What’s up boys and girls, its T-Time! For the first time in a very long time, I might add. I will first apologize for my absence for I have been busy with school among other things. Many people who saw some of the top tables of YCS Kansas City observed that I was playing Chain Burn. This is definitely a deck that any player fears. Most decks don’t have any defense in their main or side deck for it. They don’t know how to play against it, and even if they do, there is no sure way of consistently defeating it. Going into the event, I was convinced that the deck was 90% unbeatable in the right hands. Though I did not do as well as I had hoped, I still believe the deck is extremely good and has the potential to be tier 1. This is the build that I used for Kansas City:
Monsters: 7
Swift Scarecrow x3
Lava Golem x2
Maxx “C” x2
Magic: 8
Pot of Duality x3
One Day of Peace x3
Chain Strike x2
Traps: 25
Jar of Greed x3
Legacy of Yata-Garasu x3
Reckless Greed x3
Accumulated Fortune x3
Just Deserts x3
Secret Barrel x3
Dimension Wall x3
Magic Cylinder x2
Ceasefire
Threatening Roar
As you can clearly see, Royal Decree is a problem. This is not the build that I would currently use, but I will go over that later. My monster lineup was simple. I didn’t want anything that had the potential to sit on the field and get destroyed. I wanted cards like Mind Control and Enemy Controller to be completely useless. Plus, direct attacks were welcomed, since getting off a Dimension Wall is generally going to end the game. Swift Scarecrow was a better choice than Battle Fader since it doesn’t need to be Special Summoned. This avoids some tech cards as well as Solemn Warning, which when activated during a Battle Fader drop could mean the difference between game for you or game for them. Lava Golem is important because outside of that extra burn damage he does, he also deals with problem monsters including Thunder King Rai-Oh, Naturia Barkion, and Naturia Beast. His big 3000 attack makes people very wary about attacking with him, since generally a Dimension Wall or Magic Cylinder would end the game. His effect can also force the start of a chain, in case you need extra links and they aren’t taking the bait.
Maxx “C” was a last minute decision, but one that I stand by. It can add a chain link to an already full Spell/Trap Zone. It always replaces itself since every deck Special Summons these days, but it can also give you a plus. The problem is that even if your opponent stops, you aren’t running a “normal” deck so you can’t take advantage of attacking over even a Glow-Up Bulb. For this tournament I was glad I played them, but now I would probably side them and main deck Metaion, the Timelord instead. I neglected playing it due to my reluctance to put monsters on the field, but it is far too good to not play. Bouncing back an opponent’s field isn’t always good, since you want them to set themselves up for Just Deserts and Ceasefire, but Metaion can do so much more than that. The damage is often irrelevant, but it can slow your opponent down enough for you to burn them out in the next few turns.
One Day of Peace is one of the best cards to ever happen to this deck. It allows you to not have to play as many cards like Waboku and Threatening Roar. It replaces itself while buying you a turn from all damage. The downside is that your opponent gets to draw a card, and you cannot do any damage to them until the end of their next turn. You should always wait to do damage and just set up with draw cards. Your opponent drawing a card isn’t always a bad thing either, since often they don’t have any outs in their deck what so ever and as they gain advantage, the faster they will lose to cards like Secret Barrel. One Day of Peace is so multipurpose that it should always be your number one pick off of Pot of Duality, unless of course another choice will get you game. Speaking of Pot of Duality, I have chosen to cut in my newer builds. Though it is an amazing card in this deck, it is totally dead against Thunder King Rai-Oh. I didn’t go to zero on the card, and honestly it is a preference, but I’ve lost several games to Thunder King because I had these dead Pots in my hand with no reasonable way to get rid of their monster. I put Ojama Trio back in the deck for this card and Threatening Roar, leaving Pot of Duality at 2.
The Trap lineup is pretty solid and you can’t do a whole lot to change that. The most important thing about chain burn is knowing how to play the deck. You do not want to play your burn cards early, since you want to be able to hit for well over 1000 per card. As a rule of thumb, you should never activate Chain Strike for less than 2000 damage (unless setting up for Accumulated Fortune), Secret Barrel for less than 1200, Dimension Wall/Magic Cylinder for under 1700, or Just Deserts/Ceasefire for less than 1500. That is of course unless you have to, in which case fire away. You also want to be cautious of how you play your draw cards. You need to remember the rules of Accumulated Fortune and Chain Strike, so you want to make sure you don’t use up all of your Legacy of Yata Garasus and get stuck with only Jar of Greeds. Reckless Greed shouldn’t be activated on its own unless you are drawing enough cards to statistically draw into another one. This has to be estimated due to the changing number of cards in your deck, but can be done on the fly by a impromptu calculation of the hyper geometric formula. Basic poker math and upper level probability can help you a lot with this deck and I will discuss that thoroughly in my next article.
Never activate any of your stall cards unless you have to in order to save yourself from game. The point of your deck early on is to draw cards while your opponent over commits and gains advantage. Dimension Wall and Magic Cylinder are easy to catch your opponent with early on. Don’t set a lot of cards off the bat either, since you don’t want them to know what you’re playing. Plus they may be more inclined to waste a Heavy Storm on what they would believe is a two for one, and walk into two Jar of Greeds. If you are able to activate multiple Reckless Greeds or an Accumulated Fortune during the game, there is really no excuse to lose on your side of the board. Of course if your opponent activates one of your problem cards, that changes things, but the point is that your odds of winning increase dramatically. Remember that advantage on your side of the field is based directly on the number of turns, not comparably to your opponent. Your opponent ideally will have a lot more advantage than you, and you can capitalize on that with your burn cards. The best way to beat Chain Burn is to get rid of all of your cards. If they do that, they may be in trouble.
This deck is also one of the cheapest you can possibly run, especially if you cut Maxx “C”. For the meta, it’s best matchup is against Plants, but it can have some trouble with Karakuris so make sure you are siding Cyber Dragons. If karakuri’s explode and you stall the attack, you should win due to their commitment to the field and their card advantage. With plants, they pretty much don’t have a chance. Dark World can also be tricky because they can cost themselves all of their advantage, or give you the kiss of death: Eradicator Epidemic Virus. Dino Rabbit isn’t so bad, just know that Lava Golem is your best friend in this matchup. Also realize that Evolzar Laggia and Evolzar Dolkka both go on the chain, which can be very important to their own demise. Just make sure you can out think your opponent. Agents are best beaten by their over commitment to the field and every time you activate Dimension Wall or Magic Cylinder, you will be hitting them for at least 2000 damage. They also like to do damage to themselves due to Venus’s effect, so that will help. Gladiator Beasts are a huge problem, just try to do as much damage to them off of Walls and Cylinders before they get the chance to summon Heraklinos on you.
Hopefully this was a helpful guide to playing this deck as well as finding a deck that is very affordable in the current meta. I hope that it opened your eyes to the fact that you can still win tournaments without Tour Guide from the Underworld, Rescue Rabbit, or an Extra Deck.
Thanks for reading , feel free to comment, and I promise I will be back with more articles soon.
Thunderpants
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