A quick introduction to Endymion Pendulum

In this guide, I'll go quickly over some Pros & Cons about playing Endymion Pendulum and some general Information about the deck!

Introduction

Wow, you actually want to read & play the archetype that has the card with the most text on it? Congratulations then, since if you do that you'll have read more text than 80% of all Yu-Gi-Oh! Players!

But in all seriousness, Endymion Pendulum is quite a unique deck for all of those who want to play Pendulum and seems to be the best Pendulum deck in the Format right now. Most of the main cards are straight forward, but there's some spice you can put into your deck, but we'll get to that later!

Why would I want to read so much?

As said in the Introduction, Endymion Pendulum seems to be the best Pendulum Deck at the moment in the Format, so if you feel like playing a strong Pendulum Deck, pick it up. And even if the high amount of text seems threatening to some people at first, I can assure it's actually less than you think. Most of the text on the card comes from just describing what the cards can do by removing Spell Counters.

It offers a unique Playstyle by using the Pendulum-mechanic and has alot of different routes to get to it's endboards. This in return also means that the deck has a high skill ceiling. So be prepared to ♥♥♥♥ up some combos when starting to learn the deck, but don't be afraid!

So instead of wasting more time with these things, let's get into the pro's and con's

TLDR, what do the Endymion cards do?

Mythical Beasts:

• Mythical Beast Jackal King
  Scale: 4
  Pendulum Effect If only card in scales, pop itself to Special Summon a Mythical Beast Monster Face-Up from your Extra Deck.
  Monster Effect: Gains 2 Counters each time a Spell is activated. Once per turn, remove 2 Spell Counters on the field to negate a Monster Effect.
  
• Mythical Beast Master Cerberus:
  Scale: 4
  Pendulum Effect If only card in scales, pop itself to search a "Mythical Beast" Monster Level 7 or lower from your Main Deck
  Monster Effect: Gains two Spell Counters each time a Spell is activated. If there are more than four Spell Counters, he cannot be destroyed by card effects. Once per Turn, you can remove two Spell Counters from your field to banish one Monster your opponent controls. Master Cerberus gains the ATK of the banished Monster until the opponent's End Phase.
  
• Mythical Beast Jackal:
  Scale: 4
  Pendulum Effect If only card in scales, pop itself to put one Spell Counters onto a card on the field.
  Monster Effect: Gains one Spell Counter each time a Spell is activated.
  Remove three Counters from the field to Special Summon a "Mythical Beast" Monster from Deck
  
• Mythical Beast Garuda :
  Scale: 4
  Pendulum Effect If only card in scales, pop itself to destroy one Spell/Trap Card on the field.
  Monster Effect: If your opponent Summons a Monster while this card is in the hand; Remove three Spell Counters to Special Summon Garuda from hand and return the opponents Monster to the hand
  
• There are other Mythic Beasts aswell, but they're Effects can be lackluster which is why they are not mentioned here

Endymion Cards:

(Note that all Cards share the Name "of Endymion" at the end, which I will not write out each time)

• Servant:
  Scale: 2
  Pendulum Effect Gains a Spell Counter each time a Spell is activated. Remove three Spell Counters from herself to Special Summon her from the Pendulum Scale + a Monster from your deck on which you can place a Spell Counter and put one Counter onto herself and the summoned Monster.
  Monster Effect: Once per turn, during your Opponent's turn: Discard one card from your hand to give all your cards on the field, on which you can place Counters on, one Counter. If she gets destroyed while in the Monster Zone, you can place her into the Pendulum Scale with the same amount of Counters she had on the Field.
  You can only Special Summon Servant once per turn.
  
• Magister:
  Scale: 8
  Pendulum Effect: Gains a Spell Counter each time a Spell is activated. Remove three Spell Counters from himself to Special Summon one Monster from the Extra Deck on which you can place Counters on and himself, and place a Counter on each one.
  Monster Effect: During your opponent's turn, you can remove three Spell Counters from the field to Special Summon one Monster from your Deck on which you can place Counters. If Magister declares an Attack, put one Counter on him. If he gets destroyed while in the Monster Zone, you can place him into the Pendulum Scale with the same amount of Counters he had on the Field. You can only Special Summon Magister once per turn.
  
• Reflection
  Scale: 2
  Pendulum Effect: Gains a Spell Counter each time a Spell is activated. You can remove three Spell Counters from herself to Special Summon her and a Monster from your hand on which you can place Spell Counters on, then put one Spell Counter on her and the Summoned Monster.
  Monster Effect: If this card is Special Summoned, you can target one other card with a Spell Counter you control and one card from your Opponent; Return both targets to the hand and place the Spell Counters your card had onto Reflection.
  You can only Special Summon Reflecion once per turn.
  
• Endymion himself
  Scale: 8
  Pendulum Effect: You can remove six Spell Counters from anywhere on the Field to Special Summon this card from your Pendulum Zone. Then, count the amount of cards on your field on which you can place Spell Counters on. Destroy up to that amount of cards on the field. Can only be used once per Turn. (EFFECT DOES NOT TARGET)
  Monster Effect: While Endymion has a Spell Counter, he cannot be targeted or destroyed by card Effects. Once per Turn, you can return one card from your field to the hand when your opponent activates a Spell or Trap to negate that effect. Then, (if you didn't bounce himself) you can place the amount of Spell Counters your returned card has onto himself. If Endymion gets destroyed by battle while having a Spell Counter, you can add one normal Spell from your deck to your hand.

Advantages & Disadvantages

Since Endymion is a Combo deck, it's obvious to say that it suffers from the same weakness that most of the Combo decks do: Maxx "C"
It will weaken your endboard drastically or just outright end your turn immediately if you don't open "Called by the Grave" or somehow get a "Jackal King" onto the field with two spare Spell Counters. But even if it Maxx C hits you, in most cases you can still be able to get one or two negates onto the field.


But let's get into the more deck-specific negatives and positives:

ADVANTAGES:

• A lot of different routes and consistency to get to a desired Endboard.
  
• Able to put out a negate before reaching the 5th Summon (take that magical flying rock!).
  
• You can use most generic Spellcaster Support (Hidden Village of the Spellcasters, Magician's Soul, Magician's Right Hand).
  
• Selene/Accesscode OTK is available.
  
• Tech Options available.
  
• Access to different endboards.
  
• People can't read and try to destroy your Endymion/Cerberus with Spell Effects sometimes.

DISADVANTAGES:

• Multiple cards that can instakill you (e.g. Imperial Order, Solemn-ing your Pendulum Summon, Dark Ruler No More, Forbidden Droplets).
  
• Pendulum's deckspace is tight, which is the reason for not playing any handtraps. So going Second you're playing a game of "Break my board".
  
• REALLY EXPENSIVE. Even tough most cards are in the same Pack, they're mostly UR/SRs and you also have to get some essential URs/SRs from other packs. (Pot of Desires, Electrumite).
  
• Some hands have crucial weakpoints which your opponent can abuse (Using Ash Blossom on your Cerberus scale effect. Now you're stuck with a stupid scale!).
  
• Even tough not alot played, Kaiju/Ra Sphere Mode ♥♥♥♥♥ your board.

The Bread and Butter

Endymion has some really strong playmakers, which you should try to resolve most of the time for your combos.

First and most obvious would be "Servant of Endymion"


Her Pendulum-Scale effect allows you to remove three Spell Counters from herself to Special Summon a Monster with 1000 ATK or more on which you can place Spell Counters, and also gives her and the summoned Monster a Spell Counter each.
So basically, she already makes your Endymion indestructible, if you choose to summon him through the effect, and gives you a body to link away for Electrumite. However, sometimes it's better to get an early Jackal King onto the field (Especially if you notice that you're opponent seems to be able to react to your actions)

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Cerberus go boom, Institution gain Counter!

A strong two-card Combo is Master Cerberus paired together with Mythical Institution


Master Cerberus can destroy itself in your Pendulum Scale to search for another "Myhtical Beast" Monster in your deck. By Searching a Jackal King and using his Pendulum Effect to destroy himself and Special Summon the destroyed Master Cerberus. Doing this grants you four Spell Counters on your Magical institution and a body on board for Electrumite later.
With the four Spell Counters you can basically search for your needed scale, or just about any low level Monster in your deck!

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Electrumite, our lord and savior

Without a doubt the best card in the whole deck, it enables you to search ANY Pendulum Monster you want and send it to your Extra deck at the cost of destroying one card on the field (which can trigger again Mythical Institution). Most of the time you can put one of your useless/unnecessary scales into your Pendulum Zone and trigger Electrumite (Watch out for Handtraps though!)

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You should always aim to actually Pendulum Summon when you get Electrumite out or a Selene. Pendulum Summoning before it should only be done in bad hands/dire situations.

Notable Things and Tech Options

Of course Endymion has some other tricks up his sleeve, so if you're looking for some more Information/Spice, here it is

GENERAL INFO

• Endymion's Pendulum Scale effect can be a Gamechanger, since it's a Spell Effect (so unaffected by Skill Drain) and does NOT target. If you can destroy 3+ cards with Endymion's Scale effect, it's game most of the time.
  
• Magical Abductor is also quite a good card for the deck and helps to boost it's consistency. However, it also requires some investment with it's three Spell Counters.
  
• KEEP. TRACK. OF. SPELL COUNTERS. Don't Summon an Endymion just to notice that his negate isn't live and you don't have anything to bounce back for it.
  
• On topic of keeping track of things, you should also always check what you banished off Pot of Desires.
  
• Magical Citadel of Endymion is another card I'd heavily recommend for the deck. It can once per turn substitute itself for effects which remove Spell Counters, which helps with drawing late into a Servant.
  
• Playing Called by the Grave is pretty much a must in here.

SPICE/TECHS

• You can run three copies of "Thunder Dragon" and a copy of "Thunder Dragon Colossus" in your Extra deck. Activating Thunder Dragon's effect in Hand and then Pendulum Summoning it allows you to summon Colossus, who can win games on his own or heavily cripple decks that rely on searching.
  
• "Magician's Soul's" + "Magician's Restage" is a combo that allows you to draw a (or even two) card(s) and search for "Magician's Right Hand", a permanent Spell that negates the first activated Spell effect from your opponent.
  
• "Secret Village of the Spellcasters" serves a similar purpose as Magician's Right Hand, but is only searchable through Terraforming. However it's also better, as it stays permanently on the field and just blocks your opponent from using Spell cards in general.
  
• "Kai-Den Kendo Spirit" is a Pendulum Scale 9 Monster. This allows you to Pendulum Summon Master Cerberus from the Extra deck, which is something that you can't do in normal Builds. Also, on a successful Pendulum Summon he can bounce himself back to your Hand from the Pendulum Zone, allowing you to generate more Spell Counters.
  
• "Reasoning" is also a pretty good option for the deck, since most of your Monsters have different levels, so it helps with getting a body on board for the Electrumite or if you're lucky you could also hit a Jackal King or Endymion.

Example Deck(s)

Personal build I used to climb to Platinum I

Example Combo

Ending

Hey, I hope this guide was good to read and helped you understand the quirks of Trifs favorite Summoning Mechanic even more.


I'm always open to feedback & suggestions, so feel free to leave those down below. Oh, and also don't forget to rate the Guide itself!


Goodbye and always remember

PENDULUM BEST DECK, LESS GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

[TJ]

using a very high cost version of the deck, runnin chicken game and upstart goblin to just absolutely spam Spell tokens. Crazy effective. By also removing a few of the Cerberus and the Jackal also just improves the consistency like crazy.

Planning to add a spell book engine aswell, though that one is still 230 UR craftpoints away xD

Amazing guide, lets go Endymion!

[KweenCobra]

Amazing guide! Endymion is prolly one of my favorite archetypes in the game. Just wanted to add that curtain raiser is a really good option for this deck since it lets you get another pend body on the board while also giving you another spell counter.

Another really great engine for this deck is the spellbook cards, since either spellbook magician or spellbook of secrets gets you another two spell counters, along with two more cards. It also gives you a body in grave to summon off the effect of cross sheep. This makes crowley really good for this deck too.

I would also consider running a copy of magicians' souls, since they let you send your brick spell cards in order to get more draws. Plus, since the deck plays 3 of endymion, having one in grave for seleene is always a good idea.

Those are just my additional thoughts. Wonderful guide tho, very informative and really highlights how powerful this deck can be!