The Burning Abyss has exploded out of Duelist Alliance, becoming recognised as one of the top strategies after the set was released. With Shaddoll, Yang Zing and Satellarknight Decks all becoming stronger with The New Challengers, Burning Abyss Decks have to step up their game in order to keep up. Luckily, there are some great new cards you can use in your Burning Abyss Deck in The New Challengers!

We talked about Virgil, Rock Star of the Burning Abyss yesterday, along with Rubic, Malebranche of the Burning Abyss, so today we’re going to show you 2 other new Malebranche monsters as well as a powerful new Burning Abyss Trap Card!

While the Duelist Alliance Malebranche focused on giving you a constant stream of cards to work with, The New Challengers’ new challengers temporarily nullify threats on your opponent’s field so that you can pull off your combos without any interruptions! These Burning Abyss monsters can only activate one of their effects each turn, and only once that turn, so you’ll have to choose whether you want to Special Summon it or use its Graveyard effect. There’s a trick to using their abilities effectively, and it’s really easy to use this trick whenever you’re going to make a Synchro or Xyz Summon:

Start off by Special Summoning a Malebranche from your hand. Pick the monster with the effect you don’t want to activate, or use Rubic, Malebranche of the Burning Abyss as it doesn’t have an extra effect.

Normal Summon your second Malebranche, and perform your Synchro or Xyz Summon! You’ll need Rubic for a Synchro Summon, as it’s the only Burning Abyss Tuner Monster.

After that, you can use the effect of your other Malebranche. If you Synchro Summoned Virgil, Rock Star of the Burning Abyss it’ll activate right away, but if you Xyz Summoned Dante, Traveller of the Burning Abyss, just detach the Malebranche you Normal Summoned to use its effect!



You’ve already seen Rubic, but he’s so important we’ll show him again. Rubic, Malebranche of the Burning Abyss is a Tuner Monster with 100 ATK and 2100 DEF, the biggest DEF of all the Malebranche monsters! It doesn’t have a Graveyard effect like the other Malebranche monsters. Instead, its 3rd ability is “being a Tuner”, which makes it vital for bringing out Virgil, Rock Star of the Burning Abyss. It’s the best monster to Special Summon using its own effect, as you won’t miss out on using the effect of any of your other monsters when you do!



Alich, Malebranche of the Burning Abyss has 1200 ATK and 0 DEF, and when it’s sent to the Graveyard you can negate the effects of 1 target monster on the field until the end of the turn. This is useful for shutting off annoying monsters like the El Shaddolls for the turn, allowing you to play freely. It works really well with Foolish Burial, letting it double as a Normal Spell version of Breakthrough Skill! Plus, with Dante, Traveller of the Burning Abyss to return it to your hand you can reuse it to disrupt your opponent’s monster effects throughout the Duel.



Calcab, Malebranche of the Burning Abyss has 1400 ATK and 0 DEF, which makes it the second strongest Malebranche after Cir, Malebranche of the Burning Abyss. When Calcab is sent to the Graveyard, you can target 1 Set Spell/Trap Card and return that target to the hand. You can use this on your opponent’s End Phase to target a freshly Set Spell/Trap and bounce it away before it can ruin your plans. Keep in mind that if the target is illegal when the effect resolves (perhaps by the card being activated), it will not return to the hand.

There’s also a new Burning Abyss Trap Card in The New Challengers, which should make a serious impact – Fire Lake of the Burning Abyss!

Fire Lake of the Burning Abyss is a simple card with massive destructive power. You send 2 of your Burning Abyss monsters to the Graveyard, then target 3 cards on the field and destroy those targets! It’s an even trade in cards, giving up your 2 monsters plus the Trap itself for 3 of your opponent’s cards. Of course, it’s not actually a fair trade, as you’ll be activating the effects of your monsters as well! Even sending Dante, Traveller of the Burning Abyss will activate its effect to add a Burning Abyss card back to your hand, and more importantly, can get Dante off the field in response to Shaddoll Fusion so that your opponent is forced to fuse only from their hand and field! As a Trap, you can even play it on your opponent’s End Phase to clear the way for a huge assault on your own turn, much like Icarus Attack.

With these new Burning Abyss cards, Burning Abyss Decks will be stronger than ever. With the power to negate effects, shuffle cards into the Deck, and have a never-ending stream of monsters, Burning Abyss Decks are poised to take centre stage once The New Challengers is released! Sneak Peeks are on November 1st and/or 2nd, and the set is released on November 7th!