Yu-Gi-Oh! TCG - Deck Tech: Fire King Snake-Eye

In celebration of Yu-Gi-Oh! TCG's 25 years, Konami once again hosted another edition of the Ultimate Duelist Series, more commonly known as UDS, which hadn't happened since 2020. The return of this great event happened on February 17th and 18th, and welcomed 16 players, all of them champions of previous editions of UDS. As a result, this event was named Undisputed UDS, and was considered by many the most relevant tournament in the history of Yu-Gi-oh! TCG.

The greatest champion of this event was Jesse Kotton, the greatest YCS winner in the history of this card game, and holder of several records. This Canadian duelist used the main deck in the format, as usual, but chose an approach with multiple handtraps, something he doesn't do often.

Fire King is an archetype formed by Fire attribute, Beast, Beast-Warrior, and Winged Beast type monsters. Additionally, their names and designs reference creatures and deities from several mythologies. As for the Snake-Eye monsters, they are based on the Lithuanian folk tale, "Eglė the Queen of Serpents", in which the queen's children were suddenly transformed into oaks, ash trees, birches, and poplars. Their design is represented by a shiny gem with red eyes surrounded by colorful flames.

Besides the fact these monsters share the same attribute, they have synergy because of the interaction between Snake-Eye monsters and level 1 Fire attribute monsters, which allows you to access the Fire King starter, Legendary Fire King Ponix.

Check out below everything about Fire King Snake-Eye!

Decklist

Main Deck

Even though they are the main characters in this deck, Fire King monsters can be considered "garnets" in this strategy because we don't really want to draw them, and instead we'd rather access them directly from our deck.

The Fire King engine has some starters, but it is inefficient to draw them because they, alone, can't form a powerful board. If you access them through the other engines in this deck, however, they significantly boost your power ceiling. The other cards in this archetype will be your interaction, which will be divided between graveyard, board, and hand.

Very present in the metagame ever since it was released, the Sinful Spoils engine gives this strategy consistency, considering it can access Original Sinful Spoils - Snake-Eye, which connects the Fire King and Snake-Eye engines.

The Snake-Eye engine gives this deck consistency and versatility, and it is as important to your strategy as the Fire King engine because it will build your plays, whereas Fire King monsters will complement your final board, and make it stronger.

One for One and Bonfire are the generic spells that will give more consistency to this deck, and both can be a "1 card combo" (except for One for One's discard mechanic).

Fire King Snake-Eye has a lot of space for tech cards, and the main approach in this format are handtraps. It has the most generic ones, but it also uses the high-impact ones.

Once handtraps are popular in this format and this deck is a bit fragile at certain points of the combo, you'll also use your "anti-handtrap" cards to punish your opponent for using them against you. Additionally, Crossout Designator has an additional role in this match, as it can be used against other key cards in this deck.

Extra Deck

Linkuriboh tends to be the first extra deck monster you'll summon while playing your standard combo, and it is important to return it from the graveyard to protect your level 1 monsters from interactions.

As for Relinquished Anima, it will improve your play line if you go second, considering it is a boardbreaker, and, even if it doesn't resolve, at least you'll force an answer out of your opponent.

I:P Masquerena is another card that will usually be a part of your initial combo, and you'll use it to summon S:P Little Knight most times, which is still an incredibly strong interaction.

Dharc the Dark Charmer, Gloomy and Hiita the Fire Charmer, Ablaze are quite useful in this format because they "steal" monsters from your opponent's graveyard. Particularly "Hiita", considering Fire decks are extremely popular, and, like so, the only targets for "Dharc" will be in the extra deck or will be Diabellstar the Black Witch.

These cards conquered some space in the extra deck because of their utility, considering Knightmare Phoenix can deal with a spell/trap on your opponent's board, and Salamangreat Sunlight Wolf recycles one of your Fire attribute monsters.

Once you have different attribute cyberses in your deck (Linkuriboh and Salamangreat Sunlight Wolf), Decode Talker Heatsoul is a viable option to build your strategy, and it is quite useful because of its effect that draws cards, something that can help you access your extenders or even your defenses.

Promethean Princess, Bestower of Flames is one of the cards that guarantees this deck a good performance, considering it can work as an extender, interaction, and follow-up. "Promethean Princess"' greatest asset is that it helps your deck divide interaction, something that tends to be strong in Yu-Gi-Oh! TCG.

This deck uses several link-4 monsters for several things: Apollousa, Bow of the Goddess is an excellent way to protect your board; Amphibious Swarmship Amblowhale guarantees you follow-up if it is destroyed, and, additionally, it becomes an interaction when it is on the graveyard.

Salamangreat Raging Phoenix is a great finisher, considering you can summon it from the graveyard with a reasonably high ATK value; and, finally, we have Worldsea Dragon Zealantis, which is very useful to clear your opponent's board, and organizes your OTK plays.

Fire King Snake-Eye places countless monsters on the board, and executes a combo full of layers that divides your interactions between: Snake-Eyes Flamberge Dragon and Amphibious Swarmship Amblowhale in your monster zone; I:P Masquerena on your backrow; Fire King High Avatar Kirin in your hand; and, finally, Promethean Princess, Bestower of Flames and Sacred Fire King Garunix in your graveyard.

I'll leave below the standard combo if you open your play with Snake-Eye Ash:

> Firstly, normal-summon Snake-Eye Ash and activate its effect to add Snake-Eyes Poplar from your deck to your hand;

> Activate Snake-Eyes Poplar's effect to make it self-summon from your hand, and, next, activate its effect to add Original Sinful Spoils - Snake-Eye from your deck to your hand;

> Now, use Snake-Eyes Poplar to summon Linkuriboh. Use Snake-Eyes Poplar's effect to place it on your backrow as a Continuous spell.

> Activate Original Sinful Spoils - Snake-Eye sending Snake-Eyes Poplar from your spell/trap zone to your graveyard to summon Legendary Fire King Ponix straight from your deck, and, by summoning it, use its effect to add Fire King Sanctuary from your deck to your hand;

> Activate Fire King Sanctuary and use its effect to activate Fire King Island straight from your deck;

> Activate Snake-Eye Ash's effect to send it and Fire King Sanctuary to the graveyard to summon Snake-Eye Oak straight from your deck, and, next, activate its effect to summon Snake-Eye Ash from your graveyard;

> Now, activate Snake-Eye Oak's effect to send it and Linkuriboh to the graveyard to summon Snake-Eyes Flamberge Dragon straight from your deck;

> Use Snake-Eyes Flamberge Dragon and Snake-Eye Ash to summon I:P Masquerena, and, next, activate Snake-Eyes Flamberge Dragon's effect in the graveyard to summon Snake-Eye Oak and Snake-Eye Ash from there;

> Now, use Snake-Eye Oak and I:P Masquerena to summon Promethean Princess, Bestower of Flames;

> Activate Fire King Island's effect to destroy Legendary Fire King Ponix and add Sacred Fire King Garunix from your deck to your hand;

> Activate Sacred Fire King Garunix's effect to make it self-summon from your hand, and, next, activate its effect to destroy Fire King High Avatar Kirin in your deck. Then, activate Fire King High Avatar Kirin's effect to summon Legendary Fire King Ponix;

> Activate Promethean Princess' effect to summon Snake-Eyes Flamberge Dragon from your graveyard, and use its effect to get I:P Masquerena from your graveyard and put it on your backrow as a continuous spell;

> Use Promethean Princess and Sacred Fire King Garunix to summon Salamangreat Sunlight Wolf;

> Activate Linkuriboh's effect to make it self-summon from the graveyard by tributing Legendary Fire King Ponix. Remember to summon it on the zone Salamangreat Sunlight Wolf points to, to activate its effect and retrieve Fire King High Avatar Kirin from your graveyard to your hand;

> Use Linkuriboh and Salamangreat Sunlight Wolf to summon Decode Talker Heatsoul, and, next, activate its effect to draw 1 card;

> To finish, use Decode Talker Heatsoul and Snake-Eye Ash to summon Amphibious Swarmship Amblowhale.

This way, your board will end up like this:

Fire King Snake-Eye is excellent if you're the first to play, and it is definitely the strongest deck in the format, considering it has an incredibly strong initial combo and very divided interactions. So, if you're the first to go, you're favored against any opponent. If you're the second to play, it uses a significantly high number of techs to lower your opponent's power ceiling, and, additionally, it has enough game volume to force your opponent's interactions.

Due to this dominance, there are those who say we're in a tier 0 format, in which the only deck that can counter Fire King Snake-Eye is pure Snake-Eye, which has more space for tech cards, and also uses the strongest engine in the game. So, you can finish the match quickly or at least create a lot of advantage and not leave any space for Fire King to recover.

Decks such as Voiceless Voice, Purrely, Floowandereeze and Rescue-Ace are other options players have used to try and stop Fire King Snake-Eye, but these strategies aren't as efficient as Fire decks.

So, what did you think of this deck? I hope you enjoyed learning more about it, and that you have a lot of fun with it.

You are welcome to give your own opinion in the comment section below. Cards Realm thanks you for your support!