OCG 2023.07 Metagame Report #4

by · 30 July 2023

Welcome to Week #4 of the OCG 2023.07 format.

This report will tabulate 124 top-performing decks from 23 tournaments that were held in Japan, China Mainland and Taiwan during 22 – 26 July 2023.

To better gauge the impact of the new booster set on the metagame, tournaments that did not allowed Age of Overlord such as “CCT Dalian 2023” and “1923CS Individual Tournament” were excluded from this week’s tabulation.

Update: Revised with additional data from “StarKnight Cards Store Tournament” and “Star Sakura Cards Weekly Tournament”.

New Product Release

  • V Jump September 2023 promotional card: Brionac, the Dragon of Icy Malevolence
  • Age of Overlord

Metagame Breakdown

  • 21 Rescue-ACE (16 Sinful Spoils Rescue-ACE, 5 Rescue-ACE)
  • 15 Purrely
  • 14 Tearlaments (3 Ishizu Tearlaments, 3 Adventurer Ishizu Kashtira Tearlaments, 2 Adventurer Sinful Spoils Ishizu Tearlaments, 2 Danger Ishizu Tearlaments, 1 Ishizu Kashtira Tearlaments, 1 Horus Ishizu Tearlaments, 1 P.U.N.K. Horus Ishizu Tearlaments, 1 Sinful Spoils Ishizu Tearlaments)
  • 13 Labrynth (7 Unchained Labrynth, 6 Labrynth)
  • 8 Branded (5 Branded, 3 Grass Branded)
  • 5 Vanquish Soul
  • 4 Sky Striker
  • 4 Supreme King Magician
  • 3 Runick
  • 2 Exosister
  • 2 Grass Bystial Dragon Link
  • 2 Grass Superheavy Samurai Ishizu Vernusylph Adamancipator
  • 2 Mikanko
  • 2 Rikka (1 Sunavalon Rikka, 1 Therion Sunavalon Rikka)
  • 2 Scareclaw Mannadium
  • 2 Tri-Brigade Lyrilusc
  • 1 Adventurer Plunder Patroll
  • 1 Bystial Red Archfiend Dragon
  • 1 Code Talker Mathmech
  • 1 Crystal Beast
  • 1 Sinful Spoils Adventurer Tenyi
  • 1 Sinful Spoils Spellbook Dracoslayer Endymion Zefra
  • 1 Evil Eye
  • 1 Floowandereeze
  • 1 Grass Branded Shaddoll
  • 1 Grass Ishizu Sinful Spoils Thunder Dragon Bystial P.U.N.K.
  • 1 Grass Superheavy Samurai Horus Ishizu Thunder Dragon Bystial
  • 1 HERO
  • 1 Horus Volcanic
  • 1 Labrynth Traptrix
  • 1 Mathmech
  • 1 Mathmech @Ignister
  • 1 Marincess
  • 1 Scrap Orcust Superheavy Samurai
  • 1 Spright Tri-Brigade
  • 1 Superheavy Samurai Zefra
  • 1 Tellarknight
  • 1 Umi
  • 1 Vaylantz

Rescue-ACE

Rindou (リンドウ) went 9-0 and finished 1st in “Tetsu Summer Festival 2023” which had 64 participants.

Running the Sinful Spoils package has become the predominant build for Rescue-ACE. Among the 21 Rescue-ACE decks that topped this week, 16 were running the Sinful Spoils package.

Activate WANTED: Seeker of Sinful Spoils to add Diabellstar the Black Witch to hand. Diabellstar the Black Witch is Special Summoned by sending another card from hand to graveyard, and its effect would set Original Sinful Spoils – Snake-Eye from deck to field. Original Sinful Spoils – Snake-Eye is activated by sending Diabellstar the Black Witch to the graveyard to Special Summon Rescue-ACE Hydrant from deck. Rescue-ACE Hydrant effect would add Rescue-ACE Air Lifter from deck to hand. Finally, Rescue-ACE Air Lifter is Normal Summoned and its effect would add EMERGENCY! from deck to hand.

The Sinful Spoils package is functionally a One for One, but with a more lenient activation cost of sending any card to the graveyard, while One for One requires a Monster. A Rescue-ACE Trap card drawn in the opening hand could now be used as fodder to Special Summon Diabellstar the Black Witch. Then EMERGENCY! graveyard effect would be able to take that Rescue-ACE Trap card from the graveyard and set it on the field.

On the next turn, Original Sinful Spoils – Snake-Eye graveyard effect could be used to add Rescue-ACE Hydrant from deck to hand, then place Diabellstar the Black Witch from graveyard to bottom of deck. WANTED: Seeker of Sinful Spoils graveyard effect could then place Original Sinful Spoils – Snake-Eye from banished to bottom of deck and draw 1 card. Not only does the Sinful Spoils package works as additional starters, they also generate resources from the graveyard for follow-up plays on the next turn.

Purrely

Raito (ライト) went 8-0-1 (excluding 1 bye) and finished 1st in “Hatti CS 2023 (3v3 Team Tournament)” which had 128 teams (384 participants).

S:P Little Knight is a new Link Monster from Age of Overlord that effectively replaces Sky Striker Ace – Azalea role. S:P Little Knight has a easier summoning condition of just 2 monsters compared to Sky Striker Ace – Azalea requring 2 LIGHT/DARK monsters. S:P Little Knight effect also banishes compared to Sky Striker Ace – Azalea effect which destroys, making it a much better removal effect since banishing would also prevent any graveyard effect.

S:P Little Knight also comes with a Quick Effect that could disrupt the opponent. When the opponent activates an effect, S:P Little Knight effect could banish a face-up monster you control and an opponent’s face-up monster until the End Phase. Not having to run I:P Masquerena frees up limited space in the Extra Deck for Purrely.

Tearlaments

Cool Life (クールライフ) went 6-1 (excluding 1 bye) and finished 3rd in “209th Taiyo CS” which had 36 participants.

The Adventurer package provides 2 monsters that could be used for Synchro Summon. A Normal Summoned Revolution Synchron with Illegal Knight could be used to Synchro Summon Baronne de Fleur. Then Revolution Synchron graveyard effect would Special Summon itself from the graveyard and change its Level to 1. Revolution Synchron and “Adventurer Token” are then used to Synchro Summon Naturia Beast.

The Sinful Spoils package is for Special Summoning Jet Synchron and provides an alternative play if Revolution Synchron was not in the opening hand. Diabellstar the Black Witch is Special Summoned by Water Enchantress of the Temple from hand to graveyard, and its effect would set Original Sinful Spoils – Snake-Eye from deck to field. Water Enchantress of the Temple would banish itself to add Rite of Aramesir, which would be activated to Special Summon 1 “Adventurer Token” and place Fateful Adventure from deck to field. Original Sinful Spoils – Snake-Eye is activated by sending Fateful Adventure to the graveyard to Special Summon Jet Synchron from deck.

Jet Synchron and Diabellstar the Black Witch are used to Synchro Summon Chaos Ruler, the Chaotic Magical Dragon, whose effect would excavate 5. Ideally Kelbek the Ancient Vanguard, Agido the Ancient Sentinel, Tearlaments Kashtira would be sent to the graveyard and continue to cascade and trigger some Tearlaments monsters graveyard effect. Hopefully Revolution Synchron or Glow-Up Bulb were also sent to the graveyard. They could be Special Summoned by their own graveyard effects and used with the “Adventurer Token” to Synchro Summon Naturia Beast. Finally Jet Synchron graveyard effect would Special Summon itself, and it would be used with Chaos Ruler, the Chaotic Magical Dragon to Synchro Summon Hot Red Dragon Archfiend Abyss.

Siding in That Grass Looks Greener when going second has become a common strategy among Tearlaments deck. Among the 14 Tearlaments deck that topped this week, 9 were running 1 – 2 That Grass Looks Greener and 0 – 2 Triple Tactics Thrust in their Side Deck.

Many decks in the current metagame have a lot of searching effects that would quickly thin down their decks.

Rescue-ACE could open with WANTED: Seeker of Sinful Spoils to search for Diabellstar the Black Witch, then search for Original Sinful Spoils – Snake-Eye, then Special Summon Rescue-ACE Hydrant, then search for Rescue-ACE Air Lifter, then search for EMERGENCY!, and then Special Summon a Rescue-ACE Monster. After that, Rescue-ACE Turbulence effect would pull out another 4 Rescue-ACE Spell/Trap cards from deck. Performing the above opening combo, the opponent has pulled out 10 cards from their deck.

Purrely could open with Purrely Quick-Play Spell to Special Summon Purrelyly, then search for My Friend Purrely, then search for Purrely Quick-Play Spell, then Special Summon Purrely, then excavate for a Purrely Quick-Play Spell. The opponent playing Pot of Desires would pull 12 cards from their deck.

Even with a 40 cards deck size, after the opponent perform their opening combo, there is a chance that That Grass Looks Greener could send 5 – 10 cards from deck to graveyard,

Labrynth

Huang Kuan Hsuan went 7-2 and finished 2nd in “Yu-Gi-Oh! Live Streaming League Firefighting Cup” which had 85 participants.

Arias the Labrynth Butler is a new Effect Monster from Age of Overlord whose effect could set a Trap card form hand and then allow it to be activated on the same turn. This provides another method for Labrynth to activate Welcome Labrynth or Big Welcome Labrynth on the first turn.

Arias the Labrynth Butler is mostly played in the Unchained Labrynth build. Among the 7 Unchained Labrynth decks that topped this week, 6 were running 2 – 3 Arias the Labrynth Butler in the Main Deck. When the opponent chains an effect to disrupt your Labrynth play, Arias the Labrynth Butler in graveyard would be able to Special Summon itself, and could be used to Link Summon Unchained Soul Lord of Yama and switching over to the Unchained play.

Stellar Nemesis T-PHON – Doomsday Star is another new Xyz Monster from Age of Overlord. Stellar Nemesis T-PHON – Doomsday Star is a Fiend monster, allowing it to be Special Summoned even while under the Special Summon restriction of Welcome Labrynth. Coincidently Lovely Labrynth of the Silver Castle has ATK 2900, allowing its effect to be activated while Stellar Nemesis T-PHON – Doomsday Star is on field.

Conclusion

The metagame remains largely the same with Rescue-ACE, Purrely, Tearlaments and Labrynth taking the lead.

Age of Overlord has a decent impact on the metagame, giving a bit of new support to several top decks. S:P Little Knight is the most notable card from this set, and is played in almost every Extra Deck.

Sinful Spoils package is being played in Rescue-ACE decks and Tearlaments decks. Some Tearlaments decks are also experimenting with the Horus package to Xyz Summon The Zombie Vampire.

Vanquish Soul decks are running the new Vanquish Soul Jiaolong Effect Monster. Tsang Pok Man (3 – 4th in Duelist Cup 2023 Asia Finals) played Vanquish Soul (deck list), went 8-1 and finished 1st in “Yu-Gi-Oh! Live Streaming League Firefighting Cup” which had 85 participants.

Magician decks are running the new Supreme King Gate cards. BLG played Supreme King Magician (deck list) and finished 1st in “Yulin Trunade Bingo League” which had 50 participants.

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References

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6 Responses

  1. Ian-Devon Germaine Lewis says:
    30 July 2023 at 3:16 pm

    That Sinful Spoils package is looking pretty interesting for Rescue Ace and anyone using Flint Lady.

    Reply
  2. kevin2wart says:
    30 July 2023 at 3:33 pm

    Anyone knows why pend magician decks are running odd eyes wing dragon? https://ygoprodeck.com/deck/pendulum-magician-supreme-king-336511

    Reply
    • haidozua says:
      30 July 2023 at 9:33 pm

      It is for Supreme King Gate Zero’s monster effect. Odd-eyes Wing Dragon is a Synchro Pendulum Monster that fulfills Pendulum Evolution’s second effect to Pendulum Summon a second time.

  3. Mass says:
    7 August 2023 at 1:50 am

    Does anybody have the SHS Zefra list?

    Reply
  4. Winda says:
    10 August 2023 at 6:06 pm

    anyone know the vaylantz decklist? tysm

    Reply

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