Matt Peddle’s Lightsworn deck is incredible. I know; I look sketchy when I promote someone who works with me, and I generally try to at least downplay the achievements of people who write for Metagame. But dang. Matt Peddle is tearin’ ‘em up today, and he’s packing what’s probably my favorite Lightsworn deck of all time. Check it out:

Yes, that is a lot of cards! Forty-five of them to be exact, an unprecedented total for a serious competitor in any recent Shonen Jump Championship. This deck plays like the old Lazaro Lightsworn on steroids, which is to say that it hits harder and performs with the consistency that the original build lacked. That consistency is due in large part to the three copies of Charge of the Light Brigade that Peddle’s playing, but it’s bolstered by two more copies of Reinforcement of the Army as well. Warrior Toolbox never had it so good.

All the search power lets Peddle run just two copies of most of his Lightsworn monsters: Lyla, Lumina, Garoth, Wulf, and even the un-searchable Celestia are all played in pairs, and cutting down the number of Wulf and Celestia has had a visible impact on the deck’s performance. Peddle main decks just one copy of Ryko, Lightsworn Hunter, preferring to brick-wall with a big monster like Garoth or Jain, Lightsworn Paladin when he goes first, feeding cards to the graveyard. In fact, Jain is so good here that it’s the one Lightsworn monster Peddle plays three copies of. One copy of Ehren rounds out the innovative lineup.

He owes it all to his friends and teammates: “This is basically Lazaro, Dale, and Audrey’s deck,” remarked Matt, giving credit where it’s due. But a lot of the tech cards are of Matt’s own choosing, and there are some pretty great ones. Lightning Vortex is the first, and with Peddle’s ability to flood the field with attackers, he can definitely take advantage of it. The Vortex also compensates for those now-rare situations where Peddle’s draws don’t work out in his favor, mitigating the opponents’ attempts to exploit brief moments of weakness and punishing them for their over-extension. When the opponent sees an opening and goes for it, Peddle can whallop them back, keeping damage down while simplifying the game to soften it up for his big hitters. Like Phoenix Wing Wind Blast (which Peddle also plays), Vortex is another way to get a fourth Lightsworn into the graveyard too.

But the tech of all techs? In Tokyo, he’s know as “The Mustache.” Yes sir, Matt Peddle is main decking one copy of the card that took Jerome McHale to Day 2 in St. Louis: Freed the Brave Wanderer! With only two Judgment Dragons in the deck providing a payoff for stacking Lightsworn after Lightsworn into the graveyard, Peddle turned to Freed to get an additional reward for his theme-heavy strategy. Charge of the Light Brigade has made it a simple matter to stack more and more Lights into the graveyard, and Freed is a one-man wrecking crew in the face of anything short of Stardust Dragon. Gladiator Beast Heraklinos, Goyo Guardian, Dark Armed Dragon . . . they all get cut down by Freed’s whirling blades, and the result is often a late-game push through a stalemate situation. Freed definitely isn’t a third copy of Judgment Dragon, but he’s essentially the next best thing available, and in retrospect it’s surprising that nobody else is playing him — I myself had never considered it.

Two Cold Wave aren’t so much individualized tech, as they are a very popular pick in Lightsworn here today. With fewer and fewer Gladiator Beast decks being played, let alone seeing time at the top tables, Cold Wave’s number one nightmare is a relative non-factor. Lightsworn no longer have to worry about playing Cold Wave, only to get nailed by Gyzarus in return. Instead, the Waves lock down spell-heavy decks like Teleport Dark Armed, and become a huge asset in that particular matchup.

Right now it’s Round 6, and Matt Peddle is undefeated so far in the tournament. He’s just a few wins away from a guaranteed seat in Day 2, and he may not be the only Lightsworn duelist in the Top 16. Very few competitors are running Lightsworn here today since not many people have their three copies of Charge, but a strong showing here from the few that have constructed the deck will work wonders for the deck’s popularity in the future.