This past weekend, like many of you, I was checking out some of the duels and decks at nationals and, to no surprise, many of them were very similar and I was forced to glide beyond small differences in the top decks and pass them off as slight dueling preferences.  Cards like Dekoichi, Spirit Reaper and Tsukuyomi have melted together to simply become the tier 1 package offered by our Meta and their authority has gone unquestioned; however, in other well known dueling communities throughout the world, entirely different Metas rule as the guiding influence behind deck building.  In Japan, Enemy Controller was released as a common but was still ignored for years in competitive play. In Germany, Blowback Dragon took center stage due to the immense power of Strike Ninja.  As the days until Worlds dwindles, an important look at our Metagame choices over the past year will give all of us a better idea of what to expect at the most elite Yu-Gi-Oh! Tournament of the year.

            The easiest way to break this down is by taking a look at how our Meta has changed, starting with the changes made after the October ban.

 

[Note: I’ll be putting a heavy emphasis on speed in the following as it will be crucial in the coming months.  Simple plusses and minuses can no longer define a card’s value but longevity of effect must be used.  For example, Bazoo may not have any plusses or minuses, but it adds value to a future Return from the Different Dimension.]

 

Post-Chaos Chaos

            With the loss of Black Luster Soldier and Thousand-Eyes/Goat Control, duelists dove back into conservative play in a hurry.  Decks were no longer designed to pull an envoy or rock the trinity early on.  An often overlooked change in the Meta was the increase in card count in decks.  While before October a deck of 41 or 42 and above was often unheard of winning tournaments or making Top 8’s, but once the grand necessity to run through your deck was erased a slightly larger card count wasn’t such a bad thing.  Experimentation was slim early on as most duelists sat in the wings waiting to see something new, innovative or interesting.  Warrior Toolbox dominated by compensating for the loss of speed that was BLS and replacing it with dual copies of reinforcement of the army and staple warriors (zaloog and exiled came into most decks as legit options to control the duel from beginning to end.) 

 

Toolbox Warrior

 

Play-style:  Aggressive

Strengths:  Strong Versatility and Speed

Weaknesses:  Mid-Late Game tempo

Lasting Impact:  Reinforcement of the Army, Don Zaloog, Mystic Swordsman Lv2, Cyber Dragon (Debut)

 

Speed, aggression and versatility was manifested in warrior decks and played an interesting role in controlling the duel.  Tempo became a key term as the warrior strategy and play-style spread.  Attacking the field and hand early on with pure aggression and plenty of 1-for-1’s provided early advantage and could seal a duel within the first 3 turns.  Duelists looking to not run the CC of the day took to breaking their opponent’s aggressive streak and setting a tempo of their own.  It appeared that replacing the warrior’s early 1-for-1’s with monsters that paid their cost prior to death, could maintain tempo and break opponent’s initial aggression.  From this came a few strategies:

 

 

Early Flip-Control

 

Playstyle:  Conservative

Strengths:  Ability to slow game tempo

Weaknesses:  Difficulty fending off continued aggression

Lasting Impact: Dekoichi the Battlechanted Locomotive, Magical Merchant, Tsukuyomi

           

A defensive approach to controlling tempo, monsters like Dekoichi and Magical-Merchant saw play as instant floaters.  The environment was incredibly supportive of flip-effect monsters with the restriction of Black Luster Soldier- Envoy of the beginning and limiting of Nobleman of Crossout and continued play of Tsukuyomi as a holdover of the goat-control months.  While these decks often incorporated many warrior cards into their ranks, the theme eventually faded to make way for new ideas with greater longevity and versatility to match that of the warriors.

 

Tomato Control

 

Playstyle:  Aggressive

Strengths:  Can match Versatility of warriors with better mid-Late game ability

Weaknesses:  Can fail pending a poor start

Lasting Impact:  Mystic Tomato, Newdoria, Brain Control

 

            Notably solidified by the end of 2005, Tomato Control had all of the speed and maneuverability of a Warrior deck but with more emphasis on field conservation.  Newdoria became Exiled Force; Mystic Tomato became Reinforcement of the Army; Don Zaloog became… well, Don Zaloog.  Furthermore, Tomato Control provided instant access to Spirit Reaper.  With a huge emphasis on tempo, Tomatoes matched with some of the big decks and players of the day and often came out on top.

 

Soul Control

 

Playstyle:  Combo-Oriented

Strengths:  Strong Swings and Big Plays can halt opposing strategies

Weaknesses:  Poor Top-Decking and defense make this deck slow in certain Metas

Lasting Impact:  Soul Exchange, Zaborg, Thestalos, Gravekeeper’s Spy

 

            Souuuul Poooower!  Great show!  Great Deck!  Jeez, Evan Vargas really did something didn’t he?  His original build was incredibly offensive and destructive.  Robbing facedown, flip-effect or recursive monsters of any chance for survival, abusing Monarchs for advantage and pushing some new tech along the way made Soul Control deadly.  While it eventually failed due to it’s reliance on well set-up combos and slow tempo duels, it went along way in making people think about the choices they made in their deck.  A new appreciation was grown for the bigger monsters of the game and, in a sense, Soul Control opened the door for pre-Frog tempo-control decks.

 

Different Dimension

Playstyle:  Aggressive

Strengths:  BAZOO!!!  Solid Win-Condition

Weaknesses:  Stopped by solid Defense and a fast tempo

Lasting Impact:  Return from the Different Dimension

 

            I think we all cringed that first time that our opponent stupidly ran his only monster into our sole sakuretsu, just to bring back all of his Monarchs, D.D.’s, Dekoichi’s and anything else with a decent attack.  Perhaps the most successful win-condition since CED, Return From The Different Dimension has had a lasting impact on our Meta and has pushed second tier decks forward to being incredibly competitive (Strike Ninja, I mean you) and has leapt us to the final phase of this year’s evolution.

 

Frog-Monarch

 

Playstyle:  Combo-Oriented

Strengths:  Steady Flow of Tributes and Defense

Weaknesses:  Early game is slow and poor draws ensue if frog is lost

Lasting Impact:  Treeborn Frog, Last Will, Kycoo the Ghost Destroyer

 

            A short-lived idea that featured Treeborn Frog and some well known Monarchs to generate advantage through free tributes.  While the frog was easy to punish (Kycoo, Airknight) the threat the monarchs posed led to the immediate revival of an old friend and an old concept.

 

Flip-Flop Control

 

Playstyle:  Tempo Manipulating

Strengths:  Ability to make and break various duel speeds

Weaknesses:  Poor top decks and Persistently slow duels

Lasting Impact:  Night Assailant (Limited), Morphing Jar

 

            Another transition deck formed between large changes in the Meta, Flip-Flop aimed at putting strong pressure on the opponent by strictly moderating the speed of the duel.  Taking from early flip decks, it stole advantage from monsters seeking to attack their way to make gains by establishing instant floaters (cards that replace their cost) and incorporated a new passion for tribute monsters in the form of monarchs.

 

Chaos Control

 

Playstyle:  Aggressive

Strengths:  Strong Special Summoning and quick pace offer fast victories

Weaknesses:  Strong reliance on graveyard to build advantage

Lasting Impact:  Chaos Sorcerer, Magician of Faith x 2 (The Dos is key), Asura Priest

 

            Back to the beginning, this new form of chaos exploited everything we’ve learned over the past year.  A strong emphasis on controlling the speed of the duel with a constant flow of advantage in the form of the sorcerer, puts pressure on the opponent to defeat insignificant floaters and do real damage.  Chaos has always been a dominant force because of its speed and this new form is no different.

 

            So, here’s the cool part.  I once said that changes in the Meta were made marginally.  It’s called tech because it’s a slightly new spin on some old material (technology, right).  Now all of this tech, all of these changes I’ve been noting come into play with the final deck build of the year.  I’ll show you the deck that won the first SJC after the October Ban and then show you the National Champ’s Deck.  The latter is merely a teched out version of the first.  Just like evolution, new decks show the successes of old ideas incorporated with a few new changes.

 

          Cards in Bold represent cards that were added to the Meta this year (the ones I listed above) and cards in italics represent cards that are the same in both player’s decks.  I didn’t normalize the decks to account for multiples of one card and fewer of another (i.e. Kulman’s 3 Cyber Dragons against Jensen’s 1) because I didn’t feel it was important.  I hope everyone can gain something from this and really see the minute changes that occurred this year.  While I understand that decks in the middle of the year varied greatly from burn to Earth to basically everything not chaos, but a return to normalcy does occur each year right before nationals as things get a little bit more static.
 

Austin Kulman

 

Monsters: 22

1 Tsukuyomi

2 Magician of Faith

3 Cyber Dragon

1 D. D. Warrior Lady

2 Spirit Reaper

2 Chaos Sorcerer

1 Breaker the Magical Warrior

1 Sangan

1 Magical Merchant

1 Jinzo

1 Night Assailant

2 Zaborg the Thunder Monarch

2 Dekoichi the Battlechanted Locomotive

1 Kycoo the Ghost Destroyer

 

Spells: 12

1 Confiscation

1 Premature Burial

2 Nobleman of Crossout

1 Scapegoat

1 Mystical Space Typhoon

1 Snatch Steal

2 Smashing Ground

1 Heavy Storm

1 Graceful Charity

1 Book of Moon

 

Traps: 7

1 Bottomless Trap Hole

2 Sakuretsu Armor

1 Call of the Haunted

1 Torrential Tribute

1 Mirror Force

1 Return from the Different Dimension

 

 

John Jensen

 

Monsters: 18

1 Tsukuyomi

1 Magician of Faith

1 Cyber Dragon

1 D. D. Warrior Lady
2 Spirit Reaper

1 Chaos Sorceror

1 Breaker the Magical Warrior
1 Sangan

1 Magical Merchant

1 Jinzo

1 Don Zaloog

2 Airknight Parshath
2 D. D. Assailant
1 Exiled Force
1 Mystic Swordsman LV2


Spells:  15
1 Confiscation

1 Premature Burial

1 Nobleman of Crossout

1 Scapegoat

1 Mystical Space Typhoon

1 Snatch Steal

1 Smashing Ground
1 Heavy Storm
1 Dark Hole

1 Book of Moon
1 Reinforcement of the Army
1 Brain Control
1 Swords of Revealing Light
2 Enemy Controller

Traps: 7
1 Bottomless Trap Hole

2 Sakuretsu Armor

1 Call of the Haunted
1 Torrential Tribute
1 Ceasefire
1 Dust Tornado