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[[File:Crest-Ice Barrier.svg|thumb|left|100px|The "Ice Barrier" Crest]]Most "Ice Barrier" monsters require another of their kind present - usually, but not always, on the field - in order to activate its effect(s)their effects, which often generate are oriented towards field advantage. For example, many "Ice Barrier" monsters have effects to protect other "Ice Barrier" monsters: , be it from attacks ("[[Cryomancer of the Ice Barrier]]" forbids all monsters of Level 4 or higher from attacking while its owner control another "Ice Barrier", and ) or card effects ("[[Defender Dai-sojo of the Ice Barrier]]", which stops protects all of your opponent's monsters with ATK greater than or equal to its DEF "Ice Barriers" from attackingbeing destroyed by Spell/Trap Cards). This condition of having two These effects can overlap, making "Ice Barriers" on capable of creating resilient fields if several of their monsters are out. One of the three Generals of the field can be easily fullfiled if you control Ice Barrier, "[[General Grunard Raiho of the Ice Barrier|Raiho]]", since it allows an extra Normal Summon of an does not need other "Ice Barrier" monsters for its effect to work, but it can stand on its own as well as complement their lockdowns by taking a toll on the opponent's hand if they rely on monstereffects.

Aside from sheer attack-blocking, Many of the "Ice BarriersBarrier" can also protect themselves in other areasmonsters are not very useful if alone, making this archetype have issues if not able to establish field presence. While not plentiful, Ice Barriers do have effects of their own to facilitate having several monsters out, such as "[[Dai-sojo Magic Triangle of the Ice Barrier]]," for example, protects "Ice Barrier" monsters from Spells and Trap destructionthis is also assisted by the effects of their remaining two Generals, while "[[General Raiho Grunard of the Ice Barrier|Grunard]]" penalizes an opponent for relying on the activation of multiple monster effects by negating them or taxing a discard. Likewise, and "[[Secret Guards General Gantala of the Ice Barrier|Gantala]]" protects your monsters from being targeted by monster effects. It is difficult to maintain consistency in your Deck, however, by trying to rely on all of these forms of protection. Also, "Ice Barriers" are difficult to summon in swarms, making them all the harder to protect with their defensive monsters, all of which are tailored to defending a specific kind of effect.

The aforementional "Ice Barriers" can mount swarms under the direction of their "[[General Gantala of the Ice Barrier]]" if left unimpeded. It is one of the archetype's trump cards, being a 2700 ATK monster that can fetch other Special Summon an "Ice Barrier" monsters monster from the its controller's [[Graveyard ]] during each of its ownertheir turns's [[End Phase]]. This allows for great flexibility in strategy: not only It can it revive heavy-hitters with devastating live effectsany "Ice Barrier" besides other copies of itself, but also cards like a Defense Position be it monsters such as "[[Defender of the Ice Barrier]]" to create or Tuners for still rebuild a defensive field, "General Raiho of the Ice Barrier" to apply more threatspressure, or even their Synchro Monsters, making it powerful and versatile.

The "Ice Barrier" engine works in a circle. The idea is to start with "[[Strategist of the Ice Barrier]]", whose main objective is to can discard "General GantalaIce Barriers" from the hand to speed up the Graveyard all while netting you a draw every time you discardDeck. "Gantala" then sits in the Graveyard until revived by "[[Prior of the Ice Barrier]]". Once you have "Gantala" on the field, you Specific monsters can begin reviving your other "Ice Barriers" that have fallen in battle or have been be discarded by using "Strategist", most notably "Defender of the Ice Barrier" to Synchro and block almost all attackers or even in conjuction with "[[Samurai Medallion of the Ice Barrier]]" to gain an extra draw during your next turn. The main win condition of this Deck is to summon "Gantala" to generate field advantage, use powerhouses like itself and making revival effects such as "[[Gungnir, Dragon Call of the Ice BarrierHaunted]]" to destroy your opponent's field and deliver the final blow using "[[Trishula, Dragon of Back to the Ice BarrierFront]]", while also hurting your opponent's field, Hand and/or Graveyard with its effectviable options to build fields. Utilizing "Strategist" as a draw engine and "[[Medallion of the Ice Barrier]]" can also be used to grab the right card at the right time makes this deck consistent even without gather enough different names for the use of cards like "[[Pot activation of Duality]]" or "[[Upstart Goblin]]". Finally, even if "Gantala" is defeated, you can use "[[Surface]]", resurrecting "Prior" and then using it to revive "GantalaMagic Triangle".

"Medallion [[Prior of the Ice Barrier]]" is a [[staple]] multi-purpose card - it can be used for its easy Special Summon, quickly enabling another "Ice Barrier" Decks. It functions exactly like monster's effect, or be used for its effect to Special Summon any other "Ice Barrier"[[E monster from the Graveyard - Emergency Call]]the usual target being "Gantala" , as it can in an turn revive more "[[Elemental HERO]]Ice Barriers" Deck, down to the wordingturn after turn, but serves slightly different purposes: the monster it can become part of a [[revive other monsters for Synchro Summon]], a third monster for and Xyz Summons as well. "Prior" himself can be easily retrieved by "[[Magic Triangle of the Ice BarrierSalvage]]", a discard cost later retrieved with and "[[SalvageSurface]]"," or making it possible to fulfill the requirements for the effect use a single copy of "[[Moray of Greed]]Prior" several times."

A large hand facilitates For the effects most part, "Ice Barriers" want to establish a solid field and, if possible, keep it. While they are definitely capable of one of the archetype's Synchro trump cards, "Summoning with their own [[GungnirTuner monster|Tuner monsters]], Dragon and all of the Ice Barriertheir [[Synchro Monster|Synchro Monsters]]". It can destroy are very good, caution must be exercised - their Tuners themselves have defensive effects you must give up on in order to two cards per turn, at the cost of a discard per target. With a stocked handSynchro Summon, and "GungnirIce Barriers" can apply pressure by whittling defenses down so it as a whole are not very good at gaining and "Gantala" can push for the winkeeping card advantage.

Due to the archetype's lack of Draw Powerdraw power, you can use cards like "[[Shard of Greed]]", and "[[Maxx "C"]]", and the aforementioned "Strategist of the Ice Barrier".

"[[Eisbahn]]" can also be a good support to them, making all non-WATER monsters change to Defense Position at the time it hits the field; with this, you can slow down your opponent's moves and pave the way to attack with the huge ATK of "Gantala", "Grunard" or "Gungnir". "[[Soul Drain]]" can be used to stop Graveyard-reliant decks, such as "[[Dark World]]", "[[Sylvan]]", etc., from working, while this deck will remain untouched; this can give an "Ice Barrier" player even more control of the game. Another popular strategy is the "Dewloren Lock", which relies on "[[Dewloren, Tiger King of the Ice Barrier]]" and its ability to return face-up cards to the hand. make it possible for players to dedicate a build to it and use a variety of Spell/Trap Cards like that remain on the field such as "[[Swords of Revealing Light]]" and "[[Fiendish Chain]]" can be continuously returned to pressure the hand, which helps to maintain a continuous defense opponent while you mount an offense with cards like "[[Call of the Haunted]]", which can revive monsters to be used for a Synchro Summon before returning the used replay them constantly as long as "Call of the HauntedDewloren" to the hand (since it won't be destroyed if the monster is used as Synchro Material)around. Even outside of Synchro Summons, if "Call The many means of revival the Haunted" is used to summon "Prior of the Ice Barrier", you can Tribute "Prior" archetype has makes it difficult to get any other monster (usually break through "Gantala of the Ice BarrierDewloren") combos permanently without needing to worry about banishing it being linked to "Call of the Haunted". "Call of the Haunted" can also be used to block attacks by summoning "[[Cryomancer of the Ice Barrier]]" or "[[Defender of the Ice Barrier]]" while Dewloren's on the field; then you can Synchro Summon returning it to get the monster of the field. If you choose, you can also return Call of the Haunted and the monster simultaneously so "[[Strategist of the Ice Barrier]]" has something to discard for its effect. Even if "Dewloren" is destroyed, the numerous methods of Graveyard revival via "Prior" and "Gantala" will ensure that "Dewloren" won't stay off the field for long. The only two surefire ways of destroying this combo are if "Dewloren" is [[Banish]]ed or if its initial Synchro Summon is negatedExtra Deck.

Using a small monster lineup, keep it consistent and simple, relying on obnoxious Spell/Trap Cards to keep you in the game long enough to capitalize off of the effects of "Gantala" and "Gungnir". A really good card that you can use to instantly summon any General to the field is "[[Big Wave Small Wave]]". The cost is minimal and if you use it to summon "General Grunard", you get to score another Normal Summon of an "Ice Barrier" monster. Since the entire deck archetype is made up of WATER monsters, it can benefit from using monsters such as "[[Barrier Statue of the Torrent]]" and "[[Moulinglacia the Elemental Lord]]", the latter of which shrinks your opponent's hand size, making the effect of "General Raiho" even more potent.

"[[Ties of the Brethren]]" can be used to create locks and combos with "Cryomancer" + "[[Dewdarkof the Ice Barrier|Dewdark]]" + "[[Secret Guards of the Ice Barrier|Secret Guards]]", or with "[[Dance Princess of the Ice Barrier|Dance Princess]]" + "[[Spellbreaker of the Ice Barrier|Spellbreaker]]" + "Strategist". "[[Moon Mirror Shield]]" is a good way to protect the lower-ATK "Ice Barriers" from destruction in battle by always letting the equipped monster be 100 ATK stronger than the opposing monster.

* [[Magician's Circle]]* [[Magicians' DefensePowerful Rebirth]]

|fusion monsters = * [[Dragon Knight Draco-Equiste]]* [[Mudragon of the Swamp]]

The best As "Ice Barriers" thrive on having several monsters on the field, an easy way of dealing with them is to stop not let them from swarming do so. Also, their lockdowns are never absolute and they rely on several monsters being on the field and using their defensive tacticsat the same time, the latter so disposing of which works if they control one or two or more "Ice Barriers" monsters; "[[Kaiser Colosseum]]" can prevent this (Traditional Only)of those will tip the field on your favor.  You can also negate their effects, which makes them virtually useless, so cards like "[[Skill Drain]]" and "[[Brotherhood of the Fire Fist - Tiger King]]" can work well. You can also prevent "Gantala" from swarming the field by using Special Summon-blocking cards, such as "[[Vanity's Emptiness]]", "[[Archlord Kristya]]", "[[Fossil Dyna Pachycephalo]]", etc.