Flame Swordsman Support

[tayfga15]

Hey guys! So I've decided to try my hand at jumping aboard the update bandwagon and breathing new life into Joey Wheeler's Ace monster, Flame Swordsman. Rather than create a straight-up new archetype I decided to create a variety of Support and Upgades for Flame Swordsman, Blue Flame Swordsman and Flame Swordsman's 2 fusion materials; Flame Manipulator and Masaki the Legendary Swordsman. For a quick reminder of them I've decided to include all the cards in full below. It was quite a challenge making sure that the Flame Swordsman and it's materials weren't overshadowed and became usable despite their subpar attack and defence; but since the two materials are Normal Monsters I gladly worked on this archetype.

[spoiler='Vanilla']
Flame Swordsman


Blue Flame Swordsman

LORE: Once per turn, during either player's Battle Phase: You can target 1 other Warrior-Type monster you control; this card loses exactly 600 ATK, and if it does, that monster gains 600 ATK. When this card you control is destroyed by your opponent's card (either by battle or by card effect) and sent to your Graveyard: You can banish this card from your Graveyard, then target 1 FIRE Warrior-Type monster in your Graveyard; Special Summon that target.

Flame Manipulator


Masaki the Legendary Swordsman

[/spoiler]
With your memory refreshed on what all those guys do, it's time to establish the new cards. I decided to be minamilist in my additions so that the deck still uses Flame Swordsman cards, so I've only added 6 New Cards. With the 4 original cards that makes 10 Cards in total. While this may not seem like a lot, a good version of this deck will require several of most of the cards; plus a couple of other monsters. (Whom I will list at the end). I've opted to put the two Extra Deck cards first, in order to make this deck's strategy clearer.

[spoiler='Boss Monsters']
Flame Seraph

LORE: 1 FIRE Tuner + 1 or more non-Tuner FIRE Fusion monsters
While you control this face-up monster, all face-up FIRE Warrior-Type Monsters on the field gain 1000 ATK. Once per turn, you can Special Summon as many "Flame Manipulator" as possible from your hand, Deck or Graveyard. You cannot conduct your Battle Phase the turn you activate this effect.

Okay I ripped this guy's sprite from Card Fight; but he does look like Flame Swordsman on steroids. The main boss monster of this deck serves two simple purposes. The first is to give everybody a 1000 ATK boost; offered to all the fighters such as Flame Swordsman and Blue Flame Swordsman. His effect also applies to himself so he enjoys a fancy 3100 ATK. His second effect also allows him to lay the pressure on the opponent, by swarming the field with Flame Manipulators. But why have a bunch of 900 ATK kids?

Keeper of the Flame

LORE: 3 Level 3 FIRE Monsters
Once per turn, you can detach 1 Xyz Material from this monster to Special Summon 1 "Flame Swordsman" from your Graveyard. While this monster has Xyz Material, Level 5 or higher FIRE Monsters you control cannot be destroyed by battle or your opponent's card effects.

Defence is an extremely important tactic in Yugioh, and with an all out assaulting deck like this one, a bit of protecting support is vital. Providing some protection from the harsh dangers of Dark Hole and Mirror Force. Although this card generally can only come out after Flame Seraph, and therefore both monsters face the dangers of cards such as bottomless trap hole. Plus he can't protect himself, which is always a bummer. However; the summoning of a Flame Swordsman (which becomes a hefty 2800 ATK Beatstick with Flame Seraph in play) allows this card to attempt to support the offensive push.
[/spoiler]
Moving on to the support archetype; we have the guys who makes this all happen. Featuring 3 more monsters and 1 support Spell Card, this is what makes the Flame Swordsman burning like Joey Wheeler dreamed.

[spoiler='Support Cards']
Flame Adept

LORE: If you control a face-up "Flame Swordsman" or "Blue Flame Swordsman" you can Special Summon this monster from your hand. This monster cannot be used as a Synchro Material Monster, except for the Synchro Summon of a FIRE Monster.
This guy's a pretty bread and butter; let's make a synchro summon, kind of guy. He can only make FIRE monsters, limiting his options; but with the aid of Flame Swordsman he can make Flame Seraph and Crimson Blader while he can enlist Blue Flame Swordsman's help to create Black Rose Dragon. His synchro options are greatly limited; but this is made up for by his ability to Special Summon himself.

Flame Manipulator Knight

LORE:  This card's name becomes "Flame Manipulator" while it is in your hand, on the field or in the graveyard. While face-up on the field, this card is also a Spellcaster-Type monster. Once per turn, you can banish this face-up monster to destroy all Spell and Trap Cards on the field.

Flame Manipulator's cool and all, but some times you just need a Flame Manipulator Knight. Although he's unsearchable and has an unfortunate tendency to kill himself, a quick Heavy Storm is always useful the archetype. Plus he has the same 1800 ATK and Warrior/FIRE that Flame Swordsman has so he's also viable as a Flame Seraph Beatstick. Unfortunately his name is NOT Flame Manipulator in the deck, so he needs other ways to get in the hand or graveyard before he can be summoned.

Phantasm Flame Soldier

LORE: Cannot be Normal Summoned/Set. If you control a face-up "Flame Swordsman" you can Special Summon this monster from your hand to your side of the field. If you control a face-up "Blue Flame Swordsman" you can Special Summon this monster from your hand on your opponent's side of the field.

Need more battle power? Summoning Phantasm Flame Soldier will provide you with yet another Flame Swordsman ATK beatstick to wear down your opponent. Sometimes however, you'll need to go for the clutch revival of a Flame Seraph, Crimson Blader or Phoenix Gearfried so you can Special Summon the Phantasm to your opponent's side of the field instead and ensure that Blue Flame Swordsman successfully gets himself killed. (Poor Blue Flame Swordsman, he suffers a hard life).

Ignition of a Legend's Heart

LORE: Send 1 "Masaki the Legendary Swordsman" from your hand or Deck to the graveyard to Special Summon 1 "Flame Swordsman" from your Extra Deck. It gains 700 ATK until the end phase of this turn.
 

Actually Fusion Summoning Flame Swordsman would be nice, but it's ridiculously difficult and impractical. So that we don't have to continuously wait for Instant Fusion, Ignition of a Legend's Heart allows you to summon him out in a round-about way. It also provides some aid to poor Masaki, who really doesn't have much other purpose in this deck but to die. The 700 ATK bonus on Special Summon also allows some extra kills to be made with Flame Swordsman (An Ignited Flame Swordsman, with the Flame Seraph boost has a neat 3500ATK).
[/spoiler]
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Deck Building and Playing
Playing this archetype revolves around big-hits coming out fast. Although the ridiculous ATK strength boasted by the Flame Swordsman and his friends may seem overwhelming, the reliance on many Special Summons, and the effect of Flame Seraph to provide any real offensive presence mitigates this deck being overpowered. On top of this; the risk of not having Flame Swordsman and Flame Adept for Flame Seraph makes the deck a bit luck-based without the proper support.

Cards such as Flare Resonator can be used in the place of Flame Adept; should a player be unfortunate enough to not draw it. Flare Resonator can also be searched out with Resonator Call, making it a viable choice to act as an alternative tuner. Better still - Flare Resonator can summon out other Level 8 Synchro Monsters with the aid of Flame Swordsman, creating versatility. Flame Swordsman is a little bit harder to summon out; with Instant Fusion and Ignition of a Legend's Heart being your only two options. Running 3 of both is practically a must (And with that comes 2-3 Masakis)

This deck has several offensive options as well. You don't have to Summon out Seraph if you don't want to, and can use Flame Adept / Flame Swordsman to Special Summon out Crimson Blader if you already have Flame Seraph; this allows Crimson Blader's ATK to skyrocket to 3800, demolishing most offensive threats. You can also use the Flame Manipulators summoned out by Seraph to Xyz off different monsters; such as Wind-Up Zemanies and Leviathan Dragon should you have chosen to summon out a Flame Manipulator Knight instead of one of the Normal Monsters this turn.

Blue Flame Swordsman is a very potent part of the deck; and between him, Phantasm Flame Soldier and Flame Seraph; Phoenix Gearfried becomes a scary-looking option if you should ever need an easy-to-summon yet extremely large beatstick. Brushfire Knight is another option for sending Flame Manipulator Knight or monsters Blue Flame Swordsman intends to summon from your deck to the graveyard.

Other support options such as Gozen Match and Reinforcements of the Army are also potent for all-purpose causes. Circle of the Fire Kings can take advantage of the easy Flame Manipulator Fodder to summon behemoths from the flames. The entire Battlin Boxer archetype becomes cousins to this one due to the fact they share in enjoying the 1000 ATK boost from Flame Seraph, although the two archetypes sharing room may prove to be a difficult task.

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All in all I think I've managed to make a reasonably strong archetype that stands up to the mighty name; Flame Swordsman. Focusing on a swarming - beat down strategy, I believe that this deck is quite decent. I also have 2 other Support Spell cards created for this deck; Sea of Flames and Wall of Fire, which are based upon the two spells alluded to in the flavour text of the Flame Manipulator. However they didn't really support the flow of the deck; but I will post them in order to fuel discussion if few people decide to review this deck.

Speaking of reviews; feel free to post any of them, any queries or suggestions in the comment section below!

[-Noel-]

nice set, the only little criticism i have is both Flame Seraph and Ignition deck accessible are a bit so powerful, since u can just use Instant Fusion and that Tuner to swarm the field with 1 Sync and 3 Level 3 monsters!! (which can use for other things than Xyz since u didnt have any restrictions) or just use a single spell and get 2500 vanilla out of nowhere w/o any drawbacks, so my suggestion is to make Flame Seraph can only SS from hand and Graveyard, and Ignition can only discard masaki from hand, then they would be more balance.

[tayfga15]

Flame Seraph's effect from only the hand and graveyard would be kinda UP; considering that it can't do so much other than that. I could possibly simply lower the guy's attack so that his crazy abilities are his only tool; or make it so that the effect can only be activated once when he is Synchro Summoned.

With Ignition, it's crucial to get the Flame Swordsman out on the field, so I might just remove the secondary effect. A free 1800 ATK monster isn't exactly the scariest thing in the world; with my secondary effect trying (possibly a little too hard) to remedy that. Maybe something like a 300 or 400 ATK boost?

Any ideas what to change about those cards or any others?

[-Noel-]

well i didnt force u to change, it just a suggestion, u can keep it what it was if u think it is already balanced :)

[tayfga15]

@above. Well yeah I wanted to know what changes I should make :P. I've put a couple of ideas and wanted any other opinions at what would be the best nerf without ruining the flow of the deck.