Set Preview: Light of Destruction

Hey readers, I'm back again on Pojo, this time with an article talking about an upcoming set, Light of Destruction. For all of you that don't know, Light of Destruction is supposedly the LIGHT equivalent to our previous DARK-based set, Phantom of Darkness. From what I've seen from this new set, I can infer that Light of Destruction will make a pretty large impact on the Meta. LIGHT decks already have a pretty decent amount of support already, but Light of Destruction doesn't focus on just LIGHT monsters in general, but it emphasizes on a new theme: Lightlords. The set also comes with Arcana Force cards that are somewhat well-known because of the anime.

 So, what's so great about this new set? Well, first of all, so much support is being released in one set of 100 cards that can easily bring Lightlords to the top of the format. First of all, I'd like to take a look at what kinds of effects these monsters have. Each monster has their own unique effect, and these range from destroying opponent's monsters to drawing cards from the deck. However, each one of these cards has the cost of forcing the player to mill a certain number of cards from their deck straight to the Graveyard, which can also be turned into an advantageous cost, using cards like Monster Reincarnation, Premature Burial, The Transmigration Prophecy, Pot of Avarice, Backup Soldier (for a possible Exodia Lightlord deck), etc.

I previously mentioned that the Arcana Force cards were included in Light of Destruction, and they indeed are. Again, for those of you who don't know, Arcana Force cards are cards that depend a great deal on the result of a coin toss to determine whether or not the card is useful to the player using it or to his/her opponent. The set also includes multiple other cards of interest, and I'll list some of them here:

• Ground of Demise Quick-Play Spell Card

“This card can only be activated when your opponent successfully Special Summons a monster. Select and activate 1 Field Spell Card from your deck.”

*This card is especially interesting for decks that immensely rely on Field Spell Cards in order to control the duel, such as Gravekeeper's. This card could also lead to multiple competitive decks to begin running Field Spell Cards, like DAD playing Mystic Plasma Zone, Gladiator Beasts playing Coliseum – Cage of the Gladiator Beasts, and any LIGHT deck playing Luminous Spark. I'd like to see what kinds of effects on the game this card would create.

• Dark Valkyria ATK 1800/DEF 1500 Effect Monster

“When this card is face-up on the field or in your Graveyard, treat this card as a Normal Monster. When this card is face-up on the field and as treated as a Normal Summon you re-summon this card, this card becomes an Effect Monster and gains the following effect:

• When this card is face-up on the field, you can place 1 Spell Counter on this card. For each Spell Counter on this card, increase this card's ATK by 300. Also, you may remove a Spell Counter from this card to destroy 1 monster on the field.”

*That's a pretty long effect, even for a Gemini monster. Dark Valkyria sort of reminds me of Dark Red Enchanter, which is also a pretty helpful card. The main difference is that Dark Valkyria only gets 1 Spell Counter when re-summoned, which means that it's attack only increases by 300 points, and it's a bit difficult to get any more on this card. With Apprentice Magician, though, this card could have a possibility of being a decent removal agent with a good ATK stat. This card could possibly make Gemini Decks a bit better and more competitive if combined with another theme.

• Treasure of Radiance Continuous Spell Card

  “When this card is face-up on the field, 1 of your Spell/Trap Card zones cannot be used. When there is another 'Treasure of Radiance' face-up on the field, you may draw 2 cards instead of drawing 1 card during your Draw Phase.”

  *This card is just awesome when you pull off its effect more than once, since it's not only a great way to draw more cards, but it's not too difficult to pull off. The idea is to save this card in your hand so you can freely use any Spell/Trap zones you wish, and then when you have two copies of it you can activate them both to gain a decent draw engine, and it'll most likely attract your opponent to waste his/her resources to destroy Treasure of Radiance.
   

• Reborn Ribbon Equip Spell Card

  “When the equipped monster is destroyed in battle and sent to the Graveyard, during the End Phase of that turn, Special Summon that monster onto your side of the field.”

  *This card is a very interesting new card, since the first thing that came into my mind was Destiny Hero – Disk Commander. When equipped to cards that gain something when destroyed or Special Summoned like Sangan and the Disk Commander, this card can really help the player using it. Another cool thing about this card is that it's an Equip Card, so the opponent can see what's coming, causing the temptation to somewhat waste an effect to destroy Reborn Ribbon before its effect activates.
   

• D – Fortune Normal Trap Card

  “This card can only be activated when your opponent declares a direct attack. Remove a 'Destiny Hero' monster in your Graveyard from play and end the Battle Phase.”

  *Being a new Destiny Hero support card, D – Fortune reminds me of Negate Attack and Necro Gardna, and it seems to me that it combined the two effects. D – Fortune not only stops attacks from going through, but it also builds up the RFG zone for Dimensional Fissure and removes cards like Destiny Hero – Malicious for their effects.
   

• Destruction Jammer Counter Trap Card

  “Discard a card from your hand to negate the effect of a card with 'Destroy monster(s) on the field' in its card text and destroy it.”

  *Like its name suggests, Destruction Jammer prevents cards that destroy monsters on the field from carrying out their effect. This card can come in especially handy when dealing with DAD decks, and I think that it'll become even more useful than Divine Wrath in the current format.

Well, that's basically all I have for you guys today. I hope that this will influence you guys to go to the Light of Destruction Sneak Preview Event, because I'm sure that this set will be a bad set to skip out on! In conclusion, send all questions, feedback, article requests, and deck fixes to me at lightningsaphira94@gmail.com. Remember to follow my submittal guidelines for those deck fixes!

Have Fun and Play Fair!

Ed