OCG 2025.04 Metagame Report #4

by · 3 May 2025

Welcome to Week #4 of the OCG 2025.04 format.

This report tabulates 123 top-performing decks from 25 tournaments that were held in Japan and China Mainland during 26 – 30 April 2025.

To better gauge the impact of the new booster set on the metagame, tournaments that did not allow Duelist Advance such as “Spring Duel Festival 2025” and “Asia WCQ 2025 Indonesia” were excluded from this tabulation.

New Product Release

  • V Jump June 2025 promotional card: Prototype Sky Striker Ace – Amatsu
  • Duelist Advance

Metagame Breakdown

  • 22 Dracotail (11 Magistus Dracotail, 5 K9 Dracotail, 3 Primite Dracotail, 1 Dracotail, 1 Branded Dracotail, 1 Regenesis Dracotail)
  • 20 Yummy (18 Yummy, 2 Primite Yummy)
  • 19 Maliss
  • 14 Vanquish Soul (8 K9 Vanquish Soul, 6 Vanquish Soul)
  • 7 K9 Crystron
  • 7 Sky Striker
  • 5 K9
  • 5 White Forest (4 White Forest, 1 Toy White Forest)
  • 3 Lunalight
  • 2 Onomat Utopic
  • 2 Orcust
  • 2 Primite Blue-Eyes
  • 2 Ryzeal (1 Ryzeal, 1 Onomat Ryzeal)
  • 1 Artmegia
  • 1 Azamina Snake-Eye Fire King
  • 1 Dracotail Branded
  • 1 Fiendsmith Centur-Ion
  • 1 Fiendsmith K9 Trickstar
  • 1 Fiendsmith Unchained
  • 1 Grass Horus Gem-Knight Fiendsmith Tearlaments
  • 1 K9 Cyber Dragon
  • 1 Maliss Code Talker
  • 1 Memento
  • 1 Purrely
  • 1 Shark
  • 1 Vaylantz

Dracotail

Sacramentum Dragoon is a new Fusion Monster from Duelist Advance. Sacramentum Dragoon ② effect is mainly for the mirror match as it stops the opponent from activating the effects of Special Summoned Dragon and Spellcaster monsters they control. Sacramentum Dragoon ③ effect could Special Summon 1 Dragon or 1 Spellcaster monster from the graveyard, and put the other Type at the bottom of the deck. Since Sacramentum Dragoon is a Dragon monster, its ③ effect could Special Summon 1 Dragon monster from the graveyard, and together they could be used to Link Summon Hieratic Seal of the Heavenly Spheres.

The K9 package in Dracotail is another viable variant of Dracotail builds. The K9 package is used to bring out an early K9 – #17 “Ripper”, whose ② effect would be able to negate the opponent’s Retaliating “C”, before activating the Dracotail Spells.

K9 is also self-replenishing. K9 – #66a Jokull ③ effect adds a non-Aqua K9 monster from deck to hand, K9 – 66b Lantern ③ effect adds a K9 Spell/Trap from deck to hand (which could be “Case of K9” to add a monster from deck to hand), and K9 – #17 “Ripper” ① effect adds a K9 card from deck to hand. This allows you to make Xyz Summon plays and still end with a K9 monster in hand, which could then be used as Fusion Material for Dracotail plays.

Vallon, the Psychic Skyblaster is a new Xyz Monster from Duelist Advance. Vallon, the Psychic Skyblaster ① effect is a Quick Effect that could turn 1 face-up monster your opponent controls to face-down Defense Position, and when Vallon, the Psychic Skyblaster is sent to the graveyard its ② effect could destroy 1 face-down card on the field. Vallon, the Psychic Skyblaster is a reasonable Rank 5 option to play with the K9 package, especially if you are tight on Extra Deck space to run N.As.H. Knight and the relevant Number 101 – 107 monsters.

Chimu Ou@q4df (赤木欧@q4df) finished 2nd in “Huiliu Wulala Card House Duelist Advance Release Tournament” which had 44 participants.

Yummy

The Star Ham is a new Synchro Monster from Duelist Advance. The Star Ham ① effect Special Summons 1 monster from your graveyard that was used as material for this card’s Synchro Summon, and if you do, it is treated as a Tuner. Functionally, The Star Ham plays a similar role as Martial Metal Marcher in that they are used to Synchro climb, but The Star Ham needs to discard 1 card as its activation cost. The Star Ham being a Beast monster allows it to be Special Summoned while locked into Beast monsters after playing Obedience Schooled.

For the past few years, Solemn Judgment and Solemn Strike were the main choice of Counter Traps in the Side Deck, but Solemn Warning is seeing a resurgence in the current metagame as a tech against Dracotail. There are 4 different Dracotail cards that could perform a Fusion Summon, namely Dracotail Fymena, Dracotail Mulr, Ketu Dracotail and Rahu Dracotail. Solemn Judgment could negate the activation of Ketu Dracotail, Rahu Dracotail, and negate the Normal Summon of Dracotail Mulr, but could not stop Dracotail Fymena ① effect. Solemn Strike could negate the activation of Dracotail Mulr ① effect and Dracotail Fymena ① effect, but could not stop Ketu Dracotail and Rahu Dracotail. Only Solemn Warning is able to negate the activation of Dracotail Mulr ① effect, Dracotail Fymena ① effect, Ketu Dracotail and Rahu Dracotail.

Masuku (ますく) went 6-1 (excluding 1 bye) and finished 1st in “1st Yosuga CS in Tokyo (3v3 Team Tournament)” which had 33 teams (99 participants).

Maliss

Jin made a metagame call to run 3 Retaliating “C” in the Main Deck against Dracotail. Retaliating “C” could also be used against Yummy if the opponent opened with Obedience Schooled or Sky Striker Mecha – Hornet Drones.

If he opened with Maliss <P> March Hare, Maliss in Underground or Gold Sarcophagus and could play without having to Normal Summon a Maliss monster, then Retaliating “C” could be Normal Summoned instead and be used as Link Material, which would trigger Retaliating “C” ③ effect and add Maxx “C” from deck to hand.

Jin (ジン) went 7-2 and finished 1st in “18th Shuto CS 3rd Anniversary Final Tournament (3v3 Team Tournament)” which had 60 teams (180 participants).

Vanquish Soul

Vanquish Soul gained 3 new support cards in Duelist Advance, namely Vanquish Soul Holy Sue, Vanquish Soul, Start! and Vanquish Soul Rocks.

Vanquish Soul Holy Sue is a new Effect Monster that could be Special Summoned from hand by revealing 1 other Vanquish Soul monster from hand during either player’s Main Phase. Revealing EARTH & DARK monsters from hand, Vanquish Soul Holy Sue ② effect could take control of 1 monster your opponent controls with the lowest ATK until the End Phase.

Revealing FIRE & DARK monsters from hand, Vanquish Soul Holy Sue ② effect could Special Summon Vanquish Soul Razen from deck, whose ① effect could add Vanquish Soul Caesar Valius from deck to hand. Revealing the same FIRE & DARK monsters from hand, Vanquish Soul Razen ② effect could destroy all other monsters in this card’s column. Finally, Vanquish Soul Caesar Valius ① effect returns Vanquish Soul Holy Sue from field to hand to Special Summon itself from hand. Revealing the same FIRE & DARK monsters from hand and Vanquish Soul Holy Sue (EARTH), Vanquish Soul Caesar Valius ② effect could destroy 1 other card on the field. Essentially, having Vanquish Soul Holy Sue with 1 FIRE monster and 1 DARK monster in hand equates to 2 disruption during the opponent’s turn.

Vanquish Soul, Start! is a new Field Spell whose ① effect adds 1 Vanquish Soul monster with a different Attribute from the targeted Vanquish Soul monster from deck to hand. This effectively turns Vanquish Soul Dr. Mad Love into another starter. Normal Summon Vanquish Soul Dr. Mad Love and its ① effect could add Vanquish Soul, Start! from deck to hand. Vanquish Soul, Start! ① effect could target Vanquish Soul Dr. Mad Love (DARK) to add Vanquish Soul Razen (FIRE) from deck to hand. Then Vanquish Soul Dr. Mad Love could be used to Link Summon Rock of the Vanquisher, whose ② effect could Special Summon Vanquish Soul Razen from hand.

Vanquish Soul, Start! ② effect could protect your Vanquish Soul monsters from Raigeki. Vanquish Soul, Start! ③ effect provides another way to fetch Vanquish Soul Snow Devil, lessening the reliance on having 2 FIRE monsters in hand to reveal for Vanquish Soul Jiaolong ② effect.

Vanquish Soul Rocks is a new Xyz Monster that could be Xyz Summon by using 1 Vanquish Soul monster or 1 Rock of the Vanquisher in the turn that a Vanquish Soul monster had battled. Rock of the Vanquisher cannot be used as Link Material, but Vanquish Soul Rocks could be used as a stepping stone by using Rock of the Vanquisher as Xyz Material, then Vanquish Soul Rocks could be used as Link Material for S:P Little Knight.

K9 package is a great match for Vanquish Soul. K9 are EARTH and DARK monsters, and could be revealed for the activation of Vanquish Soul monster effects. As mentioned above, K9 is self-replenishing, which means after using them to make Xyz Summon plays, you would still end with K9 monsters in hand which could be revealed for the Vanquish Soul effects. Vanquish Soul Holy Sue and Vanquish Soul Jiaolong are Level 5 monsters and could be Special Summoned by K9 – #66a Jokull ② effect.

Chitochi (ちとち) went 7-0 (excluding 1 bye) and finished 1st in “220th Next Play Cup” which had 36 participants.

Conclusion

Duelist Advance has a decent impact on the metagame. The three themes from Deck-Build Pack: Justice Hunters, Dracotail, Yummy and K9 have received new support cards that did not raise the power level of the decks, but are useful options for certain matchups and situations.

Vanquish Soul saw a substantial boost to top competitive status. Sky Striker, Lunalight and Onomat are also seeing experimentation and are sitting around the edge of the competition.

“3×3 Japan Championship 2025” has been rebranded as “Japan Championship 2025 Team Tournament”. A short breather in the upcoming weekend, the Asia WCQ 2025 and China Mainland WCQ 2025 will continue in the next weekend.

  • 2025-05-03 | Japan Championship 2025 Team Tournament Osaka Qualifier

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References

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3 Responses

  1. Nekra says:
    3 May 2025 at 9:31 pm

    Gotta be the most demanded metagame report by the Vanquish Soul fans 😭😭🙏🙏

    Reply
  2. Kevin Tewart says:
    4 May 2025 at 12:08 pm

    What does K9 Hound do to warrant being run in non-pure K9 decks? Afaic there are much better rank 5s to make and you will always use the rank up spell to bring out the rank 9.

    Reply
    • CakeNBake says:
      4 May 2025 at 12:48 pm

      Probably that it is somewhat of an OTK enabler – it cannot be destroyed the turn it’s Summoned, then gains a permanent ATK boost when an opponent’s monster effect is activated, and then can banish a card your opponent controls in SP. It’s not like a negate, but it does give you some setup.

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