Infernity

In recent days, I've had the opportunity to finally experience Infernity.dek in its TCG form, and it's truly been...terrifying. The deck has a level of speed, consistency, and plain dumbness that hasn't existed in YGO since the heyday of DSF, or perhaps even DAD era (ReturnDAD/TeleDAD) of 2008. Here's my build:

3 Infernity Archfiend
3 Infernity Beetle
3 Infernity Necromancer
2 Dark Grepher
2 Infernity Mirage
1 Infernity Dwarf
1 Infernity Avenger
1 Necro Gardna

3 Infernity Launcher
3 Upstart Goblin
1 A Feather of the Phoenix
1 Foolish Burial
1 Mystical Space Typhoon
1 Heavy Storm
1 Reinforcement of the Army
1 Mind Control
1 Brain Control
1 One for One

2 Infernity Barrier
2 Infernity Inferno
2 Dust Tornado
1 Solemn Judgment
1 Mind Crush
1 Call of the Haunted
1 Raigeki Break

--

3 Gemini Imps
2 Cyber Dragon
2 D.D. Crow
2 Corridor of Agony
2 Imperial Iron Wall
1 Dust Tornado
1 Infernity Barrier
1 Dark Eruption
1 Trap Dustshoot

--

3 Mist Wurm
2 Infernity Doom Dragon
2 Stardust Dragon
1 Chaos King Archfiend
1 Stygian Sergeants
1 Brionac, Dragon of the Ice Barrier
1 Hundred-Eyes Dragon
1 Chimeratech Fortress Dragon
1 Goyo Guardian
1 Black-Winged Dragon
1 Flamvell Uruquizas

I would suppose you could call my build somewhat standard, although the Upstarts are perhaps a bit off the beaten path. I've also elected to forgo removal like Bottomless Trap Hole etc. since the deck has such massive potential for disruption through its Synchros in particular (Wurm, Doom Dragon, Brionac) that I found that 1-for-1 removal was largely useless. I also am not running Allure of Darkness due to my low monster count and a lack of expendable targets, imo. Dark Armed Dragon, though tempting, also does not appear here due to the need to minimize unusable cards.

The side deck is a work in progress. I have been tinkering with Major Riot to combat Mist Wurm's growing presence in this metagame; it's a card that will surprise basically anyone you use it on. I have also thought about siding Infernity Dwarf for Dandylion spam.

Infernity has favorable matchups against nearly all of the major decks in the metagame, esp. X-Saber, which may in fact be the 2nd strongest deck in the TSHD environment. The ability to topdeck your way out of nearly any pickle, and jumpstart you entire advantage engine, with a simiple Archfiend/Necromancer/Mirage/Launcher is uncanny, and makes hand disruption and card advantage nearly irrelevant in an Infernity match. The deck can play at any pace, being able to OTK swiftly OR play a control game with its powerful Counter Trap, Infernity Barrier. In this sense, the deck replicates TeleDAD.

Much of the online community scoffs at Infernity as a deck "easily sided against," which ignores several key factors, including: 1) Infernity's own ability to side; 2) the expansive nature of the metagame, which requires a player to have a versatile side deck for a variety of potential matchups...siding 10+ cards just for Infernity means that you may win the battle, but lose the war in terms of having a topflight deck ready for major competition.

TSHD has really put a shot into the arm of YGO, having made Infernity, Sabers, Frogs, Fish, and Plants much more interesting and competitive than they have ever been. With DREV on the horizon, the influx of quality, playable cards looks to continue, and I for one, am very happy that Konami has raised the bar in terms of design and diversity in the game.