Deck Study
Burner

        4.12.04  -  Hey. Two in a row surprised huh? I've decided finally to crawl out of the hole know as laziness and get back into the regular flow of things. I've been to 3 Regionals so far (two on Long Island and one in NYC) and none of them went too well. I have another one on the 30th of May in Brooklyn and I plan to win. I've perfected my dueling style so that I can't lose. Dramatizations aside, I'm just going to do my best to make it to nationals. I'm sure Pojo would be happy to be my sponsor if I make it to worlds. >_<
        Are all of you familiar with the basic rules of 8000 LP and first one to zero loses? This can be accomplished by means of attacking or "burning" with the aid of magic or trap cards. Neither strategy is better or worse than the other- it depends on your style. I personally like to do conservative attacking in which I wait until the field is clear and then I release my attack with the aid of special summoning cards. I am quite fond of this style despite its weakness to hand destruction (that's not that huge considering I want you to dump cards for Necrofear) and Chaos Emperor Dragon.
        What defines a burner deck? A deck that uses cards that bypass monsters to inflict direct damage to your opponent's life points. That's a bit of a generalization, so I'll explain the different types of burner decks along with examples. Burners aren't played very often because players move ahead with the newer ideas of Animal Decks, Chaos, etc. A player who is good with burn has the element of surprise since people don't expect it. However, once a person gets used to playing you, they'll adjust their playing style to a faster pace. This is better suited for wide scale tournaments where the people don't know you.
        Before going any further, let's examine the strengths and weaknesses of a general Burner Deck.

Strengths
-most of the cards can be played at any time
-quick
-not dependent on one card
-makes opponent rethink using cards with a cost

Weaknesses
-Lack of strong monsters
-Full of Magic's and Traps
        I missed some weaknesses, but let's move on anyway. The first type of burner deck is a classic burner. It uses monsters and magics that have direct damage capabilities. This type today is most commonly used with Gravity Bind, so instead of wasting time doing both I'll put them together.

Weird Burner (make up your own cheesy names >_<)
Monsters 15
3x Stealth Bird
3x Cannon Soldier
3x Mystic Tomato
2x Bowganian
1x Fiber Jar
1x Sinister Serpent
1x Sangan
1x Witch of the Black Forest

Magics 15
1x Raigeki
1x Dark Hole
1x Dark Core
1x Pot of Greed
1x Graceful Charity
3x Mystical Space Typhoon
1x Harpies Feather Duster
1x Change of Heart
1x Creature Swap
1x Monster Reborn
1x Premature Burial
2x Scapegoat

Traps 10
1x Judgment of Anubis
1x Ring of Destruction
1x Magic Cylinder
3x Gravity Bind
1x Imperial Order
1x Call of the Haunted
1x Waboku
1x Reckless Greed

Breakdown
-General-
Well, at first glance it looks like a pretty expensive deck. You can substitute cards like Judgment of Anubis for Magic Drain or something. That's not the point though. The primary objective of this deck is to burn your opponent's life point down as quickly as possible. Even if you use up your burner cards really quickly, Fiber Jar resets and gives them back. The few cards that actually direct damage either do a lot or stack quickly. It is crucial that you play your traps when you know your opponent has nothing to stop it.

Monsters
15 monsters is somewhat small, so it is important to protect them. Stealth Bird is very annoying- as a result of this you will divert your opponent's focus from your life points to their own. If you have you the opportunity to flip, attack, then flip down go for it. Main threats are Torrential Tribute and anything that is triggered by a summon. Despite this, when you flip Stealth Bird over they lose 1000 life points regardless of whether or not they use Torrential Tribute or something of the type. Don't forget that Stealth Bird also has a solid defense of 1700 (for a level 3). This blocks Breaker after it uses its effect, Tribe Infecting Virus, D.D. Lady (they could remove), etc. Cannon Soldier can finish off your opponent, or add to the burning. Scapegoat gives 2000 direct, Change of Heart and Creature Swap can give you one of their monsters to launch. I especially like to get Cannon and Sinister on the field and use swap to take a Jinzo. Attack freely, launch Jinzo, then get Serpent back next turn. Mystic Tomatoes are for early game. They can grap Stealth Bird, Cannon Soldier, another Tomato, Bowganian, Witch, and Sangan. When playing with Mystic Tomato, choose the time you play it wisely. Cannon Soldier and Mystic Tomato cannot attack under Gravity Bind, so play it when you got a bad draw and are in a desperate need of a monster. Bowganian is just another way to burn. I wouldn't depend on it though. Regardless, if you can get multiples on the field, 1200-1800 per turn (not counting direct attacks) is a lot. Fiber Jar serves the sole purpose of resetting the game so you can reuse your burner cards. Sinister Serpent is Cannon bait, Charity food, Dark Core and Judgment of Anubis payment, and very effective with Creature Swap. The two Searchers are basic, and Sangan can attack under Gravity Bind as an extra plus.

Magics Spells I know the way I group my cards is weird- they are grouped by what they do just so you know. Raigeki and Dark Hole are the most primitive forms of monster destruction. If felt that since this deck is weak against Jinzo, a Dark Core would help. The absence of Tribe Infecting Virus hurts this deck, but that's the price of staying to the theme. Since the deck runs Sinister anyway, I thought why not. Pot of Greed and Graceful Choice are just drawing power. Painful Choice doesn't quite fit, since you're not going to want to dump much of anything. Since this does not run Breaker or Heavy Storm, Mystical Space Typhoon's effect should be devoted to your opponent's side of the field, not to Mirage of Nightmare. Mystical Space Typhoon and Harpie's Feather Duster are the only S/T removal in this deck, so timing is everything. Don't use Duster when your opponent has 3 S/T and they haven't use Imperial Order. You're asking for it if you do that. >_< It's best to use Duster when you have an MST ready to chain. Change of Heart and Creature Swap are field manipulation. As stated in the monster section, these two cards work well with Cannon Soldier. Creature Swap works quite well against the Jinzo your opponent tried so hard to get on the field. Monster Reborn and Premature Burial serve as recursion. You're going to want to revive a Stealth Bird and flip it back face down. You could also revive a Cannon Soldier to launch itself or something else. Better yet revive a searcher and launch it with Soldier. Scapegoat is just for early stalling and Cannon bait. The best thing to do is chain it on your opponent's turn. This is obvious, but many players forget. You should always be aware of your playing area. Oh, the 4 Prenegators (D.D. Designator included) are not included because there's no space. ^_^;

Traps 10 traps is a dozy. Magics provide you some defense, but not much. In a deck this weak to Jinzo, you should never let your opponent have multiple monsters on the field. If you have a Ring face down and your opponent has one monster on the field and they haven't played Jinzo yet, chain the Ring during the draw phase. Judgment of Anubis is a rare card to see in most decks, but it is a very important card to protect your S/T. Sinister is usually your best choice for bait, obviously. It also burns life points, so it fit snuggly into this deck. Ring of Destruction is a very powerful form of destruction and it is crucial in protecting your monsters. Once again it adds to the burn theme, so if there's a big enough monster use it. Magic Cylinder protects monsters and burns at the same time. This deck has enough non-chainable traps, so Mirror Force would just take up space. Gravity Bind is the heart of the deck. You might have a little trouble drawing them, but as long as you play smart it won't make that much of a difference. Depending on your metagame, you might want to add in some A Cat of Ill Omen's. Imperial Order is the best defense against Spells in the game, so it's in here. lol Waboku is good removal bait and defense. Reckless Greed is a very underrated card. In play testing, I found that this deck gets Yata-Locked a lot. This turns Yata's attack into just a -200 attack. It's a great card to use especially if you are winning. Not to mention the fact that it is chainable. Your opponent loses 1 card and you gain two. Skipping two draw phases can hurt a lot. However, if you find yourself top decking it's a good way to get the jump on your opponent. Reckless Greed is a good substitute.
        It's an odd deck, but it's definitely something that will catch an opponent off guard. It's really a fun deck to play with. If played by a good enough player and some tweaks here and there, it could be viable at a tournament. Anyway, there's also the Lava Golem burner. It uses Lava Golem and cards to stop it from attacking. I'm not a huge fan, but I have seen it work. If you can protect yourself from getting beaten down from a 3000.2500 monster, then try it. However, since Lava Golem isn't searchable it should not be the only way you can win. The deck I will be making incorporates some regular burning along with some other cards like Ojama Trio.

Lava Golem Remix

Monsters 17
2x Lava Golem
2x Gyaku-Gire Panda
3x Giant Rat
2x Hayabusa Knight
2x Inaba White Rabbit
2x D.D. Crazy Beast
1x Sinister Serpent
1x Sangan
1x Witch of Black Forest
1x Fiber Jar

Magics 14
1x Raigeki
1x Dark Hole
1x Pot of Greed
1x Graceful Charity
1x Painful Choice
3x Mystical Space Typhoon
1x Harpies Feather Duster
1x Change of Heart
1x Monster Reborn
1x Premature Burial
2x Gaia Power

Trap 10
2x Gravity Bind
3x Nightmare Wheel
1x Imperial Order
1x Magic Cylinder
3x Ojama Trio

Breakdown
Well, this is more of an Earth Beatdown with a splash of burn. ^_^; It's a little wacked, but it works. It's more offensive then the classic burner, so you won't have to depend on Spells and Traps. Ojama Trio combos with Gyaku-Gire Panda, Nightmare Wheel, and Lava Golem. Ojama's work best in pairs with GGP. Use one Trio, summon GGP, attack, then use a 2nd one. You usually won't need to use Lava Golem, but if you do, you have Gravity Bind, Nightmare Wheel, and Cylinder to protect you. If they attack with Golem and you Cylinder, that's half of their life points, gone. As I said before, Lava Golem is unsearchable so you do not want to depend on it. Play out the Earth portion of the deck as long as you can or until you draw a Golem. This deck is pretty flexible, so you shouldn't have a problem shifting focus in the middle of a game. It's sort of pointless to do a card by card breakdown, so next deck!

        The one above wasn't much of a burner- it was a hybrid. I'm not a fan of Lava Golem. The best burner in my opinion is Fire Princess. Even if you lose your setup, you end up with a huge amount of life points regardless. So now, a Basic Fire Princess Burner.

Fire Princess
Monsters 17
3x Fire Princess
3x UFO Turtle
3x Marie the Fallen One
3x Skull Mark Ladybug
2x Injection Fairy Lily
1x Sinister Serpent
1x Sangan
1x Witch of the Black Forest

Spells 15
1x Raigeki
1x Dark Hole
1x Pot of Greed
1x Graceful Charity
1x Painful Choice
3x Mystical Space Typhoon
1x Harpies Feather Duster
1x Change of Heart
1x Monster Reborn
1x Premature Burial
1x Delinquent Duo
1x The Forceful Sentry
1x D.D. Designator

Traps 9
3x Gravity Bind
2x Solemn Wishes
1x Imperial Order
2x Enchanted Javelin
1x Call of the Haunted

Breakdown
This deck is pretty straightforward. Gain LP, burn with Princess. Skull Mark Ladybug gives you 1000 life points when it is sent to the graveyard. This means that you can use it for Painful Choice, Graceful Charity, against Hand Destruction, etc. I never realized how versatile it was ^_^;. Basically everything else is self explanatory. The idea of Enchanted Javelin came out of nowhere. Since this deck is usually on the defensive, you'll just be gaining. When you use it with Skull Mark Ladybug, you get an even larger boost.

        Those are three examples of burner decks. Use them to your heart's content. These are a little out of the box, so it's okay if you feel weird when you look at them. I've play-tested all 3 at local tourneys and 2/3 won. The first one got 3rd, but that's still good. Oh, I know that this deck study did not look in to other types like Bad Reaction to Simoochi and others. If I did all of the burner types, it would take forever. :-\ I hope you enjoyed this.
        One more thing. I've received a lot of e-mails asking what kind of deck I use. I guess there's no harm in posting it here. It's a Fiend/Necrofear. If you want a duel, my AIM S/N is HeroOfLegendz.

<>Dark Disrupter<>

Monsters 17
2x Dark Necrofear
2x Terrorking Archfiend
2x Archfiend Soldier
1x Breaker the Magical Warrior
1x Tribe-Infecting Virus
2x D.D. Warrior Lady
1x Dark Jeriod
1x Witch of the Black Forest
1x Sangan
1x Sinister Serpent
2x Kuriboh
1x Yata-Garasu

Spells 18
1x Delinquent Duo
1x Forceful Sentry
1x D.D. Designator
1x Pot of Greed
1x Graceful Charity
1x Mirage of Nightmare
1x Painful Choice
1x Harpie's Feather Duster
1x Heavy Storm
3x Mystical Space Typhoon
1x Raigeki
1x Dark Hole
1x Monster Reborn
1x Premature Burial
1x Dimension Fusion

Traps 5
1x Waboku
1x Mirror Force
1x Ring of Destruction
1x Call of the Haunted
1x Imperial Order

Questions? Comments? E-mail at Suicune@optonline.net. Vote for the next article below.