Judgment of the Light had a bunch of new Synchro Monsters, but until we saw what the new Advanced Format would look like, it was tough to gauge which Synchros would be the most successful.  With YCS Toronto and weeks of Regional Qualifiers now in the books, we know which Synchros are being played; which ones are still underappreciated; and which decks can run them.  The stage is set but the players are still finding their places, so today we want to remind you – don’t overlook Armades, Keeper of Boundaries!

Armades is a Level 5 that you can Synchro Summon with any Synchro Materials, so you can run it in a lot of different Decks.  If you’ve got a Level 1 Tuner with Level 4 non-Tuners it’s easy to make, and some strategies will even Summon it with a mix of Level 2’s and Level 3’s.  Before September 1^st it was tough to tell if Armades would be worthwhile; for it to see play, two things needed to happen.  First, Decks needed to be able to Summon it.  Second, popular strategies needed to create situations that would make Armades’ effect useful.  Heading into YCS Toronto that second factor was up in the air, because nobody knew what to expect.  Coming out of that event though, we can see that Armades offers some big advantages.

If you play a Level 1 Tuner and Level 4 non-Tuners to match, you should definitely consider running Armades, Keeper of Boundaries.  Any deck with that kind of Tuner and non-Tuner lineup usually plays Ally of Justice Catastor.  The reason?  Catastor solves a number of problems, namely dealing with big monsters that are tough to destroy in battle.

Armades is similar; packing 2300 ATK, its ability prevents your opponent from using their best effects when Armades battles.  Now that we know which Decks are seeing the most play, we can search them for opportunities where Armades’ effect can save you from losses, or create wins where nothing else could.  We’ll get into those details a bit later, but for now the question is this: is it easy to make Armades?

For many Decks the answer’s definitely yes.  The most common Level 1 Tuner right now is Effect Veiler, and since Veiler’s so good at negating powerful monster effects, there’s a pretty good chance that you’re already playing it.  If that’s the case, you can probably play Armades, since all you need is a few Level 4’s to make it happen.  This is the number one card making Armades so viable; it works in everything from Evilswarm to Madolches.

Beyond that, anything running the Lonefire Blossom/Dandylion/Spore suite will have, obviously, Spore as another Level 1 Tuner, and a number of Dragon and Dragunity Decks are also running Dragunity Corsesca.  Dragon Ruler variants with Blaster, Dragon Ruler of Infernos tend to play Flamvell Guard as well, while any Fairy Deck runs Herald of Orange Light at Level 2.  Playing Armades isn’t tough.

Now that we know what the competitive landscape looks like, we can definitively say there are a lot of scenarios where you’ll want to have Aramdes.  Whether you’re attacking or defending, you want to be able to cut your opponent short when they’re relying on ATK-changing effects to win battles.  This is huge in the Blackwing matchup, where your opponent’s going to try and use Blackwing – Kalut the Moon Shadow to destroy your monsters in battle, and to trigger the effect of Blackwing – Shura the Blue Flame for free Special Summons.  Remember, since Blackwings are all Dark monsters they’re immune to Catastor.

Anything focused on Light monsters, like Agents, Bujins, or Lightsworn will generally use Honest to make big attacks and defend against you.  While you can use Honest to boost your own Armades – it’s a Light monster, after all – your opponent can’t use it against Armades.  In the case of Bujins, your opponent won’t be able to use Bujingi Crane, either.

A lot of Duelists aren’t playing Mystical Space Typhoon in their Main Deck right now, because certain Decks don’t play enough targets to make it worthwhile.  Some of those competitors are running Forbidden Lance instead, since it can fend off Spells and Traps, or give a monster an edge in battle.  But when you declare an attack with Armades your opponent can’t play Lance – they have to activate it before they declare their attack instead, losing the element of surprise.

If your opponent’s planning to stop your attacks before battle even begins, Armades is once again your answer!  Mirror Force and Dimensional Prison are far more popular now than they were last format, and Armades, Keeper of Boundaries is immune to both.  Your opponent can’t even save themselves from damage with Swift Scarecrow, so long as you attack with Armades before you attack with anything else.  The Scarecrow’s a popular choice right now, especially in anything running Redox, Dragon Ruler of Boulders, so Armades can steal games against those Decks.

And that’s just the tip of the iceberg. A lot of Duelists are only beginning to see how useful this card is; if you’re ahead of the curve, Armades, Keeper of Boundaries is going to nab you some wins your opponents won’t see coming!