformation, Yamigitsune for the sake of having enough Ziuns in the deck.
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| ...AND HERE COMES THE GIANT FIST! PATRICK NO! |
Hundred Mechs General, CHAOS Gishingyuki is actually more useful than it appears. For Skull Warriors, he can work for both the Size 0/3 build and Size 1/3 build since he'll become a size 0 in either deck. Hi upside is his 10,000 attack power with double attack to help take down walls that may not be destroyed by card effects. His main downside is he is expensive to call at two gauge. I usually just run one copy in the deck and put him in the drop with Bibikawazu's ability so he's always available to be called if needed. Keep in mind "Change of Parts" puts the monster to the drop so it doesn't activate destruction effects.
Evil Ocular Arts, Yamigitsune is essentially a better, stronger version of Snake Princess, Setsuna. He costs one life instead of a gauge which helps with burning out of gauge. He also has more attack and critical. He actually helped increase the amount of gauge the player could get by called Demon Kid, Hiunmaru.
At the release of this set, I often debated if Setsuna was more useful than Evil Ocular Arts, Yamigitsune since she does destroy herself at the end of the turn which helps with destruction activation cards but ultimately, it didn't matter enough and Evil Ocular Arts, Yamigitsune's stat increase and alleviation of gauge was much more useful.
I wanted to give an honorable mention to one card from New World Chaos that is not a Skull Warrior or Demon Way attribute card and that is Hairpin Needle, Hoozuki. Even though it is an Oni Assassin item, it does synergize well with Skull Warriors. The item can attack through center and allow the player to draw a card when a Skull Warrior is called from drop. Coincidentally (or not) Skull Warriors are a closed center deck and like to call monsters from the drop so it fits perfectly. It is expensive to equip at one gauge and life but it is viable enough to be used in Skull Warriors.
Buddyfight X2
Both Buddy Legends and Solar Strife both had one card each of support. Buddy Legends gave us Humanoid Beast, Yaejako and Solar Strife had Freak-Wrist Beast Lord, Ziun.
Yaejako has two very different but important abilities. Her first ability was a hard once per turn ability called "Pale Fire Circle". It allowed her to be called from the drop if there is a Skull Warriors on the field and by putting a spell from the field into the drop zone. Keep in mind that this can be any set spell on the field. Yours or your opponent.
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| I wouldn't recommend giving her a handshake |
This doesn't sound special or impactful but it is. First, at this point in time, Black Dragon Requiem was a deck that prevented almost all its set cards from being destroyed by card effects. Second, Invitation to Death Ground was a generic Darkness Dragon World set spell that made it very easy to completely shut off Skull Warrior's prominent play style. Yaejako circumvented the anti-destroy effects by "putting" spells to the drop and was able to help Skull Warriors get back in the game. Even if Invitation to Death Ground isn't on the field, it helps remove set spell cards on the field from the opponent that could help with their main strategy (i.e. Guardians, Executioners).
Her second ability is when she enters the field, you destroy another Skull Warrior on the field and if you do, you gain 1 life and draw a card. Again, this doesn't sound super helpful but it did assist with being able to cycle cards and activate cards during the main phase that required a monster to be destroyed in order to activate (Arakuyou, Double Loss, Geppakugiri, etc). Unlike her first ability, this ability is not once per turn so the life gain could be really helpful to survive the next turn.
Freak-Wrist Beast Lord, Ziun actually took a turn for the better than his other forms. He's more optimized for a size 1/3 deck because he reduces in size by 1, gains 3,000 power and 1 critical for each other size 1 or omni lord on the field. That means in a traditional Skull Warrior field, he could get up to 12,000 power and 5 critical that can't be nullified with penetrate.
This Ziun indirectly marked the end of the size 0/3 build being a unique strategy. Why run smaller size 0 monsters that have clearly less support than the size 1 variant anymore? The size 1 build now has everything the size 0 deck ever had to keep it unique.
In regards to if Lynx-Eyed Military Deviser, Keiganryu or Freak-Wrist Beast Lord, Ziun is better, I would have to say it depends. Keiganryu can gain the player more resources and overall attacks in a turn but Ziun has higher critical and power but less attacks in a turn. Plus, Ziun is cheaper and easier to get on the field. It's ultimately up to the current match up the player's preferred play style.
Buddyfight Ace
Even though Miracle Fighters ~Miko & Mel~ focused mainly on supporting Electrodieties for Katana World, a couple cards did slip in for Skull Warriors. Shutting Out the World, Yoroinezumi gives all Skull Warriors (including himself) +1 critical and when it enters the field, if there is another Skull Warrior, the player gains two gauge and this is not once per turn. He essentially replaced Demon Kid, Hiunmaru in my deck and helps mitigate the need to use Clear Serenity. He is a solid 3 or 4 in the deck.
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| He just keeps getting better and better! |
The last card to mention is Celestial Arts, Returning Water. Like Yaejako, it helps activate destruction reliant effects during the main phase while regaining resources and cycling the hand. Plus, in a more broader spectrum, Katana World got their version of Legend World's Oswira Gard.
Just wanted to note that even though Dimension Destroyer had a lot of Katana World support, none of it helps Skull Warriors in any way.
Buddy Lineage introduced a new Yamigitsune form which I wasn't expecting but whole heartily will embrace. Flames of Magatsu, Yamigitsune has a much more devastating effect that past forms. When a Skull Warrior attacks and deals damage to the opponent, they may be destroyed and if they do, the opponent drops a hand card, a gauge and a life.
Keep in mind that card effect damage that doesn't involve a battle don't work with Yamigitsune. Such an example would be Thunderclap, Goraiko. However, penetrate still would activate from a card like Blood Knife, Kimensai. This stipulation was required for this card so the new Yamigitsune's effect doesn't activate off of himself and activate a nasty chain reaction.
~Last updated 2/17/2019
