Tier 1

TPC Comments

ChuChuMTFKR

As Darklords used to be in the past, Elementsabers are the gatekeepers of the current meta, if your deck can’t deal with them consistently enough you will probably not have a good time in tournaments. The addition of adds another way to play around and a way to get information on your opponents’ hand so you can do your plays safely by knowing which backrow you need to play around.

Shiranui didn’t change at all, still a small core with a lot of space for tech cards so it will keep on doing decent despite having a low ceiling and a small amount of starter cards.

With the addition of the deck has access to another Turn 1 play and an out to popular floodgates like and . The deck still has the highest ceiling of all decks in the format, being able to build and break boards without losing resources and access to so expect it to consistently reach far in tournaments, even though it will have to adapt a bit in this Necrovalley-heavy meta.

Drizzy_Drake

Thunder Dragons have moved up to Tier 1 for its explosive second turns, being able to easily put enough damage on the board past (which has gained a lot of popularity) while clears your opponents’ cards to make it easy to do so. And since switching skills from to Grit they have a higher chance to survive the first turn so they can have that big retaliation.

Herbel

Elementsabers are the control deck that can keep up with the fast OTK decks, even trough OTK attempts they still have the defensive play with . The importance of Turn 1 is rising, as it completely shuts down the combos of Thunder Dragons, Masked HEROs and Crystrons, since they cant build strong boards and use their full potential under the limit of one monster effect activation per turn. A new tech card has shown up in the KC Cup in . The card has a really good synergy with Elementsabers, it not just removes problem cards from your opponent hand like , it also triggers , letting you close out games fast with knowledge of your opponents’ hand, and removing the card that could stop your lethal attempt next turn. Due to the its versatility and strength, Elementsabers stay at Tier 1, as one of the strongest deck of the format.

kcful

Thunder Dagons will continue to be explosive in side deck format. With the ability to side Techs and Skills they feel like the full package.

Elementsabers are still here baby. Abusing god tier backrow with a great engine will be a factor in deck building for the foreseeable future and Elementsabers still do it the best. With the introduction of they even have a card to trigger and out in one. Overall Elementsabers continues to be the gatekeeper of the meta.

Shiranui rounds off the tiered one decks as another abuser of god tier backrow. As long as traps are relevant so will Shiranui.

Mithyard

Thunder Dragons were a fast and streaky deck during the KC Cup, but prior iterations lacked a really good defensive play for Turn One. helped a lot, but a lot of other techs cards also helped solved the problem going first, particularly and . With these techs the deck obviously lost some aggression power and became more balanced. The only backrow-heavy decks in the format are Shiranui, Dark Magician, Elementsaber and Cyber Dragon, and none of them can OTK through set Ryko. It also serves as great non-targeting removal that also mills cards, which can be vital. It’s hard to tell how Thunder Dragons will perform in Side Deck Format, but one of the best side cards against them, , is easily dealt with by Ryko. However, a well-timed will slow the deck’s pace, but most likely not stop it. We will see how the situation will develop and adjust Thunder Dragons’ placement accordingly

Tier 2

TPC Comments

Francisco

Crystrons performed well in the recent KCC and the version is becoming more popular. and Sea Stealth Attack definitely raise the ceiling of Crystrons by allowing you to dodge your opponent’s backrow cards, giving access to non-targeting destruction, and by adding more protection from targeting effects. The downside to the SSA package is that it is weak to banishing effects that remove since there is no inherent way to recover the field spell. Many meta decks also play or have access to banishing effects. The SSA package does allow Crystrons to have a favorable matchup against the current Elementsaber build since they cannot use Cosmic Cyclone and because cannot attack into your high-level monsters without getting destroyed. It’s hard to say if the SSA version will become the most played version of Crystrons because of its weakness to banishing effects and because other decks could adapt to counter this strategy if it becomes more popular.

Sakura

Masked HEROs move to T2 from T3, we can see HEROs performed well during the KCC. They’re an OTK style deck with no limited cards (allowing you to run just like old Blackwings) that isn’t easily stopped by flip face-down effects thanks to . The number of used in the deck is increasing, helping you deal with hard matchups like Crystrons. Even though you need to use a lot of resources for Plasma, cards like and in ur GY actually provide you with enough resources for both Plasma and a Fusion Summon. Despite this, we’re tentatively placing them at Tier 2 since there’s actually many ways to disrupt Masked HEROs. For example, and can stop HEROs from making plays. Additionally, HERO’s tight list doesnt have many free slots for Side Deck cards, and is really easy to counter in Side Deck format.

Tier 3

TPC Comments

Autumn Leaf

Cyber Dragons have always been a KC Cup favourite and with its popularity a new build arises - allows the player to fuse multiple times within the same turn with conjunction with . Fusion Gate fuses first by banishing the materials from the hand/field, but with ‘s milling effect, Fusion Gate may activate again with Cybernetic Fusion Support’s effect that allow players to fusion summon by banishing materials from the graveyard. The player may then fuse once again using to summon with at least 4800 ATK and DEF during either their main phase or battle phase. It will be interesting to see whether such an aggressive strategy will survive in side deck format.

gift

Blackwings are still a decent deck and right where they belong at Tier 3. The deck still struggles with disruption and against decks that are able to float. As a result of this, Masked HEROs have pretty much taken the role of the aggressive and fast deck which Blackwings have held for a while. Despite all of this, with the + strategy growing in popularity, Blackwings have been able to improve several matchups, most notably against Crystrons and Thunder Dragons. It should still be seeing some play in tournaments for the near future and it will be interesting to see how it performs.

Blue-Eyes has fallen to Tier 3 due to consistency issues and various awkward matchups. Blue-Eyes definitely has the potential to compete with every meta deck as it can be tough for most decks to deal with Blue-Eyes swarming and being able to disrupt plays. Sadly, Blue-Eyes is plagued with consistency issues and matchups like Crystrons and Thunder Dragons can give it a lot of trouble. Through meta changes and potential support, Blue-Eyes may be able to rise again but for now they should remain at Tier 3.

Herbel

Blue-Eyes under performed in the previous KC Cup, because they could not keep up with the super consistent OTK decks, like Masked HEROs and Blackwings. Blue-Eyes has no tools to play trough (which was one of the most used skill by the aggressive decks) and close out the games fast. Some builds shown up in the KC Cup tried to adopt to the meta with the usage of , which is a really effective card in the current meta. However, Necrovalley is a double-edged sword, as it affects the revive effect of , and cant add back cards to your hand by banishing itself. In return, you can cut the main win conditions of other decks, Elementsabers cant change attributes in grave and cant cycle Alister the Invoker, Thunder Dragons cant revive monsters from the grave, and cant Summon or , HEROs cant use effect to search , and out . The return of Side Decks, and a meta shift towards a control meta could help Blue-Eyes become strong deck, but for now, due to its bad bad matchups against the OTK decks, Blue-Eyes is demoted to Tier 3.

Off the Tier List

TPC Comments

buns

Darklords have fallen off the Tier List due to their hard time against backrow-heavy decks such as Elementsabers and Shiranui which are dominant in side deck format. That along with their last nerf semi-limiting have made them too weak to keep up with the current top decks in terms of consistency and power.

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