Forum:Deck Guide/Fairy

Fairy Guide
By Tantara

The Fairy type started out a weak type, similar to Spirit or Union, as it had virtually no support. The first competitive fairy to be introduced was Airknight Parshath, a card that was included in almost every deck, especially chaos. Other early fairy support cards included Asura Priest, Mudora, Guardian Angel Joan, and Shining Angel, the light searcher. Soon after Parshath’s rise to glory, Vampire Lord was released shunting Parshath to the side, due to his low attack, and taking it’s place as the favored 1 tribute monster. Fairies soon fell out of competitive play and were all but forgotten until the release of Ancient Sanctuary. Ancient Sanctuary brought new support to fairies with the introduction of the Agent monsters and the Sanctuary in the Sky. Fairies also gained the incredibly powerful, but impossible to get out, Archlord Zerato. Ancient Sanctuary turned fairies into a type that based themselves on gaining Life Points, using the difference in life points to use powerful effects (such as the Agent of Judgment – Saturn and the Agent of Force - Mars). The Sanctuary in the Sky theme was meant to run parallel to the Archfiend theme which had been released in the previous set. While Sanctuary decks never became popular (the same as archfiend decks), fairies gained the vital support to become an actual deck. Fairies later got a second boost with the introduction of Enemy of Justice which introduced Bountiful Artemis, the Heralds, Majestic Mechs, and Voltanis the Adjudicator. The game directed fairies away from Life Point game and towards the modern Counter Fairy decktype. Fairies later gained support from the Surge of Radiance structure deck, a structure deck revolving around fairies that introduced new, critical fairy support such as Gellenduo, Nova Summoner, Harvest Angel of Wisdom, and others. The deck was never released but the new essential cards were released as secret rares in the Strike of Neos booster pack. As the new essential fairy support were all secret rare, fairies became unpopular due to their cost. Recently, however, most of the Strike of Neos fairies were reprinted in the Crossroads of Chaos Special Edition and the Dark Legends booster pack, allowing fairies to become a powerful decktype. The introduction of Honest in Light of Destruction (Honest itself being a fairy) as well as Athena and Valhalla, Hall of the Fallen being released in the Premium Pack 2 benefitted fairies greatly.

Fairy decks rarely see competitive play. The latest spotlight that fairies had was a Counter Fairy build doing well in SJC Anaheim.

Card Choices
Airknight Parshath - One of the original Fairy Monsters, this card can still be quite good today as it's easily summoned through Nova Summoner, Valhalla, Hall of the Fallen, and Reasoning/Monster Gate. While this card's low attack means that it won't be on the field for long, the point of the card is to draw as many cards as possible.

Ancient Sacred Wyvern - A synchro card from ANPR, this card uses the original idea of Life Points difference to make it’s ATK huge. This card is a synchro version of The Agent of Force – Mars. Ancient Sacred Wyvern’s revivial effect is very good against decks such as Lightsworn or Blackwing that use Honest or Kalut to beat an opponents monster.

Angel O7 - Never a very popular card, if you can manage to get this guy out, he makes things VERY difficult for your opponent. This card requires two tributes to work so Skill Drain is a better alternative. This is a very substandard card.

Archlord Zerato - This is the boss monster of the Sanctuary in the Sky deck (even though it’s never used). Having to run Warrior of Zera ruins this cards playability. Still, with a deck built around him, Zerato can be a fun card to play.

Asura Priest - An early fairy monster, this monster used to make appearances in a few decks back when Goat Control was around. Today, this card can be used for massive field clearing attacks with the help of Honest. People usually dislike this card as it returns from the field to your hand, Valhalla fixes this problem as it allows you to special summon another fairy and then normal summon this monster. Priest will still return to your hand but you'll still have a fairy out to protect your lifepoints.

Athena - A newer fairy, this card’s burn effect can lead to a FTK/OTK utilizing Ultimate Offering and Honest. On top of being a possible one turn kill card, this is a beneficial in cutting down your opponents life points and resurrecting dead monsters (tribute a Marshmallon to get a Airknight Parshath). This card can be a welcome edition to any fairy deck that's not running Freed the Brave Wanderer or Soul of Purity and Light.

Avenging Knight Parshath - A fairy synchro, this is another version of Airknight Parshath. This card is very good at cutting down your opponents life points and removing large obstacles such as Beast King Barbaros and other large monsters. This card probably won't be worth the two cards you used to summon it, it's better to summon a monster such as Stardust Dragon or Collosal Fighter.

Bountiful Artemis - A staple in Counter Fairy builds. This is the card that started off the Counter Fairy decks. One of the best advantage makers in the game. -1 for the opponent +1 for the player. This card has a low attack, meaning that it will need constant protection, but not low enough to be searched out via Shining Angel or Nova Summoner.

Dark Valkyria - The DARK version of Dunames Dark Witch. This card is a powerful fairy that is usually only played in chaos fairy builds. This card is excellent when used with Valhalla as it allows you to special summon this card AND normal summon it to gain it's effect. This is an excellent removal option to annoying cards such as Spirit Reaper and Gladiator Beast Heraklinos. This is an excellent beatstick as well.

Dark Voltanis - The DARK version of Voltanis the Adjudicator, this card is a powerful fairy that is only played in chaos counter fairy builds. This card may be better than the original as the original demands the destruction of all the fairies you have on the field. This is a very situational card that may or may not fit well into a chaos counter fairy deck.

Darklord Zerato - The DARK version of Archlord Zerato, this is a card that’s played in chaos fairy builds. This is a tribute summonable raigeki with a self-destruction effect. This card has seen serious tournament play and has overshadowed the original Zerato. While the self-destruction effect is a setback, you'll usually win the turn you play this card.

Darknight Parshath - The DARK version of Airknight Parshath. While this card can get a huge ATK and can usefully remove DARK monsters from the grave and draw a card at the same time, Airknight Parshath’s piercing and drawing effect are better. This card does not benefit from Nova Summoner, unlike it's light cousin.

Dimensional Alchemist - Only played in RFP Fairy Builds. This useful card can regain essential monsters such as Honest from the RFP zone. Light of Redemption is a better alternative than using this. While the power up effect is nice, it won't remain on the field for long as it's attack is only boosted during your turn.

Freya, Spirit of Victory - While this card can boost a monsters ATK up to impressive levels, it’s best effect is that it can be used as a wall while combined with Marshmallon, Gellenduo, or another Freya. This card is generally not worth it as it's entirely helpless by itself.

Gellenduo - A very good fairy support card. Though mostly played in fairy decks that utilize big monsters such as Athena, Guardian Angel Joan, or Angel O7, almost any fairy deck can utilize it. Though the double tribute fodder is nice, it’s true gift is that it can’t be destroyed by battle. With The Sanctuary in the Sky out, this card can remain in ATK position and be protected from it’s self-destruction effect.

Guardian Angel Joan - The best fairy in gaining lifepoints, this card never saw play until the introduction of Gellenduo and, later, Valhalla, Hall of the Fallen. This card is invaluable at creating a gap between your and your opponents life points making it invaluable to an Agent Deck. This card's high attack makes it a welcome edition to Valhalla Rush decks as well.

Harvest Angel of Wisdom - A card to get back any counter trap card in your graveyard. With the limitation of Solemn Judgment, Counter Fairies took a huge hit; one of their best counter traps was taken away from them. Harvest allows Counter Fairies to reuse their single Solemn Judgment. Harvest only gains its effect when it's destroyed by battle, making it slow and sometimes inconvenient, though the high attack makes up for this.

Hecatrice- A searcher for Valhalla, Hall of the Fallen and excellent fodder for Athena is she’s in the deck.

Herald of Green Light - This card can result in a massive waste of recourses, but can be extremely useful at the same time. Spell negation that can be played from the hand where it can't be negated can be excellent, though the fact that it wastes half of your hand is not. This card is the least useful of the Heralds.

Herald of Orange Light - This card is the best of the Heralds, negating an effect is excellent in todays metagame making it an invaluable monster to play. Though it can waste half of your hand, negating a judgment dragon may be worth it. As well as being an in hand divine wrath, this card is a tuner as well. Tune this with Parshath to get Wyvern. Tune this with Saturn or Ohka to get Parshath.

Herald of Purple Light - This card is the second best of the Heralds, though still not very good. The cost of two cards in the hand may or may not be worth negating a mirror force. This is the second least useful Herald.

Honest - This is the best light support ever released, as well as being able to knock out an opponents lifepoints or a big monster, this card is a fairy making it reusable with Athena or Layard and is light making it searchable by Nova Summoner and Shining Angel

Layard the Liberator - An excellent recursion card in RFP Fairy. This makes counter trap cards be involved how ever and may crowd the deck. The low attack of this card means that it won't be on the field for long, meaning that a deck with this would have to pack in a lot of defense as well.

Majestic Mech - Goryu - Excellent in Valhalla decks, this potentially one tribute card can be of great use in Skill Drain fairies. This is one of the largest fairies out there that pierces to boot.

Majestic Mech - Ohka - Excellent in Skill Drain fairies as it won’t destroy itself at the end phase, this card can be an excellent card to remove threats such as Rai-Oh and Doomcaliber Knight. The level 6 status of this card also makes it desirable in Fairy Synchro builds as it can be tuned with Herald of Orange Light to get a Level 8 synchro.

Marshmallon - A near-staple in fairy decks, it’s spirit reaper-like effect makes it a good block until you have something to go on the offensive. The burn effect of this card makes it a powerful addition to Agent decks as well. This card can clog up the field, making it annoying to have in a Valhalla Rush deck which requires an open field to summon a beatstick.

Meltiel, Sage of the Sky - This is the card that combines the Sanctuary Deck and the Counter Fairy Deck. Player’s might play Sanctuary in the Sky just to include this card in a Counter Fairy deck. It rivals Bountiful Artemis in it’s ability to create advantages over your opponent. This card can not be searched out via Nova Summoner or Shining Angel.

Mudora - A late-game beatstick that is searchable by Giant Rat. Best used in builds using Heralds, Shining Angels, Nova Summoner, without using Pot of Avarice. This is the least effective way to utilize your graveyard in a fairy build, I hhighly recommend not running this.

Neo-Parshath, the Sky Paladin - Potentially the most powerful fairy type besides honest, this deck requires Sanctuary in the Sky but is well worth the effort. This card does not need Airknight to be Special Summoned, despite popular belief (Even the Card of the Day reviewers on Pojo got this wrong). This card powers itself up every time it attacks as well as allowing you to net free draws. This card could easily get up into the ten thousands in a good build.

Nova Summoner - An excellent searcher that can search out an Airknight if Sanctuary is out. This card is also perfect for searching for cards like Honest and putting them in defense where they’ll be safe. This card can be recycled via Pot of Avarice and can be used for Athena fodder

Shining Angel - A light searcher, recyclable by Pot of Avarice and is Mudora/Athena fodder. This card is very slow, though, as it needs to be destroyed by battle.

Soul of Purity and Light - A good monster for fairy decks that don’t use their graveyard, this card can also become excellent tribute fodder for fairy decks not running Valhalla. This card can be used in RFP fairies, though it's not as useful as Freed the Brave Wanderer.

Splendid Venus - Best used in Counter Fairies as it turns Magic Drain into free spell negation without cost. It also negates things such as Solemn Judgment and Dark Bribe. This is excellent in Valhalla Rush decks as it's a level 8, meaning that it can be discarded for Trade-In AND it can run over cards like Gladiator Beast Heraklinos and Judgment Dragon

Tethys, Goddess of Light] - One of the best fairy draw cards and a LV5 for tuning to boot. This card should be used in any deck that has 15+ fairies. It's level 5 status also makes it good synchro material for Ancient Wyvern.

The Agent of Force - Mars - One of the main monsters in a lifepoints Sanctuary Deck. This card can be boosted up to huge power quite easily through cards like Guardian Angel Joan and Aegis of Gaia. This card is also unaffected by cards like Shrink and Book of Moon, as well as The Sanctuary in the Sky. Attack last with this card to ensure maximum results :D

The Agent of Judgment - Saturn - A possible OTK card, get your lifepoints to twice the opponents and you win. Or get the opponent to use a solemn. You vcan use this card with AThena to inflict continuous, growing damage.

Tualatin - Though difficult to summon, the effects are worth it. If you manage to summon this card, you’ll most likely win (unless it’s Gladiator Beasts). This card is best utilized with Nova Summoners, Shining Angels, and Valhalla and is best used in a deck sepecifically built to summon this.

Voltanis the Adjudicator - May be a good card, depending on your choice. This card, while making you tribute ALL of your fairies can cause a HUGE amount of destruction. Consider it the balanced Dark Armed Dragon of Counter Fairies. This card is a level 8 as well, makeing it a possible Trade-In target as well.

Zeradias, Herald of Heaven - Being a searcher for Sanctuary in the Sky is enough to run it, 2100 ATK on a lv4 is nothing to scoff at either as it can destroy high attack monsters such as Thunder King Rai-Oh and Doomcaliber Knight. Any deck involving The Sanctuary in the Sky should run three.

The Sanctuary in the Sky - Not the best card alone, this card is only played to use certain monster’s effects. This card is highly succeptable to spell/trap destruction such as Gladiator Beast Bestiari and Heavy Storm

Aegis of Gaia - A card that may help boost up Mars or Neo-Parshath’s attack to huge levels as well as potentially making Saturn lethal, being a trap slightly hurt sthis card's playability as it needs longer to set up. Valhalla, Hall of the Fallen - A near-staple in fairy decks (not usually played in most Counter Fairy decks and RFP fairy), this card allows you to summon huge fairies such as Airknight Parshath and Athena at no cost. It's actually rather useful at starting swarms as well.

Cestus of Dagla - An equip card that can swell Airknight to the size of a Monarch that makes a large difference in lifepoints. Equip this to Neo-Parshath and this card is amazing. Equip cards are usually not worth the space that they take up in the deck however, I'd rather fit in extra defense over this.

Draining Shield - A card that negates an attack for lifepoints, play only in lifepoint-based fairy build. This can be quite good at getting your opponents guard down, easily hiding a Mirror Force or a Sakuretsu Armor.

Synthetic Seraphim - A card that may be a dead draw or may swarm the field with an impenetrable wall. Use these tokens as tribute fodder or use them to burn with Athena. This card can be an incredible dead draw so most duelists will not use more than two, if this card is played at all.

Pot of Avarice - A draw card that can recycle Nova Summoner and Shining Angel, one of the many directions you can utilize the fairy graveyard. This card provides the speed that fairy decks usually lack.

Van'Dalgyon the Dark Dragon Lord - A free 2800 beatstick when played in Counter Fairies. This card is far superior to Voltanis due to having no cost. I, personally play this over Voltanis the Adjudicator as, while Vandy isn't a fairy, there is no cost in summoning this. I believe this card should be played in every counter fairy deck.

Solemn Judgment - For Counter Fairies. This card is mandatory in every Counter Fairy deck, this is the ultimate negation. While the negation is nice, it also comes at a steep price. Never use this in a Counter Sanctuary deck.

Divine Wrath - For Counter Fairies. This should also be run in every counter fair deck, this is an easy counter to troublesome cards such as Judgment Dragon, Dark Armed Dragon, and Gladiator Beast Gyzarus. If this is activated while Bountiful Artemis is out, there would be no cost.

Dark Bribe - For Counter Fairies. I, personally, have always found this superior to Solemn Judgment due to it's low cost. Though expensive at the present, Dark Bribe will soon be reprinted in the next Warrior Structure deck, making the typical Counter Fairy deck much cheaper. This card is mandatory in any Counter Fairy build.

Magic Drain - For Counter Fairies. This is another card that, I believe, should be played in 3's in any counter fairy build. The card is excellent as it always results in a waste of recourses for the opponent (ex: the opponent discarding a Heavy Storm to use Smashing Ground)

Seven Tools of the Bandit - For Counter Fairies. Pay 1000 lifepoints to negate a Mirror Force, what's not to like? Never play more than one or two of this as most decks today (not Blackwings) play very few traps.

Drastic Drop Off - For Counter Fairies. I, personally, love this card as it can completely disrupt your opponents hand at no cost. For instance,chain to Allure of Darkness and they'll lose their two potentially drawn cards and STILL have to remove a DARK monster from their hand. This is an incredible card in my opinion. --Tantara (talk) 01:57, 30 August 2009 (UTC)

Forced Back - For Counter Fairies. This card used to be popular back in the Monarch Format as your oppponent would tribute a monster and then have the monarch be bounced back to the hand, leaving your opponent wide open to attack. This was also used to negate Jinzo as it totally ruins the deck. Forced Back is no longer popular as current decks are focused more on special summoning, not normal summoning.

Magic Jammer and Trap Jammer - For Counter Fairies. These are very poor alternatives to Dark Bribe, Solemn Judgment, and Magic Drain. Play at your own risk as Bountiful Artemis won't always be out to make up for the cost. Black Horn of Heaven - For Counter Fairies. An excellent card in todays meta, this card is very underrated. With no cost, this card should be run in every Counter Fairies side deck.

Neate Attack - For Counter Fairies. Not a very popular card as Threatening Roar and Waboku are far superior. Non the less, this is an excellent way to keep Bountiful Artemis alive for as long as possible.

Morphing Jar - Best used in a Counter Fairy deck where it can replenish after a hand of counter traps. This is a very slow card that, while it wastes a summon, it can result in getting five cards for free!

Freed the Brave Wanderer - The second best of all LIGHT support ever released, second only to Honest. This card, though not a fairy, can destroy almost any present threat. This card can also be searched by ROTA, making it even better.

Light of Redemption - Af ar better alternative to Dimensional Alchemist in my opinion, this card should be played in 3's in every RGP fairy deck.

Thunder King Rai-Oh - An excellent LIGHT card that, while not a fairy itself, provides fairy decks with a powerful beatstick and gives fairies a last resort button against cards like Dark Armed Dragon and Gladiator Beast Gyzarus. This is a very effective card to hamper your opponents strategies that utilizes draw power (such as DARK synchro variants today)

Fairy Variants
'''Please know that, while I can not stop you from it, I do discourage netdecking. In an attempt to stop netdeckers, I've made sure that these examples are all highly unpolished. Netdecking ruins any creativity in the game, I highly recommend that you make your deck as unique as possible'''

Here's an example of a Coutner Fairy deck. The strategy of the deck is to summon a card such as Bountiful Artemis and then be reqarded for punishing your opponents every move. Van'Dalgyon is an excellent card in here as there is no cost to summon him. He provides you with an effective counter to most powerful monsters. Splendid Venus is in here to help Bountiful Artemis to survive longer and to ensure that your opponent does not counter your counter trap cards. Venus can be summoned through Gellenduo or can be discarded (along with Van'dalgyon) for Trade-in. Honest also allows Bountiful Artemis to survive longer and can help you get over obstacles such as Stardust Dragon. Morphing Jar allows you to replenish after a handful of traps, this card can get you 5 new cards, making it invaluable to a slow deck such as this. Thunder King Rai-Oh gives this Counter Fairy deck a beatstick, allowing it to get over monsters such as Elemental Hero Stratos. On top of being a beatstick, this can act as a defense mechanism against highly devastating monsters such as Judgment Dragon. Besides being a beatstick and a last defense, This card also hampers with your opponent's draw, making it very devastating when tagged up with Drastic Drop Off. Gellenduo acts as tribute fodder for Venus as well as providing stall if needed. Harvest Angel of Wisdom allows you to retrieve counter traps such as Solemn Judgment making it a very nice addition to the deck. It's beatstick quality isn't to shabby either. Bountiful Artemis is here to provide a reward for punishing your opponent. This is a mandatory card to counter fairies as it provides much needed speed. A single copy of trade-in is included as there are only 4 possible discards. This can be an excellent answer to a useless Venus in the hand. As heavy storm can't be added as you need your traps on the field, giant trunade is here as spell and trap removal. As Artemis needs to be protected, Book of Moon is here to ensure that it stays on the field as long as possible. This can be a very useful card in getting rid of pesky monsters such as Stardust Dragon. Call of the Haunted is a staple card in most decks, it'll be very well protected due to the counter traps so you don't need to worry about using it. Dark Bribe is an excellent card that, along with Artemis, should be played in every counter fairy deck. This allows you to counter things like Gladiator Beast War Chariot and Heavy Storm. Divine Wrath is included to make sure that potentially destructive monsters never use their effects. This is another staple in Counter Fairy decks. Solemn Judgment is the ultimate counter trap card, able to stop almost anything at a steep cost. Though this cost is daunting, this is ia fairy deck that does not run on lifepoints so solemn can be played safely here. Though it's an excellent card, Solemn Judgment should be played very carefully. Magic Drain is one of my favorite counter traps, it allows you to negate an oponents spell for free. This card makes your opponent lose a card no matter what and with Splendid Venus out, it can't be negated at all. Seven Tools, though it can be excellent at times, is too situational for my taste. This card was better last format where Blackwings and Gladiator Beasts ruled (both decks were filled with traps). This card can still be useful this format, showing why it's included in this build. Drastic Drop Off is another favorite of mine, while excellent at running down your opponents hand during your draw phase, it is also devastating to decks that run cards like Allure of Darkness, Reinforcment of the Army, Trade-In, and Charge of the Light Brigade. Mirror Force and Torrential are generic defense in most decks. These cards are essential at keeping your opponent from getting too much momentum over you.

This is an example of a Chaos Counter Fairy deck. The point of the deck is to use counter traps to special summon Van’Dalgyon as well as Dark Voltanis. I’ve already given my views on Dark Voltanis, but this isn’t a competitive build. The deck uses Allures, Trade-In, and Bountiful Artemis to draw cards. To be continued

This is a rough example of a Saturn OTK. The point is to use Celestial Tranformation on Saturn and then activate Reckless Summon to get all three out for a huge amount of direct damage. Summon can also be used with Nova/Angel on Honest to get all three out as well. Pot of Avarice is to recycle the searchers as well as Honest. To be continued

A rough outline of a RFP fairy deck, the point of the deck is to use Freed and Soul to RFP fairies in your graveyard and then retrieve them via Light of Redemption and Layard. To be continued

This a rough version of an Athena OTK, the point of the deck is to have Athena on the field, then summon Honest, activate Ultimate Offering, and then continue to return and resummon Honest due to his and Offering’s effect. As you continue to Return and Summon Honest, Athena will inflict continuous burn. To be continued

This deck is built to summon Parshath out of the deck as fast as possible. The deck uses Pot of Avarice to recycle Nova Summoners and Shining Angels. To be continued

This is a rough example of a Valhalla Rush deck. The point of the deck is to use Valhalla to summon as many big monsters as possible, this deck can be quick with 3 reckless greeds and 3 trade-ins. To be continued

This is a rough example of a Sanctuary in the Sky deck, utilizing Agents. The point of the deck is to both whittle your opponent’s lifepoints down, through Honest and Parshath, and to increase your own LP, Joan and Draining Shield. This deck can make a large difference in lifepoints between you and your opponent that can lead to the Agents becoming highly “broken” To be continued

Variants coming - Drain Fairies, Synchro Fairies, Zerato

--Tantara (talk) 00:54, 27 August 2009 (UTC)