Master Duel Metagame Report S4

by Akira · 8 May 2022

Welcome to Season 4 of the Master Duel format.

This report will tabulate 96 top-performing decks from 36 tournaments that were held during Master Duel Season 4 (1 – 30 April 2022).

Metagame Breakdown

20 Drytron
14 Tri-Brigade (9 Zoodiac Tri-Brigade, 5 Tri-Brigade)
11 Eldlich (6 Eldlich, 3 Grass Eldlich, 1 Grass Zombie Eldlich, 1 Artifact Eldlich)
8 Virtual World
6 Kaiju Luna
4 Shaddoll (2 Grass Shaddoll, 1 Invoked Shaddoll, 1 Grass Invoked Shaddoll)
3 Zoodiac
2 Adamancipator
2 Chaos Thunder Dragon
2 Phantom Knights
2 Prank-Kids
2 Rose Dragon Tenyi
2 Tri-Brigade Lyrilusc
2 Zefra
2 @Ignister
1 Atlantean
1 Danger Dark World
1 Dogmatika Invoked
1 Generaider
1 HERO
1 Machine Link
1 Magical Musket
1 Magician
1 Megalith
1 Salamangreat
1 Speedroid
1 SPYRAL
1 Subterror
1 Unchained

Drytron

Charlotte (シャルロット) went 7-0 and finished 1st in “1st AppMedia Cup” which had 128 participants.

He ran the same build as Season 3, with the only change being Accesscode Talker was taken out for Borrelsword Dragon. Accesscode Talker could only go up to 5300 ATK when Link Summoned using a Link-3 monster, falling short of lethal damage with a Drytron monster’s 2000 ATK. On the other hand, Borrelsword Dragon could attack twice to deal 6000 damage, and together with a Drytron monster’s 2000 ATK makes it a perfect 8000 lethal damage

Season 4 → Season 5 Forbidden/Limited List changes:

Cyber Angel Benten 3 → 1

Drytron could still function with only 1 Cyber Angel Benten, but might have a hard time staying at the top, especially with the increasing power level of the format from the upcoming new cards.

Tri-Brigade

Liu Yixu 2 (柳一旭2) went 9-1 and finished 1st in “2nd Same Man Cup” which had 140 participants.

D.D. Crow is a great ‘hand trap’ to run in Tri-Brigade due to its synergy as a Winged Beast monster. It could be added to hand by Tri-Brigade Shuraig the Ominous Omen, discarded to Special Summon Tri-Brigade Kerass, and banished from the graveyard to activate a Tri-Brigade monster effect. D.D. Crow could be used against Drytron and Eldlich makes it a reasonable choice to run in the Main Deck.

Season 4 → Season 5 Forbidden/Limited List changes:

Tri-Brigade Fraktall 3 → 2

Having only 2 Tri-Brigade Fraktall is a slight consistency drop while Fire Formation – Tenki is still at 3. The bigger concern is that it is much faster to run out of Tri-Brigade monsters in the deck, so Tri-Brigade Kitt may not be able to be used in a Chain Block to protect Tri-Brigade Shuraig the Ominous Omen and Tri-Brigade Nervall after resolving Tri-Brigade Revolt, especially after activating Pot of Desires.

Eldlich

Keru-kun (ける君) went 7-0 and finished 1st in “Mainichi CS 4/4” which had 103 participants.

His build is tuned for the Eldlich mirror match. Doomking Balerdroch is typically ran with Zombie World as its effect could only be triggered by Zombie monsters. However, Zombie World is a dead weight in the Eldlich mirror match, hence he chose to run just 1 Doomking Balerdroch as a tech that he could bring out with Eldlixir of Scarlet Sanguine while he controls an Eldlich monster. The 2 Ice Dragon’s Prison further improves his mirror match by banishing the opponent’s Eldlich the Golden Lord.

Season 4 → Season 5 Forbidden/Limited List changes:

Conquistador of the Golden Land 3 → 1

Having Conquistador of the Golden Land limited to 1 weakens Eldlich’s grind game, but more often they would seize a quick win by locking out the opponent with Skill Drain and Imperial Order.

Conclusion

Season 4 ends with Drytron at the top, while Tri-Brigade and Eldlich follows behind.

Kaiju Luna has an improved showing this season with the new addition of Sauge de Fleur. It functions as removal and at the same time provides a Level 8 body to make Rank 8 plays.

A major shakeup to the Master Duel metagame is expected with Swordsoul and Destiny HERO – Destroyer Phoenix Enforcer making their debut in Season 5.

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