Aliens - Failed Cards, Archetypes, and Sometimes Mechanics in Yu-Gi-Oh

[@PedroHenrique-mk5zi]

Years ago, I remember having so much fun with these guys in Duel Links. Such a shame Counters isn't a good mechanic in modern yugioh.

[@Petsinwinter2]

It's never been a good mechanic in Standard Yu-Gi-Oh period XD

[@robertoschirmer5530]

Counters CAN be good, as long as they don't interact with your opponent's cards/are placed on them or better: need your opponent to have special cards on their board, to place counters and interact with them. Six Samurai e.g. are definitely playable. I play them since 10+yrs. Downside: I need like 15 dices to play them. 😂😂

[@XanXinGames]

​@@robertoschirmer5530endymion player here, can confirm

[@hhminh1467]

Edymion work perfectly fine with the Counter System.

[@MiyaoMeow588]

@@Petsinwinter2 you know that Six Sam and Endymion were both meta, right?

[@lightdragoon88]

This deck had a fun playstyle. To bad it tripped and broke both it legs at the starting line.

[@pooperman2232]

Yeah, they'd have to rebuild the archtype from the ground up. I'd love to see it though the aliens have some of my favorite card arts in the game.

[@superscatboy]

I was an early adopter and although I was having fun with my little bag of counters, all my friends were beating me every time lol

[@RealCodreX]

It definitly did not. It was murdered as time went on.

[@IttarraOda]

I cannot deny, Master Duel actually opened my 3rd eye when it came to Reptiles and aliens, I just wish there was one more piece of solid support for Ogdoadics and Reptalinnes for making it more consistent to make sure Cosmic Slicer stayed on the field. One thing I will always praise YGO for is their accidental synergies, a perfect example of this is Reptiles, as well as generic insects, being able to fit 4-5 different archtypes into one consistent deck is why I do love YGO.

[@nonamedpleb]

Ogdoadic has 2 new cards coming in with AGOV. so thats 2-3 months for master duel. something to look forward to

[@IttarraOda]

@@nonamedpleb Oh hell yes. that's really exciting.

[@OyVeey]

The new Raika archetype looks like it'll make Reptile piles more consistent. Or at the very least give them additional engines to work with.

[@dandomen3584]

The somewhat new DARK Reptiles from the manga are also good generic reptile support.

[@EnergyBurst2]

Earth Machine is also like that across several of its archetypes, which is what makes me like them, so I get what ya mean.

[@WastedScoundrel]

They're still real to me, darn it!

[@Ebechiefin]

Love the reference!

[@TheLeadhound]

Gol'gar was good because you could place the a counters on it rather than your opponent's monsters. So you did not have to worry about them all getting removed prematurely. Combine this with the fact that Code a ancient ruins is a soft one per turn, you could active the effect multiple times. I had several games where I summoned three Gol'gars in a single turn for an OTK. Not saying it was the best, but Gol'gar did give the Aliens a nice boss monster that rounded them out and gave them a fighting chance.

[@youtubelurker7364]

One of the first archetypes I tried to use, hopefully they do a retrain on it

[@leaflizard8485]

for the entire archetype...

[@KingChiggy]

It's amazing to see the paradigm shift in Yugioh with you own eyes just seeing the difference between all the other aliens and then the introduction of Recombination Device. You can really tell the difference in eras between the cards between "Summon and put an A counter on a thing" and "6 lines of text that does like 4 separate things that tries to improve the entire archetype as a whole" lol

[@MiyaoMeow588]

Synchro Era were the closest that Aliens were to becoming playable, and in Edison formats I've heard word of people tinkering with the deck (because it feels like everything is playable in Edison to a degree), but support came out too slowly. It got one card in 2016, one in 2020, and 2 in 2021. The game had sped up too much I think the archetype can spread A Counters fairly effectively, and as of Zer'oll, now has a gameplan using those A counters, but again, by the time we got to that gameplan, it was too late to make a large difference

[@MrTAG-re5ym]

Can confirm. I took an Alien deck to a 30 person Edison tourney and made top 4. But it was definitely carried more by floodgates and less by the Aliens themselves (Gol’Gar is a house though)

[@spaceghost4208]

@@MrTAG-re5ymyou have a list brother?

[@RealCodreX]

The became third place in japans championship in 2009 too

[@lord_boneman]

I love Aliens, but man they frustrate me. Like they had the right idea with Overlord, using tokens to special summon and applying even more tokens. They had the right idea with Zer’oll, being a big floodgate with decent attack (plus just being in the extra deck is better). They *sort of* had the right idea with Recombination Device, being a Foolish Burial and ROTA that lets you put counters. And being part of the reptile boom would in theory help them out. But alas, ET didn’t find home in my deck box and stays in the binder. Here’s hoping we get more though to tie things together.

[@ShadowsWrath4]

Cosmic Fortress constantly bouncing Swords of Revealing Light was a fun moment in my life.

[@TYOjoe]

God aliens were so bad, but when you had Gol'gar down with infinite Swords of Revealing Light, and your opponent didn't have an answer it felt great

[@Yohtoh]

Can't wait to see that one guy that's gonna mald at Duel Logs for calling their favorite archetype a failure. 😅

[@KevinTangYT]

As an Alien main, there's no cope lol. They were a bit ahead of their time where support cards weren't archetypes or searchable. Gol'gar was well designed for its time, having a unique S/T recycling. Allowed to bounce floodgates one-sided like Vanity's Emptiness. For a theme that is literally interplanetary, really surprised they never got another more useful Field Spell that allows A-counter to persist on the field from monsters that left the field. In modern card design, it wouldn't be too much of a stretch for it to need a searcher with 'mentions "A-counter' effect. Alien Hypno actually has one of the strongest effects for a Gemini as with PPV, can take all monsters with counters. So in a vacuum with no interruptions, it is really strong. The Link 3 gives the second Normal Summon that enables Hypno provided you were able to mill/revive it.

[@camron147]

​@KevinTangYT Same lol this video won't stop me from running an Alien Deck

[@barbaryn7899]

Bro nobody plays aliens. I have been playing duel links since 2017 and haven't seen an alien monster in *YEARS*

[@dcd3lt4]

​@@barbaryn7899Have you considered looking at the mirror? *BADUMTSSS* I'll see myself out.

[@nemenjafishing]

lets duel type ass

[@androiduser3895]

A field spell that gives protection by removing a counters and states that monsters with a counters cannot be tributed or used as material for link, XYZ or synchro summon except for reptile monsters. I kept fusion open as that way it's not a full lock from the extra deck

[@jshtng78]

Most currently unplayable archetypes could be revived if Konami would just regularly release 'Fixer' single cards that give those archetypes all their missing functions in a Endymion style textbox and have zero counterplay while on the field. They could keep releasing updated versions of those cards to milk the fans of those archetypes and the fact that this isn't a strategy shows they can't be loving money as much as people say they do.

[@dokidoki65]

I think having fusion open as an option is accidentally brilliant, because then it's like an Ultraman reference or something. The only way to fight them is to fuse with them and use their powers

[@Petsinwinter2]

If the rept-pile of Ogdo, Alien, and Reptilianne ever gets a fantastic boss monster on the level of Ultimate Conductor Tyranno, it could become a competent rogue strategy

[@ArcheTelos]

Gol'gar Control was an actual thing back in the day. You could repeatedly bounce stuff like Swords of Revealing Light, Call of the Haunted, and Fiendish Chain and accumulate A-Counters to pop things.

[@Humandefect]

Let me guess Alien decks are useless going first since you can't place A-counters since there are no monsters on the enemy side.

[@OyVeey]

Nah, Zer'oll searches Planet Pollutant Virus, which places counters on anything the opponent summons for 3 turns as a lingering effect. Then again, it's hard to make Zer'oll in pure Aliens, and you're more likely to see it as the main piece of an Ogdoadic/Reptilliane end board.

[@galvor0702]

They may be bad but the Alien Kid/Planet Pollutant virus with Zer'oll is really funny

[@hexanort3670]

Alien's gimmick are perfectly fine and cohesive IMO, they put a-counters, and then debuff monster with said a-counters. Just that they suffer for being old AF, all they need is a wave of modern support and they could easily be playable. Give them better alien mars for example.

[@pikapwn345]

Field Spell that automatically puts counters on summoned monsters so you can’t just bypass the counters.

[@sephikong8323]

​@@pikapwn345"Every time you special summon a Reptile type monster from your Hand, you can place 1 A-Counter on the field. Every non Reptile monster with A-Counter have their attack set to 0. Once per turn, if a monster with A counter would activate it's effect, you can negate it. Every time a monster with A-Counters would leave the field, you can place it's A-counters on another card" That alone would make the deck a lot more consistent with it's main gameplan

[@nikraa77]

​@@pikapwn345they are already doing that though. Their link 3 searches planet polluting virus. Which puts a-counters on all monsters the opponent summons for the next 3 turns. And because it's modern legacy support for an old archetype, the link monster is of course a skill drain for monsters with a-counters

[@nonamedpleb]

this is true for a lot of decks. you can make anything viable with the right support.

[@MrPikminmaster]

Insane levels of cope

[@mrinoobs4620]

Alien is my first ever deck in duel links, and i had lots of fun with it

[@M..n..M]

This brought me back! I think especially back then Konami heavily relied on throughing bad and mid cards at you why you looked for that shiny card in packages and aliens were basically meant to be just that. I remember I was very confused by the A counter mechanics, cause it seemed so random and useless and even though I got a bunch of cards I thought I was missing something major about the archetype. Of course I was too little to investigate properly. But I do miss them, they were the kind of archetype that could still work when the game was slow and a bit more random.

[@ShyGuyGR33N]

My favorite deck in highschool ❤. I remember getting destroyed by heroes, DAD, and six samurai 😭

[@TheLeadhound]

Six Samurai was at its peak the one time Aliens were decent. I do not think I ever beat a proper Six Sam deck when I was playing Aliens.

[@LadyTsunade777]

I feel like A Counters _could've_ been good if they also reduced Levels by 1 for each counter, and if the Level/stat reduction were baked into the counters instead of requiring monsters with reminder text on them specifically on the field to do anything. The most funny thing to me is that because of the way Yu-Gi-Oh rules and rulings have decided to handle search effects, Crop Circles can only fail to find and burn you for 2000 _only if_ the last legal target is somehow removed from your deck in a higher chain link above Crop Circles, because you can't legally activate cards like Crop Circles without at least one legal target, even if the targets are in a hidden zone like the deck.

[@DJninjablade22]

right that's an easy fix. also they could spread counters if destroyed by battle or card effect. alien brain, brainwashing beam, mass hypnosis, the pollution trap and mysterious triangle was ok

[@CherryPinkMega]

I don't think it's a good idea to bake effects directly into counters. That opens up a huge can of rulings worms in future card design with future counters.

[@DJninjablade22]

@@CherryPinkMega the stat decrease part should be universal for A counters

[@dcd3lt4]

​@@DJninjablade22Would making the alien monsters add A counter equal to half (rounded up) of their star when summoned improve the archtype?

[@DJninjablade22]

@@dcd3lt4 yes actually. That plus the 100 decrease in att/ def for each A counter universal

[@michaeladams1772]

Aliens was and still is my favorite deck I've ever played in Yugioh (even if I don't play anymore) Funny thing people don't really know but came up surprisingly a lot in Duel Links is that when a face down Alien card that had the reminder text to decrease attack was set, if you use cards like recombination device to place A-counters, the attacking monster would lose attack after attacking the face down alien; minor yes, but very funny

[@williamdrum9899]

That's always been a very confusing part of the game for me: at what point during a battle does a facedown monster actually flip over and apply its effect

[@slospop1125]

I like using Alien monsters it's a good way to mess up my opponents, and they're great with other reptile based cards like "Viper's Grudge" & "Evil Dragon Ananta" (Also you missed a few Alien Cards "Cell Explosion Virus", "Interplanetary Invader A" & Interdimensional Warp)

[@AvidHerpetologist]

So while Ogdoadics arent exactly a tier deck, I LOVE using the Cosmic Pincer package in my list. Especially with the new card Ogdoadic Daybreak, its incredibly easy to set up CPZ, tutor out your one-of Alien Kid, and back it up with something like Hope Harbinger Dragon for a spell negation for the mentioned Board-Breakers AND an attack redirect to protect Kid. Is it the best board ever? Nah, but its an incredibly unique one that presents an interesting puzzle to get through.

[@Aluranae]

I *adored* Aliens on release. Like, you have no clue. I tried to make them work so ungodly hard back then and it just. Never worked. The support wasn't there, and whenever reptile support did trickle in it was always at a point where I had another deck to use or just not enough cash to support going fishing for those cards. Hell, even in Legacy of the Duelist I still can't get as much mileage out of Aliens as I can their cousins the Worms.

[@gizmoruler]

Imagine if alien counters for alien cards gave the secondary effect of "if this card where to be destroyed by battle/card effect you can remove one alien counter from the field instead. Still wouldn't make them good, but at least a playable archetype during certain iterations.

[@NordicMetal93]

I've dabbled with this deck a bit, and what I would love to see is a field spell that would be kinda like Pumprincess the Princess of Ghosts in that it creates counters on itself (maybe once per both standby phases and on a trigger like every special summon), make all counters on the field accumulative to all of your opponent's monsters' attack nerf (all A counters on both fields x X00), protection by sacrificing counters like Magical Citadel of Endymion, and maybe have either a tier of effects you can apply dependent on how many counters are on the field or an effect you can activate by spending counters (like a searcher or negate).

[@piepiepie57]

I want to see a new field spell with the "lose 300 for each a-counter if battles alien" text on it.

[@asura48]

I was kind shocked to see the dark magician archetype on this list(even tho we knew it belonged on it deep down inside).......but the alien archetype??....what took you so long get on that failed list

[@Deathmare235]

There’s a lot of decks

[@aMindSetFree]

1 name: Endymion. When that archetype came out, it proved that counters are NOT a bad mechanic and can easily have great resource management if konami designs the card good enough. Also Golgar mixed with Deck Lockdown + Swords of Concealing light was major strong back in the day. Every turn you flip facedown all ur opponents monsters amd every turn they get deck lockdowned

[@resphantom]

Aliens and Nordic was some of my favorite archetypes, aside from the most powerful archetype in yugioh history: Skull servant

[@Zthewise]

A fellow skull servant enjoyer. I love those spooky scary skeletons.

[@logan_wolf]

Portrait checks out.

[@Iowsbub]

So sad to see my beloved Aliens are in this format... bit you're right. I hope they get anytime better support :(

[@youwayo]

4:12 FIRE 5:29 STRIKE OF NEOS

[@user-lg5xu6id5j]

Also misleveled the 3rd monster mentioned

[@rokero95]

2:02 Gangi'el is a level 7, not a 5

[@Circular_Square]

Kept saying Alien Omanite instead of Alien Ammonite.

[@user-lg5xu6id5j]

@@Circular_Square I'll give a pass on his Grammer, some yugioh cards can be hard to say their actual name or it might be some community inside joke that I'm not aware of. It might also be possible he's using AI speech for the videos again and that could cause it

[@CulcoyoteCosmico]

This arquetipe is so weird. It is like it was made by ALIENS or something

[@mokeymale8350]

I still believe in I.A.S to be a very underrated splash in very specific decks

[@jackbradley6720]

I remember coming up against alien decks so much in duel links, shame the archetype has never been competitive enough in the tcg or master duel. Would love to see an archetype based off of Aliens/Predator though

[@charmquark7514]

I had so much fun with this back in highschool when we‘d all just run random flavor piles with just as many monsters of a given archetype as possible.

[@darkwolf7786]

My preferred Alien playstyle focuses on Gol'gar's ability to return cards to the hand and destroy cards every turn. With the help of cards like Big Bang Shot, equipping your opponent with it then returning it to the hand meant banishing their monsters. Using cards like Swords of Revealing/Concealing light to prevent attacks/flip down problem cards so that they be destroyed while face down. I also used Mist Valley Falcon as a way to do these things when Gol'gar wasn't available by bouncing these reusable cards. I haven't played Yugioh in a long time due to just not liking what the game has become, but this and my Remove Brainwashing deck I always come back to for fun. They're too slow, but its fun when they work. I doubt there's any way they survive these days.

[@ButFirstHeLitItOnFire]

Ideas for a few new Alien cards that could help the archetype: _Alien Invasion!_ Quick-play Spell _Target 1 Face-up monster on the field: Place A-Counters on it equal to it’s Level/Rank/Link, and also, while that target with any A-Counters is on the field, the following effects are applied:_ ⚪️You can normal summon/set “Alien” monsters without limit. ⚪️Your ”Alien” Monsters can be normal summoned/set using 1 less tribute. ⚪️If a card with any number of A-Counters Declares an attack or activates an effect: You can special summon 1 “Alien” monster from your hand or deck who’s level is equal to or less than the number of A-counters on it. ⚪️If an “Alien” card you control would be sent to the GY or Banished, you can instead remove all A-Counters from 1 card on the field (Min. 1). _Alien Reviver_ (FIRE) Level 4 Reptile/Tuner/Effect _If there are 4 or more A-counters on the field: You can special summon this card from your hand or GY. While this card is face-up on the field or in the GY, “Alien” monsters you possess (from your hand, field, deck or GY) are also treated as FIRE-attribute, and have their DEF become 200 while in the GY. If an “Alien” monster you control would be banished, you can instead tribute 1 card on the field who’s number of A-counters on it equals or exceeds the Level/Rank/Link of that “Alien” monster, then shuffle it into your deck._ ATK/2000 DEF/200 The first one basically lets you designate a “Target” for a mass “Alien” invasion, loading that target with a potentially crippling number of A-Counters while also making them the opened floodgates for a mass incursion of them. You can even target YOUR OWN monsters with the normally crippling A-counters to have them serve as the invasion’s foothold. The second card is designed to make the universally Reptile-type “Alien” monsters work with both “Snake Rain” and “Rekindling”, and can even save them from “Rekindling”’s banishing effect if there are enough A-counters on the field (potentially taking a chunk of your opponent’s board to). It even can summon itself if you have enough counters on the field!

[@Khoobus]

This sounds fun

[@ekimyukselbaba8847]

very inventive

[@Khoobus]

@ekimyukselbaba8847 didn't know inventive was word

[@dudono1744]

The Quick-Play Spell is hilarously busted but is actually fine because it's aliens.

[@heavenlypathos534]

The quick play spell would immediately get banned because of link or xyz shenanigans. However, just adding "for the rest of the turn, you can only special summon alien monsters" (or however that text would be worded) then i think it would be perfectly fine, especially for aliens. Even then tho, some kind of tribute summon based deck like monarchs would take advantage of it, but even then, it wouldn't really be a problem

[@kennethM]

I didn’t even realize that skier shock trooper was an alien.

[@MICHAELTUMANGDAY]

Zeta Reticulant too. It's a fairy type Alien.

[@liamjamse]

So, this is my edison deck. It fails hard to even some mid decks but I have fun with my little alien buddies

[@Goldenleyend]

You forgot snake rain can foolish burial FOUR reptiles from your deck! Surely they could take advantage of it...

[@NanashiKokoro]

From us at the Alien archetype Discord server, thanks for the publicity!

[@fernandotredinnick7443]

Last year in the Monster Type Festival - King of the Island; I had fun with the Reptile deck; I won approximately 6 out of 10 duels thanks to Ananta + Lamia or Zer'oll with Planet Pollutant Virus. It's good to know that good Alien cards have very good synergy with generic support (like King Gremlin, Therion "Empress" Alasia, Reptilianne).

[@son_of_the_heavymetal1142]

How i would errate the Alien/"A" archetype: - Every card is treated as "Alien" or "A" - Searcher: exchange draw phase to draw an archetype card (Hard once x Turn) - Change the most of the monster and the spells/traps in a way they just spam thr counters everywhere

[@XionSteel]

I remember my friend playing aliens back in the day but he stopped when the op synchros and xyz cards were banned. all in all it was gol'gar turbo by dumping shocktrooper to the graveyard with either levalval chain or advanced ritual art and going straight into it, having a face up spell/trap giant trunade on legs meant that he could play around with continuous flood gates and just turn them off when he felt like it, but usually only after replacing it with shock master. So yeah, ended up being more of a showing of broken ass extra deck monsters then showing power of the archtype. he very quickly moved over evilswarm when he no longer could lockdown people with that strat and went with ophion turbo instead.

[@triangkle9434]

When I started watching your channel over 10 years ago, I loved your alien synchro deck and made it in real life. I mentioned it in a comment and not too long after, you put out another alien synchro deck 😂. Always wondered if you saw my comment but either way, I was really happy with your work.

[@StealthNinja4577]

Aliens didn't expect that they'd run into the monsters from the shadow realm

[@synkro234]

I used to play this deck personally back in highschool, my friend still resents me to this day for using Imperial custom and mass hypnosis to mind control his big synchros including red nova dragon from his turbo synchro flamvell deck, so regardless of how bad Aliens are or always will be, i always have my core and always think on how to sometimes tinker with it.

[@drewlevy9557]

One very crazy fix would be to make all counters unnamed and give them inherent value. Like acting as mana to give off more effects per turn and adding them to the field either restricted or allowed more effects. or counters being able to be locked to zones and not cards. Combining the two could be a way to slow the game down for smaller archetypes while also giving the option to make more plays if you could manipulate the counters well.

[@lekto6827]

I can think about good support cards for this archtype. Continuos trap card: Put 1 A-counter on every face up monster opponent controls.; While this card face up, it have all continuos effects of your "alien" monsters in exile. You may tribute this card for a tribute summon reptile or machine type monster. Continuos spell card: When this card activated you may banish 1 monster from you hand, and if you do put number of a-counters equal to level of banished monster on this card, then you may put 1 "alien" card from you deck to you hand; When one or more A-counters is put on cards, you gain life 300× number of new counters. Monster card:lv 9 machine 1800atc 2400def effect: this card gains 300atc/def for each A-counter on the field. Once per turn you can remove 4 A-counters from anywhere on field, take control of 1 of oponents spell/trap cards. When this face up card on the field is dectroed, you may special summon "flying saucer muusisi" from hand or graveyard. When you activate "orbital bombardment" you can special summon this card from exile.

[@shizuka9988]

Mr Logs will you talk about the newer cards like Diabellstar and Snake Eyes

[@Levitz9]

I remember reading about Aliens and Gemini monsters in Shonen Jump Magazine back in the day; the magazine would gas up new cards in YuGiOh at the time (since the magazine ran chapters of the YGO manga). I was never great at YGO, but I could just tell that Aliens didn't seem very useful at all by virtue of how slow the A-Counters were; these were before Synchros really caught on, and even then, a really good player could just dance circles around you in the time it took you to set up an Alien field and get any significant number of A Counters active. Same with Gemini; it was obvious off-the-bat that a monster that needed TWO normal summons was never going to work. When people say they wish YuGiOh was "like in the old days" again, I have to wonder if they actually played YGO back then because man, YGO was a bit of a mess before Synchro was introduced.

[@aaronlindsey2219]

Is it possible to mill someone during activation and then remove their target from the deck? It sounds like it still fits in the normal rules, it just has a weird, uncommon exception

[@Ryushiin.]

The Trap Card "Alien Brain" should have been a quick play spell card. That way, you could just crush your monster into an opponents Monster, trigger your monsters effect (maybe) and than straight up steal your opponents monster

[@Acidonia150reborn]

The cards way better in non alien named reptile focused decks where you get a attack boost of it too where woth a a certain card you can use it with a hand trap to force its effect off.

[@MICHAELTUMANGDAY]

The Synchro monster isn't much of a help either💀

[@gmoney9469]

As someone who trolled around with aliens for years (in friendlies ofc), I can say that you basically need to ignore 2/3rds of their cards. Cosmic Fortress + SoRL/gravity bind was hilarious when you pulled it off.

[@siftheadsdude]

You should do a video on naturia! Or a video on the seal of orichalcos arc cards please!

[@Frenuellcrackser33]

Man I loved my Alien deck, it didnt won often but I loved it. I also had a Cloudian, Six Samurai, Koa'ki meiru and Dark World deck that would probably fit in this series XD

[@williammaley6274]

You’re spot-on for reasons why the archetype’s design failed. I think it’s also important to mention that the archetypes problems during 5Ds era were worsened by the fact that the metagame included flip/set monsters and gladiator beasts, both of which would prevent the maintenance of “A” counters

[@garrettjohnson102]

Two of my favorite decks you have used for these videos now lmao alien and red eyes

[@tylercooley321]

They need a field spell or continuous spell that says something like “if a monster has an A-counter on it, it cannot be used in a special summon” or “cannot be used a synchro or link summon” or “if it was used in a special summon place half of the A-counter on the new summoned monster rounded up”. Something to make people worry about the counters or really try to get rid of them.

[@genesis4322]

Aliens don't need a way to search Alien monsters, they need a way to search cards that mention A-Counters.

[@operez1990]

Cards that could have supported this deck greatly. -Fusion monsters that gain effects if monsters with Alien Counters were on them. -Their own fusion spell that could work just like Super Poly if the opponent’s monsters have Alien Counters on them. -Synchro Monsters that gain effects/triggers an effect if a certain amount of Alien Counters are on them. -more Alien Counter generating spells and traps. Can think of more but I would need to refresh myself on the support they briefly got and come up with other support options that could have been.

[@TheGingerlie]

I remember when they came to duel links years ago, they were an actual FTP KOG deck and then soon got immediately power crept.

[@textemify]

I used to loop code A with swords with Gol' Gar's effect. Took a while to set up but it was pretty funny watching ppl get confused about it keeping them from attacking. Course there was still the issue of board removals.

[@ragnarok9594]

I didn't even know aliens had a field spell. And now I see why.

[@7sonicmario]

Im starting to think the spider considers every old archtype/mechanic a failure.

[@kanrakucheese]

Even without MST, there was no reason to use Orbital Bombardment. It's a trap, so in an archetype that doesn't benefit from canning its own monsters it's strictly worse than Dust Tornado, an ancient card which was never on the forbidden/limited list!

[@Naut8233]

Back when cosmic fortress golgar was first printed I played a combo deck that pulled all 3 from extra in one turn, and only ever stored my a-counters on golgar. It was janky, worked 1 in 20 games, but it's still one of my favourite decks.

[@Edwardoloco500]

The pieces are there,they just need a couple really good cards to put them together. Like a feild spell which places A counters and passively applies negative effect to mosters with them and also a monster or spell that searches the other cards.

[@TheLeadhound]

Aliens are still my favorite cards from Yu-Gi-Oh! They are the reason Crimson Crisis is still my single favorite pack to come out. I made a Cosmic Fortress deck that was so much fun even if it was not top tier. What was most cool is how there were a few different strategies that could use a-counters.

[@chrisshorten4406]

I remember trying to build a hybrid Alien-Dinosaur deck. It didn't work, but I still have a fondness for the Aliens and really wish they were easier to play.

[@ignitewithme3437]

I have only ever won one duel in my life and I have never played more than a handful of duels in my life but the one duel i won was with an alien deck im trying to get back into Yu-Gi-Oh but its been years im going to add ias invasion alien spieces and swords of revealing light as well as swords of conceling light still working on what other cards ill put in the deck

[@DevoteeofMamaRaikou]

I still love Aliens. I get a laugh at people on MD trying to change their monster with A-Counters to attack, only to be switched to defense again. That said, aliens just need a couple support cards that make them more consistent and be able to go first to setup A-Counters and a few Syncho/Link monsters and they're Gucci. Gol'Gar is busted, but being Archetype restricted prevented it from being as abusable as Dewloren was. So that was a blessing in disguise.

[@Y0sh1no5am]

Alien Shocktrooper looks super cool too. Its like a counterpart of Mystic Horseman and Rabid Horseman.

[@yanliechocki]

you probably hear this all the time.......but I was looking at a decklist for this archetype earlier today, to build one. I like these coincidences.

[@DMAN99]

I think Alien’s could work if they could generate A counters easier and had those effects be much stronger. Like, what if the amount of A counters a card has changes how effective the ability is and gives you more options. For example, let’s say you have a card that does the following; During either players turn, once per turn, target one monster with A-Counters and select the following effect depending on how many A Counter’s the card has ; 1 or more: Send that card to the graveyard. 2 or more: Remove that card from play. 3 or more: Shuffle that card back into the deck. 4 or more: take control of that card until the end of your turn. 5 or more: Tribute that card, distribute any of its A-counters to other cards on the field and you may special summon 1 Alien monster from your hand or GY to either side of the field. So basically have Aliens have a large list of various effects that they can use, making them more of a toolbox deck, having them be able to deal with multiple strategies by adapting to various board states. Maybe have a generic effect where, if a monster with A counters is used for any of the advanced summoning (XYZ, Synchro, link, etc) then it’s counters are automatically transferred to the new monster. Meaning that they would be summoned already with a good amount of A counters on them.

[@poochyenarulez]

Seems like the biggest weakness these archtypes have is having double costs. Look at Flying Saucer, for example. It has the cost of needing to be tribute summoned AND the cost of losing your draw phase. If it has just one of those costs, it would be a decent card, but so many of these cards just have too many costs.

[@operez1990]

I still have the original release of Alien cards in a deck box. This archetype had so much potential it just needed more support cards. Edit: Unfortunately this archetype was released on the tail end of the GX series and when 5Ds came out with the Synchro mechanic, Aliens were forgotten. All they needed was a bit more love with a few Synchro, Tuner and modifying the A-Counter mechanic to be a full blanket debuff. Their field spell definitely needed more love with a mechanic that at least removed the opponent’s ability to just tribute/material summon away the A-Counters.

[@ekimyukselbaba8847]

We love failed cards videos keep making more of them

[@zaidhernandez4601]

I've been using these weird fellas for years; they're good to me!!

[@jerfuhrer2581]

This makes me want a video on Worms. Wait. Did you do that already?

[@kyleoliver637]

I can’t believe even an archetype like this got a Link monster, yet my Gravekeepers still have no Link/XYZ/Pendulum/Synchro or another fusion 🤬

[@lylacor8401]

so if they counters would do something when your opponent removes them, like say burn damage per counter removed or you draw a card for a certain number of counters removed by your opponent could possibly help the archetype.

[@kirika119]

This and venomous snakes sounded super cool in concept but shat the bed in practice

[@eerieeric834]

Here’s an idea arch types that are bad nowadays that would be good in older formats that sound like a good video

[@Jackpkmn]

The a-counters need an inherent effect. Like "if this monster is tributed the a-counter transfers to the card the monster was tributed for." So if you tribute a monster to pay a cost the a counter sticks to the card that you are paying the cost to. If you tribute the monster to summon another it sticks to the new monster. If you synchro/xyz/link summon a monster using monster(s) with one or more a-counters the combined total of a-counters are applied to the resulting summon. This wouldn't make a-counters irremovable but would allow them to have some field persistence. And require you to actually play around them rather than just tributing the monster your opponent just invested so much in putting a-counters on.

[@drewlevy9557]

I put something similar but for all counters and not being stuck to cards but zones.

[@Jackpkmn]

@@drewlevy9557 I think them sticking to cards makes for better counter play opportunity. For example if you ritual summoned something the a-counters would all stick to the ritual card and then go away when it destroys itself upon resolve not stick to the summoned monster. Or if you tribute a monster for the effect of a spell card the a-counters would stick to that spell card and then go away when it goes to the graveyard upon resolving. If they stuck to zones you'd need to specifically remove them with card effects specially to target them or bash your monsters into enemies to prevent the debilitating effects brought on by some of the cards.

[@drewlevy9557]

@@Jackpkmn It would slowly clog up the enemy field or allow you to build up your own. There is already a fair amount of counter support and anti-counter support so any more they add is just a benefit. Could even make a limit if it was an issue.

[@RuriMizuno]

16:15 “From Reptilians [sic] to later-introduced and hard-to-pronounce Ogdoadics” - ironically mispronounces “ReptiliANNES” as just “reptilians” while pronouncing “Ogdoadics” correctly, lol. I know DuelLogs’ mispronunciations are meme-tier at this point; I just found it funny that he got the one he claimed was hard to pronounce right in the same sentence as mispronouncing a different archetype. 😅

[@benjystrauss2524]

Aliens were actually a threat in some of the video games, where getting counters off the field fast enough was a bit of a struggle.

[@justingaston5841]

Back in the day I ran Vanity's emptiness with Gol gar to lock the opponent. This was before it got hit

[@elsquisheeone]

I loved playing around with these in Dueling Network but holy hell they were so inconsistent and frustrating at the same time using A-counters to steal monsters and use them for tribute/synchros was fun but the clunky playstyle and especially the lack of consistency because of middling effects just felt like swimming against a current

[@TheSpiralCurse]

When I started to lab Ogdoadic I read basically every reptile to see what I had to work with (not much) and as I read through aliens I thought "well these gotta get okay eventually look how many there are! " aaaaaand yep took till the link. And with all the extenders reptiles have plus Ogdo Daybreak, it's cake to make Zeroll plus M- Frame for PPV. So hey some Aliens are playable yaaaay.... they're still a distant 3rd best of an under supported type but at least they ain't Worms or Venom!

[@gert-jandenheijer3454]

Where does the music from these videos come from? I'd really like to know.

[@sharplosion1]

Sounds like one of the best support this archetype could get is something that makes it so A-Counters can transfer from material to Special Summoned monster.

[@olyviermonteau4300]

Aliens needs cards that can search and better limiting effects, just like what ice barriers got.

[@TheLeadhound]

He neglected to mention Oshaleon which was great because it could search out your Ammonite. It was not officially part of the archetype, but was an auto include at the time of Crimson Crisis.

[@MeesaiD]

Funny enough, I use Aliens with the help of Ogdoadics and Reptilianes. Kinda like a reptile pile. Got a deck in Master Duel with them. Despite Aliens being less flexible for the two, I can really get the ball going at times and end up with a crazy board or ripping one apart. Although, I end up at times where I get unplayable hands more than I want to see. I really wish Aliens were better so I can enjoy them and play more consistently

[@Tahanok2]

The varied types, designs, and effects really made the arctype feel like it was designed for a character in the anime, but nobody ever used it there as far as I know. In fiction, you could make any one of these effects actually a threat in some way, and the original A-counters' small ATK/DEF loss would be just enough to gain the advantage.

[@zerocopy8407]

I feel like archetypes that use counters all need the effect of warning point where the monsters Effect is negated and it can’t be used as material for extra deck monsters in addition whatever the archetype effect is.

[@alanhersch4617]

I have played aliens since they first came out. Although not an A tier deck, they can be extremely effective. I got 32 at my regional around 2010, and I abused putting big bang shot on my opponents monsters and then bounced it. I also used solidarity so it was a beat down deck that could deal with really stickt monsters, or just use the big bang shot to peirce through defense monsters. Worked extremely well and I was a bad player back then. XD So I think the archtype is a LITTLE underrated by most, but it has problems for sure. (I also got gaslit into a bad ruling, people told me you couldnt summon dog when you used ammonites effect because it creates a missed timing. I know now, it does not create a missed timing, so that would have been easy 8 star synchros at the time)

[@alanhersch4617]

In addition, I think duel logs is missing something huge for aliens. They are all reptiles, so all the reptile support works for them. I ran Oschaleon to grab ammonite from the deck, and snake whisle was a great way to grab whatever alien I needed. Allowed me to do things like run only one ofs of the unique effect aliens, like hunter and telepath.