OCG 2023.01 Metagame Report #6

Welcome to Week #6 of the OCG 2023.01 format.

This report will tabulate 90 top-performing decks from 15 tournaments that were held in Japan, China Mainland and South Korea during 4 – 5 February 2023.

• 30 Tearlaments (27 Ishizu Tearlaments, 2 Ishizu Kashtira Tearlaments, 1 Shaddoll Ishizu Tearlaments)
• 10 Purrely (9 Purrely, 1 Ishizu Purrely)
• 6 Grass Superheavy Samurai Ishizu Vernusylph Adamancipator
• 6 Bystial (2 Adventurer Bystial, 2 Spright Bystial, 2 Superheavy Samurai Bystial)
• 6 Exosister (5 Exosister, 1 Ishizu Exosister)
• 3 Kashtira
• 3 Runick (2 Runick, 1 Spright Runick)
• 2 Adventurer Melffy Spright
• 2 Bystial Thunder Dragon
• 2 Labrynth (1 Labrynth, 1 Ishizu Labrynth)
• 2 Ishizu Vernusylph Naturia
• 2 Magician
• 2 Mathmech @Ignister
• 2 Tri-Brigade (1 Spright Tri-Brigade, 1 Scareclaw Tri-Brigade)
• 1 Superheavy Samurai Adventurer Synchron
• 1 Branded
• 1 Bystial Dragon Link
• 1 Dogmatika Invoked
• 1 EARTH Machine
• 1 Floowandereeze
• 1 Grass Branded Witchcrafter
• 1 Grass Tearlaments Shaddoll
• 1 Ishizu Tearlaments Necroface
• 1 Kashtira Scareclaw
• 1 Kashtira Swordsoul
• 1 Tri-Brigade Lyrilusc

Raito (ライト) went 7-1 and finished 3rd in “23rd RAM Cup” which had 80 participants, and finished 1st in “6th Tulio CS @ Nabe 2v2 Team Tournament” which had 16 Teams (32 participants).

He ran 2 Xyz Encore in the Side Deck on Saturday, but switched to 2 Infinite Impermanence on Sunday. He noted that some Purrely decks have started running Vanity’s Fiend, thus Infinite Impermanence would be able to negate its effect on your turn, and could be searched out by Triple Tactics Thrust.

Kigremo went 6-1 (excluding 1 bye) and finished 2nd in “171st Taiyo CS” which had 33 participants.

Volcanic Shell functions as discard fodder for the Purrely Quick-Play Spells to Special Summon a Purrely monster from deck. Volcanic Shell effect activates in the graveyard, and could be sent from deck to the graveyard by the opponent’s Kelbek the Ancient Vanguard or Agido the Ancient Sentinel effect, allowing you to get a free card off it. However, Volcanic Shell effect has to remain in the graveyard during resolution to add another copy of Volcanic Shell from deck to hand, and could be disrupted by Mudora the Sword Oracle, Keldo the Sacred Protector or D.D. Crow.

Vanity’s Fiend in the Side Deck would catch opponent by surprise, especially since most players would be siding in Xyz Encore and would be unable to deal with Vanity’s Fiend. However, Vanity’s Fiend does not protect your Purrely Xyz Monster from Xyz Encore and they would still be returned to the Extra Deck. Xyz Encore could still be activated even while Vanity’s Fiend effect is applied, Xyz Materials will be detached and the Xyz Monster will be returned to the Extra Deck, but the monsters among the detached Xyz Materials will not be Special Summoned. The relevant ruling is While the effect of “Vanity’s Emptiness” is being applied, can “Xyz Encore” be activated?

Yuye Re1uy (雨夜Re1uy) finished 1st in “China City Tournament Shanghai 2023” which had 431 participants.

Superheavy Samurai Prodigy Wakaushi, Superheavy Samurai Motorbike and Superheavy Samurai Scarecrow effect comes with an activation condition that requires you to have no Spells/Traps in your graveyard, making it a little bit tricky to use Called by the Grave.

If the opponent chains Ash Blossom & Joyous Spring to your Superheavy Samurai Motorbike effect, then you would have to let it pass since negating it with Called by the Grave would cause you to be unable to activate Superheavy Samurai Prodigy Wakaushi Pendulum Effect.

If the opponent chains Ghost Ogre & Snow Rabbit or Maxx “C” to you Superheavy Samurai Prodigy Wakaushi Pendulum Effect, then you could response with Called by the Grave to negate Ghost Ogre & Snow Rabbit or Maxx “C” since Superheavy Samurai Prodigy Wakaushi only requires you to have no Spells/Traps in your graveyard to activate its effect, but it does not matter if you have Spells/Traps in your graveyard while the effect resolves.

If the opponent activates Maxx “C” right when Superheavy Samurai Prodigy Wakaushi is activated as a Pendulum Spell, then you could not response with Called by the Grave, else youy would be unable to activate Superheavy Samurai Prodigy Wakaushi Pendulum Effect later.

Thus against Superheavy Samurai, it is best to use ‘hand traps’ before Superheavy Samurai Prodigy Wakaushi Pendulum Effect could be activated since they would be unable to response with Called by the Grave.

Ran went 7-2 and finished 3rd in “29th Hagetaka CS” which had 63 participants.

The Superheavy Samurai package is comparable to P.U.N.K. package in that they provide a way to Synchro Summon Level 8 Synchro Monster. However, Superheavy Samurai Prodigy Wakaushi being a Level 4 Tuner Monster and Superheavy Samurai Motorbike being a Level 2 Tuner Monster are more compatible with the Bystial monsters for Synchro Summoning Level 8 or Level 10 Synchro Monsters, whereas Noh-P.U.N.K. Ze Amin is a Level 3 Tuner Monster.

The 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 Chaos Ruler, the Chaotic Magical 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 Chaos Ruler, the Chaotic Magical Dragon effect excavate the top 5 cards of the deck.

Normal Summon Superheavy Samurai Prodigy Wakaushi, Superheavy Samurai Prodigy Wakaushi and Chaos Ruler, the Chaotic Magical Dragon are then used to Link Summon Beyond the Pendulum, whose effect would add Performapal Odd-Eyes Synchron from deck to hand. With Superheavy Samurai Prodigy Wakaushi and Superheavy Samurai Monk Big Benkei set as Pendulum Scales, 2 Superheavy Samurai Prodigy Wakaushi from the Extra Deck and 1 Performapal Odd-Eyes Synchron from hand could be Pendulum Summoned. Performapal Odd-Eyes Synchron effect would Special Summon Superheavy Samurai Monk Big Benkei from the Pendulum Zone, and together they would be used to Synchro Summon Baronne de Fleur. Superheavy Samurai Monk Big Benkei effect would place itself back in the Pendulum Zone.

The first Superheavy Samurai Prodigy Wakaushi and Beyond the Pendulum would be used to Link Summon Spright Elf. A Level 6 Bystial monster could be Special Summoned by banishing Beyond the Pendulum from the graveyard, and together with the second Superheavy Samurai Prodigy Wakaushi, they are used to Synchro Summon Bystial Dis Pater. Bystial Dis Pater effect would Special Summon Beyond the Pendulum from banished, and Chaos Ruler, the Chaotic Magical Dragon effect would Special Summon itself from the graveyard. Beyond the Pendulum and Chaos Ruler, the Chaotic Magical Dragon are used to Link Summon Spright Sprind, whose effect would send Cyber-Stein to the graveyard. Spright Elf effect Special Summons Cyber-Stein, and then Cyber-Stein effect Special Summon Naturia Exterio. Spright Sprind and Cyber-Stein are used to Xyz Summon Gigantic Spright, whose effect is activated to Special Summon Superheavy Samurai Motorbike from deck. Gigantic Spright and Superheavy Samurai Motorbike are used to Link Summon I:P Masquerena.

A bit of luck is needed for Chaos Ruler, the Chaotic Magical Dragon to excavate and send a LIGHT Attribute monster to the graveyard so it could be banished to Special Summon Chaos Ruler, the Chaotic Magical Dragon from the graveyard. But since Chaos Ruler, the Chaotic Magical Dragon purpose is to be used as Link Material to Link Summon Spright Sprind, any other monsters could be Pendulum Summoned earlier or any other Bystial monsters could be Special Summoned to fulfil the role as a Link Material.

Renren (蓮々) went 8-1 and finished 1st in “29th Hagetaka CS” which had 63 participants.

Sakitama is a new Spirit Monster from Cyberstorm Access that is being ran in Exosister decks. Sakitama effect allows a Spirit Monster to be Normal Summoned and it could be used to Normal Summon itself. Essentially Sakitama is a Level 4 extender that uses Normal Summon, allowing it to be compatible with Exosister Martha.

A new combo brought along by the Spirit Monsters is to Normal Summon Aratama, and using its effect to add Sakitama from deck to hand. Sakitama effect would then Normal Summon itself from hand. Aratama and Sakitama are then used to Xyz Summon Exosister Kaspitell, whose effect is activated to add Exosister Martha from deck to hand. Exosister Martha effect would Special Summon itself from hand and Special Summon Exosister Elis from deck. Exosister Martha and Exosister Elis are then used to Xyz Summon Exosister Mikailis, whose effect is activated is to add an Exosister Spell/Trap card from deck to hand. Finally Exosister Kaspitell and Exosister Mikailis are used to Xyz Summon Exosisters Magnifica.

While you may not always open with Aratama, any Level 4 Exosister monster with Sakitama would also be suffice to perform the above combo.

Tearlaments remains in the lead, with Purrely, Adamancipator, Bystial and Exosister following behind.

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• 2023-02-05 | Ayukawa Cup
• 2023-02-05 | 171st Taiyo CS
• 2023-02-05 | 6th Tulio CS @ Nabe 2v2 Team Tournament
• 2023-02-05 | 29th Hagetaka CS
• 2023-02-05 | China City Tournament Shanghai 2023
• 2023-02-05 | Inspiration Code Cards Ranking Tournament
• 2023-02-05 | 1923CS Individual Tournament
• 2023-02-04 | 23rd RAM Cup
• 2023-02-04 | 1st Mini Amagasa CS Individual Tournament
• 2023-02-04 | 170 Taiyo CS (2v2 Team Tournament)
• 2023-02-04 | Kyoto Kawaramachi Doragon Star CS
• 2023-02-04 | Cosmos TCG Ranking Tournament
• 2023-02-04 | Damao Cards Ranking Tournament
• 2023-02-04 | Star Trails Destiny Ranking Tournament
• 2023-02-04 | Huanxiang Bingtuan Store Tournament