Each of the Aesir rules over their own tribe of Nordic monsters, and for Thor, Lord of the Aesirthat tribe is the Nordic Beasts!  The Nordic Beasts are a tricky band of Beast-Type monsters with powerful Special Summon effects, and high-powered defense.  Some of them work best when they’re Set and then Flip Summoned on your turn, while others will punish your opponent for attacking them.  Since your opponent will never know which Nordic Beast you Set, they’ll play right into your hands.  Check ‘em out!

There are 4 monsters in the Nordic Beast family: Tanngrisnir of the Nordic Beasts (ATK 1200/DEF 800), Tanngnjostr of the Nordic Beasts (ATK 800/DEF 1100), Garmr of the Nordic Beasts (ATK 800/DEF 1900), and Guldfaxe of the Nordic Beasts (ATK 1600/DEF 1000)

If Tanngrisnir of the Nordic Beasts is destroyed in battle and sent to the Graveyard, you get to Special Summon 2 Nordic Beast Tokens.  Each is a Level 3 monster, so that’s 6 Levels total to use for Synchro Summons.  Garmr of the Nordic Beasts will also punish your opponent for attacking: with 1900 DEF it’s tough to take down, and if it battles with a Level 4 or lower monster, it can bounce that monster back to its owner’s hand after damage calculation.

But if your opponent just refuses to attack face-down monsters, they’re in for a deadly surprise!  Tanngnjostr of the Nordic Beasts has an awesome ability: when it’s turned from Defense Position to Attack Position, Tanngnjostr lets you Special Summon another Nordic Beast from your Deck.  That’s huge, because it can bring out the Level 4 Tuner, Guldfaxe of the Nordic Beasts.

Since Tanngjostr can Special Summon Guldfaxe straight from your Deck, you can use it to bring out the 2500 ATK Voltic Bicorn, the 2700 ATK Scrap Archfiend, or destroy everything on the field with Black Rose Dragon!  The Black Rose combo is so devastating that your opponent will want to attack a face-down Tanngnjostr whenever possible.  But if they do that, they’ll risk attacking Tanngrisnir or Garmr instead.

Things get even tougher on your opponent when you throw Super-Nimble Mega Hamsterinto the mix. Hamster can Special Summon Tanngrisnir or Tanngnjostr from your Deck with its Flip Effect.  If your opponent attacks it, you can Special Summon Tanngnjostr and use its effect next turn.  If you Flip Summon Mega Hamster instead, you can throw down Tanngrisnir in Defense Position, then Summon a Tuner and use Mega Hamster as a Synchro Material.  …

If your opponent attacks Tanngrisnir and you Special Summon your Nordic Beast Tokens, you’re just a Guldfaxe away from unleashing Thor!  Vanadis of the Nordic Ascendant is another Level 4 Tuner, and it can take the place of any “Nordic” Tuner Monster required for a Synchro Summon.  You can use it in place of Guldfaxe and unleash any of the three Aesir!

Having the right Nordic Beast at the right time is key.  Super-Nimble Mega Hamster helps, because it can get you Tanngrisnir or Tangnjostr.  But Gleipnir, the Fetters of Fenrir is a Trap Card that goes one step further.  Gleipnir lets you add a “Nordic” monster from your Deck to your hand.  Not only will it get you the “Nordic” monster you need most, but you can use it to trick your opponent: search out one Nordic Beast and you can Set a different one. Manipulating the information available to your opponent this way practically obliges them to make the wrong play.

Tanngnjostr does more than just Special Summon monsters from your Deck, too.  Its first effect lets you Special Summon it from your hand when a monster you control is destroyed by battle.  That’s a great way to set up a Synchro Summon with Tanngnjostr’s ability on your next turn, but clever Duelists will also combo it with Tanngrisnir to dodge Solemn Warning.

If your opponent attacks Tanngrisnir and wants to negate its 2-Token effect, they need to Chain directly to Tanngrisnir’s ability.  But Tanngrisnir and Tanngnjostr both have effects that trigger when Tanngrisnir is destroyed, so they form a Chain.  Tanngrisnir is mandatory while Tanngnjostr is optional, so the mandatory effect is always Chain Link 1, the optional is always Chain Link 2.  Because you put Tanngrisnir’s effect on the Chain first, and Tanngnjostr’s second, your opponent can only Chain to Tanngnjostr’s effect.  They might negate Tanngnjostr’s ability, but you’ll still get Tanngrisnir’s Nordic Beast Tokens.  Royal Oppressionis a non-issue here because both abilities trigger during the Damage Step.

This is another great way to use Gleipnir, the Fetters of Fenrir.  If you have Gleipnir set, and your opponent attacks Tanngrisnir, you can respond to the attack by activating Gleipnir.  That’ll let you get Tanngnjostr from your Deck, so if your opponent has Solemn Warning you can outplay it – even if you started with an empty hand.

The Nordic Beast monsters are some of the best cards to play in any Aesir deck.  Not only do they provide strong defense, quick Synchro Summoning, and easy ways to Summon Thor, Lord of the Aesir, they also combo with Vanadis, so you can use them to bring out any of the Nordic Gods!  Play them wisely, and you can make a killer Aesir deck.