For those of you who know me on Dueling Network, (TahmidZaman) probably have noticed the unlimited amount of matches I was playing with "Plus One" Fire Fist all week long. At the start of my testing I used to think every match up was controllable to a certain extent within all 3 games except for the Fire Fist mirror match. I thought this because with the popularity of [ccProd]Full House[/ccProd] rising, most of the games would be won with whoever was able to resolve this card first along with a follow up push. Another reason for why I thought this way was because whoever didn't have their [ccProd]Forbidden Lance[/ccProd] would most likely fall behind in most scenarios due to the fact that their opponents monster is able to stick to the board backed with the right traps, especially if the player with no Forbidden Lances was going second. But after testing the mirror match constantly, my thoughts on the match up and how it was played was changed . I had learned that certain cards in every standard Fire Fist deck alone completely altered the way I played my games.
Full House
This card is basically the new aged Heavy Storm in the Fire Fist mirror, but it can only be played if there's 2 face-up
Spell/Trap cards and 3 set Spell/Trap cards. This card can easily be played with face-up Fire Formation cards lying around on one or both sides of the field and with the mass amount of traps that Fire Fist plays. However, there's certain different ways I learned to play against this card. One way I played around this card was by setting no more than 3 cards on my opening turn when I didn't have a Fire Formation Spell. I did this because if I were to set more than 3 cards, and I play 1 of my responsive traps while there is a face up Fire Formation card on the field my opponent can simply chain Full House and clear my backrow. Another reason for only setting up to 3 would be since they can play [ccProd]Mystical Space Typhoon[/ccProd] while there is a face-up Fire Formation card on the field, and even if it were to hit your own Mystical Space Typhoon, they can chain their Full House wiping out the other 3 backrow. Now let's say you opened [ccProd]Fire Formation - Tenki[/ccProd]. You can't set 3 this time either, unless you have a copy of Mystical Space Typhoon ready for their Tenki since they can just play Full House and clear out all your backrow. Technically, it's not even completely safe because what happens if they don't open Tenki and just Full House? They can still find a way to play the card if they have a responsive trap and if you can't play one of your set cards in response to that trap, they can chain Full House and still clear the other 3 backrow. You could chain that set Mystical Space Typhoon that you decided to set, targeting one of their backrow in response to the trap card played so that if they do play Full House they would be forced to destroy one of their own backrow. But you obviously can't assume that they're going to always have the card right? There's also another scenario where they play Tenki while you don't have Mystical Space Typhoon but you hope they normal summon a monster so you can play one of your 3 backrow and not fall into Full House without them having to destroy one of their own cards. But what if they're one step ahead and decide to not normal summon a monster for turn? The best way to play around Full House while opening Tenki is by setting no more than 2 cards. Not only does this force them to destroy 1 of their own backrows if they attempt to play their Full House, it also still plays around Forbidden Lance. (I'll elaborate on this in the next topic.)
Forbidden Lance
Your opponent played Pot of Duality last turn and decided to add Forbidden Lance, the other 2 options being [ccProd]Upstart
Goblin[/ccProd] and [ccProd]Dimensional Prison[/ccProd]. You have 2 set cards which are Dimensional Prison and [ccProd]Fiendish Chain[/ccProd] and you have just ripped a fresh Bear off the top putting your hand to 1 which you opt to normal summon and attack with. Your opponent responds with [ccProd]Book of Moon[/ccProd] which you obviously have no response for. On their turn they draw to 3 and he normal summons his own[ccProd]Brotherhood of the Fire Fist - Bear[/ccProd]. He then follows up with [ccProd]Fire Formation - Tensu[/ccProd] and activating Bear effect to pop. What do you do here? Do you Fiendish Chain here? What I did was allow the Bear pop to go through. He then proceeds to enter the battle phase and declares an attack. What do you do now? Are you thinking of responding to the attack with Dimensional Prison? Here, I decide to play my Fiendish Chain, he responds with Forbidden Lance to which I chain Dimensional Prison. Why did I allow the Bear pop to go through, and waste my Fiendish Chain on an attack when I had Dimensional Prison? To play around Forbidden Lance. Forbidden Lance has to be one of the most devastating cards in the mirror match. This card alters the way the players in the mirror match set and play their traps. Earlier I said to play around Full House while you open a Fire Formation card by setting no more than 2 cards, also allowing you to play around lance. By having 2 chainable traps set, you're able to play 
around 2 cards that are able to blow out the mirror match. The combination of trap cards to be able to play around Forbidden Lance is:
Attack Response + Attack Response (Ex. Dimensional Prison, [ccProd]Mirror Force[/ccProd], [ccProd]Memory of an Adversary[/ccProd])
Summon Response + Summon Response (Ex. [ccProd]Bottomless Trap Hole[/ccProd], [ccProd]Trap Hole[/ccProd], [ccProd]Torrential Tribute[/ccProd])
Fiendish Chain/Book of Moon/[ccProd]Overworked[/ccProd] + Attack Response/Summon Response
Fiendish Chain + Book of Moon/[ccProd]Overworked[/ccProd]
Fiendish Chain + Fiendish Chain WOULD NOT work because at the end of the chain, Forbidden Lance would still make it unaffected even though Fiendish was the last card on the chain. It doesn't work in the other scenarios because the monster is no longer face-up on the field while with 2 Fiendish Chains the monster still is face-up.
Situations like the one above also come where you have to play your Fiendish Chain/Book of Moon (non-removal cards) before you play your actual removal cards. The reason you do this is because if they were to have the Forbidden Lance, you're able to actually remove the monster from the field. However, I recommend when you play one of those 2 cards that you do it when you have a follow up because on the following turn your opponent can draw Mystical Space Typhoon, (If they don't have it already) or flip their monster back up on the next turn if you were unable to get rid of it. Also, take into consideration there's also times where you will have to keep your summon response cards for the later game.
Coach Soldier Wolf Bark + Brother Hood Of The Fire Fist -Bear/Gorilla
You have [ccProd]Bottomless Trap Hole[/ccProd] and Dimensional Prison set and your opponent summons Brotherhood of the Fire Fist - Bear while they have another Fire Fist monster in graveyard. Your opponent has 1 card in his hand that he just top decked. Those are all the cards both you and your opponent have. Do you Bottomless Trap Hole or wait for him to attack and use your Dimensional Prison? You wait to Dimensional Prison because you're thinking of the top decks your opponent can have. This was a very simplified example of the point I'm trying to get across but while Forbidden Lance should be taken into consideration while you play your trap cards in a certain order, Coach Soldier Wolfbark and Brother Hood of the Fire Fist - Bear/Gorilla should also be taken into consideration as well. There are situations that occur where playing around Forbidden Lance isn't the most optimal play and holding your summon responsive cards is. This is to prevent your monsters/backrow being destroyed by the opposing Bear/Gorilla or not being able to respond to Coach Soldier Wolfbark which makes XYZ's that gains advantage without attacking. (Ex. [ccProd]Brotherhood of the Fire Fist - Tiger King[/ccProd]/[ccProd]Brotherhood of the Fire Fist - Cardinal[/ccProd], [ccProd]Daigusto Emeral[/ccProd], [ccProd]Number 50: Blackship of Corn[/ccProd], [ccProd]Number 101: Silent Honor Ark[/ccProd], [ccProd]Evilswarm Exciton Knight[/ccProd], etc.)
The Fire Fist mirror match has many different blowout cards, but they're also able to be played around by setting/playing your trap cards correctly. I hope this article doesn't only help those who play Fire Fist, but also helps those who play decks that contain an array of traps. Once again, if any of you have any article ideas for me please email me at Tahmidzaman@aol.com!
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