Burn and Stall Throughout the Rages
You feeling mad? Do you want to troll people in game and make them so bored they might even quit before you’ve won? Well, stall and burn won’t make you popular, but they most certainly will make your opponent rage at you like you just dropped a brick on their toe. There’s a reason these things are often banned from tournaments on this site, and that’s not necessarily because they’re overpowered; they aren’t too fun to play against, and often cause arguments. But, if you like making your opponents feel angry, then you may wish to play these kinds of decks. Or, alternatively, you could just be trying to go for an easy win with cards like Final Countdown that will make you win if you can survive for some time, in which case it doesn’t really matter what happens.
Burn
Burn damage is a phrase used to describe damage that has been dealt by a card effect. Normally, the damage is relatively mediocre and does not heavily impact on the game, but certain cards which take longer to use can deal heavy damage if used correctly. An example of a card like this would be Wave-Motion Cannon. This card has the potential to deal even 8000 points of damage at once, although this would take 8 turns of having a Spell card on the field, which would be easily countered by a Mystical Space Typhoon or Heavy Storm. In itself, burn decks include a bit of strategy in how far you are prepared to go; judgment is key to deciding when to use certain cards to avoid you losing your options, and also key in choosing how you plan to protect yourself from your opponent’s monsters.
Burn has always played a part in the game, even more so since the arrival of Gagaga Cowboy. Decks which do not revolve around burn whatsoever often use this easily-accessed Xyz to finish their opponent when they are down to those last few life points. The fact that this card prevents a lot of comebacks by ending the duel is quite useful, and because it is burn damage you can deal it after attacking. This means you can get a couple of level 4s on the field, attack to deal some damage, and then finish off your opponent by overlaying into Gagaga Cowboy to deal the last 800 points of damage.
There are also many other card effects which deal burn damage which can be used in decks which are not primarily burn, however these often deal said damage as a bit of an added extra; it would not affect the card too much if they didn’t have the burn damage. However, I wouldn’t complain- it’s not like it has any kind of negative effect on you, so it’s a nice little added extra. An example of a card like this would be Caius the Shadow Monarch. It doesn’t really matter whether or not you can banish a DARK monster and deal 1000 damage to your opponent, but from your point of view it’s an extra bit of damage to your opponent. You couldn’t rely on it as a means of killing your opponent, but it’s a nice thought, so to speak.
Some decks are completely based around dealing burn damage. The most popular example in the current format is known as “Chain Burn”, and revolves around using burn effects multiple spell speed 2 effects before activating Chain Strike, the card which the deck is named after. This is useful due to the damage it can rack up; when used at Chain Link 5, which is the highest Chain Link you are likely to get to by yourself, it will deal 2000 damage. When combined with Spell Speed 2 burn effects such as Poison of the Old Man or Just Desserts, the damage dealt can quickly finish the game. It is also noteworthy that Chain Burn has to run plenty of draw cards to avoid losing their hand too quickly, so cards like Reckless Greed and Accumulated Fortune (which works well with the chain theme) are often ran to replace the cards lost due to the nature of burn’s one use effects.
Another popular burn deck is known as “Simochi Burn”. A simochi burn deck uses cards like Bad Reaction to Simochi and Nurse Retfcule the Fallen One to burn the opponent to death using cards that would normally increase your opponent’s life points. Popular card combinations for this deck involve cards like Gift Card, which deals 3000 damage in the right situation, as well as Upstart Goblin to deal 1000 and replace itself, and Soul Taker, to destroy a monster and deal damage. Another card that is often used is The Paths of Destiny, which is useful as the player using the burn deck often has more life points than their opponent, and so can take the risk involved with possibly losing 2000 life points, and the opponent is guaranteed to lose 2000 life points because of Simochi or Reficule.
As well as these two main burn decks, there are many others which often revolve around FTKs and OTKs. An example of an uncommon burn OTK deck would Blaze Fenix OTK. This deck revolves around the combination of Fusion Gate and Chain Material to create an infinite loop that can deal an infinite amount of burn damage. Firstly, you summon a Blaze Fenix by banishing monsters from yuor deck. You then use its effect, and Special Summon another Blaze Fenix, banishing the first one as a Fusion Material monster. You repeat until you are down to your last Blaze Fenix. You then summon Elemental HERO Electrum from your deck, which returns all banished monsters to their respective decks, allowing you to continue the loop. Naturally, you can then carry on summoning Blaze Fenixes until your opponent's Life Points are 0. If, however, you will not be able to OTK your opponent by using all 9 Blaze Fenixes, a number of options are present. The first and most simple is to Xyz Summon Superdreadnought Rail Cannon Gustav Max with 2 Electrums and deal 2000 damage to your opponent. If this doesn't quite cut it, then go for the full infinite loop. Before summoning the third Electrum, you can Special Summon an Elemntal HERO: The Shining by banishing both of your Electrums. Then, when you Special Summon the third Electrum, you put your two Electrums back into the Extra Deck, allowing you to reuse the loop. By banishing a Shining and an Electrum before each third Electrum after this, you would keep recycling an Electrum and a Shining for an indefinite period of time, meaning you coudl deal an infinite amount of damage. Just the ticket if your opponent has pulled off an infinite Life Points loop, but there is no real reason you would want to deal this much damage unless you were showing off or enjoyed overkill. There are many other ways to OTK with these same two cards, but most of them use Blaze Fenix. This is simply the most popular kind.
There are also many burn cards which aren’t particularly noteworthy. Ookazi is borderline, as it simply deals a flat 800 damage, but some cards are utterly useless and never deserve to see play. An example of a card like this would be Sparks. This card only deals 200 damage to your opponent, which is so utterly pointless it does almost nothing. There are many cards you still shouldn’t run that are better than this, for instance Hinotama, which deals 500 damage. Given, it’s slightly better than Sparks, but there is still no practical use for a card that does so little damage. These kind of useless cards have one intended destination, and it isn’t your deck. Put them straight in the bin if you get them from a pack.
So, in terms of burn decks, it is pretty clear what you want to do. Essentially, it’s all about dealing damage as quickly as possible in a short length of time, drawing some more cards, and knowing when to use different cards’ effects. You should also be weary of what cards counter your decks; your whole plan can backfire if your opponent uses a counter trap before you can use Chain Strike or Accumulated Fortune, or if they chain Mystical Space Typhoon on your Bad Reaction to Simochi when you activate Gift Card. Always have the ideas which can stop you from making a move fresh in your mind, and always try to make your strategy as safe as possible or you can literally just throw away your hand.
Stall
Stall cards are cards that stop your opponent from dealing damage to you, and therefore stop them from winning the game. These cards are not a valid strategy on their own, but are often used to support strategies which are more vulnerable to battle damage. These cards can be used in conjunction with burn, as most burn decks do not use powerful monsters and so are vulnerable to attacks. Cards that stop your opponent dealing damage are good for keeping your Life Point advantage up, and slowing your opponent’s strategy down sufficiently to burn them down to 0 life points to win the duel.
However, one of the best uses for stall cards is around one specific card: Final Countdown. Your opponent will get 10 turns after this card has been used to try and finish you, and it is the job of stall to make sure they can’t. After using Final Countdown, you will only have 6000 Life Points left, making you vulnerable to attacks. If you can stop your opponent attacking, then you will be safe to wait out those 20 turns that are required for your victory, and, when it comes down to it, you will win.
The best stall cards are the ones that can be used whenever necessary. Waboku and Threatening Roar are very widely used as they can be used at any point in your opponent’s turn and you can chain them to cards like Mystical Space Typhoon. Other good stall cards are difficult to negate or get around, or have a different added effect. One Day of Peace is useful as it also lets you draw, meaning the only downside to it is that your opponent gets to draw as well, which may give them the card they need to get past your stall. There are also stall cards which are monsters; these include Swift Scarecrow, Battle Fader, and Zero Gardna. These all work in different ways. Battle Fader is good because it Special Summons itself, meaning you have a monster you could then tribute for something else. However, it has a downside in that it could be negated, meaning your opponent could still attack if they had the right cards. Swift Scarecrow is incredibly difficult to negate, as it simply sends itself to grave, meaning your Life Points are quite safe unless your opponent has some rather specific cards such as Doomcaliber Knight. Zero Gardna tributes itself to stop you taking any damage. As this effect is spell speed 2, it can be chained to other card effects, giving this card the same advantages as cards like Waboku and Threatening Roar.
One strategy that has been linked to stall is stopping your opponent from doing anything for a long enough amount of time for you to get hold of the cards you need. While this is not comparable in consistency to strategies involving draw power or search power, it still has some merit in making a deck more consistent. However, most people simply leave stall untouched in most decks, other than cards like Mirror Force which are useful for their tendency to destroy the opponent’s monsters as well as essentially stopping them from attacking, although such cards are generally easily stopped.
There are also many stall cards which do not see play. Cards like Thunder of Ruler and Wattlemur are either too slow in stopping your opponent from attacking, or too situational. In general, it is best to use stall cards which are as likely to work as physically possible; it is no use having a Thunder of Ruler set after the Standby Phase because you didn’t think you would need it, and a Wattlemur is useless if your opponent is about to OTK you in the turn it is destroyed. In general, it is best to avoid these impractical cards and survive through means of using the more versatile ones, as there is no point in using cards that are easily stopped as part of your main strategy.
Stall is also often used in Exodia decks to stop your opponent from OTKing you before you get the 5 pieces of Exodia and win. Once again, this is because this kind of deck is vulnerable to direct attacks, and so requires protection against them or it would most likely fail before it achieved victory. This is the only way in which stall is particularly valuable, as certain decks could not see use in stall; there would be no reason to use Threatening Roar to stop your opponent attacking if you had a monster with a high attack on the field, as a card like Forbidden Lance would probably be better in that kind of situation.
In conclusion, burn and stall both have their merits, but there are good reasons why people do not like playing against them. The chief reason amongst them is that it is incredibly boring to play against them. This is because it essentially goes against the fun of Yu-Gi-Oh! as a game to use them; the fun part is getting to destroy your opponent’s monsters and plans, and attacking them directly, not sitting there helpless while your opponent just hits you with burn damage, or wins by alternate means. In essence, it is a similar situation to lockdowns; people do not like being helpless, but that’s the situation in which these kind of decks tend to leave people. People often think these kinds of decks are incredibly easy to play, but to pull off right they require a lot of thought and skill.