Herald of the Arc Light
Starting this week off with one of the latest
“Herald” monsters to be released, and one that I
feel has just a little hidden potential.
Unfortunately this card has very low ATK and DEF
stats, so if you cannot protect it you’ll not be
able to hurt your opponent with this cards effect(s)
past Main Phase 1.
It’s first, continuous effect is well suited for
hurting such Decks as Shaddoll’s, Lightsworn’s,
Sylvan’s and Mermail’s as well as Decks that would
normally be able to make use of cards such as
Mathematician, Kuribandit or Foolish Burial.
What is worth noting about the first part of this
cards effect is that it only Banishes cards sent
from the Hand or Main Deck to the Graveyard, so once
a monster card is on the field it essentially
becomes “Safe”… From being Banished anyhow!
This cards next effect is actually rather handy
since it can essentially force your opponent to
waste a card in order to work around it. As it can
Negate the activation of any Spell, Trap or Monsters
effect and then destroy it, this card can be used to
deal with practically any card that may cause you
problems at the time.
Importantly, Herald of the Arc Light Tributes itself
in order to use this effect, this means that Skill
Drain and Fiendish Chain are of no issue when it
comes to using this effect, and it also means that
it can be played in a Deck that uses Skill Drain.
And finally, when it’s sent to the Graveyard you can
add 1 Ritual monster or Ritual Spell card from your
Deck to your hand. While this does seem very useful
if used in a Deck that does Ritual Summon, I feel
that the fact that this card provides support to
Ritual Decks shouldn’t be the only reason to
consider playing this card.
However, if you are using this in a Ritual Deck,
using this cards effect to Negate an opponents card
and then because (it should) it goes to the
Graveyard, you can then add a Ritual Monster or
Ritual Spell card to your hand, essentially meaning
that this card now gains you card advantage, and
this is something that Ritual Decks lack for the
most part.
This effect also works if detached from an Xyz
monster as the effect does not specify where it must
come from, only that it must be sent to the
Graveyard.
Herald of the Arc Light has the potential to provide
useful support to Decks as Gishki and Herald of
Perfection as well as Ritual Decks in general,
Agents and Yang Zing.
Traditional: 2.5. I actually see use for this card
here, and because it’s also a Light-type this makes
it only more useful.
Advanced: 3.5. While this score is more of one that
I’ve given for Decks that can effectively use it,
this certainly has the potential to cause headaches,
especially if one were to face a Deck that can
Summon and protect this easily. And a Level 4
Synchro really is not all that difficult to Summon.
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