OCG 2020.04 Store Metagame Report #9, #10

Welcome to Week #9, #10 of the OCG 2020.04 format.

This report will tabulate 40 decks from 10 store tournaments held in China Mainland and Taiwan during 30 May – 7 June 2020.

 

• Duelist Pack: Duelists of Gloom

 

• 7 Infernoble Knight
• 5 Dogmatika Invoked (4 Dogmatika Invoked, 1 Dragoon Dogmatika Invoked)
• 5 Dogmatika Invoked Shaddoll
• 5 Sky Striker
• 4 Dogmatika Eldlich
• 2 Orcust (1 Orcust, 1 Dragoon Orcust)
• 1 Cyber Dragon
• 1 Danger Dark World
• 1 Dinosaur
• 1 Dogmatika Shaddoll Nekroz
• 1 Dogmatika Subterror
• 1 Fluffal
• 1 Madolche
• 1 Mekk-Knight
• 1 Mekk-Knight Orcust
• 1 Orcust Machina
• 1 Zefra
• 1 3-Axis Synchro

 

Benson Lu went 6-1 and finished 2nd in “Chongwen Card Shop Taipei Game Show Playmat Tournament” which had 46 participants.

Benson placed 2nd in the Campus League 2019 Hong Kong last year and has chosen to run Infernoble Knight for the current OCG 2020.04 format. He has been performing quite well with Infernoble Knight, making multiple 1st place finishes in Ranking Tournaments over the past few weeks.

He ran a small Assault Mode package consisting of 1 Psi-Reflector, 1 Assault Beast, 2 Emergency Teleport and 1 Assault Mode Activate.

Emergency Teleport is used to Special Summon Psi-Reflector, whose ① effect would add Assault Beast from deck to hand. Using Assault Beast effect to discard itself to the graveyard would add Assault Mode Activate from deck to hand. Psi-Reflector ② effect can now be activated by revealing Assault Mode Activate to Special Summon Assault Beast, and then Psi-Reflector can increase its Level by 1 to 4. Psi-Reflector and Assault Beast can be used to Synchro Summon Infernoble Knight Emperor Charles if Psi-Reflector increased its level by 4, or Synchro Summon Borreload Savage Dragon or PSY-Framelord Omega if Psi-Reflector increased its level by 3.

Opening with an early Immortal Phoenix Gearfried or Borreload Savage Dragon would leave only 4 Main Monster Zones available, so having an option to Synchro Summon Infernoble Knight Emperor Charles by using just 2 Main Monster Zones would increase the flexibility of the combo. Assault Mode package could also be used to Link Summon Crystron Halqifibrax. Assault Mode Activate could be used as a discard fodder for the cost of Jet Synchron ② effect later on.

Two video demonstrations of the Assault Mode combo are posted on Benson’s twitter, made together with Fat Sheep and Yankim: Combo 1, Combo 2 Part 1, Combo 2 Part 2.

 

You Xin (右心) went 6-1 and finished 2nd in “6.6 Guangzhou Yuefu CS” which had 31 participants.

Due to many decks splashing the Dogmatika package, the risk of running Dogmatika Maximus is much higher than the benefits, so he cut Dogmatika Maximus from his build. Without Dogmatika Maximus, he also cut Shaddoll from his deck, and instead focus on the Dogmatika Punishment play.

Dogmatika Punishment is also a more relevant play in the current metagame as El Shaddoll Winda does little against Eldlich.

 

Hai Niu (海牛) went 5-1-1 and finished 3 – 4th in “Yaoyao Cards Offline Tournament” which had 28 participants.

Dogmatika Invoked Shaddoll is a Shaddoll deck that uses Dogmatika and Invoked to increase the odds of opening with a Fusion Spell. Nadir Servant can be used to send El Shaddoll Apkallone which in turn would fetch Shaddoll Fusion, El Shaddoll Fusion or Shaddoll Schism. Aleister the Invoker would add Invocation from deck to hand, and it could be used to Fusion Summon Invoked or Shaddoll monsters.

When Shaddoll Fusion is played while the opponent controls a monster that was Special Summoned from the Extra Deck, Eldlich the Golden Lord can be used as a Fusion Material from the deck to Fusion Summon El Shaddoll Construct. Then Eldlich the Golden Lord ② effect can be used to add itself from the graveyard to hand, and then Special Summon itself from hand.

Eldlich the Golden Lord provides additional firepower to Shaddoll with almost no drawback. Even when drawn, Eldlich the Golden Lord ① effect can be used as a removal by discarding it with any extra Spell cards such as Shaddoll Fusion or Invocation.

 

Huang He Nan “机油” went 4-1-1 and finished 3 – 4th in “5.30 Guangzhou Yuefu CS” which had 24 participants.

He is the China Mainland representative in the Asia Championship 2019 last year. While he used to play Trickstar, he had since switched over to Sky Striker. The shift towards more backrow heavy decks is favourable to Sky Striker.

Sky Striker would prefer to run Mystical Space Typhoon as it could be used in a pitch to destroy their own Sky Striker Airspace – Area Zero to Special Summon a “Sky Striker Ace” monster from the deck. However, the current metagame calls for Cosmic Cyclone. Eldlich’s Spell/Trap cards come with a graveyard effect and it would better to banish them. Banishing Shaddoll Schism would also deny Shaddoll from retrieving it from the graveyard using the effects of Shaddoll Fusion Monsters.

 

Zhan (湛) went 6-1 and finished 1st in “Youyou Cards Store Opening Tournament” which had 29 participants.

We are seeing some Eldlich builds taking a more reactive approach, cutting down on disruption such as Ash Blossom & Joyous Spring, and focusing on answers that break the opponent’s setup. Eldlich the Golden Lord is one of the strongest answers, especially against Dogmatika Invoked.

Eldlich the Golden Lord can use its ① effect to send itself and another Spell/Trap card from hand to the graveyard, and target the opponent’s Invoked Mechaba to send it to the graveyard. Although Invoked Mechaba can respond by negating Eldlich the Golden Lord‘s effect, but as Eldlich the Golden Lord ① effect activates in hand, but is no longer in hand during resolution, Eldlich the Golden Lord will not be banished. The relevant ruling is When “Debunk” is activated on “Honest”.

Eldlich the Golden Lord ② effect can now be activated to add itself from the graveyard to hand, and then Special Summon itself, gaining 1000 ATK/DEF and cannot be destroyed by card effects. Once this effect is applied, even if Eldlich the Golden Lord was negated by Dogmatika Fleurdelis, the Knighted later, it would still retain the 1000 ATK/DEF and cannot be destroyed by card effects. The relevant ruling is When “Eldlich the Golden Lord” is Special Summoned by its ② effect and “Skill Drain” is activated afterwards.

With 3500 ATK, Eldlich the Golden Lord could attack into Invoked Mechaba, and the opponent would have to use Aleister the Invoker ① effect to bring Invoked Mechaba up to 3500 ATK in order to force a trade.

 

Infernoble Knight seized the top spot, while Dogmatika Invoked, Dogmatika Invoked Shaddoll, Sky Striker and Dogmatika Eldlich trails closely behind.

Dogmatika has overtaken Dragoon as the most popular package to run along with the main strategy. With lesser Red-Eyes Dark Dragoon in the scene, a number of players have dropped Dark Ruler No More or Forbidden Droplet from the Side Deck to run more backrow destruction such as Cosmic Cyclone and Lightning Storm.

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• 2020-06-07 | Shanghai Beyond the Memories Cards 6.7 Tournament
• 2020-06-07 | Youyou Cards Store Opening Tournament

• 2020-06-06 | 6.6 Guangzhou Yuefu CS
• 2020-06-06 | Huoguoyang Cards June Store Tournament #1
• 2020-06-06 | Yaoyao Cards Offline Tournament
• 2020-06-06 | One Moment Card Store Taipei Game Show Playmat Tournament
• 2020-06-06 | Chongwen Card Stop Taipei Game Show Playmat Tournament

• 2020-05-31 | Zhongshan Zhuhai May League

• 2020-05-30 | 5.30 Guangzhou Yuefu CS
• 2020-05-30 | Yunan Yu-Gi-Oh! 30 May Tournament