Instant Impact

As many of you already know, this past Friday, the Realm of Light Structure deck was released on store shelves, showcasing new support for the popular Lightsworn archetype.  Lightsworns have not seen much in the way of support of late, unless you count Lightray Diabolos back in Galactic Overlord or Soul Charge in Dragons of Legend which made numerous decks better, until now.  The structure brings a few relevant cards that will almost undoubtedly push Lightsworn into the tier one category, they include, Raiden, Hand of the Lightsworn, Michael, the Arch-Lightsworn, and Minerva, Lightsworn Maiden.  With the addition of Raiden, Lightsworns now have the ability to mill cards in the middle of the turn, just by activating a card effect.  This is highly relevant as most Lightsworn decks will be looking for that one additional Lightsworn monster, a Dragon Ruler, or an Eclipse Wyvern to search for Judgment Dragon.  This is without even mentioning that Raiden is also a level four tuner, allowing easy access to one of the other new Lightsworn monsters, Michael, by simply using Lumina.  Michael, is actually quite unreal, in that you can pay 1000 life points to banish any card on the field.  Michael is useful for situations where you may need to bait something or get rid of a problem before dropping Judgment Dragon on the field.  Michael is a level 7 synchro, so you are able to have further access to Dracossack or Big Eye with the Dragon Rulers, it is conveniently a Dragon as well, and as if that was not enough, it counts as a Lightsworn name for Judgment Dragon’s summon.  The last of the new Lightsworn support is Minerva, Lightsworn Maiden.  Minerva is helpful for a few reasons.  It is a level 3 tuner as well so you have further access to synchro plays, but it also has a nifty effect of giving you an additional mill whenever it is pitched or milled itself.  This can provide some further ammunition for Judgment Dragon, Dragon Rulers or just simply setting up your grave for your push.

Admittedly, upon the news that this support was going to be released, I was skeptical that it would give the deck a huge lift that would be needed to make it relevant.  After seeing it in action over the last few days, I can say with confidence that Raiden single-handedly helps the deck do that.  Raiden is a fantastic monster that provides humungous stability in the early Lightsworn game.  It provides a solid four mills (effect and its end phase effect), can trigger Garoth during the turn and not just the end phase, but in addition if you have Lumina there is cool synergy by getting four mills, bringing it back and bringing out a synchro to deal with your problems, but not before milling another two cards.  The idea is that this generates you options from Eclipse Wyverns, Dragon Rulers, and sets up the graveyard with Lightsworn/light names for Judgment Dragon or Lightray Diabolos. 

This past weekend, the European Championships took place, where there was a solid showing of 91 Lightsworn decks.  Most solid of all was Marcel Burri’s Lightsworn build that landed him first place after swiss and second overall, losing in the finals to Eugen Heidt’s build of Mermails.  Burri’s build of the deck had a few interesting card choices that can be discussed below.  Here is the build.

3 Eclipse Wyvern

3 Judgment Dragon

3 Lumina, Lightsworn Summoner

2 Lightray Diabolos

2 Kuribandit

2 Lyla, Lightsworn Sorceress

2 Raiden, Hand of the Lightsworn

2 Rainbow Kuriboh

1 Ehren, Lightsworn Monk

1 Minerva, Lightsworn Maiden

1 Jain, Lightsworn Paladin

1 Garoth, Lightsworn Warrior

1 Honest

1 Blaster, Dragon Ruler of Infernos

1 Tempest, Dragon Ruler of Storms

1 Redox, Dragon Ruler of Boulders

3 Solar Recharge

2 Forbidden Lance

2 Soul Charge

1 Charge of the Light Brigade

2 Needlebug Nest

2 Phoenix Wing Wind Blast

1 Breakthrough Skill

3 Mystical Space Typhoon

2 Ally of Justice Cycle Reader

2 Ryko, Lightsworn Hunter

2 Vanity’s Emptiness

2 XYZ Universe

1 Battle Fader

1 Breakthrough Skill

1 Malevolent Catastrophe

1 The Transmigration Prophecy

2 Mecha Phantom Beast Dracossack

1 Number 11: Big Eye

1 Number 101: Silent Honor ARK

1 Evilswarm Exciton Knight

1 Lavalval Chain

1 Mechquipped Angineer

1 Temtempo the Percussion Djinn

1 Divine Dragon Knight Felgrand

1 Star Eater

1 Leo Keeper of the Sacred Tree

1 Ally of Justice Decisive Armor

1 Crimson Blader

1 Michael, the Arch-Lightsworn

1 Black Rose Dragon

As you can see there are a few different choices from your average Lightsworn deck.  The most notable that stood out to me initially was the use of Rainbow Kuriboh.  The use of Rainbow Kuriboh makes a lot of sense as it can be used from the hand, making your hand not completely suck when you draw it, versus what would happen if it were Necro Gardna.  That said it does not have the same amount of versatility as Necro Gardna when coming from the graveyard as it only is effective against direct attacks, when live in the graveyard, thus meaning you are unable to save monsters while it is in the grave.

Some may scoff at Needlebug Nest, but the card is not to be under-estimated.  Needlebug Nest can be a power card in this deck simply because it gets you five cards deeper into your deck.  Your plays become more versatile the bigger the grave you have, milling Eclipse Wyvern is obviously a thing, and you set up your grave for your boss monsters.  The last card choice that some may look at as questionable is Minerva.  While being a helpful card, allowing you to mill extra cards and also being a tuner, Minerva does not do much else, despite the synergy it does have with Wind Blast and Recharge.

After testing numerous games with Lightsworns, against a variety of matchups I can confidently say that it is a good deck, but it can get blown out by floodgates and by bricking itself.  Vanity’s Emptiness is an extremely good card versus this deck, because a well timed Emptiness can literally blow out the opponent from being able to do a damn thing, period.  In short, Lightsworns shortcomings are the same as they have been in the past; inconsistencies with milling, bricking itself, and problems with many commonly played floodgates.  The new cards have clearly helped the deck, as it has an arsenal of new plays that it did not have before, but at the same time it is far from unbeatable. 

Given that the deck has just come second at the European Championship, those going to the North American World Championship Qualifier, should test heavily against that matchup.  The top three played decks at Euros were a distribution of 191 Gears, 177 HAT, and 91 Lightsworns.  The number of Lightsworns is sure to rise given Marcel’s success with the deck and the fact that the deck is relatively inexpensive to build.  To counteract this, ensure that you are siding appropriate cards to combat against this, and even consider maining tech cards against it.  I would not be surprised in the slightest if the number of Lightsworn decks at event goes up percentage wise when compared to our WCQ.  These cards of course include, Dimensional Fissure, Macro Cosmos, Light-Imprisioning Mirror, Ally of Justice Cycle Reader, Vanity's Emptiness, and more.

To all of those travelling to the North American World Championship Qualifier, I hope to see you there and best of luck.

On a side-note, one of my good friends, Yahir Amat, has just started a new ygo site, that will be fully functional shortly, it will eventually have a fully functional marketplace, in addition to decklists, videos, articles, and more.