Enter the Volcano - A Guide to Volcanics

Background Information
The Volcanics are an archetype released during the GX era. They were featured in the anime used in the deck of Accel Brodie. The main portion of these monsters were released in the Force of the Breaker set, with additional support featured in Tactical Evolution, Phantom Darkness and Light of Destruction. All the monsters are FIRE Pyro-Types. While they did not receive as much support as other "meta" archetypes they are still a very much usable deck. The synergy in this deck is fantastic. One card works with another which sets you up for something else.

While Blaze Accelerator isn't precisely a card from the archetype, I and everyone else do. It was released in the same set as the main portion of Volcanics. That is just a basis to begin the argument. Next, Volcanics have a 4 different monsters with under 500 ATK, all of which are Pyro-Type. Thats 4 out of 10 which is a huge portion. Most importantly there are Volcanic Scattershot, Volcanic Rocket and Volcanic Doomfire, which all prove that this is a member of the archetype.

Monster Cards

Volcanic Shell
FIRE / Pyro / Level 1 / 100 ATK / 0 DEF
Once per turn, while this card is in the Graveyard you can pay 500 Life Points to add 1 "Volcanic Shell" from your Deck to your hand.

This card is essential to almost every Volcanics build. I say almost every simply as a precaution incase there is a deck that doesn't use it that I have never heard of. I always run three copies because this card is too good not to use. It creates massive hand advantage easily. Life Points are not too big of a problem in small numbers like 500 so the cost is really nothing.

Volcanic Rat
FIRE / Pyro / Level 1 / 500 ATK / 500 DEF
This mutated mouse dwells in the core of active volcanoes. No amount of heat is too much for it to bear.

Sure it's cute, sure it's a Blaze target, but don't run this. A normal monster that doesn't really feed to the deck and never generates advantage is useless. On a side note this card is tied for having the most ATK for a level 1 Normal Monster.

Volcanic Scattershot
FIRE / Pyro / Level 3 / 500 ATK / 0 DEF
When this card is sent to the Graveyard, inflict 500 damage to your opponent. If this card is sent to the Graveyard for the effect of a "Blaze Accelerator" card, you can send 2 "Volcanic Scattershots" from your hand / Deck to the Graveyard to destroy all monsters your opponent controls.

This is a nuke. A freaking nuke. You drop one of these on your opponent with Blaze or Tri-Blaze and the whole field blows up, leaving you unscathed. The same cannot be said for your opponent though. While it's effect doesn't activate when it is sent by the effect of Blaze, your opponent does take damage for the other 2 that are bound to soon follow. This card punishes overextenders which is always fun. That being said, it's not quite as good as Shell, but you should still run 3 unless you're quite tight for space.

Volcanic Counter
FIRE / Pyro / Level 3 / 300 ATK / 1300 DEF
When you take Battle Damage while this card is in your Graveyard, remove it from play. Then, if there is a FIRE monster other than "Volcanic Counter" in your Graveyard, inflict damage to your opponent equal to the amount of Battle Damage you took.

I hate how this is mandatory. If it was optional then this card would be awesome. It's easy to send this to the graveyard. Since it is mandatory I would advise not playing too many of these. Two if you love this card, but more like one at most.

Volcanic Blaster
FIRE / Pyro / Level 3 / 1200 ATK / 600 DEF
When this card is destroyed and sent to the Graveyard by battle, you can place 1 "Volcanic" monster in your Deck on top of your Deck.

This is the searcher of the deck and I must say I'm disappointed. The least they could have done is add the card to you're hand. The card is way outclassed by Sangan. It's okay if you need a Blaze target fast, or alternatively you need a Blaze fast, but in general it's not useful. I don't run this in any build I know of.

Volcanic Slicer
FIRE / Pyro / Level 4 / 1800 ATK / 1200 DEF
Once per turn, you can inflict 500 damage to your opponent. If you activate this effect, this card cannot attack during this turn.

This is the first of a few cards that are entirely burn cards. To me, 500 damage is quite low, but I think I can see what Konami was trying to do. They wanted to create a card that works perfectly with Blaze. Since you can't attack on the same turn you use Blaze, you use this guys burn effect. If you are going for burn you can run 2-3 of these.

Volcanic Rocket
FIRE / Pyro / Level 4 / 1900 ATK / 1400 DEF
When this card is Summoned, you can add 1 "Blaze Accelerator" card from your Deck or your Graveyard to your hand.

This card is a must. With three MSTs and a Heavy Storm next format, the amount of removal is so high right now. You need this card to reuse Blaze, or to just use it. Searching from the deck and graveyard is perfect. This card is a +1 with 1900 ATK. Don't you just love cards that do that? Run at 3 basically always.

Volcanic Hammerer
FIRE / Pyro / Level 5 / 2400 ATK / 1500 ATK
Once per turn, you can inflict damage to your opponent equal to the number of "Volcanic" monsters in your Graveyard x 200. If you activate this effect, this card cannot attack during this turn.

This card is fairly good. It's another burn card, so it can't be put in any Volcanic deck, but it is okay. Volcanics load the grave relatively fast so this effect could easily be fairly high. As I stated before, it's designed to work with Blaze. Unfortunately this requires a tribute which you generally don't want to do because it -1s you.

Volcanic Queen
FIRE / Pyro / Level 6 / 2500 ATK / 1200 DEF
This card cannot be Normal Summoned or Set. This card can only be Special Summoned from your hand to your opponent's side of the field by Tributing 1 monster your opponent controls. If you Special Summon this card, you cannot Normal Summon or Set this turn.
Once per turn, you can send 1 other card you control to the Graveyard to inflict 1000 damage to your opponent. During your End Phase, either Tribute 1 other monster or take 1000 damage.

This card is very odd. It's a weak Lava Golem that can end up hurting you quite easily. I don't run this so I don't have much to say about it. Personally I just don't like the idea of giving you're opponent a 2500 beater with a burn effect that harms you, but I see how it could come in handy. Run no more then 2 because it would clog.

Volcanic Doomfire
FIRE / Pyro / Level 8 / 3000 ATK / 1800 DEF
This card cannot be Normal Summoned or Set. This card can only be Special Summoned by sending a face-up "Tri-Blaze Accelerator" you control to the Graveyard. During your opponent's Battle Phase, your opponent must attack this monster with any Attack Position monsters they control. When this card destroys a monster and sends it to the Graveyard, destroy all monsters your opponent controls and inflict 500 damage to your opponent for each monster destroyed by this effect.

This is the boss of the deck and I must say it's a dissapointment. It requires you to get rid of a Tri-Blaze to summon and for what? A 3000 ATK monster with no protection. The burn effect seems okay, and it does nuke the field, but with no protection a TT, MF, DP, SJ, SW or tons of other cards would kill this setting you way back. You really shouldn't run this except in a deck focused around it and there is no way to make that deck competitive.

Spell Cards

Blaze Accelerator
Continuous Spell Card
You can send 1 Pyro-Type monster with 500 or less ATK from your hand to the Graveyard to destroy 1 monster your opponent controls, but you cannot declare an attack during this turn if you do

While it doesn't say Volcanic anywhere in the text or name, this is the key card to the Volcanic archetype. If you're running a Volcanic deck without this card then you really aren't running Volcanics. This card should be run at 3, though if you consider that too much, use only 2 with three Rockets. That being said, the new format means that 3 is your best call with triple MST, triple Dust Tornado and a Heavy Storm. Awesome card. Needed.

Tri-Blaze Accelerator
Continuous Spell Card
Activate only by sending 1 face-up "Blaze Accelerator" on your side of the field to the Graveyard. You can send 1 Pyro-Type monster from your hand to the Graveyard to destroy 1 monster your opponent controls and inflict 500 damage to your opponent, but you cannot declare an attack during this turn if you do.

This card seems pretty good on the first glance. You can send any Pyro-Type, and inflict 500 extra damage. That being said, this card is not as good as it seems. It requires you to send a Blaze to the grave to use a card that really is not that good and can be destroyed just so easily. I would run 1 at most because when in need it can be searched by Rocket.

Wild Fire
Quick-Play Spell Card
Pay 500 Life Points. Destroy a face-up "Blaze Accelerator" card you control and destroy all monsters on the field. Then, Special Summon 1 "Wild Fire Token" (Pyro-Type/FIRE/Level 3/ATK 1000/DEF 1000) in Attack Position. Also, you cannot declare an attack this turn.

This card is okay. A very cheap monster nuke that nets you another monster. Generally you want to use this on you're opponents turn to bypass the attack part. The downside is you need to get rid of a Blaze Accelerator which is the key card to this deck. I generally don't run this, but if you want run 2 at most. Drawing into more then 1 would be cloggy.

Trap Cards

Volcanic Recharge
Normal Trap Card
Return up to 3 "Volcanic" Monster Cards from your Graveyard to your Deck.

There is not much to say here. It's a -1 that only reloads your deck. It is much outclassed by Pot of Avarice and Royal Firestorm Guard, both of which net you a +. Don't run this unless there is no way of you getting your hands on the other two cards I mentioned.

Support - Monsters

Sangan
DARK / Fiend / Level 3 / 1000 ATK / 600 DEF
When this card is sent from the field to the Graveyard: Add 1 monster with 1500 or less ATK from your Deck to your hand.

The main advantage to this card is it searches the heck out of this deck. It can grab any Blaze target for you with ease. It makes pulling a Shell from your deck even easier, or you can pull Scattershot for a quick field nuke.

Tour Guide from the Underworld
DARK / Fiend / Level 3 / 1000 ATK / 600 DEF
When this card is Normal Summoned, you can Special Summon 1 Level 3 Fiend-Type monster from your hand or Deck. Its effects are negated, and it cannot be used as a Synchro Material Monster.

Basically this searches Sangan and then you xyz a monster and search for a Blaze target by detaching the Sangan. Combine with a Gold Sarc and Leviair to Special Summon Rocket, and add a Shell and a Blaze. It's an awesome +2 combo.

Junk Synchron
Warrior / DARK / Level 3 / 1300 ATK / 500 DEF
When this card is Normal Summoned, you can Special Summon 1 Level 2 or lower monster from your Graveyard in face-up Defense Position. That monster's effect(s) is negated.

This tuner is a good choice if you're a big fan of Armory Arm, other then that though there is not too much you can do with this using Volcanics. The only other option is too revive one of your techs. As long as your deck runs interesting Level 2s then you'll be fine using this. Run 2 at most.

Card Trooper
Machine / EARTH / Level 3 / 400 ATK / 400 DEF
Once per turn, you can send up to 3 cards from the top of your Deck to the Graveyard. This card gains 500 ATK for each card sent to the Graveyard, until the End Phase. When this card you control is destroyed and sent to the Graveyard, draw 1 card.

This card is advisable under only two of the builds. Synchro and Garden. In synchro it acts as a Debris Target that can mill more targets for Junk Synchron and Debris Dragon. In Garden it is a fantastic beater because Garden cuts 200 of its ATK points. In both decks it adds speed from its draw effect so that this card regives you advantage.

Summoner Monk
DARK / Spellcaster / Level 4 / 600 ATK / 1600 DEF
This card cannot be Tributed. When this card is Normal or Flip Summoned, it is changed to Defense Position. Once per turn, you can discard 1 Spell Card to Special Summon 1 Level 4 monster from your Deck. It cannot attack this turn.

This card is pretty good in a Volcanic deck. You can discard an extra Blaze Accelerator for a free search. The best thing to search is a Volcanic Rocket, which will then give you back the card advantage you lost by discarding. One thing about this is that Volcanics are not particularly spell heavy so this could dead draw relatively often. I would only run it in a Volcanic build that was more spell heavy then most, but that's a personal opinion.

UFO Turtle
FIRE / Machine / Level 4 / 1400 ATK / 1200 DEF
When this card is destroyed by battle and sent to the Graveyard: You can Special Summon 1 FIRE monster with 1500 or less ATK from your Deck, in face-up Attack Position.

This is a fairly decent card, but there aren't really any Volcanics you would search with this. It can pull a Blaster or a Counter out, but you wouldn't want to get any other Volcanic out. I would mainly use this is a burn variant to pull out a Solar Flare Dragon or another copy of itself to stall.

Solar Flare Dragon
FIRE / Pyro / Level 4 / 1500 ATK / 1000 DEF
While you control another Pyro-Type monster, this card cannot be attacked. Inflict 500 damage to your opponent during the End Phase of your turn.

More burn is good in Volcanic Burn decks and this is one of the best ways to do it in my opinion. If you have two of these, a Blaze and a few good traps in your back row then you can easily burn away your opponent while killing their monsters with Blaze. That kind of set up seems very solid.

Royal Firestorm Guard
FIRE / Pyro / Level 4 / 1700 ATK / 1200 DEF
When this card is Normal Summoned, select 4 Pyro-Type monsters in your Graveyard. Return those cards to your Deck, then draw 2 cards.

This card basically let's you run 4 Pot of Avarices in the September 2011 format, and 6 of them right now. Draw power is something Volcanics don't have so this card is awesome. Also they love reloading the deck. What could be better then this? Not to mention it's a Tri-Blaze target.

Debris Dragon
Dragon / WIND / Level 4 / 1000 ATK / 2000 DEF
When this card is Normal Summoned, you can Special Summon 1 monster with 500 or less ATK from your Graveyard in Attack Position. That monster's effect(s) is negated. This card cannot be used as a Synchro Material Monster, except for the Synchro Summon of a Dragon-Type Synchro Monster. The other Synchro Material Monster(s) cannot be Level 4.

This card is an interesting tuner to be used in Volcanics. It is obvious why this is a good choice. All Blaze targets have 500 or less ATK by definition and as such Volcanics can load the grave with monsters of that sort. This card revives them for a +0 synchro summon. The general idea would be to either revive Volcanic Shell, and go into Lavalval Dragon which is bad, or better yet summon Scattershot and synch into Black Rose Dragon or Ancient Fairy Dragon, depending on if you need a nuke or if you have a Rocket in hand to summon with Fair Dragon. Run it in a synchro build.

Thestalos the Firestorm Monarch
FIRE / Pyro / Level 6 / 2400 ATK / 1000 DEF
When this card is Tribute Summoned, discard 1 random card from your opponent's hand. If it was a Monster Card, inflict damage to your opponent equal to its Level x 100.

This is basically an alternative to Hammerer, and I believe it's better. It has a burn effect that can be fairly good, though of course Hammerer is more likely to do a decent amount of damage. The thing that makes this better is that it -1s your opponent. That makes the summon of this a +0 unlike the summon of Hammerer which is a -1. This card can also attack on the turn it uses it's effect. The speed of the meta is really just too fast for a -1.

Support - Spells

Molten Destruction
Field Spell
Increases the ATK of all FIRE monsters by 500 points and decreases their DEF by 400 points.

This is the generic attack increasing Field Spell for FIRE monsters, but in Volcanics I don't see the main purpose of this as being to help your monsters run over the opposition. To me it's a way of simply keeping things such as Volcanic Slicer and Volcanic Hammerer alive. With a higher ATK, they are better protected from the enemy monsters so they can live to use they're effects more. This card also acts as an MST target. You can bait your opponent into using MST on this to return it to a fair playing field. That gives your Blaze Accelerators a better chance of surviving.

Magic Reflector
Normal Spell Card
Select 1 Spell Card that remains face-up on your side of the field and put 1 counter on it. If the selected card would be destroyed, the counter is removed instead.

This card provides protection for Blaze which is the most important thing in the upcoming format. This card means your Blaze will stay alive even after being hit with a Heavy or MST. It is also likely to cause your opponent to waste resources which would be very funny if you have a Rocket or a Blaze waiting in wait in your hand. The downside here is it's a -1 which you can't really afford this format.

Pot of Avarice
Normal Spell Card
Select 5 Monster Cards in your Graveyard. Shuffle those cards into the Deck, then draw 2 cards.

This card acts as one of the best draw cards anywhere and Volcanics are not an exception. This let's you recycle Volcanic Shell, Volcanic Scattershot or put something like Volcanic Rocket back into your deck to reuse it's effect latter. Sure this card chunks up your deck a bit, by adding 5 more cards, but it lets you draw two more of them right away. Volcanics don't have draw power and this gives it to them. Run it in just about every build.

Gold Sarcophagus
Normal Spell Card
Select and remove from play 1 card in your Deck. During your second Standby Phase after this card's activation, add the removed card to your hand.

This combined with Tour Guide is the best search combo this format. Use Tour Guides effect to Special Summon Sangan. You summon Leviair then pick a monster in your deck for Gold Sarcs effect. Then you use Leviair to Special Summon that monster. Then you use the detached Sangans effect. In Volcanics, this goes from a +1 to a +2 by Special Summoning Volcanic Rocket. Then you search out a Blaze and with Sangans effect you search Shell. At this point your field is pretty stacked.

One for One
Normal Spell Card
Send 1 Monster Card from your hand to the Graveyard. Special Summon 1 Level 1 monster from your hand or Deck.

This card is only really useful if you have incorporated the plant engine into your deck. You can discard Shell, thereby losing no advantage to Special Summon something like Glow-Up or Spore for an easy synchro summon. Run it if you have a plant engine, if not avoid this.

Mystical Space Typhoon
Quick-Play Spell Card
Target 1 Spell/Trap Card on the field; destroy that target.

This card is interesting to discuss when discussing Volcanics. It doubles as our worst enemy and also our best friend. It kills Blaze Accelerator, but also your opponents back row. It going back to three is a disadvantage to us, but we can make it. This card does have one interesting positive side. You could use it in an atrocious combo with Judgment of Anubis to destroy something like Trishula and finish off your opponent. Other then that I don't see a use that this card has in Volcanics that it doesn't have elsewhere. I would run 2-3 in just about every deck.

Support - Traps

Backfire
Continuous Trap Card
When a FIRE monster(s) on your side of the field is destroyed and sent to the Graveyard, inflict 500 points of damage to your opponent's Life Points.

This is good in the burn variant. One thing I quite like is that it doesn't matter if it's battle or card effect. You can nuke your own monsters with Dark Hole or Wild Fire then burn your opponent. It is a continuous card so it has a lot of hate. One thing about continuous traps in this deck is that they provide a MST target that isn't Blaze, which is useful.

Firewall
Continuous Trap Card
When your opponent declares a direct attack, you can negate that monster's attack by removing from play 1 Pyro-Type monster in your Graveyard. Pay 500 Life Points during each of your Standby Phases. If you do not, destroy this card.

On first glance I'm sure you can all see the big flaw with this card. It's continuous. With three MSTs and a Heavy Storm running rampant in the upcoming meta you can't rely to heavily on a continuous card (although that may sound hypocritical with Blaze Accelerator, this will be a tough format to survive).

Debates
Judgment of Anubis VS Curse of Royal
In your Volcanic deck you almost need to either main deck or side deck one of these cards. In the next format there is too much hate out there for your Blaze Accelerators. I know I've said this a lot, but it's so true. That's why these cards are key. Now the question is, which one should you run? Each card has its own advantages over the other one.

Curse gives you free negation. Volcanics do get a fair amount of hand control, with 3 Royal Firestorm Guards, 1 Avarice, Shell and such not, but they don't have any easy ways of getting massive +s like a lot of Top Tier decks today. This card not requiring a discard is what gives it an edge on Anubis.

Anubis on the other hand has its own advantage. Burn. Volcanics like to burn so this card does fit the archetype better. On the other hand, it is more situational. The deck destroys your opponents field already so they are likely not to have monsters at the start of their turn, which is when they would use MST. That means that this card could in fact be too situational for your use. On the other hand, Heavy Storm can only be negated by this.

In short, Anubis is the best because MST will likely be used on a facedown, while Heavy will be used on EVERYTHING.

Playing Styles
1. Volcanic Burn - The first play style for Volcanics is burn. Now burn is the generic term for decks that aim to deplete their opponents life points through card effect, but this term is even more fitting for Volcanics. That's because Volcanics really do burn. The cards you will want to run here are Scattershot, Slicer and Hammerer. You can also run Queen if you want. Basically you add those to a generic Rocket, Shell, Blaze line-up. Counter can also be included because it burns. This play style is pretty easy to build a deck but it's not the best in my opinion.

2. Volcanic Beast- This deck focuses on spamming Volcanic Doomfire as fast as possible. Here is a case in which I would actually suggest running Blaster because it's the only was to search out Doomfire. You also run 3 Rockets, a few Gold Sarcophagi and 3 Blaze. I would suggest only 2 Tri-Blaze max still because it is just too clogging. Other than those I would run trap negation to protect you're Doomfire. This deck is not a competitive build, but the feeling you get when you summon Doomfire makes the whole deck worth it to run for fun occasionally. One thing this deck has going for it is the 2 Call of the Haunteds this format. That means you can bring him back easily.

3. Volcanic Explosion - This is just straight up destruction. You run tons of Blaze targets, Rockets to search Blaze, Royal Firestorm Guard and Avarice to Reload you're deck and Sangan, Tour Guide, Gold Sarc to give you all the searching power you need. The point of this deck is to stop your opponent from building up a strong field. If they do manage to make something, you should have a way of killing it your next turn. Anti-OTK cards are important here. Either Fiendish Chain or Effect Veiler should be mained or sided.

4. Volcanic Garden - This is another control type deck. The goal is to blow up your opponents field with Blaze, summon Don Zaloog then play Black Garden. Set a few back row and its supposedly good game. I would recommend Terraforming for additional search power. Keep the core of the Volcanics for sure like Rocket, Shell and probably Scattershot. This deck was top 32 at some relatively large tournament and having tested it a bit myself I think I see why. This is the most competitive version.

5. Volcanic Synchro - This is a decktype I have never had particular success with, but I was doing it wrong here. The goal is to use Debris Dragon or Junk Synchron to Special Summon a Blaze Target from your grave. Then you can Synchro Summon some form of monster. The deck did take a hit in the new banlist because Debris Dragon is down to one. That was the key card because it could bring back your Scattershot for a quick Black Rose Dragon. If you play this deck please tell me about it.

6. Volcanic Tragedy - Volcanics are capable of generating massive amounts of card advantage through Volcanic Rocket and Volcanic Shell. This deck may be viable with the new banlist for two reasons. First, you now have 2 Summoner Monk. Summoner Monk acts as a free summon with Blaze in hand and Rocket in your deck. Then you now can play two copies of Trageodia who acts as a massive beater because of all your card advantage. I haven't played this deck but apparently it's quite good.

I'm sure there are other ways to use Volcanics, so I will leave this section unfinished.

Weakness'
First, a general note. Most of these are single cards and so Prohibition is a good option against them.

The Threat - Prime Material Dragon
This just kills your burn. Any life points you would make them lose, they gain instead. Watch carefully for this card and be sure to get ride of it as soon as possible. Any card that completely kills your deck needs to be watched out for. Not only that, but it negates your Blaze. That really is just hell in a card.
The Fix - Side deck either Effect Veiler, Light-Imprisoning Mirror or generic anti-dragon. Since this card will only be used in Disaster/Hopeless Dragons, anti-dragon stuff would help you. If you aren't already running a Volcanic Queen, that is another side option. It gets rid of Prime Material Dragon so that's a solid plan as well. Main decking Dimensional Prison will help you here.

The Threat - Mystical Space Typhoon
This, I must say, should be one of your biggest fears. It hurts you so bad. With three this format you really can't feel safe. They can use this to blow up your Blaze Accelerator or even worse, a Tri-Blaze.
The Fix - Main-deck either Judgment of Anubis or Curse of Royal. I say main deck it rather then side because almost all decks will be running at least double MST. If you do find it too cloggy or situational then bump it too your side.

The Threat - Stardust Dragon
Stardust is rather similar to Prime, but it's easier to get out and more splashed. Tons of decks run this card and can get it out turn one. You just have to look out for this card. It can consistently kill Blaze Accelerator.
The Fix - Run Dimensional Prison and side deck Anti-Synchro cards. Dimensional Prison is the classic way to dodge Stardust. Anti-Synchro cards are also helpful because this deck doesn't synchro basically at all so they are easy to tech in.

The Threat - Lost Blue Breaker
This card, and the rest of the Generation Fish, is a big danger to your deck. That is because they can run 3 MSTs, 3 of these, 3 Surfacing, 1 Monster Reborn and 2 Call Of The Haunted. That's effectively 13 Mystical Space Typhoons to hurt you and your Blaze Accelerator.
The Fix - This is a tough one. I would suggest side decking Prohibition to be basically the best option. Chain Destruction is another decent option. It gets rid of all of them, but you still have Surfacing, Reborn and Call to deal with. D.D. Crow then becomes your friend.

The Threat - Water Dragon
Water Dragon can kill your monsters easily.
The Fix - You don't need one, this card is awful. Just kill it with Blaze Accelerator before you die laughing at your opponent for being stupid.

The Threat - OTK Decks
The problem with these decks is that you can't defend with Blaze Accelerator. They swarm the field in one turn which really has you stopped. Not much else to say.
The Fix - Side Effect Veilers and maybe Maxx "C". The first stops plays dead in their tracks. It leaves your opponent with a monster they were going to make a big play, but instead they have to leave it for you to blow up with Blaze. Maxx "C" doesn't end the combo, but it does discourage it. Another option it to run a lot of traps because a big backrow discourages OTKs.

Side Decking
I've already told you about cards you should worry about and how to counter them. Now I will put that together to make a few different side decks and explain the card choice. You will pick a side deck based on the meta around you.

Side Deck [Total - 15]
3x Effect Veiler
1x Maxx "C"
3x Prohibition
2x Shadow Imprisoning Mirror
2x Light Imprisoning Mirror
2x Judgment of Anubis
2x Curse of Royal

This side deck heavy on helping you're deck counter it's weak points and weak on actually countering decks. It does feature some anti-chaos because, at least at the beginning of the format, chaos will be run in bucket loads. I would use this deck if your main deck is very versatile.

Side Deck [Total - 15]
2x Effect Veiler
2x Gottom's Emergency Call
2x Curse of Royal
1x Judgment of Anubis
2x D.D. Crow
3x Prohibition
3x Puppet Plant

This is a deck designed more to defeat other decks then to fortify you're own deck. Gottoms kills X-Sabers, but since those are dying out, you should only run it if you have a Saber fanboy at your locals. Puppet Plant is anti-samurai and anti-GKs. Sure Six Samurai are weaker, but Gravekeepers are untouched and people will still be running Samurai. D.D. Crow is basic anti-everything. The other stuff is obvious.

Side Deck [Total - 15]
2x Effect Veiler
3x Prohibition
2x Chaos Trap Hole
1x Light Imprisoning Mirror
2x Shadow Imprisoning Mirror
2x Gottoms E-Call
2x Puppet Plant
1x D.D. Crow

This side deck is against even more, with even less defense. You now get Chaos Trap Hole and the Mirrors for anti-chaos, with the Shadow Mirror doubling as anti-BWs.

Now let's say you are main decking the defensive traps that protect Blaze along with Effect Veiler. On top of that, you don't like Prohibition for whatever reason, let's say that you are already running a pretty trap heavy deck so it would clog too much.

Side Deck [Total - 15]
3x Puppet Plant
2x D.D. Crow
2x Consecrated Light
1x Maxx "C"
1x Goldd Wu-Lord of Dark World
2x Shadow Imprisoning Mirror
2x Light Imprisoning Mirror
2x Gottoms E-Call

Most of this extra is pretty straight forward, but there is one cool tech chard here. Goldd. It is here as an awesome side against Dark Worlds. They use Dark World Dealings, Hand Destruction and Morphing Jar all of which will force you to discard. That means that you get advantage from your opponent and it will come out of no were.

Those are a few side deck options, and they just give you an idea of the kind of things you could use. I'm not saying they are the best side deck lists, but they are decent. Now I have a whole different concept to introduce.

Smokestream
A Smokestream deck is a deck that can side deck into another deck-type. Why am I mentioning this? Because I think Volcanics can do it. One smokestream idea I had was Volcanics that side into Watts. Watts? Yes. See, I think that they can be made to work with very few cards. This means your side would look something like this.

Side Deck [Total - 15]
3x Wattcobra
3x Wattgirrafe
3x Wattdragonfly
2x Wattfox
1x Honest
3x Messenger of Peace

Now, that side deck would work even better in a build that let's you main deck Messenger of Peace. Instead you could use Wattcube and tech a Black Luster Soldier - Envoy of the Beginning (only if you're running the Tour Guide + Sangan engine). The two deck types are so different that your opponent will not see it coming. When they side in Volcanic hate, you side in Watts and suddenly they have no idea what's going on.

If you have ideas for other smokestream decks, just comment and I can add them.

Banlist
The banlist has never been particularly harsh to Volcanics. None of the archetype members have ever been hit by it. This being said, Konami hates burn and stall, both of which are concepts that Volcanics use. Here is a list of cards that the banlist has hit, that Volcanics would like and how the decktype deals with it.

The Hit - Pot of Avarice
The Fix - Volcanics have the ability to run an extra three copies of this card with Royal Firestorm Guard. This means that Volcanics actually gain power from this cards limiting, as hard as it is to believe. Since top decks use this for advantage, they lose advantage but Volcanics don't lose as much.

The Hit - Level Limit-Area B
The Fix - Konami has been kind enough to Supply Volcanic duelists with tons of other stall cards, so this is not too bad. Use Threatning Roar and Waboku to get past this card. Furthermore, Volcanics get triple Gravity Bind next format. This being said, T-Roar and Waboku are better choices because they are chain-able to the triple MST and Heavy Storm which is important.

The Hit - Magic Cylinder
The Fix - Run cards like Soul of Fire if you want easy burn. Instead of the extra Magic Cylinder you can use Dimensional Prison. One thing that is to be said is that this card is actually slightly weaker next format because of the amount of S/T destruction so I could imagine Konami actually putting this up to three.

Decklists

Monsters [Total - 14]
3x Volcanic Shell
3x Volcanic Rocket
1x Volcanic Counter
2x Royal Firestorm Guard
1x Sangan
3x Tour Guide
3x Reborn Tengu

Spells [Total - 15]
3x Blaze Accelerator
1x TriBlaze
2x MST
3x Duality
2x Gold Sarc
2x Avarice
1x Reborn
1x Trunade
1x Hole

Traps [Total - 8]
2x D-Prison
2x Warning
1x Judgment
1x TT
1x MF
1x Dustshoot

This is my Volcanic Explosion deck. So far is has been relatively consistent. One thing I am rather iffy about is the Tri-Blaze. Other then that everything here is solid. Trap Dustshoot will become even more consistent next format when people stop setting so much. This deck also employs the Tour Guide + Gold Sarc engine. Tengu is Tengu and gives you a sort of wall and also good for Xyz summons.

Monsters [Total - 19]
1x BLS-EotB
3x Don Zaloog
2x Effect Veiler
3x Reborn Tengu
1x Sacred Crane
1x Sangan
2x Summoner Monk
3x Volcanic Rocket
3x Volcanic Shell

Spells [Total - 14]
3x Black Garden
2x Blaze Accelerator
1x Dark Hole
1x Heavy Storm
1x Monster Reborn
2x Mystical Space Typhoon
1x Pot of Avarice
3x Pot of Duality

Traps [Total - 7]
2x Call Of The Haunted
1x SJ
2x SW
1x TT
1x TD

This deck is pretty simple. Summon a monster, or maybe like 3 then play Garden to stop your opponent summoning a stronger monster. Get's tons of +s just about every turn. You use Call to summon Rocket, Crane or Sangan to get pluses. Monk and Crane are also both good targets to summon with Black Garden. Blaze Accelerator kills everything your opponent has before you play Garden. Shell is a +1 whenever you want. It's fun. Very fun.

Post your unique decklist and I'll add it here. Explain any interesting tech choices.

Your lack of Emeral disappoints me.
Monk , pitch Blaze(-1), grab Rocket(+0), grab Blaze(+1), Overlay for Emeral(+0), return three(+0), draw one(+1).
Then have fun with Blaze with Bullet/Scattershot.

Lavalval Chain is better in the deck IMO, but this is old. Hopefully I will update it soon.

I find Ancient Forest to be way more useful than the Fire field spell in burn decks because it punishes those who attack. Because it puts them on the defensive, you can pluck them off with the Blaze Accelerators.

Good job with the guide

On Volcanic Doomfire, I don't agree with you. It's a pretty good card.

It doesn't compete with boss monsters like JD, DAD, BLS, Shi-En but for a weak archetype like Volcanic, it's a nice monster nonetheless.

It might not be that easy to summon (at least it's semi-nomi, so it can be revived), it's summon can be tricky but when it drops it will be a problem.

It's attack power makes it compete with most of the bosses & actually force your opponent to make decisions & change plans. So you can say it protects your other monsters from battles. It doesn't protect itself (neither do a lot of monsters) so you need to protect it yourself. Ever thought of combining this one with cards that force your opponent to attack ?

Anyway, it's not like you can expect Volcanic to have one of the best bosses in the game.

Doomfire is terrible. It requires ditching Tri-Blaze which is bad on its own because it requires ditching Blaze. It's situational and provides you with what, attack power? Xyzs provide you with that.

welche wrote:Doomfire is terrible. It requires ditching Tri-Blaze which is bad on its own because it requires ditching Blaze. It's situational and provides you with what, attack power? Xyzs provide you with that.

Eh ?

Doomfire isn't only about attack power. And even if it was the case, 3000 ATK makes it go toe to toe with pretty much anything your opponent throws at you.

Not only this card will use a lot of your opponents resources, but it offer protection to your other monsters. This card can skip your opp battle phase & make him hesitant to play monsters.

Ever though of combining it with cards that force your opp to attack or with a card like Ojama Trio ? Because this monster can cause HEAVY burn too.

If you're playing Tri-Blaze, you might as well play this card.

It needs a much more dedicated build, which in turn makes it way more inconsistent.

OverlordMMM wrote:It needs a much more dedicated build, which in turn makes it way more inconsistent.

Yeah, I agree.

Doomfire isn't necessary, but it's far from a bad card.

Do you happen to have a working Doomfire build? I've wanted to see one in action for a while, but it always seemed better to make a burn Volcanics build.

OverlordMMM wrote:Do you happen to have a working Doomfire build? I've wanted to see one in action for a while, but it always seemed better to make a burn Volcanics build.

No, I never played Volcanic before.

But I found this build in a save I downloaded for WC11 :

2x Royal Firestorm Guard
3x UFO Turtle
3x Volcanic Counter
2x Volcanic Doomfire
2x Volcanic Hammerer (2 is too much ?)
2x Volcanic Rocket (Should have gone with 3)
2x Volcanic Scattershot
2x Volcanic Shell
2x Volcanic Slicer

3x Blaze Accelerator
1x Dark Hole
1x Magic Reflector
1x Monster Reborn
3x Tri-Blaze Accelerator

2x Magic Cylinder
1x Mirror Force
1x Solemn Judment
1x Solemn Warning
2x Spiritual Fire Art - Kurenai

This deck is not mine, and it's built according to the Sep' 10 banlist & no XYZ for example.

Forgot to note that Spiritual Fire Art - Kurenai is a 3000 burn to your opp.

That build is really...awkward to say the least. 2 Scattershot? Can't use its main effect. 3 of each accelerator? Way too many. 2 Rocket? not enough. etc,etc.

I'll post my old Volcanic burn deck in a bit.

OverlordMMM wrote:That build is really...awkward to say the least. 2 Scattershot? Can't use its main effect. 3 of each accelerator? Way too many. 2 Rocket? not enough. etc,etc.

I'll post my old Volcanic burn deck in a bit.

I agree. If you're playing Scattershot, play 3 or don't. 3 Tri-Blaze is too much, I'll go with 2 & 1 Doomfire in place of 2.

Plus add another Rocket.