Tier 1

TPC Comments

Autumn Leaf

Darklords have found themselves in Tier 1 status due to the gradually decreasing popularity of Blackwings and a highly abusable skill in against Shiranui. Its positive matchup against Elementsaber, Ritual Beast and Crystrons make Darklords a dominant force in the meta.

Drizzels

Darklords are back to Tier 1. With Blackwings having more and more problems in the current meta with all the s and s, Darklords are shining again. is a very strong Skill on its own and siding / against Shiranui and other decks can turn the table even more into their favor. A good Darklord hand can beat almost anything and their biggest problem is still their own bricks. With Compensation, you have access to a lot of resources that makes Darklords less linear to play than other meta decks. A single wrong decision can cost you the entire game which is what makes player skill level a lot more important than with other decks.

Erikson

Elementsabers are still one of the best decks in the game with only one unfavourable match up in Darklords

Shiranui helped clear the way for Darklords. Now that Blackwings have another bad matchup on the map, Darklords profit as they now have a good match up against the two most popular decks with help from the side deck.

Luxdar

The pressure of a flip-down and meta has driven down the authority of Blackwings, allowing Darklord to thrive more again. The inherent LP manipulation with Darklord allows it to run to give Shiranui trouble, adding to the list another deck it can counter. Furthermore, being able to Tribute Summon or establish big early fortified boards takes some of the potency out of , especially with it being an outdated concept to build in such a way where you can only summon once. So, at this time, Darklord returning to Tier 1 makes sense given the direction of the meta.

MedzR

Darklords have been performing better following the release of Shiranui. The decrease in Blackwings benefit Darklords, and as demonstrated in the MCS, can be sided in to greatly improve the Shiranui matchup.

Snyffus

Darklords’ only struggle in this meta is basically consistency issues but with a good hand they can just overpower everything, even their counter decks. Elementsaber is a very easy match up and thanks to you’re able to outgrind a lot of decks. With in the Side Deck the Shiranui match-up becomes a lot better.

VodkaForFree

With the release of Shiranui, Darklords got a new favourable matchup, they not only benefit from Elementsabers and Crystrons, but Shiranui as well.

Tier 2

Drizzels

Shiranui is here and oh boy is it powerful. Due to a lot of recent good results, especially in the MCS this weekend. With most often only running they summon level 6, 8, and 10 Synchros using their field and grave and use to wipe an entire field. They are kinda forced to play to improve their negative Darklord matchup, even though provides more options. Darklords siding into and Invoked being able to run over 0 defense Shiranui monsters with is maybe the only thing holding Shiranui back from Tier 1.

Ritual Beasts got promoted to Tier 2. They are mainly benefiting from a good Shiranui matchup and the rise of Darklords currently. Their relative strength is directly proportional to the amount of people running in the Side Deck. Until new counters develop or massive powercreep occurs, Ritual Beasts will most likely bounce between Tier 2 and Tier 3 for the forseeable future.

Erikson

Ritual Beasts’ situation hasn’t changed much but now there is another good match up on the map and Elementsabers will likely see a decrease in popularity due to Darklords which is only good news for them.

Shiranui boasts powerful Synchro monsters that are easy to get out. Its small engine allows the deck to have plenty of room for backrow / tech cards. The deck also has very few bad match ups, so it’s Tier 2 for now.

Luxdar

Shiranui has seen a lot of playtesting and is still open to further exploration, but at this time, the most successful version going 11-0 in the recent MCS demonstrates that a very effective way to play the deck is focusing on to only hit the Lv 6, 8, and 10 Synchros. Backrow protection makes up the rest of the deck, seeing as the Spectralsword being able to Synchro in the GY allows for a tight monster core. It also allows for better reliability as a Synchro deck given the prevalence of flip-down effects, since putting the flipped down monsters in the GY through battle or tribute (e.g. , ) opens back up the opportunity to Synchro. This can be threatened by and , however. negation and piercing on top of that make sure Shiranui learns its place at Tier 2 for the time being.

Snyffus

Ritual Beasts have a favorable Shiranui match-up and with a bit of luck they can beat several different decks. On top of that it can be challenging to play against. Even though it might be underrepresented due to its complexity, with enough experience this deck can do a lot of damage (watch out for zaidking , Socram , and Maa). However, in the side deck can be very annoying.

Tier 3

TPC Comments:

Drizzels

Blackwing got demoted. With the introduction of Shiranui, a second deck playing heavy -type cards has entered the meta. In the meantime, it’s become quite clear how Blackwings are playing and what cards you need to flip face down to interrupt their combo. They will stay Tier 3 due to having a good matchup against Darklords but against a lot of other meta decks they simply have a lot of problems. Their horrible conversion rate in the recent MCS shows how weak Blackwings are at the moment.

Erikson

With the arrival of Shiranui, Blackwings find themselves with another bad match up. Their winrate against Shiranui and Elementsabers is way worse than Darklords winrate against Blackwings (which is supposed to be their best match up). Therefore we found suitable to demote blackwings to Tier 3.

Luxdar

Still a terrifying OTK deck to be pitted against in a vacuum, the current meta is overprepared for it. , , and in triplicates are in the vast majority of decklists, disrupting the standard play, meanwhile the most commonly run Tier 1 deck has an extra 6 cards dedicated to flipping down monsters. Blackwings are still a deck you can’t let your guard down against, but the fact of the matter is too many meta decks do have their guard up, making it a lot more difficult for Blackwings to thrive in its currently known form. There’s always room to adapt, but given the present meta, Blackwing will be placed at Tier 3.

MedzR

Blackwings have been demoted to Tier 3 as the introduction of Shiranui brings another unfavourable matchup for the deck, due to Shiranui running multiple s and s.

Snyffus

Blackwings aren’t consistent enough to keep up with the best decks. They also suffer from their weak Elementsaber match-up. If you want to run a deck, Shiranui is the better option.

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