Card Discussion: Tellarknight Vatlamyus

First Qli support, now this...

Tellarknight Vatlamyus (Tellarknight is written over “Knight of the Void”)

Source: Ygorganisation

Rank 4 DARK Warrior-Type Xyz Effect Monster
ATK 2600
DEF 550
Materials: 2 Level 4 “tellarknight” monsters
(1) All face-up monsters become treated as DARK-Attribute.
(2) You can detach 1 Xyz Material from this card, then discard 1 card; Special Summon 1 LIGHT “tellarknight” monster from your Extra Deck by using this card as Xyz Material (This is treated as an Xyz Summon, and Xyz Materials attached to this card also become Xyz Materials on the Summoned monster.), but for the rest of this turn, you cannot Xyz Summon monsters. This effect can be activated during either player’s turn, if you have 7 or more “tellarknight” monsters with different names in your Graveyard.

Note: Due to wordplay jokes, “Tellar” here is probably meant for Japanese speakers to sound like “Terror”.

Note 2: This card’s name’s name is a play on Batlamyus, the Arabic name for Ptolemy, the famous astronomer.



Vatlamyus is an interesting card. Despite having only two effects, it has much to offer to tellarknight players. Let's review its effects and see how this card can give a push to tellarknight players.
First off, needing to tellarknights monster for the xyz summon of this card ensures that the Tellarknight Ptolemaeus tragedy will not occur again, where a tellarknight monster is being abused by other archetypes. By making it archetype-specific, it seems that this card will see play only in tellarknights.

The first effect of this card is gimmicky. That's the choice of adjective I would use to describe it. Making all face-up monsters DARK, including yours, has its own consequences and can work in tandem with other cards in the game. Let's go down the list...

• Mahad Support

Mahad the Protector Priest's effect allows it to double its current attack when it is in battle with a DARK monster, almost always ensuring that it would be able to clear any monster threat by battle, as long as that threat's attribute is DARK.
With the help of Vatlamyus, Mahad can now KO any non-DARK monster in battle, as long as they are affected by the effect of Vatlamyus. This Level7 spellcaster is an interesting tech to add into Tellarknight decks, even though its final effect of special summoning the Dark Magician may not be relevant.

Let's not forget and ignore the draws that Tellarknight can achieve outside of its draw phase, thanks to Stellarnova Alpha.

• Mirror Mirror On The Wall

With all monsters on the field being DARK type, no thanks to this newly introduced xyz monster, why not take it a step further and proceed to board control with a main-decked Shadow-Imprisoning Mirror?
Sure your monsters, being affected by Vatlamyus, will too get negated. Nevertheless, it is a fun thought, should you choose to focus your combat plan with solely Vatlamyus on the field.

• Meta Match

Perhaps a more feasible method to abuse its effect would be to realise how it can disrupt the strategies and plays of current meta decks.
Combined with Stellarknight Constellar Diamond, it will be able to negate most, if not all(?), cards that activate effects on the field.
With it on the field, ABC monsters will have trouble activating their equipping effect, now their LIGHT monsters are no longer LIGHT attribute now. This renders many cards in their deck useless, such as Transmodify and Union Hanger. 

Oh, and did I mention that Honest's effect from the user's hand is totally useless now? Now that the face-up monsters have turned to the DARK side...?
Interesting right?

Gozen Match interacts with Vatlamyus just wonderfully. Listen:
With Vatlamyus and its "AOE" effect making every other face-up monster DARK attribute, and an activate Gozen Match, your opponent can't summon any monster which original attribute is not DARK.
Vatlamyus' existence and effect would destroy decks that were previously immune to Gozen Match, such as pure Majespectors, Blue-Eyes and many popular tier 2 decks such as Yosenju, Qli and Nekroz.

• Shine Bright like a Diamond

While its first effect probably doesn't hold a candle to DARK attribute decks, such as D/D/D and Phantom Abyss, its second effect makes up for it.

Vatlamyus provides players an easier method to summon out Stellarknight Constellar Diamond, be it a Main Phase 2 "paste & summon", or with Vatlamyus' second effect. With the cost of one card in your hand, you can now summon Diamond during your Main Phase 1.

Diamond + Vatlamyus is now the new first turn go-to lockdown set-up.

That said though, Blue-Eyes deck can probably escape this lockdown easily by a summon-and-attack by Blue-Eyes Alternative White Dragon.

•  RANK-UP

Apart from summoning out Diamond, Vatlamyus can call forth Stellarknight Triverr and Stellarknight Delteros, although the former would be the obvious card choice should you choose to activate the rank-up effect on your opponent's turn.

This effect can be activated during either player’s turn, if you have 7 or more “tellarknight” monsters with different names in your Graveyard.

Seven different names in the graveyard may seem like an uphill task. It is however, not that impractical and impossible as many perceive.
The main-deck monster lineup for Tellarknights can be stretched to include the following:

1. Unukalhai
2. Deneb
3. Altair
4. Vega
5. Sirius 
6. Rigel
7. Alsahm

which is the full complete set of seven different Tellarknight names, although number 4 to 7 is usually played at 1 copy only.
You can, however, also account for needed seven copies with archetype xyz monsters, reducing the level of difficulty for players to exploit the second effect.

• Wonder-ful

Fun-factor: With Gozen Match, and/or Diamond on the field, with the suitable xyz materials available, use Wonder Xyz, to summon Vatlamyus onto the field, further surprising your opponent and disrupting their plays.

It is even more fun if you have already gathered 7 knights in your grave.

You get what I am going at. It's a fun factor. xD

My DIY tellarknight mat design a few months back.

Additionally, it is worth noting that Satellarknight Skybridge will relevant once more, seeing that it allows players to faster gather the needed xyz materials to summon Vatlamyus. I believe this quick-play spell card will see more play in the future, having been discarded aside since Ptolemaeus kicked the bucket.

Tellarknights will always be viable and relevant. It is a deck focus on gathering resources via pluses in hand & field advantage, and can adapt to the meta by rearranging its trap lineup. Now that the meta has neglected the usage of Effect Veiler, I would safe it is a safe timing for these bright knights to sneak into the meta and contest as a consistent tier 2 deck.


Interestingly enough, this card's artwork seems to suggest that El-Shaddoll Construct & Ptolemaeus has joined forces while they are trapped in the forbidden banlist realm.

First Qli, now this. Next up: Shaddoll? Nekroz?

Edit: This card against HEROes is a bad matchup. They will just summon any HERO, even Bubbleman, Mask Change it to Anki then destroy you with it, and finally, turn the tables with Dark Law.

#LAWl