Pure Starry Knight - Seiyaryu

It's Holy Night.... Dragon time! Seiyaryu which translates to Holy Night Dragon and his Starry Knights are a Archetype based around this Japanese pun and they truly are something special. Let's see what this Archetype is all about in all of it's Detail: 


Understanding the Starry Knights

The basic Strategy in this Deck is simple. You have L4 LIGHT Fairy Monsters and Spell & Traps which all support L7 LIGHT Dragons. The deeper Strategy is to return these L7 LIGHT Dragons back to your Hand and resummon them to generate advantage and easily overwhelm the opponent. Especially Starry Night, Starry Dragon excels here since whenever he's summoned you are able to target and destroy any Card on the field. Loop this effect many times and the opponent stands no chance against this Quick effect rapid fire Deck. 

With the very basic understanding we can now look at the Main Deck Strategy in more Detail. 


Preparing the Holy Night Festivity

Let's take a deeper look at the Main Deck lineup of the L4 Fairy Monsters. All of them have a total of 2500 ATK/DEF if both Stats are combined maybe referencing Christmas day or Seiyaryu's ATK Statline:

Starry Knight Rayel: 1800/700 Statline. On normal summon she searches any Starry Knight Spell/Trap you need directly from the Deck. You can also banish her to summon any other Starry Knight Monster from your GY. Both effects are hard once per turns. With 1800 ATK Rayel is the strongest normal summon in your Deck and can easily search out your much appreciated Starter Starry Knight Balefire. Also she can resummon all the other Starry Knights from the GY which makes her even better. Beware since both Starry Night, Starry Dragon and the Rank 4 XYZ Starring Knight are not Starry Knight Monsters, so this effect is limited to the other 4 Starry Knights only. 

Starry Knight Ciel: 1700/800 Statline. He can return another Starry Knight or L7 LIGHT Dragon from the field to your Hand to Special summon himself. Also he can banish himself from the GY if you control no Monsters to special summon a L7 LIGHT Dragon Monster from your Hand. Both effects are a hard once per turn. He's useful to reuse the effect of Starry Knight Rayel multiple times or to trigger the effect of the Field Spell Starry Knight Sky easily to Draw 1 Card. In general he's the least usable Starry Knight which is why it makes sense to use his bounce effect on your better Starry Knights and get him from the field into the GY quickly with cards such as Starry Knight Astel or Starry Knight Orbitael. Like that he can be a backup from the GY waiting to deploy a surprise L7 LIGHT Dragon summon from your Hand. 

Starry Knight Flamel: 1500/1000 Statline. He can as a quick effect discard himself or send himself from the field to the GY if the opponent declares an attack and then special summon a L7 LIGHT Dragon from your Hand. Also as a quick effect he can banish himself from the GY to return a L7 LIGHT Dragon from the field or GY to the Hand. Only one effect can be used per turn and only once that turn. Since he has 2 quick effects he can act as a Battle Phase Handtrap, help to avoid targeting effects and act as a Recycling tool. Called by the Grave , Infinite Impermanence or Knightmare Unicorn are all no problem as long as you have Flamel ready to be activated. The amount of versatility is what makes this card so strong and having him in the GY is even more useful. Once again he proves to be a prime target for both Starry Knight Astel and Starry Knight Orbitael.

These 3 Monsters we talked about so far can set the opponent on a 2 turn clock if they attack directly with Starry Night, Starry Dragon together which is not to be underestimated.

Starry Knight Astel: 500/2000 Statline. He can as a quick effect tribute a LIGHT Monster to summon a L7 LIGHT Dragon from your Hand. Also he can banish himself from the GY to give a 1000 ATK Boost to a L7 LIGHT Dragon you control until the opponents next End Phase. Every effect is a hard once per turn. Since his tributing is not a cost you don't have to worry going minus if the opponent has interruption waiting. Having this kind of effect as a quick effect makes for some nice interruption during the opponents turn or additional damage during the Battle Phase. The 1000 ATK Boost can make Seiyaryu and friends a 3500 ATK Threat which makes the otherwise unfortunate 2500 ATK Statline much more Deadly. 3500 + 2500 + 2500 = OTK. Needing only 3 instead of 4 Monsters to achieve an OTK is very welcome for this Deck. You might have noticed that I like this card a lot, be sure to experiment with it. 

Starry Knight Orbitael: 400/2100 Statline. As a quick effect you can tribute a LIGHT Monster to set a Starry Knight Spell/Trap from your Deck. Also while he's in the GY and a L7 LIGHT Dragon returns to your Hand you can summon him back from the GY. Both effects are hard once per turns. This card fixes a lot of problems for the Archetype. He can set your support lineup directly from the Deck during both player's turns and ignore cards such as Ash Blossom & Joyous Spring which is otherwise annoying to deal with. He also tributes as part of his effect avoiding minus if interrupted. Furthermore he keeps coming back from the GY and thus keeps Field Advantage and a steady Spell & Trap flow for your Strategy. Easily your best summon in the Deck and always nice to have. 

Looking deeper into the Sparkling Sky

Every Deck needs some good Spell & Trap cards to work properly and that is especially true with this Deck. I will explain below what to do with all of them: 

Starry Knight Sky: Enables an additional Normal Summon for any of your Maindeck Monsters, L7 LIGHT Dragons or Starry Knight's. If a L7 LIGHT Dragon returns to your Hand during your turn only you can Draw 1 Card. These effects are HOPT's (Hard Once per Turns). This card makes it easier to get started and it can setup an easy Rank 4 XYZ. Starry Knight Ciel can trigger the Draw effect easily but also cards like Starry Knight Flamel or many other Spell/Traps can help to trigger that effect. Overall this card is useful but other cards in the Spell and Trap lineup are better most of the time. That said this card is still very useful to find the otherwise unsearchable Dragon's Bind easier. 

Starry Knight Ceremony: You can reveal a LIGHT Fairy in your Hand search a L7 LIGHT Dragon from your Hand and place the revealed Monster back on the bottom of the Deck. If your opponent activates a card or effect you can special a L7 LIGHT Dragon from your Hand. Only one effect can be used per turn and only once that turn. This card is extremely useful if you end up with duplicates of certain Starry Knight's in your Hand or if you are missing a L7 LIGHT Dragon in your Hand to get started. The 2nd effect is even better since it activates after the opponents card has resolved. For example the opponent activates Polymerization and fusion summons a Monster. After the Monster has been summoned you can trigger Starry Knight Ceremony and summon Starry Night, Starry Dragon from your Hand to destroy the Monster he just summoned. Like that you have yet another great way to interrupt the opponents Strategy. 

Starry Knight Balefire: Searches all your Monsters from the Deck with no exception and if you control no Monsters and the opponent controls a DARK Monster you can then special a L7 LIGHT Dragon from your Hand. You can only activate this card once per turn. This card is a great tool to get things started or as a comeback tool if the opponent controls a DARK Monster. To be true this is your best Starter and it's easily searchable. Be sure to bait out Ash Blossom & Joyous Spring first and then use this card. It's your best way to find Starry Night, Starry Dragon fast and reliable. 

Starry Knight Blast: If the opponent activates a card or effect you can return a L7 LIGHT Dragon back to your Hand as a cost to negate the effect and destroy the activated card. You can only activate this card once per turn. Even so you negate a card from the opponent Starry Knight Ceremony will trigger after that and enables you to resummon Starry Night, Starry Dragon and destroy yet another card. With Starry Knight Orbitael in GY he will be reborn too and can setup another Starry Knight Blast for the next round. If that happens during your turn Starry Knight Sky will also trigger and you Draw 1 Card. This little negation Trap (Which is not a Counter Trap) is extremely useful and should always be hiding in your backrow. Be sure to keep it around for 3 turns with Starry Knight Orbitael to dwindle down the opponents ressources. 

Starry Knight Arrival: As a hard once per turn during the Main Phase you can activate 1 of 2 effects: Either special a L7 LIGHT Dragon from the Hand or return it back to the Hand. This card is versatile and useful since it can do both things this Deck wants to do and you can choose whatever you need in any Situation. Also as a Trap it can come as a nice surprise to the unprepared opponent. It obviously combos well with everything in your Deck and it should always be active. 

Dragon's Bind: You target a Dragon with 2500 or less ATK and DEF (Which is everything in your Maindeck). Neither player can Special summon Monsters with equal or less ATK then the targeted Monsters original ATK. If it leaves the field destroy this card. A perfect card for Seiyaryu and friends which prevents the opponent from playing Yugioh and can be turned off whenever you want thanks to your bounce effects. It can't be searched directly in this Deck but Starry Knight Sky can help you to find this card more quickly.

The Holy Night Dragon descends upon earth 

It's time to talk about the big boys! All your maindeck Dragons are L7 LIGHT Dragons so that they can work with your whole support lineup. 

Starry Night, Starry Dragon: 2500/2300 Statline. The heart and soul of your Deck which can target and destroy 1 Card on the field whenever he's Normal or Special summoned from the Hand without a once per turn. If he attacks a monster you can banish it at the start of the Damage step until the End Phase and attack once in a row as a soft once per turn. Also he can't be destroyed by DARK Monster's effects and attacks. Looping this Dragon many times is the Goal of this Deck and can be done 3+ times easily in one turn. Being able to non targeting banish Monsters until the End Phase is very useful to prepare OTK's or get rid of XYZ Materials, Counters, Equip Spells or other ATK/DEF modifying effects. He's THE answer to everything for the Deck and 100% essencial. 

Seiyaryu: 2500/2300 Statline. A normal Monster with no effect. Being a Normal Monster in the modern era comes not only with downsides. He's immune to many annoying cards which only affect effect Monsters such as the summoning Condition of Underworld Goddess of the Closed World , the effect of Millennium-Eyes Restrict , Super Poly into Sprind the Irondash Dragon or Red-Eyes Dark Dragoon or Successor Soul's effect. Obviously any kind of effect negation and many other cards too can't affect Seiyaryu which makes him maybe the best Dragon's Bind target and a worthwhile addition to the Deck. 

Photon Wyvern: 2500/2000 Statline. When Normal or Flip summoned all set cards from the opponent are destroyed. Since you get an additional Normal summon with Starry Knight Sky every turn you can easily get into a position were you wanna tribute summon this card. All Starry Knights have GY effects so you will almost always go plus in advantage. Having a Mass Removal for set cards is very nice and will sometimes come up. 

Bahalutiya, the Grand Radiance: 2000/2400 Statline. Can be tributed with 1 tribute if it's a effect Monster and he can be tribute summoned during the opponents Main Phase if he adds a card from his Deck to his Hand except by drawing. If he's Normal or Special summoned from the Hand you can check the amount of cards the opponent has in their Hand, banish that many face down from the top of his Deck, shuffle his Hand back into the Deck and add the banished cards to his Hand. This is a HOPT. It sounds like a very complicated effect but it's also kinda simple. With this effect you can be sure to prevent a card/cards which the opponent searched to stay in his Hand since he gets the banished cards as his new Hand and everything he searched returns to the Deck. This card doesn't come up that often but it's nice to have just in case. Certain Decks tend to search a lot before doing anything and these Decks certainly don't like this card. 

The Depths of the Night Sky

Starring Knight is a Rank 4 XYZ with 1900/1000 Statline that's been handmade to work with Starry Knights. He can detach a Material to Special summon a LIGHT Monster from the Hand and can revive himself on a following turn if a L4 LIGHT Fairy is on your field and attach that Monster to him as Material. His effects are HOPT's. He can help out a lot in summoning more Monsters to the field and trigger the effect of Starry Night, Starry Dragon even more. 

Bujinki Amaterasu can recycle your banished Starry Knight Monsters and Fairy Cheer Girl is additional Draw power in the Rank 4 department. As a Rank 7 you play Number 76: Harmonizer Gradielle which can interrupt the opponent's GY and acts as a nice little Tower Monster. Finally Divine Arsenal AA-ZEUS - Sky Thunder is the well known emergency Boardwipe if your normal Gameplan seems to fail.

Hip Hoshiningen enhances the OTK Power and gives some much needed Recycling Power. Lyna the Light Charmer, Lustrous can steal opponents LIGHT Monsters from the GY for you to use and search certain Starry Knights. Underworld Goddess of the Closed World is the out to everything and another emergency option. 

Serpent Night Dragon is awakening 

As always every Deck has it's downsides and this Deck is no exception. Cards like Skill Drain can severely hurt the tempo of your Deck and the reliance on your backrow leaves you wide open if the opponent has backrow removal like Harpie's Feather Duster. Since you wanna go first with this Deck it hurts even more if the opponents first card is Harpie's Feather Duster and you loose all your Spell & Trap lineup. Certainly cards like Starry Knight Astel , Starry Knight Orbitael or Starry Knight Flamel help out a lot in these cases to regain control over the Situation. 

Kaiju Monsters and other unavoidable removal like Underworld Goddess of the Closed World can break your Starry Night, Starry Dragon loop and slow your Strategy down as well. Only Starry Knight Flamel can help to quickly regain the lost Starry Night, Starry Dragon in such moments and he won't always be available.

Lack of good protection effects could also be seen as a downside but many quick effects and an omni negation make up for that. Targeting effects are no problem for this Deck. 

Finally going 2nd with this Deck is not nearly as strong as going first. It's not bad by any means but this Strategy has been built to be a going first Deck. Cards like Starry Knight Balefire , Starry Knight Ceremony , Starry Knight Astel and Starry Knight Orbitael can help a lot going 2nd to break the Board so it's not a weakpoint but also not a strong point. 

The Dawn of a new Day

Overall this Deck is very fast and especially devastating going first. It can keep up against Tearlament, Branded, Spright and such Strategies since every better Deck has a reliance on DARK Monsters which this Deck can use to to it's advantage. 

Your Goal will always be to stop the opponents Strategy as soon as he activates/summons his first card. Prevention of big Combos is the speciality of this Deck. 

Looping Starry Night, Starry Dragon is a fun thing to do and having access to Dragon's Bind and many other interruptions makes this Deck very difficult to deal with if someone has practice with it. Be sure to give it a try if you search for a good LIGHT based Deck which is fun and interesting. 

Final Rating: 

★★★★☆☆☆ OTK Potential

★★★☆☆☆☆ Defensive Tools

★★★★★★★ Control Options

★★★★★☆☆ Removal Options

★★★★★★☆ Recovery/Recycling

★★★★★★☆ Card Advantage

Overall Rating: ★★★★★☆☆  31/42★

Special Rules for the Holy Night

Not much to talk about here but I will list what's less obvious here: 

Starry Night, Starry Dragon: He banishes at the Start of the Damage Step. Only Counter Traps, cards which negate the activation or ATK/DEF modifying effects can be chained to this effect. 

Photon Wyvern: Cards which are Face Up at resolution are not destroyed.  

Bahalutiya, the Grand Radiance: Both him and Starry Night, Starry Dragon have to be summoned from the Hand to trigger their effects. 

Starry Knight Orbitael: Since he sets directly from the Deck it's effect can't be negated through Ash Blossom & Joyous Spring.

Starry Knight Ceremony: You can activate the effect to summon a Monster after an opponents card has finished resolving.