Summon Garunix and beat the daylights out of your opponent with it.
So here's the deck:
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| I affectionately call him Big Bird |
Garunix is of course the deck's main attraction. It is a ridiculously powerful card due to its high ATK and crazy revival effect.
Why run 3 copies? Other similar decks I've seen sometimes run 2 copies. This is usually because duelists run Onslaught of the Fire Kings, an easy way to fish Garunix out of the deck, so you can reach your copies in no time. Also, people hate to have their hand clogged with an extra copy of the bird. I, however find 3 copies to be absolutely necessary. 3 copies means you will always have one in your deck, field, or graveyard, giving you some playable options.
I hear a lot of people complain: "Garunix is broken. There's like, no way to kill it! It needs banning right now!!"
I roll my eyes and respectfully disagree. Here's a list of commonly used cards that will remove Garunix from the field without destroying it and activating its eff:
- Bottomless Trap Hole
- Dimensional Prison
- Compulsory Evacuation Device
- Solemn Warning (when it attempts to revive itself from the grave)
- Caius the Shadow Monarch or Raiza the Storm Monarch
- D.D. Warrior Lady
- Black Luster Soldier or Chaos Sorcerer
- Evolzar Dolkka
Other decks may have even more or different ways to remove Garunix (Super Polymerization, Vylon Disigma?) so stay sharp!
America's Least Wanted:
Over the course of a single game, I find at least one Garunix will be removed by one of the above methods. If a Garunix is removed, do you really want to rely on the single remaining copy?...
I don't, therefore, 3 copies!
But with 3 copies, what if Garunix gets stuck in your hand? With 2 copies it's less likely (but possible) for one to be stuck in your opening hand. With 3 copies, it's quite possible for a copy to end up in your hand! However, this is not the end of the world. There are ways of getting it out, which I will discuss further down. And even if one IS in your hand, that means 2 are still in the deck. Remember: the point is to get Garunix out as quickly as possible as much as possible. Running 3 ensures maximum access and abuse of Garunix.
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| The Bird's Humble Servant |
Fire King Avatar Barong is a critical piece in this deck. With his effect, you can add ANY Fire King card to your hand, which will generally be Onslaught of the Fire Kings or Circle of the Fire Kings. 1800 ATK is nothing to sneeze at, though 1900 would have made this a crazy good card. Keep in mind that this card can be destroyed by any card effect, including your own! So feel free to use Torrential Tribute, Dark Hole, Black Rose Dragon, etc. It catches your opponent off-guard when you're willing to destroy your own monsters!
Tip: I notice (on DuelingNetwork at least) that Barong's first effect is severely underused! Take advantage of it!! When a Fire King Monster is destroyed by a card effect, Special Summon Barong from your hand for free! This can sometimes be the extra damage you need at the end of a game, and it saves you a Normal Summon! Always remember this effect!
3 is necessary due to Barong's awesome effect! Through free Summons with Firedog and Garunix, you'll run through your copies quicker than you'd think!
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| Barong's Pet Unicorn |
Fire King Avatar Kirin is not half as good as Barong, but it still has its uses. First, keep in mind that this guy's effect activates immediately after destruction by effect or by battle. This means you can mill a free Garunix to the grave and retrieve it more easily. OR you can mill any other Fire monster you want in order to load the Graveyard for Rekindling. Lastly, this card is a great target for Garunix to Summon if it somehow gets destroyed by battle. If the opponent has other monsters ready to attack, I like to throw this little guy in the way to block damage and load the grave simultaneously.
Remember, Kirin also has the first effect of Special Summoning itself for free!! Try to remember this, it will win you a duel one day!
Only 2 Kirin seem necessary because they are mostly used as a blocker (Special Summoned from Garunix), a great first-turn Set, or as Xyz material later in the game. Its stats do not otherwise warrant it for 3 copies.
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| The Loyal Dog |
Flamvell Firedog fits in well with the Fire Kings, though it's not of the same breed. Miraculously, both Barong and Kirin have 200 DEF which makes them perfectly suitable targets to Summon if Firedog destroys a monster in battle. This function can put some extra early damage and pressure on your opponent. Also, though I will go into more detail later on, my Tech Card Of Choice is 1 Neo Flamvell Hedgehog, who is also another perfect target for Firedog. This means that if your opponent leaves a shrimpy monster on the field, you have instant access to Black Rose Dragon! Firedog is one of those monsters that will bait out your opponent's removal cards. They just can't stand the thought of you gaining all that free card advantage!
Rulings note: As far as I know (always correct me if I am wrong!), Firedog's effect will not activate if it destroys itself in battle with another 1900 ATK monster. I guess it has to be on the field to resolve. Oh well!
Neo Flamvell Hedgehog
Finally introducing my Tech Card of Choice: Neo Flamvell Hedgehog. While it is an odd choice, the card fits perfectly in this deck and I highly recommend it. First of all, it has 2 awesome effects. If it is destroyed in battle you can banish a card in your opponent's Graveyard (this is especially good when playing decks that leave key cards in the Graveyard sometimes, like Dark Worlds or Inzektors). Its second effect is even better: When it's destroyed by a card effect feel free to add a Fire monster with 200 DEF back to your hand (which means reuse Barong, Kirin, or Firedog). This combos great with all of the destruction effects in this deck. You can even use Circle of the Fire Kings on Hedgehog to revive and Garunix and grab a Barong back to your hand.
Anecdote: I was playing a Dark World deck. His set-up included a Grapha on the field, a Trance Archfiend, and the other 2 Graphas in the grave. I summoned my little Hedgehog and ran it into Trance Archfiend, then used Call of the Haunted to do it again! Banishing 2 out of 3 Graphas crippled his deck (for the mere price of 1400 Life Points!). Always try to get the most out of Hedgehog!
Side note: I've decided to post anecdotes of my experiences with the
cards I'm writing about from time to time, so feel free to read'em or skip ahead.
Brotherhood of the Fire Fist - Gorilla
This guy does not fit perfectly in this deck, but he serves his functions well. First off, if you're not caught up in the current meta craze, then you should know that Fire Fists are tremendously popular and expensive, and this card is like the shameful little brother, swept under the rug for its sub-par effect compared to Fire Fist Bear. But that's a good thing, because you can fit a couple of copies of Gorilla in here cheaply. The main point of Gorilla in this deck is for his Spell/Trap removal effect. Remember all of those traps I mentioned earlier that ruin Garunix? Well, Gorilla will take care of them for you. Let's say your opponent has a Bottomless Trap Hole face-down. If you use Fire Formation - Tenki to search for Gorilla, your opponent knows what's coming: You Summon Gorilla and destroy their Bottomless Trap Hole for free, or they might as well activate it on Gorilla! Either way, you've gotten rid of a dangerous threat for the price of your Normal Summon! AND as a bonus, let's say you destroyed a Dimensional Prison or something instead. Keeping Gorilla around keeps open the possibility of grabbing more Tenki's and thus more monsters from the deck!
DE-FENSE!
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| If I only had a direct attack... |
I would guess that one of the bigger questions about my deck list is "Why Swift Scarecrow?" Well, there's a couple of reasons, all of them having to do with various lines of defense. First of all, why run Scarecrow at all? Garunix packs a punch and it would be great to be permanently on the attacking front. But there is a downside to Garunix's awesome destruction effect. Assuming it activates during your opponent's standby phase: it will most likely leave with no monsters but Garunix on your side of the field.
So what's so bad about having a 2700 ATK destroying/reviving, Special Summoning beater on your side of the field? Answer: OTKs.
Many current meta decks have the hideous potential of one-turn kills (OTKs). Popular decks that could OTK you into next week are Mermails, Samurais, Karakuri-Gadgets, Dark Worlds (sometimes), Prophecies, and those horrible new Elemental Dragons. The problem is that many smart players who runs those decks realize a thought similar to this: "I have plenty of monster destruction effects...but he'll blow away my monsters next turn...so what if I just kill him THIS turn?" I found that a common response to Garunix is to destroy him with a card effect anyway, and with my field then monster free (and usually with few Spells or Traps) opponent then attempt an OTK. Decks that run Mind Control or Enemy Controller are also strong threats as they will leave you instantly defenseless.
Swift Scarecrow almost always shuts down their OTK plan and gives that critical turn when Garunix revives itself, destroys everything, and then attacks (sometimes for the game!).
Why not Battle Fader? A much more popular card. Well, considering that Garunix usually revives itself within a turn, Battle Fader wouldn't be sticking around very long anyway, but more importantly, I think it is better not want to give your opponents a chance to interact with Battle Fader. Yes, Swift Scarecrow plays around Solemn Warning, but what if your opponent steals it with Big Eye, or burns you for 1000 damage with Blackship of Corn in Main Phase 2? Putting Battle Fader can possibly give your opponents options and I see no reason to help them.
Playing 2 Swift Scarecrows ensures you will probably draw at least one partway into the game, you hopefully don't need it at the very beginning unless you're playing a very explosive OTK deck.
Gorz, The Emissary of Darkness
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| Screwing up OTKs since 2008. |
Very little explanation needed for this card. Seeing as there are few Spells/Traps that need setting and that stick around a lot combined with the fact that Garunix out usually means it's your only monster = open field when your opponent gets around Garunix. This guy can block 2 attacks with his token, OR you can put some early game pressure on your opponent if your starting hand contains this guy, since I'll admit, the starting hands for the deck can be weak sometimes.
The only warning I'll give is that this card once in awhile conflicts with Fire Formation - Tenki, since it's a continuous Spell. Therefore, always try to burn up those Tenki's with Gorilla's effect ASAP.
Wow, that took longer than expected to write and I apologize. I hope you find this enlightening. I think I'll save the Spells/Traps and Strategy for next time! After that, I have a few opinion pieces I would like to preach, so stay tuned and please: If you have any comments or thoughts at all, please share them! I would like to know how to improve this blog!
-Fossil D23
