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Light of Intervention Anti-Meta

16

1 Blackwing - Gale the Whirlwind

2 Caius the Shadow Monarch

3 Cyber Dragon

2 Effect Veiler

3 King Tiger Wanghu

1 Malefic Stardust Dragon

1 Summoner Monk

3 Thunder King Rai-Oh

14

1 Book of Moon

3 Burden of the Mighty

1 Dark Hole

3 Future Visions

2 Gold Sarcophagus

1 Monster Reborn

2 Mystical Space Typhoon

1 Terraforming

10

2 Dimensional Prison

3 Light of Intervention

1 Mirror Force

1 Royal Oppression

2 Solemn Warning

1 Torrential Tribute

15

1 Ally of Justice Catastor

1 Ancient Fairy Dragon

1 Ancient Sacred Wyvern

1 Black Rose Dragon

1 Blackwing Armor Master

1 Brionac, Dragon of the Ice Barrier

2 Chimeratech Fortress Dragon

1 Colossal Fighter

1 Dark End Dragon

1 Scrap Dragon

2 Stardust Dragon

1 Thought Ruler Archfiend

1 Trishula, Dragon of the Ice Barrier

The concept here is simple and straightforward. Both Future Visions and King Tiger Wanghu place a partial block on the opponent's summons. Not only that, they're both Mandatory Trigger Effects, so having both activate at once lets me pick the order of the chain, and thus decide between destroying and temporarily RFPing their monster. With Burden of the Mighty active, most monsters either die to Wanghu's effect or can't run over him after being weakened so much. Having those in play looks like a pretty hard to beat field, but the opponent can still get out of Future Vision's path, at least, by setting their monster first.

So what is one to do? Of course, a card is needed to prevent setting, and there's only a few cards that outright stop it on a continuous basis. Of those, the only one that doesn't require additional setup or dedication is Light of Intervention.

Light of Intervention prevents setting in general, so Wanghu and Future Visions will activate without a hitch. Not only that, it also gives the additional option of summoning monsters in face-up Defense. Sometimes, that option is useful, such as scenarios where the opponent has a monster like Stardust, and you want to have Thunder King Rai-Oh in play to defend against their attack and to stop them from trying to Synchro Summon another monster or use their Duality before they attack you. Also, with eve more stuff in the backrow, any given opponent's removal options will be spread thinly between the Field Spell, Continuous Spell, and Continuous Trap.

Try it out sometime.

Top 5 - Hidden Arsenal 4

Hidden Arsenal 4 - Trishula's Triumph has a lot of great cards inside. It features further support for 6 archetypes: Ice Barrier, Jurrac, Naturia, Flamvell, Dragunity and Genex Ally, and each of them has 1 representant in this list except Dragunities (which most contained in HA04 suck, btw). We rate the cards based on their importance to the archetype and playability in general.

And in 5° we have a baby dino that is as dangerous as it is cute:

Jurrac Aeolo

Dinosaur/Tuner

FIRE/1*/ATK 200 DEF 200

During your Main Phase, you can Tribute this card to select and Special Summon 1 Level 4 or lower "Jurrac" monster from your Graveyard, except "Jurrac Aeolo".

This monster is a FIRE Dinosaur with only 200 ATK and 200 DEF. Wait, 200 DEF. And it's FIRE. So this card can be summoned with Rekindling. This fact makes the card much more playable, and it being a Tuner helps in the usefulness. All alone, this card is very good too, as it can switch places with a fallen Jurrac and help set up an attack or Synchro.

Prepare for 4° place, as it is a fusion! You never thought a fusion would be in this top 5 right? Right? But the fusion in question is Naturia Exterio!

Naturia Exterio

Beast/Fusion/Effect

EARTH/10*/ATK 2800 DEF 2400

"Naturia Beast" + "Naturia Barkion"

A Fusion Summon of this card can only be conducted with the above Fusion Material Monsters. While this card is face-up on the field, you can negate the activation of a Spell/Trap card and destroy it, by removing from play 1 card from your Graveyard, then sending the top card of your Deck to the Graveyard.

The first thing we notice is that this can only be summoned using it's real fusion materials. This means no King of the Swamp. But it's effect is totally worth it. You basically get Spell/Trap immunity. All you're required to do is remove from play 1 dead card and milling another. This means you get protection AND reduce your deck. What could be better?

Third place is a cute little three-headed beast. We all love that, don't we?

The Fabled Cerburrel

Beast/Tuner

LIGHT/2*/ATK 1000 DEF 400

When this card is discarded to the Graveyard, Special Summon it.

Simple, but effective. Whenever it's ditched from hand, it gets to the field. But the best part is that it's a tuner. One of the best possible combos is Special Summoning Tricky by discarding this. You instantly get a Black Rose, Power Tool, or other LVL 7 Synchros. Not counting the synergy with the Dark Worlds and its' own archetype.

Prepare for the flight, as Genex and Allies unite! Second place is the Birdman.

Genex Ally Birdman

Machine/Tuner

DARK/3*/ATK 1400 DEF 400

You can return 1 face-up monster you control to the hand to Special Summon this card from your hand. If that monster was a WIND monster, this card gains 500 ATK. If this card was Special Summoned this way, remove it from play when it is removed from the field.

Easily one of the most abusable cards out there. The recent Field Spell Divine Wind of the Mist Valley and the Sneak Peak card of Extreme Victory, Reborn Tengu, only makes this card even better. Normal Summon Tengu, return it to the hand and Special Summon Birdman, and gain a free Tengu. Effortless, useful and an instant Level 7 Synchro. It also aids the summoning of Dark Simorgh which is a painfully effective card.

And the best card of the pack is also one of the best Synchros of all time and one of the best "boss" monsters ever. The mighty Trishula!

Trishula, Dragon of the Ice Barrier

Dragon/Synchro/Effect

WATER/9*/ATK 2700 DEF 2000

1 Tuner + 2 or more non-Tuner monsters
When this card is Synchro Summoned, you can activate this effect to remove from play up to one card each from your opponent's hand, field and Graveyard. (The card in the hand is chosen at random.)

No need for introductions. This is the best Synchro released this year, without a doubt. It has an awesome effect, which can disrupt strategies that are already in play, or that your opponent is still planning, and if it wasn't enough, can get rid of annoying dead cards like Vayu, Dandylion, Glow-up and Spore. Every extra deck can run this. It also has sick combos and a loop that can make you draw all cards from your deck. Just awesome.

And that's the top 5 of Hidden Arsenal 4. Please comment your thoughts on the cards!