Deck Profile: Mist Valley Pendulum Magicians

We previously mentioned about Pendulum Magicians, during last week's post.
However I neglected to mention another engine that is unfazed by the Link Mechanics and remains splashable in Pendulum Decks.
Mist Valley Apex Avian.

Source: JadenBR


Mist Valley Apex Avian's effect:

When an effect is activated, you can select 1 face-up "Mist Valley" card you control. Return that "Mist Valley" card to its owner's hand, negate the effect's activation, and destroy the card whose effect was activated.

I personally prefer Fairy Tail - Luna since it is Level 4 and hence Normal Summoning it will not be much of an issue. I previously talked about it too on BeyondTheDuel, back when it was still known as Kaguya. Basically I just admired how it can search a copy of itself, bounce an opponent's monster back, then you Pendulum Summon both cards that are in your hand.



But Mist Valley Apex Avian has its merits too. Level 7 may mean that it will be harder to bring it out when you lack the scales, but it also leaves room for Sacred Sword of Seven Stars to be played.
Should you ever want to expand on the engine, Ninja Grandmaster Hanzo is at your service. However, Xyz Monsters don't have Levels, neither do Links, and Pendulum Monsters cannot be sent to the graveyard from the field coupled with the current metagame where you probably do not want to be helping your opponent send their monsters to the graveyard (especially ABC monsters), one would think whether Mist Valley Apex Avian is worth the trouble of a Ninja engine.


Another idea I have been constantly tinkering with was Dark Simorgh. I tried it out in Metalfoes during the Metalfoes vs ABC vs Blue-Eyes era a year ago, but could never constantly get it out due to the lack of WIND and DARK Attributes in the deck. The idea was to turn the opponent's use of Anti-Spell Fragrance against them and occasionally get to summon it out early to lock the opponent down.

There was also the crazy idea of playing Anti-Spell Fragrance myself and destroying it away with a Metalfoes Pendulum effect when I needed to.


Conclusion

Links definitely are far from dead. The existence of Mist Valley Apex Avian is another testament to the status. But the challenges faced by the mechanics has not changed much. Players who have faith in the deck would have to overcome Anti-Spell Fragrance and the multitude of S/T removal options in order to succeed in planting Pendulum Magicians as a mainstay.