TCG Meta Deck Representation & Breakdown

Deck Breakdown

• 12 Rescue-ACE (All Diabellstar)
• 4 Purrely
• 3 Tearlaments
• 2 Mannadium
• 2 Unchained
• 1 Exosister
• 1 Bystial Horus
• 1 Rikka Sunavalon
• 1 Tri-Brigade
• 1 Spright
• 1 Runick
• 1 Floowandereeze
• 1 Vanquish Soul
• 1 Labrynth

Deck Highlights

Rescue-Ace Diabellstar

Rescue-Ace Diabellstar - Steven Santoli (1st Place - YCS Indianapolis 2023)

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Steven Santoli took 1st place and became the champion of YCS Indianapolis with Rescue-Ace Diabellstar.

With the release of the Diabellstar and Sinful Spoils cards, Rescue-Ace has taken the top spot of the AGOV format. The Diabellstar engine adds a lot of consistency to the deck; providing additional starters that result in more ways to get to Rescue-ACE Hydrant. This makes the deck a lot more reliable as it can now consistently end on their full combo with a single WANTED: Seeker of Sinful Spoils or Diabellstar the Black Witch. 

The deck can also fit in a lot of hand traps due having a 1-card engine. In Steven's case, he was able to play 3 copies of Ash Blossom & Joyous Spring, Effect Veiler, and Infinite Impermanence. Veiler and Impermanence are good in the mirror as they offer counterplay against the opponent's Rescue-ACE Hydrant, Rescue-ACE Turbulence, and Diabellstar the Black Witch. We can also see 3 copies of Enemy Controller in the Main Deck. Steven states that Enemy Controller is good as it often interacts positively with the opponent and is also good for breaking boards.

The Diabellstar engine also enables you to play the Cyberse package in the Extra Deck. The Cyberse package consists of some Link climbing monsters along with Firewall Dragon, Protectcode Talker, Firewall Dragon Darkfluid - Neo Tempest Terahertz, Mereologic Aggregator, and Cyberse Desavewurm. This is a similar idea to what Mathmech decks would commonly employ in the past and results in a Terahertz or a co-linked Firewall. Terahertz can then mill Desavewurm to setup a negate or Mereologic on the opponent's turn to turn off a card on the field. Firewall is also playable as it helps recur a resource or even act as a disruption. 

Purrely

Purrely - Yucheng Li (Top 4 - YCS Indianapolis 2023)

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Yucheng Li placed 3rd at YCS Indianapolis with Purrely.

Purrely hasn't really changed since Vancouver outside of receiving the S:P Little Knight and Super Starslayer TY-PHON - Sky Crisis that everybody did. The deck plays as a consistency monster with every card in the deck acting as either a disruption or potential starter. In Yucheng's case, he chose to play a pretty standard build with Nibiru, the Primal Being, Droll & Lock Bird, Ash Blossom & Joyous Spring, and Infinite Impermanence as his hand traps of choice. Nibiru is strong as it's one of the highest impact hand traps against the most decks, and Droll is good against combo decks such as Mannadium.

We can also see 3 copies of Kashtira Fenrir in Yucheng's Main Deck. Fenrir is good for baiting interactions when going 2nd as well as offering additional pressure when going 1st. Since Purrely as a deck lacks disruption, Fenrir is a good way to supplement that while also giving you a free card to discard for your Purrely spells. 

The Side Deck is also quite interesting; packing 6 cards for backrow removal, and 3 copies of Summon Limit. Backrow removal is primarily for Labrynth as you can use Cosmic Cyclone to block Lady Labrynth of the Silver Castle and Lightning Storm to clear their onslaught of backrow. These cards are also good for random floodgates such as Skill Drain and There Can Be Only One which are both great against Purrely. Summon Limit is also here as a powerful going 1st card in almost every matchup. If you can setup a decent Expurrely Noir or anything backed by a Summon Limit, you're usually never losing that game. 

Mannadium

Mannadium - Steven Trifunoski (Top 4 - YCS Indianapolis 2023)

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Steven Trifunoski placed 4th at YCS Indianapolis with Mannadium.

Mannadium is a combo deck that is powerful due to their ability to setup strong boards going 1st, and break through boards with pure engine going 2nd. The deck's main selling point is their high consistency in having so many 1-card starters, and their pushing power through Synchro climbing and Vicious Astraloud. This makes the deck quite formidable as it can kill you at any point in the game through just a single card.

The deck also received some support in Age of Overlord in the forms of Visas Samsara, Mannadium Trisukta, and Realm Eulogy. Samsara and Trisukta are strong as they help push your combo further; which gives you more firepower to play through disruption, or more monsters to cement a stronger ending board. Since Samsara counts as Visas Starfrost while on the field or in the GY, summoning Vicious Astraloud is now much easier, which makes the deck stronger when going 2nd. 

We can also see 3 copies of Forbidden Droplet, 2 copies of Enemy Controller, and 2 copies of Triple Tactics Talent in the Main Deck. Droplet is strong against Purely and other decks where Dark Ruler No More is not. You can also use it to pitch Visas to the GY, which helps setup Astraloud plays. E-Con and Talents are also good as they offer you counterplay against established boards and hand traps. E-Con is especially good for OTK-ing when going 2nd as the deck is so good at baiting disruption and putting big numbers on the board. Talents is also good as a countermeasure to hand traps. Since the deck can pretty easily play through a single hand trap or 2, Talents is great for taking a look at the opponent's hand and ripping a card after you've been disrupted once.

Steven also chose to Side Deck a copy of Apollousa, Bow of the Goddess and Underworld Goddess of the Closed World. Apollousa is a great link but generally only when going 1st as you don't make it much going 2nd. And Goddess is really just to get over annoying monsters such as Expurrely Noir. While you'd love to Main Deck Apollousa, Steven problem sided it as he realized there wasn't enough space in the Extra Deck for doing everything he wanted to do. Triple Tactics Thrust is also very strong in this deck as it can get you access to almost all of your engine pieces as well as cards like Herald of the Abyss, Harpie's Feather Duster, and Dimensional Barrier. 

Conclusion

The start of the AGOV format looks to be very interesting with so many different decks in Top 32. Rescue-ACE Diabellstar is definitely the most represented deck in Top 32, but with the format still young, anything can happen.

Effect Veiler and Infinite Impermanence have started shifting back into play as they're pretty good against Rescue-Ace Diabellstar. While the deck is great at playing through hand traps, effect negation is still pretty good as it could block Rescue-ACE Hydrant and/or Cloudian - Turbulence if they don't have EMERGENCY!. 

Dimension Shifter also saw a lot of play as a counter to rogue decks and Tearlaments. Tearlaments is still extremely powerful if the deck hits and therefore, is given a lot of respect when Siding. Shifter is also decent against Mannadium and Rescue-ACE as both decks do need their GYs to some extent to freely play.

With the format still developing, it'll be interesting to see how it progresses with YCS Richmond so close ahead. With so many different decks in Top 32, and even more options like Mikanko Infernoble, Dark World, and Chimera just barely bubbling out, Richmond will definitely be a hard event to prepare for with so much on the table. 

References

October 21st - 22nd, 2023

• YCS Indianapolis 2023