Luke Tyler

This weeks Tier List is catered specifically towards the second stage of the KC Cup. The meta for the KC Cup Stage 2 is expected to be very similar to the tournament meta, with a closer resemblance towards the meta we see in large point room battles (especially since these point battles are common sources of KC Cup testing). Notable differences include increased relevance in decks with strong consistency, and stronger potential in decks with the ability to close games out extremely quickly while not taking slow losses at the same time. An example of this is the readdition of Cyber Dragon to the tier list - its average match time gives it extra merit in a KC Cup Stage 2 environment.

Tier 1

TPC Comments

Jason

Dark Magician stays at the top by being a very consistent deck with an engine that has disruption with its own searchers ( ). Being able to use and have negates for S/T gives this deck options to beat every deck. This will be a good deck for KCC because it has auto-win matchups and over an elongated tournament the consistency will shine

Negative1

Dark Magician is likely to be the most common deck in KC Cup, for good reason. With and it is able to floodgate many strategies from being able to make plays, and with they are able to gain free advantage. Many games will be reduced to whether players see which is still not enough as it doesn’t deal with the s and followup negate.

trapdexter

Its been nearly 5 months and Elementsabers are still as strong as ever. The deck is probably the most balanced deck in the meta and can explode out of nowhere with or control the duel with and . Now with players opting to add to negate the deck even has negation. Seriously there’s nothing this deck doesn’t have and it’s one of the optimal choices for the KC Cup

Tier 2

TPC Comments

Herbel

Blackwings always dominated the point rooms, the fast and aggressive play style makes them a good pick for the KCC. The only thing that keeps Blackwings back from being the clear best pick for the KCC is the popularity of Elementsabers.

Darklords were always a solid pick for KCC since the release of the deck. The two most popular decks of the format are Dark Magician and Elementsabers, and the deck has a good chance to have a positive winrate against both. The fact that Darklords can win fast, and they can also win trough long grind games, makes them a nice pick for the KCC.

Luke Tyler

Blackwings have been prevailing in Point Battles due to their ability to close out games quickly, in addition to their decent matchups across the board in the current metagame. Through carefully selecting the correct tech cards, Blackwings can weave their way through the Stage 2 meta, adataping its tech cards accordingly along the way. For example, a surge in Dark Magician and Invoked players would be an indication for said Blackwing pilot to equip their deck with a hefty amount of backrow removal options.

Tier 3

TPC Comments:

Chris

Cyber Dragons are back on the Tier List thanks to their favorable Dark Magician matchup but it still has the same problem of facing monsters that cannot be destroyed by card effects with stats of 2800 or more, namely , , and Darklords under

EmAyy

Cyber Dragons are back on the Tier List. With KC Cup coming around Dark Magician seem to be a popular choice, making Cyber Dragons decent. Going 1st with or is GG for DM. Going 2nd isn’t the worst due to playing multiple s.

Luke Tyler

Ritual Beasts appear to be a very strong contender in the format - in the right hands. With the exception of hard removal like , the deck is able to play through common backrow cards and other forms of popular disruption due to their contact-fusing abilities. To handle the threatening removal cards like Treacherous and , we see many Ritual Beast users using a decent amount of backrow removal cards still - with some players going above the standard lineup of just and with quirkier options like . In further regards to deck building trends, the variant has been picking up a lot of traction due to its increased chances of opening the godlike hands with and ideally . Many players prefer still however, due to the insane coverage that the Skill provides. It is possible for either of these variants to perform well in the upcoming Stage 2 of the KC Cup.

Off the Tier List

TPC Comments:

Chris

Ninjas have two major weakness keeping them from the Tier List. Firstly they need to go first to setup their disruption and secondly . However, when Ninjas go 1st and they don’t have CC they can end the game in a decisive manner and that’s why they are a poor man’s Dark Magician

trapdexter

Unfortunately this deck in the current meta is too prone to disruption and can’t keep up with the other decks. shuts down the deck similar to how shuts down Ritual Beasts. There’s no way Ninjas can keep up if the deck’s main weakness is the meta’s most popular card.

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