Introduction to Nordic

Gullveig

A Link 1 that Special Summons up to 3 monsters from the Deck would break any other archetype. Nordics just become playable instead. Imagine if it also searched the Field Spell :^)

Gullveig is your main, and most of the time, only playmaker. Nordics on their own can't really make much aside from Gullveig, so run as many copies as possible. If your Extra Deck space is tight you can run 2; but there will be Duels where you'll have to make 2 Gullveigs in 1 turn to lose 1 less card.

GULLVEIG DOES NOT BANISH AS COST!

You can banish Gullveig itself as one of the cards, which means you can get any Nordic from the Deck whenever you want by simply Summoning 1 Nordic, Linking it into Gullveig and banishing that Gullveig.

The Aesir-lock is part of Gullveig's effect. If it is negated you can still Summon/Set non-Aesirs.

...and the Aesirs

You end your first turn on one of these guys. They require 1 Tuner from a Nordic branch and 2+ any non-Tuners, and they use those Tuners to revive.

Generally you'll end on Odin (you go 2+4+4) because this Deck has two very important Level 4 non-Tuners (Alviss and Ivaldi), and only Nordic Ascendants have a playable Level 2 Tuner (Valk). Odin has the best stats and the only relevant revive effect, which is this Deck's only draw power. Its on field effect is not a Quick Effect but it comes up vs Trap Decks.

You can end on Thor instead of Odin if you use Ivaldi before Gullveig or already have an Alviss in GY (you go 3+4+3), or are going second vs a monster-heavy board. Only Nordic Beasts have a Level 3 Tuner (Bursti) and it can Synchro any Aesir which is great. Thor has the second highest ATK but the lowest DEF. Thor's on field effect is a Loading... which too isn't a Quick Effect, but it definitely comes up more than the others'.

You end on Loki in dedicated builds (it's a Level 10 DARK Spellcaster so it gets a lot of third party support). It has the lowest ATK but has more DEF than Thor, which comes up if Odin is removed and you suspect an OTK: Alviss' GY effect can Summon Loki in DEF instead of Thor in ATK. Loki has a Quick Effect backrow negate during your Battle Phase only, so Aesirs are just vanillas on your opponent's turn. At least Loki can negate a clueless guy's Loading... , Loading... etc. on your turn.

Always run all 3 Aesirs. You can run 2 Odins if you're on 2 Valks and/or because 2 Odins are lethal vs an empty board.

Alviss

This is the Aesir dispenser. Unfortunately it doesn't properly Summon them with either effect.

You can banish only Alviss with Gullveig if you don't have any fodder cards like Loading... or if you want to keep the freebies your other engines give you. Otherwise banishing only Alviss for your entire turn will play around Loading... by ending your turn on exactly 4 Summons. You don't even have to send correct materials; just reach Level 10 with any 3 Nordics.

Its second effect lets Aesirs ignore one of them getting Kaiju'd, Super Poly'd, their Summon negated, or even milled from the Extra Deck... once per Duel. This effect cannot be used during the Damage Step.

Run as many as possible, otherwise you'll have to banish 3 a lot. If you banish only Alviss you'll still have to mill 1 so run at least 2.

Don't use its effect under cards like Loading... . You'll banish 3 instead and NOT Summon an Aesir.

Ivaldi

Free Summon. Relic search. This means Gullveig can get you any Nordic monster(s) and any Nordic Relic you want from the Deck.

Ivaldi can be Special Summoned from the Deck with Loading... and Loading... .

It's the best Nordic to open, best Nordic to Summon from the Deck, and one of the best Nordics to draw into. Run as many as possible.

If you banish only Alviss with Gullveig's effect and Special Summon Ivaldi, you get to choose the Chain Link order of the banished Alviss and the Ivaldi on the field. CL1 Ivaldi CL2 Alviss plays around cards like Loading... and Loading... .

Bursti

Synchros any Aesir, revives Thor, unbricks your Nordic riddled hands, recovers Nordics, and can give a freebie for Gullveig. It's also a "Rescue" monster by Type and stats and can be Summoned with Loading... !

Bursti's effect means Gullveig can get you any Nordic monster(s) and Nordic Relic you want from the Deck, plus another Nordic monster from the GY!

After your first turn, you can Normal Bursti and get either Ivaldi or Alviss from GY to do things. It is by far the best Nordic to draw into.

Opening it may not mean much sometimes but you always want to have it after your first turn so run as many as possible.

Bursti can Special Summon another Bursti from hand. Bursti cannot get another Bursti from GY.

Goat

Call them Black Goat and White Goat. Bursti needs a Level 3 non-Tuner to make Aesirs. The Goats' effects hardly come up but they give you a huge swing in momentum when they do.

Black Goat's first effect can stop lethal which is something to remember when you go first and drop a Maxx C on your opponent's turn. After that it can Special Bursti from the Deck, which can Special another Nordic from the hand, get Ivaldi from the GY, Special that too and add a Relic, then you can make Baronne (or an Aesir I guess) without even Normal Summoning!

🐐 has low enough ATK to easily crash into things, but it is also just high enough to run over all unprotected Barrier Statues and tie Fossil Dyna in Attack. You can use both Tokens for Cherubini, or since they're "Nordic" monsters by name you can make Gullveig with one and banish the other as a freebie!

Run 2 Goats because you don't really want to see them in your hand and Goats staying in the Deck is good for Gullveig. Most run 2B 0W and some run 1B 1W. It's up to you.

Black Goat's effects are soft once per turn but you can only activate one Black Goat in hand at a time. Its second effect also works if it is Flip Summoned. It will miss timing if its position is changed from Defence to Attack in Chain Link 2+.

White Goat's effect is mandatory and if it cannot Summon exactly 2 Tokens it will not Summon any.

Valk

Valk is a garnet. It's there for when you have to get both Ivaldi and Alviss from the Deck, which is the most common play outside of Nordic engines. If you open all copies of your Valk without a way to put one more Nordic on the field, you'll lose out on either Ivaldi's Relic search or an Alviss in GY.

Nordic engines don't have to run any Valk; you'll always go for Bursti + Alviss + Black Goat even when banishing only Alviss, thanks to Invoker Summoning Ivaldi. Some Nordic engines can search or Special Summon Valk from the Deck via Loading... and Diviner respectively, so they can choose to run 1. If Nordics are the main strategy of your Deck, you should run 2 copies just to be safe.

You're never using Valk's effect. But if you can resolve it you can do some ridiculous crap with Isolde + Spright Elf etc.

Valk is not a "Valkyrie" monster and Einherjar Tokens are not "Nordic" monsters.

Dverg

Dverg is the first card in the game that after being Normal Summoned lets you gain an extra Normal Summon for its archetype that turn. Cool huh?

A Link 1 turbo Deck hardly ever needs another Normal Summon. Its Level is too low to Summon Aesirs conventionally. Your best Relic stays on the field and is usually removed by Loading... banishing it.

However, it can be used to unbrick your hands like Bursti. It can add Relics from your GY to your hand, which isn't once per turn. There's even a way to recycle Gungnir repeatedly.

If your Deck uses Isolde to extend into Nordics you'll want to run at least 1 Dverg for its low level. Otherwise its ratio is up to you.

Its extra Normal Summon effect cannot be negated with Loading... , Rite etc. Some of your opponents won't know this so they'll waste a card they should have used on Gullveig.

Dverg's GY effect is mandatory and always puts itself to CL1.

Svalinn 🛡

A mass negate you can use every turn. It has a second effect there somewhere, you won't be activating it much, if at all, because you can only choose one effect per turn. You can get it from the Deck with Ivaldi, and you can get it from the GY with Dverg (or Loki).

The best field Nordics can put on their own is Gullveig pointing to an Aesir, and this Set. It just takes a single Summon so it's pretty cool.

You must run Svalinn. It's the whole reason you're playing this Deck. You can run the second copy as backup if your first one is gone, since it isn't that difficult to get an Ivaldi from the Deck/GY.

🔫gnir

It's a pop 1! Gungnir turns any Nordic/Aesir into a dollar store DPE and enables Scythe lock!

You can Normal any Nordic, Link into Gullveig, banish it, Special Ivaldi, and add Gungnir. This means you can Normal Summon a pop 1 at the very least. It's just like Zoodiac!

It's the only other disruption Nordics have so running just 1 is okay. If your endboard doesn't ever have Gullveig then you can ignore Gungnir.

If Gungnir resolves but the target is not destroyed, your banished monster will return. If Gungnir's activation or effect is negated, your banished monster will not return. If you use a Nordic Beast Token for Gungnir, the Token will obviously not return.

You can recycle Gungnir like this: Special Ivaldi with Hlid, add Gungnir. On your next turn, banish Hlid from GY to add Dverg, Normal Dverg. Link Gullveig with it. CL1 Dverg gets Gungnir from GY, CL2 Gullveig banishes itself and Specials Bursti from Deck. Bursti gets Dverg from GY. On your next turn, Normal Dverg. You can repeat this as long as you have Gullveigs in Extra and Burstis in Main Deck.

Hlid 🪑

A card nobody asked for and everybody wishes was a Quick-Play. Hlidsfgsdfgsdlh makes one card Aesirs without using Gullveig, but not really on your first turn! Bummer.

It has extremely limited usage for your first turn; such as sending it from your hand with Fateful to use its GY effect, or making Awakening of the Possessed - Nefariouser Archfiend which revives a Nordic after and lifts Hlid's restriction.

After your first turn, if you have Bursti or Ivaldi in your hand you can use either with Hlid to make said "one card Aesirs without using Gullveig". Then on the next turn you can banish it to add Bursti/Ivaldi again and do even more plays (or Dverg to add a Relic from GY), which is neat but far too slow of a gameplan for Nordics and for the current state of the game.

If you find yourself winning Duels too fast to  rely on Hlid feel free to cut it. Otherwise you may like having 1 just in case.

Gungnir removes Hlid's restriction even if the monster returns to the field.

Hlid's first effect and Gullveig's effect on Link Summon lock each other out.

Top and Borg are the ultimate Rank 3 Summoners. They can make many things; including Invoker to get Ivaldi from the Deck or Gossip Shadow as protection against Nibiru etc.

It's called Fenrir so it's a Nordic card thanks. Free body, eats Apollo for breakfast going second, and can be used for a Rank 7 with Gryphon.

Eldlich is a decent removal tool for going second and can make Rank 10s with your Aesir. Both of its costs can be fulfilled with Dracoback.

Nefa can Special itself from the Deck. How cool is that? It lifts Hlid's restriction, revives a monster (almost always a Nordic), and probably gets banished by Gullveig. It is better off in combo oriented Nordic builds like SHS.

You can chain E-Tele to Gullveig and Summon Telepon from your hand or Deck to banish both it and E-Tele. After that you can chainblock your Ivaldi with the banished Telepon to banish Psi-Blocker from your Deck until your next Standby. When Psi-Blocker comes back, you'll be able to negate any 1 card in the game.

Psi-Blocker prevents activating the declared card, also negates ALL the effects of that card for 2 turns. For example you can declare Loading... to make it targetable, unable to gain attack, and unable to shuffle anything, also your opponent won't be able to Summon any copy of it.

Ghost Ogre is a Level 3 Psychic Tuner handtrap that can be used on the field too, if you have a spare E-Tele lying around for example.

Unusable in Adventure Nordics due to Rite. Otherwise it's decent.

Formud Skipper is the one non-Nordic you can use to Link Summon Gullveig, and then chainblock Gullveig to search a Cyberse monster.

IOC + Souls turn the Adventure engine into a mulligan 2 at worst, and a draw 1 at best (if Gullveig banishes itself). It also let Nordics make the super copium 4 card combo of "Souls + Dverg for Loading... -> Loading... -> Loading... , wipe the field once or twice, then activate Rite and Normal another Nordic in MP2 and pretend nothing happened" when going second.

They were mostly used during the Halq era since the Halq combo required banishing Gullveig. Nowadays you can run them if you're on Mikanko.

Speaking of free Level 1 bodies on board, Adhara too lets you make the copium play going second, and it alternatively can make Loading... with Adventure Token/Ivaldi etc.

If you're running Herald in Nordics, you can add Sauravis instead of IOC. It's a defensive handtrap for your monsters.

You can chain Quick-Play Spells to Gullveig and banish them after. Called and Crossout can protect Gullveig from handtraps so they're even better.

Hippo Carnival's got Gullveig covered with 3 Tokens. Its second effect can stop lethal for a turn if you control 1 other monster, even after the Tokens are dealt with (unless your opponent can attack directly or has unaffected monster(s)).

You can chain Eagle Booster to Gullveig so it is protected from everything as you banish it. You can also chain Hornet Drones to banish both it and the Token. Engage searches them.

Don't forget that you're supposed to control nothing in your Main Monster Zone to use these.

You can chain E-Tele to Gullveig and banish both the monster and the Spell. DD Telepon is the best because it can then chainblock Ivaldi and Summon either a Psi Blocker or Ghost Ogre on your next turn. Alternatively you can Summon any Level 3 to make Rank 3s, or Ghost Ogre during your opponent's turn as disruption.

This is a funny one. If you equip to this your Aesir as Gullveig points to it, your opponent won't be able to target anything anywhere with card effects. Can be a Side Deck option.

This does not have anti-synergy with Odin's effect because you can equip cards to unaffected monsters, and this card affects only your opponent.

Putting this here just for its novelty. Yeah this card can add Rescue Cat but more importantly it can add Bursti!

If you resolve Gravity Collapse you (almost always) win the Duel. You can revive your Aesir with Svalinn (provided you Synchro Summoned it) on the same turn you used this card, or you can use its negate that turn, then revive on your turn. This card is unplayable if you go second.

This card is commonly sided in Nordics. It's the only Synchro Deck in which Gravity Collapse is a win condition rather than a win more card.

Red Reign is what Gotterdammerung should have been. Assuming your Aesir(s) is the highest Level monster on the field, this card will protect your Aesir(s) (and other Level 10s on the field) from everything and banish every other monster! Kind of sucks if you have other important monsters on the field. You may want to play a DARK Dragon Synchro to get this card back from the GY. Or use Loki's effect. Or not.

Whichever Super Poly targets you can think of.

Ultimate Slayer targets, and cards that make your opponent regret milling your Extra Deck. N'tss is especially good if you're on Diviner.

Give Cyber Dragon players the middle finger. Megafleet is okay into Crystron as well.

Give Branded players the middle finger. Maybe.

Nordics have always been good at Summoning Level 7 Synchros. Flipping Black Goat for Guldfaxe passed the torch to Bursti adding Ivaldi from GY.

Dragster can negate any Spell/Trap card or effect and does piercing damage. Clear Wing negates certain monster effects and can get huge in doing so.

Cyberse Quantum makes all of your other monsters untargettable and unattackable as long as you control a Link Monster. Additionally it can return an opponent's monster to hand and attack again. It is in the same secret pack as Accesscode Talker so that's neat.

Zeta is a f2p option that removes an opponent's Attack Position monster. Can help push for lethal.

Wind Pegasus pops 1 of your opponent's backrow without targeting. It's also yet another Ultimate Slayer target.

Kuibelt is an on-demand removal.

Sometimes you can make a Level 10 Synchro without locking yourself into Aesirs such as by flipping Black Goat to Attack position and Bursti + Gryphon.

Baronne is the best choice and Chengying has amazing synergy with Nordics.

Bursti + Ivaldi is a Level 7 Synchro. But what if you also had another Level 4 like Adventure Token lying around?

You'll usually use 3 monsters to make these. PEP targets a monster you control and a card your opponent control to banish both, so you'll use 4 monsters to out 1 card. Trish on Summon banishes up to 3 of your opponent's cards without targeting, so you'll use 3 monsters to out 3 cards. If removal is not your concern you can always stick with PEP for its huge ATK.

Just keep in mind that this Deck is most likely in a winning position to consider Level 11 Synchro plays so PEP may not have its protection. It's up to you if you need the high attack or the mass removal to close out the Duel.

Bursti + Ivaldi + Mimir makes Trish. Alternatively you can use the Lv11 Trish's effect to Summon it and permanently halve the attack of all of your opponent's monsters and negate their effects.

Herald of the Arc Light can be made with Dverg + Bursti. It is a floodgate that shuts down cards like Veiler and your own Alviss, plus it is an omninegate. You can use its Level 4 Synchro status for various Extra Deck plays. If it is sent to the GY you can add a Ritual Monster or a Ritual Spell which some Nordic builds can utilize.

SHS Nordics can make Level 8 Synchros.

Borreload Savage can equip SHS Scarecrow or Loading... .

Accel Synchro simply climbs into Baronne.

Omega can leave the field and handrip in doing so  for when you need 3 empty zones for Gullveig.

Packbit is another Ultimate Slayer target.

Naturia Beast can be made with Adhara + Adv Token/Ivaldi etc. It negates all Spells your opponent activates. lol. lmao.

These two are the best Rank 3s for Nordics. Invoker Summons Ivaldi from the Deck. Gossip Shadow protects from Nibiru and many more. You cannot use Gossip Shadow's effect under Droll.

Typhon is your other Link 1. Helps immensely in extremely simplified gamestates, such as when your Aesir is gone and you topdeck a random monster. If you're going second; you can get a fighting chance vs some boards with SP and/or Typhon.

It will prevent you from using your Aesirs' effects too but if you're resorting to Typhon that shouldn't matter.

You can use the Armored Xyz package to draw 1, attach an opponent's monster as material, convince your opponent that Crystalzero Lancer is Thor, and close out games. An alright choice if you have the space.

You can totally overlay Aesirs for some trains. Attacking with 2 Aesirs and then using Gustav for game comes up sometimes. Liebe not so much, but it may help having a 6000 ATK monster that can attack monsters twice or thrice. Liebe permanently gains the ATK/DEF boost.

SHS Nordics can make Rank 4s. You can Bagooska pass if you got hit by Maxx C or a Mulcharmy.

What's one more god in your Deck, right?

Zeus wipes the whole field. It has a secret effect that lets you fuel it back. 3-axis Nordics (and the super copium play) can Summon it with 4 mats thanks to Downerd (Gustav Liebe can do it too if you don't use their effects).

While extremely rare, you can make Rank 7s in Adventure Nordics. There are plenty of good Level 7s you can freely Summon like Gryphon, Illegal Knight, Kashtiras, Loading... , and Level 7 Synchros. FMD will make the fire rise by constantly burning the opponent and win in time. As for the other one...

• "If I pull that off will you die?"
• • "It would be extremely painful..."
• "You're a Big Eye."
• • "...For you."

If you're too hipster for Armored Xyz.

copium

Ultimate Slayer target.

SP is arguably the best Link 2 available. Banishing a card your opponent controls or in their GY is very good, especially because Nordics have no way of disrupting the GY. Its on-Summon effect is always ready thanks to the constant Link 1 access.

You can attack directly, then make SP on your MP2 and use its on-Summon effect.

Link Spider can turn the Adventure Engine into an SP with banish on Summon, or turn a Token into Typhon, or it can simply add 1000 more damage. It can alternatively open up a Main Monster Zone if your opponent is playing some janky Deck that clogs your Main Monster Zones.

These cards are Link 2s that can be made with Gullveig and then leave the field, so you can make another Gullveig to that zone right after to have another Aesir on the field. All of them remove a card in doing so, and they have decent arrows if their effects are negated (Agent Moon can still Tribute itself). Donner is the easiest one to Summon in theory but Agent Moon can be made with Gullveig and Adv Token which is a more common scenario. Donner can only pop your opponent's monster while Agent Moon can pop any of your opponent's cards, and Azalea can pop anything on the field.

You may need one of these to go for game etc.

More stuff so you can get rid of Gullveig. You can go for the nuclear option of Lyna -> Selene -> Accesscode. Lyna is preferred because Gullveig is Light. This play generally requires your opponent to have a Light monster in GY, at least 3 Spells on field/in GYs, and a Spellcaster in your GY that isn't a Link Monster (Alviss, Veiler, Loki etc.). You'll have an Acesscode with 5300 ATK and it can pop cards uninterrupted. It can banish itself too so you can still empty the Extra Monster Zone.

This pops Loading... by discarding 1. You may have to reluctantly run it if your Deck has no built-in way of outing Chaos Hunter and can actually afford to Summon this and discard 1 and get it off the field after.

This outs Loading... by attacking it. Useful if you have no built-in way of outing it.

Link away your opponent's problem monster. It has great effects too and happens to be a goddess in Mesopotamian mythology so the more gods the merrier.

If you want to dump Dverg but you're too hipster for Gullveig. Both Linkuriboh and Almiraj have a Quick Effect that can protect you.

Linkuriboh and Anima can out Destiny HERO - Dark Angel.

Ultimate Slayer target. Mills Garura to draw 1 after. There are no good Pendulum targets for Ultimate Slayer so just run your favourite Extra Deck Pend for that. I suggest Loading... for Norse authenticity.