OCG 2014.07 Metagame (1 Jul – 30 Sep 2014)

Shaddoll continued on their rampage, with a new Fusion Spell from Next Challengers. Qliphort joined as a new challenger, while HERO upgraded into Masked HERO.

Compiled from a total of 247 top-placing decks from 27 competitive tournaments held in Japan, Hong Kong and China Mainland, here is the final metagame breakdown of the OCG 2014.07 format.

• 148 Shaddoll (79 Star Seraph Shaddoll, 60 Chaos Shaddoll, 9 Shaddoll)
• 55 Qliphort
• 28 HERO (18 HERO, 10 Star Seraph HERO)
• 13 Evilswarm
• 7 Infernity (6 Infernity, 1 HERO Infernity)
• 3 Tellarknight (2 Star Seraph Tellarknight, 1 Tellarknight)
• 2 Bujin
• 1 Dragon Ruler
• 1 Koa’ki Meiru
• 1 Laval
• 1 Norden FTK
• 1 Star Seraph Agent
• 1 Thunder
• 1 Yang Zing

After their marvellous performance in both East Japan WCQ 2014 and West Japan WCQ 2014, Star Seraph Shaddoll and Chaos Shaddoll had exploded in popularity and were equally dominating in the new OCG 2014.07 format.

El Shaddoll Fusion is a new support card that Shaddoll received in Next Challengers, a Quick-Play Spell that allows them to Fusion Summon during the opponent’s turn.

Chaos Shaddoll packed a heavier package of Dragon monsters, allowing Koa’ki Meiru Drago to be ran as a counter tech against the metagame of DARK and LIGHT Special Summons.

Star Seraph Shaddoll ran 2 Summoner Monk in the Main Deck for quick access to Star Seraph Scepter, increasing the consistency of bringing out Number 16: Shock Master.

OCG 2014.07 → OCG 2014.10 Limit Regulation changes:

• El Shaddoll Construct 3 → 1
• El Shaddoll Winda 3 → 1
• Sinister Shadow Games 3 → 1
• Dark Armed Dragon 2 → 1
• Star Seraph Sovereignty 3 → 1

Shaddoll received major hits, having multiple cards going to limited. Shaddoll Fusion could still generate massive card advantage, but Shaddoll would have to be more prudent with their Fusion Monsters as they could quickly run out with only 1 of each El Shaddoll Construct and El Shaddoll Winda.

Star Seraph Sovereignty to 1 also effectively makes running the Star Seraph package no longer worthwhile.

Qliphort is a new theme from Next Challengers that uses the new Pendulum Summon mechanics.

Qliphorts are high level monsters that could be Normal Summoned without Tributing. When they are Normal Summoned without tributes or Special Summoned, their levels and original ATK would be reduced. However, this effect could be negated by Skill Drain, allowing them to be played with their full original ATK. Having Saqlifice equipped also makes them unable to be destroyed by battle and are extremely difficult to deal with while under Skill Drain.

Qliphort started off strong on their debut and poised to be the control deck of the format. They could reach into Shadow-Imprisoning Mirror in their Side Deck for the Shaddoll match-up.

Structure Deck: HERO’s Strike gave HEROes a new playstyle in the form of Masked HERO.

Special Summoning Elemental HERO Shadow Mist by using A HERO Live or Summoner Monk would trigger its effect to add Mask Change from deck to hand. Mask Change which could then be played during the opponent’s turn to change Elemental HERO Shadow Mist into Masked HERO Dark Law.

Masked HERO Dark Law causes any cards sent to the opponent’s graveyard to be banished instead, effectively shutting down Shaddoll graveyard effects. Pendulum Monsters would also be banished instead of going to the Extra Deck.

De-Fusion was a great tech choice against Shaddoll and HERO to take out their Fusion Monsters. De-Fusion returns the Fusion Monster to the Extra Deck, and thus would not trigger the Shaddoll Fusion Monster graveyard effect.

OCG 2014.07 → OCG 2014.10 Limit Regulation changes:

• Summoner Monk 2 → 1

A slight consistency hit to HERO in reducing the way to Special Summon Elemental HERO Shadow Mist, but HERO is still in a decent spot going into the new format.

The new OCG 2014.10 Limit Regulation brought about quite some major changes to the format. The fast respond to Shaddoll ensured that they do not overwhelm the metagame for another format, and having Soul Charge limited was a welcomed change.

OCG 2014.07 → OCG 2014.10 Limit Regulation changes:

• Soul Charge 3 → 1