There isn’t much I’d personally wake up at 4:45 in the morning for. However, the Lightseekers TCG is one thing that makes the cut.

My name is Dan Amon, but the Lightseekers community may know me as DanTheMan, and on Sunday, May 20, I participated in the Lightseekers constructed tournament at ARG Hartford. I’m a bigtime fan and advocate of the game and would love to see it grow as big as it can get.

I got into the game a few weeks before the first big US tournament at PAX Unplugged thanks to my LGS promoting the game via a demo day. I’ve written up a tournament report for the event and detailed deck overview for the deck that I played, all of which can be found below. I hope you enjoy!

Deck Overview

Given I was learning about the Cuban Missile Crisis in history class during the weeks leading up to the tournament, It was fitting that I had a very tough decision to make.

That decision came in the fashion of which deck to play. I was torn between the undeniably consistent and solid Dolo and the unique and fresh Constella deck you see above. After all was said and done, I decided on Constella because of its undeniable versatility and my desire to be original and creative in deckbuilding. I love that its versatility doesn’t come at the expense of consistency.

The beauty of the deck is that it runs however you need it to. A good pilot of this deck is able to identify the threatening elements of an opponent’s deck and craft a game plan accordingly.

Let me explain…

In some games, you may need to rely on Sun Beacons in conjunction with Skyward Observatory to get quick consistent damage, and finish with a big direct damage combo such as Planetary Alignment.

Perhaps in other matchups you can build up a wall of buffs with a Subjugator to aid in attack-based removal, using cards like Light Lasher to keep the buffs in play, and eventually hit a Reality Rift to reclaim expired or removed buffs.

How about matchups where you need to worry about your opponent’s seemingly endless stream of buffs? In this matchup you can recycle your Pathfinders with Chimchu Infiltrators. A well-timed Black Hole can also do wonders in this matchup as it clears all of the opponents buffs. Draw power is quite abundant thanks to Spectral Guide too.

Don’t forget about the side deck, for it is the ideal mix of cards to provide necessary assistance to a wide range of matchups. Through testing, this deck has proven to be quite versatile and powerful. That being said, my goal going into last weekend’s tournament was to be a finalist.

So Why Not Cassini?

Many top players use Cassini as their hero of choice in regards to Astral. However, while Cassini definitely has a place in some Astral builds, Constella works the best here because the value of having two superiorities in this build outweighs the value of the top of the discard pile control and direct damage that Cassini provides.

Without further ado, let’s get into the Tournament!

The Report

Round 1
BYE
Due to the fact that I was the highest ranked player going into the tournament, I received a bye in the first round. I used this opportunity to grab some pizza and mentally prepare a bit further.

Round 2 – Lalu the Rascal Aggro
Loss-Loss
I wasn’t too upset about this loss because Storm is a tough matchup for Astral to begin with. Plus the build of the Astral deck i faced was extremely aggro and I just couldn’t hang with it long enough to do much.

The first game I used my Subjugators early, which was absolutely necessary to avoid a lingering Storm Shaman, but this tactic still didn’t leave enough to survive the onslaught of quick hitting Spark Wisps and direct damage combos in the late game. The second game wasn’t even close, he took me out within six turns!

Round 3 – Dolo Traditional Build
Win-Win
I was pretty confident in the Dolo matchup and this round was a breeze. I got good draws throughout both games and cruised to victory in a rather dominant fashion.

I utilized the Sun Beacon and Skyward Observatory combination quite a bit both games and Pathfinder showed up when I needed it.

Round 4- Anzi the Mender Aggro
Win-Win
These games went fairly smooth as well. Pathfinder showed up early so that was sweet. I also retrieved multiple Pathfinders with my Chimchu Infiltrators over the course of the two games. I had a well timed Black Hole game two as well.

I played off of my Mageships quite a bit both games. My thought process here was that my opponent would be reluctant to use his Crazed Bomber because his buffs would be removed in the process of using it as well. My thinking seemed to work as each game I had a single Mageship hit three times thanks to some help from Light Lasher.

After round four I wasn’t quite sure If I made the top cut or not. I waited anxiously as the other games finished and was very happy when I found out that I received the fourth and final seed in the top cut.

Top cut round 1- Dolo Traditional Build
Win-Loss-Loss
This round hurt.

I was pretty disappointed that I couldn’t come through with a round win here given that I was so confident heading into the Dolo matchup. My opponent played well and did go on to win the tournament but I still feel like I should have came away victorious.

Game one was very back and forth. There was constant damage and healing onslaught from both sides, but luckily I edged my opponent with a Light Lasher of all cards. Game two was yet again back and forth the whole game.

Game two was also the only misplay I noticed myself make in the entirety of the tournament; I had 12 health left and I consciously knew that there are two direct damage combos in Mountain that are capable of dealing 12 damage. Instead of using Constella’s ability to heal for one, I opted to draw two. I proceeded to be hit by a Magma Blast for game.

Game three ended up going to time and I got beat by 3 health.

Unfortunately, I was not able to stay to watch the final match because I had a college visit scheduled a bit further north in Amherst, Massachusetts that I needed to get to.

It was comforting to me that the only two people who had beaten me were going to be facing off, but I still would have loved to see myself playing it out for the number one spot. Big congratulations to Alex, the tournament champion, as well.

I very much hope to see Alex and all the other participants in the tournament at Lightseekers events in the future too.

Final Thoughts on the Deck

I didn’t achieve my goal of making it to the finals, but that’s alright. There will be plenty of Lightseekers tournaments to come and I’ll have my day eventually.

I don’t have many immediate thoughts on the deck changes I would like to make, but changes will likely be made to increase likelihood of a win versus Dolo.

I will be playing around with primarily the side deck, Which I would have liked to utilize more. The current state of the side deck rules allow for some serious creativity and I would love to explore possibilities.

My only real thought on the matter would be to add some Blacksmiths and Crystal Leeches to my side deck for matchups against buff heavy decks. As for other options, they will most definitely be explored. as for other options, i would love to hear what you guys think.

Things to Consider

Some of this may be redundant, but If you’re planning on trying this deck, keep the following in mind:

Proper strategies based on your opponent’s playstyle and win condition can be discovered through play-testing. If you want to successfully compete with this deck, be sure to test against a wide variety of decks to get a good feel for how it runs.

A few notes regarding general Lightseekers play include:

  • Know how your opponent’s order and hero play in general.
  • Consider things such as your opponent’s options as far as buff removal, card retrieval, etc.
  • Play test, play test, play test.

A Message to the Skeptical

While some may view this deck’s playstyle as a weakness because the deck lacks a definable win condition, play testing showed that the deck generally has enough time to get its desirable strategy for the matchup across thanks to a surplus of cards that have a healing component and control-based considerations such as Subjugator.

In addition, the deck is Astral, giving it essentially free actions on many turns, as long as you control the top of your discard pile efficiently.

Dan Amon (DanTheMan) is a 17 year old Lightseekers enthusiast from Pennington, NJ. He is fortunate to have a thriving Lightseekers community very close to home thanks to his LGS, Family Fun Hobbies, and is proud to take full advantage of everything the community has to offer. Dan placed in the top four at the championship constructed tournament at PAX Unplugged and is looking to stream the digital version of Lightseekers on Twitch upon its release.