Forum:Starlight Road Analysis by Lappyzard

When it was announced that Heavy Storm was returning to legal status, many duelists immediately went looking for one card that they thought would allow them to continue playing in the Set Four Format, henceforth referred to as the Set Fourmat: Starlight Road. It was a logical decision; if you have Starlight Road set, you almost welcome a Heavy Storm. However, duelists are rediscovering that Starlight Road is an on-paper card - that is, it doesn't work the way it should. I'll be discussing the many reasons for that.


 * 1) Triple MST - With MST once more unlimited, it's much more likely that a duelist will open with Mystical Space Typhoon than Heavy Storm. This makes it easy for a duelist to either remove the other set cards, leaving a dead Starlight, or hit the Starlight and then freely play Heavy Storm.
 * 2) Consistency - To avoid dead draws, duelists can only play Starlight Road at a maximum of 2. To avoid relying heavily on luck, duelists can only play Starlight Road at a minimum of 2. This means that duelists using Road to return to the Set Fourmat are hinging their entire strategy on drawing 1 of 2 cards. The result is extreme inconsistency and dead topdecked Roads in the mid to late game when every draw is critical.
 * 3) Targeted Removal - With a vast increase of one for ones available, mass destruction has become much less common. The only common mass destruction cards now are Heavy Storm, Dark Hole, Mirror Force, Torrential Tribute, and Black Rose Dragon. That means you're playing 2 cards in the hope that you'll be able to negate one of four cards in your opponent's deck.
 * 4) Playing Around Stardust - This point has been true for several formats now. Ever since it became easy to summon a Stardust Dragon, duelists are increasingly using effects that don't destroy, such as Compulsory Evacuation Device / Dimensional Prison and Caius the Shadow Monarch. This leaves Starlight Road with less and less negation potential, since like the Dragon, it can only negate effects that destroy.

Another reason is that Stardust Dragon just isn't as good as it used to be. Many decks are running easy Stardust removal or monsters bigger than 2500 like Black Luster Soldier - Envoy of the Beginning, Master Hyperion, and Grapha, Dragon Lord of Dark World. Like the Road, the number of cards Stardust can negate is sharply decreasing.

A more appropriate card to shut down the opponent would be Naturia Beast. Karakuri has been seeing recent success due to the ease with which it is summoned and the impact it has. It's as simple as summoning Karakuri Komachi mdl 224 "Ninishi" followed by Karakuri Merchant mdl 177 "Inashichi". The most devastating fact is that they can still plus while doing this, and with 3 Karakuri Cash Cache, the chance of opening a first turn Naturia Beast is 24%. With 3 Genex Neutron, the chance of a second turn Naturia Beast is even higher.

Naturia Beast is an excellent card this format because of the number of cards it stops. Many decks are playing with low Trap counts to avoid devastation via Heavy Storm, so they are turning to Spell Cards to fill the gap. Plant Synchro's options are sharply reduced when they can't use Mind Control, Enemy Controller, Mystical Space Typhoon, Book of Moon, or Dark Hole. Agents lose much of their consistency without Pot of Duality. Dark World flat out loses to Naturia Beast. Their main method of destruction is Grapha, and with no Spells, he can't be discarded. The main hope for all 3 of these decks is to summon a Tour Guide and make Number 17: Leviathan Dragon. Backed by Fiendish Chain, Effect Veiler, Solemn Warning, or even a simple Bottomless Trap Hole, Naturia Beast can become a game-winning force. Naturia Beast also allows you to return to the Set Fourmat in order to protect it; you don't care about Heavy Storm or MST. Finally, unlike Stardust Dragon, Naturia Beast can be used as many tmes as you want: it's not a once per turn effect, and the cost is actually beneficial to most decks.

Thoughts? Lappyzard (talk • contribs) 02:41, November 5, 2011 (UTC)