Introduction to Firewall Dragon

Common Skills

• Master Skill (Firewall Dragon)
• ATK Buff
• Immunity: Bounce/Teleport

Firewall Dragon relies on Link monsters, or monsters with the Link Arrow skill to increase the efficiency of it's summon, and power of it's Master Skill. Compared to other skill-reliant decks, we have access to a grand total of 5 Rare monsters. If we want to take advantage of everything Firewall has to offer, we need to see 80% of our total pool before we can even summon it.

To supplement this, we'll be running some of the most popular generic "good stuff" cards you see in most decks; Loading... with ATK Debuff , Loading... with Superspeed etc. At least until more options become available to us.

One we introduce Super Rare cards to the deck, we can now access additional Link Monsters such as Loading... and Loading... , which we'll highlight further below. Running Link Arrow monsters also lets us use Loading... , which can provide some additional protection which Firewall is sorely lacking - though given how long it'll likely take you to summon Firewall this isn't necessary to run.

Strategy Notes

• If possible, aim to secure the middle card as quickly as possible with your Superspeed monsters. Firewall Dragon is incredibly volatile, so just having that card out of your opponents reach will be a huge boost later in the game.

• Play normally. The longer you can hold out from revealing your monsters with Link Arrow the better. Once your opponents know you're playing Firewall Dragon there is a chance they will hold Ace Monsters Spell/Trap Cards for when you make your final push. We want them to expend their high value resources such as Loading... . 70% of our deck are non Link-related cards so this should be fairly easy to do.

• To get the most value out of Firewall, you want to have 4 other monsters with Link Arrow (or Link Monsters) on the field / in the GY. It's very likely you won't be able to summon Firewall until Turn 5 and onwards anyway, so you'll have plenty of time to hope you see enough monsters. Ideally you'll be summoning Firewall Dragon with 2 tributes by taking advantage of Link Arrow.

• When and where you summon Firewall Dragon will be influenced by the current game state, your opponent's LP and doing a bit of mental maths to predict what your opponents will do. You can either decide to focus on a single lane and use your bounce to clear a monster in front of you, hoping to deal 2500+ ATK to them that turn - or you could use your bounce to interrupt an opponents play in another lane which might keep them from winning, or if you're already ahead use the bounce to allow an opponents monster to attack directly and close the game out which might result in an easy 2nd or 1st place finish. Timing is everything.

Not only do we gain access to additional Link Monsters at SR rarity - which will count towards the 4 monster condition of Master Skill (Firewall Dragon) , but we can also now add 3 additional monsters with Link Arrow to our deck for a total of 8 targets - 10 if you include the Link Monsters themselves!

Loading... becomes a pseudo second ace monster for the deck, whereas Loading... is one of the best defensive monsters in the game period - reducing the ATK of the monster that destroyed it to 0 - and can open the door for a massive Loading... follow up on the next turn.

We'd also recommend switching the strategy slightly to go all-in on Superspeed Monsters for any remaining monster slots. Since we now have less opportunities to hide our deck choice, getting hold of the middle card will be even more beneficial assuming we don't roll into Monster Reborn.

In terms of Loading... itself, for now the best option is to dedicate the 2 newly accessible Skill slots with ATK Buff , giving us 2900 ATK to battle with - and 400 extra on each subsequent attack. Immunity Bounce/Teleport is another option, but by the time Firewall can be summoned your opponent will have likely used any Traps this would deal with. If the meta does shift, and new cards release with bounce effects, then this will be a safe option to switch to.

Of course we have to mention Super Rare Spell and Trap upgrades. Loading... is one of the best cards in the game - and will be vital for ensuring Firewall can deal with multiple threats in the same lane, similarly Loading... can provide enough ATK to comfortably get through 2x 1800 Monsters. Loading... is another solid option that your opponent cannot foresee and plan ahead for.

Gold 1 -

Jadehex