Herald of Pure Light

"You can detach 1 Xyz Material from this card, then target 1 monster in your Graveyard; add it to your hand, then shuffle 1 card from your hand into the Deck.  You can only use the effect of "Herald of Pure Light" once per turn."

This is the latest at night I have ever sat down to right something for this blog, so if it comes out as incoherent babble, that is why.  Anyway, I'm continuing with my theme of discussing Agents because they have occupied my mind for the most part these days.  Some might rightly say I'm overhyping them, but I can't help it.  Once YCS Toronto happens, I have no doubt that I will have a plethora of things to say on my topics but until then it's going to be Agents and fun decks.

Herald of Pure Light is a rank 2 Xyz with pathetic stats at best.  It is a LIGHT Fairy type monster with 600 ATK and 1000 DEF so it wont really be battling much.  As I have already mentioned, this card is ideal for play in Agents though it could also be used in Ojamas or a similar deck that churns out Rank 2 monsters.  Even this cards typing fits perfectly in Agents.

Herald of Pure Light is the latest addition to the Herald archetype, an archetype that doesn't really function too well on its own because ever card in the deck requires you to discard cards, without really replenishing cards to your hand.  This Herald adds a small boost because it can bring back used Heralds to your hand, but really as I said this is best in Agents.

In Agents, there are a few ways to make this.  The easiest way to summon this would be with The Agent of Creation - Venus.  Venus can easily bring out two Mystical Shine Balls to overlay into Pure Light.  This is however not usually going to happen. In Agents the goal is to get Venus out early, and early on there wont be many great targets for this card.  Instead, it's probably more likely you will be summoning this with monsters like The Agent of Mystery - Earth, Mystical Shine Ball, and Herald of Orange Light that are summoned with Normal Summons or perhaps Call of the Haunted.

Once this is summoned, there are a few good targets for it in Agents. The most notable is Honest who is a terror immediately once he is in hand.  Any hand traps in general are good targets for this card, such as Effect Veiler, Maxx "C", or Herald of Orange Light.  He can also be used to return Mystical Shine Balls that are dead in hand to your deck, or you can add a Shine Ball to your hand from the Graveyard, then add it straight to the deck.

The latter options opens up an interesting play.  This card is worded the same as Zombie Master, which means that you need a monster in your Graveyard to activate its effect but you can target to detached Xyz material monster with its ability to add it to your hand.  What this lets you do is summon Venus, then special summon 3 Shine Balls.  Overlay two Shine Balls into this and then detach 1 and return it to your hand then deck.  Summon it again with Venus and Overlay for a Gachi Gachi.  This is the most genius +2 play you will ever make.

Pretty cool card overall.  He may not break Agents but he sure adds a little something to them.  Thanks for reading!

Welche.