Introduction to Snake-Eyes and the Diabellstar Engine

Diabellstar the Black Witch

The main star

Diabellstar can, without starting a chain, Special Summon herself from the hand with a discard. Upon Summon, she can set a Sinful Spoils Spell/Trap from the deck.

In most decks, this will be setting Loading... to access a level 1 FIRE Monster. Alternatively, you can set Loading... to be able to negate a face-up card on the field.

If sent to the GY during your Opponent's turn (from your field or hand), this card can Special Summon itself back to the field by discarding a card. This creates a neat little loop to give you constant access to your Sinful Spoils Spell/Traps (but do note that the Traps and Quick Play Spells can still only be activated the turn after they are set).

Generally, decks will want to run 2 Diabellstar, at least until Loading... 's release (in which case only 1 Diabellstar is needed). You may play 3 if you really need to.

WANTED: Seeker of Sinful Spoils

The consistency boost

While this acts as just more copies of Loading... , you would actually prefer to open this more than you do Diabellstar. By opening WANTED, you have access to a draw effect by banishing your used WANTED and shuffling back a Sinful Spoil Spell/Trap that is banished or in your GY. This is recommended to do during turn 3/4, after using OSS' GY effect. This will eventually offset Diabellstar's discard. However, you can still activate the draw effect if you really need the draw on turn 1/2, or if you have guaranteed access to WANTED on turn 3 (such as Discarding WANTED for Diabellstar's Summon).

Original Sinful Spoils - Snake-Eye (OSS)

The generic Special Summon

As a Normal Spell, you can activate this card the same turn you set off it of Loading... 's effect. By sending 1 other face-up card on your field to the GY, you can Special Summon any level 1 FIRE Monster from your deck (or hand). If it comes up, by banishing this card and shuffling a "Snake-Eye" or "Diabellstar" Monster back into the Deck, you can search for a Level 1 FIRE Monster. This is useful for cases in which you need to recover your pieces and to guarantee follow-up on turn 3 onwards. Do note that you can only use 1 effect of this card per turn, and only once that turn.

Sinful Spoils of Betrayal - Silvera

Acting as the Diabellstar version of Loading... , Silvera adds another useful option for the Sinful Spoils engine. By providing a pseudo-omni negate and sending Diabellstar to the GY, Diabellstar can then Summon herself with her effect and set another Sinful Spoil Spell/Trap from your Deck for the next turn. While you can only use 1 Silvera effect per turn, Silvera's other effect will allow you to ensure that the follow-up from a Sinful Spoils S/T card/activation is uninterrupted by negating anything your Opponent tries to chain.

Sinful Spoils of Doom - Rciela

Not really anything of use. Gives your Diabellstar protection, but you want to have her moving on and off the field to activate her effect. While the other effect may seem nice, do note that generally the only way to search for Rciela is to set it off of Diabellstar's effect. This means that it's as slow as Silvera, with Silvera usually being more useful. Generally no reason to choose to set this off of Diabellstar over OSS or Silvera, or run it at all.

Snake-Eye Ash

The starter

Upon Normal or Special Summon, Ash searches for any Level 1 FIRE Monster, typically going to be Loading... . As this can search any level 1 FIRE Monster, you can use this effect to search Loading... if the format and situation calls for it.

By sending this Monster and 1 other face-up card you control to the GY, you can activate Ash's other effect to Special Summon any "Snake-Eye" Monster from your hand or Deck, except itself.

Snake-Eye Oak

Upon Normal or Special Summon, Oak can Special Summon 1 level 1 FIRE Monster from your GY or that is banished. It not only serves as a good extender by reviving a Monster from your GY, but it also allows you to recover pieces that are banished. However, Oak by itself is not combo so you generally do not want to open it. You may consider a second copy of Oak for the follow-up, but is generally not needed.

Oak has the same secondary effect as Ash.

Snake-Eye Birch

While you control a FIRE Monster, you can, without starting a chain, Special Summon Birch from your hand. Mostly used as an extender searched off of Ash, Birch serves as the second card to be sent to the GY to activate Ash's (or Oak's) secondary effect.

Birch's other effect is a slightly modified version of Ash's secondary effect. Instead of being an ignition effect you can trigger during an open game state (like Ash and Oak), you can only activate Birch's secondary effect during your Opponent's turn as a Quick Effect.

With the early release of Loading... , Birch has started seeing its way out of lists as Poplar has far outclassed its utility as an extender.

Snake-Eyes Flamberge Dragon

The "Boss" Monster

Usually Summoned off of either Ash's or Oak's secondary effect, Flamberge mostly acts as yet another combo tool to set up interactions, despite being the "Boss" Monster of the deck.

Flamberge's main effect can place a face-up Monster on either field or GY in your S/T zone as a Continuous Spell. This is a surprisingly versatile effect. As previously mentioned, this can set up an Loading... or any other potential piece of interaction in the S/T zone as part of an endboard. Going second, you could threaten an Opponent's Monster with a very unique form of removal (the only other deck that can do this is Vaylantz [shoutout to my favorite pet deck]). By placing a Monster to your opponent's S/T zone (this could be a handtrap they activated), you can also make your opponent unable to activate cards like Loading... or Loading... .

Flamberge's other effect on the field allows you to, during your Opponent's turn, Special Summon any Monster currently treated as a Continuous Spell to your field. This is not limited to just Monsters placed there by Flamberge's effect. Going first, this may mean Special Summoning an Loading... from your S/T Zone to use her effect during the following turn to go into Loading... or Loading... .

Essentially, Flamberge's first two effects act as a very delayed Loading... .

When sent from your hand or field to the GY, Flamberge can revive two Level 1 FIRE Monsters from your GY. This reads like an amazing effect because it is one. By linking off Flamberge (or sending it to the GY from any other means), you essentially get 2 more Link materials or an entire Rank 1. In most combos, you will try to resolve this effect both during your turn and your Opponent's in order to start snowballing in advantage.

One thing to note for Flamberge (and also Loading... ), by placing cards like Loading... that have the clause You can only control 1 "CARD NAME" into the S/T Zone, they are unable to Summon another copy of that card until they no longer control that card in the S/T Zone. This may come up in the Branded or Generaider matchups.

While Flamberge is by all definitions a brick, it isn't actually that bad to open it, enough that running 2 copies for the grind game (and certain lines to play around handtraps) is considered standard.

The marketable plushy

Poplar, originally released in the OCG/TCG as part of Snake-Eyes' second wave, has made an early debut for Master Duel and has skyrocketed Snake-Eyes' potential as a deck.

When added to the hand, except by drawing it, Poplar summons itself. As a level 1 Fire, Poplar can be searched by Loading... , activating its effect in the process. On Normal or Special Summon, Poplar can search for a Snake-Eye S/T. As a rule of thumb, search Loading... if you need access to Loading... /Loading... or even Loading... . Alternatively, Loading... may help you play through interruptions or even add to your endboard. If sent to the GY, Poplar can place a Fire Monster from your GY in a S/T zone. This is quite useful for not losing advantage when activating Ash/Oak's effects.

Later on, run only at 2 copies because of it actually being less optimal to open in favor of Loading... , Loading... , and Loading... .