Yet another archetype has become besties with Runick, and that is Ice Barrier with its Battles of Legend Terminal Revenge support!
The immense synergy between Guardians of Ice Dragons and the Heroic Runick Spells are due to the fact that Ice Barrier can draw FOUR cards as part of it's main combo while summoning floodgates from deck! All the while, Runick assist the archetype as it weaves through its combo providing extenders and synchro bodies!
The card advantage that both strategies net the duelist result in 7+ cards drawn, with a field full of Ice Barrier floodgates like General Raiho (must discard to resolve monster effect), Medium (Only 1 spell/trap activation per turn) and Georgius (No monster activations in the GY)! The centerpiece that summons these floodgates on your opponent's turn is the new incredibly cool boss monster from Battles of Legend: Terminal Revenge - Lancea, Ancestral Dragon of the Ice Mountain!
Are Ice Barriers finally competitively viable with their new support? I truly believe they are, since in my 50+ test games they fought toe to toe with Snake-Eyes, Branded and Labyrnth! Why not try this cool (pun intended) strategy for yourself!
Want to see the deck in action? Scroll to the very bottom for the Youtube video!
ARCHETYPES AND DECKBUILDING
Like with every Runick combo deck, Ice Barrier Runick is a beautiful synergistic marriage of the two archetypes.
The ICE BARRIER part of the strategy is composed of 18 cards. There are 9 one card starters for the main combo, that being x3 Revealer, x3 Hexa, and x3 Medallion. x1 General Raiho and x1 Medium are the potent floodgate garnets summoned off of Lancea from deck. x2 Georgius, x1 Speaker and x3 Mirror Master are combo pieces as well as extenders for the deck. Finally, x1 Freezing Chains is also another extender and another search target for Mirror Master if you happen to already have all the combo pieces in hand. In the Extra Deck, one of each Ice Dragon is included since they all float into each other - x1 Lancea, x1 Trishula Zero, and x1 Trishula.
RUNICK offers an alternative win condition of this deck by banishing your opponent's deck. Runick also increases the strategy's consistency and grindgame since it allows for a draw 1-3 per turn. Finally with Runick, it gives Ice Barriers additional bodies body to make synchro plays with. Runick spells also break opponent's boards fairly well when played correctly in tandem with the other archetypes, allowing them to function as pseudo-boardbreakers by baiting interruption to allow Ice Barriers to go full-combo. Runick finally offers solid defensive options, with Hugin protecting against destruction effects, Munin protecting from targeting effects and Geri dissuading the opponent from attacking. The Runick portion of the deck is standard, composed of 19 cards - x3 Destruction, x3 Flashing Fire, x3 Freezing Curses, x3 Slumber, x3 Tip, x1 Smiting Storm, x1 Dispelling, and finally the heart and soul of the deck, x2 Fountain.
The rest of the deck is composed of STAPLES. The staple count is minimal due to the nature of Runick combo decks, and it is only composed of three cards - x1 Called By and x2 Triple Tactics Talent. The staple count can go up dramatically post-siding to 10-12 if you need boardbreakers or handtraps that hardcounter your opponent's gameplan. My personal SIDING PATTERN from most important to least important to take out are - x1 General Raiho, x1 Medium, x1 Speaker, x1 Georgius, x1 Dispelling, x1 Smiting Storm, x3 Slumber.
COMBOS AND GAMEPLAN
The strategy of Ice Barrier Runick is to control/banish your opponent's resources until they surrender or deck-out. The Ice Barrier portion of the strategy summons floodgates from deck with Lancea. It also has an incredible "draw 4" with the combined synchro summons of Coral Dragon + Crocodragon. Combined with Runick, you should be able to draw 7+, freeze your opponent in their tracks with floodgates - eventually drowning your them in sheer card advantage.
Here are some combo lines for Ice Barrier Runick. First, this is the most basic combo with the safest line of play:
Runick Quick Play Spell + Hexa Spirit of the Ice Barrier + 1 Discard = Runick Fountain (draw 1-3) + Herald of the Arc Light (floodgate and omni-negate) + Dragite (spell and trap negate) + draw 1+.
Normal summon Hexa Spirit.
Activate Hexa's effect to send to the GY Mirror Master of the Ice Barrier, turning Hexa to level 2. (If your opponent Imperms/Ash/Veiler's this, activate your Runick quick play to summon Generaider Sleipnir to synchro summon Lancea, ending your combo).
Activate in CL2 to Hexa's effect your Runick quick play spell to summon Hugin.
Activate CL1 Mirror Master in GY to search for Georgius and activate in CL2 Hugin discarding a card to search for Runick Fountain.
Activate Georgius' effect to summon himself from hand.
Activate Georgius' on-summon effect to summon Mirror Master from GY.
Synchro summon into Herald of the Arc Light using Hugin + Hexa. (This is your 5th summon, if your opponent activates Nibiru you can negate destroy it).
Activate Mirror Master's effect tributing Georgius to summon 3 Ice Barrier tokens to the field and turning Mirror Master to level 5.
Synchro summon Coral Dragon using Mirror Master + Ice Barrier Token.
Synchro summon Dragite using Coral Dragon + 2 Ice Barrier Tokens. Draw 1 card with Coral Dragon's effect.
If possible, do your Runick stuff to continue drawing cards. If you have more than 6 cards in hand, set some of your Runick quick-play spells.
Here is the second combo that is slightly greedier but with a stronger endboard:
Runick Quick Play Spell + Mirror Master + Speaker + 1 Discard = Runick Fountain (draw 1-3) + Lancea (summons Ice Barrier anti-effect monster/anti-spell/trap floodgates) + Crocodragon quick effect destroy + draw 4+.
During the Draw Phase, activate your Runick quick play spell to summon Hugin.
Activate Hugin's on-summon effect to discard Mirror Master, searching for Runick Fountain.
Activate Mirror Master's GY effect to search for Revealer.
Normal summon Revealer. Discard 1 card to summon from deck Georgius.
Activate Georgius' on-summon effect to summon from GY Mirror Master.
Synchro Summon Lancea using Georgius + Revealer. (This is your 5th summon, if your opponent activates Nibiru, you can punish them with Lanceas effect to synchro summon Trishula to banish Nibiru and a card from their hand so they'll only have 3 cards left, while you still have extenders).
Special summon Revealer from hand.
Activate Mirror Master's effect tributing Revealer to summon 3 Ice Barrier tokens to the field and turning Mirror Master to level 5.
Synchro summon Coral Dragon using Mirror Master + Ice Barrier Token.
Activate Revealer's effect in the GY to summon 1 Ice Barrier Token.
Synchro summon Crocodragon using Coral Dragon + 3 Ice Barrier Tokens.
CL1 draw 3 with Crocodragon, CL2 draw 1 with Coral Dragon.
If possible, do your Runick stuff to continue drawing cards. If you have more than 6 cards in hand, set some of your Runick quick-play spells.
There are other combos for Ice Barrier Runick, and there are different gamestates that occur especially with all the interruptions and handtraps that occur in the meta nowadays, but generally, endboards are the a mix of Lancea, Crocosaur, Hugin and Fountain. If you have extenders, you might even end up with Toad's omni-negate or Chengying's banish. If you want more Ice Barrier combos, check out the other combo guides on Youtube - but from my experience, the two above combos are the best and most resillient.
Admittedly, going second against a full board with Ice Barrier Runick is difficult, especially since Ice Barriers don't have natural board-breaking ability, you cannot enter battle phase when you use Runick quick-play spells and they don't trade good enough vs. your opponent's resources. That's why the Side Deck is full of boardbreakers for going second! Post-side you should have 12 Runick boardbreakers along with the 10+ boardbreaking staples that you've sided in! After you smash your opponent's gamestate, you should be able to fully combo off with Runick Ice Barrier to defeat your opponent in a grindgame. As you combo, you can break your opponent's board with Coral Dragon's destroy effect, and instead of summoning Lancea, you can summon Chenying to further remove your opponent's resources from the field and GY.
With the unique control and resource advantage both Ice Barrier and Runick offers, your opponent's gameplan should be frozen in it's tracks while you snowball resources to victory!
GENERAL TIPS
- Similarly to Sky Striker, this is a toolbox control resource deck. It has a high skill ceiling since it factors in a player's decision making, resource management and match-up knowledge. Practice makes perfect with the deck!
Ice Barrier Runick can generate so many bodies on board that it can easily OTK your opponent, especially with Lancea summoning free Ice Barrier monsters and all the follow-up the strategy gives you. If you feel your opponent cannot withstand your attack and they're out of resources, try to intentionally hold back from using Runick cards so you can enter the battle phase to finish them off!
While the standard deck has 3 staples, post-siding the deck can fit about 12 staples so you can play going 1st and 2nd! The siding pattern from best to take out to worst to take out are x1 General Raiho, x1 Medium, x1 Speaker, x1 Georgius, x1 Dispelling, x1 Smiting Storm, x3 Slumber.
Going second, your win condition is to reduce your opponent's gamestate so that you can fully combo off and defeat them in a grindgame. After simplifying their board with boardbreakers (especially the ones you sided in), use one of the combos states above, except pop 1 monster with Coral Dragon, and instead of Lancea summon Chengying!
You can play around handtraps like Droll and Effect Veiler by searching with Hugin and Mirror Master during the Draw Phase. Nibiru can be played around or intentionally played into by summoning Herald of the Arc Light, Toad or Lancea.
Remember, Revealer's effect locks you into water monsters, and Mirror Master's effect locks you into water synchro monsters! Be mindful of this as you combo and build your board with specific monsters.
Be mindful of how many monster zones are available to you, since monster zones quickly fill up and clog in this deck, especially with Mirror Master's triple summon of Ice Barrier Tokens.
When synchro summoning, be mindful of the levels your monsters have and as they change to activate their effects! Remember, Mirror Master and Hexa both change their levels as they activate their effects!
Want to see the deck in action? Scroll to the very bottom for the Youtube video!
CONCLUDING REMARKS
The Legendary Frozen Dragons have finally been unsealed in the TCG for competitive play, and when paired with Runick the Ice Barriers sure are competitively viable! I was pleasantly surprised at how resilient and powerful the strategy has become, especially with how it powers through handtraps while simultaneously setting up its gameplan. I find the most satisfying thing about this deck is the INSANE DRAW 4 that Crocodragon + Coral Dragon gives you! Along with the draw 3 that Runick has, you'll find yourself with an overwhelming amount of card advantage to throw at your opponent, while you summon Ice Barrier floodgates!
With all the support Ice Barrier has received over the past couple years, especially via the recent Battles of Legend Terminal Revenge, the strategy truly has graduated beyond it's "terrible Duel Terminal" status. I've played a lot of Runick combo variants, but I gotta say this is one of my most favourite!
GLHF Duelists!
30
240
720
480
