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Deck Profile — Jarel Winston’s Lightsworn Deck
At this point in most card formats, the card pool has been thoroughly explored, and while there may be a hidden Deck that no one’s discovered yet, few people are still looking for completely new ideas. Instead, what we’ll sometimes see are new twists on the ideas that have become familiar sights in the format. Today, a variety of experienced players are putting their own spin on decks like Synchro Cat, Blackwings, and in this particular case, Lightsworn.
Jarel Winston took second place at SHONEN JUMP Championship Anaheim piloting Lightsworn. Today, he’s taking that Deck in a new direction: more control, less speed, and a risky new initiative fueled by Royal Oppression. Check it out.
| Monsters | Spells | Traps | Side Deck | Extra Deck |
2 Judgment Dragon |
3 Solar Recharge |
2 Beckoning Light |
2 Caius the Shadow Monarch |
1 Chimeratech Fortress Dragon |
“In the past I’ve played Lightsworn the way I believe they were meant to be played,”explained Winston. “Very fast and quick. For Indy I’ve decided to play a very different build. It’s a control version. The format is all about Special Summoning and One-Turn KOs, so I figure if I can stop that or slow it down, I should have good control over the game and the way the game turns out.”
Winston managed to take out nearly a dozen cards that you’d expect to see in any Lightsworn Deck, cutting extra copies of cards traditionally run in twos or threes and slashing “Wulf, Lightsworn Beast” down to just one copy. This makes room for a variety of control cards that give the Deck its edge: “Cold Wave”, “Royal Oppression”, and “Thunder King Rai-Oh.”
‘“Royal Oppression” helps out because it stops Synchro Cat, Gladiator Beasts, and Blackwings unless they rip “Heavy Storm.” The main monster in the deck is actually Aurkus. “Rescue Cat” can’t beat him when he’s behind an “Honest,” Gladiators can’t really do anything to it unless they have “Gladiator Beast War Chariot”, and I can stop that with “Cold Wave”. Blackwings can’t use “Book of Moon” to turn it face-down, “Shrink” it with Blackwing – Gale, or destroy it with “Icarus Attack”. It’s great in the mirror match too.’
“Thunder King Rai-Oh” is a real MVP there as well, taking advantage of “Honest” and dominating that mirror match where it’s simply bigger than everything else. 1900 ATK is a huge number in this format, especially when it’s backed by “Royal Oppression”, and the Special Summon prevention effect Thunder King wields just builds on the deck’s ability to cut off big decks from their biggest monsters. In addition to that it’s also awesome against Blackwings, where it’s an auto-play on Turn 1 to keep Winston’s opponents from claiming their searches with “Black Whirlwind”. It’s a perfect choice here, and if Winston does well it’s an idea that could definitely see imitation in the future.
One common strategy today is heavy teching against two particular decks: Lightsworn and Synchro Cat. There are a lot of Duelists who are building their Decks to beat just those two strategies, and we’re going to show you a lot of those Decks. But Winston’s Deck is different: instead of committing to a somewhat risky metagame read, he’s focusing on a strong build that can outplay all four of the format’s top Decks.
After making a huge showing in Anaheim, Jarel Winston is deadly serious about claiming his spot in the pantheon of Dueling’s greats. At the last SHONEN JUMP Championship he proved he had what it took to pilot a well-acknowledged Deck to a top finish. Today he’s looking to prove a whole lot more, and if he succeeds, watch for him to become a big fixture in the future.
