Intro to Kaiju Abyss (Post LINK Format)

Hey guys MyPochi here bringing to you a new Intro To articles this time featuring the Kaiju Burning Abyss deck in the LINK Format.


Burning Abyss pre LINK Format

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Burning Abyss is a deck that was hit severely by the April 2016 Banlist with the limitation of both Scarm, Malebranche of the Burning Abyss, Dante, Traveller of the Burning Abyss and Tourguide of the Underworld. Even with such limitations, the deck continued to stay alive in future formats with builds like Ritual Abyss and Phantom Abyss. However, with the release of Zoodiacs, the Burning Abyss archetype is finally eradicated and extinct from the meta as Zoodiac Viper shuts down the deck, banishing the monsters instead of sending it to the graveyard.

Burning Abyss post LINK Format

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With what the archetype Burning Abyss feared the most, Zoodiacs, finally being hit by the banlist, limiting Zoodiac Raptier and banning Zoodiac Barrage and Zoodiac Drancia, Burning Abyss may start to resurface once more.
The Burning Abyss archetype also doesn't get affected too much from the LINK Format restrictive Extra Monster Zones as Burning Abyss can just adopt a more conservative playstyle due to it's flexible capabilities.

Recently in Japan, a Kaiju Abyss deck managed to get 3rd place in this current format (From Ygorganization) . Let's take a look at the decklist and I shall try my best to give my reasoning for these cards being played.

Decklist

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Monsters (32) :
3 Maxx "C"
1 Alich, Malebranche of the Burning Abyss
3 Cir, Malebranche of the Burning Abyss
3 Graff, Malebranche of the Burning Abyss
1 Scarm, Malebranche of the Burning Abyss
1 Barbar, Malebranche of the Burning Abyss
3 Farfa, Malebranche of the Burning Abyss
1 Tour Guide
3 Fiendish Rhino Warrior
1 Kumongous, the Sticky String Kaiju
3 Gadarla, the Mystery Dust Kaiju
3 Ghost Ash and Beautiful Spring
3 Ghost Ogre and Snow Rabbit

Spells (8) :
1 Foolish Burial
1 Interrupted Kaiju Slumber
1 Harpie's Feather Duster
3 Cosmic Cyclone
2 Mystical Space Typhoon

Extra Deck (15) :
2 Dante, Pilgrim of the Burning Abyss
2 Virgil, Rock Star of the Burning Abyss
1 Muzurhythm the String Djinn
1 Wind-Up Zenmaines
1 Super Quantal Mech Beast Grampusle
2 Number 47: Nightmare Shark
1 Dante, Traveller of the Burning Abyss
2 The Phantom Knights of break Sword
3 Beatrice, Lady of the Eternal

Side Deck (15) :
3 Droll and Lock Bird
1 Dark Hole
1 Mystical Space Typhoon
3 Pot of Acquisitiveness
2 Torrential Tribute
1 Fire Lake of the Burning Abyss
3 Eternal Nightmares
1 Spiritual Sword of Revealing Light

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The deck plays the Kaiju archetype to stop Master Peace, the True Dracoslaying King as it is this meta's most dominant monster. Interupted Kaiju Slumber can be easily milled by Beatrice, Lady of the Eternal (Or Dante, Traveller of the Burning Abyss with luck) which in turn searches out a Kaiju for you. The ratio of Kaiju he plays is 1 Kumongous and 3 Gadarla. Gadarla is maxed out due to its convenient attack of 2700 ATK. Being higher than Beatrice but lower than Dante, Pilgrim of the Burning Abyss. This gives Burning Abyss players a choice to ram their Beatrice into the opponent's Gadarla to summon out Dante, Pilgrim of the Burning Abyss.
       
                                            (Why...why torture Beatrice like this!!!)

Although I am a fan of playing Burning Abyss with countless backrows to stun the opponent, this build doesn't main deck any trap at all. Instead, it plays 9 Hand traps, those being a playset of Maxx "C", Ghost Ash and Beautiful Spring and Ghost Ogre and Snow Rabbit. I'm guessing it is due to True Draco's ability to snipe backrows slowly with their Continuous Spells, making traps somewhat less effective.

The deck do not play any LINK Monsters as it does not really affect the deck that much such that there is a need to invest Extra Deck space for LINK Monsters. Although the idea of sending Burning Abyss monsters to the grave for a link summon is nice, I guess we will have to wait for more LINK monsters to be released.

The Side Deck's lineup seems to be mainly used against the True Draco matchup, with Droll and Lock Bird countering the deck's massive searching capabilities. Droll and locking your opponent's Terraforming is the most effective way to stop the deck from searching using Draconic Diagram.

The deck also seem to invest a lot Side Deck space on backrow destruction, playing the final copy of Mystical Space Typhoon and a playset of Eternal Nightmares. Pot of Acquisitiveness is teched against the Dino matchup as Lithozasim the Disaster can potentially banish 3 card from your Extra Deck, the same amount needed for Pot of Acquisitiveness to activate. Time to time you may get to weaken Tyranno Infinity and get a clutch draw off a stacked banished zone thanks to Miscelleneousaros. It also can be used together with Barbar's effect to 'cycle' back your Cir's to win resource game.

Conclusion

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I hope to see Burning Abyss back into the Meta as it is one of my few favourite decks to play apart from the Nekroz Archetype. Once again MyPochi here bringing to you an Intro to Kaiju Abyss article.


Signing off
MyPochi