The Shining Darkness brought about one of the strongest Decks we’ve seen in a long time. Infernities have propelled Duelists to victory in several World Championship Qualifiers, as well as last month’s Yu-Gi-Oh! Championship Series in Chicago, and is a very difficult Deck to defeat. However, with the right cards and a solid plan of action, you can give yourself the edge against Infernity Decks.

Infernities are known for doing 3 things very well; they fill up the Graveyard with everything they need, Special Summon several monsters at once, and end Duels very quickly either by attacking for over 8000 Life Points at once, or by making sure you can’t make a comeback thanks to Infernity Barrier. The best way to tackle this almost unbeatable Deck is to have cards that can stop each part of their big combo, and play them at just the right time.

An Infernity Deck needs to have certain cards in the Graveyard (and no cards in-hand) before they can get their big combo going. Usually it’s just Infernity Archfiend, Infernity Beetle orInfernity Avenger, and Infernity Necromancer. Then, once they play Infernity Launcher orInfernity Mirage, they Special Summon these monsters from the Graveyard and use their effects to Summon up to 4 Synchro Monsters in an instant. Cards like D.D. Crow and Crevice into the Different Dimension can stop the entire Deck just when your opponent thinks he has the Duel won. With these, you can remove your opponent’s Infernity monsters from play, stopping your opponent from Special Summoning them, and you can even play these on your opponent’s turn.

The first cards to get rid of should be any Infernity Archfiends in the Graveyard, since Archfiend can add any other Infernity card to your opponent’s hand, even Spells and Traps likeInfernity Launcher and Infernity Barrier. Usually when your opponent has no Archfiends, they’ve got no chance of winning. Depending on the type of Deck you use, DimensionalFissure, Macro Cosmos and Banisher of the Radiance can also come in handy

Handling the Graveyard is only the first step in defeating Infernities. Sometimes you might not have enough cards to get rid of all of your opponent’s Infernity Archfiends or Necromancers,so you’ll have to take care of them when they are Special Summoned as well. Royal Oppression has always been the number 1 choice for stopping Special Summons, and while it doesn’t seem as popular today as it was in the past few months, it’s still a powerful card that can turn Duels around. Royal Oppression can negate Infernity Launcher and Infernity Mirage, which try to Special Summon more Infernities from the Graveyard.

It can also negate Infernity Necromancer, and can get rid of Mist Wurm and any other Synchros your opponent might try to Summon. Once you have Oppression face-up, you can slow the Duel down long enough to draw your D.D. Crows and Crevices, emptying your opponent’s Graveyard before they can destroy your Oppression. Thunder King Rai-Oh is another useful card against Infernities, preventing Infernity Archfiend from adding Infernity Launcher or Barrier to your opponent’s hand, and letting you negate a Synchro Summon by sending it to the Graveyard.

There are also several other cards that work well against Infernities. Shadow-Imprisoning Mirror can negate the effects of your opponent’s monsters, since all Infernities are DARK.Consecrated Light will stop your opponent from Summoning monsters, and if you Summon it on your very first turn, your opponent won’t be able to do anything about it! Herald of Perfection and Archlord Krystia can make for a fearsome setup that almost no Deck can break down, not even Infernities, and a Herald Deck can also use Consecrated Light to cause even more nightmares for Infernity Duelists.

Even with all of these cards at your disposal, it’s important to remember that Infernities are a very fast Deck, and you can’t wait until you draw these cards before attacking your opponent. If you’ve got a chance to attack directly and bring their Life Points closer to zero, it’s almost always a good idea to take that chance, as Infernities are always just one card away from victory.