No, that isn’t a typo in the title. Levi Mininger is using a Burning Abyss (BA) Deck featuring a ton of Bakura’s monsters from the animated Yu-Gi-Oh! series, in a Deck he calls his “BAkura” Deck. Mininger is currently 5-1 in the tournament, and he’s using a Deck that packs 2 copies of Curse Necrofear, 2 copies of Dark Spirit of Malice, and 2 copies of Dark Spirit of Banishment from Legendary Duelists: Immortal Destiny. Check out his list!

Monsters: 38
3 Scarm, Malebranche of the Burning Abyss
3 Farfa, Malebranche of the Burning Abyss
1 Graff, Malebranche of the Burning Abyss
1 Cir, Malebranche of the Burning Abyss
1 Calcab, Malebranche of the Burning Abyss
1 Libic, Malebranche of the Burning Abyss
1 Alich, Malebranche of the Burning Abyss
1 Barbar, Malebranche of the Burning Abyss
1 Orcust Cymbal Skeleton
1 Orcust Knightmare
3 Nibiru, the Primal Being
3 Fantastical Dragon Phantazmay
3 Gallis the Star Beast
3 Fiendish Rhino Warrior
2 Curse Necrofear
2 Dark Spirit of Malice
2 Dark Spirit of Banishment
2 Danger! Nessie!
2 Danger!? Tsuchinoko!
2 Danger!? Jackalope!

Spells: 3
3 Sekka’s Light

Traps: 0

Extra Deck: 15
1 Borrelsword Dragon
1 Borreload Dragon
1 Apollousa, Bow of the Goddess
1 Black Luster Soldier – Soldier of Chaos
1 Topologic Trisbaena
1 Knightmare Phoenix
1 Cherubini, Ebon Angel of the Burning Abyss
1 Galatea, the Orcust Automaton
1 Knightmare Mermaid
1 Dingirsu, the Orcust of the Evening Star
1 Beatrice, Lady of the Eternal
2 Dante, Traveler of the Burning Abyss
1 Dante, Pilgrim of the Burning Abyss
1 Chimeratech Megafleet Dragon

Side Deck: 15
3 Mystic Mine
1 Terraforming
1 Metaverse
3 Dinowrestler Pankratops
3 Gameciel the Sea Turtle Kaiju
2 Lava Golem
2 Ghost Belle & Haunted Mansion

You’ll immediately notice that Mininger’s Deck is packed with monsters. He’s running 38 total, along with 3 copies of Sekka’s Light and no other Spell or Trap Cards in his Main Deck. His heavy count of monsters allows him to open up with some big plays.

I asked Mininger how his Deck works.

“Your opening plays generally make Beatrice or Dingirsu plus Beatrice. Then you use the Dark Spirit monsters to wall the opponent out as you spend time drawing your Burning Abyss cards and going in for an OTK.”

Monster-heavy Decks featuring Gallis the Star Beast aren’t exactly new, but Curse Necrofear and the Dark Spirits from Legendary Duelists: Immortal Destiny were just released last week. I asked Mininger what this new suite of cards adds to his Deck.

“The Dark Spirit of Banishment lets you change attack targets in the Damage Step to your Curse Necrofear, stopping attacks and possibly destroying an opponent’s monster. It works against things like Hayate that try to attack directly, or Dingirsu which only has 2600 ATK. Often, my opponents don’t have anything that can attack over Curse Necrofear.”

Dark Spirit of Malice and Dark Spirit of Banishment can both Special Summon a Curse Necrofear that is sent to the Graveyard with the effect of Dante. If Mininger uses Barbar to banish 3 of his Fiends, or if an opponent banishes 3 of his Fiends, he can also Special Summon Curse Necrofear directly from his hand. More often than not though, Mininger is Special Summoning Curse Necrofear from his Graveyard, and not from his hand. Since the Spirits and Curse Necrofear can keep coming back from the Graveyard, opponents frequently keep using cards to try to deal with them, and end up being ultimately unsuccessful.

I asked Mininger what possessed him to use his BAkura Deck this weekend.

“I owned most of the Burning Abyss cards and just needed to find the Curse Necrofears, which was actually really hard. Only one vendor had one here, and I had to go to a card shop 11 miles away to get the other one.”

Fortunately for Mininger, with some effort, he was able to get both copies of Curse Necrofear for his Deck yesterday.

Mininger played a Phantom Knight Burning Abyss Deck back in 2016. The Deck is now upgraded with Danger! cards and cards from Legendary Duelists: Immortal Destiny. “Dante never dies”, he says. He’s happy to still be using Dante, Traveler of the Burning Abyss in his Extra Deck in 2019.

With 38 monsters in his Deck, it can be hard to see exactly what Mininger is trying to do and how his Deck wins. That’s why I asked him how he usually wins his Duels.

“Eventually your opponent will burn out their resources, and you’ll Summon Borrelsword Dragon to win. I also run Topologic Trisbaena because beating Decks like Sky Strikers in one turn is a lot harder, and Trisbaena is very effective against Sky Strikers.”

Mininger’s Deck is able whittle away at an opponent’s cards by forcing an opponent to constantly deal with his suite of Curse Necrofear, Dark Spirit of Malice, and Dark Spirit of Banishment. Phantazmay and Nibiru can interrupt an opponent’s plays, while the rest of his cards facilitate big Link Summons that can end a Duel.

Mininger is currently 5-1 in the tournament with his BAkura Deck, with his only loss being in Round 5 against World Championship competitor Esala Wathuthantrige. Follow the coverage to see if he makes it to Day 2 of the competition!