Many Duelists are starting to add “Archlord Kristya” to their Lightsworn Decks to take advantage of its game-ending power, but few have built Decks completely dedicated to Summoning it. Greg Cohen’s Kristya Draw Deck, on the other hand, relies on Kristya to win. Packed with ways to draw Kristya and bring it onto the field, Cohen’s Deck is prepared to take on the most popular Decks in the tournament.

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In addition to Tribute Summoning “Archlord Kristya,” Cohen has 2 other ways to put Kristya on the field. If he can get 4 Fairy-Type monsters into his Graveyard, he can Special Summon Kristya from his hand and replace it with one of the Fairies in his Graveyard. Since “Nova Summoner” allows Cohen to fill his Graveyard with Fairy-Type monsters and “Honest” can be dropped to the Graveyard during any battle, getting 4 Fairies into the Graveyard is a breeze. Cohen can also discard “Hecatrice” to add another Fairy to the Graveyard whenever he wants to search for “Valhalla, Hall of the Fallen.”

Valhalla gives Cohen an alternate way to Summon Kristya in case he doesn’t have 4 Fairy-Type monsters in his Graveyard. With Valhalla on the field, Cohen can Special Summon a Fairy from his hand. “Archlord Kristya” is the perfect monster to Special Summon. Not only does it pin down the opponent by preventing further Special Summons, but even if the opponent does manage to take down Kristya, it will return to the top of Cohen’s Deck. When he draws it on his next turn, Valhalla will still be sitting on the field, ready to Special Summon Kristya once again.

Cohen can also use Valhalla to Special Summon “Tethys, Goddess of Light” from his hand. If Tethys is in play, you can draw another card when you draw a Fairy. Since half the cards in his Deck are Fairy-Type monsters, Tethys gives him a great shot at drawing extra cards. Combining Tethys with “Legacy of Yata-Garasu” and “Jar of Greed” allows Cohen to activate the effect of Tethys outside of his Draw Phase and draw twice as many cards as normal. If he’s lucky enough to draw a Fairy off of the effect of Tethys, he can even reveal it to draw again. This gives him a great way to load up his hand with Fairy-Type monsters and draw Kristya quickly.

Once Cohen’s hand is full of Fairies, he can pitch the ones he doesn’t need with “Herald of Orange Light” to negate some of the strongest effects in the game. “Dark Armed Dragon,” “Judgment Dragon,” and “Gladiator Beast Gyzarus” all fall to “Herald of Orange Light.” “Herald of Orange Light” is particularly effective against “Honest” and “Blackwing – Kalut the Moon Shadow” because it allows Cohen to protect Kristya when his opponent has a plan to destroy it in battle.

“Legacy of Yata-Garasu” and “Jar of Greed” also let Cohen draw Kristya during the same turn it’s hit by a Trap Card like “Mirror Force.” Then he can replay it right away. As long as Cohen can keep Kristya on the field, he can keep locking down his opponent. Dropping either “Archlord Kristya” or “Tethys, Goddess of Light” with Valhalla first turn is an incredible play that really puts the pressure on his opponent. Kristya limits his opponent’s early plays, while Tethys demands Cohen’s opponent to destroy it before it begins drawing cards for him. Summoning Tethys and setting “Jar of Greed” or “Legacy of Yata-Garasu” first turn is even better, because it gives Tethys the chance to give Cohen cards before his opponent can try to eliminate Tethys.

Cohen also uses 3 copies of “Dimensional Alchemist” in his Deck to help him add Fairies like Kristya to his hand. Alchemist thins the Deck to draw out Kristya and gives Cohen a number of Fairies to choose from when it’s destroyed. If “Archlord Kristya” is hit by “Bottomless Trap Hole,” a rough fate that would send Kristya to the removed zone instead of the top of Cohen’s Deck, “Dimensional Alchemist” can get it back.

Cohen’s Deck has a lot of potentially great match-ups. Against Lightsworn and Twilight Decks, dropping Kristya onto the field at any point will often win him the game. Losing the ability to drop “Judgment Dragon,” “Dark Armed Dragon,” “Chaos Sorcerer,” “Gorz the Emissary of Darkness,” and “Tragoedia” is crippling to those Decks. Gladiator Beast and Zombie Decks also have a really tough time against Cohen’s Deck because they have so much trouble getting Kristya off of the field without being able to tag-in their Gladiators or Synchro Summon monsters.

As Duelists like Greg Cohen are beginning to realize the devastation “Archlord Kristya” causes for the most popular Decks, they’re finding new and innovative ways to exploit its power.