Welcome to Week #1 of the OCG 2018.04 format.

This report will cover 40 top-performing decks from 6 tournaments that were held in Japan during 31 March – 3 April 2018.

Metagame Breakdown

10 Sky Striker: 7 Mono Sky Striker 2 Invoked Sky Striker 1 Diabolos Sky Striker

6 ABC: 3 Sky Striker ABC 2 Mono ABC 1 Greener HERO ABC FTK

6 Magician: 5 Performapal Magician 1 Performapal Odd-Eyes Magician

5 Metalfoes Zefra

3 Altergeist

3 Sky Striker Gouki

1 Burning Abyss

1 Greener Sky Striker Blue-Eyes

1 HERO

1 Nekroz

1 Sekka Genex Frog Atlantean Mermail

1 Sky Striker SPYRAL

1 Trickstar

Sky Striker

Feeri (ふぇーり) went 6-0-1 and finished 1st in “Nishi-Shinjuku CS” (Team 3v3) which had 42 teams (126 participants).

He is running the full 3 Effect Veiler in the Main Deck, and having Infinite Impermanence only in the Side Deck.

Effect Veiler is seeing increasingly more play in the Main Deck when compared with Infinite Impermanence.

Effect Veiler being a Tuner, can be used with Sky Striker Mecha – Hornet Drones to Link Summon Crystron Halqifibrax.

Infinite Impermanence performs poorly against ABC. Set Rotation prevents Infinite Impermanence from being played from hand.

Having Shared Ride in the Side Deck against Sky Striker is also seeing increasing play. Shared Ride allows the player to keep up with the card advantage generated from the opponent’s Sky Striker Mobilize – Engage!.

ABC

Eatos (エアトス) and Chari (ちゃり) ran the exact same 73 cards and together they dominated the “67th Aichi CS in NextPro Osu Shop with Hatti CS” which had 55 participants. Eatos went 8-0 and finished 1st, while Chari went 6-2 and finished 2nd .

For their Sky Striker ABC build, in addition to the 3 Effect Veiler in the Main Deck, there is also a Torque Tune Gear. Torque Tune Gear being a LIGHT Machine-Type Union Tuner monster, is searchable by Union Hangar.

Trickstar Light Stage is the secondary Field Spell card chosen to support Set Rotation. Trickstar Light Stage can search for Trickstar Corobane, and also seal an opponent’s set Spell/Trap until the End Phase.

This deck is heavily optimized to Link Summon Cystron Halqifibrax, having multiple methods to open with a Special Summoned monster and a Tuner.

Magician

Kidd (キッド) went 6-2 and finished 2nd in “8th Ishikawa CS” which had 36 participants.

He teched 3 copies of Secret Village of the Spellcasters in the Side Deck against Sky Striker.

Secret Village of the Spellcasters prevents the opponent from activating Spell Cards, but it is not an outright win. Secret Village of the Spellcasters is still vulnerable to Evenly Matched and Typhoon.

Zefra

Metalfoes Zefra is the current popular Zefra build.

With just Zeraath and Metalfoes Goldriver or Metalfoes Silverd, Metalfoes Zefra can bring out Cystron Halqifibrax, PSY-Framelord Omega and either Denglong, First of the Yang Zing or Zefraniu, Secret of the Yang Zing, with a supporting Nine Pillars of Yang Zing, and drawing 2 cards in the whole process.

Compared to the mono variant which uses Dragon Shrine, Supreme King Dragon Darkwurm and Destrudo the Lost Dragon’s Frisson, the Metalfoes variant has a much higher consistency. The requirement of a Pendulum Scale 1 Metalfoes Monster is easily achieved with 3 Metalfoes Goldriver, 3 Metalfoes Silverd and 2 Painful Decision in the deck. Zefraath can be played in 3 copies, and is also searchable by Oracle of Zefra and Zefra Providence.

ATM went 7-0 and finished 1st in “8th Ishikawa CS” which had 36 participants.

Conclusion

A condensed compilation of the overall breakdown in each of this week’s tournaments and the respective Top Cut breakdown is available below.

Sky Striker is the most popularly played, and frequently makes the top cut as well, evidently one of the best deck for the current competitive scene.

ABC and Magician have a good representation as well, and puts out equally good results, but just slightly behind Sky Striker.

Zefra is overperforming, having a smaller showing, but often getting into the Top Cut.

Altergeist is underperforming, being one of the more popularly played decks, but seldom making into the Top Cut.

8th Ishikawa CS, 36 participants Overall Breakdown:

10 Sky Striker

6 Magician

2 Zefra

… Top 4 Breakdown:

2 Magician

1 Nekroz

1 Zefra Nishi-Shinjuku CS (Team 3v3), 42 teams (126 participants) Overall Breakdown:

24 Sky Striker

22 Altergeist

16 ABC

9 Magician

8 Gouki

8 Zefra

… Top 4 Breakdown:

5 Sky Striker

2 Gouki

1 ABC

1 Atlantean Mermail

1 Altergeist

1 Magician

1 Zefra 3rd Yu-Gi-Oh! Hobby Station Nagoya CS, 53 participants Overall Breakdown:

12 Sky Striker

4 Altergeist

4 Magician

4 Trickstar

3 ABC

… Top 4 Breakdown:

1 ABC

1 HERO

1 SPYRAL

1 Trickstar PGS (Team 3v3), 24 teams (72 participants) Overall Breakdown:

30 Sky Striker

8 Magician

6 Altergeist

5 Atlantean Mermail

4 Zefra

… Top 4 Breakdown:

4 Sky Striker

2 Zefra

1 ABC

1 Altergeist

1 Blue-Eyes

1 Burning Abyss

1 Gouki

1 Magician 67th Aichi CS in NextPro Osu Shop with Hatti CS, 55 participants Overall Breakdown:

12 Sky Striker

7 ABC

7 Magician

4 Altergeist

… Top 4 Breakdown:

2 ABC

1 Magician

1 Sky Striker 36th Oretachi Trading Card Division CS, 67 participants Overall Breakdown:

15 Sky Striker

10 Altergeist

6 Infernoid

6 Magician

… Top 4 Breakdown:

1 ABC

1 Altergeist

1 Magician

1 Zefra