High Class
Heraldic Beasts were first introduced in Abyss Rising, but there weren’t enough of them to build an entire Heraldic Beast Deck until Cosmo Blazer came out! The Deck has several Level 4 monsters, and focuses on Summoning Rank 4 Xyz Monsters. With enough Heraldic cards, you can put together a pretty awesome Deck, so here are some tips to help you get started!
A Heraldic Deck focuses on Level 4 monsters, which interact with each other in order to let you Xyz Summon Rank 4 monsters. Many of them have high ATK or DEF as well so they can do well on their own.
Heraldic Beast Leo has 2000 ATK and when it’s destroyed you get to add another Heraldic Beast monster to your hand. Leo destroys itself at the end of the turn you Normal Summoned it, letting you add that second monster to your hand right away. This also helps fill your Graveyard up which will become important later.
The 1800 ATK Heraldic Beast Aberconway lets you re-use Heraldic beast monsters that you have in your Graveyard. When you have 2 or 3 copies of Aberconway in the Graveyard, you can banish one of them to return a Heraldic beast from your Graveyard to your hand.
Heraldic Beast Basilisk is a quick and easy way to eliminate opposing monsters, as any monster that battles it is destroyed after damage calculation. Heraldic Beast Eale will be one of your key cards in setting up big Xyz Summons, as you can Special Summon it from your hand when you control 2 or more Heraldic beast monsters.
You definitely want to play as many copies of Leo as you can get, and having multiples of Aberconway and Basilisk is good as well. You’ll probably want to play Eale as well, but since it’s harder to use you’ll want to play fewer copies and search them out when necessary with Leo.
Heraldic Beasts have 3 particularly strong Spell and Trap Cards which allow the Deck to make some spectacular plays. All 3 cards let you Special Summon Heraldic beast monsters and set up your Xyz Summons.
Advanced Heraldry Art targets 2 Heraldic Beast monsters in your Graveyard and Special Summons them. After that, you immediately Xyz Summon using those 2 monsters. This combines well with Heraldic Beast Leo since Normal Summoning it gives you 1 of the 2 monsters you need in your Graveyard, and Leo searches for your second monster as well. It’ll even search for another monster when you detach it as an Xyz Material!
Heraldry Reborn’s effect is simple yet powerful; all you have to do is target a Heraldic beast in your Graveyard and Special Summon it. This essentially gives you 4 copies of Monster Reborn in your Deck, and makes cards like Heraldic Beast Eale a lot easier to play.
Finally there’s Heraldry Change, a defensive option that still sets up big plays. When your opponent declares an attack, you can use Heraldry Change to Special Summon a Heraldic Beast from your hand. As a bonus you immediately end the Battle Phase, ensuring your new monster is safe.
With all the monsters you’ll have, you’ll need suitably powerful Xyz Monsters to Summon!
Number 8: Heraldic King Genom-Heritage let’s you target an opposing Xyz Monster and “copy it”. Genom-Heritage gains the name, ATK and effect of its target and the opposing monster loses its effects. It also ends up with 0 ATK so that you can take it down easily! The possibilities are endless, as you can take advantage of any Xyz Monster your opponent Summons, even “invincible” ones! When you’re out of Xyz Materials, you can replenish them with Heraldic Beast Twin-Headed Eagle’s effect, by attaching 2 Heraldic Beasts from your Graveyard.
Diamond Dire Wolf is another card to consider, as several of your Main Deck monsters are compatible with its effect. We took a look at this Xyz Monster recently and explained some of the Heraldic plays within, so be sure to click this link and read more.
Three of the Heraldic Beasts are WIND monsters, which means that Lightning Chidori is an excellent option as well that can hit the field off a single Advanced Herladry Art. Heraldic Beast Eale can be Special Summoned when you have 2 or more Heraldic Beast monsters on the field, so Rank 4 monsters that require 3 Xyz Materials, like Number 16: Shock Master,
By now you should be well on the way to completing your Heraldic Beast Deck, and only need a few cards to finish it off. Old favourites like Solemn Judgment and Heavy Storm are sure to feature, but don’t forget to choose cards that specifically support what you’re playing. Horn of the Phantom Beast would be a great option since several of your monsters can be equipped with it, and it provides a great surprise mid-battle. Heraldic Beast Unicorn can combine with Number 8: Heraldic King Genom-Heritage to revive it (albeit with no effects), and may be the final monster you need.
The Heraldic Beasts are fun to play with and let you use lots of cool Xyz Monsters. Give them a try if you get a chance!