Introduction to Trickstar Holly Angel

Common Skills

• Master Skill (Trickstar Holly Angel)
• Snipe
• Immunity: Position Change

Holly Angel's entire gimmick is supporting monsters with the Snipe Skill - 6 of which are available as Rare cards. This means the theoretical maximum burn damage we can deal is 1200 without Holly Angel (spread across 1 or different opponents) or 1800 to all 3 players. This clearly isn't enough to win the duel on it's own. Monsters with Superspeed can help to grab the Bonus Card at the start of the Duel - just having this as a defensive option and out of the opponent's hands is a huge boost to our strategy. And of course, monsters with Link Arrow can make summoning into Holly Angel a 1 tribute affair - and not require us to waste 2 potential Snipe activations.

There's also a few effect damage cards we can throw in to the mix. Loading... allows us to activate Snipe on 2 monsters on the field, which means an extra 600 damage towards your opponents with Holly Angel up, and Loading... which deals an extra 700 damage when an opponents monster enters a specific lane. If you manage to draw this turn 1, then placing it on the Bonus Card will give you a huge early advantage. All this adds up towards making it more difficult for your opponents to claw back enough LP from direct attacks.

We'll of course want to defend against the scourge of Ranked Duels Loading... so Loading... is always welcome.

Strategy Notes

• Holly Angel needs as much backup as she can get, so aiming for the Bonus Card in the center with Superspeed is crucial on Turn 1. 3 of the 4 Bonus Cards are great defensive options, and Loading... can be saved for later in the duel to revive Holly Angel for another go-around of bonus Snipe damage. You also want to start advancing in at least one other lane, but try to hold off on summoning Snipe monsters until Holly is out.

• If you drew Loading... you can summon Holly Angel as soon as possible, if not you might want to wait it out a little longer. It depends how many Snipe monsters you've opened with. Whenever you do summon her, you will ideally be using a monster with Link Arrow since that turns her into a 1 tribute rather than 2. It's easy to forget this and accidentally tribute 2 monsters. Summon her to the opposite lane from your beater, unless that opponent is the lowest on LP. You can keep following up with Snipe monsters from here on.

• Holly Angel should survive for at minimum 2 turns, weakening the opponents monsters in her lane in the process so make sure to take advantage of the bonus Snipe damage as much as possible in these turns.

• The goal is to keep chipping away at one or ideally multiple opponents, to the point where it becomes difficult for them to deal enough damage to the other opponents to heal back the same amount of LP. This should put you at a reasonable advantage, even if we're running weaker monsters that might not win every engagement.

• Once Holly Angel leaves the field pick a target. Usually this will be the player with the lowest LP as you want to end the game as quickly as possible, or another player about to be attacked for game in a further lane. Summon any Snipe monsters in their lane to give your opponents less LP to claw back. You can also put pressure on other lanes with any remaining utility or Link Arrow monsters to try and sneak some extra damage in.

Having access to Super Rare cards not only gives a few more monsters with Snipe to play with - such as Loading... and Loading... , but throws us a bone in Loading... whose Special Skill grants us some recursion for another go-around of effect chip damage. You could also make a case for playing Loading... if you plan to hold on to Holly Angel for later in the duel, or just want less big monsters to deal with.

The biggest upgrade you can make is in Loading... herself. With only 1 Skill Slot she's just there to assist, and not actually deal any effect damage herself. Firstly we'll want to deal some Snipe damage of our own, meaning on summon we now chip for an extra 300 damage - nice! Having access to Snipe also makes our Loading... live earlier. We can increase this by dedicating another slot to Snipe for 600 damage total, which if we see 2 other Snipe monsters in hard turn 1 puts us at a 1200 LP advantage. It's probably worth considering some form of protection using Immunity: Position Change if you find this not working out. Like with Firewall Dragon, Holly's defense is only 0 - so a well timed Loading... /Intimidate will put an early end to your plan.

With guaranteed damage from Holly now on the cards you can risk summoning her in defense to keep her alive for more turns.

And of course we have to mention Loading... and Loading... . Two incredibly versatile defensive cards, the first of which will easily give you extra uptime of Holly Angel whose additional effect damage and range might just steal you the game. Loading... is another new burn card, but is only super useful on turn 1.