Sylvan Princessprite 

The much anticipated Sylvan Princessprite arrives long after Sylvans have come and gone in the TCG, but this fine-looking card is great all the same and fills a hole that has long existed. Rank 1 XYZ monsters have been nothing to write home about, especially generic ones, which is tragic because level 1 monsters are usually the most useless on the field once they’ve done what they were meant to do. 

Surprisingly, on the short list of Rank 1 XYZ monsters, there exists nearly as many monsters that require 3 material as there are that only need 2. Since those are basically unusable, Rank 1 monsters with function have been near non-existent. And that’s not a surprise. There aren’t many level 2 synchro monsters or low-level fusion monsters either. That’s not what they do. They’re supposed to get bigger when they require multiple resources to summon. But I can argue this is the first Rank 1 that’s truly capable, and that’s saying something. 

And saying Princessprite is capable is an understatement. Either milling a monster or adding a free spell/trap is a dream when you talk about converting two weaklings into a formidable 1800 ATK monster. The upstart Spyrals love this monster to death, Sylvans can obviously use them well, and there’s a host of other archetypes that use level 1 monsters but would never have considered the previous Rank 1 options. What deck doesn’t want to mill and/or draw? That’s really the question. And Princessprite answers that question with the correct solution every time. A deck with more than a small sample of level 1 monsters will always consider this card, even if she doesn’t get added in the end. And that’s the gold standard of what makes a card “good.” 

Advanced: 3.5/5
Future Potential: 4/5

Sylvan Princessprite

Todays COTD is Sylvan Princessprite, a Rank 1 Xyz that's taken nearly two years to reach us. Princessprite is a light plant with 1800 attack and 100 def, and requires two level 1 monsters to summon.

While she won't be winning any battles, her claim to fame comes from the combos she sets up in Sylvans. Sporting a pair of effects that she can only use once per turn.

First up, By detaching a material, you can excavate the top card of the deck and if it's a spell or trap card, you can add that card to the hand, otherwise you send it to the grave. This is great for deck thinning, even outside of Sylvans, allowing you to dump monsters to the grave or adding a spell or trap to your hand.

Her second effect is Sylvan specific, but that's where Princessprite really shines. By sending another plant from your field or hand to the grave, you can target and then special summon any Sylvan monster from your grave. And that's it. She lets you tag sylvans out for each other, or bring one back that you've already used an effect from. Princessprite improves on an all-ready solid archetype.

Advanced 4/5 for Sylvans, 2/5 in other decks