Ice Barrier - Failed Cards, Archetypes, and Sometimes Mechanics in Yu-Gi-Oh 

shoutout to the ice barrier structure I bought in like 2021 thinking "if Konami made a structure deck out of it, it must be good"

Actually from a Lore standpoint this is one of the most lore-accurate Decks! If I recall correctly, thebIce barrier main deck monsters we're "protectors" of the ice barrier. They are actively trying to KEEP the dragons bound within the barrier. Which reflects Well in the archetype because they suck so bad because have NO coherent ways to summon the Dragons, which in turn...keeps them locked up (This was not what Konami intended and it's one of the worst archetypes of the 5Ds era)

Hidden Arsenal 1 really did set the tone on what Ice Barriers would be: _Really_ bad main deck monsters and _really_ broken Synchro monsters.

It makes sense that the Ice Barrier monsters would struggle in making their boss monsters. In-Lore, they want to _stop_ the dragons from being released. Great for the story, but bad for actual play.

Didn't know this video was secretly about Galaxy-Eyes

Ice Barrier's will always be one of my most favorite archetypes I don't care if it's a bad archetype.

Keep in mind that this Archetype is sneaking in the tops in the OCG for the past 5 months now. The most popular is the Runick + Ice Barrier variant.

Ice Barriers have been so pathetic that they're weirdly adorable... to the extent that playing them with the new boss monster and extenders was a bit of an eye opener... like, there was a moment where the clouds parted mid-duel, and I went "Holy crap... this is a stun archetype!?" Like, obviously, they've always WANTED to be a stun archetype, but they were so bad at it they could never stun anyone... so seeing them do what they were always meant to do was a shock to the system. :rolling_on_the_floor_laughing:

You forgot the actual Ice Barrier. The fish getting frozen.

Logs, the video description is about Galaxy Eyes, released a couple of weeks ago. By the way, Ice Barriers are cool-looking monsters (mainly Trishula and its Warrior counterpart), but they are bricks.

Still better than ally of justice Ice barrier can at least summon it’s synchros

See Also: Rata’s rant on Royal Knight Of The Ice Barrier.

I'm noticing a clear theme here: It's trying to be a control deck who focuses on blocking backro (A stun deck)... But is ridiculously vulnerable to any sort of spell removal like raigeki, while also not destroying way too often. Remember, the Synchros and regular Monsters are archenemies, so they're NOT supposed to synergize... But the regular monsters are AWFUL at stopping synchro plays considering they are mostly focused on stopping backro, and their few effects against those synchros come way too late to matter considering they don't negate their effects.

When the 2 boss monsters who carries your deck can carry themselves.

I love the new support the deck got. The main deck floodgates are actually playable now ironically😂

I think we got the wrong Description in the box there. Man I loved me my Ice Barriers back in the day. Yeah they were bad, and I didn't have Brionic until he had hit the ban list, but I loved them because...uh... ... You know...all my friends snatched up all the other archetypes!

Ice barrier have somo sick lore and is baffling how they managed to not make this archetype good.

How Duel Logs writes videos: * Search with deck is getting legacy support * Call the deck bad before the support

cant wait for terminal world or whatever its called. the new support turns this into a banger of a deck

you said magic triangle wrong its special summon from your hand not deck. If it was from your deck it would actually be pretty good

not sure about everyone else, but i have always seen Ice Barriers as a lockdown/floodgate deck, most of its monsters give your opponents some sort of restrictions

I loved the idea of ice barriers, but sadly everyone else was better at getting their syncros out that should've been locked to an archetype only tuner like many others. Not that it would've scaled well with time either as the game was doubling in speed every year it felt like

I feel that the Cyber Girl archetype belongs here too. They have around 7 members and a trap card and have next to no synergy. There is a slight theme of direct attacks among them, but the rest of the cards (including Their ace, Cyber Blader) don't mesh well with them.

the errata's for the dragon was unneccesary, even by today standard the card is balanced

lets go ice barrier's have hope!

16:00 I think you meant to say Rivalry instead of Gozen since the deck has insane synergy with Gozen

In fairness to Trishula zero If the special summon to the original was a synchro summon It will be blatantly overpowered with this version, you already banished 3 cards on your opponents field. On top of that, if your opponent doesn't have anything that bypass its destruction effect they risk getting their side banished. If this was its actual effect the card could possibly be banned since everyone will play it.

This deck used to be a pain to go against in the early days of duel links.

Biggest problem was that this was a lore-based archetype. Instead of just making good cards, they made all of the Ice barrier cards weakling humans and gave the dragons and monsters that they’re meant to be sealing away the strong effects. And then gave the Ice Barriers stuff that was direct counters like Mirror of the Ice Barrier

Thank you duellogs for always out doing yourself i really enjoy these failed archetype videos

I vote for evilswarms for the next episode. A once dominant deck ruined by power creep and master rule changes.

This archetype may suck, but Defender of the Ice Barrier be cute.

I remember trying to run this deck earlier because it was so affordable and there was just so many ice barrier cards yet they hardly worked with each other

Calling the archetype “cold garbage” is some slept on word play

Really scraping the top of the barrel with this one

Bro didn't even mention the trap card "terror of trishula". One of the best cards the archetype has

*shouts personal insults at duellogs*

Thanks DuelLogs! With this video, Konami will make new Ice Barrier support and SURELY this time they will be meta!....right?

0:48 Ideas to fix a bunch of these cards (that’s I’ll get to bit by bit as these videos keep dropping when I’m working): _Blizzed, Herald of the Ice Barrier_ (WATER) Level 1 Aqua/Tuner/Effect _Your opponent cannot target Face-Up “Ice Barrier” monsters you control for attacks or monster effects, except this card. If this card would be destroyed by battle or an opponent’s card effect, first draw 1 card. If this card would be banished by an opponent’s card effect, first shuffle 1 card from your GY into your deck. If this card is used as tribute or material for the summon of an “Ice Barrier” monster, that summoned monster gains this cards effects while on the field._ ATK/300 DEF/500 Basically the angle I’m thinking of is giving the worse off IB monsters better versions of their current effects, then having them confer those effects onto the bigger “Ice Barrier” monsters they’re used as fodder for to summon. So if I used the Herald here to bring out Trishula, your opponent would have to deal with Trish having Heralds effects (and the floating effects are worded to assure that they go off even if said Trish would leave the field). 0:53 _Grand Cryomancer of the Ice Barrier_ (WATER) Level 2 Aqua/Effect _While you control another “Ice Barrier” monster, Your opponent’s level/Rank/Link 5 or higher monsters cannot declare an attack. If your opponent’s monster targets a monster you control for an attack or effect, you can discard 1 card: Special Summon 1 "Ice Barrier Token" (Aqua/WATER/Level 1/ATK 0/DEF 0), and if you do, change the target to that summoned Token. If this card is used as tribute or material for the summon of an “Ice Barrier” monster, that summoned monster gains this cards effects while on the field._ ATK/1300 DEF/0 2:30 _Frostbitten Grub in the Ice Barrier_ (WATER) Level 4 Insect/Tuner/Effect _If this card is summoned, Target 1 unused main monster zone. While this card, or any “Ice Barrier” monster that was summoned using this card as tribute or material, is on the field, one of the following effects (Your Choice) is applied to that targeted monster zone:_ _⚪️That monster Zone cannot be used._ _⚪️Level 5 or higher monsters can be Normal Summoned/Set to this monster zone without tributing._ _⚪️If a card in this monster zone is destroyed or Banished, Excavate 1 card from the top of your deck, and if it’s an “Ice Barrier” card, add it to your hand, otherwise shuffle it into your deck._ ATK/1300 DEF/1800 3:34 _Warrior of the Ice Barrier_ (WATER) Level 6 Spellcaster/Tuner/Effect _If this card is summoned: Change the battle position of 1 monster on the field. “Ice Barrier” monsters you control can make an additional attack per battle phase. “Ice Barrier” cards you control cannot be destroyed by card effects. If this card is used as tribute or material for the summon of an “Ice Barrier” monster, that summoned monster gains this cards effects while on the field._ ATK/1600 DEF/2200 3:46 _Spiritualist of the Ice Barrier_ (WATER) Level 7 Spellcaster/Tuner/Effect _While this card is on the field or in your hand or GY, If your opponent controls 4 or more cards than you: You can Special Summon 1 “Ice Barrier” monster from your hand or GY. Your opponent can only activate 1 Spell/Trap Card each turn. If this card is used as tribute or material for the summon of an “Ice Barrier” monster, that summoned monster gains this card’s effects while on the field._ ATK/2200 DEF/1600 3:56 _Hierophant of the Ice Barrier_ (WATER) Level 4 Warrior/Tuner/Effect _”Ice Barrier” monsters you control cannot be destroyed (by battle or card effect) by monsters with 1900 or more ATK. ”Ice Barrier” monsters you control cannot be Banished by the effects of monsters with 1900 or less ATK. If this card is used as tribute or material for the summon of an “Ice Barrier” monster, that summoned monster gains this cards effects while in the field._ ATK/1500 DEF/1000

Thanks logs, ive been wanting some trishula support for a while now

Thanks to the Mirror Magic Master and Lancea in the new duel terminal support set in OCG, the ability to synchro summon has became so easy the deck can quite easily reach a board of Lancea, Gymir and Dragite with just one card. Lancea also makes it so cards like Raiho can finally see play and it basically validifies most of the floodgate effects of the main deck ice barriers

i dont know in what theme, but i want a six samurai video so bad

Well can't say I didn't see this coming

Ever since the new support got released, I've become an Ice Barrier main in my locals, and been getting consistent tops every week or so. Though I must admit, when my hand bricked... boy do they brick

I bought 3 structures last year cause i saw the support the ocg got. Its gonna prove itself to be at least decent. And i am all for it!

I think I remember trying to build Ice Barriers when we got the first 4 HA sets. Think I remember pulling a Trishula too as well from a pack of HA04. Good times...Now I have the structure deck core thanks to a friend & waiting for that new Ice Barrier support!

With the frog engine, i definitely found some good uses for ice barrier. However it is the most inconsistent archetype I've ever been a fan of. If it weren't for the trish dragons, this would've been worse than something like melodious or pure ghostrick

Magical Triangle of the Ice Barrier doesn't recruit from the deck, it only allows you to special summon an Ice Barrier monster from hand.

Finally, the poster child for all things failed within the yugimons

I absolutely LOVE Winds Over the Ice Barrier. The ultra is so good looking!!

Duel links Ice barriers were a pita

I feel like we're due for Amazoness. An archetype that is always so close to be something, but never was able to close the gap.

I miss your videos explaining/going through the latest ban lists. Even though these are also 100% appreciated

Every time I see DT cards get modern support, I also got hope for Dragunity. Specially ice barrier.

It turns out I use a slightly modified version of the structure deck in Duel Links. I added Defender of the Ice Barrier to enable lv 11 synchros to get at Trishula Zero. It's a pretty good going second deck; if you can put Trishula Zero out and resummon Revealer with Freezing Chains, it's pretty much a quick OTK.

ice barrier designed to limit and stun opponent play with the main deck by swarm the field with its member before swing for game with the synchros. a simple fact that most player slip by (most player would synchro too early before they can otk and waste blanket of stun/protection main deck ice barrier provide). however, despite the main deck monster have good and strong effect, there was no card that actually help them swarm the field and connect them together for years. as result, most of its member 'seek refuge' in other deck instead.

God bless those new cards breathing new life into my favorite deck. So much more you can do now!

Finally it's here. I'm looking forward to playing the new support of this deck

i clicked on the video and i haven't watched 1 min yet im hating hard on the title. will watch the full video to see if this video change my mind or that i can agree with some of the points >:L

@TheDuelLogs 1) The Ice Barrier is actually a playable deck in non-competitive enviroment since their structure deck were released. It's nowhere near as bad as it used to be. 2) The video description is about Galaxy Eyes...

As an ice barrier player, what the deck desperately needs is a link 2 that reads you can link summon this card with material from your hand including an ice barrier monster, because it dies to just losing your normal summoned monster. and give the link a decent effect on top of that. preferably a 1850 atk WATER Spellcaster.

Part 1 : I don't know if calling Ice Barrier garbage is appropiate. Don't get me wrong, during their lauch most of the other synchro decks are way more consistent and the only decent strategy before the XYZ era was likley, overall, Wetlands beatdown (one of the lv2 tuner becomes a 2500 gravity binds on legs, while the other is a 2400 direct attacker) with some synchro tech options (I will mention below), but when you consider a lot of the cards synergies and plays, the deck, before the craziness of Pendulum era break my board type of game, the deck could pull plays enough to be considered a average 5-6/10 deck. A failed deck, yes, but not trash. Something that it is not being mentioned is that together with the Prior of Ice barrier, the XYZ era came together with lots of WATER and Aqua support (thanks Nasch) that improved their, somewhat consistency, even if slow, and could provide some extra decks plays as well okay protection. Cards like Salvage, Surface, Silent Angler, Tidal the WATER LV7 Dragon Ruler (only banned for good in the OCG in 2015), Sea lord Amulet, Morray of Greed are options. In slower days, Prior of the Ice Barrier seems restrictive at first due to preventing your syncro plays and seems to be just a decent Rank 2 engine. What some not realize is that he works as a monster reborn to any Ice Barrier monster that can be spamed through the use of Salvage and Surface. The former you could ressurect any LV4, or below, Ice Barrier monster from the GY as long you controlled another IB monster in the field and by abusing the Special Summon built in. You could abuse the latter spell to summon any IB from the GY, since the restriction only applies if you Special Summon Prior; if you don't, the restriction doesn't apply: normal Prior, ressurect any other IB, then use surface to bring it back and ressurect another, therefore allowing for synchro and some above above Rank 4 plays; Combo Prior with cards like Silent Angler, Strategist (set-up GY), Spellbreaker (Salvage Target besides Angler), it is possible to get Rank 4 plays (generic; Bahamut Shark; Abyss Dweller for both the floodgate effect and the ATK boost- making Gantala and Tidal over 3000 ATK) . The high level best targets are Raiho (Sea Lord Amulet protects from spells and traps, his discard effect can drain opponets resources or prevent plays mid - late game) and Gantala (slow in getting back your other mosnters, but has good synergy with a turner I will mention below; also it allows Rank 7 plays). Granted, getting the generals in the grave is trick besides using Stratgist (or Spellbrekaer), however, using Foolish or Tidal (at 1) could get them from the Deck to the GY (Tidal also helped with Rank 7 if you have both him and Gantala on the GY), also discard for cost Traps could help in this regard. Now let's talk about the tuner that allows unexpected synchro plays: the lv 3, Defender of the Ice Barrier: -Target for Salvage and Surface, preferably using the latter, to perform the synchro plays. -By normal summoning him plus and Angler, the generic LV7 Synchro line up becomes including the two Rose Dragons (also used for banish fodder to Tidal, since they asre Dragons). If a Surface is used, you could get a level 10; - Spellbrekaer and Strategist are his best Ice Barrier LV4 to combo with. Why? Because they are both Spellcaster, therefore allowing for summoning Arcanite Magician, pop up 2 cards them using it for another Extra Deck play. -Gantala combo was a okay safety net for battle protection, by reviving him in preparation for the opponent turn. Also, with prior plus surface, you can get a qucik Lv10 if waiting is not the game. With these resources , it is possilbe to to get 2 LV 7 on the field bu using Gantala (using Prior), Tidal (while legal) or using another Lv 7 synchro, even if requires a bit of set up and require playing a slower format. Allowing access to Dracossack, Big Eye and The Mermail Rank 7 (two Gantala or one plus Tidal). It is also possilbe to bring Trishula, and I am not talking about the awkward using the 4+3+2 mosnter, but a 3+3+3 combo: Summon Dracossack, use it's effect to suumon two lv3 token, then use Defender to tune into Trsihula. KEEP IN MIND, what I described is not super consitent to all of the above, especially with bans from Tidal; but it was possilbe, with differents degree of accesibility in the deck. The easier plays are doing Rank 2 or 4 builds with generic plus WATER support, with some lv 7 synchro tech by using Defender into Black or Moon Rose Dragons, Arcanite and maybe an LV10. And despite all that the deck being played in that past format would be average, but fun to use.

I loved using ice barriers as a super budget control/lockout deck using only the low lv ice barriers and the wetlands field spell. Master duel low rarity event was handed to me on a silver platter

DO you think Flat Earthers love the Ice Barrier cards?

I know someone who plays ice barrier, and he sweeps 80% of the time. It all depends on how you pilot the deck, and what you run

YESSS I’VE BEEN WAITING FOR THIS ONE

Dewdark was actually usable by his own with wetlands the field for lv2 and lv1 water monster get a huge boost alike having a 2400 atk for do a direct attack was something, adding that to the frog decks was pretty good

Honestly not only ice barrier but all the early hidden arsenal based archetypes had one horrendous mindset taken into their creation. Effects related to the lore no matter how good or bad that may be! Now support has made things better for most of them but several hidden arsenal archetypes are still horrible even if their designs are sweet!

Ice Barrier extra deck is the main deck's older brother

I still sustain that Ice Barrier has one of the best illustrations in the game, and that was why it painted me so much how besides the boss monster they were literally unplayable.

You should do why no body plays amazoness/ F.A

Ice Barrier is my hands down favorite arc-type ever released, and I spent so much time deck building with it ever since it's release to try and make it work and I could never do anything with it and ended up playing Blackwings up until the Qliporth release, when I stopped playing the game in general. I wish the Ice Barriers could've been good

In Duel Links back before the Skill:Balance got nerfed, ice barrier magic triangle was the coldest OTK at the time Not everyone had triple Dark World Dealings/Enter the Void- but if you did…. maaaan 😮‍💨

When you use this frame of reference, only %1 of decks in that era were good lol. The synchros were absolutely a problem that could have been easily fixed before the cards were shipped. Playing them only in an Ice Barrier deck felt pretty fair most of the time.

It's actually impressive how much support Ice Barrier got that was almost all bad. The new stuff finally fixes it.

I actually built an ice barrier deck and managed to be a threat at times. Granted i did research the cards before they came out. I also splashed in other cards to help the deck to flow and run better.

One time I jokingly said “Here me out… Ice Barrier Tearlament” (when Tear was at full power, Ishizu cards just got banned, and we all knew more bans were coming). Got the groans I expected when anyone says ‘Ice Barrier’, but one person went “Hol’ up, let him cook.” Then everyone paused for a second with the ‘wait a moment…’ look in their eyes as they realized Ice Barrier was Water type and COULD be run with Tear… before they rightfully dismissed it with laughs.

I think why archetypes in the Hidden Arsenal Era were mostly bad it's how line there effects would of become if they were in the 5Ds Anime or that Yugioh back then was way more restricted

I love my ice barrier deck, I have blended a couple Atlantean monsters for extension and I play cause I just love the artwork of Trishula and I make it work.

I love the concept of these videos would you consider doing one of these but I'm successful mechanics in duel links I've heard that duel links has seen some of archetype successes that haven't seen it in the real game

Omg,Devloren and Gungnir were such overkill in Meremail-Abyss back in days.Devloren return Abyssmegalo,Abyss scale equip spell,Aquarium stage and Atlanteans to gain up to 4000 atk.Then discard againg for Abyssmegalo to clean the opponet board and go strait for otk/ftk.Gungnir,if you discard Atlantean marksman or heavy infantry can clean up to 4 cards just like that.He does target and destroy tho,but I usually didn't encounter problems with this strategy.

Blizzed, defender of the ice barrier was oretty good when duel links first came out. Playing the umi deck it was great for stalling and digging for pieces

Saying that Ice Barrier is still a "failed archetype" after this new support is absolutely ridiculous. The deck is fully functional and playable now. And it is pretty decent too. Saying all these archetypes are failed makes you look like a fool especially when the decks are getting new support or have won worlds before

tbh i loved playin ice barriers, both irl and in duel links i know they kinda were bottom tier, but it was just fun playin them

According to the lore, the main deck monsters were supposed to seal the Synchros away, which explains why they couldn't summon them easily

Ah yes, the archetype that had so many powerful extra deck threats, but little to show for the main deck, which lead to the archetype's entire identity being those powerful extra deck monsters that would be used in meta decks. And that's how I came up with the term "Ice Barrier Syndrome".

Top 10 most overpowered / underpowered cards / archetypes in Yu-Gi-Oh!

I personally think Ice Barrier is a deck that has some interesting potential, with the powerful boss monsters, but the problem is that the Ice Barrier monsters have very little synergy, other than being Ice Barrier monsters.

How do you feel about the trap card "Ice Barrier"?

I'm a broken record at this point, but Ally of Justice is overdue. It's kind of sad and hilarious that most of the archetypes from the Wurm storyline are terrible. Speaking of Wurms, they belong here, too, as I don't think any of their cards were remotely close to "meta".

Gungnir was my first Syncro. I still use Raiho in my Umi Control deck to this day. I call him “the tax man”

Could you do a video about the FABLED archetype? Never knew why it failed against the Dark World archetype or any other archetype.

I just love ice barrier archtype even if it's a failure. The support with lancea, georgius, mirror magic master and frozen domain is like honey to the archtype but still I think it could be better.

Ice barrier always felt like the archtype thats monsters were meant to be used in any other water deck except its own

You could also add Ice Barrier (trap) as they can search it as if it is belong to them... despite of the trap meant to be Manga card and coincidence same name.

I remember a rush down deck involving Dewdark Frogs and the Wetlands field spell.

Ah yes, the failed Water Blackfeathers. Damn shame too. A perfect example of Konami refusing to just let an architype die, while they ignore others that actually need help or should have been created by now. I *STILL* want my Armor Cards.

You should make a Playlist on Sucessful archetypes, like the atlantean one. That was a fun deck when I played Duel generations, plus I love sea serpents.

Shout out to Reese the Ice Mistress for being a staple of Yugioh DS game decks and NOT being Ice Barrier.

I've been trying so hard to make Ice Barriers work since their release, even to this day. It's a struggle.