The Guardians are a select group of monsters, each one of which is represented by the weapon associated with it. Each weapon and Guardian may act differently, but they are bound to one another. Grarl has its Gravity Axe, Ceal has the Shooting Star Bow, Kay’Est wields the Rod of Silence, Elma has the infamous Butterfly Dagger, Tryce dices with the Twin Swords of Flashing Light, and Baou crushes with the effect-shattering Wicked-Breaking Flamberge.
The Guardian theme presents some difficulties in Limited play. Tryce and Baou are rares, while Grarl and Ceal are ultra rares. The Wicked-Breaking Flamberge is rare, and the Butterfly Dagger is a super rare. Because of this, it's not likely that you'll be able to draft an entire deck around the Guardians themselves. The best use for the Guardians is to have them be an extension of your deck’s strategy.
Let’s begin with an examination of the Guardians themselves and their support cards:
Because it's an ultra rare, your odds of pulling Grarl for a draft are not good. If you do happen upon it in one of your packs, it will be to your benefit to keep it. The effect of special summoning Grarl probably won't come up in Limited games due to the lack of hand destruction available, but this is certainly not that much of a disadvantage. Keep in mind that you cannot tribute the monster equipped with the Gravity Axe, or you won't be able to summon Grarl.
The Gravity Axe is a great equip card for Limited play. Not only do you get the 500 ATK increase, you also prevent the opponent from performing any manual changes of battle position. Together with Grarl, your opponent may get stuck with weaker monsters stranded in attack position that can be slowly picked off by Grarl.
Like Grarl, Ceal is an ultra rare, so your odds of getting one aren't that good. Ceal can act as a form of monster removal for offensive decks. Combined with Fairy of the Spring, you can reclaim the equip card used for Ceal’s effect and reuse it on a later turn. Ceal only has 1700 ATK, so keep in mind that it will need to be protected by cards like Staunch Defender.
In games where both players start with only 4000 life points, direct attacks are decidedly more deadly. The one big problem this card has comes from the 1000 ATK decrease the equipped monster will suffer. In order to use this card, you will need a monster with an attack value substantial enough to lessen the impact the 1000 ATK loss will have. You can combine this card with Dark Scorpion - Gorg the Strong as part of a deck destruction theme, which I'll discuss later.
Guardian Kay’est
One word: deceptive. Yes, you can set Guardian Kay’est, and if it gets flipped by an attack or a card’s effect, Kay’est will be able to exist on the field without the equip card having been there first. Kay’est suffers from an ailment similar to the Legendary Fisherman's: because it can't be attacked, while it's on the field, your opponent will just attack you directly, which isn't good at all. Kay’est is also unaffected by spell cards, so it can't be powered up by equip spells You may want to stay away from this one.
Rod of Silence - Kay’est
The 500 DEF increase may not be all that useful. The real benefit the Rod provides is the protection from targeting spell cards. This will keep Falling Down and Different Dimension Gate away from your big guys. Keep in mind that you will still be open to monster and trap effects.
Elma may be a common, but the Butterfly Dagger is not. Guardian Elma will not be easy to use as a result of this. Elma’s purpose is to aid the other Guardians by reclaiming their fallen equip spell cards, but this effect will not activate if Elma was set and then flipped by an attack or card effect. Without the Butterfly Dagger, you won't have much use for Elma.
Because it's a super rare, your odds of getting the Butterfly Dagger are not good. The increase of 200 ATK can help your Shadowknight Archfiends get around Battle Footballers, but you're better off with the Gravity Axe. I won’t try to pretend that someone would pass up the Butterfly Dagger in a pack, though, as that would just be silly.
One of the good things about Tryce is its effect of returning the monster that was used as tribute for it if it gets destroyed. With its 1900 ATK, though, you may find that Tryce has trouble overcoming the high-defense monsters from Dark Crisis.
You will lose one card from your hand just for equipping this card to your monster, and your monster will lose 500 ATK, but if you have a monster strong enough, this will not be a factor. Maju Garzett, Great Maju Garzett, and Despair from the Dark will benefit from this card.
Baou’s effect is nice, but the initial attack value you will be working with is quite small. While Baou could easily take out many flip-effect monsters, it will be a target for any stronger monsters that want to retaliate. Destroy just one monster, however, and Baou can become quite a threat, especially with the lack of monster removal options in Dark Crisis Limited. Given enough time, Baou could get quite dangerous.
Similar to Baou, this card will also let you negate the effects of your opponent’s monsters that you destroy. You will need a monster with a high enough attack value to take advantage of this, as the Flamberge will not provide any increase to your monster’s attack.
You want that equip spell card? You’ve got it. Just don’t ask any more of Kotetsu, because its stats won’t help you.
Designed to help find your Guardians, Arsenal Summoner can combine with Kotetsu to bring together the pieces of the puzzle. It would be nicer if the Arsenal Summoner had a higher defense. Keep in mind that it may not survive an attack that causes it to flip.
Use this spell card to reclaim a lost equip spell card. Unfortunately, there's a delay period, so you have to wait for the payoff.
Three cards in the set will be the enemies of your Guardians:
This one can help and harm you. Your opponent may play one in order to throw off or steal your equip spell cards. Using it to change the target of an opponent’s Guardian equip spell will not help you to summon one of your own Guardians, because the spell card will remain on your opponent’s side of the field. Keep this in mind.
Not only does it aid decks with a deck destruction theme, it will also cost you one of your equip spell cards. You can expect to see this one.
Death comes to your equipped monsters in one fell swoop. You can expect to see this one as well, or you could use it to your advantage.
As I mentioned earlier, the rarities of the various Guardian cards make them more likely to be an extension of your deck and not its central theme. We will now look at how they can be used as extensions of other deck strategies.
Beatdown
Guardian Grarl is your dinosaur, but Guardian Ceal can also be helpful. The Gravity Axe will strengthen your monsters and lock down the position of your opponent’s monsters. This works well to help Grarl line up its victims. Be mindful of random Sakuretsu Armors, naturally. Guardian Ceal supports beatdown by adding the element of monster removal. You will need to draft equip spells and Fairy of the Spring in order to take advantage of this, along with cards to protect Guardian Ceal. Really Eternal Rest can be used for this purpose.
Commons
Arsenal Summoner
Iron Blacksmith Kotetsu
Gravity Axe - Grarl
Shooting Star Bow - Ceal
Fairy of the Spring
Rod of the Mind’s Eye
Final Attack Orders
Really Eternal Rest
Rares
Guardian Grarl
Guardian Ceal
Wicked-Breaking Flamberge
So why do I recommend Really Eternal Rest? I recommend it for the same reason I recommend Guardial Ceal: monster removal. The idea is to use the equip spells on your opponent’s monsters and then have Really Eternal Rest wipe them out for you. Fairy of the Spring will reclaim these equip spells so they can be reused for other purposes.
Guardian Grarl will out-muscle most monsters in the set. With the Wicked-Breaking Flamberge, you will be able to destroy any effect monsters that might cause trouble, like Kelbek, the fairy that returns the monster that attacked it to the owner’s hand.
Deck destruction will want to utilize Arsenal Robber and try to combine Dark Scorpion - Gorg the Strong with Shooting Star Bow - Ceal. It will lower Gorg down to 800 ATK, but it will allow Gorg to attack directly and better use its effects. Combined with enough protection from cards like Sakuretsu Armor and Staunch Defender, you could slowly tear your opponent’s deck apart card by card, or return one of his or her monsters to the top of his or her deck, which could lead to a potential lock.
Until next time, give the Guardians' power a chance to shine.