Tistina is the new TCG-exclusive archetype introduced in Duelist Nexus. The deck still feels somewhat incomplete after only the first wave of support, but there clearly is potential for the future. For the moment one can only play Tistina in combination with other archetypes. One great partner is Eldlich!
Rise of the Crystal Gods
Let's start with a brief rundown of the Tistina cards. First up, we have the deck's boss monster, . It's a level ten light aqua monster with 2,000 attack and 3,000 defense. During your turn, you may flip as many monsters as possible on your opponent's side of the field face down. Then, you can send all of their face-up cards to the graveyard, including face-up field spells or cards in their spell and trap zones. As you cannot flip cards such as link monsters or tokens, Crystal God provides non-destruction mass removal in this case, while flipping any other threats face down. The card has a second effect, which is identical to the first, but triggered when your opponent destroys Crystal God.
Next up, we have , another level ten light aqua monster with 2,000 attack and, sadly, zero defense. Demigod can special summon itself to the field if you control any Tistina card. After being summoned that way, you can add any Tistina spell or trap card from your deck to your hand, immediately giving you a plus one in card advantage. Its other effect is the same as Crystal God's first effect, but only during your opponent's turn if you control . Basically, if you control both monsters, you can interrupt your opponent's plays every turn and get rid of their resources or render them useless.
Next up, we have the minions serving the bigger Tistina overlords. First up is , a level three wind aqua monster with 1,200 attack and 1,400 defense. Once per turn, you can either special summon this card from your hand or graveyard if you control a light Tistina monster, making it a free recurring summon every turn. It also has another effect to target and destroy either one face-down card you control or one Tistina monster, including itself, to search your deck for any Tistina card.
The second minion is , a level four earth aqua monster with 1,800 attack and 700 defense. It has the same special summon effect from hand or graveyard as Sentinel while its second effect allows all your Tistina monsters to attack directly if your opponent controls a face-down monster. Tistina monsters overall do not have big beaters, however, since the big ones are level ten, you could finish off your opponent in you main phase two by going into .
Now that we are done with all the monsters, let's move on to the supporting cards. is the deck's very searchable field spell. During your main phase, you can send one Tistina monster from your deck to the graveyard with , setting up Sentinel and Hound for later plays. Then, if that effect is used while your opponent controls three or more face-up cards, you can special summon from your hand or deck, allowing you to use the latter's effect to neutralize your opponent's board either going second or mid-game. The field spell also has a bonus effect if destroyed by your opponent, allowing you to special summon any Tistina monster from your deck or graveyard.
If by this point you feel like Tistina is good at swarming the field and putting up lots of bodies, then I would like to introduce you to , a continuous spell card that gives you an extra normal summon for any Tistina monster in addition to your normal summon. Its other effect allows you to flip any monster you control face-down to search your deck for any Tistina card. However, if you control a light Tistina monster while using this effect, you can choose to flip one monster your opponent controls face-down instead of your own, acting as a pseudo that also searches.
The last card is , a continuous trap card that special summons itself by targeting a face-up card on the field. It is summoned as a level ten light aqua monster, which helps open up the effects of Breath, Sentinel, and Hound. Its effect is a bit strange, and often not playable so far—during your opponent's turn, when the card your targeted in order to fulfill the summoning requirements of Signs leaves the field, you have to destroy Signs. On the other hand, during your opponent's turn as well, when Signs leaves the field, destroy the targeted card, which does sound more useful, but might be difficult to pull off.
The Eldlich Connection
In theory, the deck is better going second due to the effect of the field spell, and 's ability to have you directly attack your opponent's lifepoints. It is somewhat lacking when it comes to going first. Yes, you could set up and together going first, but you don't have any follow-up or protection. This is exactly where the Eldlich deck comes into play.
Going first, can pop one of your Eldlich traps or a face-down to help get your Eldlich setup going. On the other hand, if you are going second, provides high attack power that doesn't exist in the Tistina archetype. Also, it could be used to remove or bait problematic cards with its effect from hand. The last part of the synergy is that Golden Lord is a level ten monster, which would facilitate even more rank ten plays.
Here is a sample decklist. It may not be 100% optimized, but it showcases how the strategy could function.
While the deck so far is low on the competitive scale, it can surely steal a few wins because your opponents will not know exactly how to deal with it. That is, until someone breaks it, and players start seeing it everywhere. Apart from Eldlich, Tistina can be combined with Ghostricks, Unchained to a certain extent, or even one more obscure variant that I am working on. If it works, I will share the results here.
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