OCG 2021.01 Metagame (1 Jan – 31 Mar 2021)

With only minor changes to the OCG 2021.01 Limit Regulation, the format remains largely the same as the previous.

Compiled from a total of 666 top-placing decks from 117 competitive tournaments held in Japan, China Mainland, Taiwan and Vietnam, here is the final metagame breakdown of the OCG 2021.01 format.

• 91 Virtual World
• 88 Zoodiac (87 Zoodiac, 1 Amazement Zoodiac)
• 47 Eldlich (21 Zoodiac Eldlich, 13 Eldlich, 5 Grass Zombie Eldlich, 3 Dogmatika Eldlich, 2 Zombie Eldlich, 1 Artifact Zoodiac Eldlich, 1 Cyberse Paleozoic Eldlich, 2 Evil★Twin Eldlich)
• 46 Drytron
• 36 Dragonmaid (35 Dragonmaid, 1 Amazement Dragonmaid)
• 30 Shaddoll (7 Invoked Shaddoll, 7 Dogmatika Invoked Shaddoll, 6 Grass Invoked Shaddoll, 3 Grass Kaiju Invoked Shaddoll, 2 Grass Shaddoll, 2 Dogmatika Magistus Shaddoll, 1 Dogmatika Shaddoll)
• 29 Phantom Knights (28 Phantom Knights, 1 Grass Phantom Knights)
• 29 Prank-Kids
• 29 Tri-Brigade (10 Tri-Brigade, 8 Zoodiac Tri-Brigade, 5 Ancient Warriors Tri-Brigade, 4 Lyrilusc Tri-Brigade, 2 Lyrilusc Ancient Warriors Tri-Brigade)
• 25 Code Talker
• 25 Sky Striker (23 Sky Striker, 1 Invoked Sky Striker, 1 Zoodiac Sky Striker)
• 23 Adamancipator
• 23 Endymion
• 20 Thunder Dragon (12 Thunder Dragon, 7 Chaos Thunder Dragon, 1 Prank-Kids Thunder Dragon)
• 17 Salamangreat
• 17 Zefra
• 17 @Ignister
• 14 Orcust (10 Orcust, 4 Scrap Orcust)
• 9 SPYRAL
• 7 Da Eiza
• 5 Cyber Dragon
• 5 Dogmatika Invoked (3 Amazement Dogmatika Invoked, 2 Dogmatika Invoked)
• 4 Magician
• 3 Altergeist
• 3 Dragon Link
• 3 Sekka Danger Kaiju Luna
• 3 Traptrix (1 Traptrix, 1 Amazement Traptrix, 1 Dogmatika Traptrix)
• 2 HERO
• 2 Madolche
• 2 Magical Musket
• 2 Subterror (1 Subterror, 1 Numeron Subterror)
• 1 Ancient Warriors
• 1 Atlantean
• 1 Danger Dark World Tempest Magician FTK
• 1 Dinosaur
• 1 Grass Infernoid
• 1 Kaiju Dogmatika
• 1 Machina
• 1 Megalith
• 1 Sky Striker Mekk-Knight
• 1 True Draco

Virtual World entered the format strong, unaffected by the Limit Regulation. Zoodiac was their main weak match-up, as Zoodiac Drident could chain its destruction effect to the Virtual World monster effect causing it to miss target and be unable to Special Summon itself from hand. However, Eldlich was able to keep Zoodiac in check.

OCG 2021.01 → OCG 2021.04 Limit Regulation changes:

• True King of All Calamities 3 → 1

The second copy of True King of All Calamities allows Virtual World to bait out Nibiru, the Primal Being with the first copy. Having True King of All Calamities limited saw some Virtual World builds switching over to Number 75: Bamboozling Gossip Shadow or Crystal Wing Synchro Dragon via Ultimaya Tzolkin to negate Nibiru, the Primal Being, before committing to True King of All Calamities.

Zoodiac was initially kept in check by Eldlich, but that changed with the release of Lightning Overdrive. The rise of Drytron shifted the metagame away from a Trap-based format to a more ‘hand trap’ heavy format, bringing Zoodiac back to the forefront.

This format saw Zoodiac Eldlich became the preferred build as Zoodiac provided access to Zoodiac Drident and Divine Arsenal AA-ZEUS – Sky Thunder which improved their opening setup and ability to clear the board when going second.

Lightning Overdrive gave Drytron Mu Beta Fafnir to Drytron, greatly improving their consistency. Drytron is the most powerful combo deck in this format, being able to setup an almost unbreakable board of Herald of Ultimateness and Vanity’s Ruler.

However, Drytron was vulnerable to many various ‘hand traps’ such as Droll & Lock Bird, Ally of Justice Cycle Reader and struggled to make plays when the metagame is prepared against them.

The OCG 2021.01 format remained largely the same as Lightning Overdrive and Deck Build Pack: Ancient Guardians are the only two booster sets released with new cards.

Lightning Overdrive largest impact was pivoting Drytron to the top, but they were unable to perform consistently. They also boosted Tri-Brigade, which started seeing a bit more success in the competitive scene.

Overall, the metagame was in a state of fluid as no decks could consistently remained on top, and thus there is no single dominating strategy. The decks are surprisingly closed in the amount of top-placings too, Virtual World barely edged out Zoodiac with just 3 counts, while Eldlich and Drytron are seperated by a mere difference of 1 count.

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