X-Saber

The X-Sabers are a series of EARTH Attribute, mainly Warrior-Type and Beast-Warrior-Type monsters whose effects associate with swarming the field. While in the past they have been associated with hand control, and to a limited degree still are, the archetype is now more focused around Summoning many monsters in very short periods of time.

Overview & Playstyle
Many were introduced in Duel Terminal - Synchro Awakening!! followed by further support in Duel Terminal - Invasion of Worms!. With the release of "Gottoms' Emergency Call", the X-Saber monsters are the first Duel Terminal Archetype to receive Spell and Trap support. With the Ancient Prophecy Pre-Release exclusive "XX-Saber Gardestrike", X-Sabers were the first Duel Terminal archetype to have its own TCG-exclusive card. They also received more support in Ancient Prophecy in the form of the XX-Sabers sub-Archetype and were released to the TCG with the 2009 Starter Deck. The XX-Sabers are still considered X-Sabers though.

They received further support in The Shining Darkness. As a TCG-exclusive, "XX-Saber Darksoul" adds the ability to search out any X-Saber monster from the deck, even high level ones such as "XX-Saber Faultroll". "X-Saber Palomuro" and "X-Saber Pashuul" add extra lower-level tuning ability for further versatility in the deck's Synchro options.

Unless their user swarms the field, some of the X-Saber monsters will be of limited use, because several of them require the presence or tribute of other X-Saber monsters to activate. The TCG exclusive release of "XX-Saber Emmersblade" has given the archetype its own version of "Giant Rat". Any X-Saber deck which runs 3 copies of each will be able to search out most monsters in the deck. The previous problem that X-Sabers had of low attack monsters has been solved with the release of the TCG-exclusive "XX-Saber Boggart Knight" which adds more swarm power to the deck along with a high attack score. XX-Saber Darksoul and XX-Saber Faultroll represent the key cards of the deck, Darksoul giving fast and easy searches off of battle and synchros and Faultroll providing the muscle and swarming power that makes the deck so dynamic

Monsters

 * X-Saber Airbellum
 * X-Saber Pashuul
 * XX-Saber Boggart Knight
 * XX-Saber Darksoul
 * XX-Saber Emmersblade
 * XX-Saber Faultroll
 * XX-Saber Fulhelmknight
 * Effect Veiler

Synchro Monsters

 * XX-Saber Gottoms
 * X-Saber Urbellum
 * XX-Saber Hyunlei
 * Naturia Beast
 * Naturia Barkion
 * Black Rose Dragon

Spells

 * Book of Moon
 * Cold Wave
 * Giant Trunade
 * Pot of Duality

Traps

 * Gottoms' Emergency Call

SaberSworn
This version of the deck can be anywhere from only a slight modification of normal X-Sabers to a full-on hybrid. The general idea is to use Lightsworn monsters and support cards (primarily "Charge of the Light Brigade") to mill the deck, dumping X-Sabers in the Graveyard quickly. This allows greater use of "XX-Saber Ragigura", "XX-Saber Gardestrike", "XX-Saber Fulhelmknight", "XX-Saber Faultroll", and "Gottoms' Emergency Call". Due to the limiting of Charge of the Light Brigade this is less playable.

The most commonly used Lightsworns, in a deck packing only a few of them, are "Ryko, Lightsworn Hunter" and "Lyla, Lightsworn Sorceress" for their easy destruction capabilities and the fact that they do not need to support Lightsworns. "Wulf, Lightsworn Beast" may also be used for its non-specificity. (Other cards, like "Garoth, Lightsworn Warrior", "Lumina, Lightsworn Summoner" and "Aurkus, Lightsworn Druid" do specifically support Lightsworns.) Builds using more Lightsworns will generally only incorporate a few of each, to maximize the playability of "Judgment Dragon". In such a deck, an ideal game-ending play would be to Special Summon "Judgment Dragon" and wipe the field, then Normal Summon "Rescue Cat"(Traditional Format only), Special Summon 2 "X-Saber Airbellums", Special Summon "X-Saber Faultroll" from the hand, Special Summon another "X-Saber" from the graveyard, and attack to deal as high as - or higher than - 10,000 damage to the opponent.

Monsters

 * Ehren, Lightsworn Monk
 * Ryko, Lightsworn Hunter
 * Lyla, Lightsworn Sorceress
 * Card Trooper
 * Plaguespreader Zombie
 * XX-Saber Fulhelmknight
 * XX-Saber Faultroll
 * XX-Saber Gardestrike
 * XX-Saber Ragigura
 * Glow-Up Bulb

Spells

 * Charge of the Light Brigade
 * Book of Moon
 * Cold Wave
 * Pot of Avarice
 * Monster Reincarnation
 * Solar Recharge
 * Pot of Duality

Traps

 * Gottoms' Emergency Call

X-Control
This type of deck isn't very popular, but when well played, can drastically reduce the chances of counterattacks coming from your opponent. Basically, this deck's main theme is using the effect of X-Saber Airbellum and the combo between XX-Saber Gottoms and XX-Saber Faultroll to quickly get rid of your opponent's hand and reducing your opponent's abilities to do anything against your cards, literally controlling his/her actions

In order to prepare the combo quickly, Darksoul can be used to search for Faultroll, while you can let a Emmersblade be destroyed while having Palomuro in your graveyard, getting 2 monsters out on the field just by paying 500 life points. After that, either activate Faultroll's effect or summon a level 4 earth monster from the hand to synchro summon Gottoms. Airbellum can get a direct attack once every turn with the effect on Magic Hole Golem, thought only Airbellum can attack on those turns.

Since your opponent will be forced to set whatever cards he/she will draw once this deck's strategy gets figured out, Drop Off and Drastic Drop Off can be used to disable your opponent to set cards that could lead to a reversal.

Another interesting addition to this deck, besides others hand-destruction cards, is to synchro summon Brionac, Dragon of the Ice Barrier. This card can be synchro summoned fairly easy with X-Saber monsters, and also, whenever your opponent manages to set card(s) to the field, Brionac's effect can send those cards back to your opponent's hand, and afterwards send them to the graveyard without activating its effects. It is wise to say to include cards to increase your hand advantage in this deck if the player focus on getting Brionac's effect to its maximum.

If you happen to play against this type of deck, Battle Fader can give you some breathing room while avoiding excessive damage, and Divine Wrath or Skill Drain can break the combo almost certainly.

Weaknesses
Due to the use of the graveyard on many of these cards' effects ("Gottoms' Emergency Call", "XX-Saber Ragigura", ect.), cards such as "Dimensional Prison", "Macro Cosmos" and "Banisher of the Radiance" can be used. X-Sabers will not be able to operate as effectively, as the monsters will be removed from play.

Due to the high amount of Special Summoning, cards such as "Vanity's Emptiness", "Vanity's Fiend", etc. would cripple the X-Saber Deck.

If using the Discard strategy, cards from both the "Dark World" and "Fabled" archetypes would be triggered by the X-Saber cards, leaving the opponent at an advantage.

"Gottoms' Emergency Call", although an X-Saber support card, could also be used to combat the X-Saber deck as it can target X-Saber monsters in either player's graveyard, not just your own.