The Light Civilization

It’s no secret that I dig several things about the Light civilization, having pioneered Phal Control. Despite what most people think, there’s more to Light than just some godly tappage in Holy Awe and some blockers that go berserk when you cast Diamond Cutter. Let’s check it out:

Attributes:

1. Tappage—Light basically gives an opponent permission to summon his creatures, and then tries to answer creature summons by preventing them from making effective attacks thru tap-and-destroy. The problem with the approach is that tap-and-kill requires more than a one-card and a one-move investment. Holy Awe is generally the most economical form of creature tappage as it has shield trigger and affects your opponent’s entire field regardless of what civs he’s playing. Tap can be a defensive or offensive play, giving it some versatility.

Currently Most Played Tappage Cards:

Holy Awe, Craze Valkyrie, Miele, Kolon

2. Spell Recursion—although limited in capacity as its restricted to spells, Light’s recursion helps cut down on the randomness associated with gaining more options, and eases the reliance upon drawing another copy of a spell to use it. It also helps extend the use of the singletons and doubles of spells in deck by allowing you to re-use them, and helps curb the damages of hand discard. The tactic is a huge asset when you want to “abuse” a spell like Future Slash.

Currently Most Played Spell Recursion Cards:

Phal Eega

3. Spell Tutoring—no card can match Crystal Memory’s level of flexibility and secrecy, however Light is the civilization to turn to if spell tutoring is what you need or you’d like to have access to a creature with the effect. You can use tutoring to decipher your shield zone and keep track of the options you have left in your deck. Running a creature that can search for spells like Forbos gives you a way to net even more card advantage as you gain a card in hand and field presence. It also greatly enhances spell recursion effects.

Currently Most Played Spell Tutoring Cards:

Forbos, Logic Cube

4. Blocking—ways to prevent the loss of a creature or a shield. One of the drawbacks of playing blockers is that most blockers simply sit there until something attacks and then can only block. But many of Light’s blockers have the distinction of not only sporting great cost-to-power ratios but also being able to attack tapped creatures, and some can attack players and untap after blocking/end of turn.

Currently Most Played Blocker Cards:

Sarius, Senatine Jade Tree, Kenesill, La Ura Giga

5. Card Drawing—enables you to get to your answer/threats and maintain options in hand. It helps you build your mana supply without sac’ing your draws and generate card advantage. No civ can match Water’s card drawers, but Light has some solid offerings. Magris is one of the best 4 drops in the game, and is similar to Aqua Hulcus as it’s a body that replaces itself and has utility as evo material. Mist Rias has the potential to be a downright scary source of card draw, and lets you draw cards on your opponent’s turn, which basically penalizes him for building board presence. 

Currently Most Played Card Drawing Cards:

Mist Rias, Magris

6. Negation—card negation like Alcadeias, Lord of Spirit’s “anti-Light spell” effect cripples your opponent’s ability to use his cards effectively. It also gives you something called virtual card advantage—every time your opponent draws a non-Light spell with Big Al out it’s a dead card aka mana. He won’t reap any of the advantages associated with playing such cards because he can’t play them.

Currently Most Played Negation Cards:

Alcadeias

7. Untapping—provides a way to overextend your attacking options and cut down on a risk you incur when you attack—your creatures being vulnerable to retaliatory attacks. Notable: Whisking Whirlwind.
 

8. Mana Zone Drawing—grab back an option & cut down negative effect of losing a card to mana. Water completely pwns Light in this department with Thrash Crawler, since all of its mana zone drawers are limited to spells except for Boomerang Comet. Notable: Lena, Vizier of Brilliance.

9. Shield Placement—prolongs duel and complicates opponent’s thinking game. Sundrop Armor still sees some play although it drains your hand and is overshadowed by Mana Nexus. Sphere of Wonder is a nice asset for deck out decks since opponent will often have more shields than you. Notable: Sundrop Armor, Sphere of Wonder (deck out).
 

10. Mana Acceleration—helps bring late-game online sooner. Light’s offerings like Glory Snow are extremely poor in comparison to Nature’s offerings, especially since they are conditional. Lightening Charger is the most playable offering since it doubles as tappage, and isn’t conditional. Notable: Lightening Charger.
 

11. Evasion—guarantee a hit with “can’t be blocked” spells. Cards like Sonic Wing are limited to a certain number of creatures, usually one. Far outclassed by Crystal Paladin and Holy Awe. Notable: Miracle Portal.
 

12. Blocker Creation—turn other creatures into blockers unexpectedly and have answers to your opponents attacks. Notable: Full Defensor.

13. Summoning Sickness Removal—launch surprise attacks. Miracle Portal fits this effect too, but is overshadowed due to Diamond Cutter affecting the whole field. Notable: Diamond Cutter.

There are more effects in the civilization such as Peeking (Wyn, the Oracle) and Hand Discard (Rain of Arrows), but I covered a solid amount, lol.

Ratings:

There’s no question that if you want to tap creatures or build a deck focused on spells then Light is the civilization to use. But, some of its attributes are more soundly performed by other civilizations such as Card Drawing or best avoided like Hand Discard. Due to all the blocker-hate in the environment mono-Light has seen its heyday come and go in most metas. Light’s lack of direct creature removal hampers its ability to generate card advantage and control the duel effectively on its own. Light’s a solid support civilization if your strategy calls for use of its best tactics, and is most competitive in non-mono strategies.

Mono: 2.5/5

Multi-civ: 4.5/5