I consider myself a very lucky person right now. There’s a certain thrill that I get from previewing cards that are capable of winning Shonen Jump Championships, and that thrill has never been greater than it is right now. Just to recap, we’ve already heard about the huge closer for the Lightsworn deck, Judgment Dragon. We’ve also heard about two nasty spot removal options, Lyla and Ryko. On top of all of that, the Lightsworn have their own draw spell (Solar Exchange), their own equivalent to Zombie Master (Lumina, Lightsworn Summoner), and their own Cyber Dragon that can even be special summoned when you already control a monster (Wulf).
We could have stopped previewing Lightsworn cards back at Solar Exchange, content that by now you would have gotten the idea that these are the cards to get from Light of Destruction. We didn’t. The fact is, there are still naysayers out there actively trying to convince players that these cards are not good, probably in an attempt to make them easier to trade for at the Sneak Preview. Don’t be fooled. Allow me to submit further evidence favoring the Lightsworn in the form of today’s first preview card, Glorious Illusion.
Glorious Illusion
Continuous Trap
Select a "Lightsworn" monster in your graveyard and special summon it in attack. In each of your end phases, send the top two cards of your deck to your graveyard. When Glorious Illusion is removed from the field, destroy that monster. When the monster is removed from the field, destroy Glorious Illusion.
Seems familiar, doesn’t it? That’s because it’s Call of the Haunted, for exclusive use with the Lightsworn monsters. Back when Call of the Haunted and Monster Reborn swapped places on the Forbidden and Limited list, Jason wrote that one of the swap’s impacts was that it now made special summoning from the graveyard on your opponent’s turn a themed mechanic. While there’s at least one other example of this in Light of Destruction, Glorious Illusion really hammers the point home by not only offering the effect of Call of the Haunted to the Lightsworn, but by tying the revival to the Lightsworn mechanic of sending cards from the deck to the graveyard.
A monster that’s brought to the field by Glorious Illusion is going to burn through your deck faster than anything else the Lightsworn deck has with the probable exception of Judgment Dragon. That’s fine, though, because the extra cards going to the graveyard help you set up for Judgment Dragon if you haven’t gotten the requisite monsters already. I’ve been talking a lot about how all these effects that tear through your deck help you to set up for Judgment Dragon, but what happens if, while setting up for the bomb, you accidentally land it in the graveyard?
Back when Six Samurai decks made their first Day 2 appearances, the prevailing strategy employed a reverse toolbox using Card Trooper to dump cards into the graveyard. The Warrior Returning Alive would then get them back to your hand, and you’d pick the perfect Samurai for your situation. The Lightsworn can do similar things with Monster Reincarnation, so getting cards into your graveyard becomes vitally important in more ways than one. Then again, if you’re going to be playing cards like Monster Reincarnation and possibly Magical Stone Excavation, a few extra cards here and there would probably help you pay their discard costs, right? It’s times like those when I’m glad to have Garoth around.
Garoth, Lightsworn Warrior
Level 4
Light/Warrior
1850/1300
Each time a card or cards are sent from your deck to the graveyard by the effect of one of your "Lightsworn" monsters (except "Garoth, Lightsworn Warrior") send the top two cards of your deck to your graveyard. Then, draw a card for each "Lightsworn" monster sent to the graveyard by this effect.
Garoth does a lot of things right, and in a way, he’s the closest to the original Card Trooper that the Lightsworn theme has to offer. Actually, I’m just basing that last statement off the fact that his effect deals with drawing cards, but the fact remains that Garoth is a huge beater that can refill your hand in an instant.
Let’s say you bring him out with Lumina. At the end of your turn, Lumina will dump three cards off the top of your deck. That triggers Garoth, who will dump two more. If you’re playing enough Lightsworn monsters in your deck, you’re going to get at least one in the grave with Garoth’s effect. Drawing one card on the end phase is pretty good, but if you happen to hit two Lightsworn monsters with it, it’s like you played a free Destiny Draw. Imagine if the Lightsworn monster that got sent to the grave by Garoth was Wulf. Not only do you get to draw a card, you also get another monster on the field! Garoth can make some pretty crazy things happen, and in combination with Glorious Illusion and Lumina, you’re almost guaranteed one or more extra cards every turn.
With the Sneak Preview rapidly approaching, it’s probably a good time to talk about how you would play a Lightsworn deck in sealed format play. The answer is, play as many cards as you can. You’ll be amazed at how quickly you’ll roll through your deck with the Lightsworn. Twenty-card decks simply aren’t enough. Sure, you may have to throw in cards that you don’t want to play, but that’s fine! Don’t play them. Let them fall into the graveyard because of Lightsworn effects. Better yet, pitch them to Lumina to special summon a monster that you do want to play. Many of the Lightsworn cards are going to show up in your packs a lot more often than you think, so be prepared to do some crafty deckbuilding at the Sneak Preview if your packs are strong in Lightsworn.
That’s it for now, but we have even more previews from the Light of Destruction set on the way. Once again, if you haven’t made plans to get to the Sneak Preview event nearest you, you should rectify the situation immediately. For the record, I’ll be at the one in Monroevilla, PA, so if you’re in the area you should definitely be there to play, meet new people, and listen to me harp on and on about how Counter Fairy is the One True Answer. Until next time, play hard, play fair, and most importantly, have fun!