Lightsworn.
This is going to be the first of many articles written by me about different archetypes and decks. Please remember when reading my articles that I talk about players who build their own decks and do not “Netdeck” them, rather than just talk about players who “Netdeck”. So with out further ado, let us proceed.
I am under a complete understanding that a lot of people don't like this deck, and I understand why. Most people believe this deck is just about sacking your opponent with Judgment Dragon, and then pushing for game; however, what if it was more than that? In this article, I aim to open everybody's eyes, in order for you all to look at the bigger picture.
To start us off with this archetype, I'm going to talk to you about the basics of this archetype; what they do and how they do it. So, Lightsworn is a mill heavy deck, it relies on milling 4 or more Lightsworns into the grave to make the boss monster Judgment Dragon, summon-able. Nearly every Lightsworn monster has an effect that requires you to mill cards at some point while they are face up on the field. Most of them, will require you to mill between 2-3 cards on average during the end phase that they are face up. Not only this, but each monster has a different effect to help you a little bit more than just milling cards. Lyla allows you to switch it to defense mode, in order to destroy a spell/trap. Lumina allows you to drop a card off in the grave and summon another Lightsworn from your grave. These are just a couple of examples so you can get somewhat of an idea on what their effects might be. Not only this, but they have some spells to speed up the process of this; two of which are so popular, they are played in nearly every Lightsworn deck. Solar Recharge, allowing you to drop a Lightsworn in the grave in order to draw two cards then mill two cards. Charge Of The Light Brigade, (whose name is based off of a very famous poem called The Charge of the Light Brigade By Alfred, Lord Tennyson), allows you to mill 3 cards then add a level 4 or lower Lightsworn monster from the deck to the hand. Now once you have managed to get 4 Lightsworn monsters in your grave with different names, and have the card Judgment Dragon in your hand, you are able to summon him on the field. With his outstanding 3000atk and 2600def, he can push for game very easily; not only this but he has the effect of subtracting 1000 life points from your own life point count, and destroying every other card on the field apart from himself, leaving the field wide open to attack with just him, or two more of him, or even other Lightsworn monsters. This gives the deck very high OTK, (One Turn Kill), potential.
Since the archetype was released in 2008, players, male and female alike, have found new ways of incorporating them into decks to make hybrid versions of their former selves; (Variants). A list of the different variants of the decks can be found right here;
-Vayusworn
-Lightraysworn
-Lightrulers
-Kristyasworn
-Chaossworn
-Hamstersworn
-Zombiesworn
-Flamesworn
-Plantsworn
-Shaddollsworn
-Wightsworn.
These are just a few decks off of the top of my head that people have managed to make using Lightsworns and other decks. Some of these decks are not seen played competitively any more because it just doesn't have that potential it needs to compete with some of the decks that are currently running amok. Some of these weren't really considered that competitive anyway. Now in each of these decks, the play style is different and requires different ways of thinking and playing styles from you. Obviously, the most consistent and competitive Lightsworn variant at this moment in time, is Lightrulers, also known as “Godsworn” though it has nothing to do with the god cards; it received this name because it is so consistent and is known for it's high OTK potential. The reason “Godsworn” is used instead of “Lightrulers” is because it is such a competitive deck and can win so easily; and a god is referring to a greater being than ourselves, so it therefore implies that this deck is better than all other decks.
A lot of duelists and yugioh fans would be more than inclined to share their opinion on the deck, which is usually that it is an auto pilot deck that takes no skill to play. I argue the opposite opinion to those who say this. I feel the deck does take skill, maybe not as much as other decks out there but I do feel it takes skill. When playing a deck like Lightsworn, adapting to the situation is a massive part of playing this deck, especially with the fact that this deck mills it's cards in order to make it's plays. When I'm milling my cards using the effect of spells, traps and monsters I run a very high risk of milling cards I don't want to mill; such as Solar Recharge, Charge Of The Light Brigade, Judgment Dragon, Lumina, Needlebug Nest, Royal Decree. There are so many cards that you could mill which could change how the game goes, if I mill 3 cards for the effect of Lyla during my end phase, and all of those three cards are my Judgment Dragons, then I have no way of getting them back, because me as a Lightsworn player, opted to not play Monster Reincarnation; I feel scenarios like this should be more addressed than the ones that people chose to remember, like being OTK'd. If I mill my three Judgment Dragons then it is true that I gain three dragons to banish for my Dragon Rulers but then I have to attempt to win using my Dragon Rulers which have limited play time on the field, due to running out of dragons to banish. If I mill three Solar Recharge then I lose a fair bit of consistency. With situations like this, the player needs to adapt, and that takes skill. Obviously you have the basic combinations like summoning Lumina, dropping a Lightsworn, summoning Raiden, milling two cards, then synchro, but you also have the opportunity to make plays that might not have been expected by a lot of players, because of their views on Lightsworn. We like to synchro a lot now we have been given the archetype tuners. So we like to mix up the dragon Rulers with the tuners a bit, we like to go for level six synchros rather than level seven synchros we like to XYZ summon a bit more now. This opens up a huge amount of possibilities, such as Goyo Guardian, Moonlight Rose Dragon, Ancient Sacred Wyvern, Leo, The Keeper Of The Sacred Tree and more for the synchro summoning and cards like Number 101: Silent Honor ARK, Number 15: Gimmick Puppet Giant Grinder, Number 42: Galaxy Tomahawk, Number 74: Master Of Blades, etc. Which all switch things up a bit, makes things a lot more fun and out of the ordinary.
When people say this deck is auto-pilot, I like to think they're just naive and don't quite realize how much skill it takes to play the deck successfully with out misplaying and making poor moves. Some people will just make the basic plays of the deck, not experiment and learn all of the possibilities the deck has to offer and hope for the best. I, and a lot of other players who play Lightsworn, like to experiment and make some more of the unusual plays to spice things up a bit, or just because it's more fun to make those plays rather than making the basic ones. I also feel that a lot of the skill in this deck goes into actually making the deck in the first place. Picking which Lightsworns you personally want to put in and how many of each one you chose you feel you want to run; and like I said earlier I a referring to the players who make their own decks rather than “Netdeck” their version of it. There are so many opportunities for players who make their own deck, to put in cards that others might not have though of. When I started playing Lightsworn I put in Royal Decree, not because everyone used it, but because it was the best option for me to learn what the deck can do properly with out being interrupted with traps all the time. As I played more with the deck I turned to other cards, like Needlebug Nest and eventually Fiend Comedian. I spent hours at a time, improving my Lightsworn deck to make it how it is today. I'm sure a lot of other players have done the same, but it sucks that they just get passed off as “Netdecked” because other people used the same deck list as those who actually spent the time and effort to make the deck, or because the card choices that they made just so happened to be similar to the ones that others made for their deck. I feel people need to being to realize that this deck is more than just lucky mills and draws and more about the unlucky mills and draws and how it takes skill to work with them and adapt to the situations at hand.
Thanks for reading.
Next weeks article: Evols.
~Judgment Dragon.
