Firestars

It is Fire season in Yu-Gi-Oh, with a FIRE structure deck, a FIRE focused set and some FIRE promos floating around. With the coming of FIRE I had hoped for some manly firepower decks. Don't get me wrong, I enjoy the loli artworks as much as the next guy, but lately yugioh just lacks that visual, physical oomph. Even in dragons, the new ones are too beautiful, but not ferociously macho.

Firestars were the first to come out, and boy were they a disappointment. The artwork went for the historical look, but couldn't help backing out due to the influences of the regular pop asian metrosexual look, which tends to lean closer and closer to the feminine side as time progresses, and which defines far eastern asian pop culcture in the past few years. If the views that girls in their early teens hold manage to become universal, perhaps it is not too far fetched to declare the teenage girl Haruhi a god, or at least the patron god of the far east culture for now. Or perhaps we should re-open the issues of pedophilia under a different spectrum to see why are the primary terms, under which we define what physically attractive is, those that are shaped in the minds of little girls. But all that is a socio-political talk on forced cultures, best left for another time, and probably another place.

It's not final stage bad per se, but the series of comprimises which are usually made to avoid "scaring away" kids used to those kinds of infulences, seem to have mashed with the attempted FIRE and beast-warrior/military look to produce a meh result.

The other representatives of the FIRE nation did not disappoint as much. Haze Beasts are passable, with Zerberus carrying at least some amount of swag to him, Flame Kings can perhaps pass as fearsome legends and the long awaited (for some at least) FIRE elemental lord is not only grand and fearsome himself, but you can actually understand what it is unlike his EARTH counterpart.

But alas, this is an unfair world, because the spotlight now may as well belong to the guys that dance with fire and stuff, as their support suggests. Firestars have an actually decent engine, and that's what we'll be talking about.
Thankfully, there is some justice, and some things are reflected in the actual game. Like the worthless panzies they are, they make up the only decktype appropriate for them. A stun deck.

No offense to stun. It may not be manly enough but I love it, which makes sense really.
You may have seen them on DN enough already running rampart, or you may have not. I wouldn't know since I don't play enough there. Here, we'll just open the subject.
Firestars have a lot of cards as of now. Let's throw them all to the trash and call it a process of elimination.

The archetype, similar to some archetypes that have been coming out lately, is divided in two parts. Firestar(s) and Firedance(s). Firestars are their monsters, while FIredances are their spell and trap support. Firestars work (mainly) with Firedances, while Firedances work (mainly) with Firestars. With some exceptions, Firestars won't mingle with other Firestars and Firedances won't mingle with other Firedances alone. It's that sort of a familiar cycle.

What this means is that for any engine to be sustainable, you'll need at least one decent representative from both parts of the archetype, and then you'd need them to be able to work together.

The weakest link is always on the s/t side, so let's go through there first.


Firedance - Tensu is a double summoning card, to be exact it is a continuous spell card which allows you to normal summon an additional monster every turn so long as it is a Beast-Warrior Type (all Firestars are). Considering Firestars aren't gadgets or anything like that, it's pretty useless in competitive play (yes you can make a Seiven-Hienshaku combo, but it's really not worth it). At least for them, perhaps there are some beast-warriors or there will be someday, which will have a need for such a card. While that card is face-up it also gives 100 ATK to all beast-warriors.

Firedance - Tenken is a continuous trap card which can only be activated during main phase 1. During its initial activation you can select 1 Beast-Warrior Type monster you control and make it unaffected by card effects, while negating its own effects. While it is face-up, beast-warrior types gain 300 ATK.
When it comes to Firedance monsters, it's mostly useless. That is because in firestar, if you don't care about a monster's effects, you don't need to make it unaffected either since it would benefit you if it died. On the other hand, if it is a monster you need to save from a prison or bottomless, it's because you actually need to make use of its effect.
However there are beast warriors which will benefit from it. It is an excelent defense for barbaros, your warwolf will not be prisoned and Tengu will hardly care, among others. But even after all that, and save from barbaros, the question of whether it is worth it comes up.

Extreme Firedance - Seito is perhaps the boss card of the theme. It requires you to banish 7 Firedances from the graveyard to gain the following: Special summon as many Firestar monsters from your graveyard as possible, and then set the same number of Firedance s/t cards from your deck to your backrow. However the issue is it requires over 7 theme specific s/t cards, other than itself, to activate. Even if there were enough good Firedances for that, that number kicks out most means of defense from a deck, while at the same time you know you won't gain full advantage of the effect, as you probably won't have 5 Firedances in your deck in addition to that Firedance you activated in addition to the at least 7 cards you just banished (perhaps konami forgot people use 40 card decks?) so the effect is kinda deceptive. Might as well play Lavals for the same thing easier. Even in a focused Firestar/dance deck, it seems like it will only harm the player in the deckbuilding process. Unless they do something like reverse merchant with reasonings and monster gates in a s/t mash deck.

Firedance - Tensen Is the last Trap of the theme, and perhaps at least passable. It gives 700 ATK to a beast-warrior type monster until the end phase during its initial activation, and gives 300 ATK to all beast-warriors while face up, which means 1000 now and 300 later. Horn of the Phantom beast is the better card at first glance, not only does it work on other types and has a permanent boost, but it also allows you to draw 1 card when you destroy a monster, which is the main attraction. Those seem to go way over the simple extra 300 of Tensen. What would make you however consider it may be the fact it works with Firestars, unlike Horn.

Firedance - Tenki is the star of the show (no pun intended). It is a continuous spell card which during its initial activation will allow you to add 1 level 4 or lower Beast-Warrior Type monster from your deck to your hand. While it is face-up all Beast-Warrior Types gain 100 ATK. Only 1 Tenki can be activated per turn.
It's not just a search card for Firestars, which by itself would be good enough, but for ANY level 4 or lower Beast-Warrior Type monsters, which opens new possibilities for many decks, not just Firestars. Personally I've been using it in decks lately for Tengu, for Warwolf and even Constellar Kaust, but where it truly shines is within Firestars.

But not all Firestars are good. To begin with, if they are only working with Firedances, considering Firedances have only 1 solid card and 1.5 passable cards, you can't really rely on strategies that focus on them, and therefore can only have a small engine to barely take advantage of what you have. Going by that, you can't really have Firestars which rely on any considerable Firedance/Firestar settup, at least by the approach this article is taking. So let's go through the monsters and once again reject most of them.

Firestar Master - Chouten is hardly a Firestar considering it does not work with any Firestar or Firedance itself (it needs a level 3 FIRE with 200 DEF or lower in grave, which no Firestar is, except from itself).

Snarin, Hienshaku and Ryushishin need the settup, therefore we won't really be considering them.

Next we have 2 clear recruiters of Firedances.

Seiven has 200 ATK and 1800 DEF. If it is sent from the field to the graveyard, you can search and set 1 Firedance Spell. While face up it offers protection to your Firedances, saying they cannot be destroyed by your opponent's card effects. It cannot miss the timing.
Surprisingly the issue with this card lies with its defense. 1800 DEF makes it actually hard to die, at least while undercover. Certainly GK Recruiter stands at 2k DEF under necrovalley, but under it, it also has a respectable attack, as well as a Descendant which can take care of it. With the 200 of Seiven, it won't be helping much in offense, and at 1800, depending on the format it may often live the first attack, telegraphing your strategy to your opponent and slowing it down for one extra turn.
On the bright side, it will not be stopped by rai-oh, unlike other searchers, and in fact will get its effect off then, in spite of all difficulties, exactly because it has 1900 ATK. Additionally, our format seems to often go above the 1800 threshold, making its effect go off more often for now, and even if it doesn't, holding a 1800 DEF isn't necessarily a bad thing. The fact it doesn't miss timing and only needs to be sent from the field to the graveyard, means you can get its effect with a synchro summon or a tribute summon (of Hienshaku for example). In fact you can combo it with debris dragon, for a +1 synchro.
It does face only one real issue as things are. The Firestar deck is a stun deck and therefore has no place for a defensive searcher, or perhaps a combo'ing debris from an aggressive deck.

Hawkei faces many similar issues. It has 200 ATK but 1500 DEF unlike Seiven, which actually works for it as it can die more easily to an attack, depending on the format of course.
It sets a spell card from your deck whenever it is destroyed by your opponent's card, a condition harder than Seiven's since you can't now synchro/tribute it and you can't even kill it with your own Torrential. It gives your firestars 500 ATK and DEF if there is a face up Firedance. Despite its lesser effect, it may be a better altenative simply for its reduced survivability, but regardless, it still is not a stun deck card.

Let's move right along to our 2 main monsters now.

Brave Firestar - Ensho and Dark Firestar - Yushi.
Ensho has 1600 ATK and 1000 DEF, while Yushi has 1600 ATK and 1200 DEF. As things are, their attacks are passable, and with the help of any Firedance, the 1700+ is good enough.
The important thing however is their effects. When Ensho destroys an opponent's monster by battle and sends it to the graveyard, you can set 1 Firedance Spell. When Yushi inflicts battle damage to your opponent, you can set 1 Firedance Spell.
Once per turn Ensho can send 1 Firedance to the graveyard to destroy a spell or trap.
Once per turn Yushi can send 1 Firedance to the graveyard to destroy a monster.
They are both Level 4 monsters and like all Firestars they are FIRE beast-warriors.


Firedance - Tenki, Brave Firestar - Ensho and Dark Firestar - Yushi.
Those 3 cards are our stun engine. Tenki can search them both, while Ensho can send it to destroy a s/t, and Yushi can send it to destroy a monster. If you need to destroy a monster, activate it, select Yushi, summon it, send the Tenki you activated and destroy it. If you want to destroy a s/t, select Ensho.
Once the monster is destroyed, Yushi may be able to attack directly, giving you another Tenki face down for next turn (remember, only 1 per turn). If the backrow protection is gone, Ensho may be able to destroy one of your opponent's monsters, giving you again another Tenki.

That simple engine of +1 pseudo loops may bring to mind the image of the stun brothers of inzektors. But of course they are not a deck alone. That's 9/40 cards. And that is why that engine is a stun engine. The rest can either be filled out with the regulars of a stun deck, like Rai-Oh and other metacalls. A popular idea is the make use of the face Tenki can search any beast-warrior of level 4 or lower instead, and use things such as Reborn Tengu, now with added consistency, Wind-Up Rabbit, or a T.G. engine due to its compatibility with T.G. Warwolf.
The issue that arises from there is whether you will be actually searching those with Tenki. None of these things really have something to compare to the synergy Ensho and Yushi have with Tenki. So a good idea would be to detach one's self from that and focus on the stun aspect, undistracted.

The mind can easily wonder to the old T.G. stun deck, especially now with the added ability to search tengu, which is not really too bad an idea. However, a main gimmick of that deck was skill drain, which had great synergy with everything in the deck, while it does not share that synergy with Firestars. Nothing that one cannot play around though.

A copy of Tensen and Horns can be used (Tensen can be used to destroy a card with Ensho/Yushi, but Horn obviously cannot), as they are all beast warriors, and therefore some of the afforementioned beast warriors to benefit from it as well.

So long as one keeps in mind that the engine is in fact just those 9 cards (3 times 3) it brings many possibilities of good stun deckbuilding. Considering how it is, it will probably be one of the big competitors in the near future, especially while the OCG is in need of any good stun they can get right now.

Making that good plus 1 + a favourable search is simply a matter of holding in your hand that one of three spell cards at any moment, and all that in a compact engine without many restrictions in deck building, and all that in a stun deck. It may seem meh, it may seem too good. So let's go through the Firestar matchup.

How do you beat them?


Spell and trap card hate. Preferably max out mystical space typhoons and add Dust Tornados while siding. It's that simple.
Firedance - Tenki may be searching during its initial activation, but exactly because it is a continuous spell card, that can be stopped if it is destroyed before it resolves. That means if you chain MST to the activation of Firedance - Tenki, your opponent will not get the search.

Certainly, it's a 141. Even if it neuters a big part of their strategy, it is just a 141, so underwhelming for a side deck choice, or simply anti-ing. But it's good enough, because Firestars have the weakness of being too straightforward in that aspect (never thought I'd blame them for being straight). To explain: Because the deck is a stun deck, extra s/t hate will not be dead. In fact it will be simplifying the game state towards your favour instead of theirs, thus giving you an advantage. MSTs and Dust Tornados may be simple 141s here, but in this case they hurt them on all fronts and they cannot avoid it. Of course it will not completely lock them down, they will still be able to play ygo. But it will give you an advantage and you are going to have to play ygo as well. I'm assuming you have a decent enough deck, so your job at that point is to simply outplay them, make more than they do and take control using the strenghts of your own deck, which is something they will have trouble using themselves.

On the other hand, what do you do as a Firestar player when your opponent does catch onto it and keeps his deck solid while simply adding s/t hate to neuter yours?
The answer is the same as above, you play ygo yourself. As a stun player your job is not self touching or making amazing combos demonstrating the strengths of your deck. Your job is to hinder your opponent, disturb his strategy and simplify the game to your favour. After all, even if the firestars have issues, they are still ~9 cards, so you struggle to play as a proper stun player with the rest, and even with them to an extend, since an mst used on the extra tenki you added, is not an mst used on another card.

On both sides, the winner will have to play good. One may have a disadvantage or not, one may have a bad matchup or not. After all, one may anti a stun deck, but it is also the stun deck's job to anti the strong decks in turn.


It's a decent stun engine, but where does that put it? I may have let out that it is fair in how straightforward it is, but that is at the same time its greatest weakness. Gemini Beat for example, the poster child of stun for a long time, is not straightforward at all. Everything you side vs it is a hit or miss in effectiveness, and that is because it can employ many tricks and always could. High beat, chainable destruction, search, 1 card boss monsters, unchainable (by the opponent) chainable monster removal and now quick xyz summons and even otks. You can't exactly say that there is this 1 card that is so good vs gemini beat. In fact many teams got headaches at some point trying to anti-deck a gemini beat deck. In addition to all that, it can employ any kind of general anti-decking card with little issues of its own.

On the other hand, Firestar lacks themed chainable destruction, or at least any form of themed chainable removal, it does not have easy access to high attack monsters, unless it goes ahead and adds Barbaros with Tenken, or the FIRE elemental lord in a more FIRE focused build, it has a hard time when using both Macro Cosmos and Skill Drain because they shut down its main engine, it xyz'es slowly and at -1 while its xyz options are generic and as mentioned it has a universal weakness to a kind of card with one of the highest availabilities: chainable s/t removal. At the same time, their 1600 ATK make them lesser beaters than not only Neos Alius but even Stratos.

They have something good going for them, but at the same time the competition on the same field may prove too difficult to overcome and push them into obscurity. People will probably try them out, because it really is good. It will have a place in the metagame, or at least it should. I'm waiting to see where that will be.

A good use for that Malevolent Catastroph in my side, Mm-hm.

Other than that - good article. I'm not a fan of the new archtype tho, I don't see this changing the game that much as a tier 2 deck. To be honest the only reason that I might be happy from this, is the fact that the use of cards like "Rivalry" and "Gozen" will decrease - for some reason DN lets you draw this card turn 1, that's just wow...

It's something I've been meaning to do since the last DN update but never got down to doing it. That is an addition to this one since it is extremely outdated even with just the addition of one card (two really, but just chicken would change everything by itself). Actually I've waited for so long that I wouldn't be surprised if you came across a bunch of them by now.

First card, with actually less impact, is "Enthusiastic Beastman Wolfberk". It's a level 4, FIRE Beast-Warrior with 1600 ATK and 1200 DEF. When it is normal summoned, you special summon 1 Level 4 FIRE, Beast-Warrior from the graveyard and negate its effects. That can be either itself, Bro of the firefist - Bear (formerly known as Ensho; yes they are Brotherhood of the Firefist, but they shall be refered to as Bros of the Firefist, because reasons) or Bro of the firefist - Monkey (formerly known as Yushi, still a bro). Of course neither of them can activate their effects, also the summoned monster cannot attack since it is summoned in defense (I guess you could do a complicated combo to allow them, but why). What it can do is a 1 card Xyz summon, which can not only be the generic rank 4s (which are getting some exciting new additions as of late, graveyard negation, field destruction and soon field negation) but also Fierce Leader of the Firefist - Tiger (their rank 4 xyz, formerly known as... I don't care enough to look up; Also note he is not a bro, sucks to be him) for a themed +1 of Tenki.
It adds to the deck things it did not have. Not just the rank 4 toolboxing itself, but also the higher attack they come with, which the deck did not have access to before and had to either rely on their ATK boosting traps or just hope they live through the turn and are able to use the monster destruction effect to get over mid to large threats.

The other card allows new decks to be made altogether, and makes previously useless cards, great.
Bro of the Firefist - Chicken is a monster released outside of cosmo blazar and is a promo, which is why it took a bit longer for it to be noticed.
It is a level 3 FIRE Beast-Warrior type with 1500 ATK and an amazing 100 DEF. When it is special summoned by the effect of a Firefist monster, you can add 1 Firefist monster from your deck to your hand (this effect cannot be activated more than once per turn, even by other Chickens). Once per turn you can send 1 Firedance s/t to the grave to search and set 1 Firedance s/t from your deck. It seems everything about it is perfect.

In case you were not aware, anything up to and including 200 DEF in FIRE is great, while 200 itself is just excelent. And this point of FIRE was further boosted lately with Celestial Master of the Fire Fist - Saint (formerly known as Firestar Master Chouten), which was useless before in the theme because it had nothing to fetch, and if it did it had nothing to summon, despite it being a great card itself.
When normal summoned it can special summon from the graveyard a level 3 FIRE monster with 200 DEF or less with certain restrictions to it. You can only synchro summon a beast-warrior monster if you choose to synchro summon with Saint, and in the turn you use its effect only beast-warriors can attack. Additionally you cannot activate the effect of multiple Saints in the same turn. The biggest settback this card had however was its options. It could summon itself for a quick Xyz, but other than that, all options it had were simply incompatible with Saint in the same deck, unless you were willing to drop your standards a lot.

This changed with Chicken. Not only is it summonable by Saint and actually has an ok attack of 1500, but when it is summoned by Saint you search a Firefist monster for an additional plus. That opens up new possibilities and previously overlooked cards in the theme come to fulfil them.

Let's start from their extra deck arsenal. With Saint plus another level 3 (or just 2 level 3s) you can Xyz summon Divine King of the Fire Fist - Lion (still not a bro), which is a 2200 ATK, FIRE, Beast-Warrior monster, with an actually usable in extreme cases 200 DEF. Once per turn by detaching a material you can add 1 FIRE monster from your graveyard to your hand, but you cannot normal summon a monster with its name for the rest of the turn. An easy play there is to detach Saint and add it to the hand to repeat the play next turn, among others. A nice +1 to add to the +1 you already made with the summon of chicken.

With Saint plus a non-tuner level 3, meaning any card in the deck which is not itself, you can synchro summon Frontier Noble of the Fire Fist - Horse (dem non-bros). It is a FIRE Beast-Warrior with 2200 on both stats. When it is synchro summoned you can special summon a level 3 Firestar from the deck. The card itself is a Firestar so not only does it search but it also triggers Chicken from the deck, although usually you'll be getting its effect with Saint so you won't be able to use it again for the turn. In the turn you synchro summon Horse, you cannot special summon other level 5 or higher monsters, which again blocks some stuff I guess (funny thing is previous translations were saying you cannot special summon level 5 or higher in general for the turn meaning you could never synchro summon horse... shut up, I'm a nerd, ok?). You cannot special summon other level 5 or higher monsters, but nothing is stopping you from summoning the above xyz with whatever you search, in case you havent noticed.

Since we are synchro summoning, another Bro joins the party.
Bro of the Firefist - Raven, formerly known as Seiven, goes from meh to great with chicken out. This bro has the 200 in the wrong stat, ATK, and in the defense it has a 1800. If it's sent from the field to the graveyard, you can set 1 Firedance spell from the deck (and you also get a minor effect to protect your firedances while it is face up I guess mumblemumble). That means you still get the search and set if it is synchro summoned. Now, with the very wrong stats, you may notice it cannot be special summoned by Saint. However, so long as it is useful on your field and in your strategy (level 3 was not useful before, it is now), the 1800 DEF actually makes it a passable wall to have in case all else fails. But the problem remains, how do we use it? The answer is another previously useless card. If it's a party we'll need 1 more dance.

Firedance Tensu is your other continuous spell, the one overshadowed by the greatness of Tenki (tenki: search a level 4 or lower beast-warrior, in case you forgot). What it does is it allows you the extra normal summon of a beast-warrior, once per turn (and adds 100 ATK to beast-warriors while on the field I guess mumblemumble). You still might not see it as great even with the current information and you'd be right. It's just an extra normal summon, you hardly ever waste cards on that outside of something like gadgets which greatly refund you with the giganto search. Not only that, but even if you do get 2 of them, they don't stuck since extra normal summons, don't stack (When a card says you get an extra normal summon in addition to your normal summon or set, you just get one in addition to your normal summon or set. You can't get it in addition to the normal summon or set you got in addition to your normal summon or set, only to your normal one so only once.). The key to this is the combo and how it all comes together.

Chicken has 2 effects. Its first effect allows you to search a Firestar monster. Its second allows you to trade a Firedance for another. In combination, you can search a monster, and then get Tensu to summon it on the same turn to get your combo going. A popular one looks like this:
Tenki searches Saint and stays face up.
Saint special summons Chicken from the graveyard.
Chicken searches Raven on summon
Chicken sends the Tenki to the graveyard to set Tensu
Flip Tensu getting your extra normal summon, and normal summon Raven
Now on your field you have the Tensu, a Raven, a Chicken and a Saint.
Saint sync with Raven to synchro summon Horse.
Horse special summons Chicken, Raven sets a Firedance spell (Tenki or Tensu, probably Tenki for next turn search)
Chicken trades the Tensu for another set Firedance s/t, if you so choose (you can trade it for a Tenken to protect your big monsters, Tenken is now actually useful as well since you have things you want to protect and it's not completely inconvenient like before)
Xyz summon Lion with the 2 Chickens on your field
Use Lion's effect to add Saint back to your hand to be able to repeat next turn.

You started off with just 1 Tenki in hand and 1 Chicken in graveyard. You got the Saint you searched with the Tenki right back to your hand (and the chicken right back to your graveyard if it means anything to you). In addition you created out of thin air (not really, deck resources are not exactly refundable when it comes to spells, but it's still pretty plus) 1 2200 Horse, 1 2200 Lion ready to use its effect again next turn, 1 set Firedance s/t of your choice and 1 set Firedance spell of your choice. That is an excelent +4 with a small settup.

In addition to that, it has excelent synergy with the previous Firestar deck, both with relativelly compact engines, giving you 2 interchangable main engines with different results in the same deck. Saint, Chicken and Raven on one side for the special summon combo, Bear, Monkey and Wolfberk for the level 4 control. Of course if you invest fully in both it will be a clogged deck, but on the other hand investing just in one gives you a small deck instead with many options to fill in (debris up your raven now?). They work well together and they should work alone as well.

Before they had a good control. Now chicken allows for great special summon plays and plusses touching the top tier. With the choices available, no doubt has konami invested a lot in this archetype (although looking at it, they probably won't be investing more; I mean what else could possibly). And of course, with the FIRE set out, they also get Pyrorex for an extra big play, while being able to fill up their grave enough with just that one play (if Chicken was your only FIRE in the grave, provided the saint stays in your hand, once your field is cleared you will have 5 FIREs in grave. In any case, it's controllable.) And don't forget, of course they have access to Sirius as well and all generic rank 3s.

In addition to all that, many otks are coming out for them now with the addition of the special summon spell from the structure deck, whenever that comes out. Many simple 3 card combos to get over 8k. Perhaps not worth it, but something to look into.

Save from Wolfberk, they don't look any more masculine now, but I'll give it to them, the Bros are now really good, and extra exciting for deckbuilders like me with the options they get. They may not end there in fact. The main combo I described used 4 Firedances from one, so tweeking the deck with other cards from the decktype is possible. Regardless, I have little doubt now, they are something to look out for.