OCG 2021.07 Metagame (1 Jul – 30 Sep 2021)

Zoodiac Drident becoming Forbidden significantly reduced Tri-Brigade’s presence, before Burst of Destiny brings forth the biggest impact of the year on the metagame.

Compiled from a total of 779 top-placing decks from 159 competitive tournaments held in Japan, China Mainland, Hong Kong and Taiwan, here is the final metagame breakdown of the OCG 2021.07 format.

 

• 100 Swordsoul (62 Swordsoul, 19 Tenyi Swordsoul, 9 Destiny HERO Tenyi Swordsoul, 7 Destiny HERO Swordsoul, 3 True King Swordsoul)
• 94 Virtual World
• 70 Drytron (67 Drytron, 3 Destiny HERO Drytron)
• 57 Tri-Brigade (24 Tri-Brigade, 10 Destiny HERO Tri-Brigade, 10 Zoodiac Tri-Brigade, 9 Destiny HERO Zoodiac Tri-Brigade, 3 Lyrilusc Ancient-Warrior Tri-Brigade, 1 Dogmatika Tri-Brigade)
• 49 Eldlich (27 Eldlich, 8 Grass Zombie Eldlich, 5 Destiny HERO Eldlich, 3 Dogmatika Eldlich, 2 Grass Eldlich, 2 Zombie Eldlich, 1 Adventurer Eldlich, 1 Destiny HERO Adventurer Eldlich)
• 40 Prank-Kids (27 Prank-Kids, 10 Adventurer Prank-Kids, 2 Destiny HERO Adventurer Prank-Kids, 1 Destiny HERO Prank-Kids)
• 30 Sky Striker (19 Destiny HERO Sky Striker, 11 Sky Striker)
• 29 Shaddoll (11 Grass Destiny HERO Invoked Shaddoll, 8 Grass Invoked Shaddoll, 3 Dogmatika Invoked Shaddoll, 2 Grass Dinosaur Invoked Shaddoll, 1 Dogmatika Shaddoll, 1 Grass Destiny HERO Kaiju Invoked Shaddoll, 1 Grass Destiny HERO Adventurer Shaddoll, 1 Grass Dogmatika Shaddoll, 1 Grass Dogmatika Invoked Shaddoll)
• 24 HERO
• 23 Phantom Knights (11 Destiny HERO Adventurer Phantom Knights, 8 Danger Phantom Knights, 2 Danger P.U.N.K. Phantom Knights, 2 Destiny HERO Phantom Knights)
• 21 Dragonmaid (18 Dragonmaid, 3 Destiny HERO Dragonmaid)
• 20 Floowandereeze (15 Floowandereeze, 5 Dogmatika Floowandereeze)
• 19 @Ignister
• 16 Zefra
• 15 Orcust (7 Destiny HERO Orcust, 5 Orcust, 1 Grass Destiny HERO Orcust, 1 Grass Mekk-Knight Orcust, 1 Mekk-Knight Orcust)
• 14 Tri-Brigade Lyrilusc
• 13 Code Talker (1 Code Talker, 1 Invoked Code Talker)
• 13 Invoked (8 Destiny HERO Invoked, 2 Dogmatika Invoked, 1 Destiny HERO Artifact Invoked, 1 Destiny HERO Dogmatika Invoked, 1 1 Destiny HERO Nemeses Invoked)
• 13 Magician
• 12 Endymion
• 12 Thunder Dragon (5 Chaos Thunder Dragon, 3 Destiny HERO Thunder Dragon, 2 Thunder Dragon, 2 Destiny HERO Chaos Thunder Dragon)
• 9 Adamancipator (6 Adamancipator, 1 Destiny HERO Adamancipator, 1 Grass Destiny HERO Adamancipator, 1 Grass P.U.N.K. Adamancipator)
• 9 Salamangreat (8 Salamangreat, 1 Destiny HERO Salamangreat)
• 8 Phoenix Adventurer
• 7 Danger Dark World
• 7 Dragon Link (4 Dragon Link, 1 Adventurer Dragon Link, 1 Destiny HERO Dragon Link, 1 Destiny HERO Adventurer Dragon Link)
• 6 Evil★Twin
• 6 SPYRAL (5 SPYRAL, 1 Destiny HERO SPYRAL)
• 5 Agent Fairy
• 5 Kaiju Luna (4 Sekka Danger Kaiju Luna, 1 Kaiju Luna)
• 3 Cyber Dragon
• 3 Madolche
• 2 Destiny HERO 3-Axis Synchro
• 2 Numeron
• 2 Swordsoul Yang Zing Tenyi
• 1 Altergeist
• 1 Da Eiza
• 1 Destiny HERO Burning Abyss
• 1 Grass Danger Phantom Knights Burning Abyss
• 1 Destiny HERO Adventurer ABC
• 1 Destiny HERO Adventurer Infernoble Knight
• 1 Destiny HERO Dinosaur
• 1 Destiny HERO Exosister
• 1 Destiny HERO Lunalight
• 1 Grass DARK Warrior
• 1 Grass Phantom Knights Burning Abyss
• 1 Junk Doppel
• 1 Kragen Shark
• 1 Machina Infinitrack
• 1 Mathmech
• 1 Numeron Generaider
• 1 Traptrix
• 1 True Draco
• 1 WATER Synchro
• 1 Utopia
• 1 Zoodiac

 

Swordsoul is a new theme from Burst of Destiny that revolves around Special Summoning Synchro Monsters. The typical end board consist of Swordsoul Grandmaster – Chixiao to negate a face-up monster and Baronne de Fleur to negate a card or effect.

Swordsoul relies on generating their Token monsters as their Tuner for Synchro Summoning, making Token Collector a strong counterplay. Tenyi Swordsoul is able to bring out Draco Berserker of the Tenyi to banish Token Collector before going for their Swordsoul plays. Destiny HERO is also another popular variant as Destiny HERO – Destroyer Phoenix Enforcer destroying itself is able to trigger Incredible Ecclesia, the Virtuous graveyard effect.

OCG 2021.07 → OCG 2021.10 Limit Regulation changes:

• Pot of Desires 3 → 2

Largely unaffected by the new OCG 2021.10 Limit Regulation, Swordsoul is poised well in the new format.

 

With Zoodiac Drident out of the way, Virtual World took a huge lead at the start of the format, until Burst of Destiny brought along Destiny HERO – Destroyer Phoenix Enforcer. Similar to Zoodiac Drident, Destiny HERO – Destroyer Phoenix Enforcer is able to chain to Virtual World monster effect, causing them to lose target and fail to Special Summon from hand. The increase in Destiny HERO – Destroyer Phoenix Enforcer saw Virtual World took a dip in the later half of the format.

OCG 2021.07 → OCG 2021.10 Limit Regulation changes:

• True King of All Calamities 1 → 0
• Mystic Mine 1 → 0
• Crossout Designator 3 → 2
• Pot of Desires 3 → 2

Without True King of All Calamities, Virtual World is no longer able to lock out the opponent for a turn, which often single-handedly win games outright. The additional hits to Crossout Designator and Pot of Desires also affected their resilience and consistency. Adventurer variant is the next build that Virtual World has been tinkering with. The Level 4 “Adventurer Token” can be used with their Level 6 Tuner Virtual World Roshi – Laolao and the Level 7 Wandering Gryphon Rider can be used with their Level 3 Tuner Virtual World Mai-Hime – Lulu to Synchro Summon a Level 10 Baronne de Fleur.

 

The traditional high power Herald of Ultimateness build is still putting in results, this format saw the rise of the new high consistency Herald of Perfection build.

Herald of Perfection together with Dawn of the Herald can be quickly added to hand with Pre-Preparation of Rites and could Ritual Summoned early in the combo to negate Nibiru, the Primal Being. Being Level 6 also enables it to be used to Xyz Summon Beatrice, Lady of the Eternal to tap into the Drytron monsters.

Largely unaffected by the new OCG 2021.10 Limit Regulation. Drytron is unable to run PSY-Framegear Gamma as Special Summoning PSY-Frame Driver would lock them out of their Drytron monster effects, so having PSY-Framegear Gamma becoming Limited to 1 is an indirect boost.

 

Burst of Destiny made one of the biggest impact on the metagame in 2021 so far. Swordsoul debuts as a top contender straight off the bat, and remains a consistent top throughout the format.

Destiny HERO – Destroyer Phoenix Enforcer also brought HERO and Orcust decks back into the metagame momentarily, until players realised how strong and splashable the Destiny HERO package was and started incorporating them in various other more powerful decks.

From among the 627 decks, 24 are HERO decks and 141 played the Destiny HERO package. While Destiny HERO – Destroyer Phoenix Enforcer is a powerful card, not every deck could run it, such as Virtual World.

Deck Build Pack: Grand Creators was also released near the end of the format, but the impact of Adventurer could only be seen in the next OCG 2021.10 format.

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