New Cards: The New Monarchs!

So welcome back to the deepest Yu-gi-oh blog on teh internets. Today I'm covering some new Monarch cards that might make them top tier! Well that is if they get enough support. So I'll go head and cover the 2 new upcoming cards that could change how the Monarch deck is run:
So our first card is:

Granmarg the Rugged Rock Monarch
Earth, Rock/Effect, Level 8
You can Tribute Summon this card by Tributing 1 Tribute Summoned monster. When this card is Tribute Summoned: Target up to 2 Set cards on the field; destroy those target(s), then draw 1 card if every monster Tributed to Tribute Summon this card was EARTH.

ATK: 2800/DEF: 1000

So the first monarch we get is a new Granmarg. For those who don't know the original Granmarg hasn't been playable in years. A one sac monster that only destroys  a set card? Nah I'm good. One of the weknesses of the old Monarchs is that they were overshadowed by Caius and Raiza. So this new monarch is a one sac, two if you want to sac that many, monster that pops 2 set cards. So hes a plus one minimum. Throw in a draw if you sacked just Earth monsters for him and he starts looking really good. The only current issue is that the majority of Monarch decks run on the Frog engine. Which just happens to be water. So while its possible to get his effect to go off its very much possible to never get that draw. One of his advantages is to plus one on backrow, which is ever so important this format with the neutering of power trap cards. So he isn't bad for a new card, gives Monarchs access to Rank 8s with Illusory Snatcher, but Rank 8s are not all that appealing.

Now we get to the new card that makes me believe more Super Narchs are coming.

Molding the Monarchs
Continuous Spell Card
You cannot Special Summon monsters from your Extra Deck. When you Tribute Summon a monster: You can activate 1 of these effects. You can only activate 1 of these "Molding the Monarchs" effects per turn, and only once that turn.
● Add 1 monster with 2400 ATK and 1000 DEF from your Deck to your hand, except a monster of the same name as that Tribute Summoned monster.
● Add 1 monster with 2800 ATK and 1000 DEF from your Deck to your hand, except a monster of the same name as that Tribute Summoned monster.

So this card is interesting. A search card for the Monarch deck, and at the same time kills a huge part of its engine. So you want some search? Well you got to lose those Treeborn Frogs. They're not cool enough for the new guys. So with just one floating around you get to summon a Caius or Raiza then search the other. Or you can even search one of the big brother Monarchs like Rugged Granmarg. The advantage to this card is in multiples. When you are sitting on 2 you get a Raiza and a Rugged Granmarg from your Caius summon. 3? Search 2 big Monarchs and 1 little Monarch, or 1 big Monarch and 2 little Monarchs. The big drawback to this card is the lack of access to the extra deck. That one line at the top hurts the card alot. It completely removes a huge number of plays from Monarchs. Its almost a deal breaker. It is a deal breaker until Monarch players find a new engine that isn't hindered by having backrow, and doesn't even think of the extra deck.

So Monarchs are getting some new support, the only question is why are they ignoring the previous support? They're even ignoring their entire engine.... maybe they have some grand plan? The lack of extra deck access limits the Illusory Snatcher plays to just more firepower on the board, or another sac next turn. With this card being a continuous backrow card it hurts the playability of treeborn frog. If Big Granmarg's draw effect was instead that you could pop one of your cards for a draw he would be amazing. SS Treeborn, Sac for Big Monarch X, search with Molding, pop Molding for draw. Sounds like Monarchs with todays speed. This also brings me to the fact that Monarchs were just inadvertently hit. The limit of Constellar Ptolemy M7 reduced the power of Monarchs. With 3 the play was pretty good. Sac for Caius or Raiza, SS Illusory Snatcher, hit a card with the Monarchs effect, attack for up to 4800, overlay for M7, detach and retrieve Monarch if you have another Snatcher, or detach and retrieve Snatcher if you have another Monarch. This allowed a lot of circulation for the Monarch deck. Well we'll see how the new cards affect the current engines and see what Konami may or may not have in store for us. Hopefully they don't pull another Alien deck and leave Monarchs with half the support they need to just barely function. Well got to go kick some Treeborns out of the new Monarch club so you guys come on back next time.

-Kurotaro

Thursdays update: Plussing and Minusing

Sorry for not getting to this yesterday, it was quite the long day. So today I will be covering what is commonly known as Plussing(+), Minusing(-), and one-for-oneing(141).

So lets start with defining these common terms. So most card games have what is referred to as plussing. A + is when you gain advantage. A + is usually also a - for your opponent. However there are cards that + just for you but do not - your opponent. A - is when you lose advantage. Like plussing it usually means the opposite for your opponent. So when you - your opponent usually +s from it. And finally the 141. A 141 is when neither player loses or gains advantage. These will be covered with card examples in the next paragraphs.

So lets start with minusing. Players normally avoid any situation or cards that will end up minusing them. The cards that - are usually considered to be cards that are considered to wither be bd or situational. An example of a card that is a -1 is: Raigeki Break. Raigeki Break is a - because you lose 1 more card then your opponent. Raigeki Break counts as a lost card, along with the card you discard. The gain is that you destroy one card of your opponents. This results in a net card gain of -1. Not all cards that - are bad though. Cards like Raigeki Break have seen recent play because even though they are a - to the player, their versatility makes them worth the card loss. A long time ago in the early days of Yu-gi-oh there were a lot of minus cards around that people ran. This was because of two things, one, the lack of good 141 cards, and two the power of the + cards at the time was so overwhelming that you needed to have a defense against them. When a card game's card pool is mainly comprised of cards that - it has a very interesting effect on the game. It creates a very slow game where all plays have to be carefully considered beforehand. This is because you need advantage in a card game to win. So the more negatives you take the harder it becomes to win. However this doesn't make cards that minus skillful, just risky.

Next we will go over plussing. Players will usually try to max out on as many + cards as possible. Lets start with a modern day plus card: Rescue Rabbit. Rescue Rabbit banishes himself to get you 2 monsters from the deck. This is technically a +3, but in actual card advantage is a +1. The +1 comes from receiving 2 monsters for the price of 1. The other +2 is because you thinned your deck by two cards. Especially because Rescue Rabbit grabs cards you don't want to draw. Plussing is both good and bad for a card game. The more plussing that any deck can do the more powerful it becomes. This is because it allows the deck to gain advantage. Plussing is bad because it can create cards that are lucksacky(gives huge advantage for having been lucky enough to draw them), overpowered(offer way to much power for the effort to summon them), or are unfair(little or no drawbacks). An example of a lucksacky + card is Super Rejuvenation. An example of an overpowered + card is Judgment Dragon. An example of an unfair + card is Inzektor Hornet. Plus cards are also good for a card game. Good plus cards allow a player to get back into the game if they start to take too many minuses. Without + cards you would have a constant uphill battle to just stay in the game whenever you took a minus. Imagine a game of Yu-gi-oh where you can't gain any advantage. If you lost a monster in battle, you are now down by one card, permanently. BLS attacks over two cards? Down two cards for the rest of the game. Somewhere around -3 you would probably start to auto lose the game. Plus cards also add a lot of speed to the game. So in conclusion, plus cards speed up the card game's overall speed and usually lead to unfair lucky advantages, but a good plus card helps the card game by making it more fair.

Finally we come to 141s. 141s are when neither player gains or loses advantage. MST is a perfect example of a 141. 141s are what occupy most of the middle of games. Cards that neither gain or lose advantage allow games to become longer and more fair. Since you neither gain nor lose advantage you can use them indiscriminately, like with a blind MST, or play them smartly and tactfully, like a baited MST. 141s are inherently good for card games. 141s enable players to compete more upon skill and tactics then upon decks. However this does not mean that 141s make the game completely fair. A completely fair game would bore a lot of players. This is why the other two types of cards exist. So 141s in a nutshell allow players to have a decently fair game while making it last longer to enable more skillful plays.

So overall a good card game should balance out its +,-, and 141 cards. Too many plus cards and the game becomes lightning fast. Too many - cards and the game becomes a crawl where every card matters. Too many 141 cards and the games become long and every small advantage in cards matters exponentially. For my personal tastes Yu-gi-oh has too many + cards today. The speed of the game has become faster then what I personally prefer. Unlike what many believe Konami does not have to speed up the game to get more players. Make deck 1,2,3,4,5,  and 6. Why more then 1 or 2? This allows players to have choice. Each pack should allow players the choice of different deck types. This enables players who prefer control to update to a new deck. Every pack doesn't even have to be that many new decks. Then they can use the banlist to slightly hit the previous decks, this then creates a speed gap between the previous decks and the new decks. The overall game speed never changes. This to me is the way the game should be ran, but I don't make the cards so I'm just here voiving some opinions. Well thanks for reading this post and I hope you guys come back for my next ones. Now to go draw some more cards that start with W nd end with FML....(Wulf btw).

-Kurotaro

Deck Profile: Super Nova, The Archangels meet Judgment.

Well I promised a deck profile of my current deck and here it is. Not everyone will be interested in this, but any Lightsworn players will find this interesting. So this is a specific variant of the Lightsworn deck, the Sephylon version. I will discuss the monsters, their effects, their strengths and weaknesses, how many you can or should play and why, and good combos with other cards in the deck. Also at the bottom I will discuss the 2 new Lightsworn monsters that are coming to the OCG soon, and for those of you who don't know Lightsworn is also getting a new synchro, but we have no confirmed effects for it yet. If people like this I will finish the profile with spells, traps, extra deck, and side deck. If not I'll leave this as is for now.

The Monsters:

The Boss Monsters

We are going to start with the boss monsters of the deck.

Sephylon, The Ultimate Timelord

Light, Fairy/Effect, Level 10
Cannot be Normal Summoned or Set. Must be Special Summoned (from your hand) by having 10 or more monsters in your Graveyard, and cannot be Special Summoned by other ways. Once per turn: You can Special Summon 1 Level 8 or higher Fairy-Type monster from your hand or Graveyard, but its effects are negated and its ATK becomes 4000.

ATK: 4000/DEF: 4000

The Timelord cards are based on the Archangels. Sephylon though, is based upon the old man image of God, you can see this in his chest plate. So now onto why he is in here. Sephylon needs 10 monsters in the grave to Special Summon(SS) himself. When he does he is a 4000 Atk beatstick, on the bare minimum. A beatstick is a monster with a large ATK that is not doing anything else then just beating your opponent down. So when his effect goes off, SSing a level 8 or higher fairy he creates more beatsticks. The reason Sephylon does so well in Lightsworn is because of two things; One: Lightsworns mill a lot of cards quickly, and Two: Lightsworn decks are very monster heavy. This leads to the grave getting a lot of monsters very quickly. When Sephylon drops his effect, your opponent is staring down 8000 ATK points coming at them. Sephylon wit his effect makes for easy pushes for game. Here is the combo that the deck should use though, Metaion. Metaion is the next card I will be covering and he is a also a Timelord card. The advantage of using Metaion is that he is level 10, this lead to being able to put 8000 on the board(a term for the field) and then if your OTK is stopped you can overlay into rank 10s like Gustaph Max. The drawback of Sephylon is that you need to have 10 monsters in the graveyard. If you draw him too early he is going to be a dead card(just sitting in hand), but other then that he doesn't have any drawbacks. His effect though does require you to run level 8 of higher fairys to be more then just a beatstick. If you are going to run him you should run at least 2. A lot of players will run 3, but the deck can run easily run 2 and substitute a different boss monster for the third.

Metaion, the Timelord
Fire, Fairy/Effect, Level 10
Cannot be Special Summoned from the Deck. If you control no monsters, you can Normal Summon this card without Tributing. This card cannot be destroyed by battle or by card effects. You take no Battle Damage from battles involving this face-up Attack Position card. At the end of the Battle Phase, if this card attacked or was attacked: Return all other monsters on the field to the hand, and inflict 300 damage to your opponent for each card returned. During your Standby Phase: Shuffle this card into the Deck (even if face-down).

ATK: 0/DEF: 0

As a timelord Metaion is also based on the Archangels. Metaion is based on the Archangel Metatron. Sound a lot like Megatron to me but meh. So Metaion is the Troll King. I'm not kidding. He can be Normal Summoned(NS) with no tributes if you have no monsters. He can't be destroyed, so no Torrential Tributes or Mirror Forces. And when he attacks he bounces the ENTIRE field. Not to mention unless your opponent has a card to banish, bounce, or steal him, you just bought yourself a free turn of no damage from your opponent. So Metaion can clear the field, stall you a turn, and then shuffles into the deck to return another day. If that doesn't make him the King of Trolls, then I am clearly missing some over the top ridiculous card. As I stated in the Sephylon section, Metaion brings the ability to spam rank 10 monsters. Two Sephylons and one Metaion allows you to summon 2 rank 10 monsters. SS both Sephylons, activate one of their effects to grab Metaion, overlay for a rank 10, detach the Metaion and repeat. The drawback to Metaion is that you have to NS him, and you can only NS him without tributes if you have no monsters. He is also a dead card in hand if you have no need for his NS. If you are going to run Metaion in the Sephylon build, which I highly suggest, run 2 of him. While you only need 1 to spam rank 10s, you don't get the full advantage of being able to summon him with only one. With 2 you can and will see them in your hand allowing you to discard them for Lumina's effects of summon them to troll the opponent.

Judgment Dragon
Light, Dragon/Effect. Level 8
Cannot be Normal Summoned or Set. Must be Special Summoned (from your hand) by having 4 or more "Lightsworn" monsters with different names in your Graveyard, and cannot be Special Summoned by other ways. You can pay 1000 Life Points; destroy all other cards on the field. During each of your End Phases: Send the top 4 cards of your Deck to the Graveyard. You must control this face-up card to activate and to resolve this effect.

ATK: 3000/DEF: 2600

So the Boss monster of the Lightsworn Archetype. I have no idea what inspired any of the Lightsworn cards, but if you know please leave me a comment with the information and a link if possible. So Judgment Dragon(JD) is the game ender. While Sephylon can bring the OTKs with ease, JD can wipe an entire field for a measly 1000 Life points(LP). Once his summoning condition is met he is a constant threat to your opponent. Just the fear of you having him can cause your opponent to play a lot more conservatively. He can completely destroy advantages that your opponent has. The only drawback to JD is needing 4 Lightsworn monsters with different names in the graveyard. This means an early game JD can be dead. However once he is live he has no drawbacks, except for the 1000 LP cost. JD is so powerful that just topdecking him can win you the game. My suggestion is that any Lightsworn focused deck should run 3 of him. He is powerful, he is game changing, and he makes your opponent have to change their plays. He is so powerful he deserves a hit. I love my Lightsworns, but JD is overpowered. He should at the very most be at 2, but more likely he should be limited. He is powerful enough to even justify banning him. So if you aren't running 3.... well.... why not? Its like having walking tank that annihilates entire fields. A final note though, JD can cause you to deck out if you get stalled. His mill 4 effect at the end phase eats through  deck quickly if you have already milled a lot. This is why you should always run at least 1 rank 8. The ability to overlay 2 JDs to avoid decking out is a very good and powerful play.

Black Luster Soldier - Envoy of the Beginning
Light, Warrior/Effect, Level 8
Cannot be Normal Summoned/Set. Must first be Special Summoned (from your hand) by banishing 1 LIGHT and 1 DARK monster from your Graveyard. Once per turn, you can activate 1 of these effects.
● Target 1 monster on the field; banish that target face-up. This card cannot attack the turn you activate this effect.
● During the Damage Step, if this attacking card destroys an opponent's monster by battle: It can make a second attack in a row.

ATK: 3000/DEF: 2500

If you don't know who Black Luster Soldier - Envoy of the Beginning(BLS) is.... well I would love to see the rock you have been living under. This card was once banned for its power. Now we have it back at 1. This card alone can be game ending. He is a chaos monster, meaning his summon condition is to banish a light and dark monster from your graveyard to SS him. He has two powerful effects that allow him to control the game. He can attack twice if he attacks and kills a monster, or he can banish 1 monster on the field. Doesn't even have to be face-up. Know they set ryko? Banish it. Marshmallon? Goodbye! BLS has the ability to change the pace of the game. When he is summoned he can start to destroy your opponent's field. He can quickly gain his owner multiple +1s. The only drawback to BLS is that he needs both light and dark monsters to summon. You would normally only see him in a Twilight build(a light and dark Lightsworn build), but he can be put into any Lightsworn deck that runs at least 3 dark monsters. He is limited so if you choose to run him run 1. The key to remember about those dark counts, you can have Gorz, Tragoedia, and even Necro Gardnas. I will discuss those cards further down below if you don't know what they are. BLS can turn those defensive Necro Gardnas into a huge and lethal offensive force. Don't be afraid to banish one or your only Necro Gardna to summon BLS. The advantages he can gain will almost always make up for the loss of 1 Necro Gardna.

The only other Boss monster is Archlord Kristya.

Archlord Kristya
Light, Fairy/Effect, Level 8
If you have exactly 4 Fairy-Type monsters in your Graveyard, you can Special Summon this card (from your hand). When you do: Target 1 Fairy-Type monster in your Graveyard; add that target to your hand. Neither player can Special Summon monsters. If this face-up card would be sent from the field to the Graveyard, it returns to the top of the Deck, instead.

ATK: 2800/DEF: 2300

Archlord Kristya is one of the most powerful and well known fairy type monster in all of Yu-gi-oh. Kristya is exceptionally powerful in any fairy deck that can run him/her. I personally always thought Kristya was a girl so I'll call it a she for this profile. She can be SSed by having 4 fairy type monsters in the graveyard and then she recycles a fairy type monster to your hand. She also cuts off both players from SSing any monsters. This allows you to mass SS then drop Kristya to stop your opponents ability to SS. However Kristya doesn't fit into the Sephylon version of Lightsworn very well. Even though you have the fairy types, she just adds to the inconsistency. She can be very good in a fairy centered Lightsworn build, like a Celestia, Lightsworn Angel build, but that usually involves running the less powerful Shire, Lightsworn Spirit.

The other potential boss monsters are the Lightray monsters. I will discuss them in their own section towards the bottom.

The OTK stoppers

There are 5 potential "One Turn Kill"(OTK) stopping cards that Lightsworns can run. The reason we run these cards is because the Lightsworn deck has very little backrow to support itself. This means that our deck will sometimes leave itself open to a fast quick kill. So lets get on to the cards to stop those pesky OTKs.

Gorz the Emmissary of Darkness
Dark, Fiend/Effect, Level 7
When you take damage from a card your opponent controls: You can Special Summon this card from your hand. You must control no cards to activate and to resolve this effect. When Special Summoned this way, activate the appropriate effect, based on the type of damage:
● Battle Damage: Special Summon 1 "Emissary of Darkness Token" (Fairy-Type/LIGHT/Level 7/ATK ?/DEF ?). Its ATK and DEF are each equal to the amount of Battle Damage you took.
● Effect Damage: Inflict damage to your opponent equal to the amount of damage you took.

ATK: 2700/DEF: 2500

Gorz the Emmissary of Darkness(Gorz) is a very well known, popular, and powerful OTK stopping card. He can be used to stop potential OTKs, gain advantage, or even gain a foothold back in the game. Gorz is limited because of his power. He can completely change who is in control of the board. He becomes even more powerful when both players are in Topdeck mode(both players have little to no hand/field). The fact that he comes out at 2700 for almost free and brings along a token that can become massive is what makes Gorz so powerful. The reason we run him is that we almost never have backrow. This means we will very often have an open field and the ability to drop Gorz. He also feeds the dark part of the engine if you run any chaos monsters, like BLS. The drawbck to Gorz is if you run Beckoning Light. Beckoning Light is a trap that lets you discard your hand to grab that many light monsters back from the grave. The issue with Beckoning is that if it is set we can't play Gorz, and if we play Beckoning we lose Gorz. So always be wary of what you have and what your opponent is doing. That will help you decide how to use that Gorz and Beckoning. I suggest that every deck, except heavy backrow deck, run Gorz. He is limited but the power he provides is enormous.

 Tragoedia
Dark, Fiend/Effect, Level 10
When you take Battle Damage: You can Special Summon this card from your hand. This card gains 600 ATK and DEF for each card in your hand. Once per turn: You can send 1 monster from your hand to the Graveyard to target 1 face-up monster your opponent controls with the same Level as the sent monster; take control of that target. Once per turn: You can target 1 monster in your Graveyard; this card's Level becomes the same as that target's, until the End Phase.

ATK: 0/DEF: 0

Tragoedia(Trag) is both a powerful OTK stopper, a good synchro material, and an amazing Xyz material. The fact that he can be SSed even when you have backrow allows you to stop OTKs while maintaining cards to help you carve out an advantage. The fact that he can have a low ATK when he is SSed is a small drawback. He can also easily come out at 3000 ATK and DEF and boost himself to 3600 at your draw. Trag is a very good choice in the early game to be SSed. This is because early on, unless you have Lumina plays, Lightsworn decks will have a large hand. This is because they rely a lot upon NS and their own effects. This allows Trag to come out at an early 2400 or 3000, which then gets boosted during your turn. The other powerful aspect of Trag is the ability to steal monsters, and to copy levels. You can steal that pesky Thunder King Rai-oh(TKRO) and overlay him with one of your monsters. Or you can steal that Grapha thats a thorn in your side. His stealing ability is limited by your potential discards, but when the situation is right that effect can be game winning. His last effect is very powerful though. Trag's level can become the level of any monster in your grave. Need a level 4? How about a level 3? 2? 8? Trag cn be anything as long as there is a monster in your grave with that level. This allows for easy access synchro and xyz plays after you have summoned him. So he can stop OTKs the turn around and net you huge advantages. Trag is currently semi-limited, meaning you can run 2. I would suggest at least running 1 Trag. I personally don't have the room, or the need for 2 Trags. Many players though will want to maximize the number of Tragoedia they run. 2 Tragoedia increases the chances of seeing and using him.

Necro Gardna
Dark, Warrior/Effect, Level 3
During your opponent's turn: You can banish this card from your Graveyard; negate the next attack this turn from a monster your opponent controls (this is a Quick Effect).

ATK: 600/DEF: 1300

Necro Gardna has been around for longer then even the Lightsworn cards have been. This card has been used in Lightsworn decks from practically day one. This card is a dark target for chaos engines, like BLS, but more importantly it is an attack stopper. This card can stop one of your monsters from being overrun and it can be used to stop OTKs. One of the good things about Necro Gardna is the ability to remove it from play at any time during your opponents turn. This allows you to avoid those monsters that don't let you activate effects in response to their attack declaration. The downside to this is that if you remove multiple they don't stack. Removing two Necro Gardnas during your opponent's Main Phase 1(MP1) will only stop the first attack. The downside to Necro Gardna is that you don't really want to draw him. He is much better just being milled to use his effect. However if you do draw him he can stop 2 attacks. One for attacking him, the second with his effect. Overall Necro Gardna is a very powerful card. I would suggest running 3 if you have the room. I currently m only running 2, but they are still very powerful. They can negate attacks or be used as chaos food. This makes them both a great defensive and offensive choice.

The Monster Engine:

Now we get into the Lightsworn monster cards. These cards are what allow the entire deck to function as it is supposed to. The milling effects of these cards creates a very fast, but inconsistent deck.

Lyla, Lightsworn Sorceress
Light, Spellcaster/Effect, Level 4
During your Main Phase: You can target 1 Spell/Trap Card your opponent controls; change this card you control from face-up Attack Position to face-up Defense Position, and destroy that target, but this card's battle position cannot be changed until the end of your next turn, except with a card effect. During each of your End Phases: Send the top 3 cards of your Deck to the Graveyard. You must control this face-up card to activate and to resolve this effect.

ATK 1700/:DEF: 200

Lyla, the Lightsworn Sorceress(Lyla for short), is one of the most well known, powerful, and splashed(thrown into many decks) Lightsworn monsters out there. She has a good ATK and a great effect. She can pop one of your opponent's backrow after summoning her. This card can easily bait out some of your opponents options, just because they don't want Lyla to blindly hit one of their power cards in the backrow. The best thing about Lyla for the engine is that at the End Phase(EP) she sends the top 3 cards from your deck to the graveyard(Mill). The reason that is good is because you want to be milling as much as possible with a Lightsworn deck. Several other Lightsworn cards only mill 2 cards at the EP. This makes Lyla a more valuable normal summon, but when you tack on her ability to pop backrow she is an amazing card for the deck. Between Lyla and Ryko most Lightsworn decks don't even main Mystical Space Typhoon(MST). Lylas and Ryko are the backrow destruction that the deck utilizes to make its big plays. Another thing is that changing to defense is not a cost. It is part of the resolution of the effect. So if your Lyla gets veilered it stays in attack position. I always run 3 Lyla unless I absolutely don't have the room, but I would never run less then 2. Lyla is extremely good when played in 3s in a deck. Depending upon your deck's backrow destruction abilities you might be able to get away with just 2 of her.

Ryko, Lightsworn Hunter
Light, Beast/Effect, Level 2
FLIP: You can target 1 card on the field; destroy that target. Send the top 3 cards of your Deck to the Graveyard.

ATK: 200/DEF: 100

Ryko, Lightsworn Hunter(Ryko for short) is probably the most splashed monster in the history of Yu-gi-oh. It hs been splashed in decks from plants, to chaos, to dragons, to anything that can use some mill. The power of Ryko comes from the fact that your opponent has to ply around him. If they can't afford to run into Ryko and lose a card they will be held back from making many plays because they can not afford to take the negitives with running into Ryko. The fact that Ryko's destruction effect is optional means means you can avoid negation cards like Stardust Dragon. The fact that Ryko also mills 3 cards makes him a very valuable Lightsworn monster, but he only mills when he is initially flipped. This limits his ability to just a single shot, but that doesn't make him bad. He furthers the engine with his 3 mills and he forces the opponent to adapt to the situation. Player do not want to be forced to adapt to a situation. This can led to misplays, or even not playing as well as you could. Any time you can force your opponent to change what they are doing is good. This is what makes Ryko so powerful. If you are going to run Ryko, which you should, run at least 2. They can deal with both frontrow and backrow, they mill, and they force your opponent to adapt. Ryko is great when played at 2 or 3. If he is being splashed you should run 3 with a single Charge of the Light Brigade.

Lumina, Lightsworn Summoner
Light, Spellcaster/Effect, Level 3
Once per turn: You can discard 1 card, then target 1 Level 4 or lower "Lightsworn" monster in your Graveyard; Special Summon that target. During each of your End Phases: Send the top 3 cards of your Deck to the Graveyard. You must control this face-up card to activate and to resolve this effect.

ATK: 1000/DEF: 1000

Lumina, Lightsworn Summoner(Lumina for short) is one of the most powerful cards in the entire deck.  Lumina allows us to make a lot of combo, synchro, and xyz plays. Lumina brings a lot of consistency to the deck by allowing us to SS Lightsworns that were milled or killed back to the field. This can allow us to destroy more backrow with Lyla, bounce mounsters with Ehren, or even mill more with Garoth. It also opens us up to a lot of potential Xyz and synchro plays. By SSing another Lumina we can overlay for a rank 3, or by SSing a Lightsworn Tuner we can synchro. Lumina is another Lightsworn that mills 3 cards during the EP. One of the most powerful plays that the Lightsworn deck can do is the Lumina-Garoth, the Lumina-Lumina-Garoth, or even more powerful the Lumina-Lumina-Lumina Garoth. I will go over what makes those plays so powerful in Garoth's review as he is the next card to be reviewed. One of the advantages to Lumina's effect is that you can SS what you discard with her. However you have to have a valid target beforehand. So if you have a Ryko in the grave and a Lyla in hand, you can discard Lyla for the cost, then target Lyla to be SSed. The drawback to Lumina is when someone Veilers or negates her effect after you pay her cost. This is a -1 that Lightworns a;ways have to worry about. When you are trying to use Lumina to grab several Luminas, getting Veilered can set you back enormously. The other drawbck to Lumina is that she only has 1000 ATK. This usually leads to her being over run the following turn. It is even worse when she is negated. You are looking at the potential of a -2 overall. Lumina just recently became unlimited and there is almost no reason you should not run 3 of her. In a Twilight build you can get away with two, but in a pure build you should always run 3.

Garoth, Lightsworn Warrior
Light, Warrior/Effect, Level 4
Each time a card(s) is sent from your Deck to the Graveyard by the effect of a "Lightsworn" monster you control, except "Garoth, Lightsworn Warrior": Send the top 2 cards of your Deck to the Graveyard, then draw 1 card for each "Lightsworn" monster sent to the Graveyard by this effect.

ATK: 1850/DEF: 1300

Garoth, Lightsworn Warrior(Garoth for short) is a very powerful card and its power is often overlooked. Most players suggest running one. I'm going to completely disagree with that.One was fine with just 2 Luminas. Now that we have Lumina at 3 you should run 2 Garoths. Garoths is completely worthless on its own. Its the equivalent of an 1850 ATK normal monster without another Lightsworn, but that isn't where its power lies. Its power lies currently in the Lumina combo plays. Soon it will be even more powerful and required to run two to combo with Raiden. I'll discuss Raiden all the way at the end. When you play Garoth you want your other Lightsworns to start milling. This triggers his effect. He mills every time a Lightsworn mills and he has the potential to give you draws. The power of Garoth comes mainly in the Lumina-Garoth plays. The first play is to NS Lumina, discard either Garoth or another card, and then SS Garoth from the grave. This requires you to have a Garoth in either your grave or your hand which is why you want two Garoths. The Lumina-Garoth play allows to mill 3 from Lumina, then you mill 2 from Garoth. If you mill asny Lightsworn monsters with Garoth you get to draw for each one. Every draw from Garoth is a free +1. He becomes even more powerful with more Lightsworn. In the Lumina-Lumina-Garoth play Garoth mills four cards. He mills after each Lumina. This makes him mill more then any other current Lightsworn monster in the game, with the potential of up to a free +4. The triple Lumina Garoth play results in a total mill of 15 cards with a potential +6. that means you can clear 15-21 cards from your deck in a single turn. If JD and sephylon aren't live after that, well then damn you got some serious luck deficiencies. I would suggest running 2 Garoths just to enable the Lumina Garoth plays. You can just run one though. A lot of players prefer one, however two Garoths lead to more consitant Lumina-Garoth plays which leads to faster mills and draws. When Raiden comes out 2 Garoth will be a staple for Lightsworn. This is because Raiden is a Lightsworn that can mill 2 during the MP1, then mills 2 at the EP. Raiden plus Garoth is an 8 mill from 2 cards with a potential +4.

Jain, Lightsworn Paladin
Light, Warrior/Effect, Level 4
If this card attacks an opponent's monster, it gains 300 ATK during the Damage Step only. During each of your End Phases: Send the top 2 cards of your Deck to the Graveyard. You must control this face-up card to activate and to resolve this effect.

ATK: 1800/ DEF:1200

Jain, Lightsworn Paladin(Jain for short) is our go to for running things over. He goes up to 2100 when attacking allowing us to run over almost any other level 4 or lower monster in the game. He even allows us to run over some Xyzs. Jain only mills 2 which makes him less useful for the engins, but he makes up for it in being able to tackle threats. Not much to really say about Jain. I would suggest running 1. You can run 2, but any more then that just becomes too much. Jain at 1 is a good card for the deck and he becomes another name for summoning JD.

Ehren, Lightsworn Monk
Light, Warrior/Effect, Level 4
Before damage calculation, if this card attacks a Defense Position monster: Shuffle that monster into the Deck. During each of your End Phases: Send the top 3 cards of your Deck to the Graveyard. You must control this face-up card to activate and to resolve this effect.

ATK: 1600/DEF: 1000

Ehren, Lightsworn Monk(Ehren for short) is a very versatile and powerful Lightsworn. She doesn't bring any ignition effects to the party but when she hits a defense position monster your opponent will cringe. Her ability to bounce any defense position monster she hits to the deck is an extremely powerful +1. It can make sure that your opponent doesn't see that card anytime soon. On top of the ultimate stall killing abilty she mills 3 every EP. This makes her really good for building the momentum of the engine. While Ehren is good she isn't good enough to warrant more then 1 spot in the main deck. JD can kill stall cards almost as easily as Ehren can. This leaves her being more of a means to an end. She provides the another name for JD and a monster count for Sephylon.

Wulf, Lightsworn Beast
Light, Beast-Warrior/Effect, Level 4
Cannot be Normal Summoned or Set. When this card is sent from your Deck to the Graveyard: Special Summon it.

ATK: 2100/DEF: 300

Wulf, Lightsworn Beast(Wulf for short) is a very powerful card but has a single major drawback. He is a level 4 2100 ATK beatstick. He SSs himself whenever he is milled from the deck to the graveyard. The disadvantage of Wulf is when you draw him. Wuld is the ultimate dead card in the deck. If you draw him the only thing you can do with him is to discard him. However despite this huge drawback a free 2100 Beatstick at the EP, or MP with either card trooper or Raiden, can open up a lot of plays and potential Xyz and synchro possibilities. I would suggest playing 1-2 Wulf. I personally prefer 1 Wulf, but when the new Lightsworn monsters come out I will be upping him to 2. You can run 3 of him but he starts to become very dead at that point.

The other Lightworns:
There are a few other Lightsworn monsters that I won't do a full posts on. I will give their name with links and you can look at them and consider them for yourself.
Celestia, Lightsworn Angel
Shire, Lightsworn Spirit
Aurkus, Lightsworn Druid
Gragonith, Lightsworn Dragon
Jenis, Lightsworn Mender
Rinyan, Lightsworn Rogue

The support:

Honest
Light, Fairy/Effect, Level 4
During your Main Phase: You can return this card from the field to the hand. During either player's Damage Step, when a LIGHT monster you control battles: You can send this card from your hand to the Graveyard; that monster gains ATK equal to the ATK of the opponent's monster it is battling, until the End Phase.

ATK: 1100/DEF: 1900

Honest is probably the most well known and most feared Fairy in all of Yu-gi-oh. The power of Honest is that it allows you to turn any light monster in the game into a battle winner. It can be used offensively to over run a big monster, or it can even be used defensively to have your opponent lose their monster and become delayed by the high ATK of your monster. Ithas a lot of synergy with BLS, empowering OTKS, and can keep weaker Lightsworns like Lumina around to swarm another day. Honest is so powerful that he is limited, and he definitely deserves that limit. Every Lightsworn deck should run 1 Honest. There isn't an excuse not to. It is so powerful that even one is game changing.

Effect Veiler
Light, Spellcaster/Tuner, Level 1
During your opponent's Main Phase: You can send this card from your hand to the Graveyard to target 1 face-up Effect monster your opponent controls; negate that target's effects until the End Phase.

ATK: 0/DEF: 0

Effect Veiler(Veiler for short) is a staple in a lot of decks. The fact that it is a light monster and can be recycled en mass with Beckoning Light makes it a great card for the deck. Veiler allows us to negate our opponents monster effects while gaining a monster count for potential Sephylon plays. Veiler is a great card for all decks and should be mained at 2 if not 3.


The last mention goes to the Lightray monsters. I personally am not a big fan of the Lightray monsters in Lightsworn builds. This is because we already have a lot of powerful boss monsters to choose from. However here is a link if you would like to consider them for your deck: Lightray

The new Lightsworn:

Theses two cards are going to be releasing in the OCG soon. The first, Raiden, will add a lot of power to the pure build, the second, Minerva, can add some additional consistency with her effects.

Raiden, Lightsworn Assailant
Light, Warrior/Tune, Level 4
During your Main Phase: You can send the top 2 cards of your Deck to the Graveyard, and if you do, if there is a "Lightsworn" monster among those cards, this card gains 200 ATK until your opponent's End Phase. You can only use this effect of "Raiden, Lightsworn Assailant" once per turn. During each of your End Phases: Send the top 2 cards of your Deck to the Graveyard. You must control this face-up card to activate and to resolve this effect.

So by his effect Raiden will bring a lot of new power to the Lightsworn archetype. The ability to have a Lightsworn monster replace Card Trooper along with still milling ta the end phase makes this card Garoth's Coup De Grace. Tack on the ability of getting an attack boost and voila! You have an amazing addition to the Lightsworn's bag of tricks.

Minerva, Lightsworn Maiden
Light, Spellcaster/Tuner, Level 3
When this card is Normal Summoned: Add 1 LIGHT Dragon-Type monster from your Deck to your hand whose Level is less than or equal to the number of "Lightsworn" monsters with different names in your Graveyard. When this card is sent from your hand or Deck to the Graveyard: Send the top card of your Deck to the Graveyard. During each of your End Phases: Send the top 2 cards of your Deck to the Graveyard. You must control this face-up card to activate and to resolve this effect.

ATK: 800/DEF: 200

The fact that Minerva only counts the different names is what makes this cards summon effect very underwhelming. its hard to get 8+ different names in the graveyard quickly or efficiently. The one advantage Minerva has is that whenever it hits the grave from the hand or deck it mills an extra card. This means your Lumina discards mill 1 and your Solar Recharges mill 3. This gives her a decent playability at 1. The fact that she also mills 2 at the EP is nice but she is too weak for that to be much of an option.

Well thanks for reading or glancing over this monster post. I did this for two reasons. One to get the practice in, and two, because I wanted to show that I know what I am talking about. No point in reading a blog on Yu-gi-oh if it is full of bad logic and not up to date.Well I'll be posting up a comprehensive overview of +1s, 1-for-1s, and -1s in Yu-gi-oh and on their effect on the game tomorrow.

-Kurotaro

Mystical Space Typhoon

For all the new players out there who don't know what Mystical Space Typhoon(MST) does here you go:

Mystical Space Typhoon
Quick Play Spell Card
Target 1 Spell/Trap Card on the field; destroy that target.

So its cost is to target 1 spell or trap card on the field, other then itself, then you destroy that target.

Here is a link to the wiki: Mystical Space Typhoon

So this is going to be my very first post on my new blog. Today I'm going to break down the multiple ways to play MST and give some pointers on how to make the decision of how to play it. Lets start with some background on MST for those who don't know it. It was released way back in 2002 as part of the set Spell Ruler, originally Magic Ruler. It was limited way back when in April of 2005. It eventually came up to 2, and finally in 2011 came back to 3. MST has always been a very versatile card, but it was overshadowed a little by the big backrow removal cards. Cards like Heavy Storm, Cold Wave, and even Giant Trunade. This doesn't mean that players did not see MST as a good card, it just was not considered to be the main way of dealing with backrow. MST was considered spot removal by many players. The card used in between mass wipes. Well enough with some basic information, we'll get on to breaking down the ways to play this card.

There are 3 main ways to play Mystical Space Typhoon(MST). They are the "Blind" play, The "Bait" play, and the "End Phase(EP)" play. We will start with the "Blind" play. The Blind play refers to using your MST to destroy a random backrow, when your opponent has more then 1 backrow. Lets say your opponent sets 2 cards to the backrow, then during your turn you decide to MST 1 of them. This play can work out, but it can also leave you at a very bad break even. If you MST a good card randomly it is a decent 1-for-1. If you hit a bad backrow spot, or even a bait card, you are left with a not so good 1-for-1. Your chances of hitting a good card with a Blind MST are even worse when they have more then 2 backrow. In today's format, with the lack of Heavy Storm, backrow doesn't have to be so afraid. You can set 3 without worrying about a potential Heavy Storm giving your opponent a free +2 off your bad play. So this makes your MSTs extra important, especially if MST is one of your decks few backrow removal cards. So now that we have addressed the negatives lets move on to the positives. The Blind MST can be a strategic play. I know you're probably thinking I am an idiot right now, but follow with me, okay? So this gets much deeper, now we are getting into the psychology of the players. I want you to think about how you set your backrow...... done? Okay good. Did you realize that you set your necessary cards in a specific order? Some people set the card they need first, some set it last, and some set it in the middle. So when we get into psychology most players are going to point out "How are we supposed to know how they play their backrow?". That is a valid question. The answer is simple, there are two ways to figure out your opponent's way of setting backrow. You can study them and their previous games,  but this is usually only useful if you know you are going to play them, aka high end tournament players like Billy Brake. The other option is that you can watch closely during their first game. The human mind does a lot of decisions at a subconscious level. This is what forms why people do what they do. This decision process is what makes player X set cards in a specific way, and it is what makes you Blind MST in a specific way. By identifying how you and your opponent play you can adapt to play better against them. And in the end adapting quickly on the fly is a good way to become a high-end player at Yu-gi-oh.

The second play is the "Bait" play. The Bait play is an alternative to the Blind play. The Bait play is when your opponent has more then one backrow and you don't know which one is the best to MST. Instead you can attempt a play to make them play one of those cards, then MST the other. Lets say its a Mirror Force and a Solemn Warning set. If you were to make a big summon, your opponent would most likely play the Warning, allowing you to MST the mirror force. However if you just summoned a monster with more ATK then theirs, you could bait the Mirror Force and MST the Warning. The advantage of the Bait play is that you can force your opponent to use their weaker cards to deal with what you play, then destroy the more powerful cards they were saving. This can net you great advantage by leaving your opponent missing that defense, or offense, they were counting on. The disadvantage to this play is that you might have to take some not so great 1-for1s or maybe even a -1. The other disadvantage if when they have more then 2 backrow. When they have more the 2 and you bait 1, you are still Blind MSTing a backrow card. Sometimes you also cannot afford to bait cards without putting yourself at a potential disadvantage. The other negative is that it is entirely possible that they will play their power cards first. So instead of playing the weak card and letting you hit the good card, they play the good card which nets them more advantage, and you are left hitting just the weaker card. However this does not make the Bait play bad in any regards. The bait play can be used to completely throw off opponents and net you huge advantages. I would suggest this play or the third play if you think that the Blind play just doesn't fit the situation, which it usually doesn't.

The third play is the "End Phase(EP)" play. The EP play is when you set your own MST in order to activate it during your opponents End Phase. The advantage of this play is that you can hit that defensive, or offensive, card that your opponent sets before they can activate it. This allows you to deal with problem side deck cards like Gozen Match and others before they can affect you or your field. There are not many drawbacks to the EP play. It can hurt you if you need an open field for cards like Gorz or Treeborn Frog, but it usually will have a viable target in most games. The other drawback, which can also be an advantage is to use the EP play to bait your opponents MST. You set your MST to convince your opponent to MST it. This play can allow you to take a decent 1-for-1 and set you up to set your other backrow safely later. The final drawback of the EP MST is when they have a lot of backrow. When this happens you have to combine the second and third plays, unless you feel like Blind MSTing, where you slowly bait their weaker cards while they save those power cards, then you hit them with that MST.

Well now I have to update because I forgot the part on picking which of the three to choose. Sorry about that, here it is. So your opponent sets some backrow, lets start simple and move from there. So they set 2 backrow. The obvious choice, if you haven't had time to study your opponent, would be play number 2. You want to bait one and hit the other. However if you have studied your opponent, or had a long enough game 1 to pay attention, going for the Blind MST might be better. Now we'll move up to more cards. When they set 3 backrow your choices become smaller. The clear winner in this category is to go again for play number 2. However this setup, with proper studying and memory of what your opponent set, and where they set it, you can easily blind MST your way to an easy victory. This is because of certain psychological factors. First and foremost, you are subconsciously attracted to the middle option, and your opponent is subconsciously pushed away from the same slot. This is because humans assume that the middle option is true. This is why studies that only have 3 choices, small, medium, and large are so biased. If arranged the person is most likely to pick the middle option, because the others are considered extremes. However I can not stress the fact that not everyone can figure people out, but if you can and you study your opponent during your game, you can predict pretty well what they will set where. Lets move up to 4 or 5 backrow. This is where the Blind MST starts to lose almost all its usefulness. When you are facing down that many backrow you should stick to either play 2 or 3. The Blind play starts to have too many variables with that much backrow. However if you have studied someone well enough you might be better off with the Blind play, but this is almost never the case. Using the second play it allows you to get through at least 2 of the backrow, but that involves the MST being semi blind. The third play really shines here. The fact that you can set your MST and backrow allows you to have the odds on your side to avoid a Blind EP MST while increasing your ability to use the Bait play. By setting your MST you allow your opponent more time to play their weaker backrow cards, while you can be ready to hit that one or two they save. However all this returns me to the biggest issue of playing MST. The issue is that every game is different. I can give you some general rules of thumb, but when it comes to playa lot of ing a game there are a lot of different variables. Not to mention not everyone can psychologically analyze their opponent, and even worse if they set 2, then set a third the next turn, it doesn't follow the same base rules as if they set 3 at once. Well I hope I haven't bored you all to death with this giant paragraph of how and why to MST in different ways. The last thing I will say is keep playing, keep learning, and keep adapting. If you can do that you will eventually be able to spot those situations where you want to bait, where you want to MST at the EP, and when you want to blindly MST something.

Edit: A friend of mine reminded me of something I forgot to put in here, and I forgot to put another thing in. Both of these are related to the Bait play. So first the bait play has a lot of extra power this format due to the neutering of power back row cards. This means that your opponent should be saving those power cards for later. This results in MST being a good play. The second thing is that you can chain MST for a technical +1. If you have a set MST and your opponent MSTs your MST you can chain it to hit their other backrow. This results in your opponent wasting a card. So they -. This results in you gaining advantage indirectly.

Well I hope I haven't kept you guys too long with this breakdown. I decided to write this because I read an article by Billy Brake from last year about MST. I personally find it funny that people don't address the psychology aspect of the Blind MST. The fact of the matter is, that sometimes the Blind MST is more powerful then the other two. However most of the time the second and third plays will take the cake.

Well that's all for now my fellow players. Gotta go top deck some JDs and drop some Sephys.

-Kurotaro

P.S. Leave me a comment and tell me what you think. Also I'd like some suggestions for some future reviews of cards, decks, or players. Tomorrow I'll probably look at some good cards in the Meta, maybe do a deck review, and definitely make a review of my current deck. Once again thanks for reading and commenting, I gotta go mill me some more spells and traps. :/