From Photon Strike Bounzer to Constellar Ptolemy M7, to Gauntlet Launcher, Rank 6 Xyz Monsters make a huge impact every time they’re Summoned. They aren’t seen as much as other Ranks, however, because Level 6 monsters can be difficult to come by. Most Level changing effects cap out your monster’s Level at 5, so if you want to unleash Rank 6 monsters, you’ll usually need actual Level 6 monsters to use as Xyz Material. Fortunately, there are Decks that excel at kicking Level 6 monsters, and when Number Hunters hits on July 12^th, they’ll have a brand new Rank 6 monster to work with!

Norito the Moral Leader has 2700 ATK and can detach an Xyz Material during either player’s turn to negate the activation of a Spell/Trap Card and destroy it. It’s like a spellcasting version of the massively powerful Legendary Six Samurai – Shi En, who to this very day continues to propel the Six Samurai to success. There’s just one catch – Norito requires 2 Level 6 Spellcaster-Type monsters, so you’ll have to specifically design a Deck to take advantage of him. One great choice is to build a DARK Prophecy Deck centered around Reaper of Prophecy (from Cosmo Blazer) and Prophecy Destroyer (from Return of the Duelist AND his very own Collectible Tin!).

When you Normal or Special Summon Reaper of Prophecy, he does a bunch of different things depending on how many different “Spellbook” Spell Cards are in your Graveyard. The key ability is the one you get for having 5 or more different Spellbooks: a free Special summon of a Level 5 or higher DARK Spellcaster from your Deck. Reaper is Level 6, so you could Summon another one out of your Deck (without effect, as you can only use the effect of Reaper of Prophecy once per turn) and pair them up to Summon Norito. But it’s way better to Summon Prophecy Destroyer instead. Destroyer has 2500 ATK and can endlessly revive from the Graveyard regardless of how he got there, as long as you have 3 Spellbooks to banish. So use Destroyer as Xyz Material for Norito, detach him to negate something, and then Summon him back!

The trick is getting 5 or more different Spellbooks into your Graveyard and Summoning Reaper, during your Main Phase. Playing Spellbook of Secrets and Spellbook of the Master to copy it gets you 2 and another Spellbook from your Deck. If you played Spellbook of Judgment first, you’ve got 3. To get the other 2 and Summon Reaper, try Reasoning and Monster Gate. They aren’t Spellbooks, but they can put Spellbooks into the Graveyard as they dig through your Deck for the next Summonable monster they can find. While Monster Gate is guaranteed to Summon, Reasoning has a chance of backfiring completely if your opponent calls Level 6. Except you have access to both Monster Reborn and multiple copies of Spellbook of Life, and Reaper doesn’t care how he’s Special Summoned.

Of course, this strategy runs through lots of Spellbooks, and Spellbook of Eternity isn’t going to refresh them fast enough! But there’s a new DARK Prophecy monster in Lord of the Tachyon Galaxy that can return all your banished Spellbooks all at once – Wheel of Prophecy! It’s a Level 8 DARK Spellcaster, and if you Summon it with a Spellcaster-Type monster’s effect, such as Reaper of Prophecy, it can return any number of your banished Spellbooks to the Deck, and then puts the rest of them in your Graveyard! It’s a handy tool for a focused strategy like this, and it gives your opponent another thing to think about when they’re deciding on the Level to call for Reasoning!

Norito the Moral Leader doesn’t just excel in a DARK Prophecy strategy, it also works with a certain famous family of Level-shifting magicians. It also has a ranked-up CXyz version that plays very well with said family of magicians. But more on that in the weeks to come!