X-Saber Duelists were given a lot of strong cards in The Shining Darkness, including XX-Saber Darksoul and XX-Saber Boggart Knight. These cards will shape the way X-Saber Decks are built for upcoming tournaments. Some of the older X-Sabers may need to be taken out of X-Saber Decks to make room for these powerful new X-Sabers.

Arguably the best X-Saber in the set, XX-Saber Darksoul lets X-Saber Duelists search their Decks for any X-Saber monster and add it to their hand. Previously, only XX-Saber Garsemwas able to grab XX-Saber Faultroll from the Deck, but with Darksoul around, Garsem can easily be replaced. Since it’s a Level 3 Beast that isn’t a Tuner, it works great with a lot of the cards X-Saber Decks already rely on. It can be Special Summoned with Rescue Cat and it can be Tuned to X-Saber Airbellum or XX-Saber Fulhelmknight to Synchro Summon XX-Saber Hyunlei. XX-Saber Darksoul can help you set up a lot of strong plays by letting you search for the cards you need, when you need them. If you already have a copy of Faultroll in your hand and are having trouble getting 2 X-Sabers on the field so you can Summon it, you can use Darksoul to search your Deck for the newest Level 4 X-Saber, XX-Saber Boggart Knight.

XX-Saber Boggart Knight lets you Special Summon another Level 4 or lower X-Saber monster from your hand when it’s Normal Summoned. That makes it easier than ever to Summon XX-Saber Faultroll. Just Summon Boggart Knight, Special Summon a second X-Saber, and drop Faultroll from your hand to attack for massive damage! Boggart Knight’s power to swarm the field with X-Sabers also makes it easier to destroy more of your opponent’s cards with Saber Slash.

Since Boggart Knight has 1900 ATK, it can even hold its own when you don’t have an X-Saber to Special Summon from your hand. Thanks to Boggart Knight, X-Saber Duelists finally have a low-Level monster powerful enough to take down Elemental Hero Stratos and Machina Gearframe in battle. The added effect easily lets Boggart Knight muscle X-Saber Anu Piranhaand X-Saber Galahad out of competitive X-Saber Decks. Even XX-Saber Gardestrike looks less impressive with Boggart Knight around, since XX-Saber Boggart Knight only has 200 fewer ATK and is a lot easier to Summon.

Boggart Knight can only be used in the Synchro Summon of an X-Saber monster, but that’s not a problem since there are so many X-Saber Synchro Monsters. X-Saber Urbellum, for example, is a Level 7 Synchro Monster that can send cards from your opponent’s hand back to the top of his Deck. If you Special Summon X-Saber Airbellum or XX-Saber Fulhelmknightwith the effect of Boggart Knight, you can instantly Synchro Summon Urbellum.

You can also use Boggart Knight to Special Summon one of the two X-Saber Tuners in The Shining Darkness – X-Saber Palomuro and X-Saber Pashuul. Since Palomuro is a Level 1 Tuner, it can be Tuned to Boggart Knight to Synchro Summon X-Saber Wayne when it’s released in the Starter Deck: Duelist Toolbox on June 1^st. Since Palomuro can revive itself whenever an X-Saber monster is destroyed in battle, it’s also a great monster to use to block attacks or set up Synchro Summons.

X-Saber Pashuul, a Level 2 Tuner that can’t be destroyed in battle, can also be Special Summoned from your hand with the effect of XX-Saber Boggart Knight. Then you can Tune your two X-Sabers together to Synchro Summon the Level 6 Synchro Monster, XX-Saber Hyunlei.

The last X-Saber support card in The Shining Darkness is Saber Vault – a simple Field Spell Card that boosts your X-Sabers to get them ready for battle. By giving each of your X-Sabers 100 extra ATK for each of its Levels, Saber Vault can help your swarm of X-Sabers finish a Duel or let your weaker X-Sabers destroy your opponents’ monsters. It’s useful if you’re playing against a Gadget Duelist because it lets your Fulhelmknight take down Gadgets and lets your Airbellum beat Machina Gearframe. Evan Petre used took it to a Top 32 finish in Chantilly this past weekend.

Thanks to the new cards in The Shining Darkness, X-Sabers will be a strong force in upcoming tournaments. Test them out and see which of the new X-Sabers work best for you!