Fire Fist: (Not) A Burning Boyband

This is an Archetype Review article. Archetype Review will provide some information regarding an archetype, including playstyle, strength, weakness, and how to counter Side Deck-ed cards. This article is written by Haidar Aji . Images are taken from yugioh.wikia.com.



The Prologue
My interest in writing articles is kind of awakened by the previous post made by Taufik. So now I'll do an Archetype Review too about the one which I play the most. The only brotherhood in the Yu-Gi-Oh! world: Brotherhood of the Fire Fist!



The archetype was released in the Cosmo Blazer booster set and get further supports from Lord of the Tachyon Galaxy and the soon-to-be-released Judgment of the Light. A friend of mine introduced the brothers to me when I still played stall deck and happened to like it. Fire Fist itself is a quite formidable deck back then and be a quite good competitor for Mermail. But after the Dragon Ruler and Spellbook were released, seems that this archetype is losing their blaze. Honestly I don't know whether someone topped with a Fire Fist or not as I just started playing the deck.



The Playstyle

In general, the playstyle is splitted into two: 4-Axis and 3-Axis. The 3-Axis is still not that competitive to play before the release of Judgment of the Light so people use the 4-Axis, but soon it will be feasible as the booster set is going to be released really soon. Both playstyles take full advantages of their best searcher Fire Formation - Tenki by bringing 3 copies and the extra normal summon bonus from Fire Formation - Tensu by bringing 2-3 copies. The brothers also get some nice support from the trap line-up like Fire Formation - Tensen for a sudden 1000 ATK boost, Fire Formation - Tenken to dodge card effects in Main Phase 1, and Horn of the Phantom Beast for another ATK boost and drawing bonus, but those are optional though.

The playstyle of 4-Axis is taking advantage from Fire Formation cards and using them for another plus, then XYZ summoning. The key card is Brotherhood of the Fire Fist - Bear which can trade a Fire Formation for a monster removal and set another Fire Formation spell when he inflicts battle damage. Another star is Brotherhood of the Fire Fist - Gorilla which can trade a Fire Formation for a backrow removal and set another Fire Formation spell when he destroys an opposing monster. Brotherhood of the Fire Fist - Dragon usually joins the battlefield too as he can burn 2 Fire Formation to revive his fallen companion and search Fire Formation trap. After the release of Judgment of the Light, this playstyle is further supported by the appearance of a random skinny looking Coach Soldier Wolfbark which acts as a recycler and gives an instant XYZ. The boss XYZ is Brotherhood of the Fire Fist - Tiger which is a searcher. Brotherhood of the Fire Fist - Cardinal also can be used to disrupt opponent's play. The 4-Axis itself has some variations:

    Pure 4-Axis
    Rabbit Fist (using Rescue Rabbit to summon 2 Genetic Warwolf/Vorse Raider and then Brotherhood of the Fire Fist - Tiger)
    Dino Fist (Rabbit Fist but with vanilla replaced by Kabazauls/Sabersaurus to gain access to Evolzar Laggia and Evolzar Dolkka)
    Dragon Turbo (utilizing Brotherhood of the Fire Fist - Dragon's ability to swarm the field)
    Synchro (using Brotherhood of the Fire Fist - Boar)

The 3-Axis is quite simpler: do things, ride a horse, get a chicken, and get pluses. Two warriors are already released in Cosmo Blazer: Brotherhood of the Fire Fist - Spirit which can revive a fallen ally and transform themselves into fiery horse-riding man and Brotherhood of the Fire Fist - Leopard which is a Fire Formation searcher. But they are not as powerful as when Brotherhood of the Fire Fist - Rooster joined the battlefield from the upcoming booster set. Basically the chicken trades an old Fire Formation for a new one. The deck works like this:

    Normal Summon Brotherhood of the Fire Fist - Spirit and get Brotherhood of the Fire Fist - Leopard
    Tune them into Brotherhood of the Fire Fist - Horse Prince, then special summon Brotherhood of the Fire Fist - Rooster
    Let the chicken searches a needed Fire Formation

The Strength

With Fire Formation - Tenki at 3, the consistency of the deck is maintained well, and with Fire Formation - Tensu they can XYZ summon easily. The monsters are quite a beatstick on their own, especially when boosted with Fire Formation cards. The 4-Axis one can XYZ summon Rank 4 quickly and has lot of one-for-one removal. They also can use the quite anti-meta card Dimensional Fissure as they only need Fire Formation cards to be sent to the graveyard. The 3-Axis one can give pluses, as with only one card your field can end up with a 2200 ATK beatstick and a 1600 ATK searcher, or even stronger if boosted.

The Weakness

The brothers rely heavily on monster effects, so Skill Drain will be a top choice. Another negator like Breakthrough Skill, Effect Veiler, or Forbidden Chalice will also do. They also need the graveyard for their Fire Formation, so Macro Cosmos will do (or Dimensional Fissure against a 3-Axis). All Fire Formations are in form of continuous spell and trap cards, so a simple Mystical Space Typhoon and Dust Tornado will make them resolve without effect.

The Remedy

As the main threats for this deck are Skill Drain and Macro Cosmos, bringing 3 copies of Mystical Space Typhoon will help, and Dust Tornado is always there if they are not enough. The rest of the threats are temporary so maybe you can still survive a turn. Also bringing Starlight Road can be useful as the great number of backrow the deck uses is seducing Heavy Storm to be activated.