Fire Fisting in Vegas Part II

March 20, 2014

Categories: Featured YuGiOh! Articles, YuGiOh!

by Dalton Bousman

As a follow up to the previous article, I figured it would be nice to give some insight on how I decided to construct my deck this weekend. I assume at first glance people do not immediately know which cards are better to put in and take out for certain match ups. This will hopefully help anyone out who is planning on attending the YCS this weekend, and playing a similar deck list that I played this past weekend with ideas for the next event, how to side, and maybe a few things to keep in mind while playing.

[ccProd]Mind Crush[/ccProd] was a really easy choice for me after ARGCS Charlotte. I main decked 3 copies because I hoped it would be another card like [ccProd]Fiendish Chain[/ccProd], really generic but decent verse a variety of match up. Before I had main decked [ccProd]Full House[/ccProd], and before that I was main decking [ccProd]Compulsory Evacuation Device[/ccProd], [ccProd]Dark Hole[/ccProd], Etc. These cards were good choices at the times, because they hit the decks harder that I thought would be more popular. Going into this event I felt there would be a bigger variety of what I played, and if you read my tournament report, it just so happened to turn out that way. Additionally, I really enjoy having cards that can control the game, and in the mirror match this cards does a great job of doing so. In the early game it helps play around [ccProd]Forbidden Lance[/ccProd] by discarding the cards, not allowing Lance to do its job. I also like it at the end of the game when you are going back and forth using [ccProd]Brotherhood of the Fire Fist – Tiger King[/ccProd] to add [ccProd]Fire Formation – Tenki[/ccProd], and getting another [ccProd]Coach Soldier Wolfbark[/ccProd]. When this game state starts to develop, every turn you draw you are scared to see those [ccProd]Cardcar D[/ccProd]ss and [ccProd]Pot of Duality[/ccProd]’s. The cards you like to see are Mind Crush, [ccProd]Solemn Warning[/ccProd], [ccProd]Bottomless Trap Hole[/ccProd], maybe [ccProd]Torrential Tribute[/ccProd], or [ccProd]Effect Veiler[/ccProd].

When I was siding versus Water, the plan was to take out 2 Effect Veiler, 3 Mind Crush, 1 Cardcar D and 1 Coach Solider Wolfbark. I would replace these cards with 2 [ccProd]Dimensional Prison[/ccProd], 3 [ccProd]Banisher of the Radiance[/ccProd], 1 [ccProd]Soul Drain[/ccProd], and 1 [ccProd]Dimensional Fissure[/ccProd]. I went with a complete blow out strategy. I accepted that I could not beat a turn one combo, and that I had to bank on that not happening, and being able to just control the game by protecting Banisher/ [ccProd]Abyss Dweller[/ccProd]. A lot of players went with a [ccProd]Maxx “C”[/ccProd], [ccProd]Debunk[/ccProd], and [ccProd]The Transmigration Prophecy[/ccProd] style side deck. I do not agree with this because Maxx “C” just is very underwhelming. You do not develop board presents very often with the deck, and your field of monsters can usually be taken down by one special summon from your opponent. Maxx “C” usually is only a 1 for 1, unless you happen to hit an end phase [ccProd]Abyss-sphere[/ccProd] activation. Debunk is obviously great, but if I am not even keeping in Mind Crush, there would be no reason for me to side deck Debunk, as well as the fact that it does not protect Banisher. The entire strategy would be that the only cards that do not protect or support Banisher/ Dweller, would be the Soul Drain, Dimensional Fissure, Other normal summons, Torrential Tribute, and the draw and search spells. This strategy worked very well for me when I did get the opportunity to play against Water.

When I played the Mirror Match, I opted to side deck the Mind Crushes out once again. I would also take out both copies of Effect Veiler, 1 [ccProd]Fire Formation – Tensu[/ccProd], and 1 Forbidden Lance. I would replace these cards with 2 Full House, 2 [ccProd]Retort[/ccProd], 1 [ccProd]Overworked[/ccProd], and 2 Dimensional Prison. This is not a strategy that most people will probably perceive as “good” or agree with. I on the other hand had enough experience with the mirror match that I was only worried about a few things after game one. My opponent having a lone [ccProd]Brotherhood of the Fire Fist - Bear[/ccProd], and in return me having Effect Veiler, Mind Crush, Mystical Space Typhoon’s, Overworkeds, in combination with one another or other cards that I didn’t mention. Having the Dimensional Prison in the deck helps this concept out, and I realize the others do not directly. But if you look at it from a long term view, if you are letting them get the searches off Bear and set back rows, later on in the game, your Retort or Full House can easily swing the game back in your favor. I also felt like Retort replaces Mind Crush in a way, hitting the same cards that you would normally use Mind Crush to counter, but now adding a blowout aspect to it because you get to return the copy from your grave, and get an advantage that way. Forbidden Lance was a tough card to take out as well because it is such a good card in this match up, but replacing it with Full House made it seem like something I could do because they essentially get you through a set of back rows in one turn. I did something knew by taking out Tensu in Vegas. It was very weird for me to do because I rely so heavily on it in most match ups. I wanted to eliminate more cards that did nothing to Bear, as well as avoid cards that would make my opponents get more value out of their Overworked, Torrential Tribute, and other mass removal cards they may have been playing.

Dimensional Prison was not only there for the battle interaction in the mirror match, and to protect Banisher against Water, but was also something I wanted for decks like Bujins and Dragons. Oddly enough Bujins and Dragons happened to be two decks that I did get a chance to play against. To add to this, I feel like Bujins and Dragons are both decks that should be prepared for more heavily going into the Ycs, making it an easy choice to replace Mirror Force in the main deck with Dimensional Prison. This is something that has already been done by most people, just figured it would be something to touch on. I also think going back to [ccProd]Mistake[/ccProd] or [ccProd]Light- Imprisoning Mirror[/ccProd] in the side deck is something that should be heavily considered. Another thing that I would consider adding to the side deck is [ccProd]Thunder King Rai-Oh[/ccProd] because I miss it sometimes. The only other thing I feel like I am missing is [ccProd]Fossil Dyna Pachycephalo[/ccProd] for the Hieratic match up. I am not sure how I could incorporate these things, because of the lack in space in the side deck, but will be things that I try to work back in.

One thing I have noticed while watching other people play Fire Fists, and felt the need to point out, is that players seem to love summoning a Brotherhood of the Fire Fist - Bear on their first turn when they win the die roll and do not have a Cardcar D to summon. This is something I very, very rarely do, and usually is only if I have a single trap and 5 monsters in my opening hand. There are a few reasons why. The first reason is because of the lone fact that people do not know how to play their trap cards in the correct order. If your opponent draws Bottomless Trap Hole, Fiendish Chain and Mirror Force and sets them all AFTER you have summoned a Bear turn one, their only option is to Mirror Force the Bear. Clearly if they have the Fiendish Chain as well they can interact with that first, to bait out the Lance, before playing the Mirror Force, but it is all the same. If you summon the Bear into these back rows then your opponent has a chance of playing incorrectly, or even justifying it as being correct, and playing their Bottomless Trap Hole or Torrential Tribute on your Bear. The first turn of the game, after playing all your [ccProd]Upstart Goblin[/ccProd]s, your Pot of Duality, and having the rest of your original cards, you are more likely to have Forbidden Lance at this point, then any other point in the game. If you Lance the Bottomless Trap Hole or the Torrential Tribute, you can now do things with Tensu and [ccProd]Brotherhood of the Fire Fist - Gorilla[/ccProd] with no fear, and destroy the set cards that you have reads on being Forbidden Lance or battle traps. You can also just search out the Gorilla for the next turn to kill the known cards that will not respond to your summon. This is something that I find to be very helpful in my success with the deck.

I would like to apologize here, if you made it this far in the article, for the poor organization of it all. I am currently seated between the owners of ARG actually, on my flight to the YCS and wanted to get this out as soon as possible so people had time to see it before the event. I also did not have one solid point here, just small things that I hoped could all add up to be quality for one decent article. I hope that there was enough information here to make some people happy at the very least. Anyway thank you again for reading this far and I hope to see everyone this weekend doing well at the YCS! Click the Dragon below for all the info on Circuit Series Richmond, VA on April 26-27!