Tier 1: Highly Competitive Meta Decks. 10% or more of tops, as ranked by Pojo. This will roughly correspond to Pojo's Tier 1, with some overlap into Pojo's Tier 2.
Tier 2: Semi-Competitive Meta Decks. Less than 10% of tops, as ranked by Pojo. Corresponds to the rest of Pojo's Tier 2, Pojo's Tier 3, and Rogue.
Tier 3: Semi-Competitive non-Meta/Rogue decks. 1-2 tops. Specifically includes decks that top small events or get lower rankings at medium events. Can also include decks that can potentially top but have not yet in a given format.
Tier 4: Casually Competitive non-Meta decks. Decks that can compete at the locals level, but cannot top an event.
Archetype Explanation
Pendulum Magicians are a Pendulum deck focused on utilizing the various different Magician Pendulum monsters to summon Rank 4 Xyz monsters and Level 8 Synchro Monsters. The deck also controls the board through the use of their Trap, Time Pendulumgraph. The deck’s main strengths are its high degree of consistency and toolbox nature, allowing the deck to work its way out of a variety of situations. It has relatively high recoverability when set up properly with cards such as Oafdragon Magician, Star Pendulumgraph, and Astrograph Sorcerer.
Time PendulumgraphTier Ranking
Pendulum Magicians are currently in upper tier 1. They have performed very well at all of the higher level events of the format, primarily due to their high degree of consistency. The deck currently has low potential to remain in Tier 1 due to its weaker match-up versus SPYRAL.
Decklists
In the past weekend (Oct. 7-8 2017) we saw several Regionals as well as an ARG Circuit Series tournament and a YCS. The two lists we will be looking at are the 1st Place decklist from YCS Guadalajara and the 2nd Place decklist from ARG Circuit Series Atlantic City.
This is Gabriel Romo's 1st Place Pendulum Magician list from YCS Guadalajara. He employed a relatively standard Magician list to win the event, but his decklist reflects a few of the interesting trends currently rising in popularity among competitive Pendulum Magician lists.
The first of these is the inclusion of White Wing Magician without running Supreme King Z-ARC. This is primarily to make accessing the deck's powerful Level 8 Synchro monsters easier when compared to a list that only uses Harmonizing Magician as a Tuner. It also has the benefit of making a turn 1 combo of double Psy-Framelord Omega with a potential Rank 4 Xyz play possible on turn 1. This is an extremely powerful play and, while not the most consistent, can often swing the game decisively in the Magician player's favor before the opponent even gets a move.
Another interesting tech choice is the inclusion of Cairngorgon, the Antiluminescent Knight in the Extra Deck. Cairngorgon is useful in countering True Draco decks as it can redirect the destruction effects from True Draco Spells and Traps as well as the destruction effect of Master Peace. This is because Cairngorgon doesn't actually affect the monster it is redirecting the targeting from meaning that a Master Peace that is immune to monster effects can still get its target changed.
The last interesting choice in Romo's decklist is the inclusion of only a single Star Pendulumgraph. While almost all other topping Magician lists run two copies of the card as insurance against both removal and Pot of Desires, Romo's list opts against this. This is likely because of the potential of it being a dead card when not paired with Wisdom-Eye Magician or Performapal Pendulum Sorcerer on the first turn. While the card can be crucial to maintaining resources past turn 1, this matters far less when your turn 1 board is powerful enough to secure you a victory before long term resources begin to matter.
This is Blake Funderburke’s 2nd Place list from ARG CS Atlantic City. There are a variety of interesting things to note about the way that he constructed his deck, mainly in regards to several very common Pendulum Magician card choices that he omitted from his list.
First off, he chose to not run Astrograph Sorcerer. While Astrograph Sorcerer is often seen in most Magician lists in the current format, it does have its issues. The main issue is its level, as a level 7 monster does not help move the deck forward towards its goal of Rank 4 Xyz and Level 8 Synchro monsters. It also has the downside of not being a Magician. This means that it is essentially useless as a scale seeing as it has no synergy with cards such as Wisdom-Eye Magician or Time Pendulumgraph. While Astrograph Sorcerer can definitely serve as insurance when going second, the card does little to nothing to assist in building the Magician player's first turn board and Funderburke's list clearly dropped it in favor of more hand traps.
Another interesting omission in this decklist is that of Pendulum Call. Although the card is already run at only 1 copy in most topping Magician decklists, Funderburke has removed it completely. This isn’t an entirely unexpected choice as the prevalence of Ash Blossom makes Pendulum Call an extremely dangerous card to use in the current meta and furthermore conflicts with the decks focus on destroying its own cards.
The final omission from this list is the complete lack of Maxx “C”. This is likely a simple meta call against True Draco decks. Several other matchups in the meta right now, including Pendulums themselves as well as Trickstars, can largely ignore Maxx “C” and simply wait a turn before going off. In its place, Funderburke chose to run 3 Droll & Lock Bird in the main deck. This card is often relegated to the side deck if run at all, but with the prevalence of massive chains of searching in almost all of the current meta decks, the card is very powerful. It will also continue to remain powerful in the meta as SPYRAL asserts itself further with the upcoming release of SPYRAL Double Helix in Circuit Break on October 20.
As for the side deck, it is relatively standard for the current format with the main interesting inclusions being single copies of Pendulum Storm and Pendulum Hole. Pendulum Storm can serve as a backup to Wavering Eyes and has the advantage of being searchable off of Duelist Alliance. Pendulum Hole is similarly searchable and can search as a very good first turn Trap card in the mirror match.
Tech Section
Mist Valley Apex AvianThere are a few major techs in use in the competitive scene right now by Magician decks. The most prominent of these techs right now are Mist Valley Apex Avian and White Wing Magician. Mist Valley Apex Avian has been utilized as a tech by Pendulum Magician decks for some time now and for good reason. The card can help bolster and ensure a Magician player’s first turn board against various different removal cards that would otherwise remove the most common turn 1 threats the deck normally puts out. The main drawback of Apex Avian is the fact that it is both level 7 and not a Pendulum monster. This can easily lead to more dead hands than normal as Apex Avian is only good in a hand that already has complete scales.
White Wing Magician is a bit more interesting of a tech choice. As I mentioned above, it has always seen use in the Z-ARC variant of the deck, but is just now coming up as a tech choice in the standard Magician builds. This is largely due to the fact that it can much more easily enable the summoning of two Psy-Framelord Omega on the first turn. While the deck normally uses Harmonizing Magician to summon a single Omega followed by a rank 4 Xyz play, White Wing’s status as an extra tuner can allow for 2 Omega’s to be summoned. This is undoubtedly a strong play in the current meta as it puts the opponent’s hand at a significant disadvantage while also ensuring a relatively strong turn 2 board with 2 Omega’s outside of the Extra Monster Zone. White Wing Magician can also serve as a back-up low scale that still has synergy with Time Pendulumgraph and Wisdom-Eyes Magician. I do predict, however, that the rise of SPYRAL in the meta with Circuit Break will see this strategy fall to the wayside as leaving one’s board open or only populated with a single monster will be a far less safe strategy against SPYRAL.
White Wing MagicianMatchups
True Draco
Master Peace, the True Dracoslaying KingComing into the post-September 2017 Banlist Format, True Draco was assumed by many to be the top dog in the meta. While Magicians turned out to occupy that spot, that does not mean by any stretch that True Dracos are a free win for the deck. Currently the True Draco matchup is usually handled at larger events by the main decking of a variety of different hate cards against the deck. The most common of these are Cosmic Cyclone and Droll & Lock Bird. Cosmic Cyclone is almost always run in either the side or the main deck because of its usefulness in both the mirror match and the True Draco matchup as well as against backrow heavy decks like Paleozoic. Droll & Lock Bird on the other hand is much more situationally useful. While it can often be used in the mirror match as well, True Draco is the only major deck in the meta currently that can get its turn reliably shut off by this card due to the deck’s focus on heavy draw power.
Other cards that can be useful to side against True Draco include Kaijus, Zaphion the Timelord, and Unending Nightmare. A final tech that can shut down True Draco, especially the variants that don’t use Windwitches, is Magic Deflector. Magic Deflector will stop all Continuous Spells, Field Spells, and Quick-Play Spells for the remainder of the turn in which it is activated. This can very effectively shut off Dragonic Diagram, both of the True Draco Continuous Spells, and even cards such as Cosmic Cyclone or Twin Twisters that would potentially dismantle a Pendulum player’s scales. These benefits all come with relatively little downside as the only truly affected card that Magicians run is Star Pendulumgraph which is in no way essential to the deck’s strategy on the opponent’s turn.
Pendulum Magicians
Due to Magicians currently being the top deck in the meta, any Magician player going to a more competitive event should be expecting to face the mirror match. The biggest card to address the mirror match is already almost universally main decked: Wavering Eyes. While Wavering Eyes definitely has its use in any matchup due to the Magician deck’s ability to plus off of the destruction of their cards, the mirror match is where it truly shines. A well-placed Wavering Eyes that destroys 4 cards successfully can easily end a game in that player’s favor.
Other useful counter cards include Cosmic Cyclone, Zaphion the Timelord, Pendulum Storm, and Pendulum Hole. Dimensional Barrier can also serve as a very powerful shut-out card against Pendulum Magicians, usually stopping the opponent’s entire turn. Pendulum Storm and Pendulum Hole, as mentioned before, are useful because their searchable nature makes them easily runnable at only a single copy, saving side deck space.
Wavering EyesPaleozoic
Paleozoic can be one of the more intimidating match-ups for the deck due to its powerful control abilities. However, the main downside of Paleozoic is how many powerful shut-out cards there are to counter it with. The obvious inclusions are Cosmic Cyclone and Denko Sekka. Cosmic Cyclone can dismantle their backrow while also taking Paleozoic Traps out of the Graveyard before they can be summoned. Denko Sekka, on the other hand, can completely lock a Paleozoic player out if they don’t have the proper counter play. Outside of these two cards, Kaijus to address Toadally Awesome and Zaphion the Timelord to safely remove the opponent’s backrow can also be helpful.
Denko SekkaTrickstar
Trickstar can be a particularly difficult matchup for Pendulum Magicians right now. This is largely because of how many resources Magicians often keeps in hand, leaving the deck very vulnerable to a potent resolution of Trickstar Reincarnation. Droll & Lock Bird, something that Trickstar decks often run in the main deck, can also often stop a Pendulum player’s turn if you don’t already have complete sales and something to summon with them.
The best counter to Trickstar that Pendulum Magicians can run is Ash Blossom and Joyous Spring as it can stop the search effect of Trickstar Lightstage, Trickstar Candina, and most importantly it can stop Trickstar Reincarnation. Outside of Ash Blossom, Twin Twisters can potentially be useful going second to out dangerous backrow while simultaneously reducing hand size and by extension the effectiveness of Trickstar Reincarnation. Twin Twisters in general is a dangerous side deck option for Pendulums, however, as the deck cannot easily afford the discard cost while still being able to maintain follow-up plays. Hanewata can also be a usable tech against Trickstar, shutting off all of their burn damage for a turn.
Twin TwistersABC
The final major deck in the meta right now is ABC. There are two main variants of ABC to watch out for: True Draco ABC and Standard ABC. The True Draco variant of the deck will fall victim to many of the same counters as standard True Draco. Cards such as Cosmic Cyclone, Ash Blossom, and Magic Deflector can all be very effective. It is important to note, however, that Droll & Lock Bird and Zaphion are both much less useful in the True Draco ABC. The lower emphasis on a large number of draw effects can limit the usefulness of Droll & Lock Bird and the ability of ABC to banish a monster can bypass the destruction immunity that Zaphion the Timelord has.
In general, good side deck choices against ABC regardless of the variant include System Down, Ghost Reaper and Winter Cherries, and Kaiju monsters. System Down can specifically blow ABC out, removing all of their pieces from Grave and banishing their ABC Dragon Buster. Ghost Reaper can also be a powerful choice, especially considering that Pendulum Magicians have a generally flexible Extra Deck that can easily fit ABC in. Do note, however, that many ABC players will either main deck or side into Union Scramble, Magnet Reverse, or Pot of Acquisitiveness in games 2 and 3 to counter these various cards.
System Down
