OCG 2025.01 Metagame Report #9, #10

by · 14 March 2025

Welcome to Week #9, #10 of the OCG 2025.01 format.

This report tabulates 243 top-performing decks from 48 tournaments that were held in Japan, China Mainland, Hong Kong, Malaysia, Singapore, South Korea and Vietnam during 1 – 9 March 2025.

Metagame Breakdown

  • 66 Maliss (59 Maliss, 6 Grass Maliss, 1 Grass Horus Maliss)
  • 49 Ryzeal
  • 28 Primite Blue-Eyes
  • 27 White Forest (23 Azamina White Forest, 5 Fiendsmith Azamina White Forest, 1 Kashtira Azamina White Forest)
  • 12 Orcust (7 Orcust, 2 Fiendsmith Orcust, 1 Grass Orcust, 1 Horus Fiendsmith Gem-Knight Orcust, 1 Mekk-Knight Orcust)
  • 9 Memento
  • 8 Fiendsmith Evil★Twin
  • 4 Crystron (3 Crystron, 1 Kashtira Azamina Crystron)
  • 4 Regenesis (2 Dogmatika Regenesis, 1 Metalmorph Dogmatika Regenesis, 1 Diabell Regenesis)
  • 3 Grass Branded
  • 2 Atlantean
  • 2 Code Talker (1 Maliss Code Talker, 1 Mathmech Code Talker)
  • 2 Fiendsmith Azamina Chimera
  • 2 Gem-Knight
  • 2 Grass Tearlaments Shaddoll Branded
  • 2 Ryu-Ge
  • 2 Tenpai Dragon
  • 2 Voiceless Voice (1 Voiceless Voice, 1 Regenesis Voiceless Voice)
  • 1 Ancient Gear
  • 1 Azamina Snake-Eye Fire King
  • 1 Centur-Ion
  • 1 Dinomorphia
  • 1 Fiendsmith Eldlich
  • 1 Fiendsmith P.U.N.K.
  • 1 Fiendsmith Scareclaw
  • 1 Fiendsmith Unchained
  • 1 Gimmick Puppet
  • 1 Kashtira Fiendsmith Azamina Snake-Eye
  • 1 Melodious
  • 1 Primite Fiendsmith
  • 1 Purrely
  • 1 Ryzeal Heraldic Beast
  • 1 Salamangreat
  • 1 Tenpai Dragon Dragonmaid
  • 1 @Ignister

Maliss

Grass Maliss has always been a secondary variant of Maliss to build the deck. Using That Grass Looks Greener to fill the graveyard and then using Fairy Tail – Snow to banish Maliss monsters from graveyard to trigger their Special Summon from banishment effects and generate massive card advantage.

Maliss have a difficult matchup against Ryzeal, since Ryzeal Detonator could destroy your monsters on the field, making it difficult to link climb. Grass Maliss has the power to push through with resources from graveyard filled by That Grass Looks Greener.

Running a 60-cards Main Deck comes with a lower chance of seeing specific tech cards in your opening hand, which could be slightly mitigated by having Maxx “C”, Fantastical Dragon Phantazmay and the various Mulcharmy monsters to help dig for them. A significant downside is the lower chances of opening with Called by the Grave to stop the opponent’s Artifact Lancea.

Lin Cong Yao went 8-2 and finished 2nd in “Battle Nexus 2025 Hong Kong” which had 340 participants.

Ryzeal

Running Solemn Strike in the Main Deck was a proven build that saw some success back in the OCG 2024.10 format. Solemn Strike is really powerful when going first, a disruption that could be a potential turn ender when negating a Monster Effect or Special Summon which is crucial to the opponent’s setup.

The downside of Solemn Strike is that it is useless when going second after that opponent has already setup their board. The element of surprise is a big factor as not many players would expect to see Solemn Strike during Game 1 and is more likely to play into it.

Yong Qian Rui went 8-0 and finished 1st in “Battle Nexus 2025 Singapore” which had 180 participants.

Blue-Eyes

Some Primite Blue-Eyes build are running Snake-Eyes Execute Dragon in the Extra Deck, mainly as an option to Synchro Summon using a Level 1 Tuner Monster and either your own Nibiru, the Primal Being or a “Primal Being Token” from the opponent’s Nibiru, the Primal Being.

Previously some builds were using Centur-Ion Legatia to fulfill the same purpose, but Snake-Eyes Execute Dragon being a Dragon Type is a much better fit as it could still be Synchro Summoned after being locked into Dragon by Roar of the Blue-Eyed Dragons ① effect.

Lim Zhan Quen went 7-1 and finished 2nd in “Battle Nexus 2025 Malaysia” which had 134 participants.

White Forest

White Forest has several new support cards from Alliance Insight, providing great improvement to White Forest as a competitive contender and is now tied with Blue-Eyes.

Witches of the White Forest is a new Field Spell that adds a White Forest monster from your deck to your hand when activated. Since it is a Field Spell, it stays on the field after activation, and could be sent to the graveyard as cost for the activation of White Forest monster effect. The new Diabell cards Diabellstar the Sin Adjudicator and Diabellze the White Witch, Philias Diabell and Curse of Diabell are also a boost to the White Forest end board.

A combo opening with Witches of the White Forest is as follow:

  1. Activate Witches of the White Forest ① effect, add Elzette of the White Forest from deck to hand.
  2. Elzette of the White Forest ① effect, send Witches of the White Forest from Field Zone to graveyard as cost, Special Summon itself from hand, then add Silvy of the White Forest from deck to hand.
  3. Normal Summon Silvy of the White Forest.
  4. Silvy of the White Forest ① effect, add Tales of the White Forest from deck to hand.
  5. Silvy of the White Forest + Elzette of the White Forest → Rciela, Sinister Soul of the White Forest.
  6. Rciela, Sinister Soul of the White Forest ① effect, send Tales of the White Forest from hand to graveyard, add Diabellze the White Witch from deck to hand.
  7. Tales of the White Forest ② effect, Set itself from graveyard to Spell/Trap Zone.
  8. Activate Tales of the White Forest ① effect, add Elzette, Azamina of the White Forest from deck to hand.
  9. Elzette, Azamina of the White Forest ① effect, reveal itself as cost, Special Summon itself from hand.
  10. Rciela, Sinister Soul of the White Forest + Elzette, Azamina of the White Forest → Diabell, Queen of the White Forest.
  11. Chain 2: Diabell, Queen of the White Forest ① effect, add Tales of the White Forest from graveyard to hand.
  12. Chain 1: Elzette, Azamina of the White Forest ② effect, add WANTED: Seeker of Sinful Spoils from deck to hand.
  13. Activate WANTED: Seeker of Sinful Spoils ① effect, add Diabellstar the Black Witch from deck to hand.
  14. Special Summon Diabellstar the Black Witch by sending Tales of the White Forest from hand to graveyard.
  15. Diabellstar the Black Witch ② effect, Set Sinful Spoils of the White Forest from deck to Spell/Trap Zone.
  16. Silvy of the White Forest ② effect, return Rciela, Sinister Soul of the White Forest from graveyard to Extra Deck, Special Summon itself from graveyard.
  17. Diabell, Queen of the White Forest + Diabellstar the Black Witch + Silvy of the White Forest → Selene, Queen of the Master Magicians.
  18. Selene, Queen of the Master Magicians ① effect, place 3 Spell Counters on itself.
  19. Selene, Queen of the Master Magicians ③ effect, remove 3 Spell Counters from itself as cost, Special Summon Diabellstar the Black Witch from graveyard.
  20. Selene, Queen of the Master Magicians + Diabellstar the Black Witch → Apollousa, Bow of the Goddess.
  21. Diabellze the White Witch ① effect, send Sinful Spoils of the White Forest from Spell/Trap Zone to graveyard as cost, Special Summon itself from hand.
  22. Chain 2: Diabellze the White Witch ② effect, send Curse of Diabell from deck to graveyard.
  23. Chain 1: Sinful Spoils of the White Forest ② effect, Set itself from graveyard to Spell/Trap Zone.
  24. Curse of Diabell ② effect, add Philias Diabell from deck to hand.
  25. Activate Philias Diabell ① effect, add Diabellstar the Sin Adjudicator from deck to hand.
  26. Diabellstar the Sin Adjudicator ① effect, banish Philias Diabell and Curse of Diabell from graveyard as cost, Special Summon itself from hand.
  27. Philias Diabell ② effect, all “Diabell” monsters you currently control gain 500 ATK.

During opponent’s turn:

  1. Silvy of the White Forest ② effect, return Diabell, Queen of the White Forest from graveyard to Extra Deck, Special Summon itself from graveyard.
  2. Elzette of the White Forest ② effect, add itself from graveyard to hand.
  3. Diabellstar the Sin Adjudicator ① effect, destroy 1 opponent’s card, then Special Summon Mystic Mystery of the White Forest from Extra Deck.
  4. Mystic Mystery of the White Forest ② effect, Mystic Mystery of the White Forest + Diabellstar the Sin Adjudicator → Snake-Eyes Execute Dragon.
  5. Activate Sinful Spoils of the White Forest ① effect, Diabellze the White Witch (on field) + Silvy of the White Forest (on field) + Elzette of the White Forest (in hand) → Guardian Chimera.
  6. Guardian Chimera ① effect, draw 1 card and destroy 2 opponent’s cards.

The end board consists of 6 disruptions:

  • Apollousa, Bow of the Goddess negates 2 monster effects.
  • Diabellstar the Sin Adjudicator destroys 1 opponent’s card.
  • Snake-Eyes Execute Dragon places 1 monster in its owner’s Spell & Trap Zone as a Continuous Spell.
  • Snake-Eyes Execute Dragon destroys 1 monster and 1 Continuous Spell.
  • Guardian Chimera destroys 2 opponent’s cards.

At Step 20, after Selene, Queen of the Master Magicians ③ effect Special Summons Diabellstar the Black Witch from graveyard, this is the timing that the opponent could drop Nibiru, the Primal Being before you Link Summon Apollousa, Bow of the Goddess. However, with Diabellze the White Witch in hand and Sinful Spoils of the White Forest Set on the field, you would still be able to continue with the combo until Step 27.

At this point, you could continue with

  1. Diabellstar the Sin Adjudicator ① effect, pay half your LP as cost, destroy the opponent’s Nibiru, the Primal Being, then Special Summon Mystic Mystery of the White Forest from Extra Deck.
  2. Mystic Mystery of the White Forest + “Primal Being Token” → Lyna the Light Charmer, Lustrous.
  3. Lyna the Light Charmer, Lustrous ① effect, Special Summon Nibiru, the Primal Being from opponent’s graveyard.
  4. Lyna the Light Charmer, Lustrous + Nibiru, the Primal Being + Diabellze the White Witch → Apollousa, Bow of the Goddess.

So despite being hit by a Nibiru, the Primal Being, you would still end with a similar setup of Apollousa, Bow of the Goddess, Diabellstar the Sin Adjudicator and a Set Sinful Spoils of the White Forest.

Jacky Chen went 6-2 and finished 7th in “Battle Nexus 2025 Malaysia” which had 134 participants.

Conclusion

March comes roaring with multiple major tournaments that would define the OCG 2025.01 format and bring it to a conclusion.

Week #9, #10 started off with “Battle Nexus 2025 Singapore”, “Battle Nexus 2025 Hong Kong” and “Battle Nexus 2025 Malaysia”, following with Week #11, #12, #13 to finish up with several more big events.

“YOT Hong Kong 2025” is the premier tournament to look out for in particular. The initial 500 slots were quickly filled up within the first week of registrations and an additional 200 slots were added. “YOT Hong Kong 2025” is looking to break the record of the YOT with the most number of participants.

  • 2025-03-15/16 | China City Tournament 2024 Changsha
  • 2025-03-15  | Indonesia City Duel 2025 Bandung

  • 2025-03-22/23 | Yu-Gi-Oh! Open Tournament Hong Kong 2025
  • 2025-03-22  | Yu-Gi-Oh! Area Championship 2024 Kyoto

  • 2025-03-29/30 | Battle Nexus 2025 Philippines
  • 2025-03-29  | Battle Nexus 2025 Thailand

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References

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5 Responses

  1. Me says:
    14 March 2025 at 12:12 pm

    One quick note/question regarding the white forest combo.
    In step 23. we activate silvys effect to search after resurrecting herself with her second effect, right?
    In that case we cannot add the field spell for follow-up since her effect would be negated after the resurrect.

    Reply
  2. Me says:
    14 March 2025 at 12:13 pm

    ※Step 30, not 23

    Reply
  3. X says:
    14 March 2025 at 2:24 pm

    Step 17 has to use silvy instead of rciela

    Reply

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