One of my favorite parts about holiday breaks is that I finally get a chance to sit around and play all the video games that I’ve been meaning to play for the past year . . . or at the very least, I get to attempt to play all the video games that I’ve been meaning to play for the past year. Normally, it’s not a particularly successful venture, and it leaves me with a number of games that I’ve been forced to stop playing about 75% of the way through. This year, however, I’ve managed to get through most of my list of games, which included the critically acclaimed Super Mario Galaxy. One of the most memorable areas of the game, for me, was the Freezeflame Galaxy. Specifically, I’m thinking of the series of freezing and molten platforms hanging out in space in the “Hot and Cold Collide” mission. What would the practical purpose of such a place be? Could something live there? I decided that something could certainly live up there: Frost and Flame Dragon. Seriously. Think about it. The Fire head could sleep on the lava and the ice head would sleep on the ice. It’s a clear indication that I have far too much time on my hands.
Rather than muse about the potential for a fictional creature to make its home in a virtual location, I figure my time would be better spent coming up with one last deck to tide you all over until the Phantom Darkness card previews begin next week. Many duelists initially touted Frost and Flame Dragon and Desert Twister as the second coming of the original Chaos monsters, but most players never even tried them out. This certainly isn’t the first time that new cards have been called “the second coming of Chaos,” and it certainly won’t be the last. Similarly, it won’t be the last time that a solid monster is ignored because its effect doesn’t boil down to “win the game just for playing me.” On the other hand, there are some people out there looking to make use of everyone’s favorite elementally mismatched Dragon, so I think it’s only fair that I give them a hand.
Monsters: 22
2 Frost and Flame Dragon
3 Thestalos the Firestorm Monarch
3 Volcanic Shell
3 Tenkabito Shien
2 Skreech
3 Mother Grizzly
1 Treeborn Frog
3 Crystal Seer
1 Dragon Ice
1 Sangan
Spells: 6
1 Heavy Storm
1 Mystical Space Typhoon
2 Pot of Avarice
1 Premature Burial
1 Lightning Vortex
Traps: 12
3 Phoenix Wing Wind Blast
3 Solemn Judgment
3 Forced Back
1 Call of the Haunted
1 Mirror Force
1 Torrential Tribute
I think the biggest reason people haven’t tried out Frost and Flame Dragon is because it can be hard to play. As a level 6 monster, Frost and Flame Dragon can’t make use of the freshly extended suite of effects that make Light and Darkness Dragon a searchable and repeatable threat. Without cards like Trade-In and Herald of Creation to support it, we’re forced to rely primarily on the luck of the draw to find the Dragons lurking in our deck. The other issue is that, while there exists a multitude of good Light and Dark monsters to choose from, you usually want to play most of them on their own and keep them in play. Monsters like Levia-Dragon - Daedalus and Cyber Phoenix don’t really lend themselves to this type of deck since they don’t play well with each other at all. Cyber Phoenix protecting nothing but itself isn’t an ideal use of the card, even if it replaces itself if it falls in battle and goes to the graveyard, and Levia-Dragon - Daedalus belongs as the centerpiece of its own deck, not as fodder for Frost and Flame Dragon. Furthermore, each use of Frost and Flame Dragon’s monster-destroying effect costs you a card in hand, a cost that most players are only willing to pay for Snipe Hunter, Lightning Vortex, and Phoenix Wing Wind Blast. This last point is something I can fix though, so let’s start there.
If I’m looking for a Fire monster that’s easy to get into the graveyard and useful once it’s there, only Volcanic Shell fits the bill. It provides a source of discards limited only by your life points in the proper deck, but unfortunately, this one isn’t quite equipped to claim that boon. Royal Firestorm Guards has no real place in a deck that only plays a handful of Fire monsters (some of which are intended to be removed from play for Frost and Flame Dragon). To go with the Volcanic Shell cards, I’m also including Phoenix Wing Wind Blast, since it remains incredibly good and will probably stay that way for quite a while. The Shells are more or less off limits in terms of which Fire monster you’ll remove for Frost and Flame Dragon (it takes one Fire and two Water), but the basic foot soldier of the deck, Tenkabito Shien, is more than fair game. You might recall Tenkabito from the Volcanic Monarch deck I showed you before the break, and everything I said then is still valid now. Trap cards are incredibly deadly, and being able to attack without fear of them is an incredible comfort. Match all of that up with the fact that Tenkabito Shien happens to be compatible with your heavy hitter, and you’ve got yourself a winner. I’ve also chosen to include the all-star Thestalos the Firestorm Monarch as both a beat stick and a disruption tool in addition to potential food for the Frost and Flame Dragon. It’s not a lot of Fire monsters, but since you only need one, I think six intended targets is enough.
On the Water side of the list, we have a number of much better options for removal. Crystal Seer is the number-one candidate since she can improve our hand, be tributed for Thestalos, and be removed for Frost and Flame Dragon all in the span of a single turn if the need arises. Joining her are the Design Your Destiny card contest winner, Skreech, a set of Mother Grizzly cards, and if necessary, Dragon Ice. Skreech is a particularly great card in this deck, because once your opponent destroys it in battle, you can load your graveyard with Treeborn Frog, any other Water monster, and then the destroyed Skreech itself. This one card sets you up for a number of potentially devastating plays in the next turn depending on what you’ve drawn into, and it also thins out your deck, increasing your chances to draw key cards. I’ve been playing around with Dragon Ice a lot lately, and I find that it often seems to be best as tech against burn. You can special summon it whenever your opponent special summons a monster, which makes it a good way to get an extra blocker in the way of Green Baboon, Defender of the Forest or a second monster to tribute if your opponent dumps Lava Golem on your side of the field. Dragon Ice also provides you with a monster that Il Blud and Zombie Master aren’t going to be able to take down, frequently giving you another turn to find the cards you need to make a comeback. Of course, without any level 7 or higher monsters of your own, Dragon Ice won’t be of much use in matchups with Light and Darkness Dragon, and the card isn’t going to cut it against Perfect Circle builds. Fortunately, that’s where the brilliance of Skreech shines again, allowing you to quickly dump it in the graveyard where it can be used if needed, or simply removed to bring out Frost and Flame Dragon.
Frost and Flame Dragon remains a tricky card to use even after all the support that Fire and Water monsters have received, but it nevertheless remains a solid card and a fan favorite. If you’ve got them, try building around them some time. You can rarely go wrong with a constant source of monster destruction. I hope everyone is having a safe and happy New Year, and until next time, play hard, play fair, and most importantly, have fun!
Jerome McHale
Jcmchale@andrew.cmu.edu