Matt here with a Fire Fist deck I’ve been running for the past week. Here’s the build for your reference: [Link].
I tried to go for an aggressive Fire Fist deck, and tested out some new cards from Lord of the Tachyon Galaxy.
Till running Fire Fists, I had underestimated the power of Bear. The deck I took to regionals, Ninja Dragons, isn’t afraid of 1600 ATK monsters that act like a better Exiled Force. But once I understood the card, I admit that I see why there’s so much hype around it.
Bear is unique in that it is a self-contained, deck-thinning destruction engine. It makes every card you can activate in the damage step lethal, on top of being a plus-1 in almost every instance. Adding it to your hand with Tenki is a plus-1, summoning Bear and destroying a monster maintains that plus-1, and then doing battle damage to search is another plus-1. Even if Bear is destroyed when it attacks, you maintain your advantage and also bait out an opponent’s backrow.
It’s so easy to keep on the field too. Forbidden Lance and Forbidden Dress do too good of a job covering you when your opponent has no monsters, or if your opponent attacks into your Bear.
I’ve run Dragon in another beast-warrior deck before and only found it somewhat useful. That continues in this more pure Fire Fist deck.
I’m not fond of Dragon, since it’s effect needs you to play Fire Formation cards out of your hand that could (should) be saved for later. While its effect does go off if you activate Fire Formation trap cards, there are not many situations where that should happen. Tensen, the ATK boosting trap card, should only be activated during the damage step so that it can avoid as much interruption as possible. There’s such a slim window for Tenken, the effect negating/protection card, to be activated while Dragon is on the field that it’s not worth mentioning.
However, all that pales in comparison to Dragons ability to Special Summon a Fire Fist monster by sending 2 Fire Formations to the grave. Fire Fists do generate backrow very quickly, but under the right conditions. I think Dragon and Bear’s effects come at a crossroads. While you want to blow things up with Bear and attack directly, you also want to use those resources for Dragon. Bear is clearly the more effective card, so how and when do you have time for Dragon? That question has lead me to view Dragon as a usable win-more card that competes with Enthusiastic King Wolfberk for space.
In contrast to Dragon, Snake seems designed as a monster that helps maintain the status quo. Every time you use Bear and Gorilla, or Special Summon with Dragon, Snake is working to eliminate all costs.
The most beneficial attribute to Snake is that it sets you up for the next two turns. Because you can set the ATK boost Tensen trap, or the protective Tenken trap, you tell get to tell your opponent that your monsters are off limits during the Battle Phase or the Main Phase. If they fail, you can use the trap that Snake provided during your turn for Bear or Gorilla.
Snake’s effect can be used during your opponents turn, so if they Heavy Storm or MST, you have a reason to chain your trap. Also interestingly enough, Snake’s effect will go off when a Fire Formation is sent from either the hand, deck, or field to the graveyard.
I wanted to try out Scrap Iron because I usually see Fire Fist monsters supported by completely obvious backrow. Instead of Fiendish Chain, I wanted a card that could be re-used. A lot of Fire Fist defense is one and done, and Scrap Iron increases pressure on the opponent immensely. Bear can survive, and combo into a Snake or Dragon, another Bear or a Gorrila. Scrap Iron saves the use of Fire Formation traps, Lance and Dress so that Bear’s effect can remove the useless Tenkis and Tensus that pile up and save those nasty surprises for later.
Scrap Iron also creates a nice buffer. Organizing the Battle Phase so that both players know exactly what’s going to happen is important for mind games. It moves things out of the damage step, that last line of defense for Fire Fists, and reinforces the importance of Bear.
Coming from Lord of the Tachyon Galaxy, Bull is another card that plays well with Snake. It’s the monster you can throw around since you can always Xyz with it. It’s not a very productive Normal Summon, but it’s great alongside a Reborn Tengu, another of the deck’s disposable monsters.
I’ve played with this deck a little over a dozen times now, and have only summoned it once. I value the monsters on the field, much more than I value Cardinal at this point. The effect to shuffle Fire Formations back into the deck is nice, but it doesn’t provide a way to get them back. So it ends fun.
Bear does its job well enough, where Cardinal just seems unnecessary. I may take out every other Xyz monster in order to focus my attention on it specifically, but that seems like too much of a chore for a deck I built for fun!
Please, Don’t Stop the Music
Konami really designed an archeytpe after a cool theme. Fire Formations (Flame Dance cards in japanese) really turn up the heat on your opponent. The quicker you can get dancing, the more secure your victory.
Jack Rabbit
Since I wasn’t building my deck around Rescue Rabbit, my view of Fire Fist cards like Bear and Dragon, are slated accordingly.
I said I would talk about Book of Moon in my last article, so I will!
So, I don’t like giving anybody boring ideas we’ve all heard before, and today’s no different. We all know the obvious stuff this card is for, but let me turn you away from those drab ideas for a moment and entice you with some more obscure things to be doing with the card Onslaught of the Fire Kings.
‘Sup everybody? Back again with some more HERO propaganda using Neos and a new card Message in a Bottle.
This week I’ll get back into the swing with some more deck ideas. Today’s idea is Heraldic Beasts and all that they entail.
Been a busy week, so I’m just going to fall-back on an update on my current HERO deck.
Zombie support? Maybe. But an amazing side deck choice this format? For sure.
Hey, Matt here. I’ve been thinking about this subject for a while and wanted to get your thoughts on the matter. So, Konami has transformed Yugioh into a game where you can basically leave your deck face-up for the majority of the duel, shuffling it face-down every once and awhile to draw for your turn.
It’s no surprise to anyone either, the best decks have access to their power cards quickly and efficiently, and use cards that set them up for game winning plays.
I’m talking about Merlanteans, Fire Fists, Chaos Dragons, Prophecy, Harpies, Darkworlds, Machines. These decks allow us to make decisions about the duel at its current state, and at the same time, provide us with options to invest in set-up for future turns.
If your deck relies on drawing into cards to solve problems, or help you set up, you’ll be slower than every deck Konami is producing, and doomed to fall behind.
“Draw” does have its place. Six Sams come to mind. They use United to draw like mad men, but because drawing into unpredictable cards is inferior to the options available to decks that can “perfect search,” they start to run cards that give them control over the pace of the duel, allowing them to buffer the difference in speed. But, relying on this strategy is inherently unpredictable and one of the reasons Sams are ignored by Konami.
It’s an interesting situation where you have to look at every card and really evaluate its purpose in your deck. How many monsters are competing for your Normal Summon? Can a card be used defensively and offensively? Are “staples” really doing anything to further the goal of your deck, or are they just hampering the consistency of your plays. Can you run cards that both support your deck and defend against your weaknesses?
XYZ support is another interesting factor. Dragons have incredible XYZ, Atum and Queen Dragun, while Machines have Gear Gigant and technically Big Eye, and Wind-ups had Zenmaightey. These monsters, and more – like the Karakuri Synchros – help you thin your deck and go off, allowing you to author offensive or defensive fields very quickly. We call them threats.
Decks that haven’t been spoiled have to rely on a lot of the generic XYZ monsters, whose counters are all easily accessible, and do not consistently move decks forward in their goals. Monsters like Maestroke and Utopia give less combo based decks an option to stall for cards, but those monsters are meaningless if you don’t get the cards you need. I consider these monsters “sliding scale monsters.” When I see one, I know that my opponent has taken the time to divert from their main strategy in an attempt to slow me down, thus the scale tips in my favor.
None of this is written in stone, playing smart and making good decisions during a game is just as important as running the right cards and building a good deck.
That’s my article for today, hope you guys enjoy.
Continuing the series I’ve got some more ideas this week involving XYZ Remora and some other fishy stuff.
