Welcome to Week #8, #9 of the OCG 2018.10 format.

This report will cover 95 top-performing decks from 14 tournaments that were held in Japan, Singapore and China during 24 November – 4 December 2018.

The following were excluded from this tabulation as LINK VRAINS Pack 2 was not allowed in these tournaments:

Center CS in Koiwa

Hatti Grand Championship 2018

New Product Release

V Jump January 2019 promotional card Platinum Gadget

LINK VRAINS Pack 2

Metagame Breakdown

21 Sky Striker

13 Altergeist

13 Gouki

10 Magician

5 Subterror

4 Good Stuff Link

3 Cyber Dragon

3 Trickstar

2 Burning Abyss

2 Link Doppel

2 Magical Musket

2 Orcust

2 Thunder Dragon

2 Train

2 Zefra

1 Blackwing

1 D/D

1 Dinosaur Mekk-Knight

1 Greener Dinosaur Invoked Shaddoll

1 Meta Beat

1 Mekk-Knight

1 Mekk-Knight Trickstar

1 Six Samurai

1 Zombie

Sky Striker

Sharurun (しゃるるん) went 7-1 and finished 1st in “6th Yu-Gi-Oh! Cardbox Fukuyama CS” (Team 3v3) which had 21 teams (63 participants).

Not only is he running 3 Effect Veiler and 3 Infinite Impermanence in the Main Deck, there is another 3 PSY-Framegear Gamma and 3 Different Dimension Ground in the Side Deck.

Gouki is so resilient that only by opening with 2 to 3 ‘Hand Traps’ do Sky Striker stand a chance at disrupting the combo.

Altergeist

Kai (かい) went 5-3 and finished 3rd in “6th Yu-Gi-Oh! Cardbox Fukuyama CS” (Team 3v3) which had 21 teams (63 participants).

He ran a copy of Witch’s Strike in his Side Deck for the Altergeist mirror match.

Altergeist runs quite a number of negation in their deck, namely Altergeist Hexstia, Altergeist Protocol, Solemn Judgment and Solemn Warning. This satisfy the activation condition of Witch’s Strike, destroying all of the opponent’s cards on the field and in the hand.

However, Witch’s Strike is largely unreliable as it relies on the element of surprise, so most players would only run 1 – 2 copies.

Gouki

Gohan (ごはん) went 7-2 (including 1 bye) and finished 2nd in “Hatti CS × Surugaya Cup in Surugaya Takatsuki Trading Card House” which had 52 participants.

He ran a copy of Tackle Crusader in the Side Deck as an out to Kaiser Colosseum, Gozen Match and Rivalry of Warlords.

By Normal Summoning Mathematician, its effect can be activated to send Tackle Crusader from the deck to the graveyard. That would trigger Tackle Crusader‘s effect to return Kaiser Colosseum, Gozen Match or Rivalry of Warlords to hand, thus allowing the Gouki player to follow up with Psychic Wheeleder or Emergency Teleport and continue the combo.

Magician

HAJIME went 5-1-2 and finished 2nd in “6th Yu-Gi-Oh! Cardbox Fukuyama CS” (Team 3v3) which had 21 teams (63 participants).

He ran PSY-Framelord Lambda in the Extra Deck.

PSY-Framelord Lambda has a generic summoning requirement of “2 monsters, except Tokens”, making it an appropriate replacement for LANphorhynchus or Police Patrol of the Underworld.

Lambda’s effect also allows “PSY-Framegear” monster’s effect to be activate while there is a monster on the field, allowing him to run PSY-Framegear Gamma in the Main Deck. Gamma was mainly ran in the Side Deck as it was only good while going first to negate ‘Hand Trap’ when setting up.

Lambda allows Magician to open with PSY-Framelord Omega and activates its effect to banish itself and a random card from opponent’s hand. During the End Phase, Lambda would then add PSY-Framegear Gamma from deck to hand.

During the opponent’s turn, if PSY-Framegear Gamma was activated to negate a monster effect, that would caused Gamma and PSY-Frame Driver to be banished during the End Phase, then Lambda could add another Gamma to hand.

Omega would return during your Standby Phase, and then during the opponent’s Standby Phase, Omega’s effect would return the banished Driver to the graveyard, thus enabling Gamma to be activated again.

This essentially creates a soft loop that continuously reloads your hand with Gamma.

Conclusion

Sky Striker took back the lead, but Altergeist and Gouki follows close behind.

LINK VRAINS Pack 2 has a small but noticeable impact on the competitive scene.

PSY-Framegear Gamma is already a very popular tech in the Side Deck, which makes PSY-Framelord Lambda a great addition to many decks that could afford to spare an Extra Deck space.

Six Samurai went 8-2 and finished 2nd in “Asia Championship Winter 2019 Singapore Qualifier” with the boost from Great General of the Six Samurai, improving the consistency of opening with Gateway of the Six.

We are also seeing some experimentation with Magical Musket and Train decks using their respective new Link Monster – Magical Musketeer Max and Double Header Anger Knuckle.

YOT Hong Kong 2018 will be happening this weekend and we will see how LINK VRAINS Pack 2 plays a role in this major tournament.

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References