OCG 2023.01 Metagame Report #1

Welcome to Week #1 of the OCG 2023.01 format.

This report will tabulate 75 top-performing decks from 13 tournaments that were held in Japan, China Mainland and South Korea during 28 December 2022 – 4 January 2023.

• Yu-Gi-Oh! OCG Structures Volume 6: Brave Beauty of Ruby Regard – Bradamante

• 16 Tearlaments (12 Ishizu Tearlaments, 4 Ishizu Kashtira Tearlaments)
• 11 Spright Tri-Brigade
• 5 Runick
• 5 Sky Striker (4 Sky Striker, 1 Runick Sky Striker)
• 4 Labrynth
• 3 Adamancipator (1 Adamancipator, 1 Vernusylph Adamancipator, 1 Grass Ishizu Vernusylph Adamancipator)
• 3 Bystial Dragon Link
• 3 Exosister
• 3 Magician
• 3 Spright
• 3 Spright Gishki
• 2 Dinosaur
• 2 Floowandereeze
• 1 Code Talker Mathmech
• 1 Danger Dark World
• 1 Grass Branded Bystial Despia
• 1 Kashtira
• 1 Kashtira Scareclaw
• 1 Madolche
• 1 Orcust
• 1 P.U.N.K. Bystial
• 1 Subterror
• 1 Swordsoul
• 1 Traptrix
• 1 Tri-Brigade Lyrilusc

Zekkei (ぜっけい) went 6-1-1 and finished 1st in “119th Next Play Cup” which had 34 participants.

As the metagame shifts back to Tearlaments, Zekkei also made several changes compared to his deck lists featured last week. He ran 1 of each Bystial Magnamhut, Bystial Druiswurm and Bystial Baldrake together with 2 Super Polymerization in the Side Deck for the Tearlaments mirror match.

Super Polymerization could be used to clear the opponent’s El Shaddoll Winda (DARK Spellcaster), Grapha, Dragon Overlord of Dark World (DARK Fiend) and Predaplant Dragostapelia (DARK Plant) by using them as material to Fusion Summon your own Predaplant Dragostapelia or Mudragon of the Swamp. Mudragon of the Swamp is also useful for recycling your Fusion Monsters as it could be Fusion Summoned by using Tearlaments monster (DARK Aqua) graveyard effect with El Shaddoll Winda (DARK Spellcaster), Grapha, Dragon Overlord of Dark World (DARK Fiend) or Predaplant Dragostapelia (DARK Plant), and thus returning them to the Deck and Extra Deck.

Zekkei is also experimenting with Helshaddoll Hollow. Helshaddoll Hollow is Shaddoll monster, so it could be sent to the graveyard by Shaddoll Squamata and could be used to Fusion Summon El Shaddoll Winda. When sent to the graveyard by a card effect, Helshaddoll Hollow Trigger Effect could be activated to send cards from the top of your deck to the graveyard, equal to the number of different original Attributes among the monsters on the field. Since it counts the number of different original Attributes among both players’ field, it is possible to send a huge amount of cards when going second after the opponent had setup their board.

Like (理科) went finished 1st in “China City Tournament Hefei 2023” which had 253 participants.

In the final match game 1, Like made a brilliant play of using Number 2: Ninja Shadow Mosquito to achieve an OTK. Like had a board of Gigantic Spright (with Spright Sprind as Xyz Material), Tri-Brigade Ferrijit the Barren Blossom, Ancient Warriors Oath – Double Dragon Lords, Tri-Brigade Kitt and Tri-Brigade Kerass. While the opponent had Grapha, Dragon Overlord of Dark World and Tearlaments Havnis, both of their ATK were halved by Forbidden Droplet earlier.

3200 + 1600 + 1600 + 700 + 1200 – 800 = 7500. Even after bouncing Grapha, Dragon Overlord of Dark World with Ancient Warriors Oath – Double Dragon Lords effect, Like was still short of 500 damage to deal lethal damage. Despite under tournament pressure, Like managed to see the winning formula of using Tri-Brigade Kitt and Tri-Brigade Kerass to Xyz Summon Number 2: Ninja Shadow Mosquito and using its burn effect to deal out the extra damage.

Number 2: Ninja Shadow Mosquito first attacked into Grapha, Dragon Overlord of Dark World and activated its effect to put 1 Hallucination Counter on Grapha. Then Gigantic Spright attacked into Tearlaments Havnis, triggering Number 2: Ninja Shadow Mosquito effect to deal 1600 damage, followed by 2400 battle damage from Gigantic Spright. Ancient Warriors Oath – Double Dragon Lords attacks into Grapha, Dragon Overlord of Dark World, triggering Number 2: Ninja Shadow Mosquito effect to deal 1600 damage. But while still in the Battle Step, Ancient Warriors Oath – Double Dragon Lords effect is activated to bounce Grapha, Dragon Overlord of Dark World, causing a Replay that allows Ancient Warriors Oath – Double Dragon Lords to direct attack instead. Finally Tri-Brigade Ferrijit the Barren Blossom direct attack for the finishing blow. 1600 + (3200 – 800) + 1600 + 1600 + 1600 = 8800.

A recording of the tournament stream is available at 游戏王巡回赛2023合肥站直播录像 20230101.

Sung Sungi Laidou (숭 숭이 라이드) went 6-2 and finished 3rd in “1923CS Individual Tournament” which had 60 participants.

He ran 2 Dimension Shifter and 2 Dimensional Fissure in the Main Deck, teched against Tearlaments and Tri-Brigade.

PSY-Framegear Epsilon in the Side Deck is to counter Eradicator Epidemic Virus, which has been seeing play in Labrynth and Bystial decks.

Fei Feifei (非飞飞) finished 5 – 8th in “China City Tournament Hefei 2023” which had 253 participants.

OCG 2023.01 Limit Regulation relaxed Sky Striker Ace – Kagari to semi-limited, reignited the passion of many players to play sky striker in the competitive scene. The OCG 2023.01 Week #0 metagame was largely made up of Spright Tri-Brigade, Labrynth and Runick, making it a relatively slower metagame that allowed Sky Striker to thrive.

However, with Tearlaments making a comeback, Sky Striker is likely to fall off again. The Bystial monsters in the Side Deck used against Tearlaments could also be used against Sky Striker, to banish Sky Striker Ace – Raye or Sky Striker Ace – Roze from the graveyard.

After taking a short break, Tearlaments overtook Spright Tri-Brigade to reclaim its throne at the top.

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• 2023-01-04 | 119th Next Play Cup
• 2023-01-03 | Kyoto Okoku Cup
• 2023-01-03 | 6th Oguibento CS Individual Tournament in Kanto
• 2023-01-02 | 12th Lotus Cup
• 2023-01-02 | China City Tournament Hefei 2023
• 2023-01-01 | Qidian Cards New Year Special Tournament
• 2023-01-01 | DDD Different Dimension Cards New Year Tournament
• 2023-01-01 | 1923CS New Year 3v3 Team Tournament (1st: A, B, C | 2nd: A, B, C)
• 2023-01-01 | HSCS 3v3 Team Tournament (1st: A, B, C | 2nd: A, B, C)
• 2022-12-31 | 1923CS Individual Tournament (1st | 2nd | 3rd | 4th)
• 2022-12-30 | 4th Oguibento CS 3v3 Team Tournament in Kanto
• 2022-12-29 | 3rd Oguibento CS 2v2 Team Tournament in Kanto
• 2022-12-28 | 118th Next Play Cup