Lightsworn Ruler Update

As per request, another update to how Lightsworns are doing and some more theor-i-oh for the deck.

Like last time, here’s my deck list I’m working with at the moment:

Monsters (32):

• 3 Judgment Dragon
• 3 Tidal, Dragon Ruler of Waterfalls
• 2 Stream, Dragon Ruler of Droplets
• 1 Blaster, Dragon Ruler of Infernos
• 3 Eclipse Wyvern
• 3 Lyla, Lightsworn Sorceress
• 3 Lumina, Lightsworn Summoner
• 2 Garoth, Lightsworn Warrior
• 2 Ryko, Lightsworn Hunter
• 1 Jain, Lightsworn Paladin
• 1 Ehren, Lightsworn Monk
• 1 Wulf, Lightsworn Beast
• 3 Necro Gardna
• 2 Card Trooper
• 1 Super-Nimble Mega Hamster
• 1 Honest

Spells (8):

• 3 Solar Recharge
• 1 Charge of the Light Brigade
• 2 Hand Destruction
• 1 Heavy Storm
• 1 Forbidden Lance

Extra Deck:

• 1 No. 107: Galaxy-Eyes Tachyon Dragon
• 1 No. 74: Master of Blades
• 1 Mermail Abyssgaios
• 1 No. 11: Big Eye
• 2 Starliege Palidynamo
• 1 Diamond Dire Wolf
• 1 Queen Dragun Djinn
• 1 Lavalval Chain
• 1 Constellar Omega
• 1 Gagaga Cowboy
• 1 No. 16: Shock Master
• 1 Leviair the Sea Dragon
• 1 Temtempo the Percussion Djinn
• 1 No. 49 Fortune Tune

Side Deck:

• 1 Super-Nimble Mega Hamster
• 1 Ryko, Lightsworn Hunter
• 2 Maxx “C”
• 1 Swift Scarecrow
• 1 Des Wombat
• 2 Swords of Revealing Light
• 2 Mystical Space Typhoon
• 3 Gozen Match
• 2 Royal Decree

What’s New?:

The biggest change since last time is the Wulfs and Celestias. I’ve almost completely dropped them and I’m pretty sure the 1 Wulf I have left will get dropped soon because I’ve been wanting to add some different cards. The reason for dropping them was simple: they’re inconsistent. I noted that among the duels where I got hands that I would consider “bad” a vast majority where due to Wulf and Celestia in hand. I also noted that it was easier to summon Judgment Dragon and nuke the field than to tribute summon a Celestia effectively, which makes me sad ’cause I like Celestia so much. Also, Foolish Burial (although good in its own right) didn’t move towards the deck’s goal, so it was dropped also. The only reason I keep the lone Wulf still in the deck is because he has a different name, for Judgment Dragon, and because it gives me that extra option with Tidal’s effect, which I don’t use that often.

Super-Nimble Mega Hamster and Ryko: at first I didn’t like running these cards because they’re very bad in the Dragon Ruler match-up. Rarely every are you going to have time to set a monster, and when you do you’ll be thwarted by both Big Eye taking Ryko or by Dracossack simply attacking or destroying it. This overshadowed the fact in my mind that Ryko and Hamster wreck face in just about every other match-up, particularly the Evilswarm match-up. There’s a lot of good plays with Hamster as well and I always like the Ryko and Necro Gardna mind games. The only problem with Ryko is he’s level 2, which means he’s hard to get off the field on your own terms. The most effective way to use a flipped Ryko is to pop him with Dire Wolf. Usually if Hamster survives and attack and sets a Ryko. I get to my turn flip Ryko to destroy a card, summon Lyla to destroy a card. Lyla and Hamster make Dire Wolf and Wolf pops Ryko and a third card. Very destructive. It also puts 2 Lightsworn names in grave, which is pretty nice. I sided the 3rd Ryko and a 2nd Hamster for any defensive decks that run a lot of traps a.k.a. Evilswarms, HEROs, 4 axis Fire Fist and the like.

I’m still running Hand Destruction. With it I tested some trolly cards like Cup of Ace, which actually tested really well. If you want to have a little more fun with the deck throw in 3 copies of Cup of Ace and potentially super win a few games. Back to Hand Destruction though, its benefits have stayed intact: deck thinning and moving towards the cards I want and getting Necro Gardna and Eclipse Wyvern out of my hand. It also disrupts the opponent a lot, which I didn’t anticipate. Even decks that run cards worth sending to the graveyard, such as Dragon Rulers, usually only keep cards they want in their hand in their hand during your turn. Unless they open nutty with Super Rejuvenation draw 6 they’re probably only keeping Effect Veilers, Maxx “C” and Baby Dragons in hand, none of which they really want to discard. Other decks only keep around 2 cards in hand, so you usually discard the cards they’re saving, namely power spells. I rarely side out Hand Destruction either because its very important games 2 and 3 because it gets you to your side deck cards faster. The only time I side it out is against decks that tend to keep almost no cards in hand. Specifically Infernity decks never keep cards in hand so its a totally useless card against them, on the other hand Cup of Ace is really good against Infernities.

Dragon Ruler Engines:

Dragon Rulers wise I’ve been thinking of doing a lot of changes to the Dragon Ruler engine my deck is running. The only reason it hasn’t changed at this point is because the only Dragon Ruler I have 3 of is Tidal and because I REALLY REALLY like Mermail Abyss Gaios. I’ve won way too many games just because of him. Here’s some of my proposed ideas though:

First is the idea I’m most leaning towards: 3 Blaster, 2 Sparks and 1 Redox. It swaps the current WATER Dragon Ruler engine for a FIRE one and replaces the lone Dragon Ruler with Redox as the combo engine. Why would I do this? First, because I’ve been weening myself slowly off ever using the Dragon Ruler’s in hand effect. I almost never use Tidal to pitch a monster from my deck, and if I do I send an Eclipse Wyvern, which I think I could live without. Blaster simply is more powerful than Tidal, which is the first bonus. The second idea is that Blaster gives me outs to a lot of cards. Because Blasters secondary effect is destruction I can have main decked answers to cards like Skill Drain, being the deck’s bane of existence. Currently, during game 1 this deck’s only outs to Skill Drain are Heavy Storm, Lance + Lyla and Dracossack tributing himself. (I don’t own a Dracossack, so I can;t do that. That’s why I haven’t mentioned him in the deck list) With Blaster I have a game 1 answer to just about any problem card if I’m willing to pitch with Blaster. This is also just another out the deck has to Ophion.

The lone Redox would be because Redox has the most option when I run only 1 copy of him. First, there’s the obvious Banishing to summon Rank 7’s and the searching with Blaster’s effect when Banished. (that’s the whole reason I ran the extra Dragon Ruler in the first place) The second reason is because Redox is the only Dragon Ruler I run any of the same Attribute monster in my deck with. There’s Card Trooper and Hamster as well as side decked Maxx “C” and Swift Scarecrow. The extra Monster Reborn effect gives me just that extra bit of versatility to give Redox the edge over other Dragon Rulers. It’s still kinda sad he only has 1600 ATK, but the 3000 DEF adds a nice defensive option.

My next option for a Dragon Ruler engine would be 3 Blaster, 1 Sparks, 3 Tidal and 1 Stream. This engine is 2 cards bigger than my normal engine, which means some cutting would need to be done. This would probably be Wulf and either Hamster, Ryko or Forbidden Lance. This engine makes a butt load more Rank 7’s for control as well as gets the added bonus of each Dragon Ruler. These are the two highest attack Dragon Rulers as well, giving a huge beat down factor. What you’d gain is the destruction of Blaster, the maximum Eclipse Wyvern efficiency with Tidal as well as access to Mermail Abyssgaios. Also, with 8 Dragon Rulers you can more easily use the Dragon Rulers search effects and hopefully be able to make up for some worse off hands as far as Lightsworns go by using your Rank 7 toolbox.

Option 3 is the most technical option: 3 Blaster, 2 Sparks, 3 Redox. It’s pretty much the same as the second idea except Tidal is replaced with Redox and all the baby Dragon Rulers are FIRE. This adds more destruction using Blaster (you’d think 1 additional Sparks wouldn’t make that much of a difference, but it actually does a lot more than you think) and a lot more Monster Reborn action with Redox. The reason for no Reactan is because the deck already has alternate EARTH’s to pitch as I mentioned earlier. With this engine you have destruction as well as monster swarm control in tandem with Rank 7 control. I feel like this engine would punish the player more for misplaying though and I feel it would require a Dracossack, which I don’t have. Redox also seems to be the hardest Dragon Ruler to get your hands on so I’m having trouble trading for him and I sure aint gonna buy them. (Tidal and Blaster are being reprinted so their price is low. Tempest is the worst so he’e easier to get)

Extra Deck:

As I’ve been saying, I have no Dracossack. If I did have 1 I’d probably only run 1 and I’d replace one of the following: Constellar Omega, Gagaga Cowboy or Fortune Tune. If I took out Tidals I could replace Abyssgaios with Dracossack as well.

Most of the choices here are pretty self explanatory. Last time I said how Tachyon works to ensure OTKs. I run 1 of all the good Rank 7s. To aid in their summoning I have Queen Dragun Djinn. Starliege is the deck’s ace, I usually go into him when I’m going into the extra deck.

Second most important is Leviair. The main play is this: Normal Lumina, Lumina effect revive Lumina, 2nd Lumina revive a level 4 Lightsworn. Tidal Banish Eclipse Wyvern & another Dragon to summon itself. (what’s awesome is you could’ve potentially just discarded both Tidal and Eclipse for Lumina’s effect earlier) 2 Luminas XYZ for Leviair. Leviair revives Eclipse Wyvern. Wyvern + level 4 Lightsworn XYZ for a Rank 4. The Rank 4 you make here can open a lot of options. If you have enough Dragons in the graveyard you can make Lavalval chain and use its effect detaching Wyvern to send Blaster to grave. Blaster can then be summoned using the Wyvern, getting you 2 Judgment Dragons with that play so far. Then you can make a Rank 7 with Tidal and Blaster and end with Rank 7 XYZ, Leviair and Lavalval Chain and 2 JD in hand. If you have another Tidal in grave you can make Quee Dragun instead of Chain and revive that Tidal to make Abyssgaios so you can have control during the opponent’s turn. Of course since Eclipse Wyvern is LIGHT you can also make Starliege using Eclipse and any level 4 Lightsworn. That’s the bread and butter play for winning without JD’s.

Dire Wolf is really important for clearing the way for Judgment Dragons. I destroy himself a lot to hit back row randomly and simultaneously get multiple Lightsworns into the graveyard. He can also destroy Ryko, Hamster and Wulf instead of himself. Don’t be afraid to make him in a way that seems flippant, because it doesn’t really matter how gross the OTK was if it ends up an OTK.

Temtempo is for when the opponent makes Ophion or Shock Master. Usually Temtempo will bait out strong traps from Evilswarm decks so you can make way for Starliege, and if they don’t kill Temtempo you can take Ophion’s XYZ material allowing you to special summon Tidal and attack over Ophion or nuke with JD. Shock Master is probably Lightsworn’s second 2 bane of existence under Skill Drain. If you didn’t have just the right cards when an opponent summons it you can lose the duel. It’s important to know your Necro Gardna rulings when dealing with Shock Master. Get Level 3’s on the field and protect them with Gardna and then use in hand Gardna’s with protected level 3’s like Lumina and Trooper to XYZ for Temtempo. Temtempo helps burn Shock Master’s material so you don’t have to deal with him as long and also detaches you own Necro Gardnas in grave. The next best option Lightsworns have against Shock Master is playing spells to pitch a lot of Lightsworn and summoning Judgment Dragon to attack over Shock Master. There’s also the Forbidden Lance which I added which can allow any monster with 1600 ATK plus to attack over Shock Master. Lance provides an out to Shock Master and Skill Drain, so I’ve been thinking of upping it to two. It’s also a real dick with Abyss Gaios.

Random things: Number 49: Fortune Tune. I had 1 open slot in my extra, so I decided to try this thing out and it’s actually very good. It’s better than Zenmaines in the current format because it can’t be targeted by card effects. That means it can’t get Big Eye’d and it can’t get Compulsory Evacuation Device-d. It’s immune to mass destruction so the only answers to it are the “problem solving” cards me and Matt always mention. Things like Skill Drain, Creature Swap, Grand Mole, D.D. Warrior Lady, Spellbook of Fate and a small handful of other cards. That means if you summon it they’re going to have to slowly beat it away. It also shuffles itself back into the Extra Deck as well as Luminas for re-use, so you don’t ever need to run more than 1 copy of it. It’s also a really nice game 1 answer to Chain Burn. Even if it gets Lava Golem-d it gets put back into the Extra Deck for round 2.

Side Deck:

Ryko and Hamster for defensive, high trap count deck or for decks with continuous cards that are a nuisance ex. Macro Cosmos/Dimensional Fissure.

Maxx “C” and Scarecrow are for Dragon Rulers and any other deck that likes to go HAM. At my locals I also side it for Karakuri and Infernities to name some other applicable decks.

Des Wombat is for Chain Burn. You only need one since you can search it with Hamster.

Swords of Revealing Light is probably my favorite of the side decked cards. Since I run no back row game 1, people are always tentative about Mystical Space Typhoon meaning Swords rarely gets destroyed unless they waste better main-decked outs on it than my other cards. I side it against all of the top 3 decks: Dragon Rulers, Prophecy and Evilswarms. Dragon Rulers probably wont side in MST so their only outs are Blaster and Dracossack, which is a waste of both to destroy Swords in most people’s minds. Prophecy likely wont side in any spell and trap destruction either so that means their only outs are Fate and High Priestess. (if anyone run her anymore) Using Fate on Swords is like asking me to win, because that means it’s highly unlikely they can use Fate during my turn, so I’ll just OTK them. High Priestess is an okay out, but if I have a scary monster on board like Abyss Gaios, that’s too bad. Evilswarm have no outs game 1 to Swords and wouldn’t logically side any in. The best they can do is Dire Wolf it, meaning I get free turns to walk on their face.

MST is pretty obvious. I usually only side it for 3 cards: Macro Cosmos, Dimensional Fissure and Skill Drain. Other than that I probably wont side it in.

Gozen is for anything it works against, particularly Dragon Rulers. I can usually work with only LIGHT monster to win the duel, my extra deck has Starliege, Omega and Shock Master for LIGHT Rank 4s to work around. Also, Dragon Rulers return to the hand during the End Phase of the opponent’s turn meaning I wont be locked into WATER for too long. It’s especially good for the same reason as Swords of Revealing Light. Most people don’t side Spell and Trap removal against me making Gozen stick around a lot longer than normal.

I rarely side Royal Decree in, but I wouldn’t be caught without it in my side deck for Lightsworns. It’s very important firstly Chain Burn. Second for extreme back row heavy decks. I say only for extreme decks because usually I can handle any number of back row with Lyla, Ryko and Lance alone, so Decree is usually unnecessary. If the opponent runs something like Skill Drain, that’ll impede my destruction process I may side Decree.

And with that, I’m done for this week. See ya’ll next we