Welcome back to a new year of Yu-Gi-Oh! Today we’re going to take a look at the Burning Abyss Deck, and look at the new direction that Secrets of Eternity will give to the Deck. Secrets of Eternity features a trio of new Malebranche monsters, as well as the ruler of the Malebranche himself, the Ritual Monster Malacoda, Netherlord of the Burning Abyss! Want to see how a Ritual Monster will interact with the rest of the Deck? Read on to find out!

Ritual Monsters have been difficult to Summon ever since their introduction over 12 years ago. To Ritual Summon, you need a specific monster and a specific Spell Card to be Summoned, and you have to Tribute additional monsters as well! Recently, the power of Ritual Monsters has increased, and Ritual Spells nowadays often have bonus effects to really reward you for Ritual Summoning. Malacoda, Netherlord of the Burning Abyss and its Ritual Spell Card, Good & Evil in the Burning Abyss conform with both of these trends, and slot into the Burning Abyss theme quite well. The main reason for this is that you’re rewarded instantly for Ritual Summoning – your Malebranche monsters have effects that activate when they’re sent to the Graveyard, which allows you to instantly recoup the losses from Ritual Summoning, disrupt your opponent’s plans, or speed up your own. Let’s take a look at Malacoda now!

You can Ritual Summon this card with “Good & Evil in the Burning Abyss”. Must be Ritual Summoned, and cannot be Special Summoned by other ways. Once per turn, during either player’s turn: You can send 1 “Burning Abyss” monster from your hand to the Graveyard, then target 1 face-up monster your opponent controls; until the end of this turn, that target loses ATK and DEF equal to the ATK and DEF of the “Burning Abyss” monster sent to the Graveyard this way. If this card is sent from the field to the Graveyard: You can target 1 card on the field; send it to the Graveyard.

Malacoda, Netherlord of the Burning Abyss is a Level 6 Ritual Monster, which means more often than not you’ll be using 2 Level 3 monsters to Ritual Summon it. On top of that, you can only Ritual Summon it, so no cheating it into play with Cir, Malebranche of the Burning Abyss (even if you’ve Summoned Malacoda properly once before). Malacoda packs a solid 2700 ATK, which makes it the strongest Burning Abyss monster ATK-wise. It can even weaken your opponent’s monsters to ensure that nothing can stand against him! Once during either player’s turn, you can discard a “Burning Abyss” monster and have it curse your opponent’s monster, making it lose ATK and DEF equal to the discarded monster’s respective ATK and DEF until the end of the turn. You can use this offensively and defensively, breaking through a big monster on your turn, or preventing your opponent from counterattacking on their turn. Even if they do manage to destroy Malacoda, he’ll drag any card on the field down with him, sending it to the Graveyard and dodging protection from destruction. All this combined leads to a very tough monster that can cause a ton of problems for your opponent.

But like the card says, Malacoda “Must be Ritual Summoned, and cannot be Special Summoned by other ways,” so it’s important for the Ritual Spell, Good & Evil in the Burning Abyss, to match the standard set by the monster!

This card is used to Ritual Summon “Malacoda, Netherlord of the Burning Abyss”. You must also Tribute monsters from your hand or field whose total Levels equal 6 or more. During your Main Phase, except the turn this card was sent to the Graveyard: You can banish this card from your Graveyard and send 1 “Burning Abyss” monster from your hand to the Graveyard; add 1 “Burning Abyss” card from your Deck to your hand. You can only use this effect of “Good & Evil in the Burning Abyss” once per turn.

Good & Evil in the Burning Abyss allows you to Ritual Summon Malacoda, Netherlord of the Burning Abyss in regular Ritual fashion. Remember, though, that you cannot overpay by Tributing more monsters than necessary to meet the “total Level 6 or more” requirement. On top of that, Good & Evil even has an effect you can use while it’s in your Graveyard! If it wasn’t sent there this turn, you can banish it and send a “Burning Abyss” monster in your hand to the Graveyard to search for any ”Burning Abyss” card from your Deck! That means you can rain fire down on your opponent from all directions, Summoning Malacoda and then following up next turn with a guaranteed Fire Lake of the Burning Abyss, which can in turn trigger Malacoda’s effect to send yet another card to the Graveyard.

Malacoda, Netherlord of the Burning Abyss and Good & Evil in the Burning Abyss shake up the Burning Abyss strategy, giving the Deck a brand new branch of strategy to follow. If you’re interested in improving your Burning Abyss Deck or building a new one, you’ll definitely want to get your hands on Malacoda in Secrets of Eternity! The Secrets of Eternity Sneak Peeks are happening this weekend!

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