TCG Metagame Discussion

[ihop]

My intention for this thread is that it's a quick way to report all new metagame trends in Yugioh, such as cards'/decks popularity and tech choices, as well as news from major events. I don't mean for this to replace discussion threads on meta-worthy cards, just as a catch-all to hopefully help people keep informed about the state of the metagame and hopefully avoid confusion. I should be updating this regularly, but by all means add your own observations/questions/discussion or whatever.

 

I wasn't really sure where to put this, but it's news and information and covers tournaments as well, so this seemed to me to be the best place to put it. I'm not sure about putting it in banlists and theory because most of it will be fact and not theory.

 

[spoiler=Major Event Schedule]

November 7-8 - YCS San Jose

December 5-6 - YCS Lille

 

[spoiler=Viable deck list]

Obviously the format is very very new, but this is a vague theoretic list of decks that should be viable enough. No ordering except that Kozmo is the best.

Kozmo

Infernoid

Yang Zing

Majespecter

Tellarknight

Burning Abyss

HERO

Igknight

Clownblade/15/2/rank 4 spam

(maybes)

Mermail

Spellbook

Qliphort

 

[spoiler=Regionals I may be going to]

These aren't anything special, but I'll be able to provide a detailed analysis of them

Preston - 17/10

Chesterfield - 25/10

Doncaster - 10/1

Blackpool? 17/1

Sheffield - 5/3

Leicester - 19/3

Manchester - 26/3

Scunthorpe - 3/4

Huddersfield - 9/4

Leeds - 16/4

[Maeriberii Haan]

Yo hoppy, for the purpose of the thread, shouldn't you add a schedule of big events too in the opening post?

[ihop]

added that as well as a viable deck list

[ihop]

Minerva Lightsworn are a viable top deck btw, not sure whether I should add them to the viable decks list because you can count the amount of Minervas on your fingers atm.

[Rodrigo]

Minerva Lightsworn are a viable top deck btw, not sure whether I should add them to the viable decks list because you can count the amount of Minervas on your fingers atm.

 

The day my dreams came true. Lightsworn master race.

[Maeriberii Haan]

Well, MinervaLS won't be a deck to prepare for in events anyway (at least for quite a while). Just put it as some sort of honorable mention.

 

Dallas is this weekend, no?

[ihop]

I have to prepare for it :[

 

But yeah, be interesting to see what happens at Dallas since it'll be our first major event with Norden. I imagine Nekroz will be slightly more popular than they were before, and Mermail might be a tiny bit more relevant, but I'm curious to see just how big an effect Norden will actually have.

[Maeriberii Haan]

I'm predicting BA's fall tbh.

 

As decks gain more individual sets of plays per turn thanks to Norden, it actually devalues their single target traps a lot, and Norden gives everyone even easier access to Dweller and Diamond.

 

nekroz is definitely going to be more popular. Really wondering how much the Mathman-bulb engine or similar engines for Herald access will pick up in the YCS.

 

Doll seems to be a strong pick too, perhaps. People's talking about Seraph being the better variant now due to packing more raw power and being more consistent now with Norden's access, but Clown's reliability might still give it an edge. Kinda thinking that either'll be the second best deck.

 

I wonder with a Norden-based metagame, will Void Imagination see more play in Infernoids?

[ihop]

Oh yeah, Dweller is huge especially since it'll almost always be on 2200. Looks like BA, Yang Zing and maybe even Dolls could struggle with that against Nekroz/Tellarknights/Dolls. I also maintain that Clowns are by far the best Doll variant. Be interesting to see how Towers Turbo does now as well considering it's even easier to make Crab King.

 

Void Imagination still sucks.

[Kaiji]

Instant Fusion/Norden doesn't necessarily mean that Seraphs are more consistent since the card doesn't affect the 15%ish chance of assembling Stick + Chair. Yeah I know it's semantics, because what you likely meant was that you can get value out of just a single copy of stick with Instant Fusion.

 

Probably the most value you can get off a stick-Norden play is:

Field a Level 4 without using your normal summon (Thrasher, Hatricker, Unicore?, alternatively Seraphinite + Level 4)

Normal stick, add chair

Rank 4, detach Stick

Norden revive Stick, you can field a 3 material now.

 

It's much better than just normal summoning a stick and passing and imo you have to have access to the above play to make StickChair worth it alongside Norden, outside of Enemy Controller there's no reliable way to grave a stick to get value out of Norden without using your BP or waiting for the opponent to grave it for you.

 

To be fair Nekroz has always had the ability to make 2200 Dwellers, maybe not shaddoll but they also had access to Dweller via clowns, BA are apparently playing Traveler to ignore Dweller so I don't think Norden changes very much outside of Nekroz being able to field a Dweller while they have a monster on board.

[ihop]

Instant Fusion/Norden doesn't necessarily mean that Seraphs are more consistent since the card doesn't affect the 15%ish chance of assembling Stick + Chair. Yeah I know it's semantics, because what you likely meant was that you can get value out of just a single copy of stick with Instant Fusion.

 

Probably the most value you can get off a stick-Norden play is:

Field a Level 4 without using your normal summon (Thrasher, Hatricker, Unicore?, alternatively Seraphinite + Level 4)

Normal stick, add chair

Rank 4, detach Stick

Norden revive Stick, you can field a 3 material now.

 

This entire play has a lot more value in Shaddoll because you can summon Stick and then fusion with it in order to bring it back with Norden, which really does end up being worthwhile. They also have a much better way of dealing with dead Chairs. I maintain the clown engine is better but Norden certainly adds more power plays to the Seraph engine.

 

Regarding Dweller, the big difference is that Nekroz can now make a 2200 Dweller while still keeping a Unicore on board, making it a lot harder for them to get over the Dweller in the next turn.

edit: no that's nonsense, Unicore negates Dweller. Yeah, I guess you're right.

[Maeriberii Haan]

So what's happening in Dallas so far?

[ihop]

Nekroz, Shaddoll and Burning Abyss are still pretty much dominating with other random stuff like Infernoids, RB, Tellarknights and Kozmo milling around among others. The guy using my friend's Minerva is still 7-2, there's actually a couple of PSY-Frames doing fairly well (I think one is x-2-1 atm, so still has a small chance of topping) and one guy's doing with well playing Nekroz with a Speedroid engine because apparently it lets you make Arc Light really easily.

[Bringerofcake]

A psyframe won the giant card event. No nekroz, but there were a few BA decks according to the video

[Toffee.]

Why does it not surprise me that PSY-Frames are in this?

[ihop]

 

"Performage Challengers" is Clownblade to you and I

[Blake]

What all does it entail?

 

Because the heroic engine is kinda ass without Chain.

[ihop]

All I know is one guy played Myrmeleo and lots and lots of backrow

 

https://yugiohblog.konami.com/?p=21798

[Blake]

From reading, it sounds like a pick that was made based on some knowledge of how the deck and interactions work, but not enough forethought was put into it.

 

The problem with the "Clownblade" engine is that... Well, the Blade half sucks. And I could go into this for a while, but not here. Maybe a thread on TB later.

 

I wouldn't be surprised if we saw something like this without the HCs make a showing, given Kagetokage/more Jigabyte can take the Halberd slots, but this just isn't worth it, especially not in a deck lacking Minerva.

[Toffee.]

All I know is one guy played Myrmeleo and lots and lots of backrow

 

https://yugiohblog.konami.com/?p=21798

Doesn't that typically happen, though?

Someone places with [other Deck X] because the Deck is like 5 monsters + 35x backrow?

[ihop]

From reading, it sounds like a pick that was made based on some knowledge of how the deck and interactions work, but not enough forethought was put into it.

 

The problem with the "Clownblade" engine is that... Well, the Blade half sucks. And I could go into this for a while, but not here. Maybe a thread on TB later.

 

I wouldn't be surprised if we saw something like this without the HCs make a showing, given Kagetokage/more Jigabyte can take the Halberd slots, but this just isn't worth it, especially not in a deck lacking Minerva.

 

I don't think you're doing justice to Assault Halberd as a card. It really pressures the opponent into stopping it by any means and because decks like Burning Abyss and Nekroz after they realise it's not a mirror so often end on established fields it's not hard to get it onto the board. The way I see it Assault Halberd is well worth it as its own and a single Thousand Blades is just gravy.

 

Doesn't that typically happen, though?

Someone places with [other Deck X] because the Deck is like 5 monsters + 35x backrow?

 

People don't top YCSes because of backrow, the deck needs some merit on its own (or, in the case of HAT and Satellars, better and specific backrow).

[Toffee.]

People don't top YCSes because of backrow, the deck needs some merit on its own (or, in the case of HAT and Satellars, better and specific backrow).

I was implying that, but still...

[Blake]

I don't think you're doing justice to Assault Halberd as a card. It really pressures the opponent into stopping it by any means and because decks like Burning Abyss and Nekroz after they realise it's not a mirror so often end on established fields it's not hard to get it onto the board. The way I see it Assault Halberd is well worth it as its own and a single Thousand Blades is just gravy.

That's all a fake threat value. From playing the deck, Assault Halberd's search really doesn't mean much, as the search rarely means more than a vanilla level 4. Searching Blades just means you have a dead NS in hand, which is an effective -1 while in hand, and extra Halberds are just there. If you're losing, they don't really save you, and you only resolve Halberd when you're well off most of the time.

 

Cyber Dragon SS is also kinda slow, and leads to it being dead if/when you go first, as well as just not being great outside of the very early game.

 

And Thousand Blades is such a terrible draw. Even when it was optimal to run it, a lot of people, myself included, hated the card for being funking dead, an the name 'Clownblade' was never entirely apt, as Blade was a means to recovery outside of T1, not to play the deck.

 

Maybe the threat people feel from Halberd is enough, but Blades certainly isn't, as it is the least live card in the deck by far.

[ihop]

That's all a fake threat value. From playing the deck, Assault Halberd's search really doesn't mean much, as the search rarely means more than a vanilla level 4. Searching Blades just means you have a dead NS in hand, which is an effective -1 while in hand, and extra Halberds are just there. If you're losing, they don't really save you, and you only resolve Halberd when you're well off most of the time.

 

I don't see an issue with it resolving only when you're well off - being able to apply lots of pressure while "well off" is something every deck needs to do because every deck has a way of gaining fast advantage which'll outmuscle you if you're not plussing along with it in the early stages of the game. I also disagree that it doesn't really save you while losing considering the answer to an opponent's field is quite often just an Exciton Knight, which is that much easier to access if you've still got a Halberd sitting in your hand that you got for free when you were the one pressuring the opponent. You'll often force Nekroz players to Valk early game or risk being forced to summon Unicore (a somewhat mediocre card lategame) just to deal with the threat of Exciton Knight, as well as decks like BA needing to blow a discard trap or something on a Halberd because it's so easy to special summon on a field of Dante+Cir and they don't want to make it even easier for you to Dweller them later. Yes, Blades sucks as a draw but with how easy it is to SS Halberd (honestly, it really is) it's always an option to summon it straightaway, and the benefits of having Blades in grave really are enormous because every power play after that is more or less doubled.

[Blake]

I don't see an issue with it resolving only when you're well off - being able to apply lots of pressure while "well off" is something every deck needs to do because every deck has a way of gaining fast advantage which'll outmuscle you if you're not plussing along with it in the early stages of the game. I also disagree that it doesn't really save you while losing considering the answer to an opponent's field is quite often just an Exciton Knight, which is that much easier to access if you've still got a Halberd sitting in your hand that you got for free when you were the one pressuring the opponent. You'll often force Nekroz players to Valk early game or risk being forced to summon Unicore (a somewhat mediocre card lategame) just to deal with the threat of Exciton Knight, as well as decks like BA needing to blow a discard trap or something on a Halberd because it's so easy to special summon on a field of Dante+Cir and they don't want to make it even easier for you to Dweller them later. Yes, Blades sucks as a draw but with how easy it is to SS Halberd (honestly, it really is) it's always an option to summon it straightaway, and the benefits of having Blades in grave really are enormous because every power play after that is more or less doubled.

There's no problem with resolving when well off. But the fact is that the advantage it gains isn't that good, with the exception of BA. I think Nekroz valking it sounds like a serious overreaction, all things considered, and I don't see why they'd be that scared. Sure, you get a potential leg-up in the short term, but are they really that scared of Exciton happening that they'd waste a Valk on it? I'd think they could recover from that rather easily.

 

I did originally play Halberd w/o Blades, before I realized the synergy Blades offered, so I guess I can see using it for BA if nothing else, but I don't really get why it's THAT threatening.

 

Blades won't hit the grave in a timely manner, like, ever. You either NS it after your clown(s) are dead/in hand and needing an NS, or you just have it sit in the hand and rot. Searching it has never been the answer, in my experiences, barring a lack of other Halberds in deck. If you play Traptrix/Seraph/etc., you have even MORE cards you'd rather summon. It's basically like Djinn, deckbuilding wise, except in a format without Lavalval.