OCG 2024.07 Metagame Report #4

Welcome to Week #4 of the OCG 2024.07 format.

This report tabulates 92 top-performing decks from 18 tournaments that were held in Japan, China Mainland and South Korea during 27 July – 1 August 2024.

• Rage of the Abyss

• 23 Snake-Eye (18 Fiendsmith Azamina Snake-Eye, 5 Fiendsmith Snake-Eye)
• 21 Tenpai Dragon
• 6 Memento (5 Memento, 1 Fiendsmith Memento)
• 4 Centur-Ion (3 Centur-Ion, 1 Fiendsmith Centur-Ion)
• 4 Labrynth
• 4 Fiendsmith Yubel
• 3 Fire King (2 Sinful Spoils Snake-Eye Fire King, 1 Azamina Sinful Spoils Snake-Eye Fire King)
• 3 Rescue-ACE (2 Fiendsmith Sinful Spoils Snake-Eye Rescue-ACE, 1 Fiendsmith Azumina Sinful Spoils Rescue-ACE)
• 3 Fiendsmith Unchained
• 3 Voiceless Voice
• 2 Millennium Exodia
• 2 Ritual Beast
• 1 Da Eiza
• 1 Fiendsmith Magical Musket
• 1 Fiendsmith Spright Agent
• 1 Floowandereeze
• 1 Gimmick Puppet
• 1 Grass Superheavy Samurai Adventurer Synchron
• 1 Horus Bystial Tachyon
• 1 Ice Barrier Atlantean
• 1 Mathmech @Ignister
• 1 Melodious
• 1 Mikanko
• 1 Superheavy Samurai Dracoslayer
• 1 Supreme King Z-ARC
• 1 Yubel Fiendsmith Chimera

Rage of the Abyss has given Snake-Eye decks a great boost with the addition of the new Azamina cards. The Azamina cards are a series of new Fusion Monsters related to the Sinful Spoils. As stated in the Yu-Gi-Oh! OCG Database for Sacred Azamina (「聖なる薊花」でレベル６の「アザミナ」融合モンスターを見せた場合、「罪宝」カードを何枚墓地に送りますか？), only 1 “Sinful Spoils” card is required to be sent to the graveyard to Fusion Summon a Level 6 “Azamina” Fusion Monster with Sacred Azamina. This makes Sinful Spoils Deception a starter by itself as it could be used to fetch for Sacred Azamina, and then sent to the graveyard for Sacred Azamina effect to Fusion Summon Azamina Mu Rcielago.

An opening with 1 Sinful Spoils Deception + 1 Monster Card is as follow:

1. Activate Sinful Spoils Deception.
2. Sinful Spoils Deception ① effect, Tribute 1 monster from hand, add Sacred Azamina from deck to hand.
3. Activate Sacred Azamina, send Sinful Spoils Deception from field to graveyard, Fusion Summon Azamina Mu Rcielago.
4. Azamina Mu Rcielago ① effect, add WANTED: Seeker of Sinful Spoils from deck to hand.
5. Activate WANTED: Seeker of Sinful Spoils, add Diabellstar the Black Witch from deck to hand.
6. WANTED: Seeker of Sinful Spoils ② effect, banish itself from graveyard as cost, place Sinful Spoils Deception on the bottom of the Deck, then draw 1 card.
7. Special Summon Diabellstar the Black Witch from hand by sending 1 card from hand to graveyard.
8. Diabellstar the Black Witch ② effect, Set Original Sinful Spoils – Snake-Eye from deck to Spell/Trap Zone.
9. Azamina Mu Rcielago + Diabellstar the Black Witch → Moon of the Closed Heaven.
10. Sacred Azamina ② effect, shuffle Azamina Mu Rcielago into Extra Deck, add Sacred Azamina from graveyard to hand.
11. Activate Sacred Azamina, send Original Sinful Spoils – Snake-Eye from field to graveyard, Fusion Summon Azamina Rhea Silvera.
12. Original Sinful Spoils – Snake-Eye ② effect, banish itself from graveyard as cost, add Snake-Eye Ash from deck to hand, place Diabellstar the Black Witch from graveyard to bottom of deck.

This simple opening sets up Moon of the Closed Heaven on field which could then go into Fiendsmith combo, and Snake-Eye Ash in hand which could be Normal Summoned and continue with Snake-Eye combo. It also brings out Azamina Rhea Silvera early which could negate an opponent’s card or effect, protecting the rest of your combo from disruption.

Rage of the Abyss also gave a boost to Fiendsmith. Lacrima the Scarlet Sorrow is a new monster that is always treated as a “Fiendsmith” card, allowing it to be Special Summoned by Fiendsmith’s Requiem effect.

Continuing from the above opening combo:

13. Moon of the Closed Heaven → Fiendsmith’s Requiem.
14. Fiendsmith’s Requiem ① effect, Tribute itself as cost, Special Summon Lacrima the Scarlet Sorrow from deck.
15. Lacrima the Scarlet Sorrow ① effect, send Fiendsmith Engraver from deck to graveyard.
16. Fiendsmith Engraver ③ effect, shuffle Moon of the Closed Heaven into Extra Deck, Special Summon itself from graveyard.
17. Fiendsmith Engraver + Lacrima the Scarlet Sorrow → Fiendsmith’s Sequence.

Previously Fiendsmith’s Requiem could only Special Summon Fiendsmith Engraver from deck, and would require another monster to go into Fiendsmith’s Sequence. But now with Lacrima the Scarlet Sorrow, any 2 monsters to make Moon of the Closed Heaven would be able go into Fiendsmith’s Sequence, thus improving and streamlining the Fiendsmith combo.

Kumadai (くまだい) went 6-0 and finished 2nd in “Yu-Gi-Oh! Area Championship 2024 Osaka” which had 124 teams (372 participants).

Rage of the Abyss has brought along 2 new ‘hand traps’ that is seeing heavy play in the metagame.

Mulcharmy Fuwaross is a new variant of Mulcharmy Purulia, but draws for each time the opponent Special Summons a monster(s) from the Deck and/or Extra Deck. Mulcharmy Fuwaross is significantly more reliable to get draws off the opponent as almost every top deck in the current metagame Special Summons multiple times from the Extra Deck. However, the Mulcharmy cards can only be activated if you control no cards, thus most decks are keeping them in the Side Deck, and only siding in when going second. When going first, Tenpai Dragon’s opening board is typically just a Hieratic Seal of the Heavenly Spheres, and relies heavily on ‘hand traps’ to disrupt the opponent’s play. Hieratic Seal of the Heavenly Spheres works well with the Mulcharmy cards, when Hieratic Seal of the Heavenly Spheres Tributes itself as cost to activate its ① effect, it would make your board empty momentarily, allowing Mulcharmy Fuwaross to be activated in a Chain. With 3 Maxx “C” and 3 Mulcharmy Fuwaross, Tenpai Dragon has a much better chance of halting the opponent’s play.

Dominus Impulse is a new variant of Dominus Purge, but negates the effect of a card or effect that includes an effect that Special Summons a monster. The Dominus cards can be activated from hand when the opponent controls a card, but comes with a drawback that makes you unable to activate the effects of monsters with the stated Attributes for the rest of the Duel. Activating Dominus Impulse from hand would make you unable to activate the effects of LIGHT, EARTH, and WIND monsters for the rest of this Duel. This drawback would affect other ‘hand traps’ such as Nibiru, the Primal Being, Mulcharmy Fuwaross, Maxx “C”, Effect Veiler and would require proper sequencing so as not to hinder yourself. Since Tenpai Dragon aims to finish the game fast by going for an One-Turn-Kill (OTK) on the next turn, the drawback from Dominus Impulse would be minimal.

Haru (はる) went 5-1 and finished 3rd in “Yu-Gi-Oh! Area Championship 2024 Osaka” which had 124 teams (372 participants).

Rage of the Abyss has a significant impact on the metagame. Fiendsmith Azamina Snake-Eye and Tenpai Dragon are the 2 decks that had greatly benefited from the new cards and are now the top contenders.

Both Fiendsmith Azamina Snake-Eye and Tenpai Dragon are able to accommodate Mulcharmy Fuwaross in the Main Deck. When going first, Snake-Eye could use Mulcharmy Fuwaross as a Tribute to activate Sinful Spoils Deception ① effect, while Tenpai Dragon could use the Hieratic Seal of the Heavenly Spheres trick mentioned above.

Although Yubel did get a minor boost in the form of Lacrima the Scarlet Sorrow improving the Fiendsmith combo, the boost that Snake-Eye received from the new Azamina cards made Snake-Eye much better than Yubel. Being able to setup Phantom of Yubel before committing into your combo was the advantage that Yubel had, but now Snake-Eye has Azamina Rhea Silvera which provides a better coverage against not just the opponent’s Monster Effects but also Spell/Trap effects.

3 Sinful Spoils Deception provides access to Snake-Eye Ash via Sacred Azamina into Azamina Mu Rcielago also fixes the consistency issue that Snake-Eye had with Snake-Eye Ash, WANTED: Seeker of Sinful Spoils limited and Bonfire semi-limited.

Several players that had switched from Fiendsmith Snake-Eye to Fiendsmith Yubel due to the OCG 2024.07 Limit Regulation at the start of the OCG 2024.07 format are now pivoting back to Fiendsmith Azamina Snake-Eye.

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• 2024-08-01 | Card Square Mini Tournament
• 2024-07-31 | 185th Next Play Cup
• 2024-07-28 | Hoshikiri Cup
• 2024-07-28 | Tamade CS with Lotus Cup (1st: A, B, C | 2nd: A, B, C)
• 2024-07-28 | 17th Shuto CS (2v2 Team Tournament) (1st: A, B | 2nd: A, B | 3rd: A, B)
• 2024-07-28 | 293rd Taiyo CS (2v2 Team Tournament)
• 2024-07-28 | Duelist King Cup Card Shop Ryusei no PAO Machida Shop (1st | 2nd | 3rd | 4th)
• 2024-07-27 | Yu-Gi-Oh! Area Championship 2024 Osaka
• 2024-07-27 | 2nd Matsuyama Botchan Cup
• 2024-07-27 | Duelist Land Special Tournament
• 2024-07-27 | Top Deck Vis Tournament
• 2024-07-27 | Lord of Dragon Ranking Tournament
• 2024-07-27 | Liuwuzhimen Card Shop × Lightning Frog Card × Nancheng Ciyuan Xinghe Anime Convention Tournament
• 2024-07-27 | Star Sakura Card Shop Tournament
• 2024-07-27 | Huiliu Wulala Ranking Tournament
• 2024-07-27 | Xinghang Card Shop Tournament
• 2024-07-27 | Dragon of Galaxy Ranking Tournament
• 2024-07-27 | Wushang Dongman Shop Tournament