Introduction:

On the Fire King island, there dwells an empire of FIRE monsters that all benefit from being destroyed. Whether it is rising from the ashes, searching a new Fire King card or bring a fallen comrade back into the battle, the Fire King archetype revolves entirely around the cycle of destruction. Each monster plays a pivotal role in the strategy, and each support card adds a bit more fuel to the fire to keep the cycle going, blazing eternally throughout the entire duel.

But this theme never took off well enough, as they were in dire need of further support. In later main sets, the Fire King archetype would receive Fire King Island, a field spell that could destroy any monster in your hand or field to add any Fire King to your hand from the deck. Then the last support card really cemented the disruptive nature of the archetype, Fire King Avatar Arvata, which includes an effect to negate the activation of monster effects as well as an effect to bring back any FIRE Beast, Beast-Warrior, or Winged Beast from the GY when it is destroyed. These two cards brought the theme back into viability, but it wasn’t enough to break back into being a solid deck choice in the TCG… That is, until now.

Decklist:

Click to view the Interactive Decklist in the Official Card Database.

Monsters: 16
| Brotherhood of the Fire Fist – Bear
| Brotherhood of the Fire Fist – Buffalo
||| Fire King Avatar Avrata
||| Fire King Avatar Yaksha
||| Fire King Avatar Barong
|| Fire King High Avatar Garunix
|| Ash Blossom & Joyous Spring
| Nine-Tailed Fox

Spells: 24
||| Circle of the Fire Kings
||| Island of the Fire Kings
||| Onslaught of the Fire Kings
||| Fire Formation – Tenki
|| Fire Formation – Tensu
| Fire Formation – Domei
||| Rekindling
|| Super Polymerization
| Terraforming
||| Pot of Desires

Extra: 15
|| Brotherhood of the Fire Fist – Swan
| Salamangreat Violet Chimera
| Abyss Dweller
| Brotherhood of the Fire Fist – Tiger King
| Bujintei Kagutsuchi
| Number 41: Bagooska the Terribly Tired Tapir
| Black Luster Soldier – Soldier of Chaos
|| Brotherhood of the Fire Fist – Eagle
| Brotherhood of the Fire Fist – Peacock
| Hiita the Fire Charmer, Ablaze
| Knightmare Phoenix
| Salamangreat Heatleo
| Salamangreat Sunlight Wolf

Strategy:

The other major weird tech that you probably identified was Super Polymerization. With the arrival of the first generic Beast-Warrior Fusion monster in Brotherhood of the Fire Fist – Swan, Fire Kings finally have an additional way to OTK the opponent. But since you also can run some of the Salamangreat Link monsters, you can also tech in Salamangreat Violet Chimera as an unexpected OTK option OR to simply give you an extra leg up in the Salamangreat matchup. Either way, you have even more power being added to the deck in the form of new disruption capabilities outside of simple destruction.

Alternative Pairings:

Alongside the breaking of new ground with a more condensed CDS format, I’m also going to debut additional strategic pairings that work well with the Fire King archetype.

Sample Chains of Play:

The following scenarios came up in test duels. Rather than giving a full rundown for each, I wanted to take the opportunity to highlight some play chains to show what this deck is capable of to swing the duel back into your favor.

Scenario One:

Scenario Two:

Conclusion:

Thanks for reading this article! As noted earlier, I wanted to try out a new format with this CDS article to see if it is preferred to have a shorter, more easily digested article posted alongside the creative decklist. Please leave your feedback across our various platforms so that I can better inform how I approach future articles.

The Fire King archetype surely benefits from its patented cycle of destruction and rebirth, but due to its close relationship with other FIRE themes and support cards, it can truly shine in the current TCG environment. I hope you all take the time to explore the potential this archetype offers – it truly can allow for some creative and flexibile deckbuilding, and some really neat strategies will emerge. At the end of the day that is what deckbuilding is all about – reinventing cards to exploit their best potential in a coherent and hopefully consistent fashion. So in closing, I wish you all the best of luck destroying your opponent’s with the crushing wings of Garunix!

Reminder, I also take suggestions for future CDS articles! I really want to see some input from you! If you wish to see a CDS article about the archetype, theme, or strategy you love, feel free to private message me on the YGOrg Discord server, the YGOrganization Forums, or just post a comment in response to this article on our Facebook page with your ideas to keep under consideration. On most YGO-related communities my username is Quincymccoy, so feel free to reach out.