TCG Meta Deck Representation & Breakdown
Deck Breakdown:
- 27 Tearlaments
- 3 Spright
- 3 Floowandereeze
Deck Highlights
Tearlaments Ishizu Bystial
Hani Jawhari took 1st place at YCS Pasadena and became the new champion with his Tearlaments deck.
Ishizu Tearlaments is a deck that many players have been anticipating ever since the announcement of the Ishizu cards in the OCG. The Ishizu Fairies compliment Tearlaments extremely well as they add to the already powerful milling strategy of the deck. With these new cards, it's not surprising for the deck to be able to mill anywhere from five to ten additional cards each turn; greatly increasing the chances of triggering a Tearlaments effect. The Ishizu Fairies also function as decent extenders; helping you Link climb or XYZ for Abyss Dweller. Furthermore, these cards also allows the deck to play Diviner of the Herald and Herald of Orange Light. Diviner not only helps trigger your Ishizu Fairies but also functions as a nice way to easily summon Baronne de Fleur or a Rank 6 XYZ. Herald of course is also useful as a way to push through disruptions while also triggering your Ishizu Fairies' effects to mill. This not only provides you with a disruption on your opponent's turn, but also a chance to play on their turn through your Tearlaments effects.
Hani also chose to play a 6 card Bystial package featuring 2 Bystial Druiswurm, 3 Bystial Magnamhut, and 1 Bystial Saronir. The Bystial cards are strong as they essentially function as D.D. Crow against Light and Dark decks. This tremendously helps in the mirror match but also has some utility against Spright and the lesser-seen Mathmech. Additionally, Bystials also help your Link climb and XYZ for Rank 6 monsters. For this event, Hani's Rank 6 of choice was Beatrice, Lady of the Eternal, but we've also seen other options such as Wollow, Founder of the Drudge Dragons also do well.
Spright Bystial
Vincent Wong placed Top 4 at YCS Pasadena with Spright Bystial.
Spright Bystial is a deck that follows the same plan as Hand Trap Spright, but with more Bystial monsters and less Hand Traps. This is a decision to help fight against Tearlaments as they're the most represented deck of the meta. In addition to the Bystial monsters, Vincent also chose to play 3 copies of Skull Meister. Meister offers similar utility to D.D. Crow with the added benefit of being able to stop the effects of the Ishizu Fairies against Tearlaments and Nimble Angler in the mirror. This makes Meister quite strong as it can prevent the opponent from developing in ways that other Hand Traps cannot.
The Nimble package is also seeing more play as a better alternative to the previous Deep Sea Diva package. Angler has the benefit of triggering if its milled by your opponent which isn't uncommon with all the Ishizu Fairies running around. Nimble Beaver is also good as it can still summon a monster even if all your targets have been milled to the GY.
In the Extra Deck, we can also see Wollow, Founder of the Drudge Dragons. Wollow is a powerful Rank 6 that's especially strong against Tearlaments. With an effect to boost your monster's stats and a form of GY disruption, Wollow is great not only to facilitate OTKs but also as a solid form of GY disruption.
Vincent also chose to Side 3 copies of Dimension Shifter. Shifter is a card that needs no introduction as it's obviously powerful against any deck that needs their GY. Although this does turn off your Bystial monsters and Spright Elf, it's a small price to play to prevent Tearlaments from playing for 2 turns.
Conclusion
A rather short report today with almost 85% of the Top Cut being dominated by Tearlaments variants. To no one's surprise, the new Ishizu cards greatly boost the power of Tearlaments; skyrocketing them into the sole deck to beat this format.
Most of these variants are also playing the Bystial package in preparation for a likely mirror match. While most lists play 6, some lists have gone to play up to 8; sacrificing some other cards to make space.
Some lists are also not playing the full amount of Ishizu Fairies. Hani's list for example, only played 1 Agido the Ancient Sentinel. This was probably a decision that was made so he wouldn't see it too much, but also had it for when either him or his opponent would mill both decks.
Overall, with Tearlaments having such a dominant grasp on the meta, it'll be interesting to see if it'll have any true contenders or stand alone at the top. With the next update to Forbidden and Limited list coming up, will Tearlaments be able to maintain their dominance until Photon Hypernova? or will some perhaps much needed changes dethrone them from the top?
