Trap Burning Abyss (Apr. 2021)

The rebirth of Trap Burning Abyss

Though True King of All Calamities (VFD) is no longer around to terrorize the format and incentivize control strategies, Burning Abyss - with Traps - has a decent matchup spread in this format. While it will not be a meta dominant deck, the unshackling of Cir and Graff should make it very clear that Burning Abyss is not to be looked down upon. Thanks to cards like Torrential Tribute, Paleozoic Dinomischus, Fiend Griefing, and the newly released Ice Dragon's Prison, Burning Abyss is more than able to hold its own going first against most of the format. Barring blow-out cards like Lightning Storm, Evenly Matched, or a lucky snipe off of Cosmic Cyclone or Mystical Space Typhoon, the deck puts up a significant amount of pressure going 1st. While its ability to go 2nd is not as impressive, BA has a unique toolbox that allows it to bait out or remove some of the opponent's threats - potentially setting up for a Link 4 play with Tour Guide from the Underworld or a Rank 3 play into Divine Arsenal AA-ZEUS - Sky Thunder. And of course, BA, even in its newest iteration, still retains its bread and butter grind game that has led it to receive the title of "the deck that never dies". Cir, Graff, Dante, and Scarm are all fantastic cards that allow you to match pace with the likes of Invoked Shaddoll Dogmatika, and Dragon Link should you be able to stabilize. With all of these traits and some smart siding, this is definitely one of the better formats to pick up your Malebranches of the Burning Abyss.

_________

Key Cards:

• Tour Guide from the Underworld: Yes, it is frail, but it is still the best card in the deck should it go off. Tour Guide is a ticket to Zeus, to Borrelsword Dragon, to Accesscode Talker, and to just about every other meaningful monster in the deck, should it resolve. Even if you're not using it to explode, Tour Guide is a 1 card setup into I:P + Beatrice, or simply a Dante. This card cannot be overlooked, it simply offers unparalleled flexibility. You just need to be careful with cards like Nibiru, Impermanence, and Ash seeing increasing play.

• Fiendish Rhino Warrior: It's not a tour guide, but what it can enable might as well place it in the same tier.  The ability to send any Burning Abyss monster from the deck to the graveyard is extremely impactful. This effect allows Rhino to be used in a myriad of ways, whether that's making I:P + Beatrice (like Tour Guide) after being detached from a Dante to send Graff, or if it's to simply send Scarm for that valuable end phase search. Furthermore, its ability to protect your BAs from their self-destruction can allow you to extend on awkward boards, which is something that comes up from time to time and is highly valued.

• Cir, Malebranche of the Burning Abyss: After a certain point in a game, this often becomes the card you look for the most. Why? Well it enables your grind, it allows you to access a myriad of other cards you've set up over time, and it allows you to recur resources in conjunction with Dante. Cir is extremely impactful thanks to its effect that allows it to Special Summon a Burning Abyss monster from the graveyard.

• Graff, Malebranche of the Burning Abyss: A Hero Lives type effects have always been powerful, and one that is as easy to activate - and as flexible - as Graff is extremely powerful. Being able to tutor out any BA, or simply being able to extend, is extremely powerful in a deck like BA that can take advantage of graveyard effects by linking off bodies on the field.

• Libic, Malebranche of the Burning Abyss: Definitely not the most highly touted card, and considering it's at 1 in my list you may wonder I'm bringing it up at all. Well, it's because Libic is a powerful enabler. Libic enables specific combos and makes awkward hands less awkward, and it does it in a way that no other BA really can, which is something that's worth mentioning. Specifically, Libic allows Tour Guide to cash in on a Link 4, almost immediately. Tour Guide Summoning Graff to make Cherubini, summoning Scarm off of Graff to a zone Cherubini points to is a play that brings out a lot of bodies - but accomplishes little in the respect of developing a board. However, with Libic in the deck, and a BA name in hand, Cherubini allows you to get a 4th body on-field - opening up several lines of play. It's definitely not the most interesting combo, but Libic's place in this combo alongside its general resourcefulness is meritorious enough to mention.

• Dante, Traveler of the Burning Abyss: I'm certainly biased in this saying this, but I believe I'm pretty correct in saying it, Dante is one of the best rank 3s ever printed. The ability to mill 3 cards can be pretty powerful, especially in a deck like this where there are a lot of good cards to mill, but that's not the only way that Dante contributes. Its ability to swing for 2500 can be valuable, the fact that it is a Burning Abyss name is also valuable, but more than anything else, its non once per turn Warrior Returning Alive effect that triggers when sent to the graveyard, is incredible. It not only allows you to cycle back Cir, which can then revive your Dante to repeat this loop, but it allows you to bring back any BA. That is huge in a grind game, especially when you can resolve this effect of Dante multiple times.

• Beatrice, Lady of the Eternal: She is still at 1, and maybe for good reason, however that limitation doesn't stop Beatrice from being an incredibly important piece of Burning Abyss's arsenal. The ability to send a monster from the deck to the graveyard during either player turn gives Beatrice the unique ability to not only develop advantage and plays, but also the ability to disrupt the opponent - sometimes in astounding fashion (ex: Sky Scourge Norelas, albeit this is not a competitive plan & I am simply referencing it to show the potential that Beatrice has).

• Fiend Griefing: Yes, every Trap in this deck is powerful, but what Fiend Griefing does is pretty impressive even among its Trap peers. The ability to send a BA to the graveyard on your opponent's turn, while you're shuffling a card from their graveyard into the deck allows Fiend Griefing to be both a disruption and setup card - or a two-for-one interruption. That flexibility is huge, and often this card feels as if it were tailor-made for BA.

_________

Options to consider for Extra/Main/Side:

Aside from ratio adjustments, there are a few cards that should be considered when building Burning Abyss variants.

• Extra Deck:

-> Topologic Zeroboros: This card is very powerful if it resolves, allowing you to clear an entire board. Furthermore, you have cards like Fiend Griefing, Beatrice, a chained Dinomischus from GY, and Ice Dragon's Prison to resolve this card's effect on your opponent's turn. Do be wary though, it's an expensive investment at any point in the game, and you're left feeling fairly weak after it resolves in some situations.

-> Borreload Dragon: This card's golden years are certainly behind it, but it is still a menace to deal with & has a potentially game swinging effect.

-> Number 49: Fortune Tune: This card is a more recent tech for more grind-intensive matchups. It has its merits, but we're not looking to get into that kind of an end game with this deck. Play if you value the cycle, ignore if you don't.

• Main Deck:

-> Cosmic Cyclone: In this format Cyclone is just too good, both going 1st & going 2nd. It always trades with a card that is critical for the opponent, or hard for you to play through, and I would certainly consider main decking it.

-> Absolute King Back Jack: The saturation of Traps in our Deck is high enough to make Back Jack reliable, and 1 - 2 Back Jack is certainly something worth implementing should you have space. It improves your Dante mills and helps maintain or increase this deck's pressure throughout the game.

-> Dragoon Package: Predaplant Verte Anaconda, Red-Eyes Dark Dragoon, Red-Eyes Fusion, and your 2 Fusion targets. This package is extremely powerful on the right board, but it is not something I value highly format in this format. Given that most people are siding in Dark Ruler, this feels weak in games 2 & 3 and there are generally plays that are equivalent to or better than Dragoon, with I:P + Beatrice on turn 1 and Zeus/Accesscode on turn 2 (or when going 2nd).

• Side Deck:

-> Kaijus / Lava Golem: They don't help you win against Dragon Link as Dark Ruler No More does, but they can be useful for outing combo boards as well as troublesome monsters like El Shaddoll Winda and Red-Eyes Dark Dragoon. (It should be noted that an Invoked Shaddoll player can utilize Schism to play through your Kaiju and set up a second Winda.)

-> Forbidden Droplet: Another card that fulfills the same role as Dark Ruler, albeit with more swing potential. I don't play it over Dark Ruler because it doesn't synergize as well with this variant of BA given that we play a high number of Traps and are unlikely to find many cards that we want to discard as consistently.

-> Droll & Lock Bird: Nearly every deck in the current format does not appreciate playing under Droll, the issue is that there are still plenty of Decks that can create a problematic board through Droll. It is certainly one of the better hand traps in this format, it is just hard to warrant playing hand traps in this Deck when you value cards that trade more consistently and efficiently.

-> Nibiru, the Primal Being: Not often a game-winner on its own, and hence why it is being offered as a recommendation, Nibiru can end a Dragon Link or Bird Up players turn should they open poorly enough / should it be supported enough. Considering that we prefer consistent responses to the current format's combo decks, I would say this is a fringe consideration at best.

-> Evenly Matched: We play trap trick so this has some advantages over Lightning Storm, which is the card this would most likely replace in the side. Not much else to say, Evenly is fantastic into Eldlich, Shaddoll, and a slew of other Decks.

_________

Elementary Combos:

Isn't BA just IP, Beatrice & set 3 pass?
... yes, but we like to think it's more than that

• Tour Guide:

-> Link 4 Variation: TG
1.) NS TG, SS Graff from Deck
2.) Link into Cherubini, activating Graff to SS Scarm/other BA (not Cir) from Deck
3.) Activate Cherubini's effect, sending Cir from Deck to GY as cost, targeting the BA that was Summoned off of Graff
4.) Activate Cir effect to reborn Graff
5.) Link Cherubini, BA Summoned off of Graff, and Graff to make a Link 4 or to go into 2 Link 2s and then a Link 4, or Cherubini + a rank 3. Your choice?

-> Link 4 "Zeroboros" Variation: TG + BA in hand
1.) NS TG, SS Graff from Deck
2.) Link into Cherubini, activating Graff to SS Cir from Deck
3.) Activate Cherubini's effect, sending Libic from Deck to GY as cost, targeting Cir
4.) Activate Libic's effect to Summon the BA from your hand
5.) Link into Zeroboros with Cherubini, Cir, and the BA that was Summoned from hand
6.) Cir effect to Summon a BA from GY
7.) Zeroboros effect to banish the entire field

-> IP + Beatrice: TG
1.) NS TG, SS Graff from Deck
2.) Overlay them into Dante, detaching Graff and milling X
3.) Graff effect Summon Cir from Deck
4.) Link Dante & Cir into I:P Masquerena, CL 1 Cir, CL 2 Dante (target each other)
5.) Send added Cir from hand to GY to Summon Beatrice using revived Dante

 

• Fiendish Rhino Warrior:

-> IP + Beatrice: Rhino + BA in hand
1.) NS Rhino, SS BA from hand (not Graff/Cir)
2.) Overlay them into Dante, detaching Rhino and milling X
3.) Rhino effect, send Graff from Deck to GY
4.) Graff effect Summon Cir from Deck
5.) Link Dante & Cir into I:P Masquerena, CL 1 Cir, CL 2 Dante (target each other)
6.) Send added Cir from hand to GY to Summon Beatrice using revived Dante.