Ice Barrier

The Ice Barriers, known as Ice Boundary in the Japanese are an archetype consisting of WATER Attribute monsters resembling for the most part famous concept, figures, warriors, and mythological beings of different Asian cultures, that focus on increasing field advantage while making use of a strong hand advantage. The core monsters of this archetype are the Synchro Monsters, Brionac, Dragon of the Ice Barrier, Dewloren, Tiger King of the Ice Barrier, Gungnir, Dragon of the Ice Barrier, and Trishula, Dragon of the Ice Barrier. Other significant monsters are the "Generals", which include: General Gantala of the Ice Barrier, General Grunard of the Ice Barrier, and General Raiho of the Ice Barrier.

Most Ice Barrier monsters require another of their kind to be on the field to activate; in order to keep field advantage up, though, many Ice Barrier monsters have effects to protect one another. Cryomancer of the Ice Barrier forbids all monsters Level 4 or higher from attacking while another Ice Barrier monster is on the field. Even better at shielding, though is Defender of the Ice Barrier, who, also requiring another Ice Barrier monster on the field, stops all monsters that your opponent controls with attack greater than or equal to its defense (1600 originally) from attacking, giving you free reign to attack with impunity. Dai-sojo of the Ice Barrier protects your monsters from being destroyed by Spells and Traps. General Raiho of the Ice Barrier can cripple an opponent who relies on a strategy of activating multiple monster effects in a row, as it negates your opponents' monster effects unless they discard a card each time one activates; likewise, Secret Guards of the Ice Barrier protects your monsters from being targeted by monster effects, such as those of Scrap Dragon, Ryko, Lightsworn Hunter, and Machina Fortress. To help in swarming, General Grunard of the Ice Barrier adds an extra summon each turn (which can triple with Double Summon), and General Gantala of the Ice Barrier can fetch other Ice Barrier monsters, even Synchros, from the graveyard each End Phase, which can not only bring back heavy-hitters that were taken down previously, but also bring back Defender of the Ice Barrier in Defense Position to hold off attacks.

While field advantage is important, though, the main strategy when using an Ice Barrier deck is keeping a high hand advantage and using monster effects and spells to quickly bounce back from any situation. With a large hand, Magic Triangle of the Ice Barrier is easy to use, and helps additionally to keep up your field advantage. Other spells that keep cards in your hand include Moray of Greed and Salvage. Blizzed, Defender of the Ice Barrier and Dewloren, Tiger King of the Ice Barrier help to keep hand advantage high. Medallion of the Ice Barrier is an excellent card for an Ice Barrier deck, as it can bring any Ice Barrier monster to your hand, be it a monster required for a Synchro Summon, a third monster for Magic Triangle of the Ice Barrier, a monster to be discarded for an effect that can later be retrieved with Salvage, or just a water monster for Moray of Greed's cost.

The main reason a high hand advantage is important, though, is to facilitate the effects of two of the archetype's trump cards, Brionac, Dragon of the Ice Barrier and Gungnir, Dragon of the Ice Barrier. Brionac can return any card to its owner's hand at the cost of discarding one card for each returned, while Gungnir can destroy up to two cards per turn at the cost of discarding the same number. By keeping a strong hand advantage, Brionac can make way for an OTK, while Gungnir can keep the pressure on your opponent, giving them fewer and fewer options while you constantly destroy their cards.

Other good non-archetypal cards to use in an Ice Barrier deck are Crystal Seer, which helps keep hand advantage (but also gives you the bonus of not having to waste a draw on what could be a dead draw down the line), as well as Gozen Match, due to the fact that the entire archetype is composed of the WATER Attribute.

One last little trick comes from adding "Wetlands" into your deck as it makes all Level 2 or lower Aqua-Type monsters gain 1200 ATK, making "Dewdark of the Ice Barrier" 2400 ATK and "Cryomancer of the Ice Barrier" 2500 ATK. In other words you can't be attacked unless by a Level 3 or lower monsters, which shouldn't be able to kill "Cryomancer", and "Dewdark" can nip in for 2400 life points each turn directly.

General Rush
One of the most used Ice Barrier decks, the General Rush focuses on using Magic Triangle of the Ice Barrier to special summon General Grunard of the Ice Barrier. Then using his effect to swarm the field with other Ice Barriers, and lock your opponent. This deck can synchro summon anything from level 5 to level 10, through the use of Dewdark, Geomancer, and Cryomancer, but it should not be the main focus of the deck.

Monsters

 * General Grunard of the Ice Barrier
 * Dai-sojo of the Ice Barrier
 * Dance Princess of the Ice Barrier
 * Samurai of the Ice Barrier
 * Blizzed, Defender of the Ice Barrier
 * Dewdark of the Ice Barrier
 * Geomancer of the Ice Barrier
 * Cryomancer of the Ice Barrier
 * General Raiho of the Ice Barrier
 * General Gantala of the Ice Barrier

Spells

 * Magic Triangle of the Ice Barrier
 * Medallion of the Ice Barrier
 * Trade-In
 * Book of Moon
 * Giant Trunade
 * Salvage

Traps

 * Seven Tools of the Bandit
 * Reckless Greed

Destiny Barriers
The technique of this Deck is to facilitate the synchronization of Synchro Monsters of level 6 and 8, due to the large number of level 2 Tuner monsters, taking advantage of the ability to Destiny Hero - Malicious, and a lot of Spell Cards to speed up the Deck with the effect of Destiny Hero - Diamond Dude. Destiny Heroes fulfill the Hero requirement and Ice Barriers fulfill the Water requirement for Elemental Hero Absolute Zero making this deck extremely competitive. You could use the effect of Destiny Hero - Dasher to quickly activate the effect of Elemental Hero Absolute Zero.

Monsters

 * Deep Sea Diva
 * Spined Gillman
 * Reese the Ice Mistress
 * Mother Grizzly
 * Cryomancer of the Ice Barrier
 * Dewdark of the Ice Barrier
 * Caravan of the Ice Barrier
 * Samurai of the Ice Barrier
 * Spellbreaker of the Ice Barrier
 * Destiny Hero - Malicious
 * Destiny Hero - Diamond Dude
 * Destiny Hero - Dasher
 * Elemental Hero Absolute Zero

Spells

 * Wetlands
 * Moray of Greed
 * Salvage
 * Mind Control
 * Medallion of the Ice Barrier
 * Magic Triangle of the Ice Barrier
 * Destiny Draw
 * Reinforcements of the Army
 * Burial from a Different Dimension
 * Pot of Avarice
 * Card Trader
 * Miracle Fusion

Traps

 * Royal Decree
 * Dark Bribe

Absolute Barriers
Ice Barriers have the highest lockdown potential, but they can also be useful as field controllers. This Deck focuses on instant Synchro Summoning and field control by using 3 of the Ice Barrier Synchro Monsters: Brionac, Dragon of the Ice Barrier, Gungnir, Dragon of the Ice Barrier, and Trishula, Dragon of the Ice Barrier; you can wipe out your opponent's field as well as using Elemental Hero Absolute Zero as a back-up field controller/beatstick. Note, this Deck heavily relies on field control and hand advantage to keep using the Ice Barrier Synchro Monsters effects (except Trishula, Dragon of the Ice Barrier) in full use. All monsters in this Deck are safe from Gozen Match due to the fact that all of the monsters are Water Attributed.

Monsters

 * Deep Sea Diva
 * Spined Gillman
 * Strategist of the Ice Barrier
 * Caravan of the Ice Barrier
 * Samurai of the Ice Barrier
 * King of the Swamp
 * Elemental Hero Ice Edge
 * Reese the Ice Mistress
 * Elemental Hero Ocean
 * Elemental Hero Prisma
 * Elemental Hero Stratos
 * Force Resonator
 * Pilgrim of the Ice Barrier

Spells

 * Polymerization
 * Miracle Fusion
 * Future Fusion
 * Moray of Greed
 * Salvage
 * Magic Triangle of the Ice Barrier

Traps

 * Sakuretsu Armor
 * Dark Bribe
 * Seven Tools of the Bandit

Extra Deck

 * Brionac, Dragon of the Ice Barrier
 * Dewloren, Tiger King of the Ice Barrier
 * Sea Dragon Lord Gishilnodon
 * Gungnir, Dragon of the Ice Barrier
 * Trishula, Dragon of the Ice Barrier
 * Elemental Hero Absolute Zero

Kaiser Bounce Barrier Lock
This Deck is based on using Kaiser Colosseum along with Sacred Spirit of the Ice Barrier to bounce and Lockdown your opponent's monster and summon.

Spell Barriers
This Deck focuses primarily on the use of spellcaster-Type Ice Barrier creatures along with other water attribute spellcasters such as Crystal Seer, Ice Queen, and Water Charmers, as well spellcaster support cards such as Magical Dimension and Magician's Circle and water support like Moray of Greed. This particular build, when including Secret Village of the Spellcasters, can create a solid lock on the opponent, and in the OCG, Blizzard Princess further expands field and power control.

Brionac OTK
This deck revolves around using Brionac, Dragon of the Ice Barrier while having a constant hand advantage so that you may bounce back any cards that your opponent may play. Before getting out Brionac, it is wise to stall your opponent with monsters such as Pilgrim of the Ice Barrier, Reese the Ice Mistress, and Cryomancer of the Ice Barrier. Moray of Greed and Salvage make sure that you always have cards in your hand to use as a discard cost, and with a hand of Ice Barrier monsters, Dance Princess of the Ice Barrier can clear a good majority of spells and traps without you needing to discard cards. Also, while continuing to draw and reshuffle cards in your deck, pulling out the components for Elemental Hero Absolute Zero can make an OTK even simpler.

Monsters

 * Reese the Ice Mistress
 * Cryomancer of the Ice Barrier
 * Spined Gillman
 * Deep Sea Diva
 * Caravan of the Ice Barrier
 * Dance Princess of the Ice Barrier
 * Crystal Seer
 * Blizzed, Defender of the Ice Barrier
 * Elemental Hero Ice Edge
 * Pilgrim of the Ice Barrier
 * Mobius the Frost Monarch

Spells

 * Moray of Greed
 * Salvage
 * Medallion of the Ice Barrier
 * Pot of Avarice
 * Miracle Fusion

Traps

 * Metal Reflect Slime

Extra Deck

 * Brionac, Dragon of the Ice Barrier
 * Gungnir, Dragon of the Ice Barrier
 * Elemental Hero Absolute Zero