Infernity

Infernity, a portmanteau of the words "Infernal" and "Infinity", are all DARK monster cards with effects activated when a player has no cards in their hand. This archetype resembles much of the wild west, with cards such as "Infernity Archfiend", "Infernity Necromancer", and "Infernity Mirage" alluding to the native Americans while cards like "Infernity Avenger", "Infernity Randomizer", and "Infernity Launcher" (whose original Japanese name was Infernity Gun) relate to the cowboys. This archetype was used by Kalin Kessler in Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D's. In episodes 33, 34, and 35 in the English version of Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D's, these Infernity Monsters, Spells and/or Traps were known as Infernalty.

The first Infernity cards were released as promotional cards in Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D's Stardust Accelerator: "Infernity Archfiend", "Infernity Dwarf", and "Infernity Guardian". Infernity Destroyer was released in the Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D's Stardust Accelerator - World Championship 2009 Game Guide in Japan.

The first Infernity card released in a booster set was "Infernity Beast" in Ancient Prophecy. Two additional Infernity cards soon followed with the release of Stardust Overdrive: Infernity Necromancer and the first Infernity trap card Infernity Force. With the release of The Shining Darkness, fifteen more cards were added to the Infernity archetype for further support. The Shining Darkness also includes an Infernity synchro monster known as Infernity Doom Dragon.

Playing style
As the monster Effects imply, this deck is focused on having no hand. Using discarding effects, such as Raigeki Break and Phoenix Wing Wind Blast is the fastest way to empty your hand while setting up your graveyard for cards like Infernity Archfiend and Infernity Avenger.

Used correctly, this deck can become very powerful on its own. However, you can add a twist by adding in cards from one or two different Archetypes. The first is the "Dark World" series. Most of the support tends to involve discarding cards from the hand and Special Summoning from the graveyard, and most of the monsters benefit from this.

The other Archetype is the "Fabled" series. Like the Dark World set, these cards focus primarily on discarding cards in the player's hand. The key difference, however, is that the Fabled do not actually discard cards to use their own effects, but rather to decrease the number of cards the player is holding, as their monsters can use their effects only when the player's hand is low on cards, or empty altogether. For this reason, they seem to fit in better with the Infernity cards. Notable cards are Fabled Raven (a Level 2, 1300 ATK Tuner monster which lets you discard any number of cards to increase its Level by 1, and its ATK by 400, for each card. This effectively lets you empty your hand to have a high Level, high power Tuner monster) and Fabled Soulkius (a Level 6, 2200 ATK monster which lets you discard two cards to Special Summon it from the Graveyard, fitting perfectly into both the themes of the Infernity cards). On top of that, the "Fabled" are all LIGHT monsters, while the Infernity cards are all DARK monsters, so even the powerful Chaos Sorcerer can be splashed into this deck, and in Traditional Format, the great and mighty duo Chaos Emperor Dragon - Envoy of the End and Black Luster Soldier - Envoy of the Beginning.

As of The Shining Darkness release, the Infernity archetype has become much more Graveyard based. Both Infernity Mirage and Infernity Launcher can quickly and effectively summon your monsters from the grave. And because the most common way of emptying your hand is discarding, you'll have plenty of Infernities in your grave to summon. Infernity Avenger can also summon himself and possibly become one of the only Level 5+ tuners. Because of new graveyard tactics, the Infernity have become less and less reliant of top decking, turning this rather risky deck type into a powerful tool of decimation.

Even though Infernity decks can manipulate the number of DARK monsters in their Graveyard at ease, Dark Armed Dragon is not a recommended card, due to the possibility of it getting stuck in your hand, hindering the entire deck, and you don't want your Infernities Removed from Play.

It's usually not recommended to use cards such as "Full Salvo", "Fine" and "Rope of Life", since, while they empty your hand, they also give small benefits and most times the loss outweighs the gain.

The Infernity deck structure is now able to effectively summon several high-level Synchro Monsters every turn, providing the right cards exist on the field or in-hand. A popular choice is to Synchro Summon Trishula, Dragon of the Ice Barrier,you can also summon Red Nova Dragon by Red Dragon Archfiend and 2 Infernity Beetles or Mist Wurm, and exploit their field-clearing abilities, while Infernity Launcher (whether in the hand or on the field) will allow the player to summon a second Trishula or Wurm via Infernity Necromancer, Infernity Archfiend, Infernity Beetle and another copy of Infernity Launcher, to clear the opponent's field, hand and graveyard of any cards blocking a direct attack. Another good Synchro Monster is Hundred-Eyes Dragon due to the fact that it can copy most of the ability's used by a Infernity deck. However, you want your Infernity monsters in the Graveyard, so it can be a double-edged sword.

Strengths
Currently, the most noticeable strength of an Infernity deck is its ability to Instant Synchro with ease, thanks to cards like Infernity Launcher and Infernity Necromancer, which allow for very fast Special Summoning from the Graveyard. Similarly to Launcher, Infernity Mirage can Special Summon two more Infernity monsters simply by being Tributed, and it's rather easy to keep a hand empty thanks to many cards like Raigeki Break, Phoenix Wing Wind Blast, Into the Void and so on. Also, the Infernity archetype has its own specific Counter-Trap in the form of Infernity Barrier, a card that can jam almost anything by itself.

If properly used, it can simply use the many ways it has to Special Summon from the Graveyard to provide material for Synchro Summons, not necessarily having to rely on big plays.

Weaknesses
Infernities, despite their enormous potential as an Instant Synchro deck, have a number of crucial weaknesses. Of course, the foremost one is the one shared among most of today's competitive decks. Cards like Royal Oppression, Macro Cosmos, Dimensional Fissure, Crevice Into the Different Dimension and any other that could lock down the main assets of the deck are the most dangerous threat, with Skill Drain placing just after them in terms of threat. Side-Deck Imperial Iron Wall to combat against the removal cards, and Twister to deal with Royal Oppression. Cards like Effect Veiler and Battle Fader that can be activated in hand can give major surprise and/or lockdown to Infernity combo. Cards like Threatening Roar and Waboku can slow Infernity for a turn, allowing you to get a bit of timing to counter.

Also, by themselves they are a fairly weak archetype, with the most powerful non-Synchro card, Infernity Destroyer, being only 2300 ATK and without a strong enough effect. Hindering the key cards of the deck with Prohibition and the like can also disrupt their strategy dramatically, since this will leave cards in hand, stopping the effects of Infernity monsters.

Infernity monsters are also severely affected by Consecrated Light. This monster prevents the Summoning of DARK monsters; therefore disabling Synchro-Summoning. Be careful, Dark monsters can be Flip-Summoned. Consecrated Light will only stall for a turn or two.

And if you're looking for cards to side against Infernities, D.D. Crow, Crevice Into the Different Dimension and likes shuts down any Infernity OTK move.

The fact that this deck depends on having no cards in your hand can be a weakness itself. If you play a large number of cards and then your opponent plays a field-clearing card like Judgment Dragon or Black Rose Dragon, you may find yourself painted into a corner. To keep this from happening, Infernity Guardian is a great defense since it can't be destroyed by effects. Use Infernity Force to bring back Infernity Doom Dragon and counterattack. Another weakness of an Infernity deck is that it can be completely shut down by Ambitious Gofer due to the fact that it takes advantage of an empty hand.

Post-September 2010 Strategy
After the September 2010 Forbidden list, the Infernity strategy became less OTK oriented and more control oriented. The place of primary tuner, once held by Infernity Beetle, now belongs to Infernity Avenger. In addition, the loop is now about summoning level eight synchro monsters, not level nines.

Hundred-Eyes Dragon has become a much more important card. It is being used to remove Infernity Mirage, summon Infernity Archfiend and Infernity Necromancer. This is to obtain an extra search with Infernity Archfiend, usually for Infernity Barrier or Infernity Break. Another major level eight synchro is Infernity Doom Dragon which not only gives you a 3000 attacker with a Burn and destruction effect but also a name for Infernity Barrier. Infernity Necromancer is then used to retrieve Infernity Avenger, which is used to Synchro Summon for another level eight. Stygian Street Patrol is now being used to special summon Infernity Archfiend while it is the last card in hand, and thus generates a search. It is also used to Special Summon searched Infernity Mirages to continue the combo, or search Infernity Necromancers and Infernity Avengers to obtain missing pieces of it. Armageddon Knight has replaced one Dark Grepher, as one does not always want to discard Infernity Archfiend now. If one starts the loop while one's opponent has a monster with 1900 ATK or more, one can OTK by summoning Colossal Fighter and Armory Arm. Simply perform the loop as normal, but leave Infernity Archfiend out of the last Synchro Summon. Equip their monster with Armory Arm, and attack it with Colossal Fighter until they lose.

And a good way to save and "re-use" your removed from field monsters would be Return from the Different Dimension if you are playing with Allure of Darkness, Plaguespreader Zombie, The Dark Creator and using constantly the effect of Hundred-Eyes Dragon to remove your monsters from the graveyard and gain they're effects like the effect of the Infernity Necromancer to special summon the Infernity Archfiend to bring to your hand an Infernity Barrier or a Tuner Monster if you have make a normal summon this turn or remove the Infernity Mirage after attack to special summon Stardust Dragon with the strategy posted before

This archetype can easily Summon Red Nova Dragon, just by simply using Infernity Archfiend, Infernity Necromancer and Infernity Avenger to Summon Red Dragon Archfiend then Summon Infernity Beetle and activate its effect to special summon two more Infernity Beetles, then tune both with Red Dragon Archfiend to Special Summon Red Nova Dragon.

Monsters

 * Infernity Archfiend
 * Infernity Necromancer
 * Infernity Avenger
 * Infernity Mirage
 * Infernity Beetle
 * Stygian Street Patrol
 * Plaguespreader Zombie
 * Armageddon Knight
 * Dark Grepher

Spells

 * Infernity Launcher
 * Book of Moon
 * Mystical Space Typhoon
 * Foolish Burial
 * One for One
 * Reinforcement of the Army
 * Giant Trunade
 * Allure of Darkness

Traps

 * Infernity Barrier
 * Infernity Break
 * Infernity Inferno
 * Solemn Warning
 * Trap Stun
 * Call of the Haunted
 * Starlight Road

Extra Deck

 * Mist Wurm
 * Brionac, Dragon of the Ice Barrier
 * Hundred-Eyes Dragon
 * Infernity Doom Dragon
 * Stardust Dragon
 * Ally of Justice Catastor
 * Stygian Sergeants
 * Colossal Fighter
 * Armory Arm
 * Dark End Dragon
 * Trishula, Dragon of the Ice Barrier
 * Black Rose Dragon

Infernity Burn OTK
An Infernity Burn OTK Deck is built around dealing 8000 Burn damage to your opponent in one turn. This is done using the overwhelming Swarming capabilities of "Infernity Mirage" and "Infernity Launcher" and Tributing those monsters for "Shadowpriestess of Ohm".

Required Cards

 * Infernity Archfiend
 * Infernity Beetle
 * Infernity Mirage
 * Infernity Necromancer
 * Infernity Launcher
 * Stygian Street Patrol
 * Shadowpriestess of Ohm

Suggested Cards

 * Sangan (Tribute this card for Shadowpriestess of Ohm's effect then search for Infernity Mirage)
 * Double Summon (Normal Summon Shadowpriestess of Ohm then Normal Summon Infernity Mirage)
 * Foolish Burial (Use this card to send Stygian Street Patrol from your Deck to the Graveyard)
 * Infernity Inferno
 * Gorz the Emissary of Darkness (If you have no cards on the field and no easy way to get rid of cards, use this as a backup plan and get a Emissary of Darkness Token)

How it works
The combo starts with a hand consisting solely of Infernity Mirage and a field consisting of 1 Shadowpriestess of Ohm. You also need Infernity Archfiend, Infernity Necromancer, Infernity Beetle and Stygian Street Patrol in your Graveyard.


 * 1) Normal Summon Infernity Mirage.
 * 2) Tribute it to activate its effect, Special Summoning Infernity Necromancer and Infernity Archfiend from your Graveyard.
 * 3) Infernity Archfiend's effect activates, searching your deck for any Infernity card. Pick Infernity Launcher.
 * 4) Activate Infernity Launcher (Note that it does nothing at the moment).
 * 5) Activate Infernity Necromancer's effect, Special Summoning Infernity Beetle from your Graveyard.
 * 6) Activate Infernity Beetle's effect, by Tributing itself to Special Summon 2 more Infernity Beetle from your Deck.
 * 7) Using the effect of Shadowpriestess of Ohm, Tribute the 1st Infernity Beetle, the 2nd Infernity Beetle, Infernity Necromancer and Infernity Archfiend for a total of 3200 Burn Damage.
 * 8) Activate Infernity Launcher's effect, Special Summoning Infernity Necromancer and Infernity Archfiend from your Graveyard.
 * 9) Using Infernity Archfiend's Effect, add another Infernity Mirage to your hand.
 * 10) Activate the effect of Stygian Street Patrol, removing itself from play to Special Summon Infernity Mirage from your Hand.
 * 11) Activate Infernity Necromancer's effect, Special Summoning Infernity Beetle from your Graveyard.
 * 12) Using the effect of Shadowpriestess of Ohm, Tribute Infernity Beetle, Infernity Necromancer and Infernity Archfiend for a total of 2400 Burn Damage.
 * 13) Tribute Infernity Mirage it to activate its effect, Special Summoning Infernity Necromancer and Infernity Archfiend from your Graveyard.
 * 14) When Infernity Archfiend is Special Summoned, DO NOT use its effect to add an Infernity Card from your Deck to your Hand.
 * 15) Activate Infernity Necromancer's effect, Special Summoning Infernity Beetle
 * 16) Using the effect of Shadowpriestess of Ohm, Tribute Infernity Beetle, Infernity Necromancer and Infernity Archfiend for a total of 2400 Burn Damage.
 * 17) By now, you have successfully inflicted 8000 Burn Damage to your opponent.

Infernity World
This deck revolves around the not having any cards in your hand as well but use the Dark World Swarm.

Monsters

 * Beiige, Vanguard of Dark World
 * Brron, Mad King of Dark World
 * Broww, Huntsman of Dark World
 * Goldd, Wu-Lord of Dark World
 * Sillva, Warlord of Dark World
 * Scarr, Scout of Dark World
 * Snipe Hunter

Spells

 * Dark World Lightning
 * Dark World Dealings
 * Lightning Vortex
 * A Feather of the Phoenix
 * The Cheerful Coffin
 * Card Destruction
 * Dark Core

Traps

 * Depth Amulet
 * Raigeki Break
 * Phoenix Wing Wind Blast
 * Infernity Inferno
 * Rope of Life (helps bring monsters back and fulfills the no-hand requirement)

Lightning Infernity

 * This deck is all about getting Infernity monsters out of the hand and onto the field. It is a useful deck if you want to end duels quickly.


 * Recommended Cards

Monsters

 * Armageddon Knight
 * Caius the Shadow Monarch
 * Gorz the Emissary of Darkness
 * Infernity Archfiend
 * Infernity Avenger
 * Infernity Beast
 * Infernity Beetle
 * Infernity Destroyer
 * Infernity Guardian
 * Infernity Mirage
 * Infernity Necromancer
 * Sangan

Spells

 * Allure of Darkness
 * Dark Hole
 * Enemy Controller
 * Giant Trunade
 * Infernity Launcher
 * Monster Reborn
 * Mystical Space Typhoon
 * ZERO-MAX

Traps

 * Bottomless Trap Hole
 * Dimensional Prison
 * Infernity Barrier
 * Infernity Inferno
 * Mirror Force
 * Solemn Judgment
 * Starlight Road
 * Trap Stun


 * Extra Deck
 * Ally of Justice Decisive Armor
 * Black-Winged Dragon
 * Colossal Fighter
 * Flamvell Uruquizas
 * Hundred-Eyes Dragon
 * Infernity Doom Dragon
 * Scrap Archfiend
 * Scrap Dragon
 * Stardust Dragon
 * Stygian sergants

Trivia

 * In the Japanese version of Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D's when Kalin says Infernity, you can hear him mispronouncing it Infinity.


 * In Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D's episode 54 and Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D's episode 55 the word Infernity was used instead of Infernality (ep. 33-35). For example, when Kalin played his Infernality Fiend in episode 33, he then later called it by its TCG name when dueled Yusei again (ep. 54-55).


 * The more recent additions of the Infernity archetype seem to have a Western Shootout theme to them.


 * The new Infernity cards used in the manga appear to have a Medieval theme.


 * The handless effect of the Infernity archetype is identical to the "Hellbent" effect of the "Rakdos" related cards from Magic: The Gathering.
 * Additionally, the "Rakdos" cards use Red/Fire and Black/Darkness mana, while the Infernitys are DARK-attribute monsters and their artwork generally depicts them with fire.