With YCS Toronto behind us and Dragon Rulers taking yet another championship title, I would like to look back on some of the decks that people ran at the event. First off I would like to give my congrats to Patrick Hoban who ended up making Top 4 with Dragunity Rulers and Frazier Smith who made it to the Top 16 with Spellbooks. As many people saw last weekend, a plethora of different decks were played at the event and the Top 32 was very diverse with over ten different decks making the cut. With 11 Dragon, 4 Spellbook, and 4 Mermail decks making the Top 32 they were arguably the top 3 decks at the event. This article is going to be sort of a continuation of the one I wrote last week, as I want to take a look at some of the decks which didn’t have high numbers in top and decks that just missed making the top 32, getting knocked out in round 9 or 10.
The first deck I’m going to start off with is Blackwings. With Whirlwind and Duality getting bumped to 3 on the September list, I’m pretty sure everybody if not most people tried the deck out at least once. Like me many people came to the same conclusion; the deck doesn’t really have anything new to offer. Blizzard isn’t the super game-changing card it once was in the past; going into Armed Wing isn’t nearly as threatening as going into Goyo Guardian or Brionac. Shura getting a Vayu and setting [ccProd]Icarus Attack[/ccProd], removing Vayu and Sirocco to get a free 2300 beatstick, these are plays that were great before but now they aren’t so effective. It is also such an uphill battle if you don’t see Whirlwind, as trying to keep up with the other decks in the format can be very challenging. Not playing into Icarus is easier than it was years ago because of the cards we have to our disposal now versus back then. The deck can set up Key Beetle+Emptiness quite easily, but that alone isn’t enough to put the deck at the top as other decks can do it without much effort as well like Evilswarm or Infernity. The deck isn’t the worst however, with it having XYZ/Synchro plays with Kochi, and Kalut being able to put lifepoints to zero relatively fast. Though one did go undefeated in swiss at YCS Toronto, I wouldn’t bet on seeing many Blackwing decks in top 32 at a YCS, as getting through 10-11 rounds can be quite the challenge.
The next deck I want to talk about is Evilswarm. Last format Evilswarm was a direct counter to Dragon Rulers which was the most played deck, stopping them from putting just about anything on board but transitioning into the new format, things have changed. Before you could pretty much assume that the majority of decks you would face in an event would be Dragons, and even with it being a favorable matchup you weren’t guaranteed to win. Now with so many different decks floating around, it is a shot in the dark whether the decks main boss Ophion will hinder your opponent’s deck or not. The Evilswarm monsters in the deck have mediocre stats and do very little on their own, and the fact that they lost a [ccProd]Rescue Rabbit[/ccProd] which was a key monster in the deck certainly didn’t help. Along with losing a rabbit, the deck also lost a Bottomless, [ccProd]Solemn Judgment[/ccProd], and copies of Compulsory which all were vital to the deck. [ccProd]XYZ Encore[/ccProd] getting added to the list of Ophion counters we already have is another thorn in the decks side. Ophion is still a very powerful XYZ monster which can shut other decks down, but with the format housing so many different decks I wouldn’t feel comfortable taking this deck to an event right now.
The 3rd deck I’m going to go over is Constellars. This deck revolves around rank 4s and 5s the main one for this deck being [ccProd]Constellar Pleiades[/ccProd], combining it with Vanity’s Emptiness, [ccProd]Safe Zone[/ccProd], [ccProd]Fiendish Chain[/ccProd], or [ccProd]Kaisier Colosseum[/ccProd] can create problems for your opponent. But this deck has some problems of its own moving into the new format. Like all other trap heavy decks, losing some of your key traps hurts but on top of that Ptolemy M7 went to 1 and they also lost a Tenki, and the decks standard plan for attack isn’t as effective as it was before. Like Ophion, Pleiadas is really effective in the dragon matchup but with so many other decks coming to see play that Pleiadas isn’t all too effective against isn’t a good thing. The Prophecy matchup can be harder now with them running High Priestess again, the deck can potentially have trouble with other decks that you didn’t see much of before like Blackwings, Fire Fists, Bujins, Mermails, or Skill Drain Rulers. With trap cards being put into the main of many decks again, you might have a little trouble getting XYZ monsters on the board without the help of Forbidden Lance. Although the deck isn’t a bad one, as the deck has many cool tricks and plays and runs all sorts of good continuous spells and traps. I have always liked Constellars over Evilswarms with Constellars being tad more versatile. I think maybe if builds are tweaked and the deck is represented by some good pilots (an example being Sean Mccabe who topped YCS Toronto), the deck can do well at future events.
The last deck I’m going to go over is Bujins. The decks key monster being [ccProd]Bujin Yamato[/ccProd], it adding Crane to your hand and putting Turtle or Quilin in your graveyard is the usually goal. The problem with the deck is that it doesn’t have enough support right now. The deck centering itself around [ccProd]Bujin Yamato[/ccProd] makes it so that if you can get Yamato up and protect him, the deck can’t function properly which is why the deck has to run cards like [ccProd]Call of the Haunted[/ccProd] or [ccProd]Pinpoint Guard[/ccProd]. Bujins don’t have a Kerykion, Wolfbark, or Sombre as a recovery play or an easy 1 card XYZ play, the best it has is Bujincarnation which is less consistent and more restrictive than the others. The deck is also too dependent on floodgate cards such as Vanity’s Emptiness and [ccProd]Kaisier Colosseum[/ccProd]. If your opponent gets a board set up before you see these cards they become dead weight, as it can get hard to win since Bujins don’t have some of the powerful field-clearing cards other decks do. Decks like Prophecy or Mermails have no real trouble breaking up the boards that this deck creates. I feel like this archetype needs more support for it to become a top contender.
That’s it for this one guys, YCS Toronto brought so many different decks to the Top 32. I know some of you will disagree with the points I brought up about some of the decks. I’m not saying the decks I mentioned are all terrible, some problems can be fixed with either the format stabilizing or the deck getting more support. Nothing is set in stone right now and anything can change, only time will tell how these decks will affect the meta in the future . Don’t forget the ARG Circuit in Fort Worth is coming up soon , so hope you guys are ready for it! Until next time guys!
- Tyree Tinsley
- YCS Rhode Island 2011 & YCS Meadowlands 2013 Champion
Latest posts by Tyree Tinsley (see all)
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