This is the first Tier List for this new Top Player Council. They will be updating the Tier Lists for the next three months.

Tier 1

TPC Comments

Drizzels

The recent competetive tournaments proved once again that Darklords are still the best deck. With Counter Trap Desperado in decline due to Invoked Neos they have less anti-meta decks to fear and more tournament top results are expected.

With the Invoked Engine Neos made a comeback and had a lot of top results in tournaments last week. Specially Desperado is a great matchup. vs + is the question currently up in the air for this deck.

Erikson

Competitive events have proven once again that Darklords are the best deck in the format. Insane draw power, easy swarming and having multiple negates/disruptions per turn makes it so other decks can’t keep up with them even though every other deck is teching heavily against them.

Luxdar

Darklords still dominate the format not only because of their ability to quickly produce big monsters, but because of the capability of to remove fortified bodies. The combination of ’s non-targeting monster effect negation and Darklord Desire’s non-destroying removal allows Darklord players to give little concern about the rise of , whose presence promises to force other decks to adapt around it or become left behind. Furthermore, Darklord has the unrivaled capacity to counter whichever deck it puts its mind to by sacrificing for as its Skill of choice, given the nature of its built-in LP manipulation. The power to deny opponents many of their outs by easily accessing the appropriate countermeasure in the form of , , , , , etc. is what adds to the challenge of dethroning Darklord. Lastly if all else fails, Sanctified means the Darklord player is far favored to just win by deckout. Many may at least find solace in the now more easily accessible disruption card, , thanks to the launch of DSOD, although so far no noticeably consistent disturbance to Darklords’ performance has been observed to warrant lowering them from Tier 1 standing

Neos has newfound consistency with the EX-exclusive card. Keeper’s powerful two-part effect of pitching anything to search and pulling an out of the grave not only means that running 2 (or even 1) vanilla Neos can still make use of all 3 , but it also means the Neos player can have a 3-monster swarm by milling an to flip up a revived vanilla Neos, which can then be given teeth by . Synergy with and various Water techs such as to make only make the deck a more uphill battle for opponents, but the distinction of Tier 1 mainly comes from the patches Keeper makes to the deck, since Neos can afford to stray away from Invoked to fill the deck, e.g. Counter Traps.

Minato

Darklords are the best deck of the format, having winning matchups vs almost every deck just by running with its engine, and I believe it is the deck to beat, so run cards counter it. It’s currently Tier 1 and will to stay there until the time a banlist comes up.

MedzR

Over the past week, Darklords have continued to perform consistently in tourneys. The emergence of Invoked in the meta has had little effect on Darklords, whilst they benefit from the reduced amount of Counter Trap Desperado as a result of .

Invoked Neos is looking to be the best deck to come out of the new box. Whilst early builds were electing to run , players are starting to transition into cards like to improve the Darklord matchup.

Snyffus

Neos entered the meta thanks to the support they got in the new EX Structure and the Main Box. This is an extremely versatile deck with lots of different power plays.

wayne kenoff

Darklords continue to dominant and define the meta with numerous strengths and very few weaknesses. Being able to run backrow hate, card draw, monster removal, non targeting effect negation and a very powerful search card - Darklords might be the most complete deck Duel Links has seen to date.

With the addition of the Invoked engine and any consistency issues Neos had with opening is out the window. Keeper is a very powerful normal summon able to search your core card of the deck as well as provide a use for the usually dead in hand. Between the Neos engine and the Invoked engine it seems the deck has an answer for all forms of decks and has gained a considerable power and consistency boost with the introduction of the new box and world.

Wise

Darklords are still one of the strongest decks to play currently.They do have a great matchup versus almost every deck in the Tier List and they truly shine in the side deck format thanks to which can help you get the card you need to counter your opponents plays very fast.

Since the release of DSoD world, Neos gained a lot of support like and . is a monster that’s almost impossible to deal with if you are using Desperado or Amano Stun.

Tier 2

TPC Comments

Drizzels

With the introduction of Invoked Neos, Desperado builds (especially Counter Trap Desperado) are having a hard time. Desperado will need to adapt and maybe go back to the normal heavy backrow lineup.

Six Samurai will continue to do very well in the meta. With they have a decent Darklord matchup and with / they have great matchups vs other decks as well.

With the Invoked engine Spellbooks are performing better and better. Due to the good matchup against Invoked Neos they even have T1 potenzial. I expect good Spellbooks results in the upcoming MCS this weekend.

Erikson

The emergence of has put Desperado in a tough spot due to the deck not having a clear out to it and can be easily put in a deck-out situation. Tier 2 seems suitable for now as the deck can still do well vs other decks.

Spellbooks have received a little boost from the latest box which is . This card helps spellbooks a lot with the grindgame since Spellbooks can now end on + the usual and set-up. Spellbooks also have good match ups across the board making em Tier 2 worthy.

Luxdar

Desperado was demoted to Tier 2 at this time due to its struggle to deal with the growing popularity of , whose immunity to targeting, immunity to card effect destruction, and 2900 Def presents a real problem for the likes of , , and even (which had at least helped Desperado crack the similarly stubborn in the past). Counter Trap variants may at least deter the summon of Cocytus if the board is set up in time to stop , however, given that that’s not a realistic strategy for every encounter, the deck will have to do more targeted outsourcing to keep up. , , returning to reliance on direct attacks, giving up for , and other considerations have emerged to try and meet the need for change, but no sure footing has been established yet, especially given how the Desperado player still has to deal with the other cards the Cocytus player makes use of during the process of addressing and after the process of addressing the Cocytus. Tier 2 here reflects the nature of Desperado needing to warp itself enough to handle Cocytus consistently and efficiently while not warping itself so much that it loses the potency it had against other decks anyway.

Six Samurai is still a force to be reckoned with not just because of , but because of the adoption of . Not only does Beatdown allow and other Lv 5+ monsters to get over bigger monsters such as the otherwise immovable , but it also allows Six Samurai players to pass off as Darklord players. This presents a favorable stance for Six Samurai players since going first can let them establish a board uninterrupted while going second can mean Dual Wield will be more assuredly live should the other player commit 2+ cards to the field in fear of a Darklord OTK. At the same time, consistency for them has been on a decline while enemy powercreep has been on an incline, so Tier 2 seems like the appropriate place for them to be.

Spellbook received some support with to help it add an extra layer of defense to its typical + field. Having makes all the difference against matchups like Desperado. Tier 2 here represents the authority Fate, Silent Magician, and Cocytus have over decks, while also representing the inability to produce such boards as frequently as desired and the inability to cover as many cards as is sometimes necessary with Fate (namely against opponents with a lot of monsters and traps).

MedzR

Desperado has been Demoted to Tier 2 due to the emergence of . The deck is having to include techs such as and to out Cocytus, at the expense of worsening its other matchups. Unless they come up with a new tech to overcome the Invoked Neos matchup they will struggle this upcoming MCS.

Six Samurais continue to be a force to be reckoned with if they are able to establish a board. The decks biggest weakness is still its own consistency and some players are starting to drop in favour of 2 , to address this issue.

The Invoked package has also given Spellbooks a boost. It’s well established at this point that any deck that can summon has a much better chance of beating Desperado but aside from this, ’s effect to give a Fusion Monster an additional 1000 ATK enables Spellbooks to threaten lethal easier than they could previously.

Snyffus

With the introduction of we got an insane counter to Desperado. The deck just cannot out this monster at all, making the match-up vs Invoked strategies extremely bad. Even if you do maindeck some gimmicky outs like , they are easily able to summon another one.

tomvdelzen

Spellbooks are in a really good spot right now! The new support in and making the worst matchup Desperado a lot better ( ). The deck can finally win grind games again because of these cards. Before the deck ran out of steam after using 3/4 times, now with Cocytus you can swing into heavy backrow and spam more monsters. The deck’s weakness is the side deck, people being able to side in a Skill like can be problem. The new support didnt allow the deck to beat Darklords. you will still lose to a great Darklord hand especcialy if you are going second.

wayne kenoff

While the introduction of the new box was great for Neos it has had the opposite effect on Desperado. The Invoked cards are extremely easy to tech into just about any deck and with it now seems any deck can win the Desperado match up if they are able to set up the Cocytus. Until Desperado finds a way to deal with Cocytus consistently it will continue to fall down the Tier List.

Six Samurai boasts powerful boards and can steamroll opponents when it draws the way they want to. If you do not draw ideal or able to establish your and backrow the deck can feel extremely weak and clunky. Six Samurai is still a formidable deck with great synergy and variety of the cards and will continue to be a headache to opposing strategies

Spellbooks arguably received just as powerful of a boost as Neos with the new set with the introduction of the Invoked engine. The spellbook engine continues to be consistent and fits excellently with your skill, in addition to ’s WATER attribute allowing you to summon alongside your already oppressive . Combine these two monsters with a great engine and a consistent out to anything in and you have a great deck that will be extremely formidable in the future.

Wise

Desperado can be forced into a deck out situation by the simple summon of and people are shifting from using Desperado to Invoked Neos. It is still a great deck due to the fact that it can use and lots of Counter Traps to secure a win versus Darklords.

Tier 3

TPC Comments:

Erikson

with lots of backrow is something to be feared but unfortunatly the deck cant just set this up consistently enough to keep up with the meta. On the other hand Fortune Ladies might profit from the rise of Neos decks which is a good match up due to Every being an easy out to and .

Triamids struggle a lot against both Tier 1 decks right now for them to be relevant in the current meta!! Darklords can easily overwhelm them and ’s protection along with not being able to target nor destroy a 2900 DEF makes it difficult for them to thrive. The deck can hold its own vs other decks and its very consistent - Tier 3 for now.

MedzR

Fortune Ladies are in an interesting spot right now as can deal with and , with its non-targeting banish effect. In addition, the fact that Darklords cannot gain any LP by negating Every with can be problematic for them. However, the deck still struggles if its combo to summon Every is disrupted, hence why the deck remains at Tier 3.

Snyffus

Fortune Ladies still have a big consistency issue. might be very good at the moment vs and but you just cannot get it out reliably.

tomvdelzen

Fortune Ladies still have the same consistency issue they always had. is better then ever with and around. The amount of Counter Traps going down helps the deck a lot.

wayne kenoff

Fortune Ladies boast an Extremely powerful boss most in the form of . Similar to Six Samurai they have powerful turns when you are able to open the way you want, but if you are not able to open optimally it can be hard to survive long enough to establish your boss monster alongside the backrow you want. Fortune Lady monsters being unable to do quite as much as the Samurai monsters without the boss monster keeps them below Samurai in Tier 2.

Triamids’ greatest strength is the consistency of the deck and the ability to easily main / side counters to different decks due to running the . Triamids can hold their own in the fact they will never 100% brick and can put enormous pressure on the opponent to make plays quickly or be overrun by providing a +500 boost each turn. While Triamids boast the best consistency of largely any deck on the Tier List they are easily overwhelmed by the majority of the Tier List when faced with ideal hands from the rest. They struggle vs the Top dog of the meta in Darklords and that is never good for a decks viability in the meta. Triamids are a great example of a high floor low ceiling style of deck.

Yanstorm

I think we all know how the other decks on the Tier List work since we’ve talked about them a lot. So I’m going to analyze my favourite deck on this meta - Triamids.

Without a doubt they have lost a lot of strength as they have an unfavorable matchup against the 2 strongest decks in the meta. A good triamid player can grind out the Darklords match up in Game 1 in side deck format, but side deck makes the matchup way harder since some Darklords run , and of course the most broken side deck Skill in it’s really hard for Triamids.

Now against Neos you have to deal with , , and their destruction protection so they’re annoying to deal with.

Triamids are also weak because they’re no longer the best option to counter Desperado as Neos can also beat them and it’s an overall better deck than Triamids. It doesn’t help that Desperado has also gotten weaker in the meta.

Removed

TPC Comments:

Erikson

Not being able to search really hurts Gravekeepers. Often times the deck has a very passive Turn 1 play with a T set which isnt good in the current meta.

Neos already can summon Turn 1 alongside so there’s no reason for people to run something weaker like pure Invoked. The deck revolves around 2 strong key cards in and but they’re better used more like an engine than an actual deck.

Snyffus

Gravekeepers rely on their Field Spell too much which isn’t searchable with any good cards at the moment. The deck is just too passive.

wayne kenoff

Gravekeepers, Pure Invoked, and other new decks like Thunder Dragons will still continue to be optimized in their quest to find Tier List viability. All solid decks even at the moment of this Tier List, they all have seem to have significant weaknesses that are waiting to be filled in an attempt to make a push to establish themselves as competitively Top Tier decks.

Wise

Gravekeepers are very -reliant and that makes them pretty inconsistent due to the fact that is not released yet.

There is no need to use Pure Invoked when the Invoked engine can be combined with the Neos engine, thus resulting to a decrease of this deck’s popularity.

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