From what I can see, each set since Tactical Evolution has had at least one card designed exclusively for the set’s release outside of Japan that has left a trophy-shaped crater in the competitive metagame. Sure, they didn’t all make that impact in their release order, but the impact was felt all the same. Il Blud was instrumental in Phillip Anthony’s win at Shonen Jump Championship Durham, Allure of Darkness powered every winning deck between Costa Mesa and Nashville with the singular exception of Paul Levitin’s deck in Minneapolis, and Test Tiger? Let’s just say that as we speak, hundreds of people are anguishing over how bad they got wrecked by Test Tiger over the weekend while twelve others are grinning about how badly they wrecked their opponents thanks to Test Tiger. These cards were obviously going to be game changers right from the start, regardless of whether or not the card immediately achieved its maximum potential.
I’ve had a unique opportunity to be at the last few major events in North America, from SJC St. Louis all the way to SJC Toronto with the singular exception of the SJC in Hawaii, and I’m disappointed that we still haven’t seen the full potential of Light of Destruction yet. If I was to pick the exclusive card that’s obviously game-changing out of that set, I’d say it’s Ehren, Lightsworn Monk for her ability to soundly hose any deck that ever lays a monster in defense position, Legendary Jujitsu Master or otherwise. The things holding her back are twofold. First, people aren’t playing the card enough. Throwing one copy into your deck with no means of searching her out isn’t going to get you what you need when you need it. Second, she isn’t getting any help from the other Lightsworn monsters. At best, Ehren is kicking back a monster and then being tributed for Celestia, Lightsworn Angel. This is a case of just flat-out playing the card improperly, as the point of Ehren is to make it impossible for your opponent to go on the defensive! That means you should be backing her up with another Lightsworn monster as opposed to leaving her alone on the field or tributing her off.
Another problem that I see in a lot of matches involving Lightsworn is that their first turns are either completely uneventful or completely ridiculous. Setting Ryko, Lightsworn Hunter is about the closest thing there is to a middle ground, though it definitely tends toward the ridiculous side. When I say completely ridiculous, I mean multiple copies of Solar Recharge, at least one copy of Wulf, and close to ten cards in the graveyard before it’s all over. Back when you could use Lumina, Lightsworn Summoner to pitch Garoth, Lightsworn Warrior and bring him to the field without any other targets in the graveyard, stuff like this happened a lot more often—even without Solar Recharge—and frankly, losing that move was a huge blow to the deck.
With the advent of The Duelist Genesis Sneak Preview weekend, I’m pleased to announce that the Lumina/Garoth opening is going to be making a grand return to the game, Ehren is going to hit the field and control things early and often, and Judgment Dragon is going to make Gladiator Beast players tear their hair out in frustration more than you ever thought possible thanks to today’s preview card.
Charge of the Light Brigade
Send the top three cards of your deck to the graveyard. Add a level 4 or lower "Lightsworn" monster from your deck to your hand.
For as long as I can remember, I’ve heard players saying, "if only (insert favorite type here) had its own version of Reinforcement of the Army." There are a couple of things wrong with the possibility of such a desire being granted. First off, some things would just be too overwhelmingly powerful if they had access to their own free search spell. For example, if Fairy decks got their own free search spell, you’d have to deal with opponents drawing a zillion cards with Bountiful Artemis every single game or having to play around every Honest in a player’s deck every time you sat down at the table. The more important concern is, how boring is it to have a ton of cards that do the exact same thing, except for different types of monsters? I would say it’s extremely boring, especially if one of those types was intrinsically better than the rest.
One of my favorite things about Charge of the Light Brigade is that it isn’t just Reinforcement of the Army for Lightsworn monsters. It’s better, and it’s better because it ties into the basic theme of the Lightsworn. If you throw a Reinforcement of the Army into your Lightsworn deck, you can fetch Jain, Ehren, and Garoth.
That’s all well and good, but turn that Reinforcement into Charge of the Light Brigade and the difference becomes apparent as soon as you slam the card to the table. Reinforcement of the Army never special summoned a 2100 ATK beatstick to your field. It also never fetched Lyla or Lumina for you. It surely never gave you your fourth Lightsworn monster in the graveyard, a Necro Gardna to help protect your monsters, or a Judgment Dragon you can bring back with Monster Reincarnation or Beckoning Light. The most important thing about it, however, is what it means for your first turn.
If you get Charge of the Light Brigade in your opening hand, you will have a strong first-turn play. It’s probably going to be Ryko, Lightsworn Hunter or the Lumina/Garoth play that lost popularity when it became impossible. Charge will almost always dump a monster into your graveyard when you activate it, and the fact that you get to see the cards that are dumped before you decide which monster to pick is excellent. Assuming that you’re competent in the operations of your own deck, it’s a no-fail situation.
Furthermore, remember that this is all happening in the main phase. Being able to burn through your deck in the main phase is one of the most important things that Card Trooper brings to the deck if you’re a Lightsworn player, and you now get more access to that sort of trick thanks to Charge. It’s the perfect thing for letting you win games you otherwise might have lost because you couldn’t play Judgment Dragon until the turn after your opponent has killed you.
More than just being a search card, Charge of the Light Brigade is a deck enabler. It begs comparison to Allure of Darkness, but I’m not really sure how to make that comparison. The cards do two different things. One searches and fills the graveyard, while the other draws and fills the removed-from-play pile. Despite this, both cards have the same feeling when you play them, namely the feeling that you’re going to win the game as a result. Unlike Allure, I don’t think that Charge of the Light Brigade is going to enable any new combo decks. There’s talk of a deck that gets all of its Judgment Dragon cards into the graveyard or hand in the first turn and brings them all back with Beckoning Light at the end of the opponent’s turn, but I’m not certain how consistent such a deck would be. There’s no doubt, however, that it would be a lot better than it might if you built it now without Charge of the Light Brigade.
Personally, I think the most important impact that Charge will have is on the current Lightsworn decks. I’m not sure if you can just throw it into your deck: in fact I’m pretty sure you can’t. If you want to get the most out of this card, you’ll need to build your deck accordingly and think very hard about how many of each Lightsworn monster you want to play, just as the first people to play Dark Armed Return decks had to think about exactly what monsters they wanted to remove with Allure of Darkness. Fortunately, players will have plenty of time between the Sneak Preview and the first Jump in which The Duelist Genesis is legal in order to figure out what to do.
When I first got this preview assignment, I looked back to our Phantom Darkness previews to see if anyone had done one on Allure of Darkness. It turns out that we didn’t look at the card at all until players had already discovered it at the Sneak Preview. I thought it was a bit of a shame, but in writing about Charge of the Light Brigade I realized that the impact of some cards is too big to contain in just 800 words. As I write this paragraph, I see that I’m close to doubling that number, and I’m still unsure whether or not I’ve done the card justice. Even in 1500 words, I get the distinct impression that the only way you can get a real appreciation of this card is to go out there and play with it.
Put together your Lightsworn decks and head down to the Sneak Preview. Pull or trade for a copy or two of this card, play with it, and watch the magic happen. Until next time, play hard, play fair, and most importantly, have fun!
—Jerome McHale