Even with the due release of 2 new support cards (who knows when) this deck has remained under the radar.
Heroic Challenger- Thousand Blades
- Spoiler:
Once per turn: You can discard 1 "Heroic" card; Special Summon 1 "Heroic" monster from your Deck, and if you do, change this card to Defense Position. If you activate this effect, you cannot Special Summon any monsters for the rest of the turn, except "Heroic" monsters. When you take damage while this card is in your Graveyard: You can Special Summon this card from your Graveyard in face-up Attack Position.You can only use this effect of "Heroic Challenger - Thousand Blades" once per turn.
Not only does this card act like a pseudo Summoner Monk, but it also floats! Every time you take Dmg you get to SS this card from the graveyard for a free level 4 that can grab another Challenger from the deck! You should try to get this card into the grave as soon as you can, seeing you can abuse it for free for a free level 4.
Heroic Challenger- Assault Halberd
- Spoiler:
If your opponent controls a monster and you control no monsters, you can Special Summon this card (from your hand).
If this card attacks a Defense Position monster, inflict piercing battle damage to your opponent.
When this card inflicts battle damage to your opponent: You can add 1 "Heroic" card from your Deck to your hand.
This card acts like a beater and a searcher, possessing a nice 1800 body, Piercing effect and the ability to search when it does damage. It also special summons itself from the hand if you don’t control any monsters giving you opportunities for xyz plays. I consider this the “Fire Fist Bear” of the archetype because you almost always want to see it turn 1 and it matches bear’s utility by searching and providing xyz plays. One of my favorite things about this card is that it doesn’t have the “once per turn” restriction on it. This means drawing multiples is no problem at all. SS one, normal the other, attack twice and go +2.
These two monsters were release in Duelist Alliance, but the TCG didn’t get them. Why? I don’t know and neither does Konami. They make up the backbone of the deck and provide all the plays and consistency it needs to function.
Other cards in the archetype are subpar and you generally want to focus your deck on the two mentioned above. In my opinion, Ambush Soldier and Extra Sword are the only ones that you might want to give a second look.
Heroic Challenger- Ambush Soldier
- Spoiler:
During your Standby Phase: You can Tribute this card; Special Summon up to 2 "Heroic Challenger" monsters from your hand and/or Graveyard, except "Heroic Challenger - Ambush Soldier". You can only use this effect of "Heroic Challenger - Ambush Soldier" once per turn. When you do: You can banish this card from your Graveyard; make all "Heroic Challenger" monsters you currently control become Level 1.
Alone, this card is awful. You generally never want to draw this card and if you do, pitch it with Thousand Blades. So you might ask, Wow, if it is so bad why would you run it? Well, combine it with this card-
- Spoiler:
Special Summon 1 Level 2 or lower Warrior-Type monster from your Deck. You cannot conduct your Battle Phase the turn you activate this card.
This is your play maker, your altair, your wolfbark, your 2nd Soul Charge. If you reinforced truth during your opponent’s endphase, SS ambush soldier, and then use his effect during your standby, not only do you bypass Ambush Soldier’s terribad “during standby phase” restriction, you also get a 1 for 2 play. You can SS 2 heroics from your grave/hand from 1 set trap card. This makes for explosive xyz plays and you can push for huge advantage since Ambush Soldier doesn’t negate their effects. And all this from 1 trap card. I also recommend running 3 CoTH in the deck since its essentially the same play, except you can grab it from the graveyard after using it/dumping it with Thousand Blades.
Extra Sword is just generally a good card to net off of Ambush Soldier. It makes 101 3100 and Castel 3000, not to mention you can put out a total of 6400 with Blade Armor Ninja with it.
Other Support Cards:
Reinforcement of The Army: No reason not to run this card at 3, it helps us search monsters and adds a major consistency boost to the deck.
Tour Guide of the Underworld/ Burning Abyss Scarm: These two can make X-Saber Invoker, which searches out Thousand Blades from the deck, which starts all your plays. Making Invoker first turn and letting the thousand blades go to the graveyard is a strong play. It sets up for next turn and you can detatch scarm to net you another tour guide for a +1 at the end phase.
LOT of traps. Even with occasional blow-out play, this deck wins by beating your opponent through superior advantage. You can constantly bring out rank 4’s with Thousand Swords early game and Ambush Soldier mid-late game. You force your opponent to respond with a myriad of trap cards while you can consistently remain board and hand advantage.
Sample Deck Build:
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