One of the stranger series of support cards released in Maze of the Master is undoubtedly the slew of Trickstars entering the format from the OCG. Trickstar traditionally was a low-ceiling control strategy that aimed to beat the meta by punishing swarming and constant effect activation with incidental burn, but its time has long since passed. I thought so, anyway, until I read Trickstar Noble Angel. This new Link-2 enables an absolute swath of synergies for Trickstar going forward, and today I wanted to touch on what the deck is able to do with the help of White Forest, following the release of Alliance Insight. Not only can the deck readily find cards like Dimensional Barrier on a whim, but alongside the potent tools Diabell is getting in the coming months, I have a hunch Trickstar might have a place once more. Presenting: Anti-Meta Trickstar White Forest.
First up, the aforementioned Trickstar Noble Angel. This monster searches a previously-unsearchable “Blue Tears” card, and if you have a Fusion on the field or in the GY, Summons a Trickstar from GY, on top of providing a pop when effect damage is dealt. This card does everything for the strategy, and luckily, Trickstar has a bevy of ways to make it with a single card, playing Trickstar Candina and a variety of extenders. Hoodie, Aqua Angel, Lilybell, and Corobane all Summon themselves from the hand, somehow, with Lilybell preferring to be searched, and Hoodie being by far the best target, as it grabs a copy of Trickstar Fusion when used as Link Material. Aqua Angel as well lets us peer into the opponent’s hand, knowing if we need to play around cards like Nibiru, on top of also being able to be Summoned from the GY.
Now, normally, Trickstar wants you to play Trickstar Festival, which Summons 2 Tokens, but hardlocks you—we aren’t doing that. Instead, we’re looking to send the Blue Tears card we search to the GY, often Angel of Blue Tears, to Summon our White Forest cards, or pivot through Trickstar Band Drummatis, the best target for Trickstar Fusion.
The White Forests allow us to pitch our Spell/Traps for value, and with their new Field Spell, Witches of the White Forest, not only do we get to use Elzette as an extender, but also make it into a Tuner. This in turn opens up the way to pivot through Mystic Mystery of the White Forest with Elzette + a Level 2, turning into a Snake-Eyes Doomed Dragon (A Fusion for Noble Angel), or otherwise making Rciela, Sinister Soul of the White Forest to grab Diabellze the White Witch. In essence, both halves of our deck find one another without fail, and crucially, we can swap between them using Magistus Chorozo with a Level 2, to make Rciela.
The White Forest cards also expand into the wider Diabell strategy, including the new Diabellstar the Sin Adjudicator, which, alongside Elzette, is a 1.5-card Snake-Eyes Execute Dragon on the opponent’s turn, given you have the requisite Spell/Traps. It helps that Trickstar Reincarnation is an absolutely stellar card to pitch for all these effects, reborning Trickstars and making sure we get to end on Noble Angel.
The only real fail case with this pile comes to light when we look at its suite of non-engine: It isn’t packed with great tools for that job. Of course Fuwalos is strong, and Droll not only stymies decks like Ryzeal but also loops with Reincarnation; it’s not a quality concern, but quantity. For consistency’s sake, we aim to play as little Yugioh as possible, using cards like Dimensional Barrier & Hidden Village of the Spellcasters to the greatest extent possible, but going second you need to play quite a lot of non-engine to break boards.
Still, much of the strategy has little ways to assist in covering such a flaw. Trickstar Light Stage can potentially prevent a Set Spell/Trap from being an issue, Diabellstar does a lot to crack boards and let us play. Ultimately though, if you’re not going first game 1, you may find yourself struggling, and for that, an engine like Fiendsmith might be warranted.
What could change for this strategy going forward? First, there’s absolutely a world where you play 3 copies of Trickstar Nightshade in the strategy to buff up your 1-card Noble Angel lines, and even playing just that as your Trickstar core could potentially work. Moreover, if you find Maliss is present in your local metagame, you could very easily play 1 Lancea & 1 Sanctum in the Main, adjusting the Trap you search with the Blue Tears combo to fit your needs.
Quite a lot of your endboards will look like Noble Angel, both Diabells, a Normal Trap of choice, and some pool of other monsters. This is often Rciela & Drummatis, which you can Xyz Summon Evolzar Lars with, as a capstone to the endboard. Another reason you may want to include more Nightshades as well, is to supplement the number of Level 3 or lower Trickstars, as Trickstar Divardis is the most consistent way to trigger Blue Tears cards.
As far as the Side Deck goes, you’ll want to play 3 Thrust without a doubt, as it doubles down on what the deck already aims to do, namely, access powerful Spell/Traps early and often. Beyond that, some number of flex slots for your Blue Tears sets may be wise, as well as cards like Nibiru, Metaltronus, or Herald of Orange Light, which can pitch Trickstars to negate.
While this deck is going to absolutely dunk on meta strategies going first, once your gameplan is known, you absolutely need to buckle down and slot in more non-engine for games 2 & 3. The surprise factor is a massive plus here, and once you lose that you’ll have a bit of an uphill war to wage.
As far as ratios go, this deck is pretty tight! Some noteworthy 1-ofs are things like Effect Veiler as a 4th target for your LIGHT Spellcaster searches, and Prosperity to hopefully find both halves of your engine. Reincarnation allows you to translate White Forest pitches to additional bodies, which is massive, and especially in tight hands, fusing away Noble Angel for Drummatis, to reborn the Noble later with Reincarnation is something you’ll get very used to. Trickstar isn’t just a great engine for White Forest as a way to get tons of pitchable Spell/Traps on a Normal Summon—it also makes great use of your odd Fusion Access, and there’s likely a world where Azamina could slot into this deck with Deception of the Sinful Spoils burning the opponent and triggering all your Trickstars. Lots of neat stuff in that regard!
Crucially, this is a list in its infancy, and I greatly encourage people to explore just what you can do with the copious extenders Trickstar has, alongside its Spell/Trap access by way of the Blue Tears. This is an engine wholly overlooked in the metagame, and I’d love to see it come to fruition as a fully-realized strategy!
I think what makes Yugioh fun is finding ways to innovate and combine different engines that can help one another, and it’s no different here! Whether this deck needs an Azamina Elzette, trimming on its Field Spells, or maybe even to just buck up and play 60 cards, I frankly don’t know. In testing it was strong, yet fragile, and the best way to combat such a flaw is through more engines, and more non-engine. Maybe someday I’ll revisit this with Fiendsmith & Azamina tacked on, who knows!
With that said, this has been a look at what Trickstar is getting up to post MAZE! Do you think this archetype has potential? What else do you want to see me cover from Maze of the Master ? Let me know in the comments below!
