Before the arrival of modern graveyard powerhouses that like Tearlaments and Ishizu, Lightsworn was the OG "mill" predecessor of this style of dueling. It is the first fully dedicated milling archetype debuting in "Light of Destruction" all the way back in 2008. Almost exactly 16 years later with the release of Legacy of Destruction, Lightsworn returns with some much needed power-ups!
Lorewise, Lightsworn are a group who seek to save those who ask for help, crossing time and space in order to help them. Consuming vast quantities of magical energy, these heroes appear, vanquish villains and disappear once the job is done. Now you can join them yourself in their crusade to smite evil by wielding the incredible powers of Runick! With Lightsworn's mills and Runick's control, you should be able to drown your opponent with card advantage while you foil their every move with your quick-play spells!
Inspired by World Champion Joshua Schmidt's recent Runick Lightsworn Locals victory and video, I've created a guide to Lightsworn Runick based on my own experience playing the deck. And believe me, if you like control and milling as a gameplay mechanic, you'll find this deck extremely fun to pilot! Draw 9 times, mill nearly your entire deck and obliterate evil with Runick Lightsworn!
Want to see the deck in action? Scroll to the very bottom for the Youtube video!
ARCHETYPES AND DECKBUILDING
As the name implies, Lightsworn Runick is mainly composed of the two archetypes.
The LIGHTSWORN portion is fairly large, composed of 19 cards. Just based on how the milling mechanic works, you want to hit your luck-based mills as much as possible. So the more mill worthy cards, the more plusses you get! Once the ball gets rolling, Lightsworn nets you incredible amounts of resources and mills, especially since many of their older cards don't have a "once per turn" clause. Generally, Lightsworn monsters provide you with tuners for synchro plays, level 4 bodies for rank 4 plays, so in addition to your Runick interruption in-hand, you get a board full Lightsworn defending you!
RUNICK offers an alternative win condition of this deck by banishing your opponent's deck. Runick also increases the deck's consistency and grindgame since it allows for a draw 1-3 per turn. With some luck in combination with Lightsworn, Runick can draw 7-9 cards in one turn due to the recycling of Runick Fountain with Runick Geri and Daigusto Emeral. Runick spells also break opponent's boards fairly well when played correctly in tandem Lightsworn - 2 level 4 bodies can make Bagooska or S:P Little Knight with her banish. Runick offers solid defensive options, with Hugin protecting against destruction effects, Munin protecting from targeting effects and Geri dissuading the opponent from attacking.
Contrary to other decks, Runick Lightsworn has only 2 STAPLES cards due to the nature of the strategy - almost the whole deck is engine due to the necessity of proper mills. I chose Mudora and Keldo, GY shufflers as well as level 4 bodies for XYZ/synchro plays.
40 cards are mandatory since it is a mill deck that needs as much consistency as possible.
COMBOS AND GAMEPLAN
The strategy of Lightsworn Runick is to control/banish your opponent's resources until they surrender or deck-out. Compared to other Runick variants like Bystial or Generaiders, Lightsworn is less "control" oriented and trades it for more resources. Lightsworn milling cards into the GY grant the pilot an incredible amount of card advantage and field presence, since the combination of Runick + Lightsworn typically draws 5+ cards and mills 15+ cards to the GY. In addition to that, Lightsworns have very easy access to rank 4 threats like Bagooska and level 8/10 synchros bosses like Dis Pater and Chengying.
After you've drawn, milled and combo'd, Lightsworn Runick usually has a 4-6 cards hand, a packed GY full of Runick spells, and a full field composed of S:P Little Knight,
There are few "combos" for Lightsworn Runick due to the random nature of the mills this deck offers - with each random mill, you get different resources for different plays. I'd advise you to practice with test hands what to do in particular gamestates to play this deck optimally since it isn't linear.
Anyways, here is the single bread and butter combo line for Lightsworn:
Weiss, Lightsworn Archfiend + Level 4 Lightsworn = Mill 9 cards to pack your GY + potential draw 0-3
Activate Weiss' effect to place the level 4 Lightsworn on top of the deck and summon itself and to mill 2 cards.
The level 4 Lightsworn summons itself with it's own effect.
Synchro summon Minerva, the Athenian Lightsworn using Weiss + Level 4 Lightsworn.
Activate Minerva's synchro summon effect to send to the GY Weiss and Felis, Lightsworn Archer.
CL1 activate Weiss to summon the level 4 Lightsworn from your GY, CL2 activate Felis' effect to summon herself from the GY.
XYZ summon Minerva, the Exalted Lightsworn using Felis + Level 4 Lightsworn.
Activate Minerva the Exalted's effect to mill 3 cards from deck and draw cards equal to the number of lightsworn cards milled.
Activate Minerva, the Athenian's effect to banish 4 Lightsworns from the GY to mill 4 cards.
The deck's endboard is generally varies due to the mills that this deck can get. You can potentially resolve Runick Fountain's draw effect repeatedly due to the recycling effects of Runick Geri and Daigusto Emeral for a whopping draw 9-12! The pilot can also end on a mix of Bagooska's field-wide "skill drain," S:P Little Knight's banish, Chenying's banish, and Dis Pater's negate/destroy. The GY may have the Ishizu shufflers in it, while your hand and backrow are full of Runick quick-play interruption. Also if you've sided in Skill Drain and Powersink Stone, that may be set in the backrow as well!
With the immense resource advantage in hand and GY both Lightsworn and Runick offers, your opponent should wither away while you snowball to victory!
GENERAL TIPS
Similarly to Sky Striker, this is a toolbox control resource deck. It has a high skill ceiling since it factors in a player's decision making, resource management and match-up knowledge. Practice makes perfect with the deck!
Bagooska can be used as a pseudo-boardbreaker. If your opponent somehow allows you to have 2 level 4 monsters on board at the same time, you can shut down all their face up non-link monsters by XYZ summoning Bagooska! Bagooska doesn't affect you too much, since you can freely use your Runick spells still and most of your Lightsworn effects activate in the hand or GY rather the field. You can "turn off" Bagooska by linking it away into S:P Little Knight.
Another card that can be placed in this deck instead of the Ishizu shufflers is "The Black Goat Laughs." It can be used if milled to help break boards or prevent your opponent from using a certain card. It can also be used as discard fodder by Runick Hugin.
Due to Runick Geri and Daigusto Emeral, Runick Fountain can be recycled over and over again - potentially meaning that you can draw up to 9 cards! Geri Recycles Fountain from the GY, while Geri + another level 4 can make Daigusto Emeral to recycle Geris from the GY. Keep looping this recycling so you can keep drawing with Runick Fountain!
Dis Pater can only be made with Lightsworn Dragonling in this deck, since it is the only non-tuner Dragon. The best way to make Dis Pater is using Dragonling + Tri-Edge Master.
The best cards to side out are x1 Smiting Storm, x1 Dispelling, x2 Ishizu shufflers, x1 Charge of the Light Brigade, x1 Solar Recharge, x1 Wulf, and x1 Felis.
Want to see the deck in action? Scroll to the very bottom for the Youtube video!
CONCLUDING REMARKS
Fight alongside the heroes of justice and light with Lightsworn Runick! Vanquish evildoers with the combined forces of interdimensional heroes and your arsenal of quick-play Runick weapons!
Lightsworns has been a longtime oldschool favourite of mine. I'm so glad they have a chance to shine in the competitive spotlight!
Shoutout as usual to the GOAT Joshua Schmidt for cooking, piloting and teaching Lightsworn Runick. Drawing three with Runick Fountain has never been more reliable and easy when Lightsworns mill so much to the GY!
GLHF Duelists!
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