We’ve already had a few styles that are only in the TCG.
But Burning Abyss is definitely the most interesting.
This deck is based on Dante’s Inferno, which is a long story about Dante’s trip through hell.
A character that was first seen in the same set as Performapals has a pretty deep meaning.
And Burning Abyss has all the figures from Inferno that you would expect.
You’ve got Dante, Virgil, Beatrice, and all the monsters from hell, of course.
So, if you’re interested in this hellishly cool deck, here are the Burning Abyss cards we think are the best.
12. Dante, Pilgrim of the Burning Abyss
Must be Fusion Summoned, and there is no other way to Special Summon it. Cannot be targeted by an opponent’s card effects.
During the turn of either player, you can send one “Burning Abyss” card from your hand to the Graveyard and then draw one card.
If this card is destroyed in battle and sent to the Graveyard, or if this card you control is sent to the Graveyard by an opponent’s card effect, you can send a random card from your opponent’s hand to the Graveyard.
11. Cherubini, Ebon Angel of the Burning Abyss
Monsters that this card points to can’t be killed by the effects of other cards. If this card on the field would be killed by a battle or an opponent’s card effect, you can send 1 other card you control to the GY instead.
You can send 1 Level 3 monster from your Deck to the Graveyard. Then, target 1 “Burning Abyss” monster on the field; it gains ATK/DEF equal to the sent monster’s ATK/DEF until the end of this turn.
This ability of “Cherubini, Ebon Angel of the Burning Abyss” can only be used once each turn.
10. Alich, Malebranche of the Burning Abyss
Every “Malebranche of the Burning Abyss” has two affects.
First of all, you can special call spells and traps from your hand for free if you don’t control any.
And second, each Malebranche has a different effect that happens when it goes to the graveyard. These effects usually help your plays or give you a nice boost in general.
When Alich, Malebranche of the Burning Abyss goes to the graveyard, you can cancel the effects of any face-up monster on the field until the end of the turn.
This is a great way to get rid of annoying monster effects so they don’t mess up your plan for a whole turn.
9. Libic, Malebranche of the Burning Abyss
Burning Abyss is a deck that is made up of only level 3 monsters that can all special call themselves from your hand for free.
This means that the deck can XYZ call a crazy number of times.
You’d be crazy not to, since there are so many great rank 3 XYZ monsters to choose from.
Libic, Malebranche of the Burning Abyss makes these XYZ calls of rank 3 last even longer.
When it is sent to the graveyard, you can special summon any level 3 Dark Fiend monster from your hand, but its effects are cancelled.
Even though another Burning Abyss card seems like the best target, you have a lot of other choices.
Tour Guide from the Underworld is an example of this. She is a very powerful fiend monster that, when she is normal called, lets you special summon more fiends from your deck.
8. Scarm, Malebranche of the Burning Abyss
I know that Burning Abyss is a classic example of monsters from hell, but the art on this card is really scary.
Scarm’s main job in the Burning Abyss plan is to look for Tour Guide in the Underworld.
When Scarm is sent to the graveyard, you can add a level 3 Dark-type Fiend from your deck to your hand. This could be any Burning Abyss monster or Tour Guide.
Tour Guide is always the best card to use for your standard summon.
Because her regular summon special brings out another level 3 card from the deck, you can do a lot of different rank 3 plays.
If you have Scarm in your deck, you’ll see Tour Guide about twice as often, which is something you definitely want if you want to win.
7. Virgil, Rock Star of the Burning Abyss
Even though this deck has crazy XYZ potential, there are also synchro plays that can be made with it.
In the original epic, Dante was led through the circles of Hell by the Roman author Virgil.
In this case, Virgil does the same thing, but is now a rock star.
Strangely enough, I really like the new look!
Once per turn, you can throw away a card to put back into your opponent’s deck any card they control or that is in their graveyard.
This is a great way to get rid of annoying monsters that can’t be killed by card effects or to stop your opponent from using certain graveyard cards.
Virgil also lets you draw an extra card when he leaves the field, so you don’t end up with nothing. Pun intended.
6. Cir, Malebranche of the Burning Abyss
Cir, Malebranche of the Burning Abyss is amazing at keeping a strong presence on the board.
When this guy goes to the graveyard, you can put any other Burning Abyss monster (except Cir) from your graveyard onto your side of the field as a special summon.
If you can send this guy from your deck to your graveyard with cards like Foolish Burial, you can see why this card’s value is so high.
This makes Foolish Burial pretty much a monster on your side of the field… How could you say no to that?
5. The Traveler and the Burning Abyss
You might think that Burning Abyss wouldn’t come with its own trap card, since almost every Burning Abyss monster needs you to not have any spells or traps.
But hey, I’m not going to whine when I get trap cards like this!
This card lets you use a special summoning effect to bring back all Burning Abyss monsters that were sent to the graveyard this turn. The monsters are brought back in defense position.
If you thought the deck was good at setting up Rank 3 plays before adding this card, just wait until you do.
You’ll be summoning creatures everywhere, so this trap card is a must-have for any Burning Abyss deck.
4. Dante, Traveler of the Burning Abyss
It’s no wonder that Dante is the most important card in the Yu-Gi-Oh deck based on Dante.
We all knew it would happen, right?
Dante, Traveler of the Burning Abyss is the rank 3 monster you will always want to be XYZ calling.
What it does is this:
You can choose a number between 1 and 3 once per turn and remove that many cards from the top of your deck. For each card that is milled, this card gets 500 attack.
Not only does this make Dante’s attack go up to a respectable 2500, but it also sends a bunch of Burning Abyss monsters to your graveyard, where they all get the benefits of being in the graveyard.
This is a great way to make your most powerful Burning Abyss effects happen, and it could also cause a flood of XYZ calls.
3. Farfa, Malebranche of the Burning Abyss
Farfa’s graveyard effect is actually very useful and can help in a lot of different ways.
What it does is:
When this card is sent to the graveyard, you can choose one monster on the field and banish it until the end of the turn.
Strangely, protecting your own monsters would be the first way this affect would help you.
If your opponent attacks you and this card goes to the graveyard, you can use it to get rid of one of your monsters so it doesn’t get attacked. You can then use it again next turn.
This card is also great for getting rid of monsters that are equipped with spells or have counters on them.
If you remove them from the field, all of these counters and equip spells will be gone, and they will be back to their old (hopefully less dangerous) form.
2. Graff, Malebranche of the Burning Abyss
I’ll never get over how beautiful this card’s art is.
The amount of detail is a little bit more than what we usually see in Yu-Gi-Oh!
Graff is also the best main deck Burning Abyss monster, even if you don’t count the art.
When this guy is sent to the graveyard, you can special summon any other Burning Abyss monster from your deck to the field.
If you’re milling cards with Dante, Traveler of the Burning Abyss, you want to mill Graff, because he’s the key to all your XYZ plays.
1. Beatrice, Lady of the Eternal
No one should be surprised that this card is in first place.
Beatrice is not only the best card in the Burning Abyss set, but she may also be the best rank 6 XYZ card in the entire Yu-Gi-Oh!
Even though there aren’t many level 6 monsters in the Burning Abyss (Virgil is the only one), that’s not a problem.
To XYZ summon Beatrice, you only need to get rid of a Burning Abyss card and use a Dante monster you control as the only XYZ material.
And while Beatrice is on the field, you can quickly send any card from your deck to your graveyard.
If you’ve learned anything from this list, it’s that Burning Abyss has some very strong effects on the graveyard.
If you can use these during your opponent’s turn, you can do a lot of damage, especially when you think about the cards you could target with this effect that aren’t from the Burning Abyss.
