Fire King

"Fire King" (炎 (えん) 王 (おう) En'ō) is an archetype of FIRE Beast, Beast-Warrior, and Winged Beast monsters that are mainly focused on self-destruction. They were first introduced in the OCG in Structure Deck: Onslaught of the Fire Kings and TCG in Onslaught of the Fire Kings Structure Deck.

Naming in the TCG

The name of the archetype is noted on French and Portuguese cards respectively as "Roi(s) du Feu" and "Rei(s) de Fogo" to make sure that support cards work with all "Fire King" cards. In Italian, the word "re" can be a plural form on its own, so no problem would occur. On Spanish cards, the name is just noted as "Rey de Fuego", which could potentially exclude "Circle of the Fire Kings" and "Onslaught of the Fire Kings" from the archetype; however, this would not prompt any problem so far as support cards only support "Fire King" monsters.

Story

The "Fire Kings" live on "Fire King Island", a volcanic island lying in the southern seas. Using their powers over the fire, they can reincarnate, and grow using its powers again. When the "Fire Kings" saw their temple threatened by the "Atlantean" army, they fought back in equal strength, only enough to keep the invaders away from their island.

Design

Appearance

Each of the "Fire King" monsters has a different surrounding flame color, possibly indicating different levels of the intensity of their flames.

The "Fire King" monsters seem to be based off of different creatures in different Asian mythologies, Hinduism, and the culture of the Indonesian island of Bali.

Members

Fire King Avatar

Monster	Origin
Monster	Creature	Mythology
Arvata	Airavata	Hindu
Arvata	Ganesha	Hindu
Barong	Barong	Bali
Garunix	Garuda	Hindu
Garunix	Phoenix	Greek/Egyptian
Kirin	Qilin	Chinese
Kirin	Rangbali	Hanuman	Hindu
Unicorn	Northern European
Yaksha	Yaksha	Hindu
Ponix
Ulcanix	Harpy	Greek/Roman

Fire King High Avatar

Monster	Origin
Monster	Creature	Mythology
Garunix	Garuda	Hindu
Garunix	Phoenix	Greek/Egyptian
Kirin	Qilin	Chinese
Kirin	Unicorn	Northern European

Playing style

Fire King monsters have their effects triggered when they're destroyed by card effects and sent to the Graveyard, or when other Fire or Fire King monsters are destroyed; their boss monster, "Garunix Eternity", will destroy all other monsters on the field in when Xyz summoned. Using "Fire King Sanctuary", eternity can be summoned during the opponent's turn, giving the deck a powerful disruption. "High Avatar Garunix" revives itself during the next Standby Phase after being destroyed by a card effect, and upon doing so will destroy all other monsters on the field. Since it does not need to be destroyed while on the field, even cards like "Crush Card Virus" can trigger its effect. The other "Fire King" monsters (except arvata) can be Special Summoned from your hand when another "Fire King" monster is destroyed, maintaining field advantage, though Sacred Garunix and Ponix can summon themselves from the hand without needing an on-field fire king; they can be summoned when any Fire monster is destroyed. Sacred Garunix can also summon itself from the GY this way.

"Barong" is the most versatile searcher of the deck; not only can it search a "Fire King" monster, but it can search any "Fire King" Spell Card as well, though this happens in the next standby phase meaning it's a lot less reliable. The deck's new main searcher Ponix can search any Fire king spell or trap immediately, can special summon itself, and can recycle itself when destroyed by a card effect, giving the deck a powerful recurring search effect as well as destruction fodder. Sacred garunix can destroy any fire king in the hand, field, or deck, and gains half its atk, giving it a maximum of 4200 atk, if it destroys a garunix eternity on field, though it's a much better idea to destroy a card like high avatar kirin or barong instead. "Yaksha" can destroy a card on your field or hand, so it can destroy "Fire King" monsters in your hand to get their effects as well. Arvata can negate a monster effect and destroy a fire king monster in your hand or on your field, but cannot summon itself from the GY. Upon destruction, it summons a fire king from the GY and destroys it in the end phase. Hanuman is the spell/trap version of arvata, though it has no effects upon destruction. High avatar kirin can summon itself from the hand by destroying a fire king monster, and when destroyed can summon a fire king from the GY and destroy a card on the field. One card that isn't a "Fire King" but works in this deck is "Sacred Phoenix of Nephthys", who has a similar effect to "Garunix", destroy all Spell/Traps on the field during your next Standby Phase after it was destroyed. This card is risky however due to the effect of the decks field spell "Fire King Island" Which will destroy all monsters on your side of the field when it is destroyed, possibly forcing you to pass your turn, though Sanctuary can prevent this from happening.

"Yubel", "Earthbound Immortal Ccarayhua", and "The Wicked Eraser" can also work well with the deck, being able to have their effects triggered when they're destroyed by "Yaksha", "Fire King Island", "Dragonic Diagram", or the effects of "True King" monsters. "Yubel" will summon "Yubel - Terror Incarnate", while "Ccarayhua" and "Eraser" will destroy all cards on the field, possibly stopping OTKs from decks such as "Six Samurai" and "Chaos Dragons" that often lack searchable protection for their monsters. (Be wary, however, of "Lightpulsar Dragons" that can float into any DARK Dragon monster when it is sent from the field to the Graveyard). Other monsters that work well with this deck are "True King Agnimazud" which can destroy 2 fire monsters in your hand and/or field to non-target banish an opponent's monster from the field or GY, "Mannadium Torrid" which can be popped to summon a copy of itself from the deck, while also triggering ponix and sacred garunix, giving the deck access to level 10 synchros like "Baronne de Fleur" or "Swordsoul Supreme Sovereign - Chengying". "Nine-Tailed Fox" can summon 2 tokens upon destruction which can be tributed to summon it from the GY and deal piercing damage, or used for link summons.

An archetype that works very well with this deck is Kozmo, as their ships also don't need to be destroyed on the field. Using fire king island, allows ships to summon any lower level kozmo from the deck, and their floating effects give them more resilience when high avatar garunix or garunix eternity wipe the field.

"Chain Destruction" can also prove to be powerful support for the deck, since fire kings don't need to be destroyed on the field to trigger their effects.

Aside from "Garunix and its variants", all "Fire King" monsters are FIRE with 200 DEF, gaining support from cards like "Flamvell Firedog" and "Rekindling". Having four Beast-Warrior monsters in the archetype also allows for support from "Fire Formation" cards (notably Tenki and Tensu) and "Coach Soldier Wolfbark", which can recycle your Beast-Warriors for Xyz Summons or for their effects, as "Wolfbark" only negates them on the field. Ponix being a level 1 fire monster can also be summoned from the deck using the Diabellestarr engine, making it more easily accessible.

Effective combos

"High Avatar Garunix" destroys all other monsters on the field and "Sacred Phoenix" destroys all Spells and Traps. A very aggressive and effective combo is to send both of them to the graveyard in the same turn, then the next turn High Avatar will summon, then Sacred Phoenix, and you can dish out a massive direct 5,100 points of damage. This can be done by using cards like "True King Agnimazud, the Vanisher", "Dark Hole", and "Torrential Tribute" that are capable of destroying multiples of your monsters at once. An almost infinite loop between multiple copies of "Garunix" and "Nephthys" that have been destroyed by card effects, with them constantly destroying each other, meaning their revival effects will always trigger so long as they aren't stopped by cards such as "Solemn Strike" when they attempt to revive from the Graveyard. "The Seal of Orichalcos" will also work well in this combo, since it prevents its own destruction once per turn, whereas "Garunix" and "Nephthys" will constantly destroy everything else on the field until the opponent rules out of resources.

"Arvata" is very important to the deck, even letting the deck summon 2 FIRE monsters from the graveyard in the battle phase. This is achieved by having 2 FIRE monsters in the graveyard and using "Circle of the Fire Kings" on it, summoning one of the FIRE monsters and using Arvata's effect to summon the other (note the second one would have to be a beast, beast-warrior or winged-beast).

The most important card in the deck is Ponix, as it can recycle itself and search any spell or trap in the deck. It is also a 1 card combo which can setup the field for a disruptive Garunix Eternity, by normall summoning it, sesrching sanctuary, activating sanctuary and island, destroying Ponix for Sacred Garunix, destroying barong from the deck, and then next turn, returning Ponix to the hand, adding kirin to the hand, and then summoning kirin. This leaves 4 extra cards in the hand, and allows you to summon Eternity.

Monsters immune to destruction by card effects such as "Beelze of the Diabolic Dragons" and "Red-Eyes Flare Metal Dragon" will further help maintain field advantage.

Recommended cards

Extra Deck

Synchro Monsters

Xyz Monsters

Weaknesses

Cards like "Macro Cosmos", "Dimensional Fissure", "Bottomless Trap Hole", and "Banisher of the Radiance" can prevent the effects of your "Fire King" monsters and "Nephthys" from activating. This can be solved by using "Chaos Hunter", "Kycoo the Ghost Destroyer", or "Imperial Iron Wall".

"Necrovalley", "The End of Anubis", "Dimensional Prison", "Number 50: Blackship of Corn", "Dark End Dragon", "Chaos Emperor Dragon - Envoy of the End", "Inzektor Exa-Beetle" also hinder this deck greatly, by eliminate the monsters without destroying them or negating all Graveyard effects ("Necrovalley"); cards that prevent Special Summoning such as "Archlord Kristya" and "Fossil Dyna Pachycephalo" are also problems for the deck. "Solemn Strike", etc. can stop "Garunix" and "Nephthys" from reviving and will end their cycle of rebirth since cards in the Graveyard cannot be destroyed.