Disclaimer

This Tier List comes before Aerial Assault, so the impact of Blackwings and cards like on the meta is speculative and may change with more testing / data

Tier 1

TPC Comments

Erikson

Darklords are still Tier 1 for obvious reasons - the deck is just too opressive and very consistent at it.

Ritual Beasts can easily generate a lot of card advantage with their insane searching power and can outresource any deck in the meta over the course of the duel. is an insane card that can be easily brought out by this deck and help get rid of bigger monsters while also negating monsters on the opponent’s field. Several strong components make this deck Tier 1 worthy.

Luxdar

The massive card advantage Ritual Beasts can pull between and is what fortifies the deck against a ruthless meta. It’s challenging for decks to overcome Ritual Beasts once they get going, with losses typically attributed to timing out or misplaying under low timer pressure after getting that far in the game. At this point in time, Tier 1 is given to the deck with the understanding it is catered around and a Skill dedicated to fetching . Obstacles like and Counter Traps can wind up finding themselves at the mercy of Cosmic while others like are troubled by Plasma’s exceptional board-breaking power.

Maxino

Do I really have to explain? Despite the ban they received, Darklord still sweeps through the competition. The only new thing that could be highlighted in this deck is the diversification in terms of the Skills for this deck ( , , , , etc.), with giving you consistently strong draws.

The star of the show. Ritual Bests are an incredibly strong deck, but due to its complex nature, a lot of practice is needed to master this deck, or simply avoid losing to Time Limit.

MedzR

Ritual Beats have continued to perform to a high standard, despite players siding cards like and to try and disrupt the deck. Ritual Beasts are able to generate a lot of card advantage through loops with and the ability to search for enables you to setup a host of follow up plays during your opponents turn. As a result of Ritual Beasts impact on the meta, we are starting to see the return of Counter Trap packages as a way to disrupt this deck.

Snyffus

Ritual Beasts entered the meta! They are one of the strongest decks right now, thanks to easily being able to win you many games on its own. It’s an incredibly strong card vs Darklord and Invoked, the other two strong decks right now.

Tier 2

TPC Comments

Maxino

In my opinion, Invoked one of the strongest decks of the moment, since you can adapt your strategy based on the current meta, exchanging tech cards for different ones.

Snyffus

Invoked builds have changed quite a bit. They have added Tuners to have a bigger toolbox, being now able to access Synchros like and to handle different gamestates or just try to OTK your opponent (Black Rose followed up with + is 4000 Damage).

wayne kenoff

Invoked continues to adapt and change strategies to fit the meta - now making room for powerful synchros such as and . The deck has proven formidable for any meta with slight changes and is possibly the safest investment of all decks currently on the Tier List. They’ll receive solid support in the new box with and with the versatility and viability of the engine I would expect to be seeing this deck for a very long time.

Tier 3

TPC Comments:

Erikson

The ability to completely shut down monster effects completely while having backrow to protect you from any other threat is crazy. Unfortunately, this deck has a hard time if it doesn’t open its ideal board, making it easier for opponents to break through. Its poor consistency prevents it from hitting higher Tiers.

Fortune Ladies are in a very delicate spot right now. The deck has a bad matchup vs Ritual Beasts but a good one vs Darklords if it opens well. Right now its impossible for Fortune Ladies to keep up with both Tier 1 decks with its current builds. In my opinion the deck should adapt to a Counter Trap version to improve their matchup vs Ritual Beasts while also doing well against the rest of the meta.

Luxdar

Having the niche of shutting down monster effects makes Amano Stun a deck that the other Tiered decks should worry about at the back of their minds. While drawing on the player’s first turn isn’t a guarantee, it can easily break decks that suffer against its early summon. As more players try running to grant access to , the deck pushes in a more aggressive direction, with and not only defending Amano Iwato but also opening up lethal holes for Magellanica. Therefore, Tier 3 is given to the deck to recognize the real damage it can do to the other Tiered decks.

Maxino

Amano demonstrates Incredibly (seriously, incredibly) great control over the rest of the decks, obviously the deck’s advantage going first is more than overwhelming, but it can still continue playing even going second. It should be noted that they have been playing with the Invoked engine, for a greater number of combos, making it more versatile

MedzR

Amano has seen an increase in usage this past week. Whilst the deck still has the same consistency issues as it did before, opening Amano turn 1 with protection is practically a free win. In addition, players have started to transition into an Invoked variant, making use of Amano’s Earth attribute to summon , giving the deck a strong offensive presence alongside .

Snyffus

Amano Stun, one of the most degenerate strategies from last format, is back now. The counter traps can easily prevent your opponent from playing the game while blocks off all monster effects. The main problem of this deck though is the coin flip, as well as some inconsistent hands without Amano.

VodkaForFree

itself is a counter to all other currently tiered decks. The only (big) problem is that it relies on going first and opening Amano with backrow protection.Because of this Amano will only be Tier 3.

High Potential

TPC Comments:

Erikson

Massive support is coming up in the new Main Box for Blackwings and it looks like it’s going to make ‘em Top Tier. on its own makes the deck a lot more consistent by being able to pull from the deck. The deck now has a lot more tools in its disposal to deal with various threats. gives the deck defensive capabilities and the fact that that can be activated from the hand if you control a Blackwing Synchro monster(which is likely to happen with the deck’s swarming capabilities) is huge because you dont have to worry about your opponent sniping it with cards like . The deck will probably hit the highest Tiers and potetially dethrone other decks on its way up there.

Luxdar

Aerial Assault has given Blackwings a plethora of new tools to choose from. , , , and are the main cards to look out for. On top of its stat halving and Special Summoning, Gale is at a critical Level 3 to let it combine with any Level 4 Blackwing to make Raikiri. Simoon fetches from the deck and opens immense searching and Synchro plays. will likely do the heavy lifting for Blackwings in Duel Links, being an incarnation of that stops ever-present monster effects while putting forth a beefy 2800 in the process. Considering the given Blackwing cards in the game are mainly offensively oriented, Blackbird Close on top of staple options like may potentially sum up their defenses. As for Raikiri, it appears to be the main Synchro to make in Blackwing considering its effect gets to the point - removing up to 2 cards each activation. While Darklords can negate, Ritual Beasts can dodge or float, and Invoked can ignore, Blackwings seems to be equipped to attempt multiple plays a turn while also surpassing the 2900 DEF threshold of Invoked Cocytus / through the Skills. In the Invoked matchup, even if it’s just forcing to drop, that pressure is still valuable to have. Furthermore, the Skill’s potentially gained relevancy through the new box’s more competitive Synchro plays can act as an additional line of defense, since unlike , Blackwing Rising lasts through the opponent’s turn. All in all, Blackwings have possibly the most potential of the new box to shake up the meta, and time will tell if it indeed does.

MedzR

Blackwings have received a whole host of new support and the common consensus is that that this deck will have a big impact on the current meta. allows you to play a from the deck, giving you very good odds of seeing Whirlwind in your first turn by playing 3 of each. We have also received some Blackwing synchros that are worth running, namely and . is a very interesting card in this meta as it gives the deck monster effect negation that can be activated from hand, meaning you don’t have to worry about . This will be very problematic for both Darklords and Ritual Beasts and I can see this deck shooting straight to Tier 1.

Negative1

Presently there is not enough information to conclude where Blackwings will fall, but it is likely that they will be Tier 1 or Tier 2. and result in a highly consistent OTK deck capable of breaking boards with a strong matchup against all current Top Tier decks. With no cards currently on the banlist they can run to overcome any defensive strategies, and can be activated from hand granting them a way to play around opposing backrow removal. The Darklord regime may be coming to a close as Blackwings could be the new best deck to Dominate the KC Cup.

wayne kenoff

Blackwings are on the way and with them they bring terrifying search power, swarming, and Synchro summoning effects. With a large toolbox of cards filled with a variety of effects, it is almost certain that Blackwings will have a massive impact on the meta.

Removed

TPC Comments:

Erikson

Looks like the support from the last minibox wasnt enough for Crystrons. Sometimes this deck’s plays can be easily shut down from a simple disruption. On top of that, Daklords - one of their worst match ups - is a Tier 1 deck right now.

VodkaForFree

wasn’t enough to overcome a bad Darklord matchup and be meta

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