Notes & Combos

• hellooooooooooooooooooo It’s wonderful to return to a deck I love as much as Infernoble; thanks to the drop in representation of KT—its biggest counter—the deck is able to thrive in the current format. I previously posted an Infernoble list for the December DC last year, but the deck has undergone some interesting changes. As you can see, the handtrap count has been reduced to prioritize the deck's "gas" —a wise decision in my opinion, because even with the handtraps and inherent "garnets" included, you still guarantee a play. The deck's pushes are incredibly oppressive; it’s amazing to see how, just when it looks like your opponent has the win, you suddenly pull off another push out of nowhere and end up taking the match.
• The deck's biggest issue is the Extra Deck; it’s extremely tight, stripped down to the bare essentials, meaning you’ll often miss that ideal "out" card needed to handle a specific situation. Surprisingly, the Flame Swordsman engine has significant synergy with K9, providing Level 5 bodies—sometimes without even using your Normal Summon—which can be facilitated by Ripper early in the turn to provide protection and disruption.
• It’s still an Infernoble deck; you aren’t a true Infernoble player unless you’ve drawn hands so horrendous that you’re forced to skip your turn. Despite the deck's power and its absurd end-board, I believe its greatest enemy is itself: the mandatory "garnet" cards; the fact that Infernoble names are merely names and bodies on the field—since the heavy lifting of combo generation always falls on cards outside the archetype; and the horrifying reliance on Isolde. That said, because Infernobles are currently virtually extinct, you can catch the occasional unsuspecting opponent off guard. Overall, I view this as an "evergreen" deck; it doesn't matter if they get specific Noble Knight support—as long as good Warrior-type monsters or Equip Spells are released, Infernoble will be there to eagerly utilize whatever that card type offers. Blessed be the day Konami gives us another top-tier pure Warrior deck—one with its own "Isolde-like" card or a bridge card so that the burden doesn't rest entirely on a single card's shoulders. For now, we just have to wait; the Warrior type is so popular and iconic that future upgrades are inevitable, and Infernoble is simply waiting for that moment to arrive.