As soon as I saw the new Forbidden & Limited Cards List, my brain skipped right over stuff like Mermails and Dragon Rulers and went straight to Noble Knights. Don’t get me wrong, I’ve played lots of Dragons, Spellbooks, Mermails, and Fire Fists the past year, and returning classics like Blackwings aren’t new territory for me. But Noble Knights have a special place in my heart – every time a new Noble Knight card drops I create a new build, striving to make it faster, more consistent, and more flexible than the last one. I just love the whole concept of the Noble Knights: the idea of heroes battling together side by side, picking up each other’s dropped swords as they hack and slash their way across the battlefield? That’s just too cool!

That said, Noble Knights have had to struggle with certain challenges since they made their debut. One of their key strengths is that they’re really good at destroying Spells and Traps, thanks to cards like these:

Noble Arms – Arfeudutyr destroys face-down cards; Noble Knight Drystan destroys face-ups; and Artorigus, King of the Noble Knights blows away backrow cards no matter what they are! With so much mastery over Spells and Traps, you can destroy your opponent’s cards or scare them off from setting them in the first place. That leaves the field clear for you to make big direct attacks with your Noble Knights, or Xyz Monsters like Blade Armor Ninja and Heroic Champion – Excalibur.

The problem? All that destruction power doesn’t matter much if your opponent isn’t setting anything to their backrow in the first place; Decks like Dragon Rulers, Mermails, and Spellbooks don’t Set a lot of cards. And if the cards they DO Set are chainable and can blow your monsters off the field – stuff like Compulsory Evacuation Device and Spellbook of Fate – well, then life’s even tougher.

The good news? Spellbooks aren’t as dominant now as they were before, and Spellbook of Fate’s tougher to use. Compulsory Evacuation Device is Limited to 1 per Deck, so your opponent can’t play two or three copies any more. And with Heavy Storm now Forbidden, you can protect your Noble Knights more easily to keep guys like Medraut and Artorigus on the field longer. More than that, your opponents are probably going to play more backrow cards in their Deck, since they don’t have to worry about Heavy Storm. Suddenly your dominance over Spell and Trap Cards is hugely important!

This all comes hot on the heels of the Judgment of the Light release of Drystan, which opens up the combo you see above! Special Summon Drystan with Noble Knight Medraut’s effect; pass Medraut’s Noble Arms Spell Card to Drystan; and you can destroy a face-up card like a big monster for free, all on your way to making a Rank 4 Xyz Summon! Drystan’s still a really new card, and it’s hugely powerful whether you’re using it to clear the way for a Rank 4, or just leaving it on the table as a free attacker courtesy of Medraut.

Noble Knights can also make use of a lot of powerful Side Deck cards. Cards like Gozen Match, Rivalry of Warlords, and Imperial Iron Wall can help you lock up wins in the 2^nd and 3^rd Duels of a Match.

Most of your Noble Knights are Light monsters, so as long as you’re careful with what you Xyz Summon, you can play Gozen Match. It stops you and your opponent from controlling monsters of more than one Attribute, so it’s great against stuff like Dragon Rulers. Rivalry of Warlords is similar, but it restricts Duelists to just one Type of monster; since all yours are Warriors, you can lock out strategies like Mermails, Dragunity, Constellars, and Evilswarm. And Imperial Iron Wall keeps your opponent from banishing cards for Dragon Ruler effects or Spellbook tricks – Noble Knights won’t generally banish their own cards to make their plays.

Noble Knights have never been this good before, and with five new cards coming in the new Shadow Specters booster pack in November, they’re going to get even better! I’m loving Noble Knights right now, and I’m gonna love seeing where they end up over the next four months.