Pure Ice Barrier

Ice Barrier is the wors.... now hold on a moment! That Statement didn't age well and nowadays Ice Barrier can be pretty menacing. Today we take a look at how to play a Pure Ice Barrier variant in all of it's detail, let's start: 

Identifying the Strategy

Ice Barrier has a very unique Playstyle at their disposal. You use all the Maindeck Cards to assemble a near unbreakable Wall with a mix of Stall and Lockdown effects. After successfully setting that Wall up you use those Monsters to go into the big Dragons of the Ice Barrier und overthrow the opponents Strategy with powerful effects! 

In general you will see many Monsters which have effects while another Ice Barrier Monster is already on the field so it is essencial to always control at least 2 Ice Barrier Monsters. 

Now how to even get there is the more interesting part and we take a closer look at it now: 

Preparing the Ice Barrier

As for your Monsters Revealer of the Ice Barrier is your best Starter. She can discard 1 card to special summon any Ice Barrier Tuner from the Deck. With that you already have a L6 or L7 Synchro play but you most likely won't do that turn 1. Instead summoning Defender of the Ice Barrier not to be confused with Blizzed, Defender of the Ice Barrier (That's not a good Defender) should be your go to card to get an easy attack Wall. 

To find Revealer of the Ice Barrier easier you can use Medallion of the Ice Barrier to simply search for her or use Winds Over the Ice Barrier to get her onto the field. These 3 cards are your best arrangement of cards to get your Ice Barrier Wall online easily. Obviously there are many other Combinations with other cards possible for example with General Wayne of the Ice Barrier but more on that will be written further below. 

Summoning the Ice Barrier Wall

Now let's take a look at all the Maindeck Monsters which are a lot and their role within this Deck: 

General Grunard of the Ice Barrier: With L8 and 2800/1000 Statline he's the strongest Ice Barrier Monster you have at your disposal and his effect allows an additional normal summon for any Ice Barrier Monster each turn. Obviously very useful to fulfill the Conditions for many Ice Barrier Monster effects and that's about it. He's often useless but sometimes he's THE card to get you out of trouble so he found a place in my Heart over time. 

General Gantala of the Ice Barrier: With L7 and 2700/2000 Statline he's yet another strong option to summon. During each of your End Phases you can special summon any Ice Barrier Monster you like from your GY except him. He's very good to reassemble a broken Ice Barrier Wall quickly to survive the opponents turn. Just like Grunard he's a option that won't come up always but he has it's place in this Strategy. 

Medium of the Ice Barrier: She's also L7 with a measly 2200/1600 Statline but she can Special Summon herself from the Hand if the opponent controls 4 or more Cards then you do. Also the opponent can only activate 1 Spell/Trap per turn. Thanks to this effects she's a great Comeback Tool to safely create a Ice Barrier Wall and she herself can be a strong part of said Wall. Definetely keep an eye on this card as it's the downfall for any Backrow reliant Strategy. 

General Raiho of the Ice Barrier: With L6 and 2100/2300 he's not that menacing at first sight but his effect will negate any Monster Effect activated on the opponents side of the field unless he discards 1 Card at resolution. Thanks to Trishula, Dragon of the Ice Barrier you can windle down the Hand Size easily and in general no Deck generates enough Card Advantage to prevent this Cards effect for long. Combine him with Medium of the Ice Barrier and the opponent is severely limited in the application of his cards. 

Dai-sojo of the Ice Barrier: A L6 Monster with 1600/2200 Statline which is changed to defense Position when Normal or Flip Summoned. Face up Ice Barrier Monsters can't be destroyed by Spell/Trap effects. He's yet another Piece in your Wall to protect yourself against cards such as Raigeki or Torrential Tribute. He has it's moments so you better have him in case the opponent has a strong going 2nd Strategy. 

General Wayne of the Ice Barrier: A L5 with 2100/400 Statline who can be special summoned if you control an Ice Barrier Monster and the opponent controls a Monster too. If Normal or Special summoned he searches for any Ice Barrier Spell/Trap (We play no Traps) from your Deck. Also any Spell/Trap sent to the opponents GY is banished instead. He's a great going 2nd tool and very useful for Synchro summoning and preventing GY effects of opponents Spell/Traps. An overall strong card.

Samurai of the Ice Barrier: A L4 with 1800/1500 Statline who will be destroyed when he's changed to defense Position and Draw you a Card in the Process. There's a nice Loop involving Dewloren, Tiger King of the Ice Barrier who bounces Freezing Chains of the Ice Barrier to resummon this Card every turn. With the GY effect of Judge of the Ice Barrier you can then trigger his effect easily, sometimes even Twice a turn drawing you 2 cards. It's important to keep some cards in your Hand to pay the Cost for various other effects in this Deck and with 1800 ATK he helps with OTKs from Winds Over the Ice Barrier too. 

Judge of the Ice Barrier: Another L4 with 1800/900 Statline. Once per turn you can target 1 or 2 Ice Barrier Monsters in your GY and 1 or 2 Cards in the opponents GY and shuffle them into the Deck. Also while there's another Ice Barrier Monster on the field you can banish her from the GY to target a Attack Position Monster on the field and change it to defense Position. Also each time the opponent pays LP he will loose an additional 500 LP after that. She can help interrupting the opponents GY and keep your Deck Fresh in long Duels. Also with Samurai of the Ice Barrier she can Draw you cards or Trap an opponents Monster in Defense Position if Speaker for the Ice Barriers is also on the field. She's versatile and just like Samurai a good OTK tool. 

Dance Princess of the Ice Barrier: A L4 with 1700/900 Statline who can Once per turn Reveal any Number of Ice Barrier Monsters in the Hand to target and return the same amount of set Spell/Traps from the opponent back to the Hand. You need to control another Ice Barrier Monster to use this effect. If you happen to have Warlock of the Ice Barrier active both players have to set Spells before activating them next turn and Dance Princess of the Ice Barrier can reset that every turn so that the opponent is unable to activate his Spell Cards for as long as you control both Monsters. This effect suddenly becomes very strong and useful for sure.

Spellbreaker of the Ice Barrier: A L4 with 1000/2000 Statline. By discarding a Ice Barrier Monster both players can't activate Spell Cards until the end of the next turn as long as this card remains face up. Spell cards are important and simply turning them of will win you games very often. As soon as it's your turn again you can use her as Synchro Material and simply be able to use your Spell Cards again. A in theme Imperial Order which is easily searchable and can be turned of whenever you like (just like OG pre errata Imperial Order) is broken and should be a main Focus to set up going first. 

Strategist of the Ice Barrier: A L4 with 1600/1600 Statline. He can Once per Turn send a Ice Barrier Monster from the Hand to the GY to Draw 1 Card. Simple yet effective and very welcome in your Strategy. Discard Ice Barrier Monsters you wanna have in your GY which you have a lot to choose from and Draw another card as reward. He and Prior of the Ice Barrier with Freezing Chains of the Ice Barrier form a strong Draw and Revival engine. 

Revealer of the Ice Barrier: A L4 with 1700/1000 Statline. She prevents opponents Tribute Summons if you control another Ice Barrier Monster and can banish herself from the GY instead of discarding a card to activate a Ice Barrier Monster effect. This works with a empty Hand too. Also by discarding 1 Card you can special summon a Ice Barrier Tuner from your Deck and are locked into Water Monsters for the rest of this turn. She's by far the best Starter and combined with Speaker for the Ice Barriers she's an easy L11 Trishula, Zero Dragon of the Ice Barrier as early as turn 1. Also with Winds Over the Ice Barrier she can transform into a quick and easy Ice Barrier Wall. I will talk about the optimal Monsters for the Ice Barrier Wall a little later. 

Speaker for the Ice Barriers: The last L4 with 1000/1800 Statline. Her 3 effects all need an Ice Barrier Monster on the field. You can Special summon her from the Hand, prevent opponents Defense Position monsters from changing their Position and you can banish her from the GY to summon a L1 Ice Barrier Token with 0/0 Statline. She's overall great to get more Monsters onto the Field easily and Synchro or Link Summon easier. Always keep her in Mind when you think about breaking the opponents Board with the Dragons of the Ice Barrier. 

Warlock of the Ice Barrier: A L3 with 400/1000 Statline. With another Ice Barrier Monster on the Field both Players must Set Spell Cards and cannot activate them until the next turn. Set your Spell Cards before summoning him and you can activate them during the same turn but beware since his weak Statline makes him dealt with easily. You might need the assistance of Cryomancer of the Ice Barrier to defend this card properly. Still he's the only L3 non Tuner with a strong effect so he has it's place. 

Defender of the Ice Barrier: The first and only L3 Tuner with 200/1600 Statline. While there's another Ice Barrier Monster on the field opponents Monsters cannot attack if their Attack is equal or higher to this Cards DEF. He's a main Piece in every Ice Barrier Wall since he can easily stop all opponents Monsters from attacking and turn into a powerful Synchro Boss whenever you like. Always summon this fella to stand a fair Chance against the opponent. 

Cryomancer of the Ice Barrier: The first and only L2 Tuner with 1300/0 Statline. If there's another Ice Barrier Monster on the field L4 or higher Monsters cannot attack. It's Gravity Bind with all of it's upsides and downsides. Your L4 or higher Monsters are also unable to attack so he's best used as Synchro Material before going in for the final Strike. 

Zuijin of the Ice Barrier: A L2 Monster with 500/300 Statline which can be tributed to summon a L5 or higher Ice Barrier Monster from the Hand. During a following turn you can target a L3 or higher Water Monster, reduce it's level by 2 and special summon this card from the GY but he's banished if he leaves the field. He's quite useful to get one of the many Tribute Monsters in your Deck from the Hand onto the field and even better he can manipulate the Level of 1 of your Monsters for easier lines into Trishula, Dragon of the Ice Barrier.

Secret Guards of the Ice Barrier: A L2 with 100/1600 Statline. Face up Ice Barrier Monsters can't be targeted from opponents Effect Monsters effects. Easy yet effective at protecting all of your Monsters against potential Threats from the opponent. He's a popular Wall piece since his DEF is a perfect fit with Defender of the Ice Barrier on the field too. 

Prior of the Ice Barrier: The final L2 Monster with 1000/400 Statline. If you control a Ice Barrier Monster he can be Special summoned from the Hand but no L5 or Higher Monsters can be Special Summoned during that turn. You can tribute him to target any Ice Barrier Monster in the GY and Special summon it. He's very useful when combined with Freezing Chains of the Ice Barrier & Dewloren, Tiger King of the Ice Barrier. You can use the activation effect of Freezing Chains of the Ice Barrier to revive this card back from the GY and then tribute him to summon any other Ice Barrier Monster from the GY (Not being limited to L4 or lower only). Dewloren can then use his effect to bounce the Freezing Chains to be able to use them again next turn. Prior of the Ice Barrier is very useful all around. 

Hexa Spirit of the Ice Barrier: The only L1 Tuner with 400/200 Statline. With another Ice Barrier Monster on the Field he reduces the ATK/DEF of all opponents Monsters by 500. He can also mill a L3 or lower Ice Barrier Monster from the Deck and change his level to the one milled from the Deck. He's your most versatile tuner you have access to and that makes him very useful to find easier lines into Trishula, Dragon of the Ice Barrier and his friends. 

We covered all the Main Deck Monsters. Let's quickly go over the Spells now: 

Magic Triangle of the Ice Barrier: Reveal 3 Ice Barrier Monsters with different names, target and destroy 1 card from the opponent and special any Ice Barrier Monster from your Hand. A simple yet effective card that can be searched with General Wayne of the Ice Barrier whenever you might need it. 

Freezing Chains of the Ice Barrier: On activation you can special summon a L4 or lower Ice Barrier Monster from your GY. As long as you control 3 or more Ice Barrier Monsters those Monsters are unaffected by your opponents activated Monster effects from Monsters special summoned from the Extra Deck. A very nice card to fortify your Ice Barrier Wall even further and revive cards like Prior of the Ice Barrier who then can revive any other Ice Barrier Monster. 

Medallion of the Ice Barrier: Searches any Ice Barrier Monster from your Deck with no restrictions. The wet dream of every Archetype and Ice Barrier made it real. An absolute no Brainer that's always played at 3 copies and no less. 

Winds Over the Ice Barrier: Tribute any number of Ice Barrier Monsters and special summon the same amount of L4 or lower Ice Barrier Monsters from your Deck. On a following turn you may banish this card to recycle a Ice Barrier monster from the GY or the Banished Zone back to your Hand. This card is extremely useful to quickly setup all kinds of Synchro plays or a menacing Ice barrier Wall. Also the recycling ability is an absolute blessing to easily reuse your Banished Monsters. 

The optimal Ice Barrier Wall

Now let's think about what kind of Wall you wanna setup with this Deck: 

Start with a mix of Defender of the Ice Barrier , Spellbreaker of the Ice Barrier & Secret Guards of the Ice Barrier who can all be summoned with Winds Over the Ice Barrier. 

From there be sure to get General Raiho of the Ice Barrier onto the field and Dai-sojo of the Ice Barrier or Medium of the Ice Barrier as final piece. The spell Freezing Chains of the Ice Barrier can be the Cherry on top to make the Wall even more strong. 

Thanks to Defender of the Ice Barrier you have a Tuner ready to be used with Spellbreaker of the Ice Barrier to get into L7 Gungnir, Dragon of the Ice Barrier or with Secret Guards of the Ice Barrier too to have a L9 Trishula, Dragon of the Ice Barrier. 

You can also use Defender of the Ice Barrier with Dai-sojo of the Ice Barrier and Secret Guards of the Ice Barrier to get into the L11 Trishula, Zero Dragon of the Ice Barrier. 

Having Brionac, Dragon of the Ice Barrier or Dewloren, Tiger King of the Ice Barrier active while building up your wall is very useful so if you find the ressources summon one of them early. 

Now just out of fun think about how to break this Wall which can be setup turn one with a perfect Hand: 

●Can't attack with Monsters with 1600 or more Attack

●Can't target your Monsters with Monster effects

●Has to discard 1 card to activate Monster effects on the Field

●Can't activate Spell Cards 

●Can't destroy your Monsters with Spell/Trap effects /or Can only activate 1 Spell or Trap per turn

●All your Monsters are unaffected by Effects of Monsters special summoned from the Extra Deck

If he finds no answer non targeting Banishing and an OTK are waiting for the opponent during your next turn. Kinda good right? 

The Seals are broken! 

It's time to take a look at the legendary Dragons of the Ice Barrier now: 

Dewloren, Tiger King of the Ice Barrier: A L6 with 2000/1400 Statline who's actually not a Dragon but the leader of the Ice Barrier itself. He can return any number of your face up cards to the Hand to gain 500 ATK for each until the End Phase. In theory he can reach 6000 ATK within this Deck. Recycling Freezing Chains of the Ice Barrier is an obvious pluspoint but also being able to swap Ice Barrier Wall Pieces out whenever you need or reset Trishula, Dragon of the Ice Barrier is a strong point about him. 

Brionac, Dragon of the Ice Barrier: A L6 with 2300/1400 Statline. His current errata allows you to once per turn discard any number of cards and target the same number of Cards from the opponent and return them to the Hand. Even with this severely weakened effect he's still quite good and easy to summon. Hiding behind a Ice Barrier Wall with this card active can leave the opponent at a severe disadvantage very quickly.

Brionac, the Dragon of Icy Malevolence: A L6 with 2300/1400 Statline. In an attempt to fix the weakened Brionac this card came to exist. If he's Synchro summoned you can discard 1 card to target any card on the field and return it to the Hand. The same applies if he's special summoned from the GY. He can target your own cards too just like pre errata Brionac which makes him even more versatile BUT he's not an Ice Barrier Monster which makes the original better within this Deck. (There's no way to Special summon him from the GY) Mistar Boy can recycle him tho. 

Gungnir, Dragon of the Ice Barrier: A L7 with 2500/1700 Statline who can discard 1 or 2 cards to target and destroy that many cards from the opponent. He's the only one OG Ice Barrier Extra Deck Monster to never be limited or forbidden. His effect is good but not broken. His best quality speaking for him is how easily he's summoned. 

Trishula, Dragon of the Ice Barrier: A L9 with 2700/2000 Statline who on Synchro Summon can banish 1 Card from the opponents Hand, Field and GY without targeting and without needing to banish 3 Cards exactly. Looping his effect many times will leave the opponent with no ressources and trapped against cards such as General Raiho of the Ice Barrier. The newer Ice Barrier Cards make him easily summoned twice per turn and that every turn (With some Recycling inbetween). He's a menace and.... oh do I hear John Cena music? Oh no it's TRISHULA! RUN! 

Trishula, Zero Dragon of the Ice Barrier: A L11 with 2700/2000 Statline who on Synchro summon banishes up to 3 cards from the opponents field without targeting them. If he's destroyed from the opponent you can Special summon Trishula, Dragon of the Ice Barrier from the Extra Deck or GY make his ATK 3300, halve the ATK of all Monsters from the opponent and negate their effects. He's your other big boy who can easily win you games and punish the opponent for destroying him. Certainly a strong Removal tool ready at your disposal when you need it. 

Trishula, the Dragon of Icy Imprisonment: A L9 with 2700/2000 Statline who can be Special summoned by banishing 3 Monsters with different names from your field. If 3 Dragons were used you can banish 3 Cards. One that you choose from your Deck and one from the opponents Extra Deck and the top Card of the opponents Deck. So if you use Gungnir, Dragon of the Ice Barrier , Trishula, Dragon of the Ice Barrier and Trishula, the Dragon of Icy Imprisonment to summon him you get yet another nice banishing effect but that's pretty much a pipedream 99% of the time. The Ability to transform any 3 Ice Barrier Monsters into a 2700 ATK beater is his best use most of the time. 

Mistar Boy: A Link-2 with 1400 ATK which gives a 500 ATK/DEF Boost to all Water Monsters and reduces the ATK/DEF of all Fire Monsters by 400. If he's destroyed you can recycle any Water monster from the GY back to your Hand. He helps with your OTKs and he's useful to recycle cards such as Revealer of the Ice Barrier to use her again. He comes up quite often and is a perfect fit into this Strategy. 

Loosing Control over Trishula

As always every Deck has it's weaknesses and Ice Barrier is no exception. If your initial summon gets removed from the field you have almost no Chance for a comeback. It's essencial to have 2 or more Ice Barrier Monsters on the field at any time. 

Also cards like Evenly Matched can outplay your Stall Strategy and leave you with little to no ressources. Furthermore Ash Blossom & Joyous Spring hurts a lot if used against Winds Over the Ice Barrier so be mindful of that. 

Outside of these strong Weakpoints there's nothing else to talk about. Know your Deck and play around that with Freezing Chains of the Ice Barrier or Magic Triangle of the Ice Barrier to have a Fighting Chance. 

A Final Message Frozen in Time 

Ice Barrier is not a weak Deck by any means. I use it to great success in Master Duel time and time again and feel like Platinum League is this Strategies home. 

Most of all it's fun to use this big variety of cards to maximum efficiency and see opponents scoop in the face of multiple Trishula Monsters on the Field (Or against Spellbreaker of the Ice Barrier pass). 

If you like Beautiful Artworks paired with a unique Strategy be sure to try this Deck out, it's 10/10 fun for sure. 

Final Rating: 

★★★★★☆☆ OTK Potential

★★★★★★★ Defensive Tools

★★★★★★★ Control Options

★★★★★★★ Removal Options

★★★★★☆☆ Recovery/Recycling

★★★★☆☆☆ Card Advantage

Overall Rating: ★★★★★★☆  35/42★

Special Rules before entering the Duel Terminal

Ice Barrier Monsters have a set of unique rulings to them which can be used to your advantage, let me teach you: 

Medium of the Ice Barrier: 1. The opponent is limited to activate 1 Spell or Trap card and no more for as long as this card remains on the field. 2. Special summoning this card is not treated as an effect. 

Revealer of the Ice Barrier: You can replace a discard by banishing this card even if your Hand is empty. 

Warlock of the Ice Barrier: If you set your Spell catds first and then summon this card you can activate your Spell cards during the same turn. 

Prior of the Ice Barrier: Special summoning this card is not treated as an effect.