Photon Thrasher————————————&

Photon Thrasher
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Cannot be Normal Summoned/Set. Must first be Special Summoned (from your hand) while you control no monsters. Cannot attack if you control another monster.
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Can Be Found In: Order of Chaos (ORCS-EN008), Astral Pack One (AP01-EN003), Battle Pack 2: War of the Giants (BP02-EN103), Star Pack 2014 (SP14-EN007), OTS Tournament Pack 4 (OP04-EN006), Starter Deck: Link Strike (YS17-EN009), Legendary Duelists: White Dragon Abyss (LED3-EN041)

While the safest option to make an efficient Deck is to focus on an archetype, don’t hesitate on mixing together different themes to create new mechanics. Some of the most reliable monsters in certain archetypes are able to stand out in any build capable to work arround their possibilities, with some cases like Lightsworn and Traptrix providing strong sinergy with the majority of their cards along other themes. Given there’s no main resource to depend on in this card game compared to others, is recommended to experiment cards outside of their position as staple choices or even those not that efficient in their default roles.

“Photon Thrasher” was one of the debutant monsters of the Photon archetype, gaining more prevalence over the years not due its immense ATK but its basi ability that will give us speed on our setups. “Photon Thrasher” is unable to be Normal Summoned or Set, yet if our field has no monsters it can be Special Summoned from our hand. Once another monster is in under our control “Photon Thrasher” will be unable to attack, but is its summoning alone that made it a great tool for Photon Decks and many others. Despite its heavy demerits, “Photon Thrasher” will easily become the start of one of many setups we can follow with its arrival.

As more options its archetype gained over time, “Photon Thrasher” soon became an assured card to start Duels with. The recurring “Reinforcement of the Army” makes sure that we have “Photon Thrasher” at hand when needed the most, while “The Warrior Returning Alive” instead recovers it from the Graveyard to prepare a comeback in later turns. Other options instead will prepare “Thrasher” for future turns, like “Photon Orbital” once disposed as equipment or the effects of “Isolde, Two Tales of the Noble Knights”. When comes to its summon there’s really no much difficulty, as pretty much once the Duel starts “Thrasher” can be Special Summoned right away. Otherwise “Thrasher” can be kept on hand when things goes to the worst scenario, as in case the opponent clears our board “Thrasher” will arrive to start prepare a comeback. However, despite the limitations of “Thrasher” don’t hesitate on using other summoning options, as cards like “Galaxy Zero” and “Galaxy Trance” can keep reviving it for any purposes in mid to late game (If was summoned by its effect beforehand).

“Photon Thrasher” started as a monster to prepare Xyz Summons or meet the optional summon of “Galaxy-Eyes Photon Dragon”, but nowadays is the starting point of one of many routes we can take with our Deck. The Special Summon of “Thrasher” will be followed with one of many Photon cards to immediately gain momentum, from the summoning conditions of “Photon Vanisher” and “Photon Advancer”, to be the target of “Photon Orbital” so we can search another member for the perfect situation. These monsters as well “Photon Sanctuary” generating Tokens will be the main method for the archetype to prepare materials for their Xyz and Link Summons, while “Galaxy Brave” and “Galaxy Soldier” can use “Thrasher” from our hand for their own summons in case its unable to be summoned by its requeriments. But as pointed out before, the effect of “Thrasher” isn’t limited to its archetype and thus can shine in other builds that needs some speed gathering materials from their first turns. “Thrasher” can be followed by a simple Normal Summon or even Tribute Summon as a basic setup, but can work along monsters like “Goblindbergh” or “Rescue Rabbit” to swarm the board with several materials. While Photon Decks already focuses arround the LIGHT Attribute some Deck involving the latter can give “Thrasher” other purposes during a Duel, from overwhelming the opponent in early turn along “Guardian of Order” to helping us with the summon of monsters like “Black Luster Soldier - Envoy of the Beginning” along DARK monsters in our Graveyard.

While “Photon Thrasher” can become a dead card as the Duel progresses due its nomi traits, its importance in various Decks grew as more options were added over the years. Photon Decks will follow its summon with one of several setups that will summon their strongest monsters from their first turns, while many other Decks can add “Thrasher” to their strategy for all sorts of purposes. While its restrictions and pretty much unable to attack under most circumstances makes “Thrasher” not a staple option we can always depend on, the great momentum we can obtain from having it in our opening hand makes it a wonderful monster to start strong right from our first turn.

Personal Rating: A-

+Special Summons itself from the hand if we don’t control any cards
+Several options to follow its arrival with right from the start of a Duel
+High ATK