Written by Bryan Herrell:
After capturing Regionals going undefeated and learning much about the Lightsworn Deck, I will attempt to share my experiences with the deck.
Lightsworn has always been a deck incorporated with the term “sacking.” From the triple “Judgment Dragon” format, to the format we have today: Lightsworns will always involve more luck than most decks in the playing field.
Does this mean the deck is bad? And Completely Luck Based? The Answer to that is no, and as players, we determine the outcome of nearly all of our games, and can in a way determine our luck. Lucky people generate good fortune via four basic principles. They are skilled at creating and noticing chance opportunities, make lucky decisions by listening to their intuition, create self-fulfilling prophesies via positive expectations, and adopt a resilient attitude that transforms bad luck into good. I believe this correlates to Lightsworns, because players do frequently forget when you shuffle, you are not randomizing the cards, instead creating different combinations of cards, but still keeping small combos like “Judgment Dragon” + “Cold Wave” together.
Wulf, Lightsworn Beast
The advantage of actually randomizing when you shuffle, is something overlooked when playing decks such as Lightsworns. Pile shuffling into 4 to 6 piles reduces the odds of drawing “Wulf, Lightsworn Beast”, while usually giving you optimal cards that put you in winnable situations. When shuffles that actually randomize the order of cards in your deck are executed, the odds of opening 1 “Wulf, Lightsworn Beast” is actually down to 39%. I myself, can withstand opening 1 Wulf, and the actual odds of opening 2 is about 5%. In reality, as a Lightsworn player I will take those odds, vs. when one plays 2 Wulfs. 2 Wulfs means opening one is reduced to 28%, an 11% decrease. While, from a Lightsworn player perspective, milling Wulf is a huge benefit, and worth playing 3 copies of. In theory, you will still not open with it most games.
More Luck? 
Players believe milling a “Wulf, Lightsworn Beast”, or a “Necro Gardna” (the most desirable cards to mill, along with Plaguespreader Zombie), is the part of the deck that makes it skill-less and sacky, while the actual numbers behind milling these cards is quite beneficial to the Lightsworn player. Say, you open with your 6 cards, and out of the 4 most desirable cards to mill, 1 is drawn, the rest in the deck. If one summoned “Lyla, Lightsworn Sorceress” and milled 3 cards during the end phase, the percentage that you will mill one of these 3 cards, is 25%. Being, one in every 4 games, on top of more milling, from cards like “Solar Recharge, Charge of the Light Brigade” and other Lightsworn monsters such as “Ryko, Lightsworn Hunter”, hitting a Wulf or a Necro Gardna somewhat consistently is not unusual.
The Facts Behind Judgment Dragon 
“Judgment Dragon”: the 3000 field clearer behind the Lightsworn engine, certainly a card played incorrectly by various Lightsworn players. The card itself is clearly broken, and overpowered, but still can be strategically executed.” Judgment Dragon“ can be a simple field clearer, usually used in unison with cards like “Cold Wave” and “Trap Stun” to make advantageous plays. Although, players do require 4 differently Lightsworn named monsters in their graveyard to summon it, meaning eventually, one does need to commit to the field in order to summon” Judgment Dragon.” The most effective way to do this is play like you do not necessarily have the “Judgment Dragon.” The card is obviously a luxury, but if one played so conservative to a point where they always had 6 cards in hand, the opponent would easily recognize the “Judgment Dragon” play, and possibly negate its summon, or win before you have a chance to play it. On the other side of that, “playing your cards out” is a smart way to effectively, yet conservatively play “Judgment Dragon.” This essentially means, throwing your combos, such as Celestia, Wulf, Lumina, and the whole crew at the opponent, making them play their outs to those plays, BEFORE “Judgment Dragon” even hits the field. This makes the end result, being winning without “Judgment Dragon”, or dropping JD more effective. With this, one should not be playing with 1-3 cards in their hand often, playing conservatively in Lightsworns means playing a toolbox like game, Celestia, Wulf, and Lumina being the key parts of this. This toolbox itself wins a good portion of games, “Judgment Dragon” being the card that puts it above Tier 2 and 3 decks. “Judgment Dragon” is such a powerful card, it has an impact when not even on the field, and players should make the most of the card when it does.
My Decklist: Colorado Springs, Colorado: Regionals September 18th 2010 (8-0 in Swiss, Won T8 Match)
Monsters 22
3 Wulf, Lightsworn Beast
2 Honest
2 Judgment Dragon
2 Celestia, Lightsworn Angel
2 Ryko, Lightsworn Beast
2 Lyla, Lightsworn Sorceress
1 Lumina, Lightsworn Summoner
1 Aurkus, Lightsworn Druid
1 Garoth, Lightsworn Warrior
1 Ehren, Lightsworn Monk
1 Necro Gardna
1 Plaguespreader Zombie
1 Card Trooper
1 Freed the Brave Wanderer
1 Gorz, the Emissary of Darkness
Spells 14
3 Solar Recharge
2 Gold Sarcophagus
1 Charge of the Light Brigade
1 Dark Hole
1 Monster Reborn
1 Pot of Avarice
1 My Body as a Shield
1 Giant Trunade
1 Cold Wave
1 Foolish Burial
1 Reinforcements of the Army
Traps 4
2 Trap Stun
1 Beckoning Light
1 Mirror Force
This is the Lightsworn build I piloted at the 157 person regionals, playing a variety of Tier 1 decks such as Gladiator Beasts, X-Sabers, the dreaded Mirror Match, and Anti Meta. I wanted to go over my main deck to further explain the Lightsworn deck.
3 “Wulf, Lightsworn Beast” was explained earlier in the article, and was proven to be effective for me at the event.
2 “Honest” and 2 “Judgment Dragon” are standard for the deck, “Honest” being an amazing card this format, with the amount of floaters and the actual impact of an Honest drop vs. a deck such as X-Sabers.
2 “Celestia, Lightsworn Angel, 2 Ryko, Lightsworn Hunter, 2 Lyla, Lightsworn Sorceress” were all picks for the deck that mostly standard. Some players have a preference for 3 Celestia, my reasoning being I do not like running 3 copies of a card that causes more inconsistency, and is reliant on field presence, as well as having the summon go through. 2 is a safe pick, which I liked.
The rest of the monster lineup is relatively standard, Ehren being picked for decks such as X-Sabers, and “Card Trooper” being in general, just an amazing pick for the deck. “Freed the Brave Wanderer” was a pick that I noticed is virtually unused in Lightsworn. The card to me appears effective; it removes various Anti Meta threats, as well as being an exceptional “Smashing Ground” on legs. The card was geared for decks like Blackwings, Mirror-Match, Gladiator Beasts, and anything where their monsters are an immediate threat, and Freed can simply be effective.
3 “Solar Recharge” is amazing. Not much else needs to be said, card is very good.
2 “Gold Sarcophagus” is a pick I chose because getting key cards out of the deck, and waiting 2 more turns, is actually viable this format. Some players do not realize the impact of playing “Charge of the Light Brigade”, and “Dark Hole.” Which both, were my most frequent “Gold Sarcophagus” targets. “Dark Hole” is easily the best card of this format, removing every threat on the field, and opening up plays for floaters, lifepoint damage, and actually being able to “set-up” on the opponent. “Dark Hole” reduces the disadvantage of going 2nd, and punishes overextension as well (similarly to “Judgment Dragon”). “Charge of the Light Brigade” is a card I felt gave me a huge advantage when I played it, possibly milling cards from the “Big 5” (being 3 Wulf, 1 Necro, 1 Plaguespreader), as well as getting the right Lightsworn monsters for the situation presented in the game state (Lumina is a popular pick).
The rest of the Spell Lineup is relatively standard, although “Pot of Avarice, My Body as a Shield” and “Reinforcements of the Army” are all not as commonly used cards. Avarice was used because getting 5 monsters into the graveyard is a simple feat in this deck, done 99% of games. “My Body as a Shield” was picked because I felt like the amount of cards in this meta that destroy monsters allowed for it, countering decks like Quickdraw Plants, Blackwings, and Gladiator Beasts. “Reinforcements of the Army” was picked to encourage positive” Garoth, Lightsworn Warrior” and “Ehren, Lightsworn Monk” plays. It also can grab Freed out of the deck, Garoth, Ehren, and Freed all can create a +1, and are all Honest-able monsters, giving the possibility that Reinforcements turns into an advantageous making card. Notice, I did not play “Jain, Lightsworn Paladin.” I felt the card was more or less, a vanilla monster that did not create a big impact on this meta.
The Trap Lineup is short, and sweet. Common picks like “Bottomless Trap Hole” were ignored because Lightsworns proved to be proactive enough of a deck, to make “Bottomless Trap Hole” a useless pick in the early toolbox game, and becoming even worse as the game state moves on, and “Judgment Dragon” can hit the field.
2 “Trap Stun” has been a popular pick in this format, from X-Sabers, to Lightsworn. It was used instead of “Royal Decree” because I thought “Mystical Space Typhoon” would have a bigger showing, and frankly chaining “Mystical Space Typhoon” to “Royal Decree” is not a situation I wanted to run into. “Trap Stun” does only negate for 1 turn, but that turn usually being a “Judgment Dragon” or “Celestia, Lightsworn Angel” drop. It also does not negate the later use of my other 2 trap cards.
1 “Beckoning Light” worked for me, I actually never did play the card the entire day of dueling, but neither did I dead draw It, in testing, 2 “Beckoning Light” made your deck reliant on its mills, and forced you to also rely on “Judgment Dragon” and “Celestia, Lightsworn Angel” plays. I wanted to get away from the heavy reliance on those cards that Beckoning causes when played in multiples.
1 “Mirror Force” being the only real defensive card in the deck, it played quite good, and protected common plays like Lumina + Garoth, or even in the small game of Aurkus control. “Torrential Tribute” was later added to the side deck, after how I noticed clearing the field, and making a follow up was exceptional in Lightsworn.
That is it for now, I hope you enjoyed my thoughts and opinions on Lightsworns, and how the deck runs. Make sure to come back for future tips and Yu-Gi-Oh Discussion!
