Welcome to Week #1 of the OCG 2020.01 format.

This report will cover 38 top-performing decks from 4 tournaments that were held in Japan, China and Korea during 1 – 7 January 2020.

Metagame Breakdown

5 Sky Striker

4 Orcust

3 Orcust Trickstar (2 Orcust Trickstar, 1 Dragoon Orcust Trickstar)

3 Subterror (2 Dragoon Subterror, 1 Subterror)

2 Cyber Dragon

2 Danger Dark World

2 Dragoon

2 Dragoon Invoked

2 Infernoid (1 Lair Infernoid, 1 Grass Lair Infernoid)

2 Magician (1 Magician, 1 Dragoon Magician)

2 Shaddoll (1 Shaddoll, 1 Dragoon Shaddoll)

2 SPYRAL (1 SPYRAL, 1 Dragoon Grinder SPYRAL)

2 Thunder Dragon (1 Thunder Dragon, 1 Invoked Thunder Dragon)

2 Zefra

1 Altergeist

1 Mythical Beast Endymion

1 Salamangreat

Sky Striker

Cloud (구름맛) went 4-1-2 and finished 1st in “Song-Ung CS‏” (Team 3v3) which had 18 teams (54 participants).

He ran 3 Gameciel, the Sea Turtle Kaiju and 3 Dark Ruler No More in the Main Deck against Red-Eyes Dark Dragoon.

The 3 Dimensional Barrier in the Side Deck allows him to deny Fusion when playing against Dragoon Beat and Dragoon Invoked, and deny Pendulum when playing against Endymion, Magician and Zefra.

Orcust

Wasa (わさ) went 6-1-1 and finished 1 – 2nd in “3rd Mirin CS” (Team 3v3) which had 32 teams (96 participants).

He ran 2 Super Polymerization in the Main Deck as his answer to Red-Eyes Dark Dragoon.

This is further supported by 2 Kumongous, the Sticky String Kaiju, 3 Dark Ruler No More and 2 Dimensional Barrier in the Side Deck.

Dragoon Invoked

Stopping Red-Eyes Dark Dragoon from being Fusion Summoned with ‘hand traps’ is a rather tricky affair.

Red-Eyes Fusion can be negated by Ash Blossom & Joyous Spring, but Predaplant Verte Anaconda ② effect cannot be negated by Ash Blossom & Joyous Spring. This is because the effect of Predaplant Verte Anaconda sends the Fusion Spell as a cost, so it is not an effect that “Send a card from the Deck to the GY”.

The solution to this is to negate Predaplant Verte Anaconda directly using Effect Veiler or Infinite Impermanence.

Huan Ying (幻影) went 9-0-2 and finished 1st in “Duel City 2019 Zhuhai” which had 145 participants.

He ran 3 Crossout Designator in the Main Deck, a better choice over Called by the Grave as it provides a wider coverage that includes Infinite Impermanence. In the mirror match, Crossout Designator could also negate Dimensional Barrier and prevent the disaster of being locked out of Fusion for the whole turn.

Conclusion

Over the New Year, there is a lack tournaments, so we are unable to draw any conclusive statement regarding the deck distribution. However, we can still observe the deck building trends.

Among the 38 decks, 10 of them are running Red-Eyes Dark Dragoon. Red-Eyes Dark Dragoon has become the card to beat, causing many decks to run Kaiju, Super Polymerization, Dark Ruler No More in the Main Deck. Dimensional Barrier is also becoming a popular choice in the Side Deck.

The Asia Championship Winter 2020 will be held at Philippines on the coming Sunday. 12 duelists will be battling under the new OCG 2020.01 format.

Who do you think and hope will be the champion? Which deck do you think will be victorious? Is the Asia Championship Winter 2020 side event playmat a prognostication?

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