Future Visions - Starlight Road

Ever since the limitation of Solemn Judgment control players have been aching for more reliable forms of universal negation, some trying to fill the spots with sub par cards like Dark Bribe or Magic Drain, none having quite the utility or power of Solemn Judgment.

Enter Starlight Road. This card is being released over in Japan through the Yusei Duel Disk, and if it ever hits the TCG it’s going to have a MASSIVE impact, forcing us to re-evaluate how we play almost single-handedly.



“Activate only when an effect was activated that destroys 2 or more cards you control. Negate that effect and destroy that card. Then, you can Special Summon 1 "Stardust Dragon" from your Extra Deck.”

Take a minute to digest that. All those wonderful, game ending cards that destroy multiple cards like Judgment Dragon, Heavy Storm, Torrential Tribute, Mirror Force, Icarus Attack, Black Rose Dragon, Lightning Vortex, Celestia, Lightsworn Angel and Gladiator Beast Gyzarus and more all rendered useless by this amazing card.

Starlight Road would be an ample replacement for those missing two Solemns without its second effect, but it becomes ridiculously powerful when you take that second effect into account.

Consider, you’re playing against Lightsworn, and they drop Judgment Dragon. Before the advent of Starlight Road, the only situation where you won’t lose an incredible amount of advantage (if not the game itself outright) was if you either Solemn Judgment/Royal Oppression or Stardust Dragon and protection. All of these setups are rather rare and difficult to achieve, and this doesn’t even factor in any additional cards on the part of the LS player.

Starlight Road changes this drastically. If you activate Solemn here you pay a hefty price, and open yourself up to defeat anyway, depending on your opponent’s additional resources. Oppression is too easily countered once revealed, as is Stardust Dragon. Starlight Road effortlessly dispatches the Dragon, while quickly altering the pace of the game in your favour, as Stardust makes a poor defensive wall, but a free 2500 ATK point monster that forestalls all defensive destruction is not something to be underestimated.

Starlight Road also has incredible offensive applications as well. You place several monsters on the field, attempting to push for game, your opponent grins and triumphantly flips Mirror Force. You then proceed to wipe that grin from their face with Starlight Road and cement your victory with an additional 2500 attack points.

This is incredible, and what really makes the card is how ridiculously versatile it is. You can easily afford to set it on your turn in anticipation of defeating a Mirror Force or Torrential tribute on the following turn, secure in the knowledge that if your opponent forces its activation early that’s not a particularly bad scenario for you either.

It’s very hard to overstate the implications that this card has for the competitive metagame. Card like Breaker the Magical Warrior, Lyla, Lightsworn Sorceress and Mystical Space Typhoon, Gladiator Beast Bestiari Mist Wurm and Brionac, Dragon of the Ice Barrier (if that’s possible) become more important and powerful than ever before. It’s hard to fathom the depth of impact this card has on the game, there are so many cards it forces us to play differently.

Keep your eyes out for Starlight Road. There is currently no release date for the TCG, and given Konami release schedules it’s unlikely to see competitive play for a long time, but don’t forget about it, because if it ever does hit the TCG it’ll tear it apart completely, changing the game forever.

Till next time, good luck and have fun!

- Alex