Yu-Gi-Oh Strategies Death Jester

DeathJester

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DeathJester

Fiends: The Under-dog Deck Archetype??

11.01.04 Hey everyone, I’m back again to discuss a deck archetype that does not see enough play in the major tournament metagame. Today I’m going to discuss that status of Fiends in the Advanced format tournament environment.

I always use the same couple of words when I describe Fiends. “Tricks, Tricks, and more Tricks” This deck archetype has the most tricky monster effects and those effects are often game-breaking. When thinking of Fiends the first couple of monsters that come to mind are Dark Necrofear, Terrorking Archfiend, Dark Ruler Ha Des, Archfiend Soldier, and the now-banned Yata-Garasu. The Fiend-type monsters have either enormous ATK power or tricky field manipulation effects that will always ruin your opponent’s plans.

Strengths

To reiterate, Fiend decks will have high ATK power monsters and a variety of monster effects that will ensure your victory quickly. Fiend decks will vary GREATLY since there are so many different Fiend monsters that accomplish different goals. However, in my Yugioh career I have encountered and built Fiend deck in 2 different styles.

The first style I will refer to is the Archfiend build. The Archfiend build is based much more on attack power than anything else. The goal of the Archfiend deck is to quickly beat your opponent with beefy Fiends like Terrorking Archfiend, Archfiend Soldier, and Shadowknight Archfiend. Personally, as a former Archfiend player, I would always concentrate on getting Terrorking on the field to negate any nasty monster effects that would be in my way. Then I start to shift my focus onto summoning other Archfiends to further place offensive pressure on my opponent. Desrook Archfiend is a personal favorite of mine. Terrorking never really leaves the field as long as you have one of these in your hand. In this format, this ability will be more broken than before since the amount of removal has been toned down quite a bit.

The second style I’m going to mention is what I call the Necrofear Dimension build. This build revolves around Special Summoning Dark Necrofear as quickly as possible and using Dimension Fusion to Special Summon the Fiends that were removed from play from her summoning requirements. This technique will often result in the game being decisively won by the player who accomplishes this. This can be done in a variety of ways whether it’s through Painful Choice, massive draw power, or just plain waiting.

The Necrofear Dimension build is much slower to win than the Archfiend build. This is mainly because it requires a more elaborate setup. Let me explain, The Necrofear Dimension build not only has to wait for Necrofear to be in the hand, but also to have the appropriate monsters in the removed from play pile to abuse Dimension Fusion to the fullest extent. Other than that small restriction, which is patience, this build can easily withstand many of the threats that face the current environment.

Not only are the Fiend builds very strong but the Fiend monsters themselves contribute to many of the strengths of this deck archetype. For starters, Dark Necrofear is the best Fiend monster there is. Her effect is extremely annoying yet extremely effective in many ways. Those Horus fanatics out there will think twice about using LV6 or LV8 to destroy Necrofear in battle. Her effect activates even when she is destroyed by anything else. As long as she is destroyed and sent to the graveyard her effect will trigger and in the End Phase your opponent’s best face-up monster is yours.

Terrorking Archfiend is in a category all by himself. A one Fiend wrecking crew, this behemoth will negate any effect of a monster it destroys in battle. It’s a much deadlier Dark Balter the Terrible since it MUCH simpler to summon. Terrorking is easiest to summon in an Archfiend deck but can be Special summoned in anyway. To my surprise, most Warrior players don’t use this card in conjunction with Marauding Captain or even Familiar Knight. This monster is most definitely a devastating monster and if left unchecked will often mean the opponent’s defeat. Call of the Haunted and Premature Burial also help abuse this monster. If worst comes to worst you can always discard to the graveyard for later use. Think about it…

Dark Jeroid and Newdoria are two of the more notable Fiends out there. Dark Jeroid will make that Jinzo a pathetic 1600 attack power and Newdoria will basically destroy anything on the field that destroys it. Night Assailant is my favorite Fiend monsters. This monster has a VERY high utility in this deck. All Necrofear Dimension builds should run three of these in unison with 3 Slate Warrior. This will ensure that your hand will stay full and that a discard from Mirage will be much less costly. Raigeki Break is another great card to include in the deck because it discard Fiends from your hand and can be used with Night Assailant.

In the high ATK department we have, Shadowknight Archfiend, Archfiend Soldier, Giant Orc, and Axe of Despair. These monsters will most certainly make your opponent sweat because a direct attack from either one of them will result in losing near ¼ of their Life Point total. For those of you who are bewildered about Axe of Despair allow me to explain. In Yugioh, Axe of Despair is considered as an Archfiend when on the field. While not a monster, it will count as an Archfiend card so that way you can Normal Summon your Terrorking or use the Archfiend Snatch Steal, Falling Down, to steal the opponent’s monster.

Archfiend’s Roar is a nifty trap card that allows you to Special summon any Archfiend Monster from your graveyard to the field in any position. As long as you can pay 500 Life Points you can get this effect. The only problems are the monster is sent back to the graveyard at the end of the turn and the monster cannot be offered as Tribute under any conditions. This is the Archfiend version of Rite of Spirit so I encourage you to try it out. This card will definitely save you often and can provide you with some crafty combat tricks.

Weaknesses

Despite the obvious strengths and tricks of the Archfiend and Necrofear Dimension builds, they have glaring weaknesses that are quite easy to exploit. The most obvious commonality between the two builds is their reliance on the graveyard. Both builds require Fiends in the graveyard for Necrofear. The Archfiend build requires Fiends for Archfiend’s Roar and Necrofear. Kycoo the Ghost Destroyer and Soul Release will demolish these decks’ late game plans. D.D. Warrior Lady is also a nuisance when using Necrofear.

The Archfiend build does not require as much focus on the grave but much more focus on the field situation. Pandemonium is this builds answer to mass removal; allowing you to search for a lower level Archfiend like Desrook or Vilepawn when Terrorking or Archfiend Soldier is destroyed. Desrook will often become a dead draw being only 1100 ATK. Having 1800 DEF is good to stall for a short time until you draw something more useful. One of the major concerns are opposing monsters; while D.D. Warrior Lady, Magical Scientist, and Tribe-Infecting Virus pose threats, the Archfiend build is more concerned with monsters that are larger than they are. Players of this Fiend build beware of Goblin Attack Force, Giant Orcs, Horus, and equip spells.

The Necrofear Dimension build is all about the graveyard. Again, Kycoo and Soul Release will cause serious problems, but Dimension Fusion can often fix that. Also beware of Fiber Jar. Since DF requires you to pay 2000 Life Points, you must be very wary of opposing Torrential Tributes going off. This build relies on its various effect monsters like Giant Germ, Newdoria, Dark Jeroid, etc…Archfiend builds and any other effect negators will give you a difficult time.

In closing I would like to say that these two distinct builds are unique in their play styles are require many hours of testing to get them just right. This applies to all decks not just these. Remember to stay focused on your game and most important of all, have fun. Now I leave you with deck lists for each these two distinct builds. Enjoy!

(Note: These deck lists are only base models and require testing to fix them and have them flow perfectly. While these are not any of my personal lists, they are the base models that I used to make my own Fiend decks. J)

Archfiends

Deck Total: 41

Monsters: 18

2x Dark Necrofear

3x Terrorking Archfiend

3x Archfiend Soldier

3x Night Assailant

2x Desrook Archfiend

2x Marauding Captain

1x Mobius the Frost Monarch

1x Breaker the Magical Warrior

1x Tribe-Infecting Virus

Spells: 16

2x Axe of Despair

2x Falling Down

1x Painful Choice

1x Swords of Revealing Light

1x Pot of Greed

1x Mirage of Nightmare

1x Snatch Steal

1x Change of Heart

1x Mystical Space Typhoon

2x Nobleman of Crossout

2x Book of Moon

1x Premature Burial

Traps: 7

2x Raigeki Break

1x Torrential Tribute

1x Ring of Destruction

1x Ceasefire

1x Call of the Haunted

1x Sakuretsu Armor

Necrofear Dimension

Deck Total:

Monsters: 18

3x Dark Necrofear

3x Giant Orc

2x Slate Warrior

3x Giant Germ

3x Night Assailant

1x Breaker the Magical Warrior

1x Jinzo

1x Tribe-Infecting Virus

1x Dark Ruler Ha Des

Spells: 14