Generally I am not fan of the Burn/Stall Decks yet there is a card in that category that I find exteremly good. If you see Lava Golem from the perspective of maths it is really a 2 for 2 trade but the great thing about it is that it's effect not only takes off 2 monsters of the opponent (that can be really anything making the trade better than 2 for 2) but also noone will negate it's summon. I mean that if you tribute Lava Golem the opponent can use Solemn Warning and friends to negate the summon yet if he does it he is an idiot since with that move not only gets a minus two but also loses 2000 life points twice as the golem would Burn (in case of Warning). After the Golem is summoned it is an 3000 beater that you do not want to destroy that burns the 1000 points of the opponent per turn.
Hence the Burn/Stall decks that abuse Lava Golem use their Burn part to increase the damage done by Golem when the Stall part focuses on the survival of the player in order not to be beaten by his own monster. But even though in theory this category of decks seem good, in real gameplay they lack consistency by having no draw or search power. I have to say that this is due to the players that they randomly throw into the decks any card that can do a lot of damage and do not pay attention in the build as a whole but in the individual cards. So I have decided to create this deck that not only uses a draw engine compatible with the purposes of the Burn/Stall Decks but also a way to double the damage Lava Golem deals per turn.
I will begin with the latter part: Clear World, a really strange Field Spell with kind of decent effects that can prove useful but none of them is game-winning by itself. But the Fire one if it is paired with Lava Golem (of which the Attribute guarantees that you will get the proper effect) it can burn the opponent's life points in four turns.
Now let me introduce to one of the few proper Burn/Stall Decks that you will see in the web (and yes I know I am arrogant).
Monsters x 9
Lava Golem x 3
Blast Sphere x 3
Des Koala x 2
Marshmallon x 1
A really short Monster Line-Up this is indeed. Most Burn Deck users use huge Monster Line-Ups throwing random slow cards like Stealth Bird that not only are situational but also hold the Deck down disabling it by function as a whole. Lava Golem is the main burning device of the deck and obvioucly is runned at maximum copies in order to ensure maximum consistency. I have chose not to run Volcanic Queen for several reasons. First of all unlike Golem it is a 2 for 1 making it a bad card from the card economy perspective,then she is a level six hence can easily be used as a Synchro Material easily by most decks and finally her effect give choices to the opponent like avoiding the damage for a turn or even damaging you (which can be pretty serious considering the cost for Clear World and the tendance of all modern decks to huge swings of Damage).
The next burn card I have chose to add is Blast Sphere, a really great card that can easily burn a lot the opponent and also destroy a monster of his. The majority of the Burn cards in this deck are like this one, that abuse the opponent's attack power in order to deal huge swings of Damage instead of petty ones like Stealth Bird. This may seem like this deck depends in what the opponent has out but due to usage of Lava Golem you actually have control over your opponent's front row making these cards especially good when combined with Golems huge ATK. Des Koala was added when I was reconstructing the deck for the new format and it proved to be really good since the current deck are all about pluses and due to Heavy Storm's return they do not commit everything on the field at once making this a good first turn set (plus it is a Dark-Attribute that will stay in defence hence no affection from Clear World. Finally there is Marshmallon, which is a perfect asset to any Burn/Stall as it have both Burn and Stall effects plus a really great artwork. But there is a little catch: if Clear World is in the field same time as Marshmallon your opponent will get to see your hand so the addition of Marshmallon was kind of optional. Overall I decided after playtesting and judging pros and cons that Marshmallon offers more than it harms hence it's addition was justified.
Spells x 13
Clear World x 3
Terraforming x 2
Level Limit - Area B x 1
Scapegoat x 1
Pot of Duality x 3
Magic Planter x 3
First of all Clear World is added at three backed up by two Terraformings, I believe that this is more than enough since Clear World is not extremely important, the deck can easily win even without it but it has some other usages too apart from the Golem Combo. Level Limit - Area B is a must have in every Stall deck hence no justification needed. Scapegoat is a multipurposal card that now is used only in a few deck but in this deck it is used also for Stall and since it is Quick-Play it is great in the upcoming format where Heavy Storm and three Mystical Space Typhoon rule. Next there is Pot of Duality and since this deck does not uses a lot of Special Summons (at least in your turn) it is a must have since it adds consistency Burn/Stall Decks lack.
But Pot of Duality is not enough to make the deck consistent. Every serious deck must have some sort of Draw Power and the generic one aside from Pot of Duality does not fits the purposes of the deck. Hence I had to add an Draw Engine in the deck that does not harms the purposes of this Deck and I found that in the Magic Planter. It allows to send a face-up Continuous Trap to the Grave in order to Draw two cards. Continuous Trap cards have some of the best ways to Stall and even some to cards that Burn hence by increasing a bit the amount of the said cards I can add three Magic Planters in order to have a decent Draw Engine. Another thing that Continuous Traps have in plethora is Anti-Meta Cards : Macro Cosmos, Discord, Mask of Restrict, Gozen Match, Rivarly of the Warlords, Shadow and Light Imprisoning Mirrors, Grave of the Super-Ancient Organism and Skill Drain are just some examples. Even though some of them mess up with the Strategy of this Deck, I have sided a lot of them (maining one) and they are extremely helpful in a variety of Matchups.
Traps x 18
Gravity Bind x 3
Zoma the Spirit x 3
Fiendish Chain x 3
Macro Cosmos x 3
Judgment of Anubis x 2
Magic Cylinder x 2
Ceasefire x 1
Solemn Judgment x 1
Now for the Trap Line-Up where the true tricks of the deck reside. First for the in-deck Continuous Traps. Gravity Bind is the main Stall card of the deck and a also a target for the Magic Planter so it needs no more justification (just watch out for Xyz since they are not affected). Next we have Zoma the Spirit my favorite Burn card after Golem and Marhmallon. I usually Special Summon it in the opponent's End Phase and then suicide it in to Golem for a massive Burn Damage of 3000 life points usually resulting game win (just make sure that Gravity Bind or Area B is not active). Fiendish Chain, our next card, is a seriously underestimated one. I have added it since it is the best way for this deck to stop powerful Card Destruction effects of monsters like Judgment Dragon, Scrap Dragon, Black Luster Soldier etc. Even though Nightmare Wheel fits best in the Burn category of the deck it is unable to negate the effects and hence it was rejected.
One of the problem this deck will face out there is the newly released (I have said thousands of times these days) 3 MST and Heavy which you will are bound to face since anyone will side in every Spell/Trap Destruction he has. My first solution is pressure: by activating an Anti-Meta Card (of those I mentioned before) that kills his deck your opponent have to destroy it with MST in order to make his moves hence leaving your of the Spell/Traps intact hence allowing you to continue your burn damage dealings hence having a great chance to win the game. Macro Cosmos is the card I added in the deck since it adds pressure to a lot of the upcoming top decks (Twilight, Zombies, Agents, Dark World, Junk Doppel etc.). Feel free though to change it if you see that your meta is more valnurable to another card.
But since not all deck are killed by Macro Cosmos and also Heavy Storm does not fall in the trick above I had to add another strategy to deal with this. My first thought was Starlight Road but I rejected it for Judgment of Anubis a really great card this format, especially in this deck. The reasons I have done this is several : first is that Anubis can negate MST and Heavy Storm in comparison of Starlight that can negate also Dark Hole, Mirror Force, Judgment Dragon etc. but since this deck neither do attack a lot nor it is overextended in terms of front row field presence and it has it's way to deal with all those pesky monsters, Anubis wins this. Also Anubis fits better the Burn character of this deck and it often is the final push the deck needs in order to win by destroying Lava Golem or something like that, in comparison with Starlight where you get a Stardust Dragon with no synergy on the field who will most likely will be destroyed by Lava Golem next turn. Also much like Heavy Storm, Starlight rules by it's reputation, if your opponent do not know the deck and sees that you set a lot of back row he will assume that you set Starlight and he will be hesitant to activate his Heavy Storm. This is a game of Mind Tricks.
Continuing we have Magic Cylinder and Ceasefire. These two cards are more than staples in Burn Decks, they are necessities. Absolutely no justification needed. Closing there is Solemn Judgment, in my opinion the most staple staple in every deck that runs traps.
The main reason that players mess up when it comes in constructing a proper Burn Deck is that they dismiss their knowledge about Deck Building considering Burn Decks as something different than the Control or Aggro oriented ones. They think that while other decks fight over advantage over the field or hand Burn Decks are fighting to get advantage over the life points and nothing else and they forgot the basic rules of Deck Building. Hence if they have to get a minus two in order to Burn a thousand or two of their opponent's life points they will do it. But this is totally wrong. In this game the first 7999 life points matter so little. Hence this deck is constructed in order to lose as less advantage as possible yet continuing the Burning in a more slow yet consistent rate.
When I tried to reconstruct the deck in order to fits the new format I have to say I was quite pessimistic about it's hopes during this season but I think now it is even better. It is a very tough deck to deal with and it messes up with a lot of commonly seen or to be seen strategies. If you like Burn/Stall Decks give it a chance, you will not be dissapointed.
Hence the Burn/Stall decks that abuse Lava Golem use their Burn part to increase the damage done by Golem when the Stall part focuses on the survival of the player in order not to be beaten by his own monster. But even though in theory this category of decks seem good, in real gameplay they lack consistency by having no draw or search power. I have to say that this is due to the players that they randomly throw into the decks any card that can do a lot of damage and do not pay attention in the build as a whole but in the individual cards. So I have decided to create this deck that not only uses a draw engine compatible with the purposes of the Burn/Stall Decks but also a way to double the damage Lava Golem deals per turn.
I will begin with the latter part: Clear World, a really strange Field Spell with kind of decent effects that can prove useful but none of them is game-winning by itself. But the Fire one if it is paired with Lava Golem (of which the Attribute guarantees that you will get the proper effect) it can burn the opponent's life points in four turns.
Now let me introduce to one of the few proper Burn/Stall Decks that you will see in the web (and yes I know I am arrogant).
Monsters x 9
Lava Golem x 3
Blast Sphere x 3
Des Koala x 2
Marshmallon x 1
A really short Monster Line-Up this is indeed. Most Burn Deck users use huge Monster Line-Ups throwing random slow cards like Stealth Bird that not only are situational but also hold the Deck down disabling it by function as a whole. Lava Golem is the main burning device of the deck and obvioucly is runned at maximum copies in order to ensure maximum consistency. I have chose not to run Volcanic Queen for several reasons. First of all unlike Golem it is a 2 for 1 making it a bad card from the card economy perspective,then she is a level six hence can easily be used as a Synchro Material easily by most decks and finally her effect give choices to the opponent like avoiding the damage for a turn or even damaging you (which can be pretty serious considering the cost for Clear World and the tendance of all modern decks to huge swings of Damage).
The next burn card I have chose to add is Blast Sphere, a really great card that can easily burn a lot the opponent and also destroy a monster of his. The majority of the Burn cards in this deck are like this one, that abuse the opponent's attack power in order to deal huge swings of Damage instead of petty ones like Stealth Bird. This may seem like this deck depends in what the opponent has out but due to usage of Lava Golem you actually have control over your opponent's front row making these cards especially good when combined with Golems huge ATK. Des Koala was added when I was reconstructing the deck for the new format and it proved to be really good since the current deck are all about pluses and due to Heavy Storm's return they do not commit everything on the field at once making this a good first turn set (plus it is a Dark-Attribute that will stay in defence hence no affection from Clear World. Finally there is Marshmallon, which is a perfect asset to any Burn/Stall as it have both Burn and Stall effects plus a really great artwork. But there is a little catch: if Clear World is in the field same time as Marshmallon your opponent will get to see your hand so the addition of Marshmallon was kind of optional. Overall I decided after playtesting and judging pros and cons that Marshmallon offers more than it harms hence it's addition was justified.
Spells x 13
Clear World x 3
Terraforming x 2
Level Limit - Area B x 1
Scapegoat x 1
Pot of Duality x 3
Magic Planter x 3
First of all Clear World is added at three backed up by two Terraformings, I believe that this is more than enough since Clear World is not extremely important, the deck can easily win even without it but it has some other usages too apart from the Golem Combo. Level Limit - Area B is a must have in every Stall deck hence no justification needed. Scapegoat is a multipurposal card that now is used only in a few deck but in this deck it is used also for Stall and since it is Quick-Play it is great in the upcoming format where Heavy Storm and three Mystical Space Typhoon rule. Next there is Pot of Duality and since this deck does not uses a lot of Special Summons (at least in your turn) it is a must have since it adds consistency Burn/Stall Decks lack.
But Pot of Duality is not enough to make the deck consistent. Every serious deck must have some sort of Draw Power and the generic one aside from Pot of Duality does not fits the purposes of the deck. Hence I had to add an Draw Engine in the deck that does not harms the purposes of this Deck and I found that in the Magic Planter. It allows to send a face-up Continuous Trap to the Grave in order to Draw two cards. Continuous Trap cards have some of the best ways to Stall and even some to cards that Burn hence by increasing a bit the amount of the said cards I can add three Magic Planters in order to have a decent Draw Engine. Another thing that Continuous Traps have in plethora is Anti-Meta Cards : Macro Cosmos, Discord, Mask of Restrict, Gozen Match, Rivarly of the Warlords, Shadow and Light Imprisoning Mirrors, Grave of the Super-Ancient Organism and Skill Drain are just some examples. Even though some of them mess up with the Strategy of this Deck, I have sided a lot of them (maining one) and they are extremely helpful in a variety of Matchups.
Traps x 18
Gravity Bind x 3
Zoma the Spirit x 3
Fiendish Chain x 3
Macro Cosmos x 3
Judgment of Anubis x 2
Magic Cylinder x 2
Ceasefire x 1
Solemn Judgment x 1
Now for the Trap Line-Up where the true tricks of the deck reside. First for the in-deck Continuous Traps. Gravity Bind is the main Stall card of the deck and a also a target for the Magic Planter so it needs no more justification (just watch out for Xyz since they are not affected). Next we have Zoma the Spirit my favorite Burn card after Golem and Marhmallon. I usually Special Summon it in the opponent's End Phase and then suicide it in to Golem for a massive Burn Damage of 3000 life points usually resulting game win (just make sure that Gravity Bind or Area B is not active). Fiendish Chain, our next card, is a seriously underestimated one. I have added it since it is the best way for this deck to stop powerful Card Destruction effects of monsters like Judgment Dragon, Scrap Dragon, Black Luster Soldier etc. Even though Nightmare Wheel fits best in the Burn category of the deck it is unable to negate the effects and hence it was rejected.
One of the problem this deck will face out there is the newly released (I have said thousands of times these days) 3 MST and Heavy which you will are bound to face since anyone will side in every Spell/Trap Destruction he has. My first solution is pressure: by activating an Anti-Meta Card (of those I mentioned before) that kills his deck your opponent have to destroy it with MST in order to make his moves hence leaving your of the Spell/Traps intact hence allowing you to continue your burn damage dealings hence having a great chance to win the game. Macro Cosmos is the card I added in the deck since it adds pressure to a lot of the upcoming top decks (Twilight, Zombies, Agents, Dark World, Junk Doppel etc.). Feel free though to change it if you see that your meta is more valnurable to another card.
But since not all deck are killed by Macro Cosmos and also Heavy Storm does not fall in the trick above I had to add another strategy to deal with this. My first thought was Starlight Road but I rejected it for Judgment of Anubis a really great card this format, especially in this deck. The reasons I have done this is several : first is that Anubis can negate MST and Heavy Storm in comparison of Starlight that can negate also Dark Hole, Mirror Force, Judgment Dragon etc. but since this deck neither do attack a lot nor it is overextended in terms of front row field presence and it has it's way to deal with all those pesky monsters, Anubis wins this. Also Anubis fits better the Burn character of this deck and it often is the final push the deck needs in order to win by destroying Lava Golem or something like that, in comparison with Starlight where you get a Stardust Dragon with no synergy on the field who will most likely will be destroyed by Lava Golem next turn. Also much like Heavy Storm, Starlight rules by it's reputation, if your opponent do not know the deck and sees that you set a lot of back row he will assume that you set Starlight and he will be hesitant to activate his Heavy Storm. This is a game of Mind Tricks.
Continuing we have Magic Cylinder and Ceasefire. These two cards are more than staples in Burn Decks, they are necessities. Absolutely no justification needed. Closing there is Solemn Judgment, in my opinion the most staple staple in every deck that runs traps.
The main reason that players mess up when it comes in constructing a proper Burn Deck is that they dismiss their knowledge about Deck Building considering Burn Decks as something different than the Control or Aggro oriented ones. They think that while other decks fight over advantage over the field or hand Burn Decks are fighting to get advantage over the life points and nothing else and they forgot the basic rules of Deck Building. Hence if they have to get a minus two in order to Burn a thousand or two of their opponent's life points they will do it. But this is totally wrong. In this game the first 7999 life points matter so little. Hence this deck is constructed in order to lose as less advantage as possible yet continuing the Burning in a more slow yet consistent rate.
When I tried to reconstruct the deck in order to fits the new format I have to say I was quite pessimistic about it's hopes during this season but I think now it is even better. It is a very tough deck to deal with and it messes up with a lot of commonly seen or to be seen strategies. If you like Burn/Stall Decks give it a chance, you will not be dissapointed.
Thanks for reading and till next time
-Eatos
Bibliography
Nothing this time, as I said during my research I have found no interesting burn decks to be influenced by.
Bibliography
Nothing this time, as I said during my research I have found no interesting burn decks to be influenced by.
