The Infinite Forbidden is the newest set, and it has certainly taken over the competitive scene! We’re seeing a ton of decks with cards from The Infinite Forbidden perform extremely well here at Day 1 of the NAWCQ. Let’s take a look at a couple of the newest themes and what has made them so successful. 

Fiendsmith

The Fiendsmith archetype is a theme that consists of LIGHT Fiend monsters. They have several different Link and Fusion monsters available, each of which possesses powerful disruptive abilities. The theme is largely based around Fiendsmith Engraver, a Main Deck monster. This card has three extremely powerful effects! First, you can discard it to add any Fiendsmith Spell /Trap Card from your Deck to your hand. The most common target is Fiendsmith’s Tract, which is able to search for another LIGHT Fiend, such as Majesty’s Fiend or Fabled Lurrie. Second, you can target 1 “Fiendsmith” Equip Card you control and 1 monster on the field, and send them both to the Graveyard. The Fiendsmith Link monsters have effects in the Graveyard where you can equip them to LIGHT non-Link Fiend monsters you control, and it grants Fiendsmith Engraver some additional utility. Finally, you can shuffle another LIGHT fiend from your Graveyard into the Deck or Extra Deck, and then Special Summon Fiendsmith Engraver back to the field from your Graveyard. 

So far, Fiendsmith has been particularly strong as an engine used to supplement other strategies, such as Snake-Eye or Yubel. Part of that strength comes from the Fiendsmith engine’s ability to put two Level 6 monsters onto the field quite consistently; this grants the deck access to various strong Rank 6 Xyz Monsters. Cards like D/D/D Wave High King Caesar and Photon Strike Bounzer are options that can attempt to restrict the opponent’s combos. However, one extremely popular option is Beatrice, Lady of the Eternal! It is able to send any card from your Deck to the Graveyard. In the Snake-Eye and Yubel Decks, you’re able to send key starters such as Snake-Eye Ash or Samsara D Lotus and use Promethean Princess, Bestower of Flames or Muckraker from the Underworld, respectively, to Special Summon them back to the field! 

White Forest

The White Forest theme is another archetype that debuted in The Infinite Forbidden. Unlike Fiendsmith, White Forest is a theme that revolves around Synchro Summoning. The archetype consists of Level 2 Tuner monsters and Level 4 non-Tuner monsters, as well as Level 6 and 8 Synchro monsters. Many of the monsters require you to send a Spell/Trap Card from the hand or field to the Graveyard in order to activate their effects, which would typically be a pretty hefty cost. However, the White Forest Spell/Trap Cards are helpful in that if they are sent to the Graveyard for the activation of a monster effect, they are able to Set themselves back to the field!

White Forest has proven to be an incredibly versatile theme, as we’ve seen the cards combined with many other strategies successfully here at the NAWCQ. For starters, the Runick engine is quite useful; it provides the deck with an alternate win condition and the potential to have access to many more disruptions for your opponent’s turn. Furthermore, you’re able to send Runick cards from your hand to the Graveyard to activate the effects of your White Forest monsters, which can then be returned to the Deck with the effect of Runick Fountain! Another popular engine are the Toy cards, specifically Toy Box, Toy Tank, and Toy Soldier, three cards that just recently debuted in Battles of Legend: Terminal Revenge. Toy Box allows you to Set the Soldier and Tank from your Deck to your Spell/Trap Zone, so that they can then be sent to activate your White Forest monsters’ effects. Toy Soldier and Toy Tank can both be Special Summoned back to the field if they’re sent to the Graveyard while they’re Set, giving the strategy some additional monsters to bring out that can be used as Synchro material. 

All in all, Fiendsmith and White Forest are two incredibly strong strategies introduced in The Infinite Forbidden, as demonstrated by their strong performances here on Day 1 at the NAWCQ. Although each one is able to function on its own, they both seem to perform strongest when combined with already proven strategies. Stay tuned to find out if the Fiendsmith and White Forest cards will be enough to help one of our Duelists become the winner of the 2024 NAWCQ!