The Diabolical Confinement

October 9, 2012

by Paul Clarke

What’s going on, guys? It’s that time of the week again, and this time I’m here with a card that a lot of you are probably overlooking. After the conclusion of YCS Indianapolis, the idea of Fiendish Chain popped into my head. This card has been very good in the past, but over time other cards have out-shined it. It’s time to dust off your old cards and put a couple copies of Fiendish Chain back into your deck.

Lets take a look at some of the top decks of the format in order to see why I think Fiendish Chain is applicable in the current meta.

Inzektors

What really caught my eye to Fiendish Chain was Billy Brake’s Inzektor deck that made it to the quarterfinals of YCS Indy. Last format, Inzektor was a deck that everyone thought about when building their decks. With the limitation of Hornet and Dragonfly, everyone was sure the deck was dead. Not only did Billy prove everyone wrong, he singlehandedly made it so that this format was similar to the last in terms of dictating the way decks are built. I believe a lot of players are going to try Billy’s Inzektor deck, and whether they like it or not, there are still going to be a lot of players running the deck at the next event in Providence, Rhode Island. I believe Inzektors has earned their spot into the top decks of the format, at least for now. Fiendish Chain is obviously great versus them.

Wind-Up + Geargia

These two decks have similar strategies. They sit on cards until every piece of the combo is attained. Once all of the pieces are put together, they go off and create explosive fields. Fiendish Chain can stop them right on their tracks.

Hero + Dark World

Fiendish Chain is just the worst versus these decks. Against Hero, you’d be lucky to hit a Stratos or make a Shining miss timing. Against Dark World, you really only can stop a Tour Guide.

Agent + Dino-Rabbit + Chaos Dragon

Fiendish Chain is solid versus these decks. You can stop almost everything in Agents, Tour Guides and xyz in Dino Rabbit, and quite a few monsters in Chaos Dragons.

The Not So Unusual Trap Line-up

Dimensional Prison
Torrential Tribute
Bottomless Trap Hole
Solemn Warning
Solemn Judgment
Compulsory Evacuation Device

Match-Ups

Here we are going to take a look at some of the top decks in the format and look at how good each of the above traps are, as well as Fiendish Chain. I will be grading them as Bad (-1), Good (0), and Great (+1).

Hero (3)

Fiendish Chain – Bad
Dimensional Prison – Great
Torrential Tribute – Good
Bottomless Trap Hole – Great
Solemn Warning – Great
Solemn Judgment – Great
Compulsory Evacuation Device – Good

Geargia (4)

Fiendish Chain – Great
Dimensional Prison – Bad
Torrential Tribute – Great
Bottomless Trap Hole – Good
Solemn Warning – Great
Solemn Judgment – Great
Compulsory Evacuation Device – Great

Wind-Up (4)

Fiendish Chain – Great
Dimensional Prison - Bad
Torrential Tribute - Great
Bottomless Trap Hole – Good
Solemn Warning - Great
Solemn Judgment - Great
Compulsory Evacuation Device - Great

Inzektor (2)

Fiendish Chain – Great
Dimensional Prison – Bad
Torrential Tribute – Great
Bottomless Trap Hole – Good
Solemn Warning – Great
Solemn Judgment – Good
Compulsory Evacuation Device – Good

Dark World (2)

Fiendish Chain – Bad
Dimensional Prison – Great
Torrential Tribute – Great
Bottomless Trap Hole – Great
Solemn Warning – Great
Solemn Judgment – Good
Compulsory Evacuation Device – Bad

Dino-Rabbit (4)

Fiendish Chain – Good
Dimensional Prison – Good
Torrential Tribute – Good
Bottomless Trap Hole – Great
Solemn Warning – Great
Solemn Judgment – Great
Compulsory Evacuation Device – Great

Chaos Dragon (4)

Fiendish Chain – Good
Dimensional Prison – Great
Torrential Tribute – Great
Bottomless Trap Hole – Great
Solemn Warning – Great
Solemn Judgment – Great
Compulsory Evacuation Device – Good

Agent (4)

Fiendish Chain – Good
Dimensional Prison – Good
Torrential Tribute – Great
Bottomless Trap Hole – Great
Solemn Warning – Great
Solemn Judgment – Great
Compulsory Evacuation Device – Good

Now lets look at the totals for each card

Fiendish Chain – (1)

Dimensional Prison – (0)

Torrential Tribute – (6)

Bottomless Trap Hole – (5)

Solemn Warning – (8)

Solemn Judgment – (6)

Compulsory Evacuation Device – (2)

It is becoming more and more apparent that Wind-Ups, Geargia, and Hero are the decks to beat. They are the most used decks and also the most successful, so I don’t expect too much of a shift in the meta until a new Booster Pack or Structure Deck is released. The unfortunate truth about one of my favorite trap cards ever, Dimensional Prison, is that it is losing its place in the format. Don’t get me wrong; Dimensional Prison is obviously a great card. It can handle problem cards, like Wind-Up Zenmaines, Thunder King Rai-Oh, Elemental Hero the Shining, Sangan, Evolzar Dolkka, Grapha Dragon Lord of Dark World, Light Pulsar Dragon, and a bunch more. On top of being an answer to all of those problem cards in a format such as this, it is also a great piece of one-for-one removal. The reason Dimensional Prison is such a good card is because it handles some of the problems in the game that the other trap cards really can’t; monsters already on the field. So why am I debasing it?

Dimensional Prison is still a great card, but it is pretty expendable versus two of the top three decks of the current meta. Against Geargia and Wind-Up, you want to stop the decks when they are on their tracks. What’s the point of Dimensional Prisoning a Wind-Up Zenmaister when you are looking down at your opponent’s field of Wind-Up Zenmaity, Wind-Up Zenmaister, Photon Papilloperative, and a Giga-Brilliant? Wouldn’t you feel better using a Fiendish Chain on the first Tour Guide, Magician, or Zenmaity to stop them right away? Not only is Fiendish Chain more well rounded versus the top three decks of the format, but also versus the top decks of the format over all. Dimensional Prison is bad versus three of the eight top decks while Fiendish Chain is only bad against two.

Dimensional Prison is a great card, and I'm not saying you have to cut it. Like I previously said, it is one of the only forms of removal for cards already on the field. I haven't tested Fiendish Chain too much and this is all just theory, but it seems like a great replacement. Only time will tell! Until next time, play hard or go home.