Destiny Soldiers contains brand new cards to support themes from the GX era, including 5 brand new Darklord monsters and 4 new Darklord Spell/Trap Cards! These cards put a new twist on the old Darklord theme, and will allow Darklord monsters to reach new heights. Today, we’ll be taking a look at the 5 new Darklord monsters in Destiny Soldiers. In a later article, we’ll check out the 4 Spell/Trap Cards that work with them.

Darklord Morningstar is the Darklord leader. Morningstar is a Level 11 monster with 3000 ATK and 3000 DEF, plus an effect that ties all of the Darklords together. Morningstar can’t be Special Summoned, but when it’s Tribute Summoned, it lets you Special Summon Darklord monsters from your hand and/or Deck, up to the number of Effect Monsters your opponent controls. Since most monsters used in the Yu-Gi-Oh! TRADING CARD GAME are effect monsters, Tribute Summoning Morningstar while your opponent controls monsters will typically allow you to swarm the field with powerful Darklords. Morningstar can Special Summon all of the old Darklord monsters released throughout the years, or the new, more powerful Darklords available in Destiny Soldiers.

Darklord Morningstar can also use those Darklord monsters to shield itself. While you control another Darklord monster, Darklord Morningstar can’t be targeted by your opponent’s cards or effects.

Finally, Darklord Morningstar’s last effect lets you send a number of cards equal to the number of Darklord monsters on the field from the top of your Deck to your Graveyard once per turn. Then, Darklord Morningstar grants you 500 Life Points for each Darklord card sent there. In addition to providing a healthy Life Point boost, this power fuels the effects of the rest of the Darklord monsters in Destiny Soldiers.

Each of the remaining new Darklord monsters in Destiny Soldiers have a lot in common.

Each of the four new Darklords has an effect that activates in the hand.

Like the old Dragon Rulers and old Nekroz Ritual Monsters, each of the remaining new Darklord monsters has a powerful effect that activates in the hand by discarding it. Each of those effects can be activated once per turn.

Here are their four effects:

• Darklord Ixchel lets you discard it along with any other Darklord card to draw 2 cards;
• Darklord Tezcatlipoca lets you discard it to protect a Darklord monster that would be destroyed by battle or by card effect;
• Darklord Nasten lets you discard 2 other Darklord cards to Special Summon it from your hand; and
• Darklord Amdusc lets you discard it along with any other Darklord card to return any Darklord card in your Graveyard to your hand.

The versatility of these effects makes Darklord Decks built after the release of Destiny Soldiers extremely flexible. Plus, since you can quickly send any one of these Darklord monsters from your hand to your Graveyard by activating one of their effects, the effects make it easy to get Darklord monsters into your Graveyard so that you can Special Summon them from the Graveyard to the field.

Each of the four new Darklords has high ATK and DEF.

The four Darklord monsters’ ATK range between 1800 (Darklord Amdusc’s ATK) and 2800 (Darklord Tezcatlipoca’s ATK). Their Defense Points range between 2100 (Darklord Tezcatlipoca’s DEF) and 2900 (Darklord Ixchel’s DEF). These high stats make it easy to wipe out an opponent in a single turn with a field of Darklord monsters, or to protect your own Life Points with their high Defense Points.

Each of the four new Darklords can use the effects of Darklord Spell and Trap Cards in your Graveyard once per turn (during either player’s turn).

In addition to the stellar effects and stats discussed above, each of the four new Darklord monsters that serve Morningstar also has an effect that lets you use the effect of a Darklord Spell or Trap Card in your Graveyard by giving up 1000 Life Points and shuffling that Spell or Trap Card from your Graveyard into your Deck. Each Darklord’s effect to do so can be used once per turn, during either player’s turn, making it tough for opponents to overcome.

We’ll look at each of the Darklord Spell and Trap Cards more thoroughly later on, but here’s the short of it: The two Darklord Spell Cards can add a Darklord card from your Deck to your hand or Special Summon a Darklord monster to your field, while the two Darklord Trap Cards can destroy a card on the field or take control of an opponent’s monster. While both Darklord Spell Cards and both Darklord Trap Cards are in your Graveyard, each one of your four Darklords has access to all four effects.

The new Darklords in Destiny Soldiers have powerful effects that enable explosive plays. You can try them out when Destiny Soldiers releases on November 18^th!