TCG Meta Deck Representation & Breakdown
Deck Breakdown:
- 26 Swordsoul (22 Tenyi Swordsoul, 4 Destiny HERO Swordsoul)
- 13 Lyrilusc Tri-Brigade
- 9 Drytron
- 8 Floowandereeze
- 6 Virtual World (5 Virtual World, 1 Swordsoul Virtual World)
- 6 Phantom Knights
- 5 Tri-Brigade (3 Pure Tri-Brigade, 1 Melffy Tri-Brigade, 1 Destiny HERO Zoodiac Tri-Brigade)
- 5 Sky Striker
- 3 Eldlich
- 2 Evil Twin
- 2 Plunder Patroll (1 Destiny HERO Plunder Patroll, 1 Going 2nd Plunder Patroll)
- 3 Invoked Variants (2 Destiny HERO Dogmatika Invoked, 1 Shaddoll Dogmatika Invoked)
- 8 Others (Altergeist, Cyber Dragon, Dinosaur, Dragon Link, HERO, Mekk-Knight, Salamangreat, Lair of Darkness)
Deck Highlights
Going 2nd Tenyi Swordsoul
Alexandre Dalphe placed 2nd at Game Keeper's Remote Duel Regional event with a 4-1 record after Swiss.
He played a new going 2nd variant of Swordsoul. This was created by Hani Jawhari the prior week at the Ghost Championship Tournament. This build doesn't play any hand traps in the main deck in favor of strong going 2nd cards like Lightning Storm, Evenly Matched, and Dark Ruler no More. Swordsoul sometimes struggles with follow up after going 1st. This build instead opts to go 2nd and break boards after the opponent has spent their resources building them. Furthermore, cards like Incredible Ecclesia, the Virtuous and Tenyi Spirit - Vishuda are naturally great going 2nd. Since they gain a lot of value when your opponent has monsters, they play well into this strategy.
There are also 3 copies of Dimensional Barrier in the Side Deck. Dimensional Barrier is a powerful trap that shuts down an entire monster type based on what you call. This makes it effective against many decks including Invoked, Swordsoul, Drytron, and more. Since it's a normal trap, it can be chained to removal like Lightning Storm and Twin Twisters and still get value. The main answer to Dimensional Barrier is Red Reboot which is limited and not played very often.
Lyrilusc Tri-Brigade
David Zhou placed 1st at Game Keeper's Remote Duel Regional with a 3-1-1 record after Swiss.
He played a build of Lyrilusc Tri-Brigade with a focus on going 1st with 3 Crossout Designator and 3 Harpie's Feather Storm in the Main Deck. Crossout Designator is great to prevent the devastating effect of Nibiru, the Primal Being while also helping ensure the success rate of his full combo. It can also be used as a disruption when facing other Tri-Brigade variants or in the mirror match. Harpie's Feather Storm is also a powerful card which turns off your opponent's monster effects for a turn.
For going 2nd, David also plays Dark Ruler No More, Evenly Matched and Mystic Mine in his Side Deck. Dark Ruler and Evenly are good board breaking cards going 2nd while Mine helps secure the summon of Divine Arsenal AA-Zeus - Sky Thunder. Since the deck has access to Lyrilusc - Assembled Nightingale, the game plan is to first bait out your opponent's disruptions with normal play and board breaking cards, and then use Nightingale to go into Zeus.
Destiny HERO Drytron
Chris Leblanc played Destiny HERO Drytron at the Rocky Mountain Collectibles Charity Case Tournament this past weekend. He had a 7-1-1 record placing 7th after Swiss and eventually finished Top 16.
Similar to Red-Eyes Dark Dragoon in the past, Destiny HERO - Destroyer Phoenix Enforcer is a new option that achieves similar results. The advantage DPE has over Dragoon is that while Red-Eyes Fusion is a brick when drawn, Fusion Destiny doesn't share that same issue. This lets Drytron do their full combo and still activate Fusion Destiny afterwards. DPE is also a fantastic disruption with its non-targeting destruction effect. Destiny HERO - Celestial is also a powerful resource in Drytron which is great in the grind game. Since Drytron can rebuild from just a few cards after setting up, seeing 2 extra cards is always nice.
Chris also played Artifact Scythe for an extra layer of disruption. Scythe can be accessed through both Artifact Dagda and Cyber Angel Benten which makes it quite easy to grab. It can also easily be triggered by using DPE's effect during your opponent's turn to lock them out of the Extra Deck. This combo when paired with Drytron's standard Herald of Ultimateness combo is extremely oppressive.
Floowandereeze
Anthony Xu placed 7th in The Side Deck Remote Duel Regional with a 5-2 record after Swiss.
He piloted a Floowandereeze deck that Main Decked 3 Dimension Shifter and 3 Book of Moon. Dimension Shifter is a powerful hand trap that banishes all cards sent to the GY for 2 turns. This makes it very effective against many meta decks including Invoked Dogmatika variants, Drytron, and Tenyi variants of Swordsoul.
Book of Moon is also a good utility card that is good both going 1st and 2nd. When going 1st, Book helps you dodge hand traps like Infinite Impermanence and Effect Veiler. If Book is unused, it's also a good disruption against many meta decks. For example, against Swordsoul, you can book a monster to prevent Swordsoul from Synchro Summoning. Against Dragon Link, you can book a monster to clog their zones and prevent their Link summon. This makes Book of Moon more versatile than Crossout Designator while also achieving a similar effect when going 1st.
In addition to this, Anthony also plays 2 copies of Solemn Warning in his Main Deck. Solemn Warning is a card that was released all the way back in Duelist Revolution and was one of the most popular cards of that time. Warning is an interesting option since it can negate the effect of Fusion Destiny, which has become very popular with the release of DPE. Since Solemn Strike cannot negate Fusion Destiny and Solemn Judgment is too costly, Warning is a decent option that is also quite flexible. Warning can also function similarly to Strike negating the effects of Swordsoul of Mo Ye, Lyrilusc - Beryl Canary and any Tri-Brigade monster with an effect to special summon.
Conclusion
Swordsoul is still leading the format, consistently having good results and representing almost a quarter of the field. Drytron and Floowandereeze has also been doing well with more players figuring out how to pilot the decks and/or find more optimal builds and combos to fit the meta.
Destiny HERO - Destroyer Phoenix Enforcer continues to be a popular card as expected. As a result, many players are trying out a variety of cards to counter it.
Droll & Lock Bird, Anti-Spell Fragrance and Evenly Matched has also returned to the format, being present in many Side Decks.
The return of Droll gives emphasis to how important searching is in the format. Droll has an application against almost every deck and is especially powerful against Drytron and Floowandereeze. While it's not as strong against Swordsoul, it can still be effective if they lead with Swordsoul Emergence or Pot of Desires/Pot of Prosperity.
Anti-Spell Fragrance is a card that is popular to side in when going 1st. Spell Fragrance is good because it can delay powerful spell cards like Lightning Storm and Dark Ruler No More. This 1 turn delay is usually good enough for most decks to capitalize and end the game. It's also not bad against Quick-Play spells like Forbidden Droplet; forcing your opponent to chain to it and send cards they didn't want to for its effect.
Evenly Matched has always been a good board-breaking card. But it's especially good now with the lack of trap negates. Most decks only have 1 omni-negate in their end board with some not having any at all. Since the meta is more catered towards monster and spell negates, Evenly is a powerful tool that can punish this.
References
Week of November 8th - November 15th 2021
Tournaments:
November 13th, 2021
- Alternate Universes Remote Duel Regionals
- Core TCG Remote Duel Regionals
- Game Keeper Remote Duel Regionals
- Tables and Towers Case Tournament, Maryland DC, 107 participants
- Rocky Mountain Collectibles Case Tournament, Denver CO, 290 participants
November 14th, 2021
- One Up TCG Remote Duel Regionals
- The Side Deck Remote Duel Regionals
- Rocky Mountain Collectibles 3v3 Tournament, Denver CO, 192 participants (64 teams)
Shunping Xu
Competitive & Sponsored Player
UDS Tulsa 2020 1st Place
YCS Pasadena 2018 1st Place
YCS Las Vegas 3v3 2020 Top 8
YCS Niagra Falls 2018 Top 16
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