OCG 2024.04 Metagame Report #4, #5

by · 14 May 2024

Welcome to Week #4, #5 of the OCG 2024.04 format.

This report tabulates 322 top-performing decks from 71 tournaments that were held in Japan, China Mainland, and South Korea during 27 April – 6 May 2024.

To better gauge the impact of the new booster set on the metagame, tournaments that did not allowed Infinite Forbidden such as “Yu-Gi-Oh! Spring Duel Festival 2024” were excluded from this tabulation.

New Product Release

  • Infinite Forbidden

Metagame Breakdown

  • 69 Tenpai Dragon
  • 40 Fire King (33 Sinful Spoils Snake-Eye Fire King, 7 Fiendsmith Sinful Spoils Snake-Eye Fire King)
  • 37 Yubel (24 Fiendsmith Yubel, 11 Yubel, 1 Grass Fiendsmith Yubel, 1 Horus Yubel)
  • 33 Snake-Eye (21 Fiendsmith Snake-Eye, 11 Snake-Eye, 1 Millennium Fiendsmith Snake-Eye)
  • 18 Voiceless Voice
  • 10 Memento
  • 10 Unchained (5 Fiendsmith Unchained, 4 Yubel Unchained, 1 Unchained)
  • 8 Branded (4 Branded, 4 Grass Branded)
  • 8 Centur-Ion (5 Centur-Ion, 2 Fiendsmith Centur-Ion, 1 White Forest Centur-Ion)
  • 7 Gimmick Puppet (4 Gimmick Puppet, 3 Horus Gimmick Puppet)
  • 7 White Forest (5 Toy White Forest, 1 Centur-Ion Toy White Forest, 1 Fiendsmith Toy White Forest)
  • 6 Melodious Supreme King
  • 6 Runick
  • 5 Rescue-ACE (3 Fiendsmith Sinful Spoils Snake-Eye Rescue-ACE, 2 Sinful Spoils Snake-Eye Rescue-ACE)
  • 4 Grass Infernoid
  • 4 Magician (3 Supreme King Magician FTK, 1 Supreme King Z-ARC Magician)
  • 4 Ritual Beast
  • 4 Salamangreat
  • 3 Drytron
  • 3 Labrynth (2 Fiendsmith Labrynth, 1 Unchained Labrynth)
  • 3 Madolche (2 Vernusylph Madolche, 1 P.U.N.K. Vernusylph Madolche)
  • 3 Orcust (2 Millennium Fiendsmith Scareclaw Orcust, 1 Fiendsmith Orcust)
  • 3 Sky Striker
  • 3 Thunder Dragon (2 Fiendsmith Bystial Thunder Dragon, 1 Bystial Thunder Dragon)
  • 2 Adamancipator (1 Millennium Superheavy Samurai Adamancipator, 1 Vernusylph Adamancipator)
  • 2 Chimera (1 Chimera, 1 Fiendsmith Chimera)
  • 2 Fiendsmith Vaalmonica
  • 2 Horus Naturia
  • 2 Swordsoul (1 Swordsoul, 1 Tenyi Swordsoul)
  • 1 Armed Dragon Dragon Ruler
  • 1 Dinosaur
  • 1 Fiendsmith Spright Atlantean
  • 1 Grass Dragon Link
  • 1 Floowandereeze
  • 1 Grass Horus Sinful Spoils Snake-Eye Kashtira Tearlaments
  • 1 Mannadium
  • 1 Mathmech Code Talker
  • 1 Mathmech @Ignister
  • 1 Mikanko Infernoble Knight
  • 1 Purrely
  • 1 Ragnaraika Sunavalon Rikka
  • 1 Tri-Brigade Lyrilusc
  • 1 Vanquish Soul

Tenpai Dragon

Infinite Forbidden brought along 3 news cards for Tenpai Dragon that greatly boosted the deck, propelling them straight to the top of the format.

Tenpai Dragon of Genroku is a new Level 3 Tenpai Dragon Monster that functions as both a starter and an extender. If you open with Tenpai Dragon of Genroku in hand, then its ② effect can be used to Special Summon Tenpai Dragon Paidra from deck and the play goes off from there. But Tenpai Dragon of Genroku truly shines when it is added to hand by Sangen Summoning, Sangen Kaimen or Dora Draco effect, allowing it to be Special Summoned as a Tuner, and could increase its Level by 1. Tenpai Dragon now has access to a second Tuner besides Tenpai Dragon Chundra and is less likely to be halted by the opponent’s The Black Goat Laughs.

Dora Draco is a new Level 3 Monster that could add a Level 4 or lower FIRE Dragon Monster from deck to hand. Typically Tenpai Dragon Chundra or Tenpai Dragon of Genroku is added to hand and then Special Summoned, setting up 2 Dragon monsters for a Synchro Summon or Link Summon.

Sangen Kaihou is a new Trap that could forcefully end the opponent’s current Main Phase when the conditions are met. This looks powerful on paper, but in practice it is often going to just force the opponent to go into the Battle Phase and they will then go straight into their Main Phase 2, effectively Sangen Kaihou is just skipping their Battle Phase. Sangen Kaihou could be fetched out by Tenpai Dragon Paidra, so some players are running 1 copy in the Side Deck as a possible option when going first. Even then, many more players choose not to run it at all.

Tsukishima (つきしま) went 5-2 (excluding 1 bye) and finished 1st in “Teiryu Cup” (3v3 Team) which had 60 teams (180 participants).

Fire King

Top Hat Hare the Silhouette Magician and Silhouhatte are 2 new cards from Infinite Forbidden that some players have been running as a disruption.

Top Hat Hare the Silhouette Magician is a Link-2 Monster that requires just 2 Effect Monster to Link Summon. When Top Hat Hare the Silhouette Magician is Link Summoned, its ① effect can Set Silhouhatte from deck to field. During the opponent’s turn, Silhouhatte could be activated to Special Summon itself. Then after it is Special Summoned, Silhouhatte could negate the effects of face-up card(s) on opponent’s field up to the number of Illusion monsters you control. Silhouhatte itself is an Illusion Monster, so at minimal it could negate the effects of 1 card. If Top Hat Hare the Silhouette Magician is also on field, then Silhouhatte could negate the effects of up to 2 cards. Top Hat Hare the Silhouette Magician ③ effect would also trigger and it could destroy 1 of opponent’s Spell/Trap.

Angel Statue – Azurune is another option that could be fetched out by Top Hat Hare the Silhouette Magician ① effect. When the opponent would Special Summon a monster(s) while Angel Statue – Azurune is in your Monster Zone, Angel Statue – Azurune could send itself to the graveyard as cost to negate the Special Summon and destroy that monster.

Mugen (むげん) went 5-1 and finished 3rd in “Duelist King Cup Yokohama” which had 50 participants.

Yubel

Fiendsmith is a new theme from Infinite Forbidden that could be play as a package in Yubel, and functions both as starter and extender.

If there are no Yubel starters in the opening hand, then the Fiendsmith combo could be used to Xyz Summon Beatrice, Lady of the Eternal, whose effect would send Samsara D Lotus from deck to graveyard. Muckraker From the Underworld ② effect would Special Summon Samsara D Lotus from the graveyard, and Samsara D Lotus ① effect would be able to Special Summon Spirit of Yubel, and goes off with the standard Yubel combo.

If there are Yubel starters in the opening hand, then the Fiendsmith combo could be used to Xyz Summon D/D/D Wave High King Caesar instead, providing protection against Nibiru, the Primal Being.

Sea Archer (シーアーチャー) went 8-0 and finished 3rd in “3rd Marunouchi Yugi CS ~2405~” (3v3 Team) which had 25 teams (75 participants).

Snake-Eye

Similarly, Fiendsmith could also be played as a package in Snake-Eye, and functions both as starter and extender.

If there are no Snake-Eye starters in the opening hand, then the Fiendsmith combo could be used to Xyz Summon Beatrice, Lady of the Eternal, whose effect would send Snake-Eye Ash from deck to graveyard. Promethean Princess, Bestower of Flames ② effect would Special Summon Snake-Eye Ash from the graveyard, and Snake-Eye Ash ① effect would be add Snake-Eyes Poplar from deck to hand, and goes off with the standard Snake-Eye combo.

If opening with Snake-Eye Ash, then the Snake-Eye combo could be used to Link Summon Moon of the Closed Heaven first, so it could be used to Link Summon Fiendsmith Requiem, opening access to Fiendsmith. Bringing out Fiendsmith Dies Irae is an option as its ① effect could be used to negate Spells such as Triple Tactics Talent or Change of Heart.

Angel of Blue Tears in the Side Deck is used with Beatrice, Lady of the Eternal as a way to access powerful Normal Trap. Beatrice, Lady of the Eternal ① effect could be activated by detaching Fiendsmith Lacrimosa as Xyz Material to send Angel of Blue Tears from deck to graveyard. Then as Fiendsmith Lacrimosa was sent to the graveyard, its ③ effect could be activated by shuffling 1 other LIGHT Fiend monster from your graveyard into Deck/Extra Deck as cost to inflict 1200 damage. Then as Effect Damage was inflicted, Angel of Blue Tears ② effect could be activated by banishing itself from graveyard, to Set 1 Normal Trap directly from deck, such as Appointer of the Red Lotus or Dimensional Barrier.

xy finished 2nd in “2nd QDCS” which had 225 participants.

Conclusion

Infinite Forbidden has a significant impact on the metagame. Tenpai Dragon rose up to the top, while Fiendsmith is the most popular variant of Yubel and Snake-Eye builds.

The popularity of Fiendsmith resulted in the resurgence of Droll & Lock Bird in the Main Deck as a tech against them.

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References

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2 Responses

  1. Euan Ryan says:
    15 May 2024 at 4:27 am

    “It’s legit ignorant”-Joshua Schmidt “It’s just so ignorant”-Joshua Schmidt
    “It’s legit ignorant”-Joshua Schmidt “It’s just legitimately so ignorant” Joshua Schmidt
    “It’s the result of ignorance”-Joshua Schmidt

    Reply

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