Leveling Up With Frogs

Ever since US Nationals I had dedicated myself to mastering the deck that is Frog OTK. Although when the deck was young, I had considered it a luck-based “all or nothing” deck that required you to win die rolls and get lucky throughout the day (see my “die roll jokes” in previous articles). After the deck placed second at Canadian Nationals, I gave the deck a second look and discovered that it was a very hard deck to play. You often had to work for your wins and were sometimes forced to win in unconventional ways.

I Day2′d US Nationals with a 7-2 record and lost out to Herald of Perfection (aka “the worst matchup”) in round 10. I honestly wish I had practiced more with the deck before the event. I came very close to topping, and I feel that with more experience and better sidedeck I could’ve got there. After nationals, I started tearing up local tournaments at The Game Academy. I was pretty confident that I would be able to top8 the 2K tournament, but I also recognized that it was Yu-Gi-Oh! and anything could happen.

My sidedeck had evolved a lot since I had started playing the deck. After Sam Tse took Canadian Nationals by storm, the maindeck had become standardized. No two Frog OTK maindecks differ by more than a card or two. I’ve been using Tse’s exact list from the beginning. Here it is for reference…

Monsters: 26
3 Substitoad
2 Ronintoadin
1 Fishborg Blaster
3 Swap Frog
3 Dupe Frog
3 Poison Draw Frog
3 Unifrog
2 Des Frog
2 Beelze Frog
2 Flip Flop Frog
2 Treeborn Frog

Spells: 14
3 Salvage
3 Hand Destruction
3 Moray of Greed
2 Mass Driver
1 Card Destruction
1 Giant Trunade
1 One for One

I’ll explain some of the choices for those who are unfamilar with the deck (which I find is still a lot of people, despite this being one of the top3 decks of the format). Twenty Frogs is the most logical number, as 20 * 400 = 8000.

The 1-of Fishborg Blaster is definitely needed. If you need extra damage with the Mass Driver OTK (say they gained lifepoints with Magical Android), Fishborg Blaster allows every card in your hand to be an additional 400 damage. Sometimes Frogs get removed with Gladiator Beast Retiari, Banisher of Radiance, or D.D. Warrior Lady and you find that you need to do extra damage. Also, being tuner is extremely relevant as it gives you an alternate win condition. If I see a synchro OTK I’ll usually take it over the option of hoping to draw into a Mass Driver. My synchros of choice are usually a powered-up Dewloren, Tiger King of the Ice Barrier, a Mist Wurm, and 2 Swap Frogs for exactly 8000 (3500 + 2500 + 1000 + 1000). Yet another win condition is to synchro for Colossal Fighter and Armory Arm, attach Armory Arm to your opponent’s big monster, and keep ramming your Colossal Fighter, reviving itself each time, and dealing your opponent 2800 damage for each battle. This OTK allows you dodge Gorz-like effects, but not Hanewata.

Sam Tse’s greatest innovation to the deck was only playing two copies of Mass Driver, the deck’s most common win condition. The key thing you need to realize is that once you resolve a Substitoad loop the game is usually over. You’ll thin the deck of everything minus Mass Drivers and cards that will draw you cards (Moray of Greed, Hand Destruction). After bringing Poison Draw Frogs to the field, you use Swap Frog to send them to the graveyard and draw three cards. In those three cards there has to be a Mass Driver or a draw spell. Getting the Mass Driver early on might seem like a “lucky draw”, but you can usually draw the entire deck if needed.

I really didn’t know what I was doing when it came to the sidedeck. I figured that I should just trust Sam Tse’s judgment on the sidedeck as well, and decided to play this side in the national tournament…

Sidedeck: 15
1 Gorz the Emissary of Darkness
2 Light and Darkness Dragon
1 Caius the Shadow Monarch
2 Deep Sea Diva
1 Spined Gillman
2 Pot of Avarice
1 Brain Control
1 Enemy Controller
1 Heavy Storm
1 Mystical Space Typhoon
1 Torrential Tribute
1 Raigeki Break

Although I liked some of the cards, I found most of them to be useless. Light and Darkness Dragon was amazing, and I liked my Raigeki Break tech pretty well, but most of the time the side just wasn’t good enough. I modified the monsters in the side after I saw the lists that topped our nationals.

Sidedeck: 15
1 Gorz the Emissary of Darkness
2 Light and Darkness Dragon
2 Quickdraw Synchron
2 Cyber Dragon
2 Pot of Avarice
1 Brain Control
1 Enemy Controller
1 Heavy Storm
1 Mystical Space Typhoon
1 Torrential Tribute
1 Raigeki Break

Quickdraw Synchron seemed great in theory, but I found that it usually sat in my hand the entire game. Interestingly enough, I found that most of my friends were having the same experience with it. Cyber Dragon was decent, but it wasn’t as stellar as people were making it out to be. Again, the only card that I liked in the side was Light and Darkness Dragon. These less-than-optimal sidedecks were good enough to win local tournaments, but I wanted my sidedeck to be something reliable rather than a pile of fifteen cards that I might throw in the deck just for fun.

I don’t remember where the idea came from, but I figured that an Absolute Zero sidedeck was worth trying. I figured that a Raigeki on legs was pretty good against most of the format. Absolute Zero leads to some pretty sick blowouts and allows you steal games that you shouldn’t have won. Here was my first draft of the new sidedeck:

Sidedeck: 15
1 Gorz the Emissary of Darkness
1 Elemental Hero Stratos
3 Elemental Hero Alius
3 Miracle Fusion
1 Future Fusion
1 Heavy Storm
2 Gemini Spark
1 Reinforcement of the Army
1 E – Emergency Call
1 Treacherous Trap Hole

I honestly thought this sidedeck would solve a lot of my problem matchups. Absolute Zero wrecks X-Sabers, and 1900 beatsticks are really good against Gladiator Beasts and Anti-Meta (especially after they side out their Bottomless Trap Holes). Treacherous Trap Hole is an amazing card that has saved me on multiple occasions. Destroying two monsters with one cards is amazing against… um… everything? After testing this sidedeck for only a short amount of time I realized that changes needed to be made.

There were a lot of situations where I was sitting on a Moray of Greed with one water monster and a Stratos/Reinforcement/E-Call. Now the play here would be to search the deck for Elemental Hero Ocean and activate Moray of Greed. Only I wasn’t playing Elemental Hero Ocean! I decided to cut Alius for Ocean, just because being a water monster is that good (it also allows me to synchro Ocean with Fishborg). Since I no longer had 3 Alius, I had to cut Gemini Spark down to one, which gave me room to add Mystical Space Typhoon to the sidedeck. Here was the final sidedeck and extra deck…

Extra deck: 15
1 Chimeratech Fortress Dragon
3 Elemental Hero Absolute Zero
2 Armory Arm
1 Ally of Justice Catastor
1 Goyo Guardian
1 Brionac, Dragon of the Ice Barrier
1 Dewloren, Tiger King of the Ice Barrier
1 Black Rose Dragon
1 Stardust Dragon
1 Colossal Fighter
1 Red Dragon Archfiend
1 Mist Wurm

Sidedeck: 15
1 Gorz the Emissary of Darkness
1 Elemental Hero Stratos
2 Elemental Hero Alius
1 Elemental Hero Ocean
3 Miracle Fusion
1 Future Fusion
1 Heavy Storm
1 Gemini Spark
1 Mystical Space Typhoon
1 Reinforcement of the Army
1 E – Emergency Call
1 Treacherous Trap Hole

Here’s what I usually side out, although it varies depending on the matchup:
- 2 Des Frog
- 2 Beelze frog
- 2 Flip Flop Frog
- 2 Unifrog
- 1 Poison Draw Frog
- 3 Hand Destruction
- 1 Card Destruction
- 2 Mass Driver

Now on to the tournament itself, the most exciting part. At this point, I had made a name for myself as the best Frog OTK player in the Tampa Bay area, and many people were expecting me to top. I had decided to call my deck “Next Level Blue” or simply “Next Level Frogs”. I named my deck Next Level Frogs for two reasons. I felt that my sidedeck took the deck to the next level. I’m still convinced that a sidedeck with Elemental Heroes and Miracle Fusions is the best. Secondly, I feel that I’m a next level player. I don’t think I’m up there with Sam Tse, CJ Lack, or Alex Bunts, but I know how to play the deck far better than the average player. I think hard about each play, and my knowledge of math and probability really shines when I play this deck. Also, I am very patient. Winning turn 10 is just as good as winning turn 1 for me. The deck’s style really reminds of Elf Combo, which was one of favorite Magic decks.

Ironically enough, I actually think Frog OTK was a bad meta call for this tournament. Anti-Meta was very popular. The vendors were sold out of Fossil Dyna Pachycephalos the entire day. Also, Gladiator Beasts were popular as well, which is always an uphill battle. I’d say Gladiator Beasts were probably the second most popular deck overall, with X-Sabers being first of course. My best matchup, Frog Monarch was practicing nonexistent. I decided to play Frog OTK only because I knew how to play the deck better than any other deck.

Round 1: Anti-Meta
For game 1, I had opened an FTK hand, but he won the die roll. He summons King Tiger Wangnu and activates Macro Cosmos in my draw phase. I try to stall on 2000 defenders until I can draw answers, but he tributes for Raiza and we’re on to the next game. Game 2 I open the Substitoad combo, but I end up not drawing what I need and I have to go for game on turn 3. He Hanewatas the last 400 damage when I had exact game, but there are only two cards left in my deck and one of them is a Fishborg Blaster. I draw it, set it, and send it at him for game. Game 3 was way too close. He starts out by summoning Doomcaliber Knight, activating Dimensional Fissure, and setting three backrows. I start out by setting Dupe Frog and Mystical Space Typhoon. It gets hit in the end phase by his own MST. He attacks into my Dupe Frog, sets another spell/trap and passed. I decide to special summon Swap Frog to trigger Doomcaliber Knight, normal summon Stratos, and hit for 1800 after searching out Alius. He special summons Cyber Dragon and I thought it was game over. How does my deck beat that, especially with Dimensional Fissure on the field? He runs over the Dupe Frog and passes. I switch Stratos to defense and pass. He adds King Tiger to his board and attacks. My draw for the turn is my one-outer: Treacherous Trap Hole! I summon Alius, and set the Treacherous Trap Hole along with two bluffs, just in case of the off chance that he has Dust Tornado. He thinks for awhile and attacks, and I blow up his monsters. I start beating with Alius while he’s forced to set D.D. Crows and Hanewatas to defend himself. Eventually I put a second Alius on the field and draw into Gemini Spark, just in case. I win.
1-0 (0-1 in die rolls)

Round 2: X-Sabers
I lose the die roll. Game 1 he synchros up for Magical Android early and starts to gain life and also hits me with X-Saber Airbellum a couple of times. I stall by reviving Treeborn Frogs and Ronintoadins until I draw something helpful. He plays Gold Sarcophagus, whose text reads “I win in two turns” because he searches Rescue Cat. I’m able to combo out with Synchros, attack for 9000, leaving him at 600. I reveal the last card in my hand which is Mass Driver, and we’re off to game 2. Game 1 took 26 minutes, so we know that time will be called at some point. He hits for early damage but I’m able to take control of the game with Absolute Zero. Unfortunately time gets called in game 2, and I can’t push for damage so I lose. We’re not allowed to side for game 3, which sucks because both of my Mass Drivers are now in the side deck. I decide to play first, setting Dupe Frog and passing. He Mind Controls, summons Thunder King Rai-Oh, and attacks for 1900. I drop Gorz. He sets three backrows and passes. This is my last turn to win. I have Gorz and token attack. He reveals that his backrows were bluffs, and I take the match.
2-0 (0-2 in die rolls)

Round 3: Demise OTK
This guy didn’t know what any of my cards did, but his deck was surprisingly good. The fact that a deck like this was 2-0 further supports my theory that “Raigeki on legs” is really good right now. I have a turn 2 kill hand so I set Treeborn Frog and pass. He goes Sonic Bird, Advanced Ritual Art, Demise, Doom Dozer and attacks for 5200. He sets a backrow and ends. Next turn I Trunade, Substitoad loop, and OTK with synchros. Game 2 was similar to game 1, only I OTKed with Mass Driver instead.
3-0 (1-2 in die rolls)

Round 4: Gladiator Beasts (Elijah Gersten)
I lose the die roll. Game 1 I get a less than optimal hand, and he quickly Herk + Chariot locks me out of the game. Game 2 I open FTK. Game 3 my five card hand is Future Fusion, Dupe Frog, Substitoad, Giant Trunade, Mystical Space Typhoon. Great hand! I’ll simply Future Fusion to put Fishborg into the grave and turn one Substitoad loop. Unfortunately my sixth card is the Fishborg Blaster, which was very disappointing. I set Dupe Frog and pass. He attacks into it, tags into Murmillo, and Chariots. Then he Dustshoots, and sets me back even more. When I can finally do something relevant, I Trunade and he has Solemn. I lose.
3-1 (1-3 in die rolls)

Round 5: Frog OTK
I lose the die roll, which is usually a death sentence in the mirror match. He opens One For One and turn 1 Substitoad loops. He screws up horribly and punts the game. He’s able to do 7600 damage with Mass Driver. He tries to use Swap Frog’s extra normal summon on a non-Frog multiple times that game, and can’t do enough damage as a result. His hand was actually horrible, but he plays Hand Destructions during the course of his turn and fixes my hand, so I was able to FTK. He starts game 2, and we both open “second turn kill” hands, so he wins. I start game 3 and FTK. I’m glad that’s over with.
4-1 (1-4 in die rolls)

Round 6: X-Sabers
Not much to say about this game. I win the die roll and FTK game 1. Game 2 he has the nuts and kills me on his second turn. Then I FTK game 3.
5-1 (2-4 in die rolls)

Round 7: X-Sabers (Travis Washburn)
I win the die roll and FTK game 1. Game 2 I take control with Absolute Zeroes. I make a bad play by leaving Swap Frog in attack mode with only 1100 lifepoints. I had already used the bounce effect, but I simply could’ve special summoned in defense (although I didn’t want to because he searched Fulhelmknight with Darksoul). I also didn’t realize that my opponent’s water monsters powered-up Absolute Zero, which would have allowed me to make a much better play (his Goyo had stolen Treeborn Frog). Two of his Boggart Knights were gone, but I guess he had a third. He synchros up and attacks over Swap Frog for game. Game 3 I sided back into the FTK, but I couldn’t draw it. I Card Destruction my opponent into a perfect hand and lose.
5-2 (3-4 in die rolls)

Post-match thoughts: I was really disappointed. Had I not misplayed, I would’ve taken the match 2-0. For some reason, it seems like people had expected me to lose in the last round. I suppose I would rather lose to my own misplays than pure luck. My tiebreakers were very strong, and two people with a 5-2 record would make top8. Fortunately enough for me, I slid in at 8th place. In addition, my opponent was starting with a game 1 loss due to registering an illegal extra deck. Sometimes, things just go your way. Joshua Martinez recommended that I spin my totem to make sure that I wasn’t in a dream.

The following matches were all featured on The Game Academy’s youtube channel. Be sure to check it out and when the uploads are finished. Jeremy did amazing commentary as usual.

Top8: Chris Rivera with Zombies
He elects to play first for the second game, and Jake reminds us that neither player can side. He starts with a set monster and 3 backrows. I play Hand Destruction and he comments that he probably should’ve set the other card in his hand (misplay #1). I then special summon Swap Frog and he plays Divine Wrath (misplay #2, you always wait for Substitoad). I play Salvage and he Solemns it (misplay #3). I have another Salvage so I decide to just get back Swap Frog and Poison Draw Frog, put the Draw Drog on the field and end. He attacks over it and passes. I play Swap Frog to thin my deck, bounce and pass. He Emergency Teleports for Psychic Commander and synchs for Urbellum for the Time Seal. For the next couple of turns, I’m walling up with Treeborn and Ronintoadin until I can draw into something. The big play comes when he Brain Controls Treeborn, tributes for Caius, removes Ronintoadin, attacks for 4600, which Time Seals me and leaves me at 100. I realize I had to chance it and see if I can get game. I play Giant Trunade. I normal summon Swap Frog, putting a Ronintoadin back in the grave. I set Mass Driver and Card Destruction for 1 card. With 3 Frogs in the grave and 2 on field, any monster will give me enough damage for game. I draw Flip Flop Frog, which allows me to put 2 additional Frogs in the grave. I reveal my face-down Mass Driver and it’s over.
6-2

After the top4 is determined, we decide to split the prize money at $400 and simply play for the trophy and video coverage. I think splitting was the correct decision, as I knew that I had to play Glads in the top4. In addition, the two people that beat me in the swiss rounds were in the top4 as well. The matchups in the top4 were certain winnable, but not necessarily favorable.

Top4: Maurice Brantley with Glads
I lose the die roll. He starts with Cold Wave, sets a Glad, and passes. I set Dupe Frog and pass. Next turn he plays Prisma, makes Gyzarus, and then makes Heraklinos afterwards. I try to draw outs for a few turns, but I don’t get there and I lose. Game 2 I open One For One and Mass Driver and FTK. Game 3 he starts with a Gladiator Beast, Dimensional Fissure and 3 other backrows. I play Heavy Storm and goes through. What a blowout! The next turn I Substitoad loop and make a 5000 attack Absolute Zero (my four monsters plus his Retiari). Next turn he’s able to Gyzarus but I’ve already taken control of the game at this point.
7-2 (3-5 in die rolls)

Top2: Elijah Gersten with Glads
I lose the die roll. I don’t quite remember how he won game 1, but I believe the game ended very quickly. I probably involved the usual contact fusions and War Chariot. Game 2 I open FTK. For game 3 he knows I’m bringing in the Zero side so he sides out Hanewatas like a master. He opens up with a Bestiari and two backrows. I have a few options, but I decide to go the Substitoad loop and see what he has. He chains Mask Restrict to the first activation and I bring out Unifrog. I bring back Ronintoadin, hoping to blow up the Mask and continue the combo. He plays Conpulsory Evacuation Device on Ronintoadin, so I pass. He contacts, attacks, lags for 2 Laquari, sets a couple of backrows and says go. I summon Stratos, search an Alius and activate Miracle Fusion. Rather than simply chaining Compulsory on Stratos, causing Miracle Fusion to fizzle and winning the game, he decided to wait for Absolute Zero to come out and Compulse him, allowing me to get the 3-for-1. He attacks with a Glad next turn and I drop Gorz; he tags for Murmillo. I summon Alius next turn and start beating. He tops Thunder King and attacks the Gorz token. I trade my Alius with his Thunder King, then Emergency Call another Alius, summon it and say go. He sets a monster as a last resort. I peal another Miracle Fusion, which allows me to attack for game.
8-2 (3-6 in die rolls)

The Game Academy 2K Champion is Allen C. Pennington! Winning this event felt great, and it was a nice way to rap up the format. Hopefully I’ll write a couple more articles in the near future.

*Editor’s Note* – The Game Academy hosts Yu-Gi-Oh! locals every Saturday and Sunday. For more information about our locals, CLICK HERE. Allen is always in attendance to play in our locals to offer advice on card choices and rulings questions. Please check out our

Yes, you’re looking at that right. X-Sabers composed of one third of the Top 32, half of the Top 16, and half of the Top 8! This quick diagram should give you a good idea of what kind of decks to expect at nationals. X-Sabers and Infernities will most certainly remain the most popular decks for awhile. XX-Saber Emmersblades are at about $100 each now, and I expect the price to only get higher for nationals. If you’re determined to play XX-Sabers, I suggest you pick up your set now before they get any higher.

The deck that surprised me the most was the Herald of Perfection deck. Of the three Herald decks that topped, they were fundamentally different from each other, which I consider a good thing. It shows that there is a lot room for innovation regarding this deck. I think part of what allowed the deck to do well was the fact that some people still weren’t prepared for it. Given how well the deck performed, I’ve been hearing a lot of talk of sidedecked Lava Golems and Light-Imprisoning Mirrors. In addition, Banisher of Radiance is a great card for shutting down Heralds as well as Infernities and X-Sabers.

I’m going to seize the opportunity to knock Machinas again. Despite winning YCS Virginia, Machinas only took one spot in the top32. Everyone and their mother seems to be sidedecking Cyber Dragons or System Downs (or both) which makes it very hard for Machinas to beat… anything. Both Machinas and Frog FTK were the inexpensive decks of choice, but it seems that X-Sabers and Infernities stole the spotlight.

If it hadn’t been for Omar Beldon placing first, it would seem that Infernities actually didn’t do particularly well. Beldon had a few smart card choices that I believe carried his build to the top, particularly the sidedeck. There had been some debate about how consistent Ryko, Lightsworn Hunter would be in Infernities, but I think we can all see that it works. Ryko remains the best flip-effect in the game, getting problem cards off the field and milling Infernity monsters at the same time. However, Beldon decided to add Fissure to his arsenal of anti-Consecrated Light tech as well. Like I mentioned last week, Hero’s Rule 2 is a very solid tech card right now. It can protect your graveyard from effects like D.D. Crow and stop your opponent’s recursion like Infernity Launcher and XX-Saber Faultroll as well. Beldon decided to take Herald more seriously than some of the other competitors by adding Light-Imprisoning Mirror and Divine Wrath to his sidedeck. I think it’s possible to improve Omar Beldon’s list (I’d start by putting Plaguespreader Zombie in the deck), but for now, his list serves as a good standard to test with.

I was pretty impressed with both Billy Brake as a player and his decklist as well. It seems that one thing many X-Saber players are worried about is the mirror match. When a player asked me how I planned to beat the X-Saber mirror, my answer was simple, “I’ll just play Rescue Cat before they do!” Rescue Cat is one of the best overall cards in the format, often giving you a 3-for-1 and instantly enabling an in-hand XX-Saber Faultroll. My philosophy was just to run a lot of cards that could search out Rescue Cat and ride my Rescue Cat to a win. Billy Brake seemed to have the same idea, only he took it to a greater extreme than I did. He played just about every card possible that could get Rescue Cat: Sangan, Summoner Monk, and 2 Gold Sarcophagus! Clearly his strategy worked, and this tactic may become a new standard for X-Sabers. He also gave his deck an anti-meta flavor by maindecking 1 D.D. Crow and 1 Thunder King Rai-Oh. Thunder King has seen quite a bit of play lately, so it’s no surprise that it’s found its way into X-Sabers as well.

So what did I learn from last weekend’s results? As the format keeps progressing, the meta seems to be gravitating more and more towards X-Sabers and Infernities (mainly X-Sabers). Infernities are finding new ways to overcome their weakness, Consecrated Light. X-Sabers are the “well-rounded” choice for this format, which is what I like about the deck. Frog Monarchs are being pushed out the meta due to Mask of Restrict approaching sidedeck-staple status (18/32 players were siding it at Chicago). Gladiator Beasts are still a really good choice right now. Similar to last format, its main weakness seems to be it can’t draw “nuts hands” the way Infernities and X-Sabers can. However, I would still consider it to be the most underrated deck for sure.

Despite many players insisting that anti-meta won’t work, tech choices like D.D. Crow and Thunder King Rai-Oh are seemingly everywhere. Compulsory Evacuation Device is also moving up on my list of favorite utility cards. It’s great against Infernities as well as any deck that puts Synchro monsters on the field (wait, isn’t that everything?). This Device is being utilized by nearly every Gladiator Beast deck and is starting to see play in Infernities, Machinas, and sometimes X-Sabers. With everyone searching for ways to improve their matchups, I expect these new tech cards to catch on even more in the few weeks remaining before US Nationals.

I wasn’t surprised when Infernities won YCS Chicago, and I expect them to win Canadian Nationals this weekend as well (due to their unique meta). It has the most raw power of any deck, but it seems to have the most weaknesses as well. This unusual balance makes for a very interesting format. I have a pretty big tournament this weekend as well, and hopefully I’ll come home $2000 richer.

For a competitive card game player, there’s one question that’s always on your mind: What is the best deck? Given that my audience is the competitive Yu-Gi-Oh! player, this is often the question that my articles will try to answer. Everyone has their own experiences and playstyles, so it’s not surprising that different players will arrive at different conclusions regarding the best deck. Right now, if you asked someone to name the best two decks, the most common answer you would get is “Infernities and X-Sabers.”

I was dedicated to Infernities until very recently, and I still think it’s an amazing deck. Several pro players have come out and said that Infernities are the best deck, and I can understand their reasons for believing such. Infernities “good hands” are much better than every others deck’s “good hands”. Imagine you’re going second and you get an amazing hand like this…

You win on your first turn right? Oh sorry, your opponent summoned Consecrated Light first turn. Better luck next time! It’s experiences like this that have caused me lose faith in Infernities. Your opponent might open up with a card like Thunder King Rai-Oh, Consecrated Light, Shadow-Imprisoning Mirror, or Banisher of Radiance, and deep down you know you have quite a few outs in your deck to that card, but you fail to draw them and end up losing anyways.

Right now, I feel that people are really scared of Infernities and therefore are teching heavily against it. Infernities were the most hyped deck after the release of The Shining Darkness, so the field is very prepared for the deck. I see Thunder King Rai-Ohs and D.D. Crows being maindecked quite a bit, and pretty much everyone is sidedecking Consecrated Light or D.D. Crow. Infernities are a very fun deck to play (but not fun to play against!). I think it may become a better choice in the future, just not correct pick for now.

This is also one of the reasons that I didn’t take Lightsworn to any major events during last format. It was a very powerful deck, but there were too many cards that could ruin your day. It’s always been part of my playstyle to use a deck that I know for a fact cannot be easily countered by a single card. That’s also a large reason that I played Gadgets for so many years. I never had to worry about a tech card that would completely shut down the deck.

So what’s the deck that has solid matchups across the board, but doesn’t have some random sidedeck card that completely screws it over? I really wish my answer was something interesting like Fairies, Gadgets, or the 37-monster deck, but it’s probably a deck that you’ve already heard a lot about. Here’s an easy way to sum up my thought process:

Looking at the Y3K statistics from my last article, the deck that I feel put up the best numbers was, unsurprisingly, X-Sabers (overall matchup = 58.3%). X-Sabers definitely had the most impressive numbers overall. While Monarchs had the highest overall matchup percentage, X-Sabers had a higher sample size which makes its numbers much more significant. Infernities and X-Sabers were the only decks to place multiple players into the top8, which says something in itself.

This is one of those fun cases where numbers and theory seem to match up (it actually happens more often than you might think). X-Sabers don’t seem to have any troublesome matchups; you can sidedeck virtually any card and not have to worry a lot about what opponent brings in from their sidedeck against you.

I can say with strong confidence that X-Sabers are the best deck choice right now, but that doesn’t mean you can expect to auto-win all of your matches if you’re using X-Sabers. I’d like to go over some tech cards that I believe will make the average X-Saber deck even better and more prepared for the current meta.

According to the Y3K statistics, X-Sabers had a harder time against Monarchs than any other deck. For this reason, I believe that 3 Mask of Restrict is a sidedeck staple right now. I think Monarchs are extremely underrated right now, so make sure you’re prepared to beat them. I wouldn’t expect to see Monarchs get less play anytime soon.

I really can’t find a reason to not maindeck D.D. Crow in X-Sabers, even though it doesn’t directly benefit the deck. It’s very useful against Infernities, which is arguably your hardest game 1 matchup. It’s also good in the mirror match, as stopping a Gottom’s Emergency Call can often prevent your opponent from winning the game. Just keep in mind that opponent can try to play around D.D. Crow by targeting two monsters in your graveyard. It’s also good against Frog Monarchs for obvious reasons; it removes Treeborn Frog. I find it to be decent against Gladiator Beasts by cutting off Gladiator Beast Equeste + War Chariot loops, as well as stopping Darius combos. Even against Blackwings, stopping Blackwind – Blizzard the Far North’s effect is helpful as well.

Hero’s Rule 2 is definitely the best card you can side in for the mirror match. It’s basically an improved version of D.D. Crow. It negates the effects of both XX-Saber Faultroll and Ragigura and also destroys them. In addition, being able to negate Gottom’s Emergency Call is very important, especially when they chain it to yours. Hero’s Rule 2 is also good at negating Infernity plays. The only downside that it has compared to D.D. Crow is that it’s vulnerable to spell/trap removal.

I hate to state the obvious here, but 3 Consecrated Lights are also a sidedeck staple. Don’t forget that One For One can also bring out Consecrated Light, which means you have about a 49% chance of being able to summon Consecrated Light first turn. Together, Infernities and Blackwings are a sizable percentage of the meta, so you really don’t have an excuse to not sidedeck this card.

The Fairy deck seems to be seeing increased play, which I believe is partially due to its fun factor. I think for the past three weeks in a row I’ve played against a Fairy deck at The Game Academy’s tournaments. Sometimes I’ll have to play against two! After Lightsworn became a non-threat to the meta, many people took the Light-Imprisoning Mirrors out of their sidedecks, but I think it’s time to reconsider that. Combined, Fairies and Lightsworn were 10% of the Y3K meta, which enough to justify sidedecking Light-Imprisoning Mirror. If it sticks, it’s going to win you the game in either of those matchups.

There are other decks that I believe are good choices right now, so I’m not trying to say, “play X-Sabers or lose.” However, the raw power on the deck, combined with the fact that it has very few weaknesses and a lot of flexible sidedeck choices makes it the best overall deck right now. Until Earth-Imprisoning Mirror is released, or a card an effect along the lines of “As long as this card remains face-up on the field, X-Saber decks cannot win the game.” X-Sabers will be very good pick for this format. The meta finally seems to be solidifying, so I think now’s the time to identify a deck that you want to play and stick to it.

I figure there are some people out there who might want it, but I’m not going to list my maindeck or sidedeck for X-Sabers (although I already listed 10 cards in my sidedeck: 3 Consecrated Light, 3 Mask of Restrict, 2 Hero’s Rule 2, and 2 Light-Imprisoning Mirror). The decklist is not set in stone yet, and I like to leave some of the work for you, the reader, to come up with your build that suits your playstyle and your meta. Plus, I’m probably going to take X-Sabers to a regional in Ft. Lauderdale this weekend, so I don’t want to give my list away. If I top8 this weekend, you’ll be sure to hear about it next week! I always set the bar high, so I’m hoping for another 1st place. Florida seems to be having a lot of cash tournaments as of late (I like to refer to Florida as the Yu-Gi-Oh! Cash Tournament capital of the world), which has given me a lot of motivation to study the meta, work on decks, and try to get as much practice as possible.

Warning: If you do not like math (particularly statistics) don’t read this article. If you don’t want to find out what the top decks in the Florida metagame are, don’t read this article either.

After the YCS (that stands for Yu-Gi-Oh! Championship Series) in Virginia had concluded, most competitive players in Florida were thinking the same thing: How can we use the YCS results to prepare for the next major event, The Game Academy’s Y3K? With first place taking home more than $1,000 in cash, this is event is what I would call a big deal.

Although Machinas won the YCS, Infernities and X-Sabers greatly outnumbered the other decks in the top32. As a result, I expected X-Sabers and Infernities to be the most popular decks in the Y3K despite their high price tags. I decided to play Infernities for a few reasons. I believed that it had favorable matchups against both X-Sabers and Machinas. I also thought that shear speed of the deck would be able to beat most of the rogue decks as well.

Weeks before the big event I spent my free time writing a JAVA program that would analyze tournament data in order to get statistics on which decks performed better than others. I thought it would be interesting to see which of my predictions turned out to be right. First, let’s look at the breakdown of what decks were played at The Game Academy’s Y3K, shall we?

Metagame Breakdown
X-Sabers: 14%
Infernities: 11%
Machinas: 11%
Monarchs: 8%
Blackwings: 7%
Gladiator Beasts: 7%
Synchro Cat: 5%
Fairies: 5%
Quickdraw: 5%
Lightsworn: 5%
Zombies: 2%
Absolute Zero: 2%
Frog FTK: 2%
Final Countdown: 2%
Deckout: 2%
Anti-Meta: 2%
Spellcasters: 1%
SalvoDAD: 1%
Burn: 1%
Fish: 1%
Dragons: 1%
Library FTK: 1%
Stardust Assault Mode: 1%
Flamvells: 1%
Gravekeeper’s: 1%
Plants: 1%

It seems that X-Sabers were the most played deck, followed by Infernities and Machinas. No surprise there. What surprised me was the fact that monarchs were the fourth most popular deck. I don’t think anyone saw this coming. It’s little details like this that help distinguish Florida’s metagame from the others. There were 26 decks played in total, which is a lot for an event with about 125 people; on average each deck only had five users.

Although we see the usual suspects at the top of the charts, this is what I would call a very diverse meta. But just how diverse? Approximately 92% diverse. I’m being serious. Although 32% of all statistics are made up, this isn’t one of them. To determine how diverse the meta was, I used a formula similar to one that economic analysts use to determine use diverse an economic market is.

1. Convert each deck’s percentage into a decimal. (14% = .14)
2. Square this decimal. (.14 ^ 2 = .0196)
3. Add all of these squared numbers together (sum = .08)
4. Subtract the result in step #3 from 1. (1 – .08 = .92)
5. Convert the number back into a percentage (.92 = 92%)

Since there are only a few decks with sizable percentages and many decks composing only 1-3% of the meta, it’s no surprise that our formula indicated that we had a very diverse field. A word of advise to those attending competitive events in the near future: Be prepared to face many different kinds of decks, especially in the early rounds.

X-Sabers were almost certainly the deck to beat for this event. They were not only very popular, but they lived up to their hype and preformed well throughout the event. I was interested to see how the new flavor of the month was doing, so I decided to look at the full statistics of the decktype.

X-Saber Stats
Histogram of wins:
7 wins:
6 wins: ++
5 wins: +++
4 wins: ++++
3 wins: ++++
2 wins: +++
1 wins:
0 wins: +

Mean wins: 3.588235294117647
Standard deviation: 1.583462327046801

Round-by-round progress:
Round 1: 82.35294117647058%
Round 2: 67.64705882352942%
Round 3: 62.745098039215684%
Round 4: 64.70588235294117%
Round 5: 59.523809523809526%
Round 6: 57.73195876288659%
Round 7: 57.009345794392516%

Matchups:
vs. Blackwings: 57.14285714285714%
vs. Infernities: 63.63636363636363%
vs. Gladiator Beasts: 54.54545454545454%
vs. Synchro Cat: 100.0%
vs. Monarch: 25.0%
vs. Fairies: 50.0%
vs. Machinas: 58.333333333333336%
vs. Lightsworn: 50.0%
vs. Frog FTK: 66.66666666666666%
vs. Quickdraw: 100.0%
vs. Zombies: 33.33333333333333%
Overall matchup: 58.30122063728622%

The “histogram of wins” shows how many people had a certain number of wins (i.e. two people went 6-1 with X-Sabers, three people went 5-2, etc). Interestingly enough, our histogram shows an approximately normal distribution (which is math language for “bell curve”). Of the seventeen users, five of them had records of 5-2 or better, and most people who played X-Sabers had a mediocre record of only four or three wins.

Those who have taken a college-level statistics class (and remembered most of it) might know what the term “standard deviation” means. It’s a measure of variance, or how much the data deviated from the mean. For the average Yu-Gi-Oh! Player, think of the standard deviation as this: It measures a deck’s consistency. The smaller the standard deviation, the more consistent the deck was (and vice-versa).

My favorite feature of the program is the “round by round progress”, which shows how deck performed as more rounds went by. After round 1 the deck was doing very well (82% wins is very good!) but by the end of the tournament it was performing on more average levels with only 57% wins.

What I expect most people to be interested in, however, is the deck’s matchups. To the surprise of many, X-Sabers beat Infernities about 64% of the time, a statistic which I attribute to superior sidedecks. I was also shocked to notice that X-Sabers beat Monarchs only 25% of the time, which has something to say for the viability of Monarchs in the current meta.

Overall, X-Sabers had a very good performance and solid matchups at the Y3K. I’m definitely going to give X-Sabers high consideration as a deck to play at upcoming regional qualifiers and cash tournaments. Let’s compare X-Sabers to their current rival: Infernities.

Infernity Stats
Histogram of wins:
7 wins:
6 wins: ++
5 wins: +++
4 wins: +
3 wins: +
2 wins: ++++
1 wins: +++
0 wins:

Mean wins: 3.2142857142857144
Standard deviation: 1.8883680959850138

Round-by-round progress:
Round 1: 64.28571428571429%
Round 2: 60.71428571428571%
Round 3: 50.0%
Round 4: 54.54545454545454%
Round 5: 53.03030303030303%
Round 6: 52.63157894736842%
Round 7: 53.57142857142857%

Matchups:
vs. Blackwings: 57.14285714285714%
vs. Gladiator Beasts: 25.0%
vs. X-Sabers: 36.36363636363637%
vs. Synchro Cat: 100.0%
vs. Monarch: 60.0%
vs. Fairies: 50.0%
vs. Machinas: 70.0%
vs. Lightsworn: 40.0%
vs. Frog FTK: 20.0%
vs. Zombies: 50.0%
vs. Quickdraw: 50.0%
Overall matchup: 54.797743240366195%

Like X-Sabers, Infernities took two players to a 6-1 finish and three players to a 5-2 finish. However, Infernities had a lower mean number of wins and higher standard deviation, indicating that perhaps X-Sabers overall did better than Infernities did. Like X-Sabers, the deck’s performance steadily decreased as more rounds were completed.

I was not surprised to see that Infernities lost to Gladiator Beasts; this was what I considered to be Infernities’ worst matchup. I was surprised to see that Infernities only managed to beat Frog FTK a measly 20% of the time. I’m guessing that the Infernities players were under-prepared for the Frog FTK deck and focused too much on the most popular decks. I strangely noticed that most of the X-Saber players were armed with sidedeck tech like Hanewata. Apparently, this was not the case for the Infernity players, which explains why X-Sabers did better against the annoying FTK deck than Infernities did.

I was correct that Infernities had a very favorable matchup against Machinas. To Machina players out there, I recommend moving some anti-Infernity tech to the maindeck to strengthen your matchup (personal favorites here include Thunder King Rai-Oh and D.D. Crow).

Otherwise, Infernities didn’t have amazing matchups against most of the big decks, which was a big letdown to me. This is either a sign that a lot of the Infernity players at the 3K didn’t know how to play that well, or Infernities might be a bit over-hyped.

Many people know me as a Gadget player (even though I play many different kinds of decks), and people are always asking me for my opinion on Gadget’s latest incarnation, Machinas. I always give them the same answer: I think the deck is overplayed due to its low price tag and I think it’s doesn’t have any strong matchups. It’s pretty harsh of me to say that, so let’s get an unbiased opinion, shall we?

Machina Stats
Histogram of wins:
7 wins:
6 wins:
5 wins: ++
4 wins: +++
3 wins: ++
2 wins: +
1 wins: +++++
0 wins:

Mean wins: 2.6923076923076925
Standard deviation: 1.6012815380508714

Round-by-round progress:
Round 1: 69.23076923076923%
Round 2: 50.0%
Round 3: 38.46153846153847%
Round 4: 36.53846153846153%
Round 5: 40.32258064516129%
Round 6: 43.05555555555556%
Round 7: 44.303797468354425%

Matchups:
vs. Blackwings: 50.0%
vs. Infernities: 30.0%
vs. Gladiator Beasts: 66.66666666666666%
vs. X-Sabers: 41.66666666666667%
vs. Synchro Cat: 0.0%
vs. Monarch: 50.0%
vs. Fairies: 33.33333333333333%
vs. Lightsworn: 66.66666666666666%
vs. Frog FTK: 50.0%
vs. Zombies: 33.33333333333333%
Overall matchup: 44.08469945355192%

Machinas didn’t take any players to a 7-1 record, and overall performed very badly. The deck appears to only have a couple of favorable matchups; everything else is 50% or less! The overall matchup is less than 50%, which to me indicates that Machinas aren’t a very good choice in the current meta. Machina players may have to rethink a few things if they want to take their deck to the top again.

I don’t want to make this article too ridiculously long, so I’m going to end the statistics here. If you want to see the statistics of other decks (and I wouldn’t be surprised if you do!) click the “3K stats” link at the end of this article.

For my closing remarks, I’d like to say that I’m officially back, and I’ll be writing articles every week from now on. Be sure to check thegameacademyonline.com every Wednesday for my latest article. Expect to see deck analysis, tournament reports, and statistics after every Game Academy cash tournament!

I’d also like to say that I’ve been talking with “the Mattern” a little bit lately, and I believe that Gladiator Beasts are currently one of the best decks in the current meta. It’s nearly an auto-win vs. Infernities, coin-flips with X-Sabers and Blackwings, and its worst matchup, Machinas, is very easy to side against. In addition, most people aren’t siding against Gladiator Beasts at all and are instead focusing on how to take down X-Sabers and Infernities.

For 3K Stats Link CLICK HERE

Christopher Rivera – 1^st place after swiss

Monsters: 19

[1] Dark Armed Dragon

[1] Mezuki

[1] Gorz the Emissary of Darkness

[1] Spirit Reaper

[2] Goblin Zombie

[2] Krebons

[1] Psychic Commander

[3] Pyramid Turtle

[1] Plaguespreader Zombie

[3] Caius the Shadow Monarch

[1] Sangan

[1] Shutendoji

[1] Zombie Master

Spells: 6

[2] Gold Sarcophagus

[1] Heavy Storm

[1] Mystical Space Typhoon

[1] Brain Control

[1] Emergency Teleport

Traps: 16

[1] Trap Dustshoot

[1] Torrential Tribute

[2] Bottomless Trap Hole

[1] Solemn Judgment

[1] Return from the Different Dimension

[2] Dimensional Prison

[3] Dust Tornado

[3] Divine Wrath

[1] Mirror Force

[1] Starlight Road

Extra Deck: 15

[1] Stardust Dragon

[1] Red Dragon Archfiend

[1] Psychic Lifetrancer

[1] Brionac, Dragon of the Ice Barrier

[1] Gaia Knight, the Force of Earth

[1] Ally of Justice Catastor

[1] Chimeratech Fortress Dragon

[1] Goyo Guardian

[1] Black Rose Dragon

[1] Revived King Ha Des

[1] Colossal Fighter

[1] X-Saber Urbellum

[1] Though Ruler Archfiend

[1] Magical Android

[1] Doomkaiser Dragon

Sidedeck: 15

[3] Crevice of the Different Dimension

[3] D.D. Crow

[3] Breaker the Magical Warrior

[2] Nobleman of Crossout

[1] Starlight Road

[3] Pulling the Rug

Michael Sanders – 2^nd place after swiss

Monsters: 13

[2] Infernity Archfiend

[2] Infernity Mirage

[2] Dark Grepher

[3] Infernity Beetle

[3] Infernity Necromancer

[1] Infernity Avenger

Spells: 13

[1] Zero Max

[1] One for One

[1] Heavy Storm

[2] Book of Moon

[1] Foolish Burial

[1] Brain Control

[1] Reinforcement of the Army

[3] Infernity Launcher

[1] Giant Trunade

[1] Mystical Space Typhoon

Traps: 14

[3] Infernity Inferno

[3] Dust Tornado

[1] Starlight Road

[2] Bottomless Trap Hole

[1] Infernity Barrier

[1] Solemn Judgment

[1] Torrential Tribute

[1] Call of the Haunted

[1] Compulsory Evacuation Device

Extra Deck: 15

[2] Gaia Knight, the Force of Earth

[1] Goyo Guardian

[2] Mist Wurm

[1] Infernity Doom Dragon

[1] Thought Ruler Archfiend

[1] Flamvell Uruquizas

[2] Stardust Dragon

[1] Ally of Justice Catastor

[1] Colossal Fighter

[1] Black Rose Dragon

[1] Magical Android

[1] Chimeratech Fortress

Sidedeck: 15

[1] D.D. Crow

[1] System Down

[2] Cyber Dragon

[2] Fissure

[1] Nobleman of Crossout

[1] Compulsory Evacuation Device

[2] Light-Imprisoning Mirror

[2] Trap Hole

[2] Crevice into the Different Dimension

[1] Blackwing – Sirocco the Dawn

Peter Cattani – 3^rd place after swiss

Monsters: 30

[1] Gorz the Emissary of Darkness

[3] Nova Summoner

[3] Herald the Perfect

[3] Herald of Orange Light

[1] Consecrated Light

[2] Dimensional Alchemist

[1] Arcana Force O – The Fool

[3] Manju of the Ten Thousand Hands

[2] Herald of Purple Light

[2] Honest

[1] Sky Scourge Invicil

[2] Tethys, Goddess of Light

[1] Hecatrice

[2] Soul of Purity and Light

[1] Archlord Kristya

Spells: 7

[1] Brain Control

[3] Dawn of the Herald

[1] Vahalla

[1] Heavy Storm

[1] Upstart Goblin

Traps: 3

[2] Royal Decree

[1] Solemn Judgment

Extra Deck: 15

[1] X-Saber Urbellum

[1] Chimeratech Fortress Dragon

[2] Magical Android

[1] Gaia Knight, the Force of Earth

[2] Colossal Fighter

[1] Stardust Dragon

[1] Red Dragon Archfiend

[1] Thought Ruler Archfiend

[1] Black Rose Dragon

[1] Ally of Justice Catastor

[1] Mist Wurm

[1] Goyo Guardian

[1] Brionac, Dragon of the Ice Barrier

Side Deck: 15

[1] Archlord Kristya

[2] D.D. Crow

[1] Reign-Beaux, Overlord of Dark World

[1] Goldd, Wu-Lord of Dark World

[2] Bottomless Trap Hole

[2] Thunder King Rai-Oh

[1] Morphing Jar

[1] Consecrated Light

[2] Gottoms’ Emergency Call

[2] Cyber Dragon

Rob Tanney – 4^th place after swiss

Monsters: 29

[3] Battle Fader

[3] Substitoad

[3] Swap Frog

[3] Raiza the Storm Monarch

[3] Caius the Shadow Monarch

[3] Light and Darkness Dragon

[2] Jinzo

[2] Treeborn Frog

[2] D.D. Crow

[1] Gorz the Emissary of Darkness

[1] Tragoedia

[1] Dupe Frog

[1] Dark Dust Spirit

[1] Vanity’s Fiend

Spells: 11

[3] Enemy Controller

[3] Soul Exchange

[1] Heavy Storm

[1] Nobleman of Extirmination

[1] Mystical Space Typhoon

[1] Creature Swap

[1] Brain Control

Traps: 0

Extra Deck: 12

[1] Gladiator Beast Heraklinos

[2] Chimeratech Fortress Dragon

[1] Black Rose Dragon

[1] Ancient Fairy Dragon

[1] Red Dragon Archfiend

[1] Thought Ruler Archfiend

[1] Magical Android

[1] X-Saber Urbellum

[1] Goyo Guardian

[1] Stardust Dragon

[1] Brionac, Dragon of the Ice Barrier

Side Deck: 15

[2] Cyber Dragon

[2] Goldd, Wu-Lord of Dark World

[2] Vanity’s Fiend

[1] Burial from a Different Dimension

[3] Threatening Roar

[3] Dust Tornado

[2] Crevice into the Different Dimension

Chalana Bel-Air – 5^th place after swiss

Monsters: 15

[3] Infernity Archfiend

[3] Infernity Necromancer

[3] Infernity Beetle

[2] Infernity Mirage

[1] Infernity Avenger

[2] Dark Grepher

[1] Snipe Hunter

Spells: 10

[3] Infernity Launcher

[1] Card Destruction

[1] Brain Control

[1] Heavy Storm

[1] Foolish Burial

[1] Reinforcement of the Army

[1] Giant Trunade

[1] One for One

Traps: 15

[1] Torrential Tribute

[3] Dust Tornado

[1] Call of the Haunted

[1] Mirror Force

[2] Compulsory Evacuation Device

[3] Infernity Inferno

[1] Solemn Judgment

[1] Infernity Break

[2] Infernity Barrier

Extra Deck: 15

[2] Magical Android

[1] Ally of Justice Catastor

[1] Flamvell Uruquizas

[1] Brionac, Dragon of the Ice Barrier

[1] Goyo Guardian

[1] Gaia Knight, the Force of Earth

[1] Black Rose Dragon

[1] Colossal Fighter

[1] Stardust Dragon

[1] Thought Ruler Archfiend

[1] Hundred Eyes Dragon

[1] Infernity Doom Dragon

[2] Mist Wurm

Side Deck: 15

[3] Ryko, Lightsworn Hunter

[2] D.D. Crow

[1] System Down

[1] Twister

[2] Threatening Roar

[2] Crevice into the Different Dimension

[3] Mirror of Oaths

[1] Gottoms’ Emergency Call

Christopher Krause – 6^th place after swiss

Monsters: 22

[3] XX-Saber Darksoul

[3] XX-Saber Faultroll

[2] XX-Saber Emmersblade

[2] X-Saber Airbellum

[2] XX-Saber Fulhelknight

[2] XX-Saber Boggart Knight

[1] X-Saber Pashuul

[1] X-Saber Palomol

[1] XX-Saber Ragigura

[1] Rescue Cat

[1] Super-Nimble Mega Hamster

[1] D.D. Crow

[1] Gorz the Emissary of Darkness

[1] Ryko, Lightsworn Hunter

Spells: 9

[2] Book of Moon

[1] One for One

[1] Saber Slash

[1] Reinforcement of the Army

[1] Mystical Space Typhoon

[1] Cold Wave

[1] Brain Control

[1] My Body as a Shield

Traps: 9

[2] Dust Tornado

[2] Bottomless Trap Hole

[1] Saber Hole

[2] Gottom’s Emergency Call

[1] Solemn Judgment

[1] Torrential Tribute

Extra Deck: 15

[1] Chimeratech Fortress Dragon

[1] Mist Wurm

[2] X-Sabers Gottoms

[1] Stardust Dragon

[1] Colossal Fighter

[1] Thought Ruler Archfiend

[1] X-Saber Urbellum

[1] Black Rose Dragon

[2] XX-Saber Hyunlei

[1] Goyo Guardian

[1] Brionac, Dragon of the Ice Barrier

[1] Ally of Justice Catastor

[1] Armory Arm

Sidedeck: 15

[2] Cyber Dragon

[3] Consecrated Light

[1] D.D. Crow

[1] My Body as a Shield

[1] Saber Slash

[2] Pulling the Rug

[2] Swallow Flip

[2] Hero’s Rule 2

[1] Mirror of Oaths

Jovani Hernandez – 7^th place after swiss

Monsters: 18

[3] X-Saber Airbellum

[2] XX-Saber Fulhemknight

[1] D.D. Crow

[2] XX-Saber Emmersblade

[2] XX-Saber Boggart Knight

[1] Rescue Cat

[3] XX-Saber Faultroll

[3] XX-Saber Darksoul

[1] XX-Saber Ragigura

Spells: 10

[1] Cold Wave

[1] Mystical Space Typhoon

[1] Giant Trunade

[1] Brain Control

[1] Heavy Storm

[1] Mind Control

[1] My Body as a Shield

[3] Book of Moon

Traps: 12

[2] Saber Hole

[1] Call of the Haunted

[2] Gottom’s Emergency Call

[1] Starlight Road

[2] Bottomless Trap Hole

[1] Torrential Tribute

[1] Mirror Force

[1] Solemn Judgment

[1] Dust Tornado

Extra Deck: 15

[2] XX-Saber Gottoms

[1] Magical Android

[1] Brionac, Dragon of the Ice Barrier

[2] XX-Saber Hyunlei

[1] Stardust Dragon

[2] X-Saber Urbellum

[1] Armory Arm

[1] Chimeratech Fortress Dragon

[1] Colossal Fighter

[1] Black Rose Dragon

[1] Mist Wurm

[1] Goyo Guardian

Sidedeck: 15

[1] Kycoo the Ghost Destroyer

[2] Mask of Restrict

[1] System Down

[2] Cyber Dragon

[1] XX-Saber Pashuul

[2] D.D. Crow

[3] Consecrated Light

[1] My Body as a Shield

[1] One for One

[1] Gottoms’ Emergency Call

Elijah Marnell – 8^th place after swiss

Monsters: 18

[3] Thunder King Rai-Oh

[3] Test Tiger

[2] Gladiator Beast Equeste

[2] Gladiator Beast Samnite

[1] Gladiator Beast Secutor

[1] Gladiator Beast Murmillo

[1] Gladiator Beast Retiari

[1] Rescue Cat

[1] Gladiator Beast Bestiari

[2] Gladiator Beast Laquari

[1] Gladiator Beast Darius

Spells: 5

[3] Book of Moon

[1] Cold Wave

[1] Mystical Space Typhoon

Traps: 17

[3] Dimensional Prison

[3] Compulsory Evacuation Device

[2] Gladiator Beast War Chariot

[2] Starlight Road

[2] Bottomless Trap Hole

[1] Solemn Judgment

[1] Trap Dustshoot

[3] Dust Tornado

Extra Deck: 15

[1] Rainbow Neos

[2] Gladiator Beast Heraklinos

[3] Gladiator Beast Gyzarus

[2] Chimeratech Fortress Dragon

[2] Stardust Dragon

[1] Ally of Justice Catastor

[1] Brionac, Dragon of the Ice Barrier

[1] Goyo Guardian

[1] Black Rose Dragon

[1] Ancient Fairy Dragon

Sidedeck:

[3] Consecrated Light

[3] Pulling the Rug

[2] Pole Position

[2] Gottom’s Emergency Call

[2] Cyber Dragon

[1] Brain Control

[1] Legendary Jujitsu Master

[1] Jowls of Dark Demise

where you can preregister for our 3K Yu-Gi-Oh! Cash Tournament on Saturday, May 29th for only $25!

Everything In One

I’m going to start off this article with two interesting facts about me. The first is that I’ve actually tried to play many different games competitively. However, being competitive at a lot of different things is extremely difficult, and I’ve found that I’ve only been able to be competitive at Yu-Gi-Oh! The only viedo game that I tried to become competitive at was Super Smash Brothers. I still enjoy watching some competitive Smash matches, but I never got good myself.

The other fact is that I love writing controversial articles. I don’t like writing about the things that most semi-competitive players know already. I find that to be boring. I like writing articles that make even the best players think about what I said. One of the reasons that I liked my CrowSworn article from last format was that it generated a good amount of discussion on whether the deck that I described was actually good or not. That’s what I like to see.

So what do these two facts have to do each other? Is Allen going to write a controversial Super Smash Brothers article this week? Actually, that’s not far from the truth…

Nearly every competitive game that exists has tiers, including Yu-Gi-Oh! The phrase “top tier deck” gets thrown around a lot. Every competitive Yu-Gi-Oh! player has a mental list of what decks are “top tier” and what decks aren’t. However, there always a lot of debate (in every competitive game) if tiers are brick walls that can’t be overcome, or can really anything win regardless of its tier status.

One of the things that I thought was great about the Super Smash Brothers community was that, at least once a year, all of the best players would get together and decide on an official tier list. They would take more than 20 video game characters and order them all from best to worst (in the current metagame). With lots of differing opinions, it’s truly amazing that they are all able to reach a consensus on what the best characters are.

In order to decide on the placement of characters into tiers, the Smash Back Room thoroughly examines each character. They look at raw power and stats, as well as each matchup. They would also examine tournament data to see what characters have proven themselves. They do lots of testing to determine each matchup, and they take everything very seriously.

One thing I want to stress here is that you can’t base a tier list off of pure tournament data. There’s going to be a huge sample bias. Every deck isn’t equally represented which is going to affect which decks top major events. The key to coming up with a good tier list is getting many good players to test every possible matchup and drawing conclusions. It might be the case that an underrepresented deck is actually a very good choice in the current meta and has a higher place on the tier list than the tournament data would indicate.

I think it would be amazing if the Yu-Gi-Oh! community were able to do something similar to the Smash Back Room. It would involve a lot of organization and effort; it would be no easy task. I don’t think a “Yugioh Back Room” is going to happen in the near future, so I’ve decided to take matters into my own hands. Today, I’m going to present my own unofficial tier list. This is not set in stone by any means, and I expect many of my choices to be debated and discussed. Here I go…

God Tier: “Good matchups against nearly all of the competitive field”

1. Flamvell Cat – Flamvell engine, Rescue Cat engine

2. Non-Flamvell Cat – Often plays Hamsters or is more dark-heavy with Dark Armed Dragon.

3. Blackwings – Self-explanatory

Good Tier: “A good choices in most fields, but has one or more very poor matchups”

4. Gladiator Beasts – Self-explanatory

5. Quickdraw – Quickdraw Synchron + Dandylion engine, Lonefire engine, and other techs

6. Frog Monarch – Very tribute heavy, based around Treeborn Frog

Almost-There Tier: “Has many coin-flip matchups, some bad matchups, and a few favorable ones”

7. Machinas – Gadgets + Machina support

8. SalvoDAD – Battle Faders, Deko+Salvo engine, Cyber Valley, Caius, other sources of card advantage

Mediocre Tier: “Has a hard time against all of the decks in the upper tiers”

9. Lightsworn – Self-explanatory

10. Flamvell Monarch – Spies, Flamvell Engine, 3 Caius, and other techs

Uncompetitive Tier: “AKA the ‘everything else’ tier. Any deck that wasn’t listed above has topped little or no major events.”

The above list is my interpretation of all of the information that I have about this format so far. This is based off of personal experience, testing, tournament data, and trends in the regional and national metagame. I’m going to take some time to justify of all my choices.

Synchro Cat, what’s to say here? This has been the consensus #1 deck for quite some time now based on tournament data as well as popular opinion. The reason I choose to disguish between Flamvell/Non-Flamvell is that both decks have slightly different matchups and play a little differently. Both variants have been very successful. Synchro Cat’s only extremely difficult matchups are Frog Monarch and Quickdraw, both which make up a very small piece of the meta. Non-Flamvell variants of the Cat deck also have trouble against Gladiator Beasts, but even that matchup is only slightly unfavorable. The Blackwing matchup is also a near coin-flip, but all of your matchups against decks on the lower tiers are very favorable. A good build of Synchro Cat is definitely the best choice in a diverse, undefined field. If you play well, nearly every match should be a win.

Blackwings are firmly in control of the #2 spot in the current meta. Despite the deck’s primary card advantage engine, Black Whirlwind, being limited to 2, the deck continues to preform well. Even with the release of Starlight Road, Icarus Attack remains the best removal card in the game. The advantages over Synchro Cat are obvious: It has a good matchup against Gladiator Beasts, while also having an easier matchup against the anti-Cat decks, Quickdraw and Monarch. On the other hand, Lightsworn is still a tough matchup. The deck also has a tendency to crumble to tech like Dust Tornado and Starlight Road. Blackwings are a very good choice in the current meta, having only a few difficult matchups, and no “auto-lose” matchups at all. Just be sure that you’re prepared to face the deck to beat, Synchro Cat.

Gladiator Beasts are unsurprisingly still a good deck. The popularity of the Flamvell engine and easier Stardust Dragon access has made it harder for Gladiator Beasts to win. The Blackwing deck is still a difficult matchup, and it’s popularity makes it difficult for a Gladiator Beast player to survive an 8+ round event. Fortunately enough, both the Quickdraw and Monarch matchups are virtual byes. Gladiator Beasts still know how to punish players who like to set monsters and be conservative. A skilled pilot can easily take Gladiator Beasts to the top if he has the tools to beat Blackwings and Flamvell variants.

Quickdraw variants are relatively new to the scene. It’s a deck that has generated some hype due to several pro players such as Dale Bellido and Jeff Jones having success with it. It loops Drill Warrior with Dandylion to use tokens to block an assault with decks like Synchro Cat, Lightsworn, and Machinas. However, it has a hard time with decks that can take advantage of tokens, Blackwings and Gladiator Beasts. It’s also weak to Royal Oppression which is either maindecked or sidedecked in virtually every deck. The deck can also utilize Caius the Shadow Monarch has a source of card advantage or Light and Darkness Dragon to create a soft lock. The deck is definitely a good choice if you expect a field of mainly Cat decks, but it requires a good meta call in order for you to be successful.

I’m going to be honest here, Frog Monarch is one of my personal favorites at the moment. It’s a deck that is commonly championed by many players, including myself, as “the deck that beats everything except Glad Beasts.” All the deck does is dump Treeborn Frog, and then play a Monarch every turn for an assault of card advantage that most decks just can’t keep up with. Due to Battle Fader, Threatening Roar, and Dark Dust Spirit, you’re going to stomp on every Lightsworn deck that you see. The Synchro Cat matchup is also extremely favorable. You can use monarchs of the Caius and Raiza variety to remove virtually any threat, and you can use Light and Darkness Dragon to lock the game at any point in time. Battle Fader is useful at stopping any Rescue Cat shenanigans. Sadly, the Gladiator Beast matchup is an absolute nightmare. Retiari removing both of your Treeborn Frogs means game over. War Chariots are also effective at destroying any card advantage you might have planned on getting with your monarchs. Don’t play this deck in a field full of Glad Beasts. Once again, if you’re expecting lots of Cats running around, this is an amazing choice.

Machinas are by far the most cost efficient deck in the current meta. All of you need is 3 structure decks and a bunch of staples and you’re ready to go. However, this deck is also very overrepresented due to its price tag. Think of this deck like Walmart: A lot of people use it, and it’s very cheap, but that doesn’t mean that Walmart has the best products. I love to joke that this deck’s worst matchup is Cyber Dragon, which is sadly a very popular card at the moment. An unanswered Cyber Dragon clears the field of all of your monsters via Chimeratech Fortress Dragon. You have to make very careful plays with this deck. It doesn’t have any stellar matchups in the current metagame, but none of the matchups are completely unwinnable either. A very good player could take this deck to a win, but there are definitely safer options.

SalvoDAD is a deck that requires a lot of skill and testing to master. The deck was popularized by Chris Gehring, two-time worlds attendee. Since it’s creation, it has taken a few tops spots at major events, but it hasn’t seen as much success as the decks on the higher tiers. The deck uses Black Salvo, Dekoichi, Cyber Valley, and Caius as sources of card advantage, and is by far the most passive deck in the format. Many players have picked up the deck to match their conservative playstyle. None of the matchups against the higher tier decks are easy by any means, but if you are a more skilled player than your opponent you can expect to win a hard fought battle. This deck has the potential to win a major event if it’s piloted by a very knowledge player with a good sidedeck.

Lightsworn is still the sack deck of choice. Judgment Dragon is one of the best cards ever printed no matter how you look at it. However, the deck is not as explosive as last format, and other decks will be able to set up and gain control of the game before Lightsworn can. The Blackwing matchup is still favorable, but none of the other matchups are much better than 50%. The existence of Starlight Road makes your win condition somewhat less reliable. Lightsworn has gained quite a few tops, but I feel that the deck is overrepresented due to its success last format. However, the deck can be a good choice against an unprepared meta where no one is sidedecking Light-Imprisoning Mirrors. With the right build and a little luck, Lightsworn is bound to remain a good deck.

Last on the tier list is Flamvell Monarch, which also happens to be my least favorite deck of the ten on my list. I’ve commented to many people that “the deck is like Flamvell Cat, only worse.” There’s probably some bias affecting this deck’s placement on the list, but allow me to explain. I see a lot of people playing this deck, yet very few of these decks do well at large-scale events. Triple Caius is good against a lot of decks, but I really don’t feel the other card choices are effective in the current meta. The Flamvell engine is not particularly good against the ubiquitous Gravekeeper Spies, and this deck usually plays 3 Firedogs, 2-3 Magicians, and 2-3 Rekindling. This leads to some very awkward hands against some of the other decks in the format. I just feel this the power of this deck is not on par with all of the other decks in the format. This deck doesn’t have a lot of explosiveness or card advantage. Only use this deck if you’ve tested it a lot, found a build that you like, and are confident in your matchups against the field. You’re going to be fighting an uphill battle, but this deck certainly has the potential to win.

I almost forgot the last tier. The deck you’re playing might fall under the “everything else” tier. If you’ve found an amazing deck that no one else is playing, more power to you. No one expects you to play a deck based on what the public thinks the best decks are. Anyone who’s playing to win should always play the same deck at the every event: whatever deck he feels he has the best chance of doing well with. This deck could be anywhere on the tier list.

Lastly, as you may or may not have guessed, the reason the this article is titled “Everything In One” is because it essentially sums up my opinions on every deck in the current format. It lists every deck’s strengths, weaknesses, and place in the current meta. Anyone who plans on doing well at any big event, such as Shonen Jump Championship New Jersey, needs to have a solid understand of the meta. Until next time (I have no idea when next time will be), test lots, play well, and duel hard.

Come to The Game Academy for the Yu-Gi-Oh! Shining Darkness Sneak Peek and let loose with a barrage of new cards from this exciting new set!

Blackwings soared from the skies in 2009 and stormed the field, with big monsters, fast Summons, and awesome card effects. Now Blackwings get their biggest boost yet with The Shining Darkness, including 9 new Blackwing-themed cards. If you’ve got a Blackwing Deck or have just wanted to try them out, this set has the cards you’re looking for!

While the Blackwings continue to rule the skies, the Infernity monsters are rising up from the depths! Only a couple Infernity monsters have been available until now, but the Infernity Deck gets 15 new cards in The Shining Darkness, to bring it up to First Class competitive status. Infernities are almost sure to be the next big thing, so don’t miss out on your chance to get them!

The Shining Darkness contains 100 new cards, so get ready for new monsters, spells, and traps available for your Yu-Gi-Oh! deck!

Event Info:

Where: The Game Academy

5671 E. Fowler Ave

Tampa, FL 33617

813.914.7000 (please call with any questions)

When: May 1st & 2nd; Doors open at 9 AM

Price: $20 per person

Event is open to all players, no prequalification is necessary.

Each player will receive 5 booster packs of The Shining Darkness + 1 Promo Card while supplies last

Open Dueling (use your 5 packs to construct a 20 card deck and use that to play in an open play environment; the cards you open are yours to keep)

4 Promo T-Shirts and 4 Promo play mats will be raffled off on each day of the pre-release to participants

Free pizza for all participants

WE WILL STILL BE HOLDING OUR REGULAR WEEKEND YU-GI-OH! TOURNAMENTS

Saturday:

1:00 PM Swiss Tournament

$7 Entry

Each participant will receive 1 Turbo Pack (your choice of Turbo Pack 1 or Turbo Pack 2)

Top finishers will receive store credit to be used on anything in the store

Sunday:

12:00 PM Swiss Tournament

$8 Entry

Each participant will receive 1 Booster Pack of the most current set as well as FREE PIZZA

Top finishers will receive store credit to be used on anything in the store

]]> http://www.thegameacademyonline.com/2010/04/13/shining-darkness-yu-gi-oh-sneak-peek-info/feed/ 1 http://www.thegameacademyonline.com/2010/04/05/top-8-decks-from-the-game-academys-2k-on-april-3rd-2010/ http://www.thegameacademyonline.com/2010/04/05/top-8-decks-from-the-game-academys-2k-on-april-3rd-2010/#comments Tue, 06 Apr 2010 00:33:40 +0000 The Game Academy http://www.thegameacademyonline.com/?p=812 TOP 8 DECKLISTS FROM THE GAME ACADEMY’S 2K

Our Y3K Tournament is scheduled for 5/29/2010, details to be posted soon, so make sure to check back frequently. Until then, here are the decklists from “The Game Academy’s 2K Tournament” that happened on April 3rd, 2010. Thank you to all 115 players that showed up, we know for sure the next tournament will be much bigger! Subscribe to our YouTube Channel for all the best feature matches and deck interviews from this tournament as well as upcoming tournaments. Enjoy!

Andrew Fredella – 1st place

Monsters: 20
[3] X-Saber Airbellum
[3] Ryko, Lightsworn Hunrer
[3] Gravekeeper’s Spy
[2] Super-Nimble Mega Hamster
[2] Cyber Dragon
[1] Caius the Shadow Monarch
[1] Gravekeeper’s Descendant
[1] Rescue Cat
[1] Summoner Monk
[1] Gorz the Emissary of Darkness
[1] Flamvell Magician
[1] Sangan

Spells: 14
[3] Pot of Avarice
[3] Book of Moon
[1] Nobleman of Extermination
[1] Brain Control
[1] Mind Control
[1] Cold Wave
[1] Mystical Space Typhoon
[1] Heavy Storm
[1] My Body as a Shield
[1] Allure of Darkness

Traps: 6
[2] Bottomless Trap Hole
[1] Mirror Force
[1] Torrential Tribute
[1] Solemn Judgment
[1] Trap Dustshoot

Extra deck: 15
[1] Chimeratech Fortress Dragon Dragon
[2] Stardust Dragon
[2] Arcanite Magician
[1] Mist Wurm
[1] Magical Android
[1] Red Dragon Archfiend
[1] Colossal Fighter
[1] Black Rose Dragon
[1] Brionac, Dragon of the Ice Barrier
[1] Ally of Justice Catastor
[1] Goyo Guardian
[1] Dark End Dragon
[1] X-Saber Urbellum

Sidedeck: 15
[2] D.D. Crow
[1] Dust Tornado
[2] Thunder King Rai-Oh
[2] Starlight Road
[2] Phantom Dragon
[2] Light-Imprisoning Mirror
[2] Mirror of Oaths
[1] Proto-Cyber Dragon
[1] Chimeratech Fortress Dragon

Justin Parrish – 2nd Place

Monsters:
[1] Spirit Reaper
[1] Blackwing – Gale the Whirlwind
[2] Krebons
[3] Caius the Shadow Monarch
[1] Plaguespreader Zombie
[1] Psychic Commander
[2] Goblin Zombie
[1] Mezuki
[3] Pyramid Turtle
[1] Gorz the Emissary of Darkness
[1] Dark Armed Dragon
[1] Zombie Master
[1] Shutendoji
[1] Sangan

Spells: 7
[2] Gold Sarcophagus
[1] Mystical Space Typhoon
[1] Brain Control
[1] Allure of Darkness
[1] Emergency Teleport
[1] Heavy Storm

Traps: 14
[1] Torrential Tribute
[3] Divine Wrath
[1] Mirror Force
[1] Solemn Judgment
[3] Dimensional Prison
[2] Dust Tornado
[2] Bottomless Trap Hole
[1] Trap Dustshoot

Extra Deck: 15
[2] Stardust Dragon
[1] Thought Ruler Archfiend
[1] Colossal Fighter
[1] Red Dragon Archfiend
[1] X-Saber Urbellum
[1] Black Rose Dragon
[1] Gaia Knight, the Force of Earth
[1] Brionac, Dragon of the Ice Barrier
[1] Doomkaiser Dragon
[1] Revived King Ha Des
[1] Goyo Guardian
[1] Magical Android
[1] Psychic Lifetrancer

Sidedeck: 15
[2] Breaker the Magical Warrior
[2] Kycoo the Ghost Destroyer
[2] Legendary Jujitsu Master
[2] Nobleman of Crossout
[3] Mirror of Oaths
[2] Pulling the rug
[2] Trap Hole

Robert Leander – Top 4

Monsters: 22
[1] Dark Armed Dragon
[1] Flamvell Magician
[1] Summoner Monk
[1] Sangan
[1] Gravekeeper’s Descendant
[3] Gravekeeper’s Spy
[3] X-Saber Airbellum
[1] Rescue Cat
[3] Ryko, Lightsworn Hunter
[2] Super-Nimble Mega Hamster
[2] Cyber Dragon
[2] Caius the Shadow Monarch
[1] Gorz the Emissary of Darkness

Spells: 12
[3] Book of Moon
[2] Pot of Avarice
[1] Mind Control
[1] Brain Control
[1] My Body as a Shield
[1] Cold Wave
[1] Heavy Storm
[1] Mystical Space Typhoon
[1] Smashing Ground

Traps: 7
[2] Bottomless Trap Hole
[2] Dimensional Prison
[1] Torrential Tribute
[1] Mirror Force
[1] Starlight Road

Extra Deck: 15
[2] Chimeratech Fortress Dragon
[1] Mist Wurm
[2] Stardust Dragon
[1] Colossal Fighter
[1] Red Dragon Archfiend
[1] X-Saber Urbellum
[2] Arcanite Magician
[1] Black Rose Dragon
[1] Brionac, Dragon of the Ice Barrier
[1] Goyo Guardian
[1] Ally of Justice Catastor
[1] Magical Android

Sidedeck: 15
[2] D.D. Crow
[2] Mirror of Oaths
[2] Nobleman of Crossout
[2] Trap Hole
[1] Starlight Road
[2] Phantom Dragon
[2] Legendary Jujitsu Master
[2] Proto-Cyber Dragon

Hank Elliott – Top 4

Monsters: 24
[3] Celestia, Lightsworn Angel
[2] Judgment Dragon
[2] Wulf, Lightsworn Beast
[2] Honest
[2] Ryko, Lightsworn Hunter
[2] Aurkus, Lightsworn Druid
[2] Lyla, Lightsworn Sorceress
[2] Flamvell Firedog
[2] Flamvell Magician
[1] Necro Gardna
[1] Plaguespreader Zombie
[1] Card Trooper
[1] Lumina, Lightsworn Summoner
[1] Jain, Lightsworn Paladin

Spells: 12
[1] Heavy Storm
[1] Mystical Space Typhoon
[3] Solar Recharge
[2] Rekindling
[2] Pot of Avarice
[1] Gold Sarcophagus
[1] Brain Control
[1] Charge of the Light Brigade

Traps: 4
[1] Beckoning Light
[1] Torrential Tribute
[2] Bottomless Trap Hole

Extra Deck: 15
[2] Stardust Dragon
[1] Goyo Guardian
[1] Black Rose Dragon
[1] Ally of Justice Catastor
[1] X-Saber Urbellum
[1] Magical Android
[1] Brionac, Dragon of the Ice Barrier
[1] Arcanite Magician
[1] Tempest Magician
[1] Mist Wurm
[1] Thought Ruler Archfiend
[1] Colossal Fighter
[1] Red Dragon Archfiend
[1] Chimeratech Fortress Dragon

Sidedeck: 15
[2] Trap Hole
[1] Cold Wave
[1] Starlight Road
[1] My Body as a Shield
[1] Giant Trunade
[1] Asura Priest
[2] Dust Tornado
[1] Consecrated Light
[2] Royal Decree
[1] Legendary Jujitsu Master
[1] Cyber Dragon
[1] Nobleman of Crossout

Yachir Amat – Top 8

Monsters: 17
[3] Gravekeeper’s Spy
[2] Ryko, Lightsworn Hunter
[3] X-Saber Airbellum
[2] Cyber Dragon
[1] Caius the Shadow Monarch
[1] Sangan
[1] Morphing Jar
[1] Summoner Monk
[1] Gorz Emissary of Darkness
[1] Rescue Cat
[1] Gravekeeper’s Descendant

Spells: 12
[1] Brain Control
[1] Mind Control
[1] Cold Wave
[1] Giant Trunade
[2] Book of Moon
[1] Heavy Storm
[1] My Body as a Shield
[1] Mystical Space Typhoon
[1] Pot of Avarice
[2] Smashing Ground

Traps: 12
[2] Compulsory Evacuation Device
[1] Dimensional Prison
[2] Bottomless Trap Hole
[1] Trap Dustshoot
[2] Royal Oppression
[1] Mirror Force
[1] Torrential Tribute
[1] Solemn Judgment
[1] Starlight Road

Extra Deck: 13
[2] Arcanite Magicain
[2] Stardust Dragon
[1] Ally of Justice Catastor
[1] Brionac, Dragon of the Ice Barrier
[2] Magical Android
[1] Black Rose Dragon
[2] Colossal Fighter
[1] Goyo Guardian
[1] Mist Wurm

Side Deck: 15
[1] Nobleman of Crossout
[1] Dimensional Prison
[2] Legendary Jujitsu Master
[1] Lightning Vortex
[2] Kycoo the Ghost Destroyer
[1] Soul Release
[2] Light-Imprisoning Mirror
[1] D.D. Crow
[1] Mirror of Oaths
[1] Widespread Dud
[1] Call of the Haunted
[1] Dust Tornado
[1] Pot of Avarice

Alex Bunts – Top 8

Monsters: 21
[1] Dark Armed Dragon
[1] Gorz the Emissary of Darkness
[1] Blackwing – Gale the Whirlwind
[3] Blackwing – Sirocco the Dawn
[3] Blackwing – Shura the Blue Flame
[3] Blackwing – Bora the Spear
[3] Blackwing – Kulat the Moon Shadow
[2] Blackwing – Vayu the Emblem of Honor
[2] Blackwing – Blizzard the Far North
[2] Legendary Jujitsu Master

Spells: 8
[1] Heavy Storm
[1] Mystical Space Typhoon
[1] Brain Control
[1] Allure of Darkness
[2] Book of Moon
[2] Black Whirlwind

Traps: 11
[1] Mirror Force
[1] Torrential Tribute
[1] Solemn Judgment
[2] Bottomless Trap Hole
[2] Starlight Road
[2] Dimensional Prison
[2] Icarus Attack

Extra Deck: 15
[2] Blackwing Armor Master
[2] Blackwing Armed Wing
[2] Stardust Dragon
[1] Colossal Fighter
[1] Thought Ruler Archfiend
[1] Brionac, Dragon of the Ice Barrier
[1] Magical Android
[1] Ally of Justice Catastor
[1] Black Rose Dragon
[1] Blackwing – Silverwind the Ascendant
[1] Goyo Guardian

Sidedeck: 15
[1] Delta Crow – Anti Reverse
[1] Royal Oppression
[2] Skill Drain
[1] Giant Trunade
[1] Smashing Ground
[2] D.D. Crow
[2] Dust Tornado
[1] Icarus Attack
[1] The Selection
[1] My Body as a Shield
[1] System Down
[1] Ceasefire

Justin Katz – Top 8

Monsters: 20
[3] Deep Sea Diva
[2] Mystic Tomato
[2] Destiny Hero – Malicious
[1] Plaguespreader Zombie
[1] Dark Grepher
[1] Blackwing – Gale the Whirlwind
[1] Destiny Hero – Doom Lord
[2] Caius the Shadow Monarch
[1] Destiny Hero – Dasher
[1] Spined Gillman
[1] Gorz the Emissary of Darkness
[1] Elemental Hero Stratos
[1] Dark Armed Dragon
[1] Crystal Seer
[1] Armageddon Knight

Spells: 14
[3] Miracle Fusion
[2] Book of Moon
[1] Brain Control
[1] Future Fusion
[1] Foolish Burial
[1] Destiny Draw
[1] Allure of Darkness
[1] Mystical Space Typhoon
[1] Giant Trunade
[1] Heavy Storm
[1] Reinforcement of the Army

Traps: 8
[2] Bottomless Trap Hole
[1] Solemn Judgment
[1] Torrential Tribute
[1] Trap Dustshoot
[1] Interdimensional Matter Transporter
[1] Starlight Road
[1] Mirror Force

Extra Deck: 15
[3] Elemental Hero Absolute Zero
[2] Stardust Dragon
[1] Black Rose Dragon
[1] Ancient Fairy Dragon
[1] Magical Android
[1] Red Dragon Archfiend
[1] Mist Wurm
[1] Ally of Justice Catastor
[1] Thought Ruler Archfiend
[1] Brionac, Dragon of the Ice Barrier
[1] Goyo Guardian
[1] Colossal Fighter

Sidedeck: 15
[2] Chain Disappearance
[2] Dust Tornado
[2] Mirror of Oaths
[2] Phantom Dragon
[2] Legendary Jujitsu Master
[2] D.D. Crow
[2] Pulling the Rug
[1] Lightning Vortex

Christian Cruz – Top 8

Monsters: 21
[1] Exploder Dragon
[3] Red Eyes Darkness Metal Dragon
[2] The Dark Creator
[3] Phantom of Chaos
[1] Prime Material Dragon
[2] Sky Scourge Norleras
[1] Koaki Meiru Dragon
[3] Dark Horus
[3] Red Eyes Wyvern
[1] Dark Armed Dragon
[1] Morphing Jar

Spells: 19
[1] Allure of Darkness
[1] Card Destruction
[1] Upstart Goblin
[1] Dark World Dealings
[1] Gold Sarcophagus
[1] Monster Reincarnation
[1] Future Fusion
[1] Foolish Burial
[1] Super Rejuvenation
[1] My Body as a Shield
[2] Hand Destruction
[2] D.D.R. – Different Dimension Reincarnation
[3] Trade-In
[1] Giant Trunade
[1] Heavy Storm

Traps: 1
[1] Starlight Road

Extra Deck: 9
[2] Five Headed Dragon
[1] Goyo Guardian
[1] Colossal Fighter
[1] Iron Chain Dragon
[1] Trident Dragon
[1] Red Dragon Archfiend
[1] Brionac, Dragon of the Ice Barrier
[1] Stardust Dragon

Sidedeck: 15
[2] Infernal Dragon
[1] Magna Drago
[1] Clear Vice Dragon
[2] Deck Devastation Virus
[1] Brain Control
[1] Bottomless Trap Hole
[1] Torrential Tribute
[1] Mirror Force
[1] Lightning Vortex
[1] Dark Grepher
[2] Hidden Armory
[1] Upstart Goblin