Yu-Gi-Oh! Forbidden Memories

A-Tec guide

by hippochan

What is an A-Tec?

In Yu-Gi-Oh! Forbidden Memories, at the end of each duel victory, the player is awarded one card determined by two different factors: The opponent beaten, and the rank achieved by the player. The player's performance during a duel is graded on a scale from D to S, based on actions taken by the player. There are two different ranking groups both rated on this scale: POW, and TEC.

Generally speaking, higher-end POW rankings are awarded for quick, clean duels with few life points lost and cards used, among other things. TEC rankings on the other hand reward the player for stretching their technical skill using magic and trap cards to overcome the opponent. TEC rankings tend to drop stronger magic and trap cards, whilst POW rankings favour dropping stronger monsters, though for some opponents their Spell/Trap drop pool is significantly stronger than their monster drop pool. These are the cases where A-TEC is most useful!

You may have heard throughout your time playing this game of how to obtain an S-Tec ranking by decking out the opponent. Winning by deck out will always yield the desired rank, guaranteed, however the set up for achieveing this is incredibly slow and inconsistent. It also relies on the player not fusing and having to use strong standalone monsters to survive the duel.

By studying the factors which determine how the duel rank is exactly calculated, we have been able to come up with a much quicker and much more consistent setup for getting an A-Tec rank instead of an S-Tec rank. Don't worry - the drop pools between S and A-Tec ranks are completely identical in every case.

How to perform an A-Tec?

The easiest way to achieve an A-Tec rank with an average campaign deck is by performing the following during a duel:

• 15 Fusions
• 4 Effective Attacks
• 1 Facedown Play
• 1 Magic Activation
• 1 Equip Usage
• 1 Trap Activation
• 37 Cards Used
• 9 Turns
• Under 7000 Life Points

Check out My Rank Calculator for a piece of software which can aid you in counting these requirements as you play through the duel! I recommend you play with this to figure out which other combinations can result in an A-Tec. For example if you're lucky and have 3 traps to activate, you'll only need to perform 10 fusions.

At first glance, this seems quite complicated and potentially intimidating. After all, remembering to do all of these things sounds more difficult than just "deck out opponent", but I assure you that this process is simpler and easier than any deck out method you may have ever tried before. Let's go over some definitions.

Definitions and Tips

• A Fusion is counted any time the fusion animation plays. So, a fusion chain involving four cards in a row is considered to be 3 fusions. Fill your deck with cards that chain easily, for example, Dragons and Zombies. Any combination of four dragons and zombies in a row will eventually fuse into Curse of Dragon. Other good candidates are Aquas when paired with Dragons, and Spellcasters paired with Thunders. If your deck is already making THTD efficiently, this should come naturally to you.


• An Effective Attack is counted whenever your attack position monster attacks an opponent's attack position monster and deals damage as a result of battle (not a direct attack!). In order to rack up four of these, you'll need to bait your opponent to attack you by playing some face-up weak monsters. You should play your own weak monsters in attack position and take damage from the monsters you're baiting your opponent to play in attack position, since going under 7000 life points is also an A-Tec requirement.


• A Facedown Play is simply you playing any card face down, be it a magic, trap, or monster. Since you need to activate a trap for another requirement anyway, just remember to play that face down and you'll be fine.


• An Equip Usage is counted when a compatible equip is applied to your monster, even if that monster is subsequently dumped. If the equip animation plays, it counts.


• A Trap Activation is counted when an opponent triggers a trap on your side of the field. You cannot manually activate the trap yourself by pressing X on an already placed trap or fusing a trap and letting it fizzle from the hand. As a pro tip, you can use Fake Trap to combine a trap activation with a free effective attack!


• For the Cards Used requirement, a card is considered "used" simply by being drawn. For the requirement of 37 cards used, simply observe that your card count in the upper-right corner is 3 or fewer before winning the duel. Be careful not to deck yourself out.


• You can keep track of the number of turns passed by looking at the number of cards remaining in your opponent's deck. Since the opponent does not fuse from the hand in normal circumstances (I'll get onto this later), they will only draw one card per turn. Therefore, if your opponent has 27 or fewer cards remaining, assuming that they did not fuse, then 9 turns have passed.


• I would like to finally give an honorable mention to Defensive Wins as an A-Tec tactic here. A Defensive Win is when an opponent attacks into your face-down defense position monster and loses the battle and life points as a result. Two Defensive Wins can be performed as a substitute to activating a Trap, if you don't have one. It is important to keep in mind however that the Defensive Win method will not work against Pegasus or any of the final four duelists in the game, as they have been programmed not to attack into face-down cards unless they will win the fight (they can see your face-down cards).

If you're looking for a trap, you should farm either Pegasus or Kaiba on a B/C/D rank (of either kind). Pegasus plays his boss monster less often than Kaiba and is therefore a slightly easier fight, but Kaiba drops his trap at a slightly higher rate. It's up to you.

Things to watch out for

If you're reading this guide at all, you probably already know the benefits of A-Tecing and who to A-Tec. In case you're in the dark, the prime A-Tec target in YGOFM is Pegasus, because he drops a myriad of equips and removal cards including Megamorph, which is arguably the strongest card in the game. Kaiba is a firm second place for best A-Tec target, as he drops Widespread Ruin at a slightly more common rate than Pegasus, as well as Crush Card. If you are curious about drop pools in this game, visit PocketDuelist!

Since Pegasus is the best A-Tec target in the game, there are a few things you should take specific care with when fighting him:

First of all, as previously mentioned, the Defensive Win method does not work against Pegasus because he can see face-down cards, so you must (usually) use a Trap Card to A-Tec him.

Secondly, Pegasus is prone to activating Raigeki or fusing from his hand if you leave him with a monster on the board. At all costs, do not end your turn whilst Pegasus has a monster on the board.

Thirdly, he also has copies of Harpies' Feather Duster. Avoid setting your traps or magics turn 1. Pegasus will not activate any of his magic cards if you have a monster on the board and he does not, so wait until turn 2 to be able to safely play your backrow.

Fourth, you probably know this, but Pegasus can carry a copy of Meteor B. Dragon. Unless you can make a 3800 THTD in record time or pull a clutch Dragon Capture Jar, I would recommend just saving yourself some time and conceding if you see this play from him. It is quite rare that he plays it. Rare enough that, while annoying, it is a non-issue in the long run.

You should run at least two traps in your deck if possible. If you draw the trap at the bottom of your deck, it cannot be activated without you decking yourself out. If you draw your trap as your second-to-last card against Pegasus and you have a fusion in your hand to win in the next turn, then congratulations, because you have discovered one of the only instances where it is useful to let Pegasus leave a monster on his side of the board. Do not attack him, let him use Raigeki, and then allow his monster to be destroyed by your trap. You will draw your one final card on the next turn and be able to win. This situation comes up infrequently but frequently enough for me to make a note of this strategy, as many people fail to consider it. Now it's written down!

If you ask any questions ask in the discord lol