Hello! I'm YBakura and I'll be talking about everyone's favorite alternative wincon, Destiny Board.

Overview

The archetype, which is also called "Spirit Message" by some sources, is a victory condition used by Yami Bakura, one of the main antagonists of Yu-gi-Oh! Duel Monsters. Since the cards are really old and the wincon is so difficult to pull off, the deck saw little to no play over its 20 years of life. But, in contrary of popular belief, the deck has some degree of playability that I'll talk about in this guide (and it doesn't involve waboku and battle fader).


Core Cards

Destiny Board x3
Destiny Board
This is the card that you always wanna open, as it sets all of the other letters and triggers the wincondition when all of the letters are on the field. This card in specific has a lot of nuances in regards of its rulings that I'll be talking about later.
Spirit Message "I" x1
Spirit Message "I"
The spirit messages should all be at one, as they can't be used to perform any action on the field.
Spirit Message "N" x1
Spirit Message "N"
Spirit Message "A" x1
Spirit Message "A"
Spirit Message "L" x1
Spirit Message "L"
Dark Sanctuary x3
Dark Sanctuary
One of the problems that comes when you're using Loading... is that your Spell/Trap zones are going to get clogged by your Letters, and this card fixes that. By having Dark Sanctuary on the field, you are now able to summon your letters as monsters, which comes with, guess what, even more weird rulings!!

This card acts too as a cute way of protecting your LP but it isn't exactly reliable, since it depends on a coin toss ( but it does make a lot of funny burn wins)

Dark Spirit's Mastery x3
Dark Spirit's Mastery
This card is arguably the best card of this archetype:
  • Acts as extra copies of Loading...
  • Searches any lvl 8 fiend in the game (Including your Necrofears)
  • Recovery for your letters + draw power
  • Surprisingly an Ash Blossom magnet
Sentence of Doom x 0-1
Sentence of Doom
Sentence of doom is on paper a really good card, but in reality:
  • It's unsearchable
  • If you put a letter on the field before activating Loading... , the wincon won't register
  • Doesn't do anything on its own and unlike Dark Sanctuary, its effect isn't valuable enough

The Necrofear Engine

This section exists because both Loading... and Loading... are cards used by Bakura and, on paper they are part of the archetype, as Loading... 's fiend search was made specifically for them.

Realistically, you can play Destiny Board without those cards, as they don't aggregate enough for the wincon and can even be used as an engine in other decklists.

Tour Guide From the Underworld x3
Tour Guide From the Underworld
This whole engine works because of a collection of random effects and conditions that happen to synergize, and tour guide summoning any Lvl 3 fiend in the game is one of them.
Doomdog Octhros x1
Doomdog Octhros
A level 3 fiend that happens to search any level 8 fiend when it leaves the field.
Dark Spirit of Banishment x1
Dark Spirit of Banishment
One of the recent support cards released together with Loading... , it's meant to summon one of the Necrofears at the damage step and trigger their effects. Because it's only during the damage step, there aren't many cards that can interact with him so it often gets people by surprise.

Both of the Dark Spirits share the similarity of recycling themselfs from the grave when a lvl 8 fiend leaves the field by card effects or link climbing, and were designed to make sure that you can put your Necrofears on the field when needed.

Dark Spirit of Malice x0-1
Dark Spirit of Malice
Dark Spirit of Malice isn't as valuable as Banishment because people can just choose to not interact with your Necrofears, but still has its moments when you need to dodge cards like Loading... and Loading... .
Fiendish Rhino Warrior x1-2
Fiendish Rhino Warrior
The staple of fiend combo decks, I personally advise to play 2 of him because he's a heavy garnet for the combo that glues this engine together.
Cherubini, Ebon Angel of the Burning Abyss x1
Cherubini, Ebon Angel of the Burning Abyss
The final piece of this super convoluted mess of an engine is Cherubini, he's your main way of foolishing rhino to grave and trigger its effect.
Dark Necrofear x1
Dark Necrofear
The goat ever since their release in 2004 and one of my favorite cards. Although your opponent needs to interact with you, stealling monsters is a pretty powerful way of removal and paired with Loading... , Dark Necrofear serves mainly as a type of protection for cards like Loading...
Curse Necrofear x1
Curse Necrofear
Curse is a more powerful version of Dark Necrofear: it doesn't have the "Must first be special summoned" clause anymore, cycles the banished fiends for the summon for its counterpart and their effect synergizes more with Loading... . But the fact that Curse can't summon itself alone makes it difficult for link climbing and comboing.