The Grand Creators (TCG Release: January 04, 2022) will boast of a new promising archetype: Exorsister. They consist of Light Spellcaster main deck monsters and Light Warrior XYZ Monsters. They revolve around getting the XYZ sisters out during the opponent's turn. The XYZ sisters in turn will then either interrupt the opponent via negating, bouncing, or banishing their cards. Let's examine what we know about the archetype as of the moment!
Main Deck Exorsister Monsters
All the main deck Exorsisters have a couple of similar effects. The first one is in conjunction with their unique effects. They all gain 800 LP when you control a specific sister. This LP gain will come up later on. The second one is when a card(s) leaves any GY(s) by an opponent's card, they get to tag out into an XYZ Exorsister.
Exorsister Elise is one of the better sisters, as it's the in-archetype extender. If you control an Exorsister monster you can special summon her for free! Then, you can gain 800 LP if you also control Stella. This doesn't mean that you spam out your XYZ monsters on your turn, though! We'll tackle that later.
Exorsister Stella is another great normal summon for the deck. She can bring out an Exorsister monster from the hand. Then, you can gain 800 LP if you also control Elise. Again, reminder to not spam into an XYZ just because you have materials!
Exorsister Elaine allows you to replenish your hand. You can place 1 Exorsister card to the bottom of the deck to draw 1 card. Then, you can gain 800 LP if you also control Sophia.
Exorsister Sophia allows you to draw 1 card if you have another Exorsister monster (that'll probably be Elise). Then, you can gain 800 LP if you also control Elaine.
Alright, that's enough of the main deck monsters. They are, admittedly, a little bit boring. Let's get on to the juicy part - the XYZ monsters!
Exorsister XYZ: Nun-Warriors
These cool nuns are more than capable of fending off opponents - especially from the grave! They all have the same second effect - they cannot be destroyed by battle with monsters special summoned from the GY. Before we move on, however, let's discuss something. There was a mistranslation that led to the hype for this archetype. It was first presented as if you could activate their effects whenever. That is, in fact, not true. Ygorganization has a different translation for us. The XYZ Exorsisters can are either trigger effects on summon or can only activate their ignition effects during the turn they XYZ summoned. Bummer, but they're still good nonetheless!
Exorsister Mikhaelise can banish 1 card your opponent controls OR in their graveyard. Talk about flexibility! In addition to that, you can also add an Exorsister spell/trap to your hand. This effect will probably need to be activated on turn three.
Exorsister Caspitelle is more hardcore, in that she just shuts down the grave completely. If she's summoned (with an Exorsister as material), neither player can special summon from any GY for the rest of the turn. She also does have a third effect like Mikhaelise, but she adds an Exorsister monster instead. Guaranteed follow-up!
Exorsister Jibrine looks like the most mellow of the nuns (it shows in the ATK/DEF stats, too). She has an ignition Impermanence-like effect. Her third effect is to make all XYZ monsters you control gain 800 ATK. That'll help you increase the pressure on board!
Exorsister Usophiel - Dweller, the waifu version. Yep, that's quite literally true. When she's XYZ summoned, neither player can activate effects from the GY. Her 3rd effect is a targeting bounce for opponents' monsters. Neat way to clear your opponent's boards turn 3!
Exorsister Spell/Trap - Are They Any Good?
We've discussed the monsters, and how you shouldn't spam an XYZ monster right away. Well, how are you getting them out if your opponent doesn't really fiddle with the grave? Exorsister Amento is the answer. You need to pay 800 LP (See? It DOES come up!) to target an Exorsister monster you control to then XYZ on top of it. You can only activate this card on your opponent's turn. That is unless they control a monster special summoned from the grave, which makes it faster!
Exorsister Carpedibel is quite literally the deck's Prohibition - but better! You can declare a card name and negate that card's effects for the rest of the turn. But in addition to that, it also prevents the effects of monsters summoned from the GY from targeting Exorsister monsters you control. If an attack is declared involving your Exorsister monster, you can destroy a spell/trap your opponent controls. Perfect added weapon against those pesky control decks!
Exorsister Pax is the latest revelation to the archetype. So much so that, fun fact, this article has been done for a while before it got released. This is an extremely useful card as not only is it a Salamangreat Circle in that it is quick-play but searches ANY Exorsister card. It also can act as an extender! It's a ROTA for the entire archetype that can also act as an extender to help you get to your XYZ sisters turn 1 and potentially search for a spell/trap or monster to extend with!
Exorsister Vadis is another way to get your monsters on board. It special summons 2 Exorsister monsters that list each other in their card text. You do have to pay 800 LP and will be locked to only special summoning Exorsister monsters from the Extra Deck. In addition to that, you have to shuffle those monsters back to the deck during the end phase. That's going to come up if (1) your opponent doesn't do any GY fiddling during their turn or (2) you didn't have Amento.
(Early) Potential Tech Cards
Pot of Prosperity is highly likely to see play in the deck. This is due to the fact that the archetype only has 4 XYZ monsters (that you can even max out on). In addition to that, you would also want to see your best starters like Elise and Stella. Amento is also a must to make sure that you can go into an XYZ in your opponents' turn! You're going to be losing out on Stella's draw and Elise's replenish, but it might be a trade well-worth for consistency.
Ties of the Brethren is another cool card. It is even part of The Grand Creators and is also in the same ygorganization article as the Exorsisters. As long as you have an Exorsister monster, you can trigger Ties to be able to bring out another name, PLUS Dogmatika Ecclesia. That, in turn, can net you either a Fleurdelis for a negate, or a Dogmatika Punishment. I'd say that's pretty neat.
I know, I know, the deck hates monsters from the GY. Ironic, right? But hear me out, here. If you have space (and are feeling a little spicy), you can splash a small Rokket engine. A Quick Launch alone can get you to Pepega Ruler without your normal summon - allowing you to dig for your Light Exorsisters. The Dark restriction from Rokket Tracer will hardly ever come up, too, since you don't really wanna XYZ summon on your turn.
Vadis is a normal trap that could lead players to play Trap Trick. If you go down that route, you might as well play Sudden Shift! It destroys one Wyrm monster you control and 2 cards your opponent controls. Trap Trick banishes a copy of Sudden Shift from the deck, triggering its effect to summon a Wyrm Token!
Honorable Mentions
Since we could potentially have XYZ 4's that do nothing (due to the effects being only viable on the opponent's turn), this is something we can go for. We can make F0: Utopic Future and then overlay F0: Utopic Draco Future over it! This is a decent way to turn nothing into something in the event that we have 2 Exorsister XYZ that have already burned their effects!
Another option for Ties of the Brethren is Fairy Tail - Luna. It's an easy bounce interruption! In addition to that, she's also not a bad normal summon if you brick. You get to search for another copy of herself and still have an interruption!
They're all... Lights. Need I say more? Gozen Match is also good in this meta so keep this in mind!
The Familiar Final Forms: Ranryu, Jigabyte, Inari Fire, Nefarious. These are great extenders if you want to play more aggressively. They are all free summons as long as you control a spellcaster monster. And surprise surprise, all your Exorsisters are!
Glaring Weakness
It's not all smiles in this abbey, however. The archetype is clearly not a combo deck that can push through boards. It's pretty apparent that the deck is going to struggle to go 2nd. Obviously, this can be mitigated by playing a considerable amount of hand traps. 12 in a 40-card deck will give you an 85% chance to draw at least 1, and 48% to draw 2 going second.
That being said, I have something cool for you! We all know that Shaddoll fusion is one hell of a card. If this resolves, you can bring out Apkallone by dumping Ariel and Shaddoll Dragon. You can chain-block your way to picking your opponent's board apart!
That's not the only use for Shaddoll Fusion, however. You could also instead bring out El Shaddoll Construct by sending an Exorsister name PLUS any shaddoll. How does this benefit you? Zoroa, the Magistus of Flame can equip itself with Artemis, the Magistus Moon Maiden. Zoroa can then special summon back the Exorsister that you dumped! This is going to be helpful if you didn't end up drawing a starter. Oh, and Artemis can also search for another Zoroa while she's equipped!
The Exorsister Special
Dimension Shifter. A hand trap so strong it deserves its own section. Exorsisters don't really care about the graveyard. In fact they H A T E the grave. Shifter is an extreme game-changer, a card that will... shift the odds in your favor. A card that is arguably the best hand trap in the game if you can run it. And Exorsisters most definitely can. So I can't stress this enough, RUN THIS in your Exorsister deck!
Conclusion
The deck is in its extremely early stages. It hasn't even been released in the OCG yet! It appears to be a very conservative control-oriented deck. Yes, it has a little touch of Sky Striker to it, what with the waifus and the XYZ gimmick that you can pull off. It's definitely not as strong as on-release Striker, but it does have some promise! The deck is still sure to improve with future theorization, and possibly additional support, so let's all stay tuned!
