The light of the final judgment is here! - A guide to Lightsworn

Hi everyone, today I'm going to make a guide about one of the old top tier archetypes, the lords of light: Lightsworns.



I will point a few things about Lightsworns that you have to take in consideration before using them.


- Understanding the nature of the Lightsworn monsters

When Lightsworns arrived, a lot of people thought about how wreid they were at first, cards that send cards from the deck to the graveyard?, and although there was a few decks who worked with the graveyard (suck as Zombies and Chaos), there was no deck that was that focused in dropping your deck to the dark place.

However, thanks to their boss monster and one wonderful hand trap, Lightsworn turn out to be one of the most destructive decks out there despite that risky and inconsistent gameplay, to the point that they manage to reach the status of top tier deck back in their days.

Lightsworn works with milling (sending cards from the deck to the graveyard) and milling is inconsistent by nature, who didn't want to cut their throat when you end up milling a Monster Reborn, Black Luster Soldier or Dark Hole to special summon that little Glow-Up Bulb. Well, with Lightsworn you will have to deal with that constantly, and while that wasn't a huge problem during their shinning era, now is a terrible disvantage that can't be compensated by the devastating effect of their boss monster due to cards suck as Effect Veiler, Solemn Warning and others; everything were a plus that turned Lightsworn into a, at most, tier 2 deck.

So, once you understand what are you working with, you need to keep that in mind, you will work with an inconsistent engine, so add cards that help making the mill a little more consistent and less damaging. In fact, you will be able to win against meta decks with Lightsworns if you know how to play them efficiently, I have done that and I'm not one of the most skilled duelist out there.


- Working with the engine =/= abusing it

There's a huge mistake that most of the Lightsworn players commit, overmill...

We all agree that milling is the engine of the Lightsworn archetype, but it doesn't mean that you need to abuse it, milling recklessly leads to a sure defeat. Lightsworn is NOT an archetype that is uncapable of winning if they can't summon their boss monster, with the correct set up and support, they can hold by themselves greatly without relying on heavy milling.

If you think as Lightsworn as monsters that need to mill to summon the boss monster or nothing, then you will be using a tier 2 deck like a tier 3 deck, which will lead you to a crazy ammount of defeats.


- Lightsworn can Synchro and Xyz

Another of the common mindset about LS is that they're unable to include Synchro and Xyz monsters and make them work with their engine consistently, that's a big failure, there are quite a nice ammount of cards that help them Synchro with ease and there are a few Xyz monsters that are perfect for them.

In fact, you MUST merge Lightsworn with Synchros and Xyz, is no longer an option but an obligation due to the currect meta, unless you want to turn your Lightsworns into a tier 3 deck that's easily counterable.


- Judgment Dragon: The boss monster

The core of the Lightsworn archetype...



"Cannot be Normal Summoned or Set. Must be Special Summoned (from your hand) by having 4 or more "Lightsworn" monsters with different names in your Graveyard, and cannot be Special Summoned by other ways. You can pay 1000 Life Points; destroy all other cards on the field. During each of your End Phases: Send the top 4 cards of your Deck to the Graveyard. You must control this face-up card to activate and to resolve this effect."


The primary objetive of milling is to send Lightsworn monsters to the graveyard to meet Judgment Dragon's summoning requirement, with a relatively cheap cost, you can blow up the entire field leaving nothing between your Judgment Dragon 3000 ATK points and your opponent Life Points. There's no second opinion here, run 3.

And if you happen to have a second or even a third Judgment Dragon in hand, you could summon all of them for a One Turn Kill with ease.

Sadly, one of the reasons why Lightsworn stopped being a top tier deck is the meaning of having an empty field now. Back in the days, if your opponent had an empty field, there was nothing that would stop you from a devastating direct attack, now you opponent may have an empty field, but they can have Gorz, Tragoedia, Battle Fader or other things that activate in the hand that completely ruins a chance for a OTK. Not only that, you may think that nothing on the field would stop your JD, but maybe your opponent has an Effect Veiler in hand and since JD lacks of natural protection against effects, he can be easily destroyed in your opponent next turn. On top of that, now you have Solemn Warning, a card that prevents special summons, which means that you can get a JD on the field but being unable to even use his effect before being destroyed (unlike with Bottomless Trap Hole for example).

So many ways to stop Judgment Dragon now, and much more ways if Konami changes the priority of ignition effect ruling.



Now, finished with this, let's go to the main point, analizing the Lightsworns and the cards that help them.


LIGHTSWORN ANALYSIS, TIPS AND DECK BUILDING SUGGESTIONS (WHICH DOESN'T MEAN 'DECKLIST').

Lyla, Lightsworn Sorceress

Spoiler:

One of the best cards of the archetype, it is a 1700 ATK monster which is quite interesting, she mill 3 cards at the end phase which helps a lot to summon Judgment Dragon and she has a great effect, she turns into defense position and destroy a spell or trap card your opponent control. This is good to clean the pesky backrow that may stop you from executing a nice play. Don't run less than 2.


Ehren, Lightsworn Monk

Spoiler:

She is a 1600 ATK monster that has a particularly useful effect that people seems to ignore completely when building their LS deck. She can return a defense position monster she battles back to the deck. This is an extremely useful effect to deal with monsters suck as Spirit Reaper, Wind-Up Zenmaines, Gachi Gachi Gantetsu, and if you feel like it, you can use Book of Moon and switch that annoying Black Luster Soldier, Archlord Krystia, Stardust Dragon, etc to facedown defense position and return them to the deck. And since she return monsters to the deck, they don't get destroyed neither banished, which means that they won't be targets for other cards or food for other effect; she is also a warrior searchable by Reinforcement of the Army. On top of that she mills 3 cards in the end phase. Run at least 1 but run her, she is useful.


Ryko, Lightsworn Hunter

Spoiler:

He is so awersome that he stop being a Lightsworn exclusive to turn into a monster that fits in many decks. When Ryko is flipped face-up, you can destroy a card on the field and send 3 cards from your deck to the graveyard. Don't even think on running less than 3, he and Lyla will be the substitutes of Mystical Space Typhoon and some Trap cards, you will have to use those card spots for something else.


Lumina, Lightsworn Summoner

Spoiler:

She got hit by the ban list, so you can run only 1 and you will do so, she's a staple. Why?, isn't obvious?, her effect is wonderful!, she can discard a card from your hand to special summon a level 4 or less Lightsworm monster from the graveyard. This offers so many posibilities. For example, you can use Lumina, discard a Lightsworn monster to fill the grave (Wulf being a perfect target) or a reviving tuner (Like Glow-Up, Plaguespreader Zombie or Spore), then summon a Lyla, clean a backrow, summon the reviving tuner and turn everything into a level 8 synchro monster or even better, into a devastating Trishula, Dragon of the Ice Barrier. In fact, with the correct setup, you can even summon Shooting Quasar Dragon!. She mills 3 cards during the end phase.



Wulf, Lightsworn Beast

Spoiler:

Wulf is a level 4 monster that can't be normal summoned. What's his prupose?, the point is taking advantage of Lightsworn milling nature, when Wulf is sent from the deck or the graveyard (either by milling or manually) it will be special summoned, is an interesting 2100 ATK beastick that can be summoned quite easily for big plays (for example, summoning him and a tuner along with your normal for a big Synchro monster or a Xyz monster), sadly is almost a dead draw and a terrible top deck card, unless you have Lumina or Solar Recharge to take advantage of. Is up to you if you want to run him or not.


Jain, Lightsworn Paladin

Spoiler:

Jain is the level 4 beastick of the archetype, he has 1800 ATK points that can be turned into 2100 ATK points if he attacks, which means that he can overcome most of the level 4 or lower monsters. Perfect to deal with those annoying Thunder Kings and Gemini beasticks. He mill 2 cards at the end phase and is searchable by Reinforcement of the Army. My suggestion is to run 1, 2 at most.


Garoth, Lightsworn Warrior

Spoiler:

Garoth is another warrior searchable by Reinforcement of the Army. The effect may seems interesting at first, but it's kind of hard to take advantage of it unless you run a "overloaded with LS monsters" deck. On top of that, in the current meta, is hard to old two or more monsters long enough to make him useful and if you do so, you may end up milling too much falling into that mistake I pointed it out at the beginning of this article; and since he doesn't mill by nature and Jain can take his spot as a beastick and Solar Recharge being the draw source of this deck, there's no need for him.


Rinyan, Lightsworn Rogue

Spoiler:

Don't run it, you have more than enough draw power with Solar Recharge, and the least thing you want is to return a Lightsworn monster from your graveyard to your deck. It doesn't damage your opponent so is a waste summon (when you can make much better plays with Ryko) and if you really need to recover some monsters from the grave, Beckoning Light and Monster Reincarnation are much better choices. Worthless.


Jenis, Lightsworn Mender

Spoiler:

Another worthless monster to run in a Lightsworn deck, sure... you can surprise your opponent with a 2100 DEF monster like her, but she is useless besides that. Her effect depends on she being milled by a Lightsworn card (unlike Wulf), is a useless effect and she doesn't mill by herself.


Aurkus, Lightsworn Druid

Spoiler:

He is a much better choice than Jenis, however that doesn't say a lot. He protect Lightsworn monsters anywhere from being targetted by card effects, that sadly means that you can't target them either, and he hardly will stay on the field for too long for his effect to be useful. He mill 2 cards to the graveyard. He can be a target for Lumina to Xyz into a Rank 3 monster, Leviair and Zenmaines being wonderful choices, that make him maybe a spot deserving monster.


Shire, Lightsworn Spirit

Spoiler:

A much worse version of Jain, she mill 2 cards at the end phase and gains 300 ATK for each Lightsworn monster with a different name in your Graveyard. Totally worthless since Jain and Wulf do her job much better and you have Aurkus for a possible target for Lumina if you need an instant Rank 3 Xyz monster. Don't even think on her.


Gragonith, Lightsworn Dragon

Spoiler:

Think of Gragonith as a tribute Shire, he gains 300 ATK and DEF for each Lightsworn with different names in your graveyard, he also has a piercing effect and mill 3 cards. Don't run him, there's absolutely no reason to run a tribute beastick when the main damage comes from Judgment Dragon and big plays with synchros, and if you need to run a tribute Lightsworn monster, Celestia is a way better option.


Celestia, Lightsworn Angel

Spoiler:

She is the tribute monster you want to run in your Lightsworn deck, when she is tribute summoned by tributing a Lightsworm monster, you can mill 4 cards to the graveyard and destroy 2 cards your opponent controls, this is wonderful. If you manage to protect a Lightsworn for a turn, you can feed your graveyard nicely while doing a pretty ugly damage to your opponent set up. Run 1 or 2.


Charge of the Light Brigade

Spoiler:

This is a staple in a Lightsworn deck, hit by the ban list. You only can run 1. Is a wonderful card, it allows you to mill 3 cards at the same time that is a direct searcher for the Lightsworn archetype. No second thoughts here, run this!


Solar Recharge

Spoiler:

This spell card is the draw source of the archetype, with this, you can feed the graveyard with a Lightsworn monster from your hand, draw 2 cards and mill another 2 cards to the graveyard. Draw power for a competitive deck is like the blood for humans, so don't even think of running less than 3.


Light Spiral

Spoiler:

Light Spiral is a continuous Trap Card that allows you to banish cards from your opponent deck. Basically, every time a Lightsworn monster mill, the top card of your opponent deck is banished. Unless you build a deck based on disrupting your opponents with this, don't run this card.


Glorious Illusion

Spoiler:

You can think of this as the Call of the Haunted for Lightsworns, with the additional of the milling effect. However, don't run it, if you really need to revive your monster, use Call of the Haunted instead, that is bounceable if the monster equipped is tributed or used for Synchro and Xyz summons and you're not incurring into overmilling.


Lightsworn Sabre

Spoiler:

Only a very few specific equip spell cards are worth of running in this format, this is not one of them, enough said.


Lightsworn Barrier

Spoiler:

You don't want to stall your opponent with this deck, you need the Lightsworns in the graveyard, so losing them in a battle maybe is not that bad, but if you need to protect one of your monsters for whatever reason, there are staples suck as Book of Moon, Honest or Necro Gardna that work much better. Don't be tempted to overmill with this.


Realm of Light

Spoiler:

This is Lightsworn's field spell card, sadly is one of the worst archetype field spell cards out there. This give a pathetic 100 ATK points to Lightsworns each time a card is sent from your deck to the graveyard, but the strength of the archetype has little to do with being beasticks, so bad top deck card and bad effect. Don't even consider running this.


Vanquishing Light

Spoiler:

This card negates the summon of a monster at the cost of tributing one of your own Lightsworn monsters. Losing a Lightsworn monster is not bad at all, but Vanquishiling Light is not useful enough. If you have to run some summons negators, use Solemn Warning instead (although the cost is high, it negates inherent summons and summons by effects).


Well, those were all the Lightsworn monsters and the direct Lightsworn support, now I will give you a few key cards that aren't Lightsworn exclusives but that helps them a lot.



CARDS THAT HELP THE ARCHETYPE.

I will skip some cards suck as Gorz, Monster Reborn, Mind Control or Dark Hole because I consider them as staples that fits in any deck out there and aren't directly related to the mill engine.


Glow-Up Bulb

Spoiler:

A wonderful tuner for the archetype, it's a level 1 tuner, so you can synchro almost anything you need with almost any monster you have on the field, the only monster who can't be synchro'd into something with Glow-Up is Judgment Dragon and Black Luster Soldier, but who wouldn't want to keep JD and BLS intact?

If this card is milled, you can special summon it from the graveyard, and the cost to do it is... send a card from the deck to the graveyard!, it just fits the theme perfectly. Run 1.


Spore

Spoiler:

A level 1 Tuner monster that can be turned into a level 2 or 4 tuner monster with this deck. With this and Glow-Up in your deck, you can run One for One which allows you to feed the graveyard with a Lightsworn monster while special summoning a tuner for synchro pruposes. And once it hits the grave, it can be special summoned by banishing another plant monster. Works wonderful with the milling engine. Run 1.


Dandylion

Spoiler:

A wonderful plant monster, when he is send to the graveyard (doesn't matter how) he summons two tokens, so milling it is good, it is also a level 3 that Spore can banish to summon himself as a level 4 tuner. And this card with One for One, Lumina and Glow or Spore on grave means Shooting Quasar Dragon!.


Lonefire Blossom

Spoiler:

With this card you can add the 4-card synchro plant engine to your Lightsworn deck. Of course, it doesn't work very well with the Lightsworn engine, but since the other 3 cards do, there's no harm in adding this one to complete the whole plant engine (you can use this to summon Spore, and you have a tuner on field and Lonefire on grave which can be used by Spore to turn himself into a level 4 tuner).


One for One

Spoiler:

Some people may disagree with me in this one, and is understandable, running a card like this only for 2 possible targets maybe seems too risky. However, this card is actually a very good choice, discarding a monster means feeding the graveyard with cards suck as Necro Gardna, Dandylion, Plaguespreader Zombie or Lightsworn monsters to summon a tuner for synchro pruposes is always something positive. In fact, I had around 400 duels with my Lightsworn deck and I count no more than 15 duels where I got One for One with Glow-Up and Spore already on the graveyard.


Necro Gardna

Spoiler:

This card is just wonderful, if it is sent to the graveyard due to a Lightsworn effect, very welcome it is. It can protect you from an attack by banishing himself. Also is a DARK monster, so this along with Gorz, Plaguespreader Zombie and Catastor as posible in-graveyard DARK monsters, you can add Black Luster Soldier - Envoy of the Beginning to your Lightsworn deck.


Plaguespreader Zombie

Spoiler:

A DARK level 2 tuner monster, it works wonderful with the mill engine, once it hits the grave, it can be special summoned by returning one of your cards to the top of your deck... the cost can be quite risky to pay, so be smart using this. If the scenario is ideal, you can use Plaguespreader to send a card suck as Wulf to the deck then mill it with a Lightsworn monster to the graveyard to summon him.


Beckoning Light

Spoiler:

You need, at least, 2 of those. One of the problems of playing a milling deck like Lightsworns is that you can end up milling cards suck as Judgment Dragon, Black Luster Soldier, Honest or other Lightsworn monsters that you need like Lumina and Lyla, this card helps you retrieving LIGHT monsters from the graveyard while discarding hands and, potentially, sending good ones for the graveyard suck as the plants, Wulf, Necro and other cards that aren't that useful in your hand while retrieving deadly forces suck as JD and BLS.


Honest

Spoiler:

Isn't limited for nothing, this card is absolutely awersome for any kind of LIGHT deck, this hand trap protect your Lightsworn monsters from being destroyed by battle while destroying your opponent own monsters, potentially destroying big cards and inflicting a great ammount of damage to your opponent.


Trap Stun

Spoiler:

The potential of this card is wonderful for a deck that has a non-selfprotecting boss monster like this. Although this is a format with an high hate towards backrow, it doesn't mean that people won't going to run traps, and the traps that people run can be deadly for Lightsworn, like Solemn Warning, Bottomless Trap Hole and Dimensional Prison, and it's never nice to run into a Mirror Force, Torrential Tribute, Starlight Road or some type of reborning/stalling/bruning traps. Trap Stun freezes the backrow for a turn, which is awersome (and Dark Bribe and Seven Tools are quite rare, and you can assure that if they waste that much it means that they're protecting a valuable trap), and since Lightsworn decks don't run a lot of traps, this won't going to affect you a lot. Once you activate Trap Stun, you can start big plays, suck as summoning Judgment Dragon and clean the field, or summon Black Luster Soldier for a big attack or summoning Celestia for destruction or summoning a big Synchro/Xyz monster to execute some plays. Personally, I would run 3 of them.


Daigusto Emeral

Spoiler:

Lightsworn needs cards and monsters that, in some way, help them with the milling engine, and while you have cards suck as the tuner plants that work wonderful with them, you need more support to recover from bad millings, and while Beckoning Light is a big help, this monster is the other touch you need. Daigusto Emeral let you shuffle 3 monsters in your graveyard back to your deck and draw a new card, you can shuffle bad millings suck as Gorz or Honest back to the deck. A pretty good Xyz monster for this deck.


Lavalval Chain

Spoiler:

I can't describe how awersome this card is for Lightsworns, with this you can detach a Lightsworn monster (feeding the graveyard) while you send another monster to the grave; need a Black Luster Soldier food?, send a DARK; need to synchro?, send a tuner; need the fourth Lightsworn for JD?, send it; need protection?; send Gardna. On top of that, you can choose the other effect, put your Judgment Dragon or Black Luster Soldier on top of your deck for a next turn total destruction.


Foolish Burial

Spoiler:

Is Lavalval Chain in the form of a spell card, many people may don't agree on using a card that's a -1, and they're definitely right, but on a deck that works a lot with cards in the graveyard, this card is a splendid choice for many huge plays.


Monster Reincarnation

Spoiler:

This card can help to recover a specific monster from the graveyard (call it JD, BLS or Gorz to name a few) at the cost of dropping a card there (that useless Wulf in hand, plant tuners, a Lightsworn monster to complete the four, a dandy for tokens, etcetera).



BASIC STRUCTURE OF A LIGHTSWORN DECK

Finally, I will post the basic structure from where you can start building a Lightsworn deck. From this start point, you can add whatever cards you want, suck as the staples, some cards you consider useful, more copies of the ones I list on the structure and some of the cards I mentioned on my guide, is entirely up to you.

MONSTERS:

3x Judgment Dragon
3x Ryko, Lightsworn Hunter
1x Jain, Lightsworn Paladin
1x Lumina, Lightsworn Summoner
1x Ehren, Lightsworn Monk
1x Celestia, Lightsworn Angel
2x Lyla, Lightsworn Sorceress
1x Honest
2x Necro Gardna
1x Glow-Up Bulb
1x Plaguespreader Zombie

SPELLS:

3x Solar Recharge
1x Charge of the Light Brigade

TRAPS:

2x Beckoning Light

EXTRA:

1x Daigusto Emeral
1x Lavalval Chain

SIDE:

2x Imperial Iron Wall


Well, those were my two cents, I hope you can find this useful, also I hope this guide can encourage more people to use the archetype more efficiently.

If I forgot something or maybe I feel that I can add more to this guide, I will do so, you can help also.

Nice guide!

I always liked Lightsworns despite the inconsistency. They still give the surprise factor for being underestimated and people thinking no one runs them anymore. I am pretty sure they are still regional level quality if you build the deck for the meta.

Liteswarm!!11!! teir 1 dek man! ban lsit unlmit jugdmnet dgaron1!! 2 ncero, silly komani, no 1 cna stop us

Y U NO MENTION SEPHYLON?!?!? :[

Ah yes, Lightsworns. I've had quite a bit of success with them recently, though there are always the games where I mill my spells and traps.

Unfortunately, it seems the banning of Spore and Glow-Up Bulb harmed a great deal of the Synchro capabilities that this deck could have, though at least we got 1 Lumina back. Do you think this build will use more XYZs more often in the future to give the deck some flexibility?