Monday
 
Well I promised we would do Abyss Rising this week, and as good as my word, here we are!  Opening the week is Ignobale Knight of Black Laundsallyn.  Fitting well with the Noble Knights (I assume he's Ignobale if only because he's Dark) this is a Level 5 Monster, with a rather unremarkable attack of just 2000 and an equally unimpressive defense of 800.  Fortunately, being Level 5, he has a way of working around requiring a Tribute.  Well, sort of, as by sending a face-up Normal Light Monster to the Graveyard, you can Special Summon this card from your Hand or Graveyard.  Since you still have to give up a Monster, it's essentially still a Tribute, at least in terms of resources.  At least this is considered a Special Summon however.  Furthermore, you can tribute a Noble Knight Monster you control to add a Noble Arms Magic Card from your Deck to your Hand.  For the unaware, Noble Arms is a series of Noble themed Equip Magic Cards, and I believe the only one we have at present is Noble Arms-Gallatin.  Said Magic Card can only be equipped to a Warrior, and you can only control one face-up at a time.  The equipped Monster gains 1000 attack but loses 200 attack during each of your turns after.  When destroyed, you can target another Noble Knight Monster you control and equip this card to it.  But back to this card, you can only use the effect to add a Noble Arms card to your Deck once a turn, and you can only control one of these guys at a time.  He's not game-breaking, he could be later, but not now.  Not at all a bad card though.

Ratings:

Traditional:  2.25/5 
Advanced:   3.25/5 
Art:  5/5

We will be taking a look at some cards from Abyss Rising this week, so what better way to start off than with the Promo card from the set. Ignoble Knight of Black Laundsallyn supports the TCG exclusive archetype of Equip Spell Cards called “Noble Arms”. Now, as I see it, there are only five cards in the game so far that form this archetype; Noble Knight Gawayn, Ignoble Knight of Black Laundsallyn, Noble Knight Artorigus, Noble Arms – Arfeudutyr, and Noble Arms – Gallatin. They are all based on the Warriors of King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table.
 
While not the greatest theme around, it does have some fun and interesting combinations to it. You can summon Rescue Rabbit, use its effect to special summon two Noble Knight Artoriguses, special summon Laundsallyn from your hand or grave, use its effect to send the other Noble Knight to the grave to get a Noble Arms card, then attached the Arms card to your Ignoble Knight to ether destroy a set card or raise your monsters attack to 3000.
 
The Noble Knights have some special summoning capabilities of their own, so you do not need Rescue Rabbit to accomplish the above. Another nice aspect to the Noble Knights is that they are dark and light warrior monsters so you can use them in Chaos and Warrior decks. We are not going to see this archetype being good at the top levels but it can be enjoyable to build a fun deck around.
 
Traditional: 1/5
Advanced: 2/5

We start looking at cards from Abyss Rising, and what better card to look at but the promo card you got for showing up. Ignoble Knight is a level 5 DARK/Warrior-type with 2000 ATK and 800 DEF. 
 
You can send 1 face-up LIGHT normal monster you control to the graveyard; Special Summon this card from your hand or graveyard. You can tribute 1 Noble Knight monster you control; add 1 Noble Arms card from your deck to your hand. You can use this effect once per turn. You can only control 1 face-up Ignoble Knight of Black Laundsallyn.
 
Ignoble Knight has a few uses. You can squeeze him in an Agents deck, using Mystical Shine Ball to get him out. Or the obvious choice is in a Noble Knight deck where he can really flourish. Tributing a Noble Knight monster for a Noble Arms card of your choice is pretty good. But you are giving up a bit of field control, depending on what you get in return. His 2000 ATK is pretty good, while his 800 DEF won't hold up against very much. Ignoble Knight is a DARK monster, that's good as that is the halfway point for Chaos. He's not the best card, but not the worst.
 
Traditional: 2
Advanced: 2.5
Tomorrow: Who keeps their books in a tower that grand?