How’s it going guys? I’m back again this week with another article, this time to talk about worlds. If you haven’t guessed it by now, the title of this article is probably the most commonly asked question I have ever received in such a short time frame. I’ll let you know now, I still don’t know. However, I do have a general idea of the format and how it will play out. We recently received the Worlds Forbidden and Limited list and it is very similar to what we predicted (phew, our weeks of testing weren’t wasted). Today I’m just going to give you guys a brief run-down of the possible worlds meta.
It’s important to remember that losing Tour Guide, Wind Up Shark, and Dolkka means a lot more than simply eliminating Rabbit and Wind Ups from our current pool of “best decks”. Going into an event like this, the biggest determining factor will be analysis. The reason is that you now have a wide variety of decks either strengthened or weakened by this; Dino Rabbit and Wind Ups were some of the worst matchups for possible rogue decks. On that same note, cards such as spirit reaper might not be nearly as powerful, and possibly a deck like dragons becomes worse because it can no longer run all over Dino! It may seem pretty black and white, but worlds format is as grey as it gets.
While we’re (Team North America) still undecided on what to play, we’ve all tested and narrowed down our possibilities. While I can’t reveal ALL my secrets, I will give you guys the information I can.
INZEKTORS:
This is probably one of the most expected decks to be present at worlds. Everybody tells me Japan sure does love their little bugs. And they like to tech the deck out a bit too. This is definitely a very viable deck going into the event, losing only Tour Guide and Inzektor Hopper. Its strengths are for one (obviously) their ability to OTK you quickly or gain huge advantage with a simple Dragonfly play. They also have a favorable Chaos Dragon and Samurai Matchup, at least game one they do. The Hero matchup becomes iffy with Drains, Sparks, and Hero Blasts, but it’s still a toss-up. Its main weakness would have to be how it loses to itself pretty often. If your combo goes off every time you’ll probably win every time, but it’s very hard for these little bugs to reach full potential round after round.
HEROS:
Having won Japanese Nationals, and not losing any key cards on the ban list, this deck remains another top contender in the worlds tournament. The biggest strength in this deck is its consistency and versatility. Almost every hand is at least somewhat playable, with many stand-alone cards on top of good combo pieces such as Spark, Alius, and Hero Blast. It works as a great engine, and tops it all off when you drop that late game Miracle Fusion! Inzektors as I’ve said is a toss-up with this deck, however I’d personally put the matchup in favor of Heros, especially without the help of hopper and Tour Guide. The Chaos Dragon matchup isn’t terribly favorable; dropping a lot of big monsters is a problem for this deck as it was for Dino Rabbit as well. I’m not certain percentage-wise how this deck would fare versus anything else; however it does have consistency on its side. The only thing I’m not fond of in Heros is its lack of win conditions. For example Wind Ups have looping, Dino Rabbit has Rabbit + Tour guide, Dragons is playing against Dino Rabbit or opening Future Fusion. These types of positions allow you to say “I will be in a favorable position if this happens”. Obviously it’s broken if you open Drain Blast Miracle C-call etc, but you more or less have to grind most games.
CHAOS DRAGONS:
This deck is far from gone. The only thing this deck actually lost was tour guide, making dark monsters like Tragoedia and Doomcaliber Knight seemingly more relevant. Tour Guide was a big part of the deck. However, bringing two darks to the grave very quickly along with setting up plays by itself outside of other combo pieces makes it very obvious that Tour Guide is the queen of consistency. This deck has a very favorable matchup against Samurai and a good matchup against Heros. It can beat Inzektors if you manage to out speed them, but the bugs will usually get to you first. Hieritacs actually can often beat this deck as well, being able to set up much quicker (especially without poor tour guide). The biggest bonus is the 1-card win condition also known as Future Fusion. When you draw it on turn one you are almost ensured to win that game.
SAMURAIS:
Once again this deck lost nothing on the list, other than the new XYZ monster; however that monster isn’t a crucial piece to this deck (although very good). Being able to go turn 1 Shi-en, Naturia Beast, or draw the game winning card – Gateway – makes this another top contender in the worlds format. It has a subpar matchup against Inzektors and Chaos Dragons, and is more or less a toss-up against Heros, depending on who sets up first. However, any of these bad matchups can easily be turned around with an opening of double United, Gateway, or a Naturai beast lockdown. Steelswarm Roach also becomes very relevant against the dragon matchup, since dropping double Kizan is nothing out of the ordinary here. One of the biggest bonuses Samurais has is its ability to beat all “troll decks” such as Chain Burn and final countdown. Be wary though, if you don’t draw the Veiler those bugs will eat your Shi-En alive!
FINAL COUNTDOWN:
Having Top 16’d YCS Philly with this widely proclaimed “troll deck”, this deck was suggested multiple times to me for the tournament. While it lost absolutely nothing on the list, it did lose its main win condition – SURPRISE. I was able to perform in Philly because people were both unprepared for the deck, and everybody was playing my best matchup (Chaos Dragons). Heros remain another good matchup for this deck, but that’s if they don’t play cards such as Night Beam. The biggest factor would have to be the new time limit for the Worlds Tournament - 60 minutes. This deck could almost always win game one. Previously, it was irrelevant if they sided heavily game two or not because you could simply win in time game three, but this is no longer possible. Inzektors seem like an easy matchup, but with cards such as Decree, Trap stun, Phoenix Winged Wing Blast, and Dust tornado in their side deck, I always seem to be one of those cards away from being OTK’d! Add that all up and then throw both Samurai AND Karakuri into the mix, and this deck looks like an even worse pick. There is no answer to a Naturia Beast, Shien, or Barkion if they don’t put another monster up for your Lava Golem. There will always be that one guy who ignores all logic and plays this deck anyway, but I don’t see it going far in this event.
DARK WORLD:
Having swept the 100th YCS due to under-preparedness and its ability to create blow out games, Dark World comes into the mix of the tournament scene once again! Being able to main deck cards such as Skill Drain, Eradicator Virus, Deck Devastation Virus, and Dragged Down, it can beat virtually any deck game one if you open up properly. That being said, it’s easy to reveal the decks main weakness – itself. Every card in this deck is a combo piece, a discard card, and a card that needs to be discarded. There are no “stand alone” cards in this deck. That type of variation in a deck creates an inherent inconsistency as if you open too many of one side, or possibly none of one of the sides, you have an unplayable hand, which is not that uncommon in Dark World. The other big factor in Dark World is how susceptible it is to Macro Cosmos, Shadow Imprisoning Mirror, Dimensional Fissure, and then generic removal like Bottomless and Dimensional prison. Its Inzektor matchup is fairly poor unless you can hold a skill drain on the field. It has a good hero matchup more or less, and the chaos dragon match comes down to speed. Samurais are probably one of the biggest problems, however whoever goes first is relevant as Naturia Beast turn one will shut you down completely. But, allow dark world one turn without the beast on the field and it is a threat no more!
The decks I have mentioned are what we expect to see at the worlds tournament. I still expect some rogue decks such as a few Karakuri, maybe Chain Burn, and possibly a TG Stun! However the six I listed will probably be the most played ones. As you can see I have listed all the pros and cons of each deck, which reaches my final conclusion – EVERY DECK SUCKS! While that is not entirely accurate, you can see our dilemma here. There is no deck that is fully capable of having a favorable matchup or has above average consistency round after round, making the choice extremely difficult. While I am still undecided, I can tell you what type of deck I will pick – whichever I feel gives me the highest possibility of winning this event. For all I know there could be an undiscovered Crystal Beast deck calling my name as I write this, who knows? I hope you guys got a better idea of the worlds format from this and I’ll continue to work hard alongside our other representatives from North America in the upcoming weeks before worlds. That’s all for now guys, hope you enjoyed. Play hard or go home!
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