Hazy Flame: deck recipe

Another deck that gained support with the addition of the latest box is the Hazy Flame archetype. Even though there were four new Hazy cards added; Hazy Glory, Hazy Flame Mantikor, Hazy Flame Peryton and Hazy Flame Cerbereus, only that last one is really useful in Hazy Flame decks.

Hazy Flame decks have a few strengths; they can boost the attack of one monster extremely high through the effect of Beast Rising, with Hazy Flame Sphynx’s effect you can continue to swarm your field and one of the most important effects is that Hazy Flame monsters cannot be targeted by your opponent’s card effects, making it immune to the likes of Enemy Controller/Tribute to the Doomed (but not immune to the effect of Cyber Angel Dakini/Floodgate Trap Hole as they do not target).

The MVP of this deck is of course Hazy Flame Sphynx. Its effect allows you to guess what type of card is on top of your deck (spell/trap/monster) and then send it to the graveyard. If you call correctly what type it was you can special summon 1 Fire type monster from your hand or graveyard.

Normally this effect would be pretty bad because it’s not consistent, however thanks to the skills Aroma Strategy and Destiny Draw available in Duel Links this is an amazing effect as you can actually know what card is on top. Obviously the effect of Aroma Strategy is pretty straight forward; at any time during the duel you’ll see the top card of your deck.

However some of you might not know how Destiny Draw will help you tell what card is on top of your deck. Well you probably know that if you take 2000 or more damage you can pick whatever card you want from your deck and put it on top (so that you’ll draw it during your next Draw Phase), but what you might not know is that your deck won’t be shuffled when you do so, meaning you can write down each card in order (on a piece of paper), that way you can keep track of what card will be on top next. Keep in mind that if you shuffle your deck at any point afterwards (for example through the effect of Caninetaur) you’ll no longer know what order the cards are in.

There are multiple reasons this card is good in Hazy Flame decks. For starters if you don’t have any low level monsters in your hand and no Soul Exchange, you can normal summon this monster without a tribute (but its original attack will only be 1000), this way it can absorb a hit, and once it’s destroyed you can search a Hazy card from your deck (you’ll want to choose a Hazy Flame Sphynx in most situations). This will be your main target to summon through the effect of Hazy Flame Sphynx. Keep in mind if this card was normal summoned without tributing, its original attack becomes 1000, meaning that if you banish it with the effect of Beast Rising, the other monster will only gain 1000 attack (and not 2000).

Most decks only run 1-2 copies of this card because most of the time you don’t actually want to draw it. You’ll want to send this card to the graveyard (either with Caninetaur or Hazy Flame Sphynx) so that you can special summon it during your Draw Phase (if your next draw would be useless) that way you can tribute it to summon Hazy Flame Sphynx, and then you can even bring it back thanks to Hazy Flame Sphynx’s effect.

It’s also a great target to banish with Beast Rising’s effect since it has a respectable 1800 attack.

Caninetaur and Hazy Flame Cerbereus work great together. Caninetaur helps you get Cerbereus in the graveyard (to special summon it later on with 2000 attack) and when you do, its attack goes up to 2100.

Insanely good card in a Hazy Flame deck because of all the monsters you can send to the graveyard and bring back to the field to then banish for this card’s effect. Often your win condition will be to boost your Hazy Flame Sphynx to a very high attack, so that you are safe from Mirror Wall/Wall of Disruption. If you get a high enough attack on one of your monsters your opponent often won’t have anything to actually win the duel.

This card can be activated during the damage step, so if you attack into a Mirror Wall/Wall of Disruption you can banish the monster that was going to be destroyed to boost another monster, and since it uses the original attack of a monster it mitigates even more the effect of Wall of Disruption.

This card works both as monster removal and as a way to get out your Hazy Flame Sphynx faster. If you have access to three copies you might prefer running the version with 3x Hazy Flame Cerbereus and 2x Caninetaur.

• Don’t be scared of getting your Sphynx’s attack extremely high, your opponent cannot take control of your Sphynx through the effect of Enemy Controller, but do watch out for Amazoness Sword Woman in Burn decks.

• If you use Forbidden Chalice on your 1000 attack Hazy Flame Cerbereus it will go up to 2400 attack, and once the effect of Forbidden Chalice wears off your Hazy Flame Cerbereus will stay at 2000 attack.

• Some decks won’t have any way to attack over your Beast Rising boosted monsters, but keep in mind that only your attack is raised and not your defense, so cards like Pulse Mines/Windstorm of Etaqua/Curse of Anubis , that don’t target your Hazy Flame monsters, could lose you the duel.