ACSCR: Number 191: Poison Chain

Now we are back with our old Pals “Iron Chains”. I hoped we would not see them for a while, because that would have meant, that the Card was good. But alas, here we are again, talking so soon about “Posion Chain”.

If you can control the Hand of the opponent with chains, could you not simply make him forfeit?

This Card is meant as one of the archetypes Milling Options, but to tell the truth, it is not a very good one. Its Effect only activates during the End Phase and only if you did not attack during the turn. If does Conditions are met, you mill Cards from your opponent’s Deck equal to the number of “Iron Chain” monsters you currently control. So, in the Best-Case Scenario, this card mills 6 Cards in the End Phase, but in most Cases it would be three or four Cards, which is not much and in most cases benefits your opponent more than it hurts him. Pray to God you do not Play against “B.A”, “Shaddoll”, “Lightsworn”, “Orcust”, “Salamangreat”, “Adimancipator”, “Eldlich”, or better put, almost every deck of the modern Meta.

This is only one of many, many cards that you don't want your opponent to send to their Graveyard.

All this Decks would love the Mill and getting cards in their Graveyard and will whip your ass the next turn. Especially because you didn’t do anything to their field, because you didn’t attack, and “Iron Chains” don’t have much Removal outside of battle. Yeah, you could play three “Poison Chain” and mill the Opponent for 9 to 12 Card per End Phase, but this not at all consistent (Especially since it is unsearchable) and after you did this, your opponent has so much Graveyard setup, that he could destroy you three times in one turn.

So, the next question to answer is: Is it easy to get “Iron Chain” monsters on the field, to even use this effect somewhat effective? Well, the answer is, surprisingly so: Yes. Well, kind of. The key card of the deck is “Iron Chain Repairman”.

That is a really big Hammer.

It allows you, as a soft once per Turn, to revive on Level 4 or lower “Iron Chain” monster from your Graveyard for free, he only cannot attack that Turn. Most bad Archetypes, and even some good ones, would kill for a Monster that can revive everything of your Archetype for free, since it allows Swarming the Field and facilitates Synchro Plays. Since it is a soft once per Turn, you can use it repeatedly, if you get more of them on the Field, to get even more recycling and field presence. So, you could get some “Iron Chain” monster fairly easily on Board, to get some Mills out of “Poison Chain”, But you need good graveyard setup and as previously stated, the milling will not be effective in the great scheme of things.  

But there is one thing that is even worse about “Poison Chain” and that is the Attack Prevention. The Deck has actually some good Mill options, but they work only when they can attack.

This is Metal as fuck.

“Iron Chain Snake” can equip itself to an opponent’s monster during your Main Phase. That Monster loses 800 Atk and Def and if it is destroyed by Battle, it mills the opponent equal to that Monsters Level. The Monster you most likely use to destroy that opponent’s monster is “Iron Chain Dragon”, a Level 6 Synchro monster which mills 3 Cards from the opponents Deck when he inflicts Battle Damage.

Because every Archetype needs a Dragon.

With his Stats at 2500 Atk, the Stat Reduction from Snake and his Effect to banish “Iron Chain” monsters from the Graveyard to gain even more attack, he can run over pretty much anything and mill the Opponent for 7 to 11 Cards, which is way more than “Poison Chain” can provide. It also does not happen at the End of your Turn, so you have Still Options to mill more Card or Stop your Opponent from using these Cards in their next turn. The Mill could be even more effective if you can get out multiple “Snakes” on the field, so you can mill the opponent for possible 18 or even more cards at once, even if this requires a lot of setup.

So, if you want to run a Deck-Out Strategy revolving around “Iron Chains”, it’s not the worst deck in the world, although fairly slow. But “Poison Chain” should have absolutely no Place anywhere in this deck, because it is even slower and halters your best Plays. Just like “Paralyzing Chain”, this chain only poisons yourself.