Welcome to Week #9, #10 of the OCG 2018.04 format.

This report will cover 68 top-performing decks from 10 tournaments that were held in Japan, China, Hong Kong, Singapore, Taiwan and Thailand during 26 May – 5 June 2018.

New Product Release

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Metagame Breakdown

28 Sky Striker: 26 Mono Sky Striker 2 Invoked Sky Striker

17 Performapal Magician

10 ABC: 6 Sky Striker ABC 4 Greener HERO ABC FTK

4 Gouki: 3 Sky Striker Malicious Gouki 1 Sky Striker Gouki

2 Altergeist

2 Trickstar: 1 Mekk-Knight Trickstar 1 Sky Striker Trickstar

1 Genex Atlantean Mermail

1 Greener Sky Striker Infernoid

1 Greener Sky Striker Monarch

1 Infernity

1 Meta Beat

Sky Striker

The Asia Championship 2018 Hong Kong Qualifier in Week #9 had a strong influence over the Singapore Qualifier and Thailand Qualifier in Week #10.

Kwong Ka Ho went 9-2 to finished 1st in “Asia Championship 2018 Hong Kong Qualifier” which had 235 participants.

He ran White Howling in the Side Deck for the Sky Striker mirror match.

White Howling requires a WATER monster to activate and that is easily satisfied with Sky Striker Ace – Shizuku. White Howling banishes 1 Spell card from the opponent’s graveyard, reducing their Spell count, but also negates the effect of all Spell effects on the opponent’s field for that turn.

While some Japanese players ran White Howling in their Side Decks initially, they were mostly dropped after the release of Cybernetic Horizon. White Howling is a Trap card, so it requires the player to go first and have it set on the field to activate it on the opponent’s turn. However in the Sky Striker mirror match, going second is a huge advantage due to having the Battle Phase for Sky Striker Ace – Hayate.

Yabaiyo (やばいよ) went 6-2 and finished 1st in “4th MCS with Hatti CS” (Team 3v3) which had 30 teams (90 participants).

He ran Ghost Belle & Haunted Mansion in the Side Deck.

Ghost Belle & Haunted Mansion is slowly seeing increased usage against Sky Striker. Ghost Belle is useful for negating the activation of Sky Striker Ace – Raye‘s graveyard effect, Sky Striker Ace – Kagari, Sky Striker Mecha – Shark Cannon and not to forget, White Howling.

Outside of the Sky Striker match-up, Ghost Belle is also useful against ABC and Gouki, being able to negate the activation of A-Assault Core and Gouki Re-Match. Using Ghost Belle to negate Called by the Grave also ensures that Maxx “C”, Ash Blossom & Joyous Spring or Effect Veiler will be able to resolve successfully.

Magician

Huang Shin-En “再生哥”, the 2013 World Champion, had been playing Performapal Magician.

He went 5-1 and finished 3 – 4th in “Asia Championship 2018 Taiwan Qualifier” which had 31 participants.

He had a strong run, going 4-0 to finish 1st on the Swiss Standing and making the Top 8 cutoff. However his run was halted in the semi-final match when he went up against the eventual champion who was also running Performapal Magician.

As the 19th National Taiwan University (NTU) Cup is coming up on 17 June 2018, Shin-En has elected not to reveal his Side Deck.

ABC

Tsujimura Ryosuke “ひつじ”, the 2017 World Champion, continues on his winning streak with Greener HERO ABC FTK in Week #9.

He went 7-1 and finished 1st in “9th Yokkaichi Cup with Hatti CS” (Team 3v3) which had 39 teams (117 participant).

Magical Mid-Breaker Field was his tech to protect his combo from being disrupted by the opponent.

When going first, Magical Mid-Breaker Field stops Ghost Ogre & Snow Rabbit, Effect Veiler and Infinite Impermanence.

When going second, in addition to the earlier mentioned, Magical Mid-Breaker Field also stops Sky Striker Mecha – Widow Anchor and Supreme King Dragon Clear Wing.

Magical Mid-Breaker Field fits conveniently into ABC since the deck is already running Set Rotation. As Magical Mid-Breaker Field can only be activated at the start of the Main Phase, Set Rotation should be played during the Draw Phase or Standby Phase so that Magical Mid-Breaker Field could be flipped and activated the first thing at the start of Main Phase 1.

Conclusion

Among the 5 recently concluded Asia Championship 2018 Qualifiers, Sky Striker was victorious in 4 of them. The Taiwan Qualifier was the only one which had Performapal Magician winning, but even then, Sky Striker finished in the 2nd place.

Duel City 2018 Yantai had a refreshing and exhilarating Final Match featuring Greener Sky Striker Monarch versus Genex Atlantean Mermail (link to video).

The Greener Sky Striker Monarch is an interesting and innovative deck that uses the Sky Striker engine for Tribute Summoning the Monarchs. One of the impressive moves that was pulled off with the deck was playing 2 Sky Striker Mecha – Hornet Drones in the same chain to Special Summon 2 “Sky Striker Ace Tokens”. The Tokens were then used to Link Summon Isolde, Two Tales of the Noble Knights, whose effect was activated to send Restoration of the Monarchs to the graveyard and Special Summon Edea the Heavenly Squire from the deck. Edea in turn Special Summons Eidos the Underworld Squire, allowing an additional Tribute Summon for the turn.

The Genex Atlantean Mermail deck is built around discarding the opponent’s hand using Moulinglacia the Elemental Lord and Topologic Gumblar Dragon. The deck opens with Moulinglacia to discard 2 cards, and then follow by Gumblar Dragon to discard another 2 . During the opponent’s turn after they had drawn their card, Gumblar Dragon will be triggered again to discard another 2 cards. That would be a total of 6 discards, essentially discarding the opponent’s whole opening hand.

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