Duelist Alliance doesn’t launch until August 15^th, but it has so many great cards that we have to start talking about them now if we want to stand any chance of getting through them all before the Duelist Alliance Regional season kicks off! While the brand new Pendulum Monsters, like Odd-Eyes Pendulum Dragon, are sure to be a hot commodity right out of the gates, most of the speculation about Duelist Alliance has been about the other “hot” cards – the ones based on Dante Alighieri’s Inferno!
The number 3 has great importance in this monolithic work of literature. Inferno itself is one of 3 parts of an overarching work, the Divine Comedy. Each part is further divided into 33 smaller segments. Even the rhyme scheme of the poem is done in groups of 3 lines, where the first and third lines rhyme, and the odd line out rhymes with the first and third lines of the next group. The entire Divine Comedy is over 14000 lines total. Can you even imagine keeping up such a rhyme scheme for that long, with only a break in between each of the three parts of the story?
Similarly, the number 3 became the focal point for the Malebranche, the diabolical basic monsters of the new Burning Abyss theme! Here’s the first of them, Scarm, Malebranche of the Burning Abyss!
You can see right away that Scarm is Level 3. All of the Malebranche are, and there are 3 of them in Duelist Alliance. Each Malebranche has 3 effects: one that self-destructs it if you control a monster that isn’t a “Burning Abyss” monster, one that allows you to Special Summon it if you control no Spells or Traps, and one that triggers when it is sent to the Graveyard, or in this case in the End Phase of the turn it’s sent to the Graveyard, at which time Scarm grabs a Level 3 DARK Fiend from your Deck.
Also, all Malebranche are themselves Level 3 DARK Fiend-Type monsters, so you can see that Scarm here can go fetch whichever Malebranche you might need for the upcoming turn… orTour Guide from the Underworld, who is certainly no Virgil, but is more than capable of filling your Underworld Guidance Needs. She can also negate that self-destruction effect, making her incredibly valuable in a “Burning Abyss” Deck. You can also use Hate Buster, which you’ll be able to pick up in Battle Pack 3: Monster League, as monster removal, burn damage, and the ability to trigger your effects all in one! In fact, there are a lot of cards that already exist that can help your Burning Abyss Deck – and to be clear, you’ll be able to build a Burning Abyss Deck right out of the gate because there are 5 “Burning Abyss” cards in Duelist Alliance!
But even if you don’t want to build a Burning Abyss Deck, you shouldn’t just ignore the Burning Abyss cards! Dante, Traveler of the Burning Abyss is a “Burning Abyss” Xyz Monster, but he can fit into anyone’s Extra Deck and make an immediate contribution on a number of different fronts.
Dante is the kind of card that everyone can get behind, whether they care about the Burning Abyss theme or not. He’s Rank 3, of course, and his effect can benefit any Deck – but it’s at its best in a Burning Abyss Deck! Dante is made of any 2 Level 3 monsters and is basically a Rank 3 version of Card Trooper, which most Duelists agree is one of the best monsters ever printed. You can send up to 3 cards from the top of your Deck to the Graveyard, and Dante will gain 500 ATK for each until the end of the turn, for a maximum of 2500 ATK. Obviously useful in a Burning Abyss Deck, as you’ll get the effect of any Malebranche that gets sent to the Graveyard, but also useful in Decks like Lightsworn, Inzektors, Dragon Rulers, Madolche, anything Fiend related, and so on.
If Dante attacks he switches to Defense Position at the end of the Battle Phase, putting his massive printed DEF of 2500 to work and keeping most attackers at bay. Being useful on offense and defense is something that Card Trooper never really did. Instead it let you trade a chunk of your Life Points for a free draw when destroyed. Dante also gives you a free card when he’s sent to the Graveyard, but that card has to be a Burning Abyss card from your Graveyard. For now, that effect is only going to be active in a Burning Abyss Deck, but who knows? The future may hold a Malebranche or two that you can splash into your current Deck.
And that concludes our introduction to the new Burning Abyss cards! I’m sure many of you have some burning questions on your mind, but you’ll have to hold tight until later this week when we’ll talk about the remaining Burning Abyss cards. The Duelist Alliance Sneak Peek is on August 9^th and 10^th!


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Dante seems to be so good card to run in a twilight decks e.e
I wonder what this archetype has under it's sleeves to be soon revealed =3 I bet it's gonna be good.

The artwork on these cards is amazing. Can't wait to use them.