OCG 2024.01 Metagame Report #3

Welcome to Week #3 of the OCG 2024.01 format.

This report tabulates 114 top-performing decks from 22 tournaments that were held in Japan, China Mainland, Philippines and South Korea during 20 – 24 January 2024.

• V Jump March 2024 promotional card: Spell Card: “Monster Reborn”

• 42 Sinful Spoils Snake-Eye Fire King
• 9 Branded (6 Grass Branded, 3 Branded)
• 9 Voiceless Voice
• 6 Magician (2 Supreme King Magician FTK, 1 Supreme King Magician, 1 Supreme King Z-ARC Magician, 1 Horus Supreme King Magician, 1 Magician)
• 4 Floowandereeze
• 4 Salamangreat
• 4 Snake-Eye (3 Snake-Eye, 1 Horus Snake-Eye)
• 3 Dragon Link (2 Dragon Link, 1 Grass Sinful Spoils Snake-Eye Dragon Link)
• 3 Rescue-ACE (2 Sinful Spoils Snake-Eye Rescue-ACE, 1 Horus Sinful Spoils Rescue-ACE)
• 3 Vanquish Soul
• 2 Adamancipator (1 Grass Superheavy Samurai Vernusylph Adamancipator, 1 Superheavy Samurai Adamancipator)
• 2 Centur-Ion (1 Dogmatika Centur-Ion, 1 Horus Dogmatika Centur-Ion)
• 2 Chimera (1 Horus Chimera, 1 Yubel Horus Chimera)
• 2 Labrynth
• 2 Runick
• 2 Sky Striker
• 2 SPYRAL (1 SPYRAL, 1 Horus SPYRAL)
• 1 Blackwing
• 1 Grass Raidraptor
• 1 Horus Naturia
• 1 Horus Spright Tri-Brigade
• 1 Mathmech
• 1 Mannadium
• 1 Ritual Beast
• 1 Sinful Spoils Mikanko Infernoble Knight
• 1 Sinful Spoils Scareclaw
• 1 Spright
• 1 Sunavalon Rikka
• 1 Superheavy Samurai
• 1 Tenyi Swordsoul

The top 2 teams of the “25th YCCS in Chiba Hobby Station” were all running Sinful Spoils Snake-Eye Fire King. Their Main Deck, Extra Deck and Side Deck are almost identical too, the main difference being the champion team went for Solemn Strike in the Side Deck, while the runner-up team went for Solemn Judgment.

Solemn Strike and Solemn Judgment plays a similar role in the mirror match for stopping Snake-Eye Ash. Solemn Strike could negate and destroy Snake-Eye Ash when it activates its effect, while Solemn Judgment could negate the Normal Summon of Snake-Eye Ash.

Solemn Strike advantage is being able to be used on ‘hand traps’. If you are able to stop the opponent’s play with other cards, then Solemn Strike could be conserved to use on your own turn to protect your combo against the opponent’s ‘hand traps’. Solemn Strike could also be sided against Voiceless Voice, and could clear Skull Guardian, Protector of the Voiceless Voice under the protection of Barrier of the Voiceless Voice.

Solemn Judgment has the advantage of negating Spell/Trap cards, and could also be used to negate Cosmic Cyclone or Evenly Matched to prevent a board wipe.

There is no clear answer on whether Solemn Strike or Solemn Judgment is a better Side Deck option for now, and we would have to observe the metagame trend to see if players opinions would change.

Feri (ふぇーり) (World Championship 2018 Japan Representative) went 5-1-1 and finished 1st in “25th YCCS in Chiba Hobby Station” which had 20 teams (60 participants).

Among the 9 Branded decks that topped this week, 7 of them were running Gimmick Puppet Nightmare, while the remaining 2 were running Ido the Supreme Magical Force.

The resilience of Sinful Spoils Snake-Eye Fire King to play through various ‘hand traps’ have made Branded gone back to relying on absolute floodgate such as Gimmick Puppet Nightmare and Ido the Supreme Magical Force.

This deck finished 1st in “Mengmengxiong Card Store Lezhong Cup” which had 67 participants.

Among the 9 Voiceless Voice decks that topped this week, 4 are running the Diviner of the Herald and Trias Hierarchia package, 3 are running Dogmatika Maximus and Nadir Servant package, 1 is running both packages, and 1 is running neither package.

The Dogmatika Maximus and Nadir Servant package saw a decline in the last format due to the popularity of Droll & Lock Bird. But as Droll & Lock Bird is mostly relegated to the Side Deck in the current metagame, some players have started going back to the Nadir package.

The Diviner of the Herald and Trias Hierarchia package plays around Droll & Lock Bird by using Diviner of the Herald effect to send Trias Hierarchia from deck to graveyard, then using effect to tribute Diviner of the Herald and Special Summon itself. Diviner of the Herald Trigger Effect would then Special Summon Lo, the Prayers of the Voiceless Voice from deck. But as most decks are running 3 Effect Veiler and 3 Infinite Impermanence in the Main Deck in the current metagame, there is a high chance that Diviner of the Herald effect would be negated, unless you have Sauravis, the Ancient and Ascended in hand. Since the Diviner package do not require much of the Extra Deck, it could also run Pot of Extravagance in the Main Deck to dig for ‘hand traps’.

Solemn Strike and Solemn Judgment in the Side Deck are also effective against Diviner of the Herald. Against Nadir Servant, Solemn Judgment has the advantage of negating it, while Solemn Strike would likely be destroyed by Elder Entity N’tss.

The Nadir package or the Diviner package have their own pros and cons, and the choice to go with which would shift accordingly with the popularity of ‘hand traps’ and tech cards in the metagame. And there is always the option to run both packages.

York Mang (욕망) went 7-0-1 and finished 1st in “CoCoA CS” which had 42 participants.

Fire King takes a fourth consecutive week, with 4 times as many tops as Branded and Voiceless Voice tied in the second spot.

The strength of Sinful Spoils Snake-Eye Fire King is its resilience against most of the tech cards. There is no clean answer that could address them effectively, so players are divided on Solemn Strike, Solemn Judgment, Anti-Spell Fragrance or Summon Limit.

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• 2024-01-21 | 21st Colorful Cup (3v3 Team Tournament) (1st: A, B, C | 2nd: A, B, C)
• 2024-01-21 | 10th Dark Law CS Aqua Neos Cup
• 2024-01-21 | 25th YCCS in Chiba Hobby Station (1st: A, B, C | 2nd: A, B, C)
• 2024-01-21 | Tetsu-Kai ~Ryusei no Arashi Kokura Ekimae Store~
• 2024-01-21 | 4th Mikado CS 3v3 Team Tournament (1st: A, B, C | 2nd: A, B, C)
• 2024-01-21 | Mengmengxiong Card Store Lezhong Cup
• 2024-01-21 | Wondrous Card Store Ranking Tournament
• 2024-01-21 | TACS
• 2024-01-21 | HSCS 5v5 Team Tournament (1st:A, B, C, D, E | 2nd: A, B, C , D, E)
• 2024-01-21 | Bonfire CS
• 2024-01-20 | 3rd Mini Tulio CS
• 2024-01-20 | Onigashima CS in Ryusei no Arashi
• 2024-01-20 | Black Luster Soldier (Normal Monster) Tournament Philippines II
• 2024-01-20 | Cosmos TCG Ranking Tournament
• 2024-01-20 | Lord of Dragon Card Shop Tournament
• 2024-01-20 | Top Deck Vis Ranking Tournament
• 2024-01-20 | Huoguoyang Card Store Ranking Tournament
• 2024-01-20 | 1923CS 3v3 Team Tournament
• 2024-01-20 | NTCS 3v3 Team Tournament (1st: A, B, C | 2nd: A, B, C)
• 2024-01-20 | Duel’S-park 3v3 Team Tournament with 1923
• 2024-01-20 | CoCoA CS