"Is this for Real?!" - Top 4 OCG Nordic Deck Profile Analysis + 2-Card Combo Tutorial!

Hey RespectYGOers! Arcknight here and Odin told me that you're looking for something, the Nordic Deck Profile that topped in our metagame report here. Due to insisting public demand, I will present to you it's deck profile and also a 2-card combo using Nordic! Before this treat, let's have an overview of what Nordic is as an archetype and how did it even managed to land on top 4!

Let's begin!

"Nordic", known as "Polar Star" (極きょく星せい Kyokusei) in the OCG, is an archetype introduced in Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D's used by Team Ragnarok. It contains 4 sub-archetypes; "Nordic Alfar", "Nordic Ascendant", "Nordic Beast" and "Nordic Relic". They work alongside the 3 "Aesir" monsters and are based on Norse Mythology.  - source

Storm of Ragnarok where the archetype was introduced was released way back November 13, 2010 in OCG.

The above photo is my own set of the Aesir Trio. I played this deck casually way back 5ds era when the deck got popular with the help of Super-Nimble Mega Hamster and Tanngjsotr of the Nordic Beast's ability to swarm the field with various powerful level 7 synchros ranging from Black Rose Dragon and Ancient Sacred Wyvern baiting stuff without using your normal summon yet the following turn. It's a deck I used way back the era where people are tired of Six Samurai mirror matches.

Battle of Chaos

11 years later (Yes, that's right), not counting the boost it received in Link Vrains Pack and Extra Pack, we finally received 4 new cards and most of of them are quite decent. 

Four cards namely Gullinbursti of the Nordic Beast, Ivaldi of the Nordic Smiths, Nordic Relic Hlidskjalf and Nordic Relic Svalinn. (Yes, the spell card is quite tricky to spell in a spelling bee contest). 

Among the 4 cards, the spell is awesome until you realize that the special summon effect will lock you in summoning Aesir monsters from your extra deck only. Personally, I felt this as a great let down considering it should have been the card that could make the deck almost tier 1 level not until you see that restriction. On the flip side, it lets you add any Nordic monster from the deck by banishing itself from the Graveyard at a cost of returning another card from hand. This could have been better if it's 1st and 2nd effect's are switched instead but nevertheless, it's still useful in a way. 

Svalin of the Nordic Smiths and Gullinbursti of the Nordic Beasts shine. Svalin can search any Nordic Relic card and can special summon itself while Gullinbursti can act as any Nordic Tuner, recycles Nordic monsters and special summons from hand! 

The last support is a new Nordic Relic trap card that can negate everything! Literally, it can act as a free negate for every face-up card it sees on your opponent's field when you chain it so long as you control an Aesir monster. Personally, I wished it acted like a Skill Drain for all face-up card your opponent controls while you control it for that Godly factor. but that would be insanely broken lmao.

Deck Profile

This is the deck piloted by Sergio Belarus of Toy Shogun who finished 4th place last week.  It packs the new Nordic cards in Battle of Chaos and at the same time, he used There can be Only One to his advantage. 

The combo of Nordic is quite simple, have any Nordic monster and Alviss of the Nordic Alfar to easily tutor Odin, the Father of Aesir protected by Gullveig of the Nordic Ascendant. What I like about Nordic is that while the restrictions to only summon Aesir is quite bad, this lets the player to stay pure as possible. 

To help aspiring Nordic Players , here is an ideal 2-card combo team RespectYGO made:

A 4000 ATK body with protection from targeting and a trap that can negate any card is quite a lot if you managed to pull it off honestly and this is with as little as 2 cards. With Svallin face-up, it will be a pain to remove Odin, Thor & Loki with non-targeting effects as well. 

To help this combo be even more consistent, here are some card techs that you can try:

Deck's Weakness

Like other combo-reliant decks, it falls short with a timely Ash Blossom & Joyous Spring or your Gullveig being negated so it's very important to use cards that can protect the combo from being interrupted. Going second could also be a pain if you're facing an established board so be sure you pack those Evenly Match and Lightning Storm in the side.

Summary:

Overall, Nordic top is quite a surprise to many as it hasn't really seen the light for ages. Like our previous metagame report, we can expect more rogue decks to come as players experiment on which decks can stand post-January 2022 OCG Banlist.

Legacy supports like the cards above are always welcome and there's a lot of archetypes that need them to be honest. This reminds me way back when Altergeist received Altergeist Multi-faker which brought the deck to tier 1 instantly. While one can only wish that our legacy decks will get supported soon, for now, let's focus on how we can elevate the deck's strategy to the next level with the current resources we have and who knows, someone will hear us and we might see our deck with new support cards. Patience is key!

Thanks again for supporting our blog and we'll see you in the next featured deck profile!

~Arcknight