It’s been over a year since the Noble Knights debuted in Galactic Overlord, and in that time we’ve seen five “Noble Knight” monsters appear as World Premiere cards. Prepare to bolster the ranks of your Noble Knight Deck (or get ready to build one!) because Lord of the Tachyon Galaxy has one more Noble Knight, plus another Noble Arms Equip Spell!

This card is treated as a Normal Monster while face-up on the field. While equipped with a “Noble Arms” Equip Spell Card, this card becomes an Effect Monster with this effect.

●You can target 1 “Noble Knight” monster in your Graveyard; add it to your hand, and if you do, destroy 1 “Noble Arms” Equip Spell Card you control. You can only use this effect of “Noble Knight Gwalchavad” once per turn.

Like Noble Knight Medraut, this new Noble Knight starts out as a Normal Monster, then gets an effect when it takes up one of the legendary Noble Arms. When that happens, Noble Knight Gwalchavad becomes a counterpart to Medraut: while Medraut Special Summons a Noble Knight from your Deck, Gwalchavad lets you retrieve one from your graveyard. Destroy a “Noble Arms” Equip Spell, take back a Noble Knight, and since Noble Arms re-equip when they’re destroyed, you can have one of your Noble Knights pick that Equip Spell right back up.

Noble Knight Gwalchavad is usually at its best when you pair it with Noble Knight Gawayn. You can Special Summon Gawayn from your hand when you control a LIGHT Normal Monster, and when you destroy Gwalchavad’s “Noble Arms” Equip it reverts to being a Normal Monster. If you used Noble Knight Medraut to bring Gawayn out for a Rank 4 Xyz Summon, then next turn you could use Gwalchavad to get Gawayn back to your hand; not re-attach the Noble Arms you destroyed; and Special Summon Gawayn for another Rank 4. In that way, Gawalchavad gives the Noble Knights strategy a longer lifespan.

But really, what the Deck lacked in the past was speed.  Noble Knight Gwalchavad lets Noble Knights blitz the opponent with Rank 4 monsters. If you start out with a hand of Medraut, Gawayn, and any Noble Arms…

-Summon and Equip Noble Knight Medraut. Use its effect to Special Summon Noble Knight Gwalchavad from your Deck. Destroy Medraut’s Noble Arms and equip it to Gawalchavad.

-Since Medraut is now a LIGHT Normal Monster, Special Summon Noble Knight Gawayn and overlay with Medraut to Summon Blade Armor Ninja. Detach Gawayn so the Ninja can attack twice this turn.

-Gawalchavad is now an effect monster, so use its ability to return Gawayn to your hand. Destroy Gawalchavad’s Noble Arms. You’ve already re-equipped once, so it stays in the Graveyard.

-Since Gawalchavad is back to being a LIGHT Normal Monster again, Special Summon Gawayn.

-Overlay Gawayn and Gawalchavad for Heroic Champion – Excalibur or another Blade Armor Ninja. You now have 8000+ possible damage on the table.

Since you’ll run at least six “Noble Arms” cards, it’s easy to have one for this combo. And since you’ll play three copies each of Noble Knight Medraut and Noble Knight Gawayn, plus Reinforcement of the Army to search them, and maybe a pair of Pot of Duality, it’s easy to get them to your hand. If your Noble Arms card happens to be Noble Arms – Arfeudutyr, you can even destroy a couple of your opponent’s Set cards along the way.

But maybe the Noble Arms arensal isn’t stocked enough for you yet? Then check this out!

You can only control 1 face-up “Noble Arms of Destiny”. Equip only to a Warrior-Type monster. Once per turn, the equipped monster cannot be destroyed by battle or by card effects. If this face-up card on the field is destroyed and sent to the Graveyard: You can target 1 Warrior-Type “Noble Knight” monster you control; equip this card to that target. You can only use this effect of “Noble Arms of Destiny” once per turn.

If you strap one of your Noble Knights with the new Noble Arms of Destiny, your opponent has to beat your monster twice to take it down. And since this is a “Noble Arms” card, you can bounce it to another Warrior if that happens, and then that monster will be protected as well.

That’s cool for a few reasons…

Artorigus, King of the Noble Knights has an effect that lets you destroy backrow cards equal to the number of Noble Arms the King’s wielding. As long as Artorigus is on the field, your opponent can’t Set Spells and Traps, because you’ll blow them away as soon as you get to your turn. The tricky part? You need to keep Artorigus on the field, which wasn’t always easy in the past. Now it’s a snap: pass him Noble Arms of Destiny and he’s almost impossible to destroy.

Noble Arms – Arfeudutyr is probably the most powerful of the first three Noble Arms, but the more you use it with one monster, the weaker that monster gets. It might be easy to equip Arfeudutyr and destroy one Set card, but keeping your monster around afterwards used to be tricky. Now? Noble Arms of Destiny to the rescue.

Finally, Noble Arms of Destiny can keep Noble Knight Medraut on the field for multiple turns. While Medraut is usually played to Special Summon a monster from your Deck, which is then rolled into an immediate Xyz Summon, you don’t have to play it that way. You can use Medraut to bring out a monster in Defense Position; wait a turn; and then make an attack with that monster. If the attack works, great. If it doesn’t, you’ll just Medraut another monster to the field.

That’s a cool slow-roll strategy, but you have to keep Medraut alive for it to work. Again, Noble Arms of Destiny is great for that. You can sit on a Medraut equipped with Destiny and Arfeudutyr, and just blow away your opponent’s Set cards while Summoning a free Noble Knight every turn. Remember, you can use the effects of the Noble Knights you Summon, so you can grab Ignoble Knight of Black Laundsallyn and Tribute it to get another Noble Arms from your Deck. Or, Special Summon Noble Knight Gwalchavad to get something back from your Graveyad.

Noble Knight Gwalchavad and Noble Arms of Destiny bring more speed and more depth to the Noble Knight strategy. On one hand, Gawalchavad gives an element of deadly speed to the strategy. At the same time, Noble Arms of Destiny gives it staying power, and lets you play control strategies that were nearly impossible in the past. With greater speed and more staying power, we could see Noble Knights make an impact this Summer!