Previously "Shaddoll" Monsters were run with a LIGHT engine (notable cards in Recommended). Nowadays "Shaddolls" can be run as support with the " Railway" series with " Shekhinaga" (usually with " Kaiju"), " Prediction Princess" for Flip Effect support or the newer " Invoked" Fusion archetype

The "El Shaddoll" monsters follow a pattern of requiring " 1 "Shaddoll" monster + 1 [corresponding Attribute] monster" as Fusion Materials, and their effects become more aggressive as their Levels increase: El Shaddoll Grysta: This one is the FIRE Fusion monster, which has an effect kind of similar to Shekhinaga. It requires 1 Shaddoll monster + 1 FIRE monster. Must first be Fusion Summoned. Cannot be destroyed by an opponent's card effects. Each player can only Special Summon monster(s) once per turn while this card is face-up on the field. If this card is sent to the Graveyard: You can target 1 "Shaddoll" Spell/Trap Card in your Graveyard; add it to your hand. FLIP: You can Special Summon 1 "Shaddoll" monster from your hand in face-up or face-down Defense Position.Quintet Magician: Is a big Level 12 DARK Spellcaster with 4500 ATK/DEF and requires 5 Spellcaster monsters to be Fusion Summoned. If those 5 Spellcaster monsters had different names between each other, on its Fusion Summon, you can destroy all cards your opponent controls. While on the field, it cannot be destroyed by card effects, can't be used as a Fusion Material and it cannot be Tributed. Being one of the few monsters in the game that cannot be Kaiju'd, his nuke effect and big statline paired with tolerable protection makes him an impressive optional boss monster. FLIP: You can target 1 "Shaddoll" monster in your Graveyard, except "Shaddoll Falco"; Special Summon it in face-down Defense Position. If this card is sent to the Graveyard by a card effect: You can Special Summon it in face-down Defense Position. You can only use 1 "Shaddoll Falco" effect per turn, and only once that turn.

If this card is Pendulum Summoned or sent to the Graveyard: You can target 1 card in either player's Pendulum Zone; return it to the hand. You must have a "Zefra" card in your Pendulum Zone to activate and to resolve this effect. You can only use this effect of "Shaddoll Zefranaga" once per turn.Target 1 "Shaddoll" monster you control; send 1 "Shaddoll" card from your hand to the Graveyard, and if you do, the targeted monster gains 1000 ATK and DEF, but is changed to face-down Defense Position during the End Phase.

If this card is sent to the Graveyard by a card effect: You can draw 1 card. You can only use 1 "Shaddoll Beast" effect per turn, and only once that turn. Special Summon this card as an Effect Monster (Spellcaster-Type/DARK/Level 9/ATK 1450/DEF 1950). (This card is also still a Trap Card.) If Summoned this way, you can substitute this monster for 1 Fusion Material Monster that lists an Attribute, on a "Shaddoll" Fusion Monster Card. If this card is sent to the Graveyard by a card effect: You can target 1 "Shaddoll" Spell/Trap Card in your Graveyard, except "Shaddoll Core"; add it to your hand. Must first be Fusion Summoned. Cannot be destroyed by battle. You can only use each of the following effects of "El Shaddoll Apkallone" once per turn. Ariel's second effect activates if it's sent to the graveyard by a card effect. This effect acts as Shaddoll's main graveyard disruption and is very unique to the archetype. With Lunalight and SPYRAL being popular meta options this format, banishing cards from the graveyard can impair their set up. Sinister Shadow Games makes it very easy to activate Ariel on your opponent's turn. If this card is sent to the GY by a card effect: You can send 1 "Shaddoll" monster from your hand to the GY, and if you do, for the rest of this turn, all monsters you control gain ATK/DEF equal to the original Level of that monster sent to the GY x 100. You can only use 1 "Qadshaddoll Keios" effect per turn, and only once that turn.

Zombie Horde

Must first be Fusion Summoned. During either player's turn, when a Special Summoned monster activates its effect while you have a "Shaddoll" card in your hand: You can negate the activation, and if you do, destroy that monster, then send 1 "Shaddoll" card from your hand to the Graveyard. You can only use this effect of "El Shaddoll Shekhinaga" once per turn. If this card is sent to the Graveyard: You can target 1 "Shaddoll" Spell/Trap Card in your Graveyard; add it to your hand. Incarnation's second effect lets you banish Incarnation and one other Shaddoll card from the graveyard to either change one face-down monster to face-up defense position or one face-up monster to face-down defense position. This effect greatly contributes to the speed and flexibility of the Shaddoll archetype. Being an archetype based around flip effects, Incarnation helps speed up its goals. As a trap card, this effect can also be used during your opponent's turn to flip summon monsters for disruption. Hot off the Ban List, Pot of Avarice makes it return as a reprint. Avarice gives newer players an opportunity to play with an old staple. Twin Twisters