Introduction to Exosister in Master Duel

The Exosister archetype finally makes its debut to Master Duel in the newly released Valiant Wings Selection Pack. These holy Spellcasters are all about Rank 4 Xyz plays and shutting down anything the opponent might want to do with the GY.

In this Guide we will cover the abilities of the individual cards, exemplary decklists, and some general gameplay advice. For a brief evaluation of how good an investment in this new Pack would be, we've covered that in a previous article.

If you are looking for a way to try out Exosister without commiting too many gems at once, we'd recommend buildung as much of the second decklist's affordable parts as possible. Prioritises completing the "Exosister Core" and Exosister Extra Deck Monster, so you have a baseline to get a feel for.

Table of Contents

• Decklists
• Exorcism Optimism
  • Main Deck Monsters
  • Extra Deck
  • Spells & Traps
  • Effect Resolution
• Rank 4 Extenders
  • Generic Extenders
  • Magistus

Decklists

Exorcism Optimism

Exosisters revolve around their alternative way of Xyz Summoning. As soon as the opponent moves cards in either GY, the Level 4 Monsters are able to overlay into a Rank 4 Exosister using only one Material. "Move" could mean reviving Monsters, shuffling back cards, or banishing them from the GY.

Knowing when the opponent is about to commit to any of these actions is an essential part of this archetype's playstyle, and makes it more reactive than other strategies as a result. More on that under "Effect Resolution".

Main Deck Monsters

Exosisters emphasize their family bond by having direct relations to eachother. This is reflected by the name of the pairs they work with. The four initial sisters are split into groups of two, which let you gain LP when both relatives are present, but also work as a mechanic for their Spells & Traps.

Now that we already discussed the Trigger Effect they all share to Xyz Summon and uphold the sanctity of the GY, let's go into their respective effects:

• Exosister Elis -  Special Summons itself from the hand, and gains you 800 LP if you control Stella.
• Exosister Stella - Special Summons an Exosister from the hand, and gains you 800 LP if you control Elis.
• Exosister Irene - Replaces an Exosister card in hand with a draw from Deck, and gains you 800 LP if you control Sophia.
• Exosister Sophia - Draws a card when you control another Exosister, and gains you 800 LP if you control Irene.

Looking over these four, Irene stands out as the worst of them. The inability to gain actual advantage off the draw and no easy way of Summoning more Monsters for an Xyz play puts it behind the others.

The pair of Elis and Stella are great for swarming the field. While Sophia doesn't get a lot done on its own, pairing it with one of the two aforementioned ones is the ideal way of going into an Xyz Monster on the first turn.

Extra Deck

Similar to the Main Deck sisters, the Xyz ones have shared characteristics. All of them have some kind of protection against Monsters that were Summoned from the GY. They also gain an additional effect the moment or turn they are Xyz Summoned. This makes it clearer why the interventive method of Xyz Summoning on the opponent's turn is important.

• Exosister Kaspitell - Detach 1 material to add an Exosister Monster. On Summon, stops any Summons from the GYs for the turn. Cannot be destroyed in Battle against Monsters from the GY.
• Exosister Mikailis - Detach 1 material to add an Exosister Spell/Trap. Turn of Summon (Quick Effect): Banish a targeted opposing card on field or GY. Cannot be destroyed in Battle against Monsters from the GY.
• Exosister Gibrine - Detach 1 material to give your Xyz Monsters 800 ATK this turn. Turn of Summon (Quick Effect): Negate the effects of a targeted opposing Monster for the turn. Cannot be destroyed by the effect of a Monsters from the GY.
• Exosister Asophiel - Detach 1 material to return a targeted opposing Monster to the hand. On Summon, stops any effects that activate in the GYs. Cannot be destroyed by the effect of a Monsters from the GY.

Spells & Traps

We're working with a select few Spells & Traps for Exosister. Only three Spells and one Trap to start out with. Even the rather situational ones have somewhat of a place in the Deck though, as Mikailis can search the ideal one for each circumstance.

• Exosister Arment - In theme with Xyz Summoning on the opponent's turn, this Quick-Play Spell does just that. It's plenty useless going first though. Keep in mind that for this kind of Xyz Summon Levels don't matter! You can even stack an Xyz on top of another Xyz when there's no better target.
• Exosister Carpedivem - When an Exosister is Xyz Summoned, one chosen card name can be negated on the field for the rest of the turn. When an Exosister attacks or is attacked, you can target and destroy an opposing Spell/Trap. Also protects the sisters from being targeted by Monsters Summoned from the GY.
• Exosister Pax - Searches any Exosister card. If you chose a Monster and the paired name is on field or GY, you can Special Summon it instead.
• Exosister Vadis - Special Summons a name pair of Exosisters from the Deck. Shuffles both back in the End Phase and only allows Exosister Extra Deck Summons for the turn.

There's no doubt on Pax being a great consistency boost. Arment on the other hand might also be justified as a three-off just to have a guaranteed Xyz ready to interrupt even when the opponent isn't messing with the GY.

Carpedivem can be considered as an option for slower matchups, though the Spell/Trap destruction comes just a bit too late in the Battle Phase. The on-field negation is also decent but, again, having to get to an Xyz Monster first is the dealbreaker. Not to mention the extensive knowledge of every matchup you'd need to get the most out of calling any random name.

Now, for Vadis the decision could go either way. Do you really want to punish decks that use the GY? Because Vadis does pretty much just that. Chaining this in response to something like a Tri-Brigade Revolt or Deskbot 001 lets you Summon 2 Xyz Monsters right after resolution. That would be when it's at its best. Without something like that to punish, the Trap falls flat as you'd need to wait until your next turn just to Summon a single Xyz using two Monster the normal way.

Effect Resolution

Let's take this section to further go into when it would be the right time for your Exosisters to swoop in. What we mean by this is that some effects might indeed be interacting with the GY, but you aren't sure whether that is part of the actual effect or gets done before they even activate.

Take for example most Tri-Brigade Monsters. "You can banish any number of Beast, Beast-Warrior, and/or Winged Beast monsters in your GY;". This is the important part we'd want our Exosister to be on the field for. When this happens they fulfill the condition and we get to Xyz Summon on their turn. The tricky part is the ";" Semicolon at the end of the sentence. This signifies that it's not the actual effect, rather it's the cost the player pays in order to activate the actual effect.

That's why, if you'd want you Exosisters to be ready, they need to be Summoned before they are able to pay the cost. In this case, as soon as the opponent plays a Tri-Brigade Monster. The same goes for most effects that banish things from the owner's GY: Swordsoul's Taia and Chixiao, the Tenyi Spirits, and Eldlich's Traps included. 

Rank 4 extenders

To close things out, we'll give you ideas for some of the best extenders to add to your Exosister deck. This ranges from standalone cards that can just Special Summon themselves as one more Level 4 to take advantage of, all the way to entire secondary archetypes.

Generic Extenders

For starters, we've got Dynatherium. It's as vanilla as it can get. The downside can gladly be ignored on the first turn, making it an easy Level 4 to bring out when the Exosisters themselves aren't around. For a more specific inclusion there's also the familiars. Namely Inari Fire, Jigabyte, Nefarious Archfiend Eater of Nefariousness, and Ranryu. You wouldn't want too many though, since they all need a Spellcaster (In this case a non-Xyz Exosister) on field to work with. 

If you want your plays to be more explosive, another consideration would be Parallel eXceed. You could make it work by including either Salamangreat Almiraj or Gravity Controller as the Link Monster of your choice.

Magistus

The Magistus archetype shares some interests that Exosister can take advantage of, and both archetypes are available in Valiant Wings. They attempt to also get two Level 4 Spellcasters on the field, whether that be for a Fusion, Sychro, or Xyz Summon. The Monsters that work best for that are Zoroa, the Magistus of Flame and Crowley, the Magistus of Grimoires.

With the help of their Link Monster, Artemis, the Magistus Moon Maiden, you can turn Zoroa and Endymion, the Magistus of Mastery into searchers. On top of that, Zoroa gives you another Special Summon from the hand off the bat, while a searched Crowley can do the same at the cost of a discard.

Implementing these cards may feel like the more well-rounded solution, but it takes away some extra Deck space that could have been reserved for generic Xyz Monsters. There's also the possiblity to expand on the Magistus theme, with the newly released Zoroa, the Magistus Conflagrant Calamity being a wincondition on its own. 

Excited to finally play Exosister? Share your own take on them in the comments below!