We have one more Noble Knight card to review for you today. Ignoble Knight of High Laudsallyn combos well with yesterday’s card, Lady of the Lake and is an amazing search engine for Noble Knights. If you are going to run Noble Knights with the Synchro theme added in, then High Laudsallyn is a must. If you have not read yesterday’s article on Lady of the Lake and how to make level 5 Synchro monsters in a Noble Knight deck, then you need to do so.

Lady of the Lake is not the only tuner that you can use with your Noble Knights. Another good tuner that has great synergy with them is Vylon Sphere as it is a level 1 tuner that can reequip itself to Ignoble Knight of High Laudsallyn when it is Synchro summoned and then be used to equip another Noble Arms to Laudsallyn. As both Vylon Sphere and Lady of the Lake are Light monsters, you could also use Shining Angel to special summon them. If you want to stick with the Warrior theme, you could use Attack Gainer with Reinforced truth. This will weaken your opponent’s monster by 1000 attack and give your Laudsallyn a better chance at destroying that monster and getting its search effect.

The ability of Ignoble Knight of High Laudsallyn to search for Noble Arms cards and Noble Knights is essential to a more consistent Noble Knight deck. The basic ideal with Laudsallyn is to summon it, get Noble Arms Gallatin or Caliburn from you deck to make it bigger than your opponent’s monster and then attack over it to get its second effect to search for ether a Noble Arms or Knight card from your deck. You could also use another new card called Swords at Dawn during your opponent’s turn when they attack to make Laudsallyn bigger and get its second effect. Plusses like that turn the tide in your favor.

I will finish off this review with my normal disclaimer for equip/combo decks in that they are slow and dependant. Noble Knights can be fun to play but they are not top tier.

Traditional: 1/5
Advanced: 3/5

Ignoble Knight of High Laundsallyn
DARK/Warrior/Synchro/Effect/Level 5/2100/900
1 Tuner + 1 or more non-Tuner "Noble Knight" monsters
When this card is Synchro Summoned: You can equip 1 "Noble Arms" Equip Spell Card from your Deck to this card. At the end of the Battle Phase, if this card destroyed a monster by battle and sent it to the Graveyard: You can add 1 "Noble Knight" or "Noble Arms" card from your Deck to your hand. You can only control 1 "Ignoble Knight of High Laundsallyn".

The final new card before the top 10 cards of 2013 is Ignoble Knight of High Laundsallyn, The Noble Knights first Synchro Monster. Statwise there isn’t much to shout about DARK/Warrior so there is support there, 2100 ATK is solid for a level 5 but 900 DEF is bad for any monster. It isn’t generic which does hurt its playability a bit but this guy is clearly designed only to work in a Noble Knight deck. There is also the condition that you can only control 1 Ignoble Knight of High Laundsallyn which is never a good thing.

Effectwise though things get a lot better. He has two effects and they are both searchers. The first effect allows you to equip a Noble Arms to this Synchro-summoned card straight from the Deck. This is really powerful and will help this card out a lot. The second effect requires you to destroy a monster as a result of battle, and if you do, you can add either a Noble Knight or a Noble Arms card to your hand. In an ideal world this would allow you to either special summon or equip the card straight away but it still allows you to tailor your search accordingly. It is a shame that for these type of effects more ATK points would be better.

Overall a good addition to the Noble Knight series but it might not work for everyone as it does require you to add tuners to a deck which is mostly about Xyz monsters.

Traditional: 3/5
Advanced: 3/5

High Laundsallyn is one truly intimidating tough boss monster! He works great in Noble Knights, and grants powerful searching capabilities to an archetype that desperately needs it.

When this card is Synchro Summoned: You can equip 1 "Noble Arms" Equip Spell Card from your Deck to this card. Make sure you grab some type of protection for Laundsallyn if you don't already have any. (Such as Noble Arms - Destiny or Excaliburn) Then just start slaying their monsters and the fun begins.

At the end of the Battle Phase, if this card destroyed a monster by battle and sent it to the Graveyard: You can add 1 "Noble Knight" or "Noble Arms" card from your Deck to your hand. You will have the ability to get ANY themed card from your deck to your hand. This is a great ability for many reasons, but namely the +1 to card advantage, and the increased consistency of adding what you need to your hand, when you need it.

Another great thing about this monster is he is able to be revived with Rank 5 Sacred King Artorigus' effect, which we reviewed the other day. Remember, when Sacred King is sent to the graveyard, you can special summon a level 4 or higher Noble Knight monster from your grave, so it is possible to summon your other boss monster after your Rank 5 boss monster leaves the field.

High Laundsallyn isn't perfect, however. At 2100 attack and 900 defense, his stats leave something to be desired. I would of liked to see a few hundred more attack points and maybe a good bit more defense. Also, with how inconsistent, slow, and just over all poorly designed Lady of the Lake is, it doesn't make summoning this dark boss much easier. Your best bet is to just run Effect Veiler and synchro summon Laundsallyn after you pop with Noble Knight Drystan or recycle with Gwalchavad.

Overall, High Laundsallyn is a powerful boss monster for the Noble Knights, second only to King Artorigus, and he is a true force to be reckoned with. He's harder to summon thing King Artorigus overall, which is a shame, although there are Noble Knight builds which revolve more around Laundsallyn than Artorigus. Although in all honesty, I don't recommend them. However, a well time Laundsallyn when your opponent has monsters to attack on their field could be all you need to shift momentum in your favor very quickly, with the great search for any archetype card ability he gains when destroying a monster. Also, the synergy with Noble Knight's main boss monster ,Rank 5 Sacred King, makes High Laundsallyn more than just playable, it makes him a welcome and necessary edition to Noble Knights.

Personally, as a Noble Knight player, I can only hope Legacy of the Valiant gives Noble Knights a large boost (preferably in the consistency department). We have a long way to go to becoming a truly competitive, high tier deck. At the moment Noble Knights leave much to be desired, although this cards rating will reflect the individual card itself and not the archetype as a whole.

Ratings:

Traditional: 2/5
Advanced: 3.5/5
Mechanic Design: 4/5 (Useful search mechanic for Noble Arms, and innovative effect to search and add when a monster is destroyed, a reasonable condition with a potentially tide turning benefit)
Art: 5/5 (High Laundsallyn is a true boss, one that "feels" powerful, not just because of his effect, but because of his intimidating appearance. He is surging with dark energy and will kill his foe's with no remorse whatsoever)