Hey everybody, I’m back this week after an exciting week in Germany. I started out day 1 7-1, but lost the first round of day 2, won the 10th round, and lost the last round to unfortunately miss the top cut. With Bochum wrapping up the format, it’s time to look at the future and the new format. In today’s article I’m going to go over my thoughts on the top decks.
Water
Let’s start at the top. It seems like this is the obvious pick for the best deck of the format, at least until the next pack is released. I’d say that this is going to be the deck to beat going into Austin in a few weeks.
The main question is whether or not people are going to be utilizing Undine, or abandoning it for the Mono-Mermail build that Billy and Jeff created. If Bochum were any indicator, I’d say that Mono will be much more played. I don’t think I saw an Undine all weekend long.
Fire-Fist
This deck is interesting. 
Bear and Tenki are insanely good, but I don’t think the other cards the deck plays are particularly good. Gorillia is okay at best. The XYZ is pretty strong. When playtesting with the deck, I found the themed traps to be next to useless. The opponent would always be looking for a way around your monsters without attacking. Because of this, I don’t think you should play many themed trap cards; probably between 0 and 2. Because of this, Dragon is not particularly strong either since there would not be much to search. With the reduced amount of Fire Fists that I think this deck should play, I don’t think Tensu is particularly effective. I think Fire Fists are in an interesting position as they will surely only get better as they get more support in the upcoming set, but for now I don’t know if this deck has enough going for it to be the deck to beat.
Rabbit
From my initial testing, I think Rabbit is still very strong in the new format. The deck only lost Sangan. This may seem like a big hit to this deck as it takes away their ability to use Tour Guide twice in one game. I think to maximize consistency, people should just take this loss and not try to add subpar cards to their deck like Tour Bus and just accept playing Tour Guide into Tour Guide and not having any other targets.
The deck’s access to Dolkka and the fact that it can effectively play Macro gives it a huge advantage in the Water matchup. When I was playtesting with Jack Bruun, every time he drew Macro or made Dolkka early, I almost always lost the game.
I also think Snowman Eater might see some play in this deck. Spirit Reaper isn’t particularly good against most of the top decks, but Snowman can provide a way around Fire Fist monsters without attacking, is obviously insane in the mirror, and is decent against Water. On top of this, it provides the deck with more level 3s to make Leviair.
Wind-Ups
I guess I should at least address this deck. It seems that many of the forums have given this deck a bit of false hope because Summoner Monk with a spell and Shark is still a Shock Master or over 8000 damage. I don’t think this is very viable. It’s extremely specific and nowhere near as good as the previous combo.
I think this deck is completely dead in terms of the competitive scene, but if anything does come of it I don’t think it will have anything to do with Summoner Monk into Invoker. Instead I think it would utilize Bear and Tenki to get Bear and Wind-Up Rabbit.
Blackwings
Blackwings gained a Kalut under this list, but I don’t particularly think that will be enough to do anything on a competitive scene. Blizzard, Shura, Icarus, Gale, Kalut, and Whirlwind are all “good” cards, but the rest of the deck just doesn’t do enough in today’s game. Sirocco being a 2000 beater just doesn’t cut it in today’s game. Bora is essentially Kabazauls that can be Icarused and can’t make Dolkka or Laggia and that’s about it. I don’t think the third Kalut really did anything for this deck.
Samurai
I think Konami went in the wrong direction with this deck. I suppose the slight increase in consistency won’t make much of a difference because with Asceticism they can get Shi En first turn just about every game regardless. I think that this change won’t do much and the deck will remain about the same as it was prior to the banlist.
The biggest problem with this deck is that it gets absolutely destroyed by Water. With Water being the deck to beat, I don’t think it will do much.
Spellbooks
I don’t think there is a reason for this to become a top tier deck until the next set, but when that set drops, watch out. They will surely be tier one, if not the deck to beat.
Geargia
With Water and Fire being the top decks, I don’t think this will do much. Bear and Marksman can pop set Armors. The main reason I’m even bringing this deck up is because of Mono-Mermail. The deck gains some slight grounds in that matchup because now they will have to either draw or search Marksman. They can no longer Undine and pop a set Armor. If the deck does anything, I’d attribute it to this rather than the actual banlist itself.
I think all the other decks that I didn’t mention will remain about the same place they were in the meta. I don’t really think a third Lumina is somehow going to put Lightsworn back on the map and there’s no reason for something like Chaos Dragons to go any higher from its tier 2 position from last format.
It seems that the top deck of the format is shaping up to be Water, followed by Fire and Rabbit, and on down from there. Do you guys think there is some deck that wasn’t mentioned in the article that will be able to compete in a Water and Fire format? Also what do you plan on starting out the new format with? Leave a comment down below and let me know! Until next time, play hard or go home!
Patrick Hoban
Latest posts by Patrick Hoban (see all)
- Deckbuilding and Tournament Structure - May 27, 2015
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