Iron Chain

Iron Chain「 Ｃ(チェーン) 」 is an all-Earth Archetype from Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D's, included in the Crossroads of Chaos Booster. Iron Chain cards are also used by Mr. Armstrong in the anime. The name was changed from simply "Chain" to "Iron Chain" so as to not confuse support with cards that already exist with the word "Chain" in them, such as "Amazoness Chain Master" or "Chainsaw Insect".

Iron Chain cards focus upon a combination of milling the opponent's deck, manipulating the ATK and DEF of monsters on the field, and inflicting minor burn damage to the opponent. A deck dedicated to Iron Chain monsters can be relatively flexible because of this. The user can opt to stall the opponent with cards like "Gravity Bind" and use either "Poison Chain" to quickly make the opponent run out of cards, or use "Iron Chain Repairman" to constantly recycle "Iron Chain Blaster" to burn the opponent each turn (both can be used at once, and can be further devastating when combined with "Cemetary Bomb"). They could also go for a beatdown strategy by taking advantage of how Iron Chain Coil can increase the ATK and DEF of an Iron Chain card permanently, as well as how Iron Chain Dragon can temporarily increase its own ATK.

Most Iron Chain monsters are not very strong on their own. Without a card that can protect them during battle (like Scrap-Iron Scarecrow) or increase their ATK (such as Gaia Power), most cannot survive long (at least, not until Iron Chain Coil increases their ATK after a few turns). Since the Archetype is not fully dedicated to a single method of defeating the opponent, it may not be as easy to control as other Archetypes unless the user has a very good idea of what these cards are capable of as a group and what external support works well with their intended strategy.

Playing Style
Iron Chains are most basically used as a mill deck, however they can be used in a burn deck with Iron Chain Blaster and Paralyzing Chain. Iron Chain Repairman is useful for bringing back Iron Chain monsters from the graveyard. This is useful because of Poison Chain's need for Iron Chain monsters on the field. Iron Chain milling sends the top cards of your opponent's deck to the graveyard as opposed to letting them draw the cards. Well used this deck can quickly achieve a Deck Out.
 * By using multiple copies of Iron Chain Snake on a high-level monster, you will mill nearly (if not more than) half of your opponent's deck.
 * The Iron Chains have their own Synchro Monster, Iron Chain Dragon. Its effect sends the top three cards of your opponent's deck to the graveyard when it inflicts Battle Damage. Its other effect lets it remove all Iron Chain monsters in the graveyard to have it gain 200 attack for each.


 * Although a few decks prefer cards in their graveyard for effects, uncontrolled milling is different, causing those decks to destabilize. The Teleport Dark Armed deck requires exactly 3 DARK monsters in the graveyard to summon Dark Armed Dragon, and adding more monsters adds a step to the deck's key summon. Lightsworns Decks already mill themselves, so adding on to that should only damage them further. Zombie Decks may lose a few key magic/trap cards when discarding cards.


 * This deck has easy access to a Level 7 Synchro Monster by using Foolish Burial to dump a Iron Chain Coil into the grave, searching Iron Chain Repairman with Reinforcement of the Army, and then using it to revive Iron Chain Coil to Synchro.


 * This deck has many uses of Continous Spells and Traps, such as Gravity Bind, and Level Limit - Area B, as an addition to Poison Chain and Paralyzing Chain. Hamon, Lord of Striking Thunder and Uria, Lord of Searing Flames may be good additions to the deck.

Monsters

 * Needle Worm
 * Chainsaw Insect
 * Morphing Jar
 * Don Zaloog
 * Morphing Jar 2
 * Marauding Captain (Special Summon Iron Chain Coil for an easy Iron Chain Dragon)
 * Hiro's Shadow Scout (Mill)
 * Marshmallon (Stall)
 * Destiny Hero - Defender (stall + mill)
 * Rescue Cat (now banned)
 * Bicorn Re'em(Special Summon Voltic Bicorn or Iron Chain Dragon and mills)
 * Iron Chains

Spells

 * Gravekeeper's Servant (Control)
 * Poison Chain
 * Paralyzing Chain
 * Reinforcement of the Army
 * Card Destruction
 * Hand Destruction
 * Shrink (So as to trump more battles and trigger more milling effects)
 * Gaia Power
 * Fairy Meteor Crush (Another option instead of Strike Slash)
 * The Shallow Grave (to bring back cards like needle worm)

Traps

 * Threatening Roar
 * Strike Slash (good combo with Iron Chain Dragon)
 * Waboku
 * Burn cards such as Skull Invitation, Coffin Seller, Paralyzing Chain, and Fatal Abacus
 * Cemetery Bomb
 * Scrap-Iron Scarecrow
 * Dark Bribe
 * Magical Thorn

Extra Deck

 * Voltic Bicorn
 * Goyo Guardian
 * Black Rose Dragon
 * Blackwing Dragon (can be used to keep yourself from getting damaged by Skull Invitation)
 * Ancient Fairy Dragon
 * Armory Arm (a great combo with Iron Chain Dragon)
 * Naturia Beast
 * Naturia Barkion
 * Naturia Landoise
 * Iron Chain Dragon (mill)