OCG 2016.07 Metagame (1 Jul – 30 Sep 2016)
The OCG 2016.07 Limit Regulation had very minimal changes, but the debut of ABC had a huge impact on the metagame.
Compiled from a total of 554 top-placing decks from 75 competitive tournaments held in Japan and China Mainland, here is the final metagame breakdown of the OCG 2016.07 format.
Metagame Breakdown
- 146 ABC (143 ABC, 1 Artifact ABC, 1 Brilliant ABC, 1 Symphonic Warrior ABC)
- 118 Metalfoes (117 Metalfoes, 1 Speedroid Metalfoes)
- 84 D/D
- 69 Blue-Eyes (67 Blue-Eyes, 2 Ritual Blue-Eyes)
- 23 HERO (22 HERO, 1 Synchro HERO)
- 21 Darklord (19 Darklord, 1 Speedroid Darklord, 1 Speedroid Burning Abyss Darklord)
- 15 DARK Synchro
- 14 Burning Abyss (11 Speedroid Phantom Knights Burning Abyss, 1 Ritual Burning Abyss, 1 Speedroid Burning Abyss, 1 Speedroid Nekroz Burning Abyss)
- 10 Frog (7 Speedroid Frog, 2 Frog, 1 Frog Paleozoic)
- 9 Monarch (3 Brilliant Monarch, 3 Domain Monarch, 2 Speedroid Artifact Monarch, 1 Artifact Brilliant Monarch)
- 8 Atlantean Mermail
- 6 Yang Zing (4 Speedroid Yang Zing, 2 Metalfoes Yang Zing)
- 5 Kozmo (4 Kozmo, 1 Speedroid Kozmo)
- 3 Infernoid
- 3 Nekroz (2 Shaddoll Nekroz, 1 Nekroz)
- 3 Qliphort
- 3 Yosenju
- 2 Cyber Angel
- 2 Junk Doppel
- 2 Lightsworn (1 Lightsworn, 1 Shiranui Lightsworn)
- 1 Barrier Statue
- 1 Dark Magician
- 1 Denglong FTK
- 1 Galaxy
- 1 Lightsworn Shiranui
- 1 Ritual Beast
- 1 Speedroid Phantom Knights
- 1 Tellarknight
ABC
The early ABC builds were running Galaxy Soldier and Transmodify. Galaxy Soldier opens up the option to go into Cyber Dragon Nova and then Cyber Dragon Infinity, but they have been found to be bricky.
Abandoning those cards and focusing on just Rank 4 with the inclusion of Photon Thrasher saw ABC’s consistency shot through the roof. As all Level 4 monsters in the Main Deck are also LIGHT, they could be used to Xyz Summon Bujintei Tsukuyomi for a swap of hands when needed. Sending A-Assault Core, B-Buster Drake or C-Crush Wyvern to the graveyard for a change of hand also help in filling the graveyard to Special Summon ABC-Dragon Buster.
Besides searching for the ABC Union Monsters or the Gadgets, Gear Gigant X could also be used to add from deck to hand Ally of Justice Cycle Reader against ABC or Blue-Eyes.
Photon Thrasher has ATK 2100, which is just high enough to attack over Majespecter Unicorn – Kirin‘s ATK 2000, and could force it to activate pre-emptively. It could then be Special Summoned again in Main Phase 2 to be used for Rank 4 plays.
ABC-Dragon Buster is extremely difficult to deal with as it could split into A-Assault Core, B-Buster Drake and C-Crush Wyvern during the opponent’s turn. Using Ghost Reaper & Winter Cherries to banish ABC-Dragon Buster is a popular tech against ABC to takeout their trump card. As a countermeasure, ABC would run Pot of Acquisitiveness in the Side Deck to shuffle back 3 ABC-Dragon Buster that were banished by Ghost Reaper & Winter Cherries.
Metalfoes
Metalfoes was doing well in the OCG 2016.04 format, and the new supports in Invasion of Venom gave them an additional boost.
Raremetalfoes Bismugear gave the deck another Main Deck monster with the same Pendulum Effect that destroys a face-up card you control to set a Metalfoes Spell/Trap. Raremetalfoes Bismugear Monster Effect could add a Metalfoes monster from deck to hand during the End Phase when it was destroyed, providing the deck with additional consistency.
Fullmetalfoes Fusion is a Quick-Play Spell that allows Metalfoes to Fusion Summon during the opponent’s turn, and Fullmetalfoes Alkahest could be brought out as a disruption. Fullmetalfoes Alkahest has a Quick Effect that targets an Effect Monster on the field and equip to itself. The monsters equipped could also be used as Fusion Materials.
Metalfoes Mithrilium is the real power card that allowed Metalfoes to move up in ranks. Metalfoes Mithrilium shuffles Metalfoes cards in the graveyard back to deck, and return a targeted card to hand. This could be used to recycle Metalfoes Combination and Metalfoes Counter. Fullmetalfoes Fusion is a Quick-Play Spell so it cannot be used on the turn that it is set, but Metalfoes Mithrilium effect could bounce it back to hand, allowing it to be activated during the Battle Phase for an OTK.
Metalfoes had a slight advantage over ABC due to Majespecter Unicorn – Kirin. When the ABC player activates the effect of Union Hangar by targeting a monster on field to equip an ABC Union Monster from deck, Majespecter Unicorn – Kirin effect could be chained to return the targeted monster to hand. This would cause Union Hangar to resolve with no effect, and the ABC would not be able to complete the ABC Union Monsters he needed to Special Summon ABC-Dragon Buster.
OCG 2016.07 → OCG 2016.10 Limit Regulation changes:
- Majespecter Unicorn – Kirin 3 → 1
Having Majespecter Unicorn – Kirin limited was a heavy hit to Metalfoes, reducing the consistency to open with Kirin, and the flexibility of having a low scale.
D/D
D/D had an insane performance at both East Japan WCQ 2016 and West Japan WCQ 2016. Of the 4 players that earned their invitations to the World Championship 2016, 3 of them were playing D/D.
As the metagame shift towards ABC and Metalfoes, D/D switched to the D/D Savant Thomas build for easy access to D/D/D Duo-Dawn King Kali Yuga and Number 38: Hope Harbinger Dragon Titanic Galaxy.
D/D/D Duo-Dawn King Kali Yuga is devastating to Metalfoes – wiping their scales when they attempt rebuild on the next turn.
- D/D Swirl Slime – 3 → 2
- D/D Lamia – 3 → 2
Semi-limiting both D/D Swirl Slime and D/D Lamia is a big hit to D/D’s consistency, reducing their ability to pull off their opening combos. Running D/D Savant Copernicus in the Main Deck would be useful to send D/D Swirl Slime, D/D Necro Slime or D/D Lamia to the graveyard.
Blue-Eyes
It is ironic that Kaiba Seto’s favourite Blue-Eyes was dethroned by his very own ABC.
Blue-Eyes Spirit Dragon does little to slow down ABC’s strategy, and ABC could easily fetch Ally of Justice Cycle Reader through Gear Gigant X to deny Blue-Eyes from Special Summoning from the graveyard. Blue-Eyes have to rely on tech cards outside of its tech to stand a chance against ABC.
System Down in the Side Deck is a great tech against ABC. It banished all Machine monsters on the field and in the graveyard, effectively taking out ABC-Dragon Buster and its Union Monsters.
Blue-Eyes remained relevant in the metagame by having a good matchup against Metalfoes. Blue-Eyes Spirit Dragon limits Metalfoes’ Pendulum Summon to 1 monster, and Dragon Spirit of White actively disrupts Metalfoes’ strategy by banishing their Spells/Traps and Pendulum Scales. Although Blue-Eyes was untouched by the new OCG 2016.10 Limit Regulation, it struggles to remain competitive as the metagame shifts towards more ABC and lesser Metalfoes.
Conclusion
ABC would go on to dominate in the OCG 2016.10 format, with Metalfoes following behind.
The release of Extra Pack 2016 would also introduce Kozmo to the competitive scene.
For more insight into the early OCG 2016.10 format: OCG 2016.10 Metagame Report #0.
EXPLAIN THAT LAST OTHER!!! I need to know what Wangtianhou FTK is! I love FTK! Please!
It’s basically just a deck that focus on this FTK combo to loop for lots of cards with T.G. Hyper Librarian before finishing with Dark Strike Fighter and Tempest Magician.
The deck is dead with the banning of Level Eater.
Thank you. However, wouldn’t this be possible in TCG, next month when we get Wangtianhou?
The deck runs 1 D/D Savant Copernicus and 1 D/D Lamia, which won’t arrive in the TCG until 20 January 2017. I doubt Level Eater or T.G. Hyper Librarian would survive the next TCG banlist.
You could try running without them, but it wouldn’t be a 2-card-combo, and thus much less consistent.
Ah I missed those 2. But they might escape unscathed, and give us a format of it.
I wish Konami would stop hunting down non-archetypal focused decks, and realize that’s what so many of us want to go back to.
Taking into account what it could do and the small number of tops it had, do you think the banning of level eater and the limiting of omega is 1) justified, and 2) enough to keep synchro DARK out of the metagame?
I believe Level Eater was hit due to the constraints that it was placing on future card designs. As long as it exists, it was difficult to release high Level Tuner monsters that could be easily special summoned or good Synchro monsters with generic summoning conditions, without worrying about them becoming part of some degenerative combos.
PSY-Framelord Omega, on the other hand, was a good compromise. Although Synchro DARK wasn’t dominating the game, its gameplan to deny the opponent of opening cards is unhealthy for the game. This is inline with the banning of “hand destruction” cards like Confiscation, Delinquent Duo, The Forceful Sentry and Trap Dustshoot.
I believe that they didn’t want to outright dispatch Synchro DARK as banning T.G. Hyper Librarian would be much more effective, but rather just remove the “hand destruction” aspect of it.