Hey, today I’m going to address a deck that hasn’t seen action for quite a while; Herald/Agents. Herald of Perfection is a great fairy, with many capabilities that aren’t known to all the public. Unless you have a Herald player at locals, there’s a strong chance you’ve never even seen a Herald of Perfection deck, let alone one that is competitive. For being a competitive deck, this can be built for under $200(with most of the money going toward your extra deck).

Here, I’ve experimented with a few builds, and this is the best I’ve came up with.

Monsters-25

3 Herald of Perfection

2 Herald of Orange Light

2 Archlord Kristya

3 Agent of Mystery Earth

3 Agent of Miracles Jupiter

3 Master Hyperion

1 Gyakutenno Megami

3 Manju of the Ten Thousand Hands

2 Senju of the Thousand Hands

2 Soul of Purity and Light

1 Honest

Spells- 10

2 Preparation of Rites

1 Advanced Ritual Art

3 Dawn of the Herald

1 Heavy Storm

1 Monster Reborn

2 Burden of the Mighty

Traps-5

2 Safe Zone

2 Gozen Match

1 Trap Dustshoot

Extra Deck-15

Ally of Justice Catastor

Number 39: Utopia

Steelswarm Roach

Brionac, Dragon of the Ice Barrier

Iron Chain Dragon

Colossal Fighter

Scrap Dragon

Black Rose Dragon

Armory Arm

Stardust Dragon

Trishula, Dragon of the Ice Barrier

Red Dragon Archfiend

T.G. Hyper Librarian

Scrap Archfiend

Ancient Fairy Dragon

Side Deck-15

3 Mystical Space Typhoon

3 Twister

3 Consecrated Light

3 Prohibition

1 Burden of the Mighty

1 Safe Zone

To begin, let’s review the basics. Herald of Perfection is a 6 star ritual, with the ability to negate and destroy any opponents effect, if the controller of Herald discards a fairy. The only true way to kill Herald(providing fairies are in hand) is by battle, so a monster of 2800 attack or more is required. This deck addresses Herald’s weaknesses, and strengths(Herald can also be destroyed by Divine Wrath, or negating the summon, but these instances are very rare).

With that aside, the first thing noticed about the deck is that it is slightly monster heavy. This is necessary, as Herald needs fodder to be played. Many cards can search for Herald of Perfection, Advanced Ritual Art, or Dawn of the Herald, as Herald needs to hit the field as soon as possible.

Another thing easily noticed about the deck is that Dark Hole does not exist. This is fine, as Herald will hit the field first turn over half of the time, leaving no window for Dark Hole to be effective.

Once Herald hits the field, the problem of overpowering your opponents can be difficult. In order to do this, Herald must be protected from high attack beaters, as they are the only way to kill Herald of Perfection(given fairies are in hand). Judgement Dragons, Red Dragon Archfiends, and other similar cards can be quite a nuisance, which is why there are 2 Burden of the Mighty, and 2 Safe Zones. Burden blocks out a great number of cards that can destroy Herald, leaving only a few, such as Rainbow Neos. But the Safe Zone can be just as treacherous, as it leaves Herald unavailable to be targeted. Both these cards compliment Herald, and have allowed this deck to go deep into countless duels, with the most competitive decks.

The general rule with Herald is that if you can stall long enough, you eventually will win. This is true the majority of the time, as cards such as Hyperion and Kristya will eventually flow into your hand. These, along with Synchros created through Herald of Orange Light and Agent Earth will be your boss monsters.

The extra deck is nothing special, mainly just compatible monsters with the tuners, as all monsters ran in the main deck are level multiples of 2. It’s important to run odd synchros as well, as the potential to reborn an opponents monster is available. Steelswarm roach can be largely beneficial, as it helps Herald maintain field control. Brionac and Stardust tend to be the main synchros used, mainly for field control purposes.

A contrasting point to many Herald decks featured in this is the card Advanced Ritual Art. This deck originally did not run Burden of the Mighty, or Advanced Ritual Art/Gyakutenno Megami. While other decks emphasize Hecatrice/Valhalla(bringing forth a first turn xyz/kristya/hyperion), Herald is much more important to get to the field. Burden of the Mighty is amazing in this deck, and I would not even consider taking it out after playtesting it.

The trap engine is a bit odd, though not too different from Luke Mattingly’s build(4th place in 2010 Nationals). 2 Safe Zones, which do an amazing job of protecting Herald. 2 Gozen Match, which is an extremely underrated card. Countless times, plant synchros and chaos decks have been locked from a well timed Gozen Match. It can buy you many turns to draw more fairies, and presents your opponent from flooding the field. If your opponent is running a one attribute dominant deck, Gozen Match can easily be sided out. Trap Dustshoot, I won’t even comment,   it’s just insanely overpowered.

The Side Deck is a bit odd, though definitely works. The Mystical Space Typhoons and Twisters are used to counter decks such as Gravekeeper, Malefic, etc(anything that relies on continuous or field spell cards). The reason this is so heavily stressed is because Malefics can easily overpower Herald, and Skill Drain/Field Spells need to be destroyed as soon as possible. The Consecrated Lights are self explanatory. Light Fairies that wreck dark dominant decks. Prohibition is personally a favorite of mine. It has helped me countless times against Rabbit Dino, and Lightsworns(Normally select Judgement Dragon). In my opinion, this is a neglected card that goes great in any side deck. Finally, we have a Safe Zone and Burden of the Mighty. This is primarily for a single attribute dominant deck. If your opponent happens to be running pure Lightsworns, Gozen Match is ineffective. Safe Zone and Burden of the Mighty can be put in for each copy of Gozen Match, and add an excellent boost to protecting Herald.

Herald is also great against the new metas. Herald is an immediate Tour Guide disposal. Personally, I wait for a Leviair/Leviathan to be summoned first, then I negate/destroy the XYZ monster. 2 Tour Guides and an XYZ monster for the price of one fairy, pretty good right? It also addresses Rescue Rabbit quite well. For Rescue Rabbit, I immediately negate the effect, as it takes out a rabbit, and leaves your opponent with vanilla draws.

Well, that’s it for Herald/Agents. For anyone that has not previously explored Herald, it’s a fun deck to build, and can be extremely competitive. Personally, I’m expecting a Herald Deck to top at a YCS soon(once Herald players realize how to counter more powerful beaters, which has been addressed in this article). With rabbits running rampant, and Tour Guide becoming more abundant each YCS, Herald just may be the magic bullet.

Bargain Box in Zanesville, Ohio