Burning Abyss

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Burning Abyss
From left to right: "Scarm", "Dante" and "Graff"
From left to right: "Scarm", "Dante" and "Graff"
Japanese
  • がん
  • 彼岸 (base)
  • ひがん (ruby)
  • Higan (romanized)
  • Afterlife (translated)
Simplified Chinese
  • 彼岸
French
  • Abysses Ardents
German
  • Brennenden Abgrund
Italian
  • Abisso Bruciante
Korean
  • 피안
  • 彼岸 (Hanja)
  • Pian (romanized)
Portuguese
  • Abismo Ardente
Spanish
  • Abismo Ardiente
Sets
TCG
OCG
Korean
Lists

"Burning Abyss", known as "Afterlife" (がん Higan) in Japan, is one of two TCG exclusive archetypes that debuted in Duelist Alliance, alongside the "U.A." archetype.

Design

The archetype is based on Inferno, the first part of Dante Alighieri's 14th-century epic poem Divine Comedy.

Malebranche

The "Malebranche of the Burning Abyss" are named after the Malebranche, the demons who guard the fifth Bolgia of Malebolge (the Eighth Circle of Hell), known for their ruthless cruelty and responsible for the punishment of corrupt politicians by holding them under a boiling lake of pitch. Their English names are truncations of the original Italian names of the Malebranche. Most of their Japanese names are the names of the Malebranche used in Dorothy L. Sayers's English translation of Inferno, although "Alich", "Barbar", and "Libic" use their original Italian names instead. They are all Level 3 DARK Fiend Effect Monsters. "Malacoda, Netherlord of the Burning Abyss", as the leader of the "Malebranche", instead uses the title "Netherlord of the Burning Abyss" (he is still a member of the "Malebranche" in the source material). In English, unlike the "Malebranche of the Burning Abyss", "Malacoda's" name exactly matches its original Italian name. In Japanese, its name is Sayers's English name for the Malebranche as a whole, "Hellraker" (Sayers translates "Malacoda" as "Belzecue", which is not used in the card's name). It is a Level 6 DARK Fiend Ritual Monster.

Members

Main Deck

Excluding the Ritual Monster "Malacoda", all Main Deck "Burning Abyss" monsters are named with the title "Malebranche of the Burning Abyss".

Burning Abyss Origin
English Japanese
Alich Alichino Alichino
Barbar Barbariccia Barbariccia
Cagna Harrowhound Cagnazzo
Calcab Hacklespur Calcabrina
Cir Guttlehog Ciriatto
Draghig Dragonel Draghignazzo
Farfa Farfarel Farfarello
Graff Grabbersnitch Graffiacane
Libic Libbiocco Libicocco
Malacoda Hellraker Malacoda
Rubic Rubicant Rubicante
Scarm Scaramallion Scarmiglione

Extra Deck

Monster Origin
Beatrice, Lady of the Eternal Beatrice Portinari
Cherubini, Ebon Angel of the Burning Abyss The Black Cherub
Dante, Pilgrim of the Burning Abyss Dante Alighieri
Dante, Traveler of the Burning Abyss
Virgil, Rock Star of the Burning Abyss Publius Vergilius Maro "Virgil"

Playing style

The "Burning Abyss" playstyle is focused on sending specific Main Deck "Burning Abyss" monsters to the Graveyard in order to activate their monster effects. Each Main Deck "Burning Abyss" monster, excluding the Ritual Monster "Malacoda", are Level 3 DARK Fiend monsters with three shared effects:

  1. "If you control a monster that is not a "Burning Abyss" monster, destroy this card."
  2. "If you control no Spells/Traps: You can Special Summon this card from your hand."
  3. "If this card is sent to the GY: You can [Individual Effect]"

Effects 2 and 3 have an "only 1 effect once per turn" condition.

Role Burning Abyss Individual GY Effect
Search Cagna Send 1 "Burning Abyss" Spell/Trap from Deck to GY.
Draghig Place 1 "Burning Abyss" card from your Deck on top of your Deck.
Scarm In the End Phase, add 1 Level 3 DARK Fiend monster from Deck to hand, except "Scarm".[a]
Summon Cir Special Summon 1 "Burning Abyss" from GY, except "Cir".
Graff Special Summon 1 "Burning Abyss" from Deck, except "Graff".
Libic Special Summon 1 Level 3 DARK Fiend from hand (effects negated).
Disruption Alich Target and negate the effects of 1 face-up monster this turn.
Calcab Target and return 1 Set Spell/Trap to the hand.
Farfa Target and banish 1 monster for this turn.
Other Barbar Banish up to 3 "Burning Abyss" cards in GY, except "Barbar", and inflict 300 damage to your opponent for each.
Rubic N/A[b]

The archetype's Ritual and Extra Deck monsters the main ways the Deck proactively sends "Burning Abyss" cards to the GY to trigger their GY effects. They each have one or more effects that send "Burning Abyss" cards to the GY, as well as a floating effect that triggers when they're sent to the GY themselves (usually only from the field).

Burning Abyss Type Send to GY effect
Card specs (Send...) Location (from ... [to GY]) Other specs
Beatrice, Lady of the Eternal[c] Xyz 1 card Deck
Cherubini, Ebon Angel of the Burning Abyss Link 1 Level 3 monster Deck
  • Sends as cost (for stat change effect).
Dante, Pilgrim of the Burning Abyss Fusion 1 "Burning Abyss" card Hand
  • Quick Effect.
  • Sends as cost (for draw effect).
Dante, Traveler of the Burning Abyss Xyz 1-3 card(s) Top Deck
  • Sends as cost (for stat change effect).
  • Requires detaching 1 material as cost.
Malacoda, Netherlord of the Burning Abyss Ritual 1 "Burning Abyss" monster Hand
  • Quick Effect.
  • Sends as cost (for stat change effect).
Virgil, Rock Star of the Burning Abyss Synchro 1 "Burning Abyss" card Hand[d]
  • Sends as cost (for removal effect).

Between these Extra Deck and Ritual monsters, "Cherubini" "Dante, Traveler", and "Beatrice" are the main ones used in most "Burning Abyss" strategies, as they're easier to summon, and they send cards directly from the Deck to the GY. The individual effects of "Cherubini" and "Dante, Traveler" also gives the archetype good combat capabilities; "Cherubini" can protect monsters it points to from being destroyed by card effects and boost the ATK of other monsters, and "Dante, Traveler" can boost its own ATK by 1500. "Dante"'s floating effect is also the least restrictive among the "Burning Abyss" Extra Deck monsters, making it an important resource recovery point for the deck. Externally, the archetype commonly uses "Tour Guide From the Underworld" and "Fiendish Rhino Warrior" for additional swarming, searching, and utility.

Pure

A pure "Burning Abyss" playstyle is a control playstyle where the player uses "Dante" and "Beatrice" to send "Burning Abyss" monsters to the GY and activate their supportive or disruptive effects, and "Dante" would be repeatedly sent to and revived from the GY (by "Cir") to reuse its GY recycle effect. The archetype's swarming capabilities allows it to serve as an engine for performing Rank 3 Xyz Summons. In this role, they are commonly used to supplement "The Phantom Knights" archetype to provide more Level 3 materials for their Link and Rank 3 plays.

Recommended cards

Link Turbo

This build primarily relies on special summoning vast amounts of monsters from the hand or GY using monster effects, and using only a few draw spells such as "Pot of Desires" or "Sekka's Light" and no traps, thus ideally being able to OTK an opponent by summoning multiple high ATK monsters in one turn. This build uses a heavy amount of EARTH monsters, especially Rock monsters, in order to benefit from the effect of "Block Dragon" being able to control the GY, and generally runs one copy of many different cards in order to maximize benefit from "Orbital Hydralander". This build was most popular in 2018 and 2019, but fell out of competitive popularity in early 2020 due to "Sekka's Light", "Glow-Up Bulb, and "Block Dragon" all being either limited or banned that year.

Recommended cards

Trap Heavy

This build became popular in 2020 after the limiting of "Sekka's Light" and banning of "Block Dragon" severely restricted the power of the aforementioned Link Turbo build. This more control-heavy build relies on using the effect of "Beatrice, Lady of the Eternal" and trap cards that discard or mill from the deck to further disrupt the opponent's plays and send additional "Burning Abyss" monsters to the GY to activate their effect. As "Absolute King Back Jack" can rearrange the top 3 cards of the Deck upon being sent to the GY, either Setting a Trap or milling a "Burning Abyss" monster to activate its effect, it is also a recommended target for the effect of "Beatrice".

Recommended cards

Weaknesses

  • Being an archetype of primarily DARK monsters, they are susceptible to "Shadow-Imprisoning Mirror".
  • If a key non-archetypal card has its effect negated, such as "Fiendish Rhino Warrior" and "Tour Guide From the Underworld", this can leave the deck in a very uncomfortable position as any "Malebranche" monsters will destroy themselves if on the field with such a card.
  • Since they all have effects that activate in the Graveyard, cards like "Macro Cosmos", "Abyss Dweller", "Dimensional Fissure", "Soul Drain", "Masked HERO Dark Law" and "Debunk" are potential threats.
  • The Level 3 "Burning Abyss" monsters destroy themselves if their controller controls a non-"Burning Abyss" monster, so your opponent might disrupt you with cards/effects that give you monsters, such as "Ojama Trio", "Santa Claws", "Creature Swap", "Flying "C"", etc., although "Libic" and "Farfa" can help maneuver around such strategies.
  • Since face-down monsters are not treated as "Burning Abyss" monsters, "Quaking Mirror Force", "Evilswarm Nightmare", or other cards that can set opponent's monsters face-down can make things very difficult for "Burning Abyss" Decks, since any "Malebranche of the Burning Abyss" Summoned while there is a face-down monster will destroy itself.
  • If using a rapid-fire Summon build, such as "Sekka's Light" or "Orbital Hydralander" Turbo, the deck can be very specific in terms of content. As such, these builds can have a steep learning curve. Especially as "Malebranche of the Burning Abyss" monsters will destroy themselves if there is a non-Archetypal monster on the field, it is advisable for players new to these builds to limit the number of non-archetype Monsters in the deck to the barest minimum - "Fiendish Rhino Warrior" and "Tour Guide From the Underworld" are generally regarded as the most acceptable options, as are hand traps that the deck does not intend to summon. If using a trap-heavy build, "Absolute King Back Jack" is also recommended as it is generally milled or discarded from the hand or deck directly to the GY, and also not usually ever summoned.
  • If using the a build relying almost entirely on monster effects, any card that can restrict monster effects, such as Mystic Mine, Majesty's Fiend, or Inspector Boarder will near completely control this deck's capabilities.

Notes

  1. Non-standard effect structure, but still a GY effect.
  2. To compensate for its lack of a GY effect, it is instead the archetype's sole Tuner monster.[1]
  3. Not a "Burning Abyss" monster.
  4. Discarding effect.

References

  1. Scott Miller (October 23, 2014). "Venture Deeper into the Burning Abyss!". Yu-Gi-Oh! TCG Event Coverage. Konami. Retrieved July 1, 2021.