Nordic

"Nordic", known as "Polar Star" ( Kyokusei) in the OCG, is an archetype introduced in Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D's used by Team Ragnarok. It contains 3 sub-archetypes; "Nordic Beast", "Nordic Alfar" and "Nordic Ascendant". They work alongside the 3 "Aesir" monsters and are based on Norse Mythology.

Background
The "Nordic Beast" (Polar Star Beasts in the OCG and the Japanese anime) is the sub-archetype used by Dragan and connected to the Norse God Thor. The two Tokens Summoned by "Tanngrisnir of the Nordic Beasts" are actually the goats that pull Thor's chariot, Tanngrisnir and Tanngnjóstr. Garmr, the guardian of the Underworld, is a dog associated to Ragnarök, while Gullfaxi is a sacred horse that was a gift from Thor to his son, Magni, as a reward for helping him fight against the Giants.

The "Nordic Alfar" (Polar Star Spirits in the OCG and Japanese Anime) is the "Nordic" sub-archetype used by Brodor and connected to the Norse God Loki. Ljósálfr is a combination of the words "Light" and "Álfr" (Elf). The Light Elves are divine beings who dwell in the heavens of Álfheimr (Elfland). The Japanese name of "Svartalf of the Nordic Alfar", Dökkálfr, is the opposite of Ljósálfr: It's a combination of the words "Dökkr" (Dark) and "Álfr" (Elf). Unlike the Light Elves who live in the heavens, the Dark Elves dwell down below the Earth.

The "Nordic Ascendant" (Polar Star Angels in the OCG and the Japanese Anime) is the "Nordic" sub-archetype used by Halldor and connected to the Norse God called Odin. Mimir, another Norse God renowned for his wisdom and knowledge, is the guard of the Well of Wisdom and Insight, where one of the Roots of the Yggdrasil Tree concludes. Odin cast his own eye into Mimir's well to gain knowledge of the future. The Valkyries are a host of female figures who serve under Odin, and decide who will die in battle. They are also responsible for bringing dead warriors to the afterlife and into the Halls of Valhalla (where they become Einherjars).

Nordic Beasts
The Nordic Beast is a fast, powerful sub-archetype focused on starting Duels strong and Synchro Summoning "Thor, Lord of the Aesir".

The Nordic Beasts have 1 Tuner monster: "Guldfaxe of the Nordic Beasts" (a Level 4 monster which can Special Summon itself from the hand while the opponent controls a face-up Synchro Monster). "Garmr of the Nordic Beasts" is a Level 4 monster that can return Level 4 or lower monster cards from the field to the hand whenever it battles. "Tanngrisnir of the Nordic Beasts" is a Level 3 monster that can Special Summon 2 Level 3 Nordic Beast Tokens if it is destroyed by battle. "Tanngnjostr of the Nordic Beasts" is a Level 3 monster that can Special Summon itself from the hand when a monster is destroyed by battle and Special Summon other "Nordic Beast" monsters from the Deck when it is changed from Defense Position to Attack Position.

Nordic Alfar
The Nordic Alfar are a sub-archetype focused on Normal Summoning monsters, recycling monsters and Trap Cards in the Graveyard and Synchro Summoning "Loki, Lord of the Aesir".

The Nordic Alfar have 2 Tuner monsters: "Svartalf of the Nordic Alfar" (a Level 5 monster that can recycle "Nordic" monsters when Normal Summoned) and "Mara of the Nordic Alfar" (a Level 2 monster possessing Instant Synchro Summon capabilities). "Dverg of the Nordic Alfar" is a Level 1 monster which allows an additional Normal Summon of a "Nordic" monster when it is Normal Summoned. "Ljosalf of the Nordic Alfar" is a Level 4 monster which can Special Summon a Nordic monster from the hand with Level equal to or less than another monster you control.

While you control a Level 5 or higher monster (generally "Cyber Dragon" or an "Aesir" monster), you can Normal Summon "Dverg of the Nordic Alfar", activating its effect to Normal Summon "Ljosalf of the Nordic Alfar", which can Special Summon "Svartalf of the Nordic Alfar" by selecting "Cyber Dragon" or the "Aesir" monster. "Dverg of the Nordic Alfar", "Ljosalf of the Nordic Alfar" and "Svartalf of the Nordic Alfar" can be used to Synchro Summon "Loki, Lord of the Aesir".

"Mara of the Nordic Alfar" is a flexible Tuner monster, being able to send "Garmr of the Nordic Beasts", "Ljosalf of the Nordic Alfar" and/or "Tyr of the Nordic Champions" from the Hand to Synchro Summon "Loki, Lord of the Aesir". You could also send "Garmr", "Ljosalf" or "Tyr" with "Tanngrisnir of the Nordic Beasts" or "Tanngnjostr of the Nordic Beasts" to Synchro Summon a Level 9 like "Mist Wurm".

Nordic Ascendant
The Nordic Ascendants are a sub-archetype focused on Synchro Summon preparation and Synchro Summoning "Odin, Father of the Aesir".

The Nordic Ascendants have 2 Tuner monsters: "Valkyrie of the Nordic Ascendant" (A Level 2 monster that can remove from play 2 "Nordic" monsters in your hand to Special Summon two Level 4 "Einherjar Tokens") and "Vanadis of the Nordic Ascendant" (A Level 4 monster that can be used as a substitute for any "Nordic" Tuner monster). "Mimir of the Nordic Ascendant" is a Level 2 monster which can Special Summon itself from the Graveyard during the Standby Phase of a Turn by sending 1 Spell Card from the hand to the Graveyard while a player controls a face-up "Nordic" monster.

"Valkyrie" is rarely used, since using its effect requires you to control no cards while your opponent controls a monster. "Vanadis" can send useful "Nordic" monsters to your Graveyard, and can be used to Synchro Summon "Loki, Lord of the Aesir" and "Thor, Lord of the Aesir" without a "Nordic Alfar" or "Nordic Beast" Tuner monster.

Play Style
Nordic decks thrive on summoning the three Nordic Gods Loki, Thor, and Odin. Loki, Lord of the Aesir tends to be the easiest to summon because of Mara's ability to do an easy quick-Synchro with two level four Nordic monsters (Usually with Tyr, Garmr, ljosalf). Odin can also be summoned quickly through Valkryie Of The Nordic Ascendant's effect to summon tokens for a quick 10-star Synchro Summon. If you draw Valkryie on your first turn and you have the other requirements met, wait another turn until your opponent summons a monster so you can still summon Odin. Remember Valkryie's effect requires 2 Nordic monsters, and that you can have no cards on your side to activate the effect. Thor is by far the hardest to summon because there is no easy way to special summon him on your first turn.

Nordics are also powerful for their ability to syncro summon in general. Dverg and Guldfaxe can lead for a quick summon of either Ally of Justice Catastor or T.G. Hyper Librarian Tanngnjostr's flip effect can special Guldfaxe for a level 7 Synchro (Probably Black Rose Dragon). Vanadis of the Nordic Ascendant is a unique tuner monster due to its effect to alter its Level. Having it out along with a card such as Ljosalf will make it able to potentially summon a 5,6,7,8, or 9 star Synchro.

Though, the Gods can easily protect themselves from being destroyed, they are very vulnerable to remove from play decks because they can only bring themselves back through being sent to the graveyard. Cards like Trap Stun, Dark Bribe, and Smashing Horn can help protect them being removed. Always run Burrial From A Different Dimension to ensure you can bring back not only the Nordic Gods, but the tuners that let them bring themselves back. Forbidden Lance is another useful card since it protects the God's and still leaves them good attack power (Especially with Odin). "Forbidden Dress" that is coming out in Abyss Rising can be a better alternate than "Forbidden Lance" because It protects your Aesirs from destruction and from being targeted by effects (Especially monster effects), also it reduces a monster's attack by 600 points instead of 800. With the release of "Rebound" from Return of the Duelist and With the banning of "Brionac, Dragon of the Ice Barrier" in the September 2012 banned List, the Nordic Gods can be stronger because they would have more counters on their side to prevent them from being bounced back to the Extra Deck.

A notable part of the Nordics is the Nordic Relics. Nordic Relic Mengingjord is effective when your opponent is attacking a face up Nordic/Aesir since it can not only lead to the destruction of the attacking monster, but deal a potentially large amount of damage. This is especially effective when an opponent is trying to use Honest to destroy one of your Nordic Gods in battle. Laevateinn is also effective do to the effect that your opponent usually attacks set cards with their strongest monster, and Laevateinn is a sure fire way to destroy that monster. Relics aren't huge in competitive play, but Mengingjord and Laevateinn are strong supporting trap cards for a Nordic deck.

Another card that can help this deck is "Maxx "C"". This card can provide strong draw power to this deck. Due to the current Meta of monsters special summoning themselves and combos which involves special summoning lots of monsters, you can add copies of this card to support draw power to this deck and bring out combos for nordics to help summon the Aesirs faster. You can also use "Effect Veiler" to help prevent your opponent's combos from unleashing and you can use it for a synchro summon.

Monster Cards

 * Super-Nimble Mega Hamster
 * Dverg of the Nordic Alfar
 * Tanngrisnir of the Nordic Beasts
 * Tanngnjostr of the Nordic Beasts
 * Guldfaxe of the Nordic Beasts
 * Garmr of the Nordic Beasts (Only with "Mara")
 * Vanadis of the Nordic Ascendant
 * Valkyrie of the Nordic Ascendant (If not using "Mara")
 * Mara of the Nordic Alfar (Optional for summoning "Loki, Lord of the Aesir")
 * Ljosalf of the Nordic Alfar
 * Black Luster Soldier - Envoy of the Beginning
 * Sangan
 * Maxx "C"
 * Effect Veiler

Spell Cards

 * Pot of Avarice
 * Forbidden Lance
 * Valhalla, Hall of the Fallen

Trap Cards

 * Gleipnir, the Fetters of Fenrir
 * Horn of the Phantom Beast
 * Trap Stun

Extra Deck

 * Odin, Father of the Aesir
 * Thor, Lord of the Aesir
 * Loki, Lord of the Aesir
 * Ancient Fairy Dragon
 * Black Rose Dragon
 * Thunder Unicorn
 * Ancient Sacred Wyvern
 * Lightning Tricorn
 * Wind-Up Zenmaister (Great with "Tanngnjostr")
 * Number 17: Leviathan Dragon
 * Wind-Up Zenmaines
 * Photon Papilloperative (Great for defense monsters)
 * Leviair the Sea Dragon

Weakness
This Archetype Is mainly about Synchro Summon, Anti-Synchro cards such as "Discord", "Synchro Control", and "Shiny Black "C"" can hurt this deck's purpose. This Archetype can also be threatened by the Meklord Archtype due to Meklords work mainly against Synchro Monsters. Anti-Special Summoning cards like "Archlord Kristya" and "Fossil Dyna Pachycephalo" can cripple this Archetype.

Another weakness is Banishing cards such as "Dimensional Fissure", "Macro Cosmos", and "Banisher of the Radiance" can hurt this deck due to the nordic tuner monsters being banished. Also the Aesir monsters are vulnerable to being banished making it almost impossible to bring them back. "Orient Dragon", "D.D. Warrior Lady", "D.D. Assailant", "Chaos Sorcerer" and other monsters that banishes can also be a huge threat against the Aesirs due to they lack in protection against monster effects. Siding cards like "Chaos Hunter" and "Imperial Iron Wall" can help deal with cards that banish although Imperial Iron Wall prevents you from banishing cards too. Also you can try to use "Soul Drain" to take care of pesky monster effects that activate in the Graveyard or in the Banish area.

Another weakness to this deck is cards that return monsters to the Hand or Deck. Cards like "Penguin Soldier", "Wind-Up Kitten", "Legendary Six Samurai - Enishi", "Gravekeeper's Guard", "Compulsory Evacuation Device", "Compulsory Escape Device" and other cards like these can return the Aesir monsters back to the Extra Deck wasting all the effort of summoning them and making it hard to recover from the process of summoning them. Siding "Rebound" can take care of any effect that bounces back monsters. Also using or siding "Divine Wrath" can help you against these type of situations. "Divine Wrath" can negate the effects of "Dragunity Knight - Trident" that can take out monsters from your Extra Deck including the Aesirs making them unusable.

Counter Trap Cards that negates monster summonings like "Solemn Warning", "Solemn Judgment", "Horn of Heaven" and "Black Horn of Heaven" can negate the Aesir's summoning or any Extra Deck Monster's summoning making them unusable in the Graveyard. Use counter trap cards like "Dark Bribe", "Seven Tools of the Bandit", "Solemn Judgment" and "Smashing Horn" to prevent those cards from negating your monster's summoning and cards that activate when your monsters are summoned like "Torrential Tribute" and "Bottomless Trap Hole".