It’s a time of new beginnings in the Yu-Gi-Oh! TRADING CARD GAME! With Duelist Alliance arriving soon, we’re taking a look at one of the awesome new kinds of monsters you can find – the Satellarknights!

Satellarknights all have simple effects with a very simple condition for their activation: they all activate at the time they’re Summoned. That means Normal or Flip, or Special by any means – even Pendulum Summons work! Take Satellarknight Deneb for example: Any time it’s Summoned, no matter how, you can add any other “tellarknight” monster from your Deck to your hand!

(What other kinds of ‘tellarknights are there besides Satellarknights? We’ll explain that tomorrow!)

Since all of the Satellarknights activate when Summoned, you’ll want lots of ways to Summon them! Pendulum Summoning works if you need to Summon many Satellarknights at once from your hand. If you just need a second Level 4 monster, Satellarknight Vega can Special Summon one from your hand. Then, there’s Satellarknight Altair, which revives any ‘tellarknight from your Graveyard in Defense Position. Remember, whatever you Summon with Vega or Altair will also activate its effects! You can put together big strings of Summons with Altair and Vega, while Deneb gets you more knights while you do it.

Satellarknight Unukalhai is the strongest of the knights, packing 1800 ATK. With its effect, you can send a ‘tellarknight from your Deck to your Graveyard. That’s the perfect setup for Altair, Call of the Haunted, or Soul Charge, making Unulkalhai almost like a second version of Deneb.

The final monster of the group is Satellarknight Alsahm. When Alsahm’s Summoned, it’ll deal 1000 damage directly to your opponent’s Life Points. Alsahm’s incredibly easy to use, since it works off any kind of Summon. If you’re making Xyz plays with Altair, Alsahm lets you throw out free damage every time – those 1000 Life Points build up fast!

The last new cards to look at aren’t monsters, but some great Spell and Trap Cards to put your monsters to use. Satellarknight Skybridge is a Quick-Play Spell Card, which lets you bring any ‘tellarknight from your Deck to the field by returning one from your field to the Deck. It’s a bit similar to older cards like Swallow’s Nest or Cunning of the Six Samurai, but with two big advantages. First, there is no cost to activate it, so you don’t lose your monster if Skybridge is negated. Second, the monster is returned to the Deck, where you can retrieve it with Deneb or Reinforcement of the Army, or even another Skybridge!

Finally, Stellarnova Alpha. With this Counter Trap Card, you can send a ‘tellarknight to the Graveyard to negate the activation of any Spell/Trap Card or monster effect, destroy the offending card, and then draw a card! It’s reminiscent of Fish Depth Charge and Gemini Spark, but those two don’t negate anything and aren’t Counter Traps – that makes Stellarnova Alpha potentially much more powerful! It’s a great way to make use of your low ATK Deneb or Alsahm after they’ve used their effects, if you don’t want to or can’t perform an Xyz Summon.

As they are all Level 4 LIGHT Warriors, the Satellarknights are prime candidates for a lot of great cards you probably already own. Besides Deneb, you’ve got access to two copies of Reinforcement of the Army to search for exactly the knight you need whenever you need it. You’re free to play Honest, and there’s all kinds of great Xyz Monsters like Starliege Paladynamo, Blade Armor Ninja and the Heroic Champions, which the average Deck just can’t play.

Your favorite card in the Deck may just be Call of the Haunted. With Call, you’ve got more ways to set off all of your Satellarknights’ effects, and you can even use it on your opponent’s turn to avoid all of their “once per turn” clauses. Altair is a great choice – that way, your Call of the Haunted will effectively get you two monsters from the Graveyard and another ‘tellarknight effect all at once!

The newest way to Summon is a great way to use your Satellarknights! Since Deneb gives you a free monster every time you Summon it, you should always have something to play with your Pendulum Summon each turn. That ought to give you ample materials for Xyz Monsters or anything else you might want! Since every Satellarknight is Level 4, it’s very easy to put together the Pendulum Scales needed to bring them to the field.

In fact, there’s a combo to deal 8000 damage in one turn with Pendulum Monsters! All you need is Odd-Eyes Pendulum Dragon, either Timegazer Magician or Stargazer Magician, and Satellarknight Deneb. Start off by playing Odd-Eyes, and use it to get the Magician you don’t have yet (Odd-Eyes will go to the Extra Deck). If your opponent decides to hit you with a monster, then you’re ready to go! Play Deneb to get Alsahm, then use your Magicians to Pendulum Summon Alsahm and Odd-Eyes! Alsahm will deal 1000 damage, then you can Xyz Summon Starliege Paladynamo. Reduce your opponent’s monster to 0 ATK, and your Dragon can strike it for double damage while Paladynamo attacks directly! Don’t forget – Timegazer Magician and Stargazer Magician will suppress your opponent’s Spells and Traps while Odd-Eyes attacks, making it a much safer play than it seems!

And that’s just one great combo the Satellarknights can use. Due to their simplicity and great synergy, they’ve got a ton of versatility. You’ll be able to put together combos on the fly with the search power of Deneb, Unukalhai, and Reinforcement of the Army, combined with the Summon power of Vega and Altair!

The Satellarknights are landing soon, when Duelist Alliance arrives! The Sneak Peeks are coming up on August 9^th and 10^th, and it’s going to be out of this world!