Minerva, the Athenian Lightsworn – #LEDE-EN043
1 Tuner + 1+ non-Tuner monsters
“Lightsworn” monsters you control cannot be banished by card effects. You can only use each of the following effects of “Minerva, the Athenian Lightsworn” once per turn. If this card is Synchro Summoned: You can send “Lightsworn” monsters with different Types from your Deck to the GY, up to the number of “Lightsworn” monsters used as this card’s material. You can banish up to 4 “Lightsworn” monsters from your GY; send that many cards from the top of your Deck to the GY.
Date Reviewed: May 29th, 2024
Rating: xx
Ratings are based on a 1 to 5 scale. 1 is awful. 3 is average. 5 is excellent.
Reviews Below:
King of
Lullaby
Hello Pojo Fans,
Minerva has finished her glow-up, becoming Minerva, the Athenian Lightsworn.
Generic materials needed for this Level 8 Synchro, this Minerva prevents her Lightsworn monsters from being banished on the field by card effects. It won’t always happen, but there is far more banishing effects for stuff on the field than there were even a few years ago, let alone back when Lightsworn debuted. Protection from targeting may have been a better option, but this will do.
When Synchro Summoned, Minerva swaps her milling ability out for a potential multiple Foolish Burial for Lightsworn. The more Lightsworn monsters used for her summon, the more Types of Lightsworn monsters you can send to the graveyard. As a Level 8, it is easiest to use two monsters and get the double Foolish Burial. You could use Plaguespreader Zombie (or any Level 2 Tuner), a Level 2, and a Level 4 and get three Foolish Burial, but most likely you’ll get a double Foolish…no complaining. Multiple Types used within the Lightsworn archetype, giving you several options for sending to the grave. Felis and Wulf will get you two more bodies on board, Weiss will Special Summon a Lightsworn from the grave, Dragonling gets you your Judgment Dragon, and the first Minerva form would get you another mill off the top. Minerva, along with Weiss, are making Felis more consistent in the archetype. Giving Lightsworn direct deck thinning abilities is the best way to improve consistency in the archetype.
Banishing Lightsworn isn’t something you would like to do until you’ve got Judgment Dragon on the field, but you are likely running many copies of different Lightsworn, and Lightsworn players will gladly give up copies of their Lightsworn monsters to get another mill in. a four-card mill can make the difference between getting what you want and having to wait. At worst you’ll have two Lightsworn in the grave after Minerva’s Synchro Summon, then her double Foolish Burial may give you two more. Feel free to shotgun that banish to mill an extra four. It’s crazy to think about how much milling Lightsworn could do in one turn now that everything is essentially Unlimited for them…maybe Michael should be played in the Extra Deck as a “just in case” option to reset in your End Phase.
Knew she was coming after the Xyz, especially when she wasn’t the Link Lightsworn we got. And with that monster banned, Lightsworn were in need of a better option than they had in their Extra Deck. Michael did good at getting Lightsworn back into the Deck, while Judgment, the Dragon of Heaven didn’t directly help Lightsworn at all. Now, Lightsworn have a designated Xyz to mill and draw, and a Synchro to help set up and de-clutter.
Advanced- 4/5 Art- 5/5
Until Next Time,
KingofLullaby
Crunch$G
Midweek brings us to a Synchro form of Minerva to go with the Xyz we got nearly a decade ago: Minerva, the Athenian Lightsworn.
Minerva: Synchro Edition is a Level 8 LIGHT Fairy Synchro with 2800 ATK and 1800 DEF. A good stat buff for being a Level 8 Synchro, LIGHT is of course great, and Fairy has solid support. Materials are any Tuner and any non-Tuner, so generic, but it rewards you for using Lightsworns as Synchro Material, but more on that in a second. Your Lightsworn monsters that you control cannot be banished by card effects, which goes with the archetype’s new Fusion so you don’t completely wipe out your own board. The remaining effects are each a hard once per turn, first triggering upon Synchro Summon to send Lightsworn monsters with different Types from the Deck to the graveyard up to the number of Lightsworn monsters used as Synchro Material. Traditionally, you should be going for 2 Lightsworns as material to get 2 monsters sent. The Type lock means you can’t send both Wulf and Felis, but you can send Weiss in the place of one of those to revive a Lightsworn you used to Synchro Summon this to begin with. The other effect lets you banish up to 4 Lightsworn monsters from your graveyard to send that many cards from the top of your Deck to the grave. It’s a way to set up Punishment Dragon’s summoning condition in Lightsworn without having to rely on the slow effects of the Twilightsworns, plus it’s more milling for the Deck to hopefully get certain cards into the grave. Minerva is a good modern Synchro for the archetype considering Michael, while still decent, does nothing to help extend your plays after you make it. Being an Extra Deck card you can access on demand, you only need 1, but sometimes you can get away with 2 if you have the room.
Advanced Rating: 4/5
Art: 5/5 Minerva as an Xyz looked great, but this is the next level.
Mighty
Vee
Minerva gets yet another new form in today’s card, Minerva, the Athenian Lightsworn, a level 8 LIGHT Fairy Synchro monster. It takes a Tuner and any number of non-Tuner monsters, making it completely generic, though it’s particularly easy to make in Lightsworn with Weiss, Lightsworn Archfiend and Wulf, Lightsworn Beast. Minerva has a solid 2800 attack, though its lackluster 1800 defense makes me mildly upset! Fortunately, stats aren’t too important for what Minerva does.
While Minerva is on the field, you Lightsworn monsters are immune to being banished by card effects. This effect is meant to synergize with their new boss monster which, spoiler, can potentially wipe out your own board in the process, so it’s nice to still maintain field presence. Minerva has two other hard once per turn effects, the first triggering if it’s Synchro Summoned to let you send Lightsworn monsters with different types from your deck to the Graveyard for each of its Synchro materials. In practice, you’ll get 2 foolishes since most of your main playmakers are level 4. Tragically, both Wulf and Felis are Beast-Warrior monsters– luckily for us, however, Weiss and Lightsworn Dragonling are Fiend and Dragon respectively, so sending them both is a safe combo that both revives Dragonling and sends another Lightsworn of choice. Finally, you can banish up to 4 Lightsworn monsters from your Graveyard to mill that many cards from the top of your deck. This effect is obviously great for more mills to extend even more (or save a botched combo); it’ll also conveniently set up the summon of Punishment Dragon if you wanted to (or have to, if you want to summon the new boss). My main gripe with Minerva is less an issue with Minerva itself and more with how the deck interacts with its boss monsters; if you could send Judgment Dragon or Punishment Dragon, making their new boss would be much easier, but alas!
+Very easy to make in Lightsworn proper
+Excellent effects for combos and extending
-Still doesn’t fully set up the summon of their new boss monster on its own
Advanced: 3.75/5
Art: 4/5 She’s all grown up!
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