Lightsworn
O Saint Michael, Archangel of the Light
With the mighty Dragon of Judgment in thou command, we praise thou as our guardian
Save us in the holy battles, decisively defeat the forces from the Darkness
Then we pray...Thou be our Ark,
thou be our protection against the wickedness and snares of the Darkness.
"Lightsworn", known as "Lightroad" (ライトロード Raitorōdo) in the OCG, is an archetype of LIGHT and DARK monsters introduced in Light of Destruction. The LIGHT monsters' primary effects involve self-milling, which sends cards from the top of your Deck to your Graveyard, either as a cost to activate their effect(s), or as part of the effect(s) itself. Contained in the "Twilightsworn" sub-series, the DARK monsters operate on a similar principle, but also banish "Lightsworn" monsters as the costs for their effects.
Story
The "Lightsworns" are a group who seek to save those who pray for help, crossing time and space in order to help them. By consuming vast quantities of magical energy, they appear on the material plane and challenge those evildoers who threaten the era they appear in. Once their job is done and the evil has been stopped, they return to their home plane, disappearing without a trace. Their founder, "Michael, the Arch-Lightsworn", is responsible for enlisting the souls of heroes worthy of joining the "Lightsworns". As they travel in order to fight evil, they also recruit the heroes of that time.[1]
Playing style
Decking out is a risk sometimes associated with the milling done in "Lightsworn" Decks, though careful use of "Lightsworn Judgment" can prevent this. However, milling improves the speed of the Deck and many "Lightsworn" cards benefit from having many "Lightsworn" monsters in the Graveyard. A primary focus of this Deck is to quickly summon "Judgment Dragon", which may be Special Summoned while there are 4 or more different "Lightsworn" monsters in the Graveyard. "Judgment Dragon" can quickly clear the field and attack directly. This strategy is most useful when running a small Deck, and has the potential to turn the tables in your favor before your opponent can get too much of a foothold. This Deck is quite capable of a very fast OTK using their mill effects, and then Summoning "Judgment Dragon". "Judgment Dragon" alone would easily be able to create an OTK situation fairly quickly. "Lightsworns" have been incorporated into many Deck types. Most notably, "Lightsworns" are combined with DARK monsters in a Deck type known as Twilight. Such a Deck uses a mixture of LIGHT and DARK monsters and tends to include Chaos cards, particularly since "Chaos Sorcerer" and "Black Luster Soldier - Envoy of the Beginning" were removed from the March 2011 and September 2011 Forbidden lists, respectively. The Duelist Set: Version Lightsworn Judgment marks the release of new "Lightsworn" Tuners and a Synchro Monster, giving them support for their Extra Decks. In the TCG, two of the Tuners and the Synchro Monster were released in the Realm of Light Structure Deck, whilst the third Tuner was released in Duelist Alliance. These additions to the "Lightsworn" archetype have made it a heavy Synchro Summoning based archetype, and is now capable of making powerful Synchro Monsters easily with cards such as "Lumina, Lightsworn Summoner" and "Soul Charge". "Raiden, Hand of the Lightsworn" helps the Deck Synchro Summon as well, by being able to quickly send "Wulf, Lightsworn Beast" to the Graveyard. Lastly, the Level 4 Tuner "Felis, Lightsworn Archer" can create easy Synchro possibilities by being Special Summoned when sent to the Graveyard by the effect of another "Lightsworn" monster (or any monster for that matter). "Kuribandit" can help set up your Graveyard faster to Summon "Judgment Dragon", whilst also adding a powerful Spell Card such as "Soul Charge" to the hand. The DARK-Attribute "Twilightsworn" monsters were introduced in Code of the Duelist. They focus on banishing other "Lightsworn" monsters as part of their effects in order to help facilitate the Summon of "Punishment Dragon". Their mill effects can happen at any time, even outside of the End Phase, but only if another "Lightsworn" monster activates its effect.
Recommended cards
Recommended cards
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Weaknesses
The primary problems for a "Lightsworn" player come from cards capable of negating effects ("Skill Drain", "Light-Imprisoning Mirror" and "Brain Golem" above all), and cards that banishes other monsters from play, especially "Macro Cosmos" and "Dimensional Fissure", capable of turning the milling effect of the Lightsworn from a simple requirement to a severe disadvantage. As such, one will commonly find cards like "Royal Decree" and "Mystical Space Typhoon" in both the Main Deck and Side Deck of "Lightsworn" Decks. Cards that add to the milling can be a threat to "Lightsworn" Decks, however, these can be helpful since they can push the Deck into its win condition more quickly. Since "Lightsworn" decks are heavily reliant on sending cards from the Deck to the Graveyard, "Dimension Fortress Weapon" can be used to completely halt all effects that send cards from the Deck to the Graveyard, thus severely slowing down "Lightsworn" decks. Stalling may force a Deck Out, although the high number of destruction effects the "Lightsworns" offer, such as "Celestia, Lightsworn Angel", "Lyla, Lightsworn Sorceress", and "Ryko, Lightsworn Hunter", often make up for this. To avoid destruction, players can use chainable Stall cards like "Battle Fader", "Zero Gardna", "One Day of Peace", "Threatening Roar" and "Winged Kuriboh".
Trivia
- Kevin Tewart gave the following reason as to why the archetype was called "Lightsworn" in the TCG (at the time, the OCG name was assumed to be "Lightlord"):
"Lord" is a male title, the female equivalent is "Lady". "Lightlord" would be a fine title if all of the monsters were male - which they are not. You would have to use "Lightlord" for the male monsters and "Lightlady" for the female ones. But what about Ryko and Gragonith, are they "Lightlord" or "Lightlady"? Perhaps we'd need a 3rd category, called "Lighthing". Or perhaps "Lightit". Also you'd need to change things like Judgment Dragon to work off of "Lightlord and/or Lightlady". Or even "Lightlord / Lightlady / Lightit monsters".
Names like "Lightlord" work fine in Japan, where people think English is cool even though they can't understand it. These same names don't work so well in places where people actually know what the words mean.[2]
- "Jenis, Lightsworn Mender", "Wulf, Lightsworn Beast", and "Rinyan, Lightsworn Rogue" are the only "Lightsworn" monsters that do not mill.
- All "Lightsworn" monsters' artworks have a square with one or more halos (usually appearing behind their head) in their background.
- Master Guide 3 describes the self-milling effects of "Lightsworn" monsters during the End Phase as "requiring immense amounts of magic to stay in other worlds while maintaining their minds and bodies".
References
- ↑ YGOrganization - [OCG] Lore on the Geargias and Lightsworn!
- ↑ Tewart, Kevin (2011-05-12). "Why were they changed?". Pojo.com forums. p. 2. Retrieved 11 April 2024.
