OCG 2024.04 Metagame Report #10, #11

by Akira · 21 June 2024

Welcome to Week #10, #11 of the OCG 2024.04 format.

This report tabulates 187 top-performing decks from 36 tournaments that were held in Japan, China Mainland and South Korea during 8 – 16 June 2024.

Metagame Breakdown

32 Yubel (31 Fiendsmith Yubel, 1 Yubel)
31 Fiendsmith Snake-Eye
28 Tenpai Dragon
8 Voiceless Voice (6 Voiceless Voice, 2 Fiendsmith Voiceless Voice)
7 Runick
6 Branded (5 Grass Branded, 1 Branded)
6 Fire King (5 Sinful Spoils Snake-Eye Fire King, 1 Fiendsmith Sinful Spoils Snake-Eye Fire King)
6 Rescue-ACE (5 Fiendsmith Sinful Spoils Snake-Eye Rescue-ACE, 1 Horus Sinful Spoils Rescue-ACE)
5 Dragon Link (3 Dragon Link, 2 Grass Dragon Link)
4 Fiendsmith Chimera
4 Horus Gimmick Puppet
4 Memento (3 Memento, 1 Fiendsmith Memento)
4 Salamangreat (3 Salamangreat, 1 Mathmech Salamangreat)
3 Centur-Ion
3 Infernoid (1 Infernoid, 1 Grass Infernoid, 1 Grass Yubel Sinful Spoils Snake-Eye Infernoid)
3 Labrynth (2 Labrynth, 1 Fiendsmith Labrynth)
3 Ritual Beast
3 Tachyon (1 Tachyon, 1 Bystial Tachyon, 1 Horus Tachyon FTK)
3 White Woods (2 Centur-Ion Toy White Woods, 1 Toy White Woods)
2 Fiendsmith Magical Musket
2 Marincess
2 Melodious Supreme King
2 Sky Striker
2 Tearlaments (1 Fiendsmith Visas Tearlaments, 1 Horus Fiendsmith Tearlaments)
1 Adventurer Fiendsmith Scareclaw
1 Dinomorphia
1 Fiendsmith Unchained
1 Fiendsmith Unchained Evil★Twin
1 Floowandereeze
1 Grass Tearlaments Shaddoll Branded
1 Melodious Symphonic Warrior Solfachord
1 Purrely
1 Ragnaraika Sunavalon Rikka
1 Raidraptor
1 Red Dragon Archfiend
1 Snake-Eye Lyrilusc
1 Supreme King Z-ARC
1 Trickstar

Yubel

Dinowrestler Pankratops is seeing a return to the Side Deck. Its high ATK and effect to destroy 1 opponent’s card allows it to breakthrough the opponent’s Koa’ki Meiru Drago and Kaiser Colosseum lock.

Knightmare Phoenix in the Extra Deck fulfills a similar role. As a FIRE monster, Knightmare Phoenix could be Link Summoned while Koa’ki Meiru Drago effect is being applied, and with ATK 1900 it could at least trade against the opponent’s Koa’ki Meiru Drago in battle.

Solemn Judgment in the Side Deck provides additional protection against the opponent’s Forbidden Droplet.

Choice Scarf Water Spout Kyogre (围巾喷水盖欧卡) went 9-0-1 and finished 1 – 2nd in “Yu-Gi-Oh! China Mainland WCQ 2024 Shenyang” which had 240 participants.

Snake-Eye

If you have a starter such as Snake-Eye Ash or Bonfire in your opening hand, then the Fiendsmith package could be used to make Beatrice, Lady of the Eternal to send Ash Blossom & Joyous Spring from deck to the graveyard, and then retrieve it with Salamangreat Sunlight Wolf. This is another way to hedge against Forbidden Droplet by diversifying your disruptions across your hand, field and graveyard, making it difficult for a single board breaker to deal with all of them.

Yongping (永平) went 9-1 and finished 1 – 3rd in “Yu-Gi-Oh! China Mainland WCQ 2024 Chengdu” which had 359 participants.

Tenpai Dragon

Heat Wave has been a highly debated card of whether it should be played in the Side Deck of Tenpai Dragon. Heat Wave can only be played at the start of your Main Phase 1, so it has to be drawn in the opening 5 cards when going first, making it high risk high reward. Players in favor of consistency would be averse to running such risky cards.

However, there are certain match-ups where Tenpai Dragon would want to go first, such as against Yubel. As stated in the Yu-Gi-Oh! OCG Card Database (ファントム・オブ・ユベル), Phantom of Yubel ② effect is not applied on the Monster, and Monsters which are unaffected by Monster Effects could still have their effects changed. This meant that Phantom of Yubel could change the effect of Tenpai Dragon monsters while Sangen Summoning is on the field. Yubel opening board is one of the hardest for Tenpai Dragon to breakthrough, hence Tenpai Dragon might opt to go first to play Heat Wave and prevent Yubel from setting up.

One of the counter to Heat Wave is to play your own Heat Wave, forcing another turn skip and handing the initiative back to you. This Heat Wave mind game have convoluted the metagame such that even some Yubel decks are running Heat Wave in the Side Deck just to counter the opponent’s Heat Wave.

Play Branded for a Lifetime (玩一辈子烙印) went 10-0 and finished 1 – 3rd in “Yu-Gi-Oh! China Mainland WCQ 2024 Chengdu” which had 359 participants.

Conclusion

Fiendsmith Yubel, Fiendsmith Snake-Eye and Tenpai Dragon have solidified themselves as the top contenders at the end of the OCG 2024.04 format.

All China Mainland WCQ 2024 Regionals have also come to an end after 6 weeks of intensive competition.

30 Snake-Eye (28 Fiendsmith Snake-Eye, 1 Snake-Eye, 1 Fiendsmith Millennium Snake-Eye)
28 Tenpai Dragon
15 Yubel (14 Fiendsmith Yubel, 1 Yubel)
6 Centur-Ion
4 Runick
3 Labrynth
26 Others

Fiendsmith Snake-Eye, Tenpai Dragon and Fiendsmith Yubel made up the majority of the top cuts across all China Mainland WCQ 2024 Regionals.

China Mainland WCQ 2024 Regionals Top 2/3/4 Decks
Shanghai	Fiendsmith Snake-Eye Fiendsmith Snake-Eye Tenpai Dragon Fiendsmith Millennium Snake-Eye	[SH]
Beijing	Tenpai Dragon Labrynth Fiendsmith Yubel	[BJ]
Hangzhou	Fiendsmith Yubel Tenpai Dragon	[HZ]
Guangzhou	Centur-Ion Centur-Ion Dragon Link Tenpai Dragon Tenpai Dragon	[GZ]
Shenzhen	Tenpai Dragon Fiendsmith Snake-Eye Grass Branded	[SZ]
Wuhan	Fiendsmith Snake-Eye Fiendsmith Yubel Fiendsmith Snake-Eye	[WH]
Shenyang	Fiendsmith Yubel Fiendsmith Yubel	[SY]
Chengdu	Tenpai Dragon Tenpai Dragon Fiendsmith Snake-Eye	[CD]

The China Mainland WCQ 2024 Regionals conclude the moment the Top 2/3/4 players are determined, without any additional playoffs to decide the overall champion. Regionals with 240 participants give 2 invites, 360 participants give 3 invites, and 480 participants give 4 invites.

The Top 2/3/4 decks reflect a similar breakdown as the top cuts. Tenpai Dragon leads by winning 8 invites, follow by Snake-Eye with 7 invites, and Yubel with 5 invites. These 3 decks are so dominant that only 4 remaining invites went to the other decks.

China Mainland WCQ 2024 to be held on 29 June 2024 will be the closing curtain for the OCG 2024.04 format.

Asia WCQ 2024 and Japan Championship 2024 to be held over the weekend of 13 – 14 July 2024 will be on the new OCG 2024.07 Limit Regulation.

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