Gorgonic Deck Guide: Stone-Gazing Serpents

Gorgonic Umbral Horror

Main Deck · Effect Monster

Gorgonic Umbral Horror

Level: 4
Attribute: DARK
Type: Rock / Effect
ATK / DEF: 1200 / 0

Card text

You cannot Special Summon from the Extra Deck, except "Number" Xyz Monsters. You can only use each of the following effects of "Gorgonic Umbral Horror" once per turn.
If you control no monsters, or all monsters you control are "Umbral Horror" monsters: You can Special Summon this card from your hand, and if you do, add 1 non-Rock "Umbral Horror" monster from your Deck to your hand.
Can be treated as 2 materials for the Xyz Summon of a "Number" Xyz Monster that requires 3 or more materials.

Role: the starter. It summons itself onto an empty field, adds V, Shining or Thousand, then counts as two of Masquerade V's three materials. Every line in this tab begins with it.

Summons itself: Empty field, or only Umbral Horrors
Adds: A non-Rock Umbral Horror
Counts as: 2 materials for a 3+ material Number
While face-up: Number Xyz only from the Extra Deck

The Gorgonic angle. It's the only Level 4 Gorgonic, and it keeps the family's DARK Rock stats. So Gallant Granite can add it, and Gorgonic Gargoyle and Gorgonic Cerberus both react to it. Its Number-only restriction is the catch. Gorgonic Guardian isn't a Number, so the two can't share a turn while Gorgonic Umbral Horror is face-up. See which classic cards still work.

Recommended copies: 3

V Umbral Horror

Main Deck · Effect Monster

V Umbral Horror

Level: 4
Attribute: DARK
Type: Spellcaster / Effect
ATK / DEF: 500 / 1500

Card text

If this card is Normal or Special Summoned: You can add 1 "Umbral Horror" monster from your Deck to your hand, except "V Umbral Horror".
You can banish this card from your GY, then target 1 "Masquerade" Xyz Monster you control; Special Summon from your Extra Deck, 1 "Number" monster that is 1 Rank higher than that monster you control, by using it as material (this is treated as an Xyz Summon, transfer its materials).
You can only use each effect of "V Umbral Horror" once per turn.

Role: searcher and Rank-Up. On the field it adds the next Umbral Horror, Gorgonic included. In the GY it does the job of a Rank-Up-Magic Spell, so the climb from Masquerade V to C104 Victory costs no card from your hand.

On summon: Adds any Umbral Horror but V
From the GY: Masquerade Xyz → Number 1 Rank up
Works on: Masquerade V and the 2013 Number 104: Masquerade
Rank-Up stopped by: GY banishers such as D.D. Crow and the Bystials

The Gorgonic angle. V can fetch Gorgonic Umbral Horror too. Normal Summon V, add Gorgonic, and Gorgonic still summons itself, because V is an Umbral Horror. Ash Blossom can stop V's search, but not its Rank-Up, which summons from the Extra Deck.

Recommended copies: 3

Shining Umbral Horror

Main Deck · Effect Monster

Shining Umbral Horror

Level: 4
Attribute: LIGHT
Type: Fiend / Effect
ATK / DEF: 0 / 2000

Card text

If you Normal or Special Summon an "Umbral Horror" monster(s) or a "Masquerade" Xyz Monster(s) (except during the Damage Step): You can Special Summon this card from your hand, and if you do, draw 1 card, then you can Special Summon it if it is an "Umbral Horror" monster.
Can be treated as 2 materials for the Xyz Summon of a "Number" Xyz Monster that requires 3 or more materials.
You can only use each effect of "Shining Umbral Horror" once per turn.

Role: the extender. It joins the field when you summon an Umbral Horror or a Masquerade Xyz, replaces itself with a draw, and then counts as two materials. With one more Level 4 it makes a second Masquerade V.

Joins on: An Umbral Horror or Masquerade summon
Gives: +1 card and +1 body
Counts as: 2 materials for a 3+ material Number
Timing: Must already be in your hand

The Gorgonic angle. Shining is the one LIGHT card of the five, so it fits a Rank 4 Number that asks for LIGHT monsters, like Number 102: Star Seraph Sentry. Rank that up with Rank-Up-Magic Limited Barian's Force and Number C102: Archfiend Seraph turns a monster to 0 ATK and negates it, Gorgonic Guardian's gaze one Rank higher. It can't respond to the summon that added it to your hand; it has to be there already.

Recommended copies: 2

Thousand Umbral Horror

Main Deck · Effect Monster

Thousand Umbral Horror

Level: 4
Attribute: DARK
Type: Fiend / Effect
ATK / DEF: 0 / 0

Card text

(Quick Effect): You can send this card from your hand or field to the GY; place 1 "Barian's Seventh Untopia" from your hand or Deck, face-up in your Field Zone, also you cannot Special Summon from the Extra Deck until the end of your next turn after this effect resolves, except Xyz Monsters.
If an Xyz Monster(s) is Special Summoned, while this card is in your GY (except during the Damage Step): You can Special Summon this card, also you take no effect damage from your card effects this turn.
You can only use each effect of "Thousand Umbral Horror" once per turn.

Role: the Field Spell placer. It puts Barian's Seventh Untopia on the field straight from the Deck, then comes back from the GY when any Xyz Monster is Special Summoned, even one of your opponent's. That return is the third material for a second Masquerade V.

Places: Untopia, from hand or Deck
Your restriction: Xyz only, until the end of your next turn
Returns when: Any Xyz Monster is Special Summoned
Bonus: No effect damage to you that turn

What Barian's Seventh Untopia does

Neither player can Special Summon from the Extra Deck more than 2 times per turn, except Number monsters. Once per turn in your Main Phase it adds an Umbral Horror monster from your Deck, then you discard 1 card. In each End Phase, each player takes 400 damage for every Xyz Monster on the field. Thousand places it rather than activating it, so nothing that negates a Spell's activation can answer it.

The Gorgonic angle. Thousand's restriction still allows Xyz Monsters, so on its own it wouldn't stop Gorgonic Guardian. The one that does is Gorgonic Umbral Horror. Try both in the Extra Deck checker.

Recommended copies: 2

Number C104: Umbral Horror Masquerade Victory

Extra Deck · Xyz Monster

Number C104: Umbral Horror Masquerade Victory

Rank: 5
Attribute: DARK
Type: Spellcaster / Xyz / Effect
ATK / DEF: 3000 / 1500

Card text

4 Level 5 monsters
Once per turn (Quick Effect): You can detach 1 material from this card, then target 1 card your opponent controls; destroy it.
If this card battles an opponent's monster, during damage calculation: This card's ATK/DEF become equal to that opponent's monster's ATK or DEF (whichever is higher) +100, during that damage calculation only.
If this card destroys a monster by battle: Send 1 random card from your opponent's hand to the GY, and if you do, halve your opponent's LP.

Role: the boss. Nobody makes it from four Level 5s. It lands on top of Masquerade V through V Umbral Horror or a Rank-Up-Magic Spell, keeps Masquerade V's materials and picks up Masquerade V's banish effect on the way.

Removal: Destroys 1 card, on either turn
In battle: Their higher stat + 100
On a kill: Random discard, then their LP halved
Arrives via: V Umbral Horror or Limited Barian's Force

Against the 2013 C104

The original Number C104: Umbral Horror Masquerade destroys a Spell or Trap when it's Special Summoned, and negates monster effects only with Number 104: Masquerade attached. Masquerade V has a different name, so on top of it the original never gets that negation. Victory needs nothing attached: its Quick Effect hits any card, and in battle it always ends up 100 higher than the monster it fights. The halving happens only if your opponent has a card in hand to send.

The Gorgonic angle. This is where Gorgonic Umbral Horror ends up. When V Umbral Horror ranks Masquerade V up, Gorgonic travels along as material, and from then on its Number-only restriction is off. Gorgonic Guardian beats a monster by turning it to 0 ATK; Victory just becomes 100 ATK stronger than it.

Recommended copies: 1–2

Rank 4 Number	Materials	Counts double?	Next step
Number 104: Masquerade V	3 Level 4	Gorgonic or Shining	V Umbral Horror or Limited Barian's Force into C104 Victory. The core of the deck.
Number 104: Masquerade2013	3 Level 4	Gorgonic or Shining	It's a Masquerade too, so V Umbral Horror can rank it up. On top of it, the 2013 C104 keeps its monster negation.
Number 105: Battlin' Boxer Star Cestus	3 Level 4	Gorgonic or Shining	Limited Barian's Force into Number C105: Battlin' Boxer Comet Cestus, which destroys a monster and burns for its ATK with Star Cestus attached.
Number 102: Star Seraph Sentry	3 LIGHT Level 4	Shining only	Limited Barian's Force into Number C102: Archfiend Seraph: 0 ATK and negate, like Gorgonic Guardian. Gorgonic is DARK and can't help here.
Number 39: Utopia Rising	2 Level 4	Counts as 1	When it's Special Summoned it revives a Number from your GY, such as a Masquerade V, and can pass its materials to it.
Number 101: Silent Honor ARK	2 Level 4	Counts as 1	Limited Barian's Force into Number C101: Silent Honor DARK, another Number C the Dragon can stack on.

Card	Works with it?	Why
Classic Gorgonic
Gorgonic GuardianRank 3 Xyz	No	Not a Number, so it can't be summoned while Gorgonic Umbral Horror is face-up, even with Gorgonic as one of its materials. Once Gorgonic is material or in the GY, Guardian is allowed again, but it still needs two Level 3 Rocks.
Gorgonic Cerberus	Barely	Its Normal Summon makes every Rock you control Level 3, Gorgonic Umbral Horror included. Gorgonic (as 2) plus Cerberus then makes a Rank 3 Number that needs three Level 3s: Number 34: Terror-Byte, Number 51: Finisher the Strong Arm or Number C65: King Overfiend. None of them is worth the Normal Summon that V Umbral Horror wants.
Gorgonic Gargoyle	Barely	Normal Summoning Gorgonic Umbral Horror, a Rock, brings Gargoyle out. But Gorgonic only adds a card when it summons itself, and a Level 3 Gargoyle can't join a Rank 4. Gargoyle isn't an Umbral Horror either, so once it's on the field Gorgonic can't summon itself.
Gorgonic Golem	No	A Level 3 body with no way into a Rank 4. On your field it stops Gorgonic Umbral Horror from summoning itself.
Gorgonic Ghoul	No	Level 1, and it only summons itself next to another Gorgonic Ghoul. Same problem as Golem.
Gallant GraniteRank 4 Rock Xyz	Next turn	It adds any Rock from the Deck, Gorgonic Umbral Horror included. But Granite isn't a Number or an Umbral Horror: it can't come out while Gorgonic is face-up, and with Granite on your field Gorgonic can't summon itself. It finds Gorgonic for a later turn.
Older Umbral Horror
Umbral Horror Will o' the Wisp	Yes	When it's summoned, it takes the Level of another Umbral Horror you control or have in your GY. Target Gorgonic and it becomes Level 4, the third material for Masquerade V.
Umbral Horror Ghoul	Yes	An Umbral Horror, so Gorgonic can still summon itself beside it. Once per turn it drops to 0 ATK to summon a 0-ATK Umbral Horror from your hand: Shining or Thousand.
Umbral Horror Ghost	Partly	It summons itself and a Level 4 or lower Fiend from your hand, like Shining or Thousand, but you can't Normal Summon that turn, so V has to arrive some other way.
Umbral Horror Unform	Partly	Only when it's destroyed by battle while attacking. Then it summons 2 Umbral Horrors from your Deck. V's summon trigger still adds a card; Gorgonic's doesn't, because it only adds when it summons itself from the hand.

Lore Archive

Executive Summary: The Gorgonic Paradox

Anatomy of an Engine: The Gorgonic Core

The Boss Monster: Gorgonic Guardian

The Main Deck Enablers

Gorgonic Gargoyle

Gorgonic Golem

Gorgonic Cerberus

Gorgonic Ghoul

Forging a Functional Deck: External Engines

The Chronomaly Engine

The Adamancipator Engine

The Reptilianne Engine

Executing the Game Plan: Foundational Combo

The Normal Summon

Activate Extender

Summon the Guardian

Target Endboards

Basic Endboard

Optimal Endboard (Adamancipator)

Strategic Analysis

Strengths

Weaknesses

Key Tech & Support

Beyond the Brave: Gorgonic Meets Umbral Horror

One Card, One Rank 4

Rank-Up Without a Spell

Two Restrictions

The Five Cards

Gorgonic Umbral Horror

V Umbral Horror

Shining Umbral Horror

Thousand Umbral Horror

Number C104: Umbral Horror Masquerade Victory

Boss Evolution: Rank 4 to Rank 7

The Umbral Horror bodies

Number 104: Masquerade V

Number C104: Umbral Horror Masquerade Victory

CXyz Hope Chaos Barian Dragon

The Rank 4 Toolbox

Old Stone, New Horror: Which Classic Cards Still Work

Can You Still Summon It?

Combo Lines

Gorgonic into C104 Victory

Two Rank-Ups and a Victory Swing

Golem and Gargoyle into Gorgonic Guardian

Building It

The Umbral Horror core

What about the classic Gorgonics?

What Can Go Wrong

Searches are choke points

A negated Gorgonic counts as one material

V Umbral Horror lives in the GY

Nibiru after the fifth summon

Verdict

Combo Simulator

Gorgonic Umbral Horror: Going First into C104 Victory

Going Second: Two Rank-Ups and a C104 Victory Swing

Classic Rank 3: Golem and Gargoyle into Gorgonic Guardian

Banlist Impact

Affected Synergistic Cards

Forbidden

Suggest an Improvement