How to Properly Side Deck – Part II

In my previous article titled, “How to Properly Side Deck – Part I”, I discussed the importance of a complete understanding of the metagame, both what decks are popular and which cards each popular deck uses.  With this understanding in mind, we are now ready to actually create the Side Deck.

Creating the Side Deck

The ultimate purpose of a Side Deck is to help increase your chances of winning the rest of the duels in the match.  Generally speaking, each deck has different match-ups against the rest of the decks in a given metagame: good, bad, and even match-ups.  How many cards of your Side Deck you dedicate towards a particular match-up depends on two things:

1.)                The level of popularity a given deck has, and
2.)                The threat level a particular match-up.

For example, a particular match-up could be simply devastating for you: 10-90 in your opponent’s favor.  However, only 5% of the metagame uses that deck.  The Side Deck only allows for 15 cards.  How many cards do you dedicate for this deck?  The situation is essentially risk vs reward.  You could dedicate most of your Side Deck towards this match-up because you feel that you will lose Game 1 and need to win Games 2 & 3.  With so many cards sided for one deck, the match-up would be much more favorable.  However, those Side Deck cards will do you no good if you never play against the intended match-up.  On the other hand, siding no cards for this match-up equates to a certain loss should you happen to sit down across from this deck despite the low amount of players using the deck.  Each player must determine the balance between these two extremes that they are comfortable with.

A common answer to this situation is to side cards that perform well against multiple match-ups.  For example, some players may be considering the use of Spell-Shattering Arrow to counter Six Samurais.  Arrow is a fairly narrow card, though.  Outside of its uses against Six Samurais and possibly Gravekeepers, it’s almost useless.  Dust Tornado, although not as powerful against Six Samurais as Spell-Shattering Arrow is, can be used against Six Samurais, Gravekeepers, Gladiator Beasts, Blackwings, Gadgets, and other match-ups.

Mental Decklists

No matter how you decide to construct your Side Deck, you should have “mental decklists” prepared before a major tournament.  By “mental decklist”, I mean a decklist you keep in your mind for how you want your deck look like for Games 2 & 3 for every possible match-up.  For example, if you knew that every single deck you’d play against in a tournament would be Plant Synchro, how would you adjust your deck?  What cards would come in and, more importantly, what cards would come out?

Discussion regarding what cards come out in different match-ups is practically non-existent in online forums.  More focus is spent on tweaking the Main Deck or Side Deck by a couple cards.  When siding during a major tournament, you’re only given three minutes to present your deck to your opponent.  You can better utilize your Side Deck by preparing a mental decklist well before the tournament begins, instead of “winging it” in under three minutes while in the middle of a match.  Not only will using your Side Deck take less time to do and your chances of winning are increased, but just the thought process and discussion behind determining what cards you take out for what cards coming in can increase your understanding of the game and the weaknesses/strengths of your own deck.

Let’s take a look at an example to further clarify the idea of a mental decklist.  Here’s a Plant Synchro deck:

Monsters [21]

[3] Debris Dragon
[3] Ryko, Lightsworn Hunter
[2] Super-Nimble Mega Hamster
[2] Caius the Shadow Monarch
[2] Lonefire Blossom
[2] Dandylion
[1] Tytannial, Princess of Camelias
[1] Glow-Up Bulb
[1] Spore
[1] Sangan
[1] Card Trooper
[1] Effect Veiler
[1] Gorz the Emissary of Darkness

Spells [13]
[1] Dark Hole
[1] Monster Reborn
[1] Pot of Duality
[1] Charge of the Light Brigade
[1] Foolish Burial
[1] Cold Wave
[1] Mystical Space Typhoon
[3] Book of Moon
[3] Pot of Avarice

Traps [7]
[1] Mirror Force
[1] Torrential Tribute
[2] Bottomless Trap Hole
[3] Solemn Warning

41 Cards Total

Side Deck [15]
[1] Effect Veiler
[2] D.D. Crow
[1] Ehren, Lightsworn Monk
[2] Thunder King Rai-Oh
[3] Cyber Dragon
[1] Mystical Space Typhoon
[2] My Body as a Shield
[3] Shadow-Imprisoning Mirror

With this Main and Side Deck, how would you side for the mirror match for example?

Plant Synchro vs Plant Synchro:

-1 Cold Wave
-1 Pot of Duality
-2 Bottomless Trap Hole
+1 Ehren, Lightsworn Monk
+1 Effect Veiler
+2 D.D. Crow

The above changes is exactly what I mean when referring to a mental decklist.  This can be done for every match-up you anticipate playing against.  Make these kind of preparations before the tournament begins, just like you prepare your Main Deck and Side Deck.  Knowing which cards to side into is not enough.  Just because you have the right tools available does not mean you automatically know how to use the tools most effectively.  Determine your Main Deck, construct your Side Deck with an understanding of the metagame in mind, and discuss what changes to make to your deck when siding for each match-up with your friends and peers.  You’ll become a better player in the process, little by little.

If you have any questions or comments, feel free to contact me at evang.vargas@yahoo.com.  And don’t forget to check out my YouTube channel at http://www.youtube.com/thesandtrap!

Evan “SandTrap” Vargas

How to Properly Side Deck – Part I

My name is Evan Vargas.  Before I get into the article, I want to set something straight.  Browsing through online forums, I get the sense that one’s opinion, and how seriously it is taken, is directly proportional to the person’s status as a “pro”.  I’ve seen “pros” make debatable comments, but other players take their word as gospel.  “Pros” are considered to be very good players, and thus it’s easy to just listen to what a “pro” says and take it as fact.  That’s not how it should be.  When an opinion is given, you should take that perspective, add it to your own, and come up with your own conclusions.  If you hope to become a better player, you should strive to achieve a greater understanding of the game.  Just taking an opinion as fact limits your own ability to learn, understand, and grow as a player.

I am writing this article based on my opinion.  If you do not recognize my name, you may be unsure if I know what I’m talking about.  Will you continue reading the article, hoping to grow as a player?  To see if I know what I’m talking about?  That is up to you.  If you do, I hope that I can help you grow as a player, one article at a time.

Proper side decking is a topic not often discussed, and rarely is it discussed in great detail.  On discussion forums, the main focus is on the Main Deck.  With popular decks, the usual discussions revolve around minor tweaks to the Main or Extra Deck.  Less emphasis is put on the Side Deck, which is essential towards success in major tournaments.  And, compared to those minor tweaks, how to properly utilize your Side Deck is more important despite the lack of attention it is given.  When I develop my Side Deck, I generally do three things:

1.)                Analyze the metagame specifically for the tournament you are attending next.

2.)                Familiarize yourself with each deck in that metagame and what they’ll side against your deck.

3.)                Create a proper Side Deck.

Analyze the Metagame

This part is the “easy” part.  With all of the information available online (discussion forums, Konami’s coverage of major tournaments, etc.), determining the popular decks is not a problem.  However, a mistake some players make is assuming that their local is a smaller version of a YCS.  That’s not true.  For example, even though Gladiator Beasts and Machinas are not dominating major tournaments in numbers, one of my locals is filled with those two decks.  This local also lacks Fish and Blackwing decks.  Therefore, if my next tournament is at this local, my Side Deck would be different than if I was attending another local or a YCS.  Do not make the assumption that each local is a miniature reincarnation of the latest major tournament.  Determine which decks are popular at your next tournament’s location, and adjust your Side Deck accordingly.

Familiarization of the Metagame

Once you are aware of what decks to anticipate, you need to learn what each deck’s standard builds are.  Having a solid foundation of knowledge will help you decide which plays are best to make while playing in a duel, as well as helping to determine how you will utilize your Side Deck.  For example, Trap Stun is a commonly played card used in X-Saber decks, whereas standard Machina Gadget decklists do not use Trap Stun.  When a player sets a spell or trap card, you do not know what card it is.  Hypothetically speaking, it could be any spell or trap card in existence.  Knowing which cards are commonly played helps you to predict which spells or traps are set on the field, which will help to make the best plays you could possibly make.

The same concept applies towards the Side Deck.  Different decks side different cards for particular match-ups.  With knowledge of the cards that each particular deck is most likely to side against your deck, you can take advantage of what you predict your opponent will do.  The two main ways to react to your opponent’s Side Deck are:

1.)                Side in cards to counter the cards your opponent is siding in, or

2.)                Side out cards that are weak to the cards your opponent is siding in.

Which strategy you choose to go for is your preference.  For example, when playing Plant Synchro, Nobleman of Crossout is a commonly sided card used to counter the deck’s Rykos and Hamsters.  As the Plant Synchro player, you could side in copies of My Body as a Shield to prevent the Crossouts from removing your Rykos/Hamsters.  Or, you could side out the Rykos and Hamsters for other cards such as Thunder King Rai-Oh and Doomcaliber Knight, removing targets for your opponent’s Crossouts while making your deck more aggressive.

While Part I of my “How to Properly Side Deck” series covers some of the more basic principles, Part II will go into the details of how to properly utilize your Side Deck and the concept of having multiple mental decklists prepared before entering your next tournament.  If you have any questions or comments, feel free to comment below, or contact me at evang.vargas@yahoo.com.  And don’t forget to check out my YouTube channel at http://www.youtube.com/thesandtrap.

Evan “SandTrap” Vargas

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

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.

When: April 3rd, 2010

Where: Clarion Conference Center in Tampa, FL; Map + Directions

Entry Fee: $25

Prize Structure:

1st – 800

2nd – 400

3rd-4th – 200

5th-8th -100

Tournament Details:

Advanced Format Deck Required

Begin registration @ 8 AM

Late registration @ 9:45 AM (if you register after this time, you will be charged a $30 entry fee)

Tournament begins @ 10:00 AM

Other side events will be run throughout the day

This event is UNSANCTIONED

Everyone going to an event, whether locals, regionals, or a Shonen Jump Championship, has to decide what deck to play. Some people might have very limited options, making their choice easy. Others may already have a deck in mind that’s been doing very well for them. I am in neither of these groups of people.

I have the mentality that there’s always a “correct” deck to play for every tournament; some deck that will naturally have a much better chance of winning than any other deck. This is the attitude that a lot of Magic: The Gathering players have when preparing for a big event such as a Pro Tour. My perspective of Yu-Gi-Oh! haas been affected by playing Magic and vice-versa. The challenge set before me was to solve the puzzle. What was the deck to play for SJC Nashville?

When my friends heard that I was going to Nashville (also known as “SJC Gaylord”), their first question was, “Are you playing Gadgets or Lightsworn?” Of course I told them that I hadn’t decided what I was playing yet, and was still considering all of my available options. I found the question that they asked was amusing though. It’s as if they viewed Gadgets and Lightsworn as the only possible decks that I could do well with.

Why would people assume that I would play Lightsworn? I think this was partly due to the article that I wrote a few weeks ago on CrowSworn.The other reason was that Lightsworn is the most popular deck and considered by most people to be the “best” deck. Lightsworn is clearly the deck to beat in this meta. If your deck consistently loses to Lightsworn, you should disregard it as a viable deck for any high-level event.

Why isn’t everyone running Lightsworn? It has no bad matchups for game 1, and if you have a good sidedeck, you should win games 2 and 3. There’s one small factor that’s turning away players from using Lightsworn…

“I would be running Lightsworn for sure if the mirror match didn’t exist.”

This was a quote from a brief conversation that I had with a player who top16ed SJC Orlando with a non-Lightsworn deck. (Note: I don’t use any names in my articles because I feel it’s rude to use people’s names without getting their permission first. That’s also why the phrase “one of my friends” will come up a lot in my articles.) From the conversations that I’ve had with good players,  the mirror match seems to be the most common reason for not running Lightsworn.

Obviously, every deck has the possibility of a mirror match. Many of the pro players that I’ve talked to have no problem playing Zombie mirrors or Blackwing mirrors. What makes Lightsworn so special? While there is always some skill involved in any matchup, the Lightsworn mirror match is almost entirely luck. No matter how you build your Lightsworn deck, you’re not going to get anything much better than a 50% winning percentage (even with a solid sidedeck). At a 10-round Shonen Jump Championship, it’s not uncommon for four of your matches to be against Lightsworn. If you can only win 50% of those matches, this has you losing two matches and most likely placing outside the top16.

On the other hand, other mirror matches are more skill based. For example, I have been playing Zombies for the past two weeks and have been winning about 75% of my mirror matches. Zombies, if built properly, have a good chance at beating Lightsworn while being able to beat the Zombie mirror at the same time. Unfortunately, the downside to Zombies is that the match against Gladiator Beasts is nearly unwinnable, and they can have a difficult time beating Blackwings as well.

What I was looking for is the deck that “beats everything”. That deck would be Lightsworn, but Lightsworn doesn’t beat Lightsworn. If you want to win the Lightsworn match, you need to either get lucky and summon a lot of Judgment Dragons or just hope that the person sitting on the other side of the table is a horrible player. You can’t rely on either of those happening at a Shonen Jump Championship.

That leaves the other deck that everyone was assuming that I would play: Gadgets. Gadgets are the deck I’m known for playing, and the deck that’s given me the best placings in premier events for my entire Yu-Gi-Oh! career. Of the eight regionals that I’ve top8ed, five of these were with Gadgets. However, don’t let the statistics lie to you. The first five regionals that I top8ed were all with Gadgets, while the last three were all with a non-Gadget deck. I was playing Gadgets non-stop ever since their release, but at some point I veered away from the archetype.

It seemed appropriate that SJC Orlando would mark my return with Gadgets. It was the start of a new format, and everyone was expecting the top tier decks to be Lightsworn and Gladiator Beasts. I didn’t have any of the cards for Lightsworn and I didn’t like Gladiator Beasts in this format. My plan for this event was simple:

1. Play Gadgets

2. Maindeck three Banisher of Radiance

3. Beat Lightsworn

4. Maindeck three Royal Oppression

5. Beat Gladiator Beasts

6. ???

7. PROFIT!

My plan worked pretty well. Before the event, I played against Lightsworn players for cards four times, and won 3/4 times. At the event, I beat Lightsworn four times. I lost one match to Lightsworn, partially due to getting a game 1 loss for a decklist error. My other loss was to Skill Drain Zombies, a deck that I was somewhat unprepared for. I beat Gladiator Beasts twice, including one in a feature match. I came in 18^th place, nearly top16ing with a deck that many players had thought was not on par with Lightsworn and Gladiator Beasts.

It was expected that I would play the deck for SJC Columbus, the next SJC that I was attending. After suffering a humiliating 0-2 drop, I got frustrated and decided that I was going to play other decks. I won a small win-a-mat event with Blackwings, and played those for awhile locally. While Absolute Zero had a lot of hype, I tested the deck rigorously. After I determined that the deck wasn’t as good as I had thought, I traded it for a Lightsworn deck. I did well at several locals with Blackwings, Lightsworn, and Zombies.

I’m not going to lie; I was doing everything in my power to not play Gadgets at SJC Nashville. Ever since SJC Columbus, I’d been testing everything except Gadgets. I’d decided that Gadgets would last on my list of options. I would only play the deck if none of the top tier decks tested well for me. Well, none of the top tier decks did test well for me, or at least not as well as I would’ve liked. I had a bad day at SJC Columbus with Gadgets, but they’ve done well at every other event I’ve taken them to. They even won one of The Game Academy’s $500 Cash Tournaments.

I think sometimes you just have to play whatever you feel is the best deck and accept that anything can happen. I might misplay horribly at SJC Nashville and miss out on a top16 as a result. I might draw gross hands and not top as a result. I might play against a deck that flat out beats mine. I might lose matches in time, or to a topdecked Brain Control. Things might not go my way, or the opposite might happen. However, I feel that my Gadget deck will give me the best chance at winning SJC Nashville, regardless of how well I actually do.

I could go on to explain the decklist that I’m playing and why I’ve made certain card choices. The important thing is what deck I decided to play, not what 70 cards (40 maindeck + 15 extra deck + 15 sidedeck) are included. I feel that Gadgets are the best deck for me to play at SJC Nashville, but not necessarily everyone else. I almost never misplay with Gadgets when I’m focused. Gadgets have no unwinnable matchups in this format, so I think I have a realistic chance at top16ing SJC Nashville.