Leveling Up for Limited Formats #4: Interview with Cocobird
Last time, I interviewed limited deckbuilder extraordinaire IWishIWasDead. Today, I'm interviewing another limited deckbuilder much better than I, the wonderful Cocobird, who was kind enough to sit down and discuss collaborative deck building, what makes limited special, and his favorite YugiTubers. So without further ado, here's the interview!
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Leah (L): Thanks for sitting down with me for this interview. Could you share your gamer tag and a bit about your expertise/experience with limited?
Cocobird (C): Sure! My name is Cocobird. Most people know me for helping Danny or LukeVonKarma deckbuild for the latter end of MBT's Progression Playoffs. Specifically, I believe I started working with Danny early in the VRAINS era. In the past I have played two regular progression series (each only lasting one season), a random progression series (where we open packs in random order and have done this for multiple seasons), and two chaos drafts (each with multiple seasons/iterations). I also have some some experience with cube drafting and sealed, so I have a lot of experience playing limited.
L: As I understand, you worked together with LukeVonKarma and sometimes the rest of his discord as well on making his decks for Progression Playoffs. How did you initially get involved in that, and what did that process look like?
C: I was a fan of Progression Playoffs before I got involved helping Danny build. I watched every episode. Once VRAINS started, the first pack you all opened was Code of the Duelist.
Funnily enough, my random progression series started a new season around the same time and the second pack we spun was Code of the Duelist. So, I was very experienced with the set and some of the limited deck-building theory of that set. My fellow friends from that series convinced me to help look at Danny's pool and help him build for that episode. I am naturally introverted, so without the push I probably would have not posted or got involved, but I am glad I did.
I then ended up getting into the habit each week of looking at Danny's pulls and posting a build to the discord. LukeVonKarma's Hollow Bastion, aka. the "Dannycord," was also just a fun community to interact with. Around the 3rd or 4th week of VRAINS, or somewhere around that timeframe, I believe I DMed Danny instead of posting to the discord because I felt very good about the deck I made. From that week onward, Danny and I would DM back and forth about deckbuilding for Playoffs, most likely because after that week he went on a very respectable win streak.
As for the process of working with Danny, it was a collaborative effort. I never wanted to take over the series from him or insert myself too much into the series. If I had a specific idea in mind, I would send him the list and ask his thoughts or say, "this is what we think we should do and here's why." If there were multiple routes that would work, I would always ask what Danny wants or thinks we should do and take it from there. We would make or talk some small edits together. Some nights we would get on a voice call and do some test games against each other. I would also at times play some test games against IWishIWasDead or sometimes with people from the Dannycord. I knew IWishIWasDead from Reaper Format, so we were comfortable testing with each other and talking theory. Once the decklist were decided on, I would send some notes about specific interactions I noticed either from test hands or testing. Also, I would try and mention some possible dangerous cards or strategies in the current format that other people might be playing.
I will also mention I became very busy with graduate school more then halfway through Sevens and we started opening packs I was less familiar with. So, I had less time to spend helping Danny and couldn't rely on my own previous experience with the packs. The last three-ish weeks of Progression Playoffs, Danny would make the first draft of the deck and I would make suggestions on how to improve it. In general I do want to note Danny had a lot of influence in the deck-building of each week and made my job much easier. I could not have asked for a better partner to work with.
L: Danny rocks, so that makes sense! I'm obviously a big fan hahaha. The process of working on a deck collaboratively is really interesting. Do you have a favorite deck you’ve made through that collaborative process that’s been shown off on YugiTube?
C: I always have a soft place in my heart for the Necro Fusion combo deck.
The idea to add Necro Fusion actually came from my very good friend, the Kuribandit himself, Jaxel MS. It's a funny story on how that deck came to be. I was in the working on the Crusadia combo deck in the Dannycord voice chat and couldn't get it to be consistent. It felt like it was bricking just a tad too often. Then, Jaxel comes in the voice chat. He was sick with covid at the time. He sounds like he's on his death's bed. He tells me to add the Necro Fusion combo, and then just . . . leaves. At first I was like, "That's just going to make it brickier!" However, weirdly enough, adding it just fixed the entire deck.
It became so much more consistent. That memory and everyone's reaction to how cool that combo always makes me love that week. I also should shoutout Extreme Force, as that deck was the one of the first decks Danny took from me, so that one also is a favorite of mine. Plus, I think it was cool we had an F.A. tier 0 format.
I will also say my least favorite decks were from any weeks that we decided on Krawler. It never worked, and despite that, we kept convincing ourselves that it was the play.
L: The Necro fusion deck is definitely an all-timer. I think decks like that show just what is so cool about Yugioh limited: getting to jank together something really surprising and innovative. When you are making a deck for a limited format, what’s your overall strategy? What are the most important factors you consider?
C: I definitely have a style or type. I tend to be very control-based. My friends often joke that my first instinct is to recommend adding more traps.
In general, though, I say I prioritize consistency over everything else. Limited is inherently inconsistent because of the nature of the format, so in my opinion, consistency is the most important factor for a deck. It's better to have a less powered consistent deck than a more powerful inconsistent deck. Like, if I am including an engine in a deck, I always make sure it doesn't increase my chance of bricking. I would look at the pool and ask "What does this pool do better than anyone else? Where is the advantage in this pool?" and work around that.
For example, let's say you are thinking of playing Virtual World. However, your pulls weren't great, and most likely everyone else has a better VW pool. Instead of bringing the worst VW deck in the bracket, try and pivot to catch people off guard. Play something different, something your pool does better than anyone else's.
This mostly depends on the format and type of series, but generic good cards or generic removal is often good and gets a spot in my decks. Lastly, part of deckbuilding honestly is instinct. I've been playing yugioh for more than 15 years now. I have played in many different formats and with many different decks, from early Synchro Warrior, focused around Colossal Fighter, to Morphtronic Map control, to Machina Gadgets, to combo-XYZ-Metalfoes to Infernoids. Once you play Yugioh for that long you get a feel for your own style, what certain decks need, and how to make a deck consistent.
L: You mentioned you’ve played in a random order progression series as well as multiple chaos drafts. How is building in limited different when you have such a chaotic assortment of cards, rather than multiple cards from one set or era?
C: Good question! For chaos draft I often prioritize on pulling cards that are generically good and work in any deck rather than archetypal stuff that needs other things to work. Generic cards allow for so much flexibility and give you more consistency. All the archetypal stuff will come eventually, but if you have a good core of generic good cards to fall back on, you are are most often at least competitive or in the running.
The other thing to remember is that everyone else is most likely in the same position you are. It's chaotic for everyone, which in my opinion makes it more fun to go through your pulls and try to find a diamond in the rough strategy. It does not have to be perfect—It just has to be on par with everyone else, which is often easy to do when you have a chaotic assortment of cards.
For one of my chaos drafts I was able to build a flip control deck focused around really good trap and cards like Mimicking Man-Eater Bug and the Graydles. Random Progression at one point was dominated by Thunder Hand control decks. These are decks that aren't super powerful outside of limited, but in that moment of time, with the power level of that format, it was enough. I will also mention pendulums are just always busted if you pull enough of them.
L: Thanks so much for your time and your insight. Would you like to plug any social media or upcoming projects you have?
C: No problem! I do not really have much or any social media other then discord. I will plug the Kuribandits, as in my opinion that is where the best YugiTuber content currently is, and he's a very good friend of mine. I'll also plug the Dannycord and LukeVonKarma himself, since without him I probably would not be in this interview right now. I'd also like to thank IWishIWasDead for kicking my butt in testing and pushing my deck building to be better.
Lastly, I want to plug limited formats. I think they are just a bunch of fun, and they are so interesting. Because there are not any limited tournaments (that I know of, at least), most limited formats come from friends who want to stay in touch and hang out, or sometimes even create content together. Limited formats are a great vehicle to do so. The main goal often is not to win but to have a good time with friends, to play Yugioh in an interesting and fun way, and to spend time trying to solve a Yugioh deckbuilding puzzle. I would say it is worth a try for anyone who has ever considered doing it.
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You should really take Cocobird's advice and check out Kuribandits—he rocks. That's all for now, and until next time, may you always pull playsets of the busted commons.
