The difference between winning and losing is often just one card. The difference between a completely predictable Deck and one that has access to a wide range of moves normally unavailable to that strategy is often just one card as well. Today we’re going to talk about 3 unpredictable cards that you can play 1 copy of in a Stellarknight Deck to create unexpected wins or increase the variety of plays your Deck can make!

We mentioned Battleguard Howling back during Duelist Alliance previews, and it wasn’t just an honorable mention for a runner-up card – this is an extremely powerful card that can end games and break otherwise unbreakable set-ups. Any monster from the Extra Deck without some sort of special immunity is totally demolished by Battleguard Howling, and your opponent can’t play around it by attacking with everything but their ace monster like they can with Dimensional Prison. It’s super effect against the El Shaddolls, sending them back to the Extra Deck, inflicting massive damage, and not triggering their effects to retrieve Shaddoll Fusion, but it’s equally effective against old standbys like Stardust Dragon or Goyo Guardian.

Stellarknight Decks play a lot of Counter Traps. Stellarnova Alpha is one of the defining cards of the Deck, with the ability to negate any Spell, Trap, or Effect Monster’s effect, destroy that card, and let you draw a card! But what if it also Summoned a 2800 ATK monster and automatically knocked 1500 Life Points off your opponent, destroyed an additional card your opponent controls, or let you revive any of your ‘tellarknights? Van’Dalgyon the Dark Dragon Lord can do all of the above and it’s impossible to expect. Stellarknight Decks often play around 8 Counter Trap Cards, so it’s well within the realm of possibility to have one by the time you draw your Van’Dalgyon, especially at the rate that Stellarknight Decks draw and search cards from the Deck!

This last one’s a little bit of a cheat because while you only need 1 copy of it in your Main Deck, you’ll want to switch out 2 or 3 cards from your Extra Deck to take advantage. T.G. Striker has pretty much everything going for it. It’s a Warrior, so you can fetch it with Reinforcement of the Army. You can Special Summon it for free, so it usually doesn’t take up your Normal Summon for the turn. And it gives you access to Synchro Monsters – something that Satellarknights simply can’t do on their own!

Special Summoning Striker then Normal Summoning Satellarknight Deneb for example gives you a search and a Level 6 Synchro like Goyo Guardian or Vulcan the Divine. Special Summoning Striker, then Normal Summoning Satellarknight Altair gives you a monster from the Graveyard, likely Deneb for a search, and leaves you with 10 Levels worth of Synchro Material between your 3 monsters – enough for Leo, Keeper of the Sacred Tree or Ally of Justice Decisive Armor! Even after the Side Deck comes into play and your opponent brings in Flying “C” and/or Stygian Dirge, you can just adjust your Extra Deck to combat it with cards like Black Rose Dragon (10-3) and Armades, Keeper of Armageddon (Striker + “C”).

And there you have it! Three cards, for which 1 copy of any of them can be a game changing force in Stellarknights!