Angelechy: how it combos, and how to beat it

How Angelechy wins

Angelechy's Synchro Monsters are rarely Synchro Summoned. Card effects Special Summon them from the Extra Deck, or place them face-up in the Spell & Trap Zone as Continuous Spells. Placed there they are still Monster Cards, and each one has an effect that applies for as long as it stays. The Angelechy Guide calls them stored. Each has three effects: a once-per-turn banish while it is a monster, a trigger when it is placed, and the effect that applies while it is stored.

• Angelechy Destrier, stored: each time you activate a card or effect, you take 500 damage when it resolves.
• Angelechy Bastion, stored: your card effects can't destroy the other Angelechy cards on the field.
• Angelechy Shatranga, stored: you can only attempt to activate 5 monster effects a turn.
• Angelechy Castellan, stored: each player can only activate 1 card or effect per Chain.

The deck plays 30 Spells and Traps in 40 cards. Its going-first board adds Black-Winged Assault Dragon, which deals 700 damage each time one of your monster effects resolves, and a Set Angelechy Opening to e4, which builds more of the board during your turn. Games end by burn, by Angelechy Verdict, which banishes every card you control once there are 5 or more Angelechy Monster Cards on the field, or in battle.

The core combo: Opposition and a Spell or Trap

The Angelechy Guide's free Lesson 2 teaches this line: Angelechy Opposition and any Spell or Trap to discard.

1. Activate Angelechy Opposition, choosing Angelechy Seneschal and Angelechy Destrier: Seneschal is Special Summoned to your side of the field, and Destrier is placed in the Spell & Trap Zone.For the rest of the turn the Angelechy player can only Special Summon LIGHT or DARK Synchro Monsters from the Extra Deck.
2. Destrier, placed, adds Angelechy Problem. Seneschal's summon lets each player Special Summon a Fairy Synchro Monster with its effects negated: the Angelechy player summons Angelechy Bastion.Seneschal's effect is activated by you, its controller, so Destrier's burn applies: you go to 7,500 LP.
3. Activate the Field Spell Angelechy Problem, and its effect: discard a Spell or Trap to Special Summon Angelechy Enlisted (Level 2) and place Angelechy Castellan. Castellan, placed, sends Angelechy Verdict to the GY.Problem's cost is a Spell or Trap, which is why the deck plays so many.
4. Synchro Summon Black-Winged Assault Dragon with Enlisted and Bastion (2 + 8 = 10), in a Main Monster Zone.Bastion returns to the Extra Deck because of Seneschal's effect.
5. Banish Verdict from the GY to send Castellan to the GY and place the other Bastion. Bastion, placed, places Angelechy Shatranga, and Shatranga adds Angelechy Opening to e4.
6. Banish Opposition from the GY to shuffle Castellan and Verdict back into the Deck and Extra Deck.
7. Banish the discarded Angelechy Disturbance from the GY to add another Angelechy Spell or Trap.
8. Set Opening to e4 and end the turn.

Black-Winged Assault Dragon

Angelechy Destrier (stored)Angelechy Bastion (stored)Angelechy Shatranga (stored)Angelechy Opening to e4 (Set)

Angelechy Problem is in the Field Zone, and you control Angelechy Seneschal, at 7,500 LP. The Guide's other going-first lines, from other starters, end on the same board.

What its board does on your turn

• Black-Winged Assault Dragon. Each time one of your monster effects resolves, it gets a Black Feather Counter and you take 700 damage. During your turn, with 4 or more counters, it can Tribute itself to destroy every card on the field. It is not an Angelechy card, so Bastion doesn't protect it.
• Angelechy Destrier, stored. 500 damage each time any card or effect you activate resolves, Spells and Traps included.
• Angelechy Shatranga, stored. At most 5 monster effects a turn, counted when you try to activate them, not when they resolve.
• Angelechy Bastion, stored. Your card effects can't destroy the other Angelechy cards on the field. Bastion itself isn't covered, and neither is anything that banishes, returns to the hand or negates.
• Angelechy Problem. If a face-up Angelechy Monster Card its controller controls is destroyed, it can return a stored monster to the Extra Deck and Special Summon it.
• Angelechy Opening to e4, Set. Places a Field Spell, Special Summons a Level 2 or 7 Angelechy monster to the Extra Monster Zone, and stores another monster.
• Angelechy Seneschal, on your field. A 3000 ATK monster you control that can't be used for an Xyz or Link Summon and returns to their Extra Deck when it leaves the field. If an Angelechy monster attacks it, the attack is negated and Seneschal goes back to them.

From 7,500 LP, the arithmetic is the whole game: each monster effect that resolves costs you 1,200 (700 and 500), and each Spell or Trap costs 500. Five monster effects (the most Shatranga allows) and three Spells or Traps add up to exactly 7,500.

Where to stop it

Hand traps cost you too: once Destrier is stored, each one you activate burns you 500 when it resolves, and once Assault Dragon is out, a monster hand trap burns 700 more.

Three things follow from it.

1. Destrier's search is the chokepoint. Ash Blossom or Ghost Ogre there takes Problem away from a one-starter hand, before anything can burn you.
2. Seneschal turns your "control no cards" hand traps off. Mulcharmy Fuwalos and Infinite Impermanence from the hand have to be used before Opposition resolves, or not at all.
3. Effect Veiler and Nibiru do nothing here. Side them out against Angelechy.

Going second into Angelechy

• Start the turn knowing your budget. At 7,500 LP, every monster effect that resolves costs 1,200 and every Spell or Trap 500.
• After four monster effects have resolved you have taken 4,800, and Assault Dragon can destroy every card on the field.
• Bastion stops destruction only. Banishing, returning to the hand and negating all get past it, and Bastion doesn't protect itself or Assault Dragon.
• Seneschal is a 3000 ATK monster on your side of the field. It can't be Xyz or Link Material, and it returns to their Extra Deck when it leaves.
• Verdict counts Angelechy Monster Cards on both sides of the field, Seneschal included.

Practice against Angelechy

The YGO Lab Rival plays this list from the Angelechy Guide's own lines. On your turn it decides when to use its interaction: 3 Ash Blossom, 3 Mulcharmy Fuwalos, 2 Ghost Ogre & Snow Rabbit and 2 Droll & Lock Bird, with Dominus Traps besides.

• Going second is practice at the arithmetic: which effects to spend, in what order, before the burn and Assault Dragon end it.
• Going first is practice at your combo through Ash, Ghost Ogre, Droll and Fuwalos.
• To drill one interruption, record your turn in Combos, interrupt it with the card you expect, and practice that branch until you play through it.

Decklist

The list the AI plays: 40 Main Deck, 15 Extra Deck and 15 Side Deck cards.

Learn to play it

YGO Lab guideThe Angelechy Guide11 lessons and 14 combos, played on the real rules engine. Free sample with an account; the full guide comes with a YGO Lab plan.

Questions