Elementsabers In-Depth Part 1: Meet the Esabers!

Ah the Elementsabers. A ragtag group of heroic warriors, harnessing the mighty power of the elements in order to bring them victory in the war that is Yu-Gi-Oh! But who are they and what makes them so strong and awesome? Well today we will introduce you to the Esaber family, going through every single one of them, what they do, what makes them so great, and other bits of information or thoughts I have on that card.

To save yourself and I from a consistent repetition in effect breakdown, I will just say it here. Once per turn, while in the graveyard, every Elementsaber, except for Elementsaber Lapauila Mana, can activate an effect which allows them to change their attribute to one of the seven known attributes in the game, which are Light, Dark, Earth, Wind, Fire, Water, and Divine. What's good about this is it isn't a hard once per turn meaning if you have multiple copies of the same Esaber, you can activate this effect on all of them. With that out of the way, let's get straight into it!

Starting off we have the Elementsaber king, Lapauila Mana, a Light Attribute Esaber. This card is essentially your Esaber Boss Monster, boasting a decent attack of 2400 and 2100 for defence. What makes this card particularly good is that it can special summon itself by sending two other monsters from your hand to the graveyard. Furthermore, if the monsters you send in order to special summon this guy happen to be an Esaber, well he gets a nifty effect to boot based on their original attribute. This not only affects himself, but all other Elementsaber or Elemental Lord you control! If either Earth or Wind, they cannot be destroyed by battle, Water or Fire, they cannot be destroyed by effects, and finally Light or Dark, your opponent cannot target them with card effects. This makes him an incredible stalwart of a warrior, and allowing you to essentially keep a board that is pretty hard to destroy. The downside to him is that you can only special summon him this way once per turn, and only one of him can contain two effects, which means you need to have two Elementsaber Lapauila Mana on the field to have all 3 effects active. Also, if you special summon him any other way, you won't get the sweet effects that come with him. Getting him on the board is very easy, especially with the field spell card, Palace of the Elemental Lords, since that card is able to search for him and allow you to summon him by sending the Esabers from your deck rather than your hand. Most times that not the first Lapauila Mana you want on the field would be by sending an Earth/Wind and a Water/Fire Esaber, to help set up a board that cannot be destroyed. My preference is usually Makani (Wind) as I prefer to keep Aina (Earth) in my deck and also I send Malo (Fire) over Nalu (Water), but that can be up to preference. When you do get him on the field, you should do your best to keep him there if you used his effect to special summon himself. Try not to link summon off him or use him to summon someone else unless in dire situations, although that rarely is ever the case. In terms of how many you can run, I found 2 optimal as you don't necessarily want to have him in your opening hand, and I have bricked multiple times when running three. The best is using your field spell to search and I rarely ever summon three Lapauila Mana's so 2 keeps it consistent and can provide the triple affects from him when I do summon the next turn. Final point, I have found that dueling against Dark Magician decks, I rather the option of not being targeted over being destroyed by battle as it protects your guys from the banishment of Dark Magical Circle, and if you are concerned of cards like Mind Control. With the boss monster leading the charge, lets see our other members of this mighty family!

Starting with the Dark Attribute Elementsaber Molehu we essentially have a Book of Moon on legs, and for those who don't know what that means, he can flip a monster into face-down defence position. In order to activate this effect, you must send 1 Elementsaber from your hand (or deck with field spell) to the graveyard. It is also a quick effect effect which means you can activate it on your opponents turn. This is also not a hard once per turn meaning if you can resummon him or have multiple copies in the field, the more flippy floppy plays you can do. He is great at disrupting plays, causing headaches, and also forcing monsters with high attack on your opponents field into a more vulnerable position. When push comes to shove, he is also a 1900 beater able to stand toe-to-toe with a lot of monsters in battle. Ending your turn with him on the field and having an Esaber in your hand, you can rest assured that you have an answer to some of your opponents plays. I do run him in my decks, and usually around 2 as well. Unfortunately, I have found him to be more of a 4-rank XYZ summon material but when I have needed a book of moon type play, he has definitely been there for me as a clutch card, just like this next Elementsaber.

The next Bachelorette to walk down the aisle is none other than Elementsaber Lapauila. Another Light Attributed Esaber that Lapauila Mana is based off, this diva can pack a nice punch in spell/trap activation negation. Not great at fighting up front with a measly 400 attack, but can hold herself when in defence position. Her effect is also a quick effect meaning she can do it during your opponents turn and it basically negates the activation of a spell or trap card that your opponent activates, and destroys it as well. All at the cost of sending 1 Elementsaber from your hand to the graveyard (or deck with the field spell). Noticing a trend here? If you can establish her on the board alongside Molehu, you have your self a pretty decent disruption card to really give your opponent a headache. Being a 4-cost card, she can synergise well with Molehu and get those 4-rank XYZ monsters, or just be a last resort defence for yourself, and if you have Lapauila Mana on the field, she can't be destroyed in battle (if you went that way for the special summon). She is most definitely in my deck, but I have been teetering between running 1-2 copies. I don't actually summon her that often, usually using her as fodder to activate my other Elementsaber's effects, unless I am up against a deck that relies heavily on using specific back-row cards. That cuts it for the 4-cost Esabers, now unto the 3-cost powerhouses!

Ah Elementsaber Malo. A level 3 Fire Attribute beater with a Foolish Burial like effect. When you send 1 Esaber to the graveyard from your hand (or deck with field spell), you are able to send 1 Elementsaber or Elemental Lord from your deck to the graveyard as well, except for Elementsaber Malo. This is good for thinning out your deck, and also placing more Esabers into the graveyard to get their secondary effects, which was stated above. He also boasts by having 1700 attack but, other than that, he doesn't really have that much going for him. His art looks INCREDIBLE I will give him that, and that weapon of his, boy would I love to carry that around, but he doesn't enhance my deck except being fodder for my other Esabers. He could potentially combo off with Nalu or Aina but that would require a lot of resources just to pull that Esaber power-play off. Secondly, his Foolish Burial effect can be helpful if you don't have enough Esabers in your graveyard to special summon any Elemental Lords or other boss like monsters, such as Dark Armed Dragon or Black Luster Soldier - Envoy of the Beginning. Considering all that in mind I do run him, but only at 1 copy. Like I said, he is usually my target for the Lapauila Mana special summon, or as fodder to activate other Esaber effects, but having him in my deck can still give me an option in case I need a back up play for my other boss monsters, just like our next back-up plan master, Nalu.

Our next heroine Elementsaber Nalu, the Water Attribute warrior, is a middle ground of sorts monster. She has okay attack and defence, 1500 and 1000 respectively, and her affect can be quite useful in a pinch. At the cost of another Esaber being sent to the graveyard from your hand (or deck with the field spell), she is able to add one Elementsaber or Elemental Lord monster that is in your graveyard back into your hand, except for Elementsaber Nalu. This recovery style of effect can be helpful if you want to continue your flow, but most importantly to return the Elemental Lords and have them rain their destructive powers once again. It is with this effect that she can combo with Malo as he sends the Elemental Lord to the graveyard for easy pickings, but runs into the problem of too many resources used. As such, she tends to be fodder alongside Malo, however, she has redeeming qualities the later the game goes. At this point, most of your Esaber monsters will be in the graveyard and she is the only one, alongside Aina, that can potentially keep the combo train going. This is why I run between 1 - 2 copies of her. What is more helpful is that since she is originally water-based warrior, she isn't punished by the search effect of Isolde while doing a combo play into the Moulinglacia card rip. Look forward to that breakdown in a future post, who will definitely feature our next Esaber to take to the stands!

Oh boy, now we enter the final two Elementsabers, but don't count these lovely ladies out, they are essentially the most powerful Esabers known in existence! Let's kick it with the Wind Attribute warrior, Elementsaber Makani. She is our searcher of the deck, by sending 1 Esaber from your hand (or deck with the field spell), she is able to add 1 Elementsaber or Elemental Lord from your deck to your hand. Talk about card advantage! Her effect is amazing and setting up early combos by allowing you to get the card you want right off the bat. It is also this effect that allows her to be more useful than the Malo and Nalu combo, with less resources needing to be used. It is also a soft once per turn, meaning if you can summon her multiple times and have multiple Esabers in your hand, you can search for days! Mainly here for her effect, she can hold herself in battle, but after I get my search, she serves as great material for Link summons, further extending plays and allowing me to make an even stronger board. With that, I run between 2 - 3 copies of her because she is so useful in many situations. First choice with Lapauila Mana special summon, always a priority target with Aina's effect, and I am not saddened to see her in my opening hand plus a center piece for my combo plays. Highly recommend not running less than 2 at all costs, you end up using them almost every single game. However, there is someone who tops it even above Makani.

Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, we have come to the final Elementsaber, but last definitely doesn't mean least. Introducing the cute, yet incredibly powerful, Elementsaber Aina! If you want revival, well you have come to the right place. This Earth Attribute warrior boasts an amazing effect, where by sending 1 Esaber from your hand (or deck with the field spell) you are able to special summon 1 Elementsaber (except herself) or Elemental Lord from the graveyard! This recovery play is monumental in getting a large board and re-establishing yourself as a strong Elementsaber player. Now I must educate you about one thing, in order to special summon the Elemental Lord from your graveyard, you first must have properly special summoned it before you can revive it.

For example, I have 2 Elemental Lords in my graveyard, Moulinglacia and Grandsoil. Previous turn I was able to special summon Grandsoil by having exactly 5 earth attribute monsters in my graveyard, but due to some sad reason, he was destroyed and I had to discard my hand where Moulinglacia was waiting patiently. I have Elementsaber Aina on the field and I draw another Esaber at the start of my turn. By using her effect, I want to special summon my Elemental Lords. The only Lord I can summon would be Grandsoil, because I summoned him properly first, but because I didn't for Moulinglacia, I will not be able to special summon him (this is why Nalu can be helpful).

What makes her the best is that all Esabers, except for Lapauila Mana, initially need to be normal summoned, but Aina bypasses that by allowing you to summon them from the grave. We talk about combo plays, Aina is the start of it all by getting the others onto the field and giving them the chance to shine. Being such an integral warrior to the crew, I will never run less that 3 of her. I want her in my opening hand, if she isn't I want to be able to draw her. So much runs with her being playable early, and since you only have 1 normal summon per turn. (with a few exceptions with certain cards) I would ideally use it on her. Another amazing note to add, this isn't a hard once per turn, similar to every other Esaber. Meaning you summon her, get her effect off, Link summon her off, get another one and boom, you have so much Esabers coming back from the grave, you can make some crazy plays! It does suck she can't revive herself, but then she would be way too broken. Who knew that such a little soldier can be so strong!

There you have it everyone! The Elementsaber family has been released! All have interesting effects, just makes you fall in love with this archetype. There is a reason for their existence though, and it revolves around the mighty Elemental Lords. With that being said, I will be revealing all of them and what makes them so powerful in the upcoming post -

Elementsabers In-Depth Part 2: Hail the All-mighty Elemental Lords!

Until Next Time

~ George Wakim