Welcome to Week #10 of the OCG 2019.10 format.

This report will cover 45 top-performing decks from 7 tournaments that were held in Japan, Malaysia, Philippines, China and Korea during 7 – 8 December 2019.

New Product Release

Structure Deck: Rebirth of Shaddoll

Metagame Breakdown

12 Orcust

5 Thunder Dragon: 4 mono Thunder Dragon 1 Invoked Thunder Dragon

4 Danger Dark World

4 Salamangreat: 3 mono Salamangreat 1 Grass Salamangreat

3 SPYRAL

2 Dragon Link

2 Magician

2 Mythical Beast Endymion

2 Zefra

1 Altergeist

1 Cyber Dragon

1 Gizmek Orochi Da Eiza

1 Mekk-Knight Artifact Traptrix

1 Meta Beat

1 Sky Striker

1 Subterror

1 Trickstar

1 Trickstar Orcust

Orcust

Alex Yeo went 11-1-2 and finished 1st in “Asia Championship Winter 2020 Malaysia Qualifier” which had 218 participants. Alex is a very accomplished player who has frequently represented Malaysia in the Asia Championships, and he has earned yet another invite to the Asia Championship Winter 2020.

In the semi-final of the Malaysia Qualifier, Alex played against an Orcust mirror match and was met with an interesting situation. His opponent activated Orcust Knightmare ② effect and he reacted with Ash Blossom & Joyous Spring, and the opponent responded with Called by the Grave. Fortunately for Alex, he had an Artifact Lancea that prevented Called by the Grave from banishing and negating Ash Blossom & Joyous Spring. Not only did Artifact Lancea stopped Called by the Grave, the opponent could no longer activate an other Orcust graveyard effect for the turn. And to top it off, his opponent had a System Down in hand that is now a dead card.

While System Down is a great card for other decks to use against Orcust, it is quite a liability in the Orcust mirror match. Artifact Lancea is useful in the Orcust mirror match as it stops Orcust from activating their graveyard effects, and also protect your ‘hand traps’ from Called by the Grave and Crossout Designator. Running another card that can be shutdown by Artifact Lancea is probably too much of a risk.

Thunder Dragon

Colin Ang went 10-1-1 and finished 5 – 8th in “Asia Championship Winter 2020 Malaysia Qualifier” which had 218 participants.

Despite Orcust being a poor match-up, Colin was well prepared against them. He played against 6 Orcust opponents throughout the tournament and defeated all but the last one at the quarter-final.

Against Orcust, he would prioritize bringing out Thunder Dragon Titan to ensure that his ‘hand traps’ can resolve successfully. When the opponent tries to activate Called by the Grave on his ‘hand traps’ such as Maxx “C” or Artifact Lancea, he would chain with Thunder Dragondark or Thunder Dragonmatrix, and if the opponent has no response, then he would add on the chain with Thunder Dragon Titan.

Chain 1: Maxx “C” ① effect

Chain 2: Called by the Grave ① effect, targeting Maxx “C”

Chain 3: Thunder Dragondark ① effect

Chain 4: Thunder Dragon Titan ① effect

Resolving the Chain, Thunder Dragon Titan ① effect would destroy itself, but its ② effect could substitute the destruction by banishing Maxx “C” and another card from the graveyard. This would cause Called by the Grave to miss its target and be unable to negate Maxx “C”.

Danger Dark World

Edsel Gozon went 10-2 and finished 2nd in “Asia Championship Winter 2020 Philippines Qualifier” which had 191 participants. Edsel is a veteran player who had finished in 3rd place for both Asia Championship 2012 and Asia Championship 2013.

He had an incredible run in this tournament, losing only twice during Swiss and the final match to the eventual champion, Francis Amoroso, who was running Meta Beat.

Down to the wire, in the third game of the final match, Francis went first and opened with Inspector Boarder and 4 Spell/Trap cards set in the backrow. Edsel played Dark Ruler No More in an attempt to negate Inspector Boarder, but Francis had Forbidden Lance to make Inspector Boarder immune.

Edsel followed with Harpie’s Feather Duster but was met with Starlight Road. It was all downhill from this point on as Francis had Card of Demise on the next turn and further the lock down with Moon Mirror Shield and Necrovalley.

Salamangreat

hama went 8-1 (including 1 bye) and finished 1st in “NextPro 2nd Anniversary Championship” which had 56 participants.

Fantastical Dragon Phantazmay has been regaining popularity recently.

When going second, having Fantastical Dragon Phantazmay is not that bad of a draw as it could be Special Summoned when the opponent activates their I:P Masquerena ① effect during your Main Phase. If the opponent has Topologic Zeroboros Link Summoned in the Extra Monster Zone, then Fantastical Dragon Phantazmay could be Special Summoned at its Link Arrow, forcing its mandatory Trigger Effect to activate and clearing the board, giving you an opportunity for an explosive turn.

Conclusion

As we come to the end of the OCG 2019.10 format, Orcust has held well at the top throughout the season. Meanwhile, the other decks tend to fluctuate quite a bit, a sign that the power level among the various decks are rather equal. This is perhaps the healthiest metagame that we have experienced in quite a while.

The Asia Championship Winter 2020 Qualifiers continue this week as we have Singapore, Taiwan and Thailand coming up.

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