Ice Barrier Deck

[Tinkerer]

Update: 7/31/21

Main Deck (40)

Monsters (24) 

• 1 Medium
• 3 General Wayne
• 3 Revealer
• 1 Dance Princess
• 3 Speaker
• 1 Spellbreaker
• 2 Defender
• 2 Warlock
• 3 Zuijin
• 3 Hexa Spirit 
• 2 Silent Angler

Spells (12)

• 3 Medallion
• 3 Freezing Chains
• 3 Winds
• 1 Salvage
• 1 Monster Reborn
• 1 Harpie's Feather Duster

Traps (4)

• 3 Crackdown 
• 1 Terror of Trishula

 

Extra (13)

• 3 Big Trishula
• 3 Gungnir
• 1 Regular Trishula
• 3 Brionac
• 3 Dewloren

 

Original Version (7/4/21)

Quote

Main Deck (44) - Without sufficient time to test, I wasn't sure what to cut when I built it.

Monsters (27)

1 General Raiho 

1 Medium

3 General Wayne

3 Revealer

1 Dance Princess

3 Speaker

2 Spellbreaker

2 Defender

2 Warlock

3 Zuijin

3 Hexa Spirit 

2 Silent Angler

1 Fishborg Launcher

 

Spells (13)

3 Medallion

3 Magic Triangle

3 Freezing Chains

3 Winds

1 Salvage

 

Traps (4)

3 Crackdown 

1 Terror of Trishula

 

Extra Deck (13)

3 Big Trishula

3 Gungnir

1 Regular Trishula

3 Brionac

3 Dewloren

 

Side Deck (15)

3 Mind Drain

3 Heavy Storm Duster

2 Salvage

3 Fiendish Chain

2 Terror of Trishula

1 Harpie's Feather Duster

1 Monster Reborn

(the HFD and Monster Reborn came from the Slifer Structure and they're the only cards that did not come from the IB Structure Deck)

 

 

[Tinkerer]

Explanation:

This was my first locals in this area. Unfortunately, the card shop that was hosting the locals did not sell much YGO product. My choices were the IB structure, the god card structures, or loose packs of Genesis Impact.

...So I was basically left with only 1 reasonable choice.

 

I did not know what others would be playing, so my mindset was focused on info-gathering. I also figured that I couldn't output an effective turn 1 board, so I opted for a turn 2 build (as much as possible).

Wayne is one of the best cards as both an enabler & extender; I needed to make sure it was live as often as possible. Triangle is also pretty effective on turn 2 once I was able to assess things based on the opponent's turn 1. It would also most likely be live on turn 2 when I'd have 3+ IB monsters in-hand.

The rest of the deck pretty much built itself. Each IB Spell was a 3-of, each of the new IB monsters were a 3-of, and I used a mix of the old IB monsters to give a variety in my floodgate effects + make Triangle live as often as possible. I needed several level 3s and 2s in order to use Hexa Spirit. Other than that, there really isn't much else to say.

 

[Tinkerer]

Duels:

The times when I won I did so because I managed to stun my opponents with the IB floodgate effects.

When facing Plunder Patroll, I made quite a few costly mistakes. I don't think I would have won, but I definitely would have done better if I'd faced him after I had a bit more experience.

In my games against the Pendulum player, I managed to Summon Warlock who is an "anti-spell fragrance" on legs (as long as I control another IB monster). The opponent couldn't set up their scales and just ended up losing. I could also tell that he was pretty inexperienced player (both in playing and deck building), so I could probably chalk this up to a lucky break for me.

Against Guru Control I stood no chance. We both tried to lock the other out of playing, but his cards were much more effective at doing so. Once he summoned Dark Dragoon, I was screwed. Game 2 he opened R-E Fusion and I simply couldn't get around Dragoon.

Fourth game was against Virtual World. I have no experience playing with/against VW, so I did not know what to expect. Somehow, in game 1 I managed to lock him down with a combination of Defender of the Ice Barrier + Freezing Chains of the Ice Barrier and I was able to eventually turn the game in my favor. Second game went into time, but I had more LP, so I won.

 

I think the sheer surprise factor of someone legitimately using Ice Barriers helped me a whole lot. I think I could probably get away with some surprise next time, but I probably won't be able to do it for a third time.

[Darj]

Last time I played IBs (online) with some degree of success was dropping Bahamut Shark-> Toadally with Level 4 IBs such as Strategist and Spellbreaker, and reviving them with Prior, supported by Jigabyte and a E-HERO Bubbleman/E-Call engine of sorts, so I'm curious to know what they can do now. Also I see this is IRL so I assume resorting to Toadally Bahamut plays isn't an option.

[Tinkerer]

Yeah, when I went I had only been in town for a few weeks. I hadn't brought any cards from home so I didn't really have many options.

I'd imagine the deck would be slightly better at turboing into Bahamut nowadays (simply because they have an in-archetype Level 4 that can Special Summon itself), but overall they really lack a good game plan.

Taking their best cards into account, they'd really have to carve a specific niche with WATER Synchros specifically, since other WATER decks are significantly better at making Xyzs/Links.

[Darj]

On 7/27/2021 at 1:34 AM, Tinkerer said:

Taking their best cards into account, they'd really have to carve a specific niche with WATER Synchros specifically, since other WATER decks are significantly better at making Xyzs/Links.

Well, I don't see any WATER decks in the metas. On the other hand, although I have not made any tests, I feel IBs got a legit chance of being competitively good with the new support, considering their access to Synchros, Rank4s and even 2s, plus the odd locks like Spellbreaker, Medium, Wayne, Revealer, Defender, etc.

[Sleepy]

Finally got around to properly analize this build today xD
I also made an Ice Barrier Deck a little after the structure came out but with a different pattern there.
From personal experience, I'm not very fond of Speaker at 3. I run 2 as it kind of clogs for me and the few times I can search/mill her with something she's not really the priority at all.

I recommend for sure if you can get your hands on Eria the Water Charmer's Link, seeing as you put the WATER material and the other one can be whatever else. It'd make your Crackdowns able to use what they control without worrying about it having the Right Level (or any Level at all) for Synchros or having to use up some sort of Tribute Summon play.
Well I suppose there are other super generic Links like the Knightmares, but I can't recall if there's something that at some point might lock you into only WATER for the turn....


I also use Prior but I find this one interesting because it can be completely useless if you focus too much on the high Level plays and depend on its self-Summon clause. It really is only best in the Xyz plays Darj mentioned. I personally have it at 2 myself because Hexa can dump it and it then becomes a gateway to reviving anything (Dewloren looping Freezing Chains which revives only Level 4 or lower). When at some point I tried to make it just with Link/Xyz plays in mind, I'd even go as far as running Inferno Reckless because easy swarm that turns into "revive Defender here, Secret Guard there, and Strategist too"..... I don't run Strategist at all anymore myself, it is a "setting up" card and if one can help it, not using up a full turn on that is better.....

Wayne is definitely the best general, but I personally only kinda like Gantala from the original 3 generals. It's slow but if you go for the Ice Barrier lockdown formations rather than the Synchro plays, it becomes good at reviving Defender (attack lock), Wayne (after you use it for a Synchro, I imagine Wayne comes in clutch against Sky Strikers), or 1 single teched copy of "Secret Guards of the Ice Barrier" (It's a crime this didn't get reprinted in the Structure Decks, it's monster protection coverage works against non-Special Summoned monsters unlike Freezing Chains.... but I can only afford to put it out if I have Defender already on board because its stats aren't that great on their own).

If you can get your hands on Foolish Burial or Mind Control it'd also work pretty nicely IMO. Come to thik of it, Hexa's presense might make it worth trying out One for One (I'm gonna look through my stuff and add it myself because IDK if it'll really work in practice yet xD )

Because there's like 5 different card names in the deck that have GY effects and because of my copies of Salvage/Freezing Chains/Prior.... I am currently testing out Card Destruction but it hasn't really come up/been drawn for me to see if I have the worst timing in the world for drawing it or if it's gonna work xD

Some other ideas for Synchros I find interesting:
You can maker Arcanite Magician with Ice Barriers if you don't have the discard fodder for Gungnir at a given time.
Black Rose (nukes are nice to have an option to)
and the White Aura Synchros (Dolphin is a self-reviving Shrink and Whale is a self-reviving Lightning Vortex that attacks twice.... and if your opponent is foolish enough to have it revive, you can turn a self-revived Suijin + Speaker Token into the Level 11 Trishula with it.... it's never come up for me but sounds fun xD )

Triangle I have a love-hate experience with it. Sometimes I go "I'd love to have Triangle right now, it's such a good poping effect and I could use some extention" and then there's the times I am in topdeck mode or draw into 3 backrows.... you have a ton of IB monsters compared to S/T so you most likely have it live a lot more, though I wonder if your hand isn't often trapped with a bunch of monsters you can't bring out right away when you don't have Triangle at hand.... guess Wayne searches it out. I almost always go for Medallion or Freezing Chains with Wayne's search... or even Winds Over. 


It's hard to suggest much more. Actually, what did you end up playing against yesterday at your event?

[Tinkerer]

After that first time, I had a good expectation of the kinds of decks/people there:

I'd say that the top 40% of people would trounce me regardless (without further deck additions). Either these are meta decks or decently tiered decks piloted by experienced players.

40% of the people there had rogueish decks and they usually get hit with the surprise factor/are somewhat inexperienced/make a severe misplay. Still a hard duel, but I feel like I can win these.

The other 20% are either triple structure decks like me, or using a fairly hodgepodge deck (kids mostly), or are extremely inexperienced (again, mostly the kids). Generally, I can just win these, though I like giving 'em a chance to make some plays.

 

Yesterday I faced:

Infernity (Win), Pure Tri-brigade (Lose), another Ice Barrier player (Win), and PK Fire (who hand looped me in both games using the Droll/Reincarnation combo xD)

 

I'd also swapped around the cards in my deck a little. I'm still under the same limits (just the 3 IB structures and the god card structure), but I'll update the OP with the changes when I get around to it.