Lightning Deity

The Lightning Deities are an Archetype of LIGHT, Thunder-Type monsters first debuted in Nature's Vengeance, with additional support in Age of Dark Awakening. All Lightning Deities follow a pattern of having DEF which is one-fourth of their ATK. Most are based on thunder/storm gods from various world mythologies, such as Thor (Thure) and Susanoo (Susai).

The strategy with Lightning Deities relies on activating effects by reducing their ATK. The effects vary, but usually involve destroying cards or weakening opponent's monsters. Some Lightning Deities' effects are made to work with one another, like Sett's and Ohma-Juu's. An additional effect all Lightning Deities share is the ability to attack directly when their ATK is reduced to half of the original ATK, adding an extra dimension of strategy to this Archetype.

Most support cards for Lightning Deities are designed to compensate or eliminate the drawbacks to using their effects (such as not being able to attack during the same turn they activate), or to exploit the fact that they can attack directly when weakened. For example, Drain Lance, which changes a Lightning Deity's ATK to half of its original, while simultaneously eliminating the need to reduce its ATK. The Field Spell card, Damavand - Realm of the Lightning Gods also allows Lightning Deities to attack directly much sooner than normal.