Infernity: the Next TeleDAD?

You may have already chuckled just reading the title of this post. Infernity? TeleDAD? The latter deck is the gold standard for consistency in the history of YGO decktypes. The former...is a theme revolving around effects that only trigger while you have no cards in hand. Basically the entirety of tier 1 decks, from 2003 to present, have featured cards and strategies that helped to burgeon your hand size, rather than diminish it: Pot of Greed, Elemental Hero Stratos, Card Trooper, and Black Whirlwind, to cite but a few examples.

But over the past year and half, trends among the tier 1 decks, if inspected closely, would actually give some hope to the prospect idea of an all-out, hand-devouring decktype being a competitive force. TeleDAD could often establish complete control over the field on turn 1 or 2 by investing all of its in-hand resources into a Stardust Dragon + Dark Armed Dragon + Solemn Judgment field, backed up further by Necro Gardna and Royal Oppression. Decks like Lightsworn and Lightsworn Zombie will gladly discard resources simply to put a game-ending titan like Judgment Dragon or Sky Scourge Norleras into play. Read Satoshi Kato's top 4 match from SJC Nashville to see a prime example of the latter: he exploits Norleras to quickly establish advantage through a loaded Graveyard and topdecks, while keeping his hand size unusually small. This is exactly the type of strategy the upcoming Infernity deck will pursue.

Infernity cards have already been released in the TCG, but the real powerhouses of the theme won't arrive on these shores til around May, when we will see The Shining Darkness (TSHD). Here are the cards to keep in mind:

Infernity Gun
Continuous Spell

Once per turn, you can send 1 "Infernity" monster card from your hand to the Graveyard. If there are no cards in your hand, you can send this face-up card to the Graveyard to Special Summon 2 "Infernity" monsters from your Graveyard.

Infernity Mirage
DARK/Fiend/Effect/1/0/0

If there are no cards in your hand, you can Tribute this face-up card to Special Summon 2 "Infernity" monsters from your Graveyard. This card cannot be Special Summoned from the Graveyard.

Infernity Beetle
DARK/Insect/Effect/Tuner/2/1200/0

If there are no cards in your hand, you can Tribute this face-up card to Special Summon up to 2 copies of "Infernity Beetle" from your Deck.

Infernity Revenger
DARK/Fiend/Effect/Tuner/1/0/0

When this card is in your Graveyard, and there are no cards in your hand, when a monster you control (other than "Infernity Revenger") is destroyed by battle and sent to the Graveyard, you can Special Summon this card from your Graveyard. Its Level becomes equal to the Level of the destroyed monster.

Infernity Inferno
Normal Trap Card

Discard up to 2 cards. Send a number of "Infernity" cards from your Deck to the Graveyard equal to the number of cards you discarded.

Infernity Break
Normal Trap Card

Activate only if there are no cards in your hand. Remove from play 1 "Infernity" card from your Graveyard to destroy 1 card your opponent controls.

Infernity Death Dragon
DARK/Dragon/Effect/Synchro/8/3000/2400

1 DARK Tuner + 1 or more non-Tuner monsters

If there are no cards in your hand, once per turn you can destroy 1 monster your opponent controls and inflict damage to your opponent equal to half of that monster's ATK. This card cannot attack during the turn that you activate this effect.

That covers the main additions to the theme. Overall, the theme forgoes in-hand advantage to maximize its field presence: between Beetle, Mirage, and Gun, as well as the already released Infernity Necromancer, the deck can swarm like no other. A particularly vicious loop involves Infernity Archfiend, Beetle, Necromancer, and Gun.

1. Launch Gun to Special Summon Necromancer and Beetle.
2. Use Beetle's effect to grab two more, if you want to.
3. Use Necromancer to revive Archfiend.
4. Search another Gun with Archfiend.
5. Synchro Beetle, Necromancer, and Archfiend for Trishula, Dragon of the Ice Boundary to remove a card from your opponent's field, hand, and Graveyard.
6. Use the searched Gun to start the loop over.

You can play with the level stars a bit by including Revenger or other Infernities in your calculations, but the basic synergy between Archfiend, Necromancer, and Gun remains the same. Archfiend is more or less an unrestricted Elemental Hero Stratos for this theme. Necromancer can revive any Infernity monster, even the massive Death Dragon. Gun is just a silly card that is superior to the banned Premature Burial/Monster Reborn within this theme.

The theme also possesses synergies with older cards like Foolish Burial, One For One, Allure of Darkness, and Dark Grepher, all of which are almost perfectly fitted for a strategy like this one. In light of the incredible power of the Gun/Archfiend/Necromancer trio, it's almost a relief that all of the above cards, excepting Grepher, are limited. Foolish, One For One, Grepher, and even Allure help you set up breakneck combos while also diminishing your hand presence and hence putting the Infernity effects online. Infernity Break gives you generic removal that helps to sidestep problematic cards like Royal Oppression or Thunder King Rai-Oh.

A sample decklist might look this (taken from Shriek's OCG blog:

3 Infernity Archfiend
3 Infernity Necromancer
3 Infernity Beetle
2 Infernity Mirage
2 Dark Grepher
1 Armageddon Knight

3 Infernity Gun
1 Allure of Darkness
1 Dark Eruption
1 Reinforcement of the Army
1 Heavy Storm
1 Mystical Space Typhoon
1 One For One
1 Lightning Vortex
1 Foolish Burial
1 Giant Trunade
1 Card Destruction

3 Raigeki Break
2 Bottomless Trap Hole
2 Damage Gate
2 Infernity Inferno
1 Torrential Tribute
1 Dust Tornado
1 Solemn Judgment
1 Mirror Force

This build isn't perfect, but it's a start. The low monster count helps you to avoid monster-clogged hands which would keep your Infernities offline. Damage Gate was not covered above, so I'll include the effect here. It's another card from TSHD.

Damage Gate
Normal Trap

Activate only when you take Battle Damage. Special Summon 1 monster from your Graveyard with ATK less than or equal to the damage you received.

Similar to the powerful Damage=Reptile, but more generic. Perfect for abusing Necromancer (0 ATK) in particular.

Raigeki Break serves a function similar to Infernity Break, but with more utility and without the potential drawback of removing your Infernity cards from the Graveyard. The other choices are either staples or have been discussed above.

I'm curious to see how the TCG innovates this decktype, especially in lieu of the almighty Trishula. Mist Wurm is a decent LV9 Synchro, but it can't quite stack up to Trishula. Regardless, the deck's ability to spam the field with Synchro monsters from Wurm to Death Dragon ought to make it a strong contender in the upcoming format. Many players may have been high on the prospects of decks like Gladiator Beasts or Monarchs for this new format, but the persistence of rapid-accleration, rapid-control archetypes like Infernity, which follows proudly in the TeleDAD/Lightsworn Zombie tradition, will continue to make such old school, slower strategies nearly untenable.