OCG 2023.01 Metagame Report #3

Welcome to Week #3 of the OCG 2023.01 format.

This report will tabulate 71 top-performing decks from 14 tournaments that were held in Japan, China Mainland and Hong Kong during 14 – 18 January 2023.

To better gauge the impact of the new booster set on the metagame, tournaments that did not allowed Cyberstorm Access such as “CCT Nanning 2023” and “Black Luster Soldier Tournament Southern Taiwan” would not be included in this week’s tabulation.

New Product Release

  • Cyberstorm Access

Metagame Breakdown

  • 26 Tearlaments (22 Ishizu Tearlaments, 2 Ishizu Kashtira Tearlaments, 1 Shaddoll Ishizu Tearlaments, 1 Volcanic Ishizu Tearlaments)
  • 8 Spright Tri-Brigade
  • 3 Adamancipator (1 Grass Superheavy Samurai Ishizu Vernusylph Adamancipator, 1 Vernusylph Adamancipator, 1 Spright Adamancipator)
  • 3 Labrynth (2 Ishizu Labrynth, 1 Labrynth)
  • 3 Purrely
  • 2 Branded (1 Branded, 1 Grass Branded)
  • 2 Bystial (1 Adventurer Bystial, 1 P.U.N.K. Bystial)
  • 2 Exosister
  • 2 Floowandereeze
  • 2 Kashtira
  • 2 Vaylantz
  • 1 Adventurer Ishizu Lightsworn
  • 1 Adventurer Melffy Spright
  • 1 Branded Dogmatika
  • 1 Bystial Dragonmaid
  • 1 Bystial Thunder Dragon
  • 1 Code Talker Mathmech
  • 1 Endymion
  • 1 Grass Superheavy Samurai Ishizu Thunder Dragon P.U.N.K. Bystial
  • 1 Magician
  • 1 Marincess
  • 1 Runick
  • 1 Spright Evil★Twin
  • 1 Spright Gishki
  • 1 Sunavalon Rikka
  • 1 Superheavy Samurai Orcust
  • 1 Traptrix

Tearlaments

Alive (アライブ) went 7-1 and finished 1 – 2nd in “1st Taiyo CS Trio (3v3 Team Tournament)” which had 35 teams (105 participants).

Most Ishizu Tearlaments builds are now running Foolish Burial Goods and Foolish Burial in the Main Deck, giving Ash Blossom & Joyous Spring more cards to negate, making it slightly more relevant in the mirror match. But outside of the Tearlaments match-up, Ash Blossom & Joyous Spring is very effective against many other decks in the metagame and is often sided in no matter going first or second. The only reason the third copy is left in the Side Deck is because the Main Deck is already compacted, and there is no space without going over 40 deck size.

The decline of Spright also resulted in Tearlaments Metanoise being cut from the deck.

Tri-Brigade

Xiang Zi Yu went 7-1 and finished 3rd in “Black Luster Soldier Tournament Hong Kong” which had 304 participants.

Ghost Ogre & Snow Rabbit could be used on Gigantic Spright, and is also useful against Superheavy Samurai Prodigy Wakaushi.

Superheavy Samurai Soulpiercer effect is not limited to once per turn, and would be activated multiple times in a turn when running through the Superheavy Samurai combo. Droll & Lock Bird could be activated after Superheavy Samurai Motorbike Monster Effect or Superheavy Samurai Monk Big Benkei Pendulum Effect to add a card to hand, effectively halting the Superheavy Samurai combo.

Adamancipator

Qiong (穹) finished 1st in “Kabi Xiaowu Store Opening Tournament with Lord Grim Cup” which had 39 participants.

The release of Cyberstorm Access came with Superheavy Samurai Prodigy Wakaushi, Superheavy Samurai Monk Big Benkei and Superheavy Samurai Motorbike, introducing a new Superheavy Samurai combo that could Special Summon multiple monsters on the field while setting up both Pendulum Scales.

The basic Superheavy Samurai combo starts off with Superheavy Samurai Prodigy Wakaushi Pendulum Effect to place Superheavy Samurai Monk Big Benkei from deck to Pendulum Zone then Special Summon itself to the field. Superheavy Samurai Monk Big Benkei Pendulum Effect then adds Superheavy Samurai Soulpiercer from deck to hand. Superheavy Samurai Soulpiercer effect is used to equip itself to Superheavy Samurai Prodigy Wakaushi, then Superheavy Samurai Prodigy Wakaushi is used to Link Summon Superheavy Samurai Scarecrow. Superheavy Samurai Soulpiercer effect adds Superheavy Samurai Soulpeacemaker from deck to hand. Superheavy Samurai Scarecrow effect is activated by discarding 1 monster to Special Summon Superheavy Samurai Soulpiercer from graveyard. Superheavy Samurai Soulpeacemaker effect is used to equip itself to Superheavy Samurai Scarecrow, then Superheavy Samurai Scarecrow is tributed to Special Summon Superheavy Samurai Prodigy Wakaushi from deck. Finally Superheavy Samurai Prodigy Wakaushi and Superheavy Samurai Soulpiercer are used to Synchro Summon Borreload Savage Dragon. Chain 3 Superheavy Samurai Prodigy Wakaushi effect place itself in Pendulum Zone, Chain 2 Superheavy Samurai Soulpiercer effect adds Superheavy Samurai Prodigy Wakaushi from deck to hand, Chain 1 Borreload Savage Dragon effect equips Superheavy Samurai Scarecrow.

With Superheavy Samurai Prodigy Wakaushi and Superheavy Samurai Monk Big Benkei set as Pendulum Scales, 1 Superheavy Samurai Prodigy Wakaushi from the Extra Deck and 1 Superheavy Samurai Prodigy Wakaushi from hand could be Pendulum Summoned, and together they could be used to Xyz Summon Gallant Granite, whose effect would add Block Dragon from deck to hand.

Besides opening with Superheavy Samurai Prodigy Wakaushi directly, Superheavy Samurai Motorbike effect could search out Wakaushi, or Normal Summon Superheavy Samurai Soulpiercer and Link Summon Superheavy Samurai Scarecrow to trigger Superheavy Samurai Soulpiercer effect to search out Wakaushi.

Labrynth

kazuma went 6-0-2 and finished 1 – 2nd in “1st Taiyo CS Trio (3v3 Team Tournament)” which had 35 teams (105 participants).

The standard Trap heavy build Labrynth and Furniture build Labrynth could control the game when they go first, but the Trap heavy build Labrynth struggles when going second. On the other hand, Furniture build Labrynth could activate Labrynth Chandraglier or Labrynth Stovie Torbie during the opponent’s turn to set Welcome Labrynth or Big Welcome Labrynth, and they could be activated right on your turn, making the Furniture-Build Labrynth faster by a turn. Keldo the Sacred Protector and Mudora the Sword Oracle could be discarded for the cost of activating Labrynth Chandraglier or Labrynth Stovie Torbie, allowing them to be used against Tearlaments graveyard effect.

Chaos Angel is a new Level 10 Synchro Monster from Cyberstorm Access, and could treat 1 LIGHT or DARK monster you control as a Tuner for its Synchro Summon. Chaos Angel provides a banish effect and comes with a high ATK.

Purrely

Mou Chun Hong went 6-1-1 and finished 11th in “Black Luster Soldier Tournament Hong Kong” which had 304 participants.

Cyberstorm Access came with Purrelyly and Purrely Sleepy Memory, 2 new support cards that greatly boosted Purrely.

Purrelyly is a new Level 1 monster that could add a non Quick-Play “Purrely” card from deck to hand. It could be used to search for the Continuous Spell My Friend Purrely, then My Friend Purrely effect could reveal 3 of the same “Purrely” card from deck, and you get 1 of them added to hand. This is much more consistent than the original Purrely which relies on excavating the top 3 cards of the deck.

Purrely Sleepy Memory provides a much needed card drawing effect to replenish their resources. Purrely Sleepy Memory could be combined with Purrelyeap!? to double the draws. During the opponent’s Standby Phase, the Epurrely Rank 2 Xyz Monster would draw a card for each Purrely Sleepy Memory attached as material. Still during the opponent’s Standby Phase, activate Purrelyeap!? to Xyz Summon Expurrely Noir. Then Expurrely Noir would draw a card for each Purrely Sleepy Memory attached as material.

Bystial

Dotsu (どつ) went 6-1-1 and finished 1 – 2nd in “1st Taiyo CS Trio (3v3 Team Tournament)” which had 35 teams (105 participants).

As Tearlaments rise back to the top, Bystial being a natural counter to Tearlaments is in a good position. Assault Synchron released earlier in Secret Utility Box is a Level 2 Tuner Monster that could be Special Summoned from hand and used with Bystial monsters to Synchro Summon Level 8 or Level 10 Synchro Monsters. Assault Synchron graveyard effect is also useful for Special Summoning Chaos Ruler, the Chaotic Magical Dragon when it leaves the field and becomes banished.

Bystial Dis Pater is a new Level 10 Synchro Monster from Cyberstorm Access, and provides the additional firepower that Bystial needs. Bystial Dis Pater ① effect Special Summons 1 banished LIGHT or DARK monster, while the ② effect is a disruption that could be activated when opponent activates a monster effect and destroy that monster or negate that monster’s activated effect depending on whose banished card was shuffled back to deck. Both Bystial Dis Pater effects are great for recycling Chaos Ruler, the Chaotic Magical Dragon and Assault Synchron.

Conclusion

Despite gaining no new support cards, Tearlaments remains strong in first position. Spright Tri-Brigade barely holds onto the second position, but decks running Spright package as a whole are falling off as Spright has a poor match-up against Tearlaments.

Cyberstorm Access has quite a decent impact on the metagame, there are plenty of new support cards across the board for many decks outside of Tearlaments and Spright. It would take a couple more weeks for players to experiment and see if the new cards have the potential to go up against the metagame.

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References

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20 Responses

  1. Minh Dương says:

    “Mou Chun Hong went 6-1-1 and finished 3rd in “Black Luster Soldier Tournament Hong Kong” which had 304 participants” should be 11th here, 3rd is the Spright Tri-Brigade above.
    It’s also great to see you cover in detail all of the decks that appear in the pie chart.
    And btw Happy Lunar New Year Akira!

  2. Bbo says:

    How did they use Volcanic in Tearlaments btw?

    • Tyleah says:

      C’est pour le match miroir si le match prend trop de temps. Ca peut burn 500 et gagner le round.

    • Tyleah says:

      I meant that this is for the mirror match if the match takes too long. It can burn 500 life points and win the round.

  3. Impendio says:

    I hope they ban every single tear girl next list, dragon ruler treatment or bust…

    • VTGare says:

      I think it’s better if they ban Ishizu cards instead. They’re not good for the same and there will be another GY based deck that will abuse them like crazy. Tear was not a massive problem before Ishizu.

    • CoCoA says:

      @VTGare: we are not gonna get gy free mill decks like these anymore, it’s bad for sales of newer sets and Konami don’t like it. The perpetrator needs to be punished and not Ishizu instead, Ishizu cards already on the banlist enough.

  4. Flavian says:

    Says it with me people: “Tears always clears”.
    Easily one of the best archetypes of all times.

  5. kevin2wart says:

    Lol I have no idea why anyone would want to run 3 copies of the Purrely field spell, looks like the guy just shove 3 copies of every main deck Purrely card into his deck and made it to 11th because his opponents had no idea how to respond.

    • Minh Dương says:

      with sleepy memory from cyac, running 3 field would be better
      u can attach sleepy memory to the xyz monster currently on the field to get a draw 1 in sp
      if u can bait ur opp into using all of their negate/disrupt to that xyz monster, then u just need to flip the trap to xyz summon a new one, that monster would be protected by field
      clearly u haven’t touch the new support

    • kevin2wart says:

      Explain why this person is the only one who runs 3 copies of the field while every other purrely player that tops runs 1 then

    • Minh Dương says:

      bcuz this list topped 11th in a big tourney (300+ players) while other lists are from local result (<100 players)
      in local u can even get top 1 with a bad list, deck building there has low significance

  6. Dodo says:

    the ban list has to hit the ishizu cards with a direct ban on all of them . otherwise it could be round about a full year of this tear clear meta

  7. Syd says:

    In the punk bystial deck you can use the bystial + synchron to make accel > accel then reborn the synchron, accel effect to synchro into the bystial synchro > banish assault to reborn accel then the bystial resummon assault from banished zone for another synchro 10

  8. BustyBob says:

    Tear always Clears! Teir 0 was made so Tear will rule over all other decks !!

  9. Ubi Bubitzky says:

    I am surprised at how not represented Manadome is. It seems good, especially as an engine in tear. Half the cards search rinoheart, and riumheart can pop tear names on field to activate their effects.

  10. Wolloschek says:

    That’s the worst Labrynth list I’ve ever seen.

    • random_noob_player says:

      this is in 3v3 tournament that u team up with 3 player and the rule is ur list is share for ex.if I put 3 maxx c in my deck the other 2 cant use maxx c for limit 1 card only one player can use it

    • Roy St Clair says:

      @random_noob_player no its not lol, don’t spread misinformation

      one click to twitter and you can see the other 2 decks are roughly the same tearkash list

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