He's the Man!

There are generally two types of archetypes: those that are good, and those that are not. Ice Barriers, unfortunately, fall into the latter category. Believe me, I'm not trying to be pessimistic. I've tried so many times to make them work and they just have no legitimate win condition. Flamvells can swarm, Naturias can negate, and Ice Barriers do absolutely NOTHING.

Oh sure they have a few tricks up their sleeves, having a couple of lock combos, but other than that they're just another failed archetype. The best thing about them are probably their Synchro Monsters, three of which (Brionac, Dewloren, and Trishula) are restricted in some form.

But of course all themes have at least card that can shine even outside their own deck. 

General Raiho of Ice Barrier 
(Warrior-Type/WATER/Level 6/ATK 2100/DEF 2300)

When the activated effect of an Effect Monster your opponent controls resolves, your opponent can discard 1 card. If they do not, negate the Effect Monster's effect.

The other day I went with some friends of mine to try our luck at Duel Terminal 4 and I was fortunate enough to get a hold of some Ice Barrier cards. While testing the new Ice Barriers today I realized just how terrible most of they were. General Raiho, however, did produce some interesting results, enough to make me consider teching a copy or two in my Hero Deck as another Fusion Material Monster for Elemental Hero Absolute Zero. After trying it out I have to say:

"IT WORKED WONDERS!!!" 

When I played against Macro today I used a pair of Voltics alongside a pair of Raihos, and it completely shut my opponent down. He couldn't make big pushes without losing hand advantage and I was still able to get all my Heroes back. It was hilarious! ^_^

Remember players, the game ends with you.