I really wish people would wait until they try the Sneak Preview promos before decrying them as "bad." At the same time, I also wish people would wait until they try the Sneak Preview promos before declaring them to be the end of the game as we know it.
Fortunately, despite my lack of ability in the field of Yugi-divination, I am good at putting a new card through its paces once I get my hands on it. Avenging Knight Parshath is a card that’s very easy to hate because it seemingly opposes the things that Synchro monsters have brought to the game. Specifically, the trademark trait of Synchro monsters is that all you really have to do is throw a couple of Tuners into whatever deck you currently play along with whatever Synchros you want and voila! The problems that people have with Parshath are that it specifically requires you to play Light attribute monsters in order for you to be able to summon it at all and that it doesn’t do anything fancy involving the words "negate" or "destroy all." The predominant theory out there seems to be that "if it’s not ridiculous and I can’t put it in Gladiator Beasts, it’s a bad card." With that said, how blind can some people be? One of the big three decks of the format consists entirely of Light monsters! Better than that, it happens to be the one that likes to catch Gladiator Beast duelists off guard and shove huge amounts of damage down their throats. Sounds like a winner to me!
The only question is which Tuners do we play in a Lightsworn deck? For best results, I think we should play a bunch of level-4 Tuners since they’ll give us the greatest chance of summoning Avenging Knight Parshath or Red Dragon Archfiend. Stardust Dragon is also an option, but I feel like the other two are more in line with the overall philosophy of the Lightsworn, and as an added bonus, Red Dragon Archfiend can get rid of any Lightsworn monsters that we don’t want to eat away the deck during the end phase.
I sense that a number of you are already opening up your email programs to tell me that I’m delusional and that there aren’t any level-4 Tuner monsters. Don’t bother, I’ve got that covered. I submit that the level-4 Tuner monsters to be used should be Lyla, Lightsworn Sorceress, Garoth, Lightsworn Warrior, Ehren, Lightsworn Monk, Wulf, Lightsworn Beast, and Jain, Lightsworn Paladin. I’m not crazy. Each and every one of these monsters can be a Tuner if you want it to be. All you have to do is look through all your commons from The Duelist Genesis and find three copies of Lightwave Tuning. With this card, any level-4 Light monster you can think of is capable of being a Tuner, and with so many of them in the average Lightsworn deck, why mess with the monster base to include level-2 or 3 Tuners when you can bypass all the problems that other decks have in getting to eight stars by just using your own level-4 monsters?
Extra Deck: 153 Stardust Dragon
3 Thought Ruler Archfiend
3 Goyo Guardian
2 Red Dragon Archfiend
2 Magical Android
2 Avenging Knight Parshath
This version of Lightsworn is built for two very specific groups of people: the ones looking toward the next format where we’ll only be allowed two Judgment Dragon cards, and the ones who don’t own Charge of the Light Brigade. I happen to be in both groups: one voluntarily, the other not so much.
There are a few things that tend to bother me when I see the Lightsworn decks that make sporadic Day 2 appearances. The first is the Necro Gardna/Crush Card Virus combination that’s been seen as far back as the first appearance of the deck at Shonen Jump Championship St. Louis. While the Gardnas can block an attack or three if the cards fall properly, they are your only valid tributes for Crush Card Virus. I’ve always seen the inclusions as unnecessary and counter to the primary purpose of the deck: beating people down fast. Similarly, Celestia, Lightsworn Angel may remove cards from the opposing field, but she involves trading one Lightsworn for another instead of just playing two Lightsworn. It’s fine if you’re tributing a spent Ryko that’s not going to do any extra damage, but for the most part I feel that having a second monster on the field is nearly always the correct strategy.
What should that second monster be? It frequently depends on the first. If you started with a set Ryko, try summoning Garoth before flipping the Hunter. With the exception of Torrential Tribute, you’re almost certainly going to score some damage in addition to furthering your strategy through sending cards to the graveyard and drawing. Ehren pairs up well with any of the offensive Lightsworn, especially if your opponent has a face-down monster. Triple Ehren is something that most Lightsworn players scoff at, but if you run Enemy Controller and Book of Moon as your attack negation instead of Necro Gardna, triple Ehren suddenly becomes incredibly good. Book of Moon also combos well with your own Ryko when you need to bust up another card and get more stuff into the graveyard. It’s also an excellent deterrent to mid-game Test Tiger plays as long as they aren’t backed up by Cold Wave. Enemy Controller can do a number of the same tricks as long as you have a monster to spare, but it can also steal a monster from your opponent to help ram home the last few thousand damage. I’d claim surprise at the fact that these cards have yet to be adopted into mainstream builds, but it’s likely a result of players being unwilling to stray too far from the builds making Day 2.
Finally, in an effort to smooth out the draws as much as possible, I’ve completely eliminated Wulf. This is the thing that most people hate, but let me tell you what I hate. I hate drawing Wulf, and if you look at all the Lightsworn feature matches, you’ll see that the players in them hate it too. They’re also very good at 
coming up with one or more Wulfs in the opening hand, something that usually spells disaster. While the lack of Wulf makes for a more difficult time grabbing free monsters to use in Synchro summons, I feel that lowering the number of dead draws is more important than the random free monsters that Wulf sometimes provides.
On the Synchro front, I’m using two different Tuners. One is the variable Lightwave Tuning that can turn any of your level-4 Lightsworn into a Tuner. The other is tech I flagrantly stole from Brian Winkleblech’s new build he played at locals this weekend. Frequency Magician is actually pretty cool, acting as both an ATK buff that can send Jain over Stardust Dragon and a Tuner that gives you access to Magical Android and the all-important Goyo Guardian. He’s also a Light monster, opening the valve so you can hose your opponent with Honest. There are two basic reasons that you want to summon Synchro monsters in this deck, and they tend to occur simultaneously. First, not decking out is good. Synchro summons remove stuff like defense-mode Lylas that your opponent is refusing to attack. Even better, if your opponent is particularly recalcitrant, you can take out two spells or traps total with your Lyla before you send her away for your Synchro. Second, and more importantly, Synchro monsters are huge and have devastating effects. Sure, Judgment Dragon fits those qualities as well, but the Synchros are always there waiting for you in the Extra deck. In my experience, Judgment Dragon cards generally are not waiting for you and likely don’t want to come out and play. They’re a pain like that. I always know where my Goyo Guardian and Stardust Dragon are, and I like to make use of them as much as I possibly can.
I’d also like to make an impassioned plea on behalf of Magical Android. While oft maligned, it’s really quite good. As a Light monster, you can use Honest with it, and the extra life points it affords you really start to add up after a turn or two. If you manage to get a level-8 Synchro to the field while you already have an Android out, Thought Ruler Archfiend is frequently a good choice. It doubles the life points you gain in end phases, adds a nice reverse Elemental Hero Flame Wingman effect to your arsenal, and prevents the dreaded Phoenix Wing Wind Blast from ruining your investments.
Overall, Lightsworn are good and Synchros are good. There’s no reason that they shouldn’t be played together, especially when Avenging Knight Parshath seems tailor-made for the union. Everything changes come SJC Baltimore, and if all you’re thinking about is Gladiator Beasts, you’re going to be in for some serious surprises. Until next time, play hard, play fair, and most importantly, have fun!
—Jerome McHale