With another set, comes another wave for our newest TCG exclusive archetype — Ashened, with 7 new cards in Legacy of Destruction.  Ashened was more divisive than most TCG-exclusives recently, seeing wide outcry about its lack of playability, coupled with some genuine exploration by some of the game’s greatest minds, notably Jesse Kotton.  The archetype had just enough power to show potential, yet not enough to stand on its own two legs, and the hope was that this second wave might change that. Not only did it fail to do so, I would argue that the strategy has only become more ..read more

  Following the success of rogue decks at YCS Sydney, I want to take a couple of weeks and explore options beyond the obvious Tier 0 threat that is Snake-Eye/SE Fire King.  One of the biggest benefits for a deck builder at this time is that, because top tables are undoubtedly going to be full of one specific strategy, you can tailor your gameplan around that specific matchup.  Case-in-point, Joak Don taking a top32 slot with Sharks. Sharks is an archetype poised to take advantage of this solved format, and I feel there’s great merit in exploring one card not found in Joak’s list ..read more

  In Yugioh, there are archetypes whose gimmicks can sometimes get lost in the crossfire of more recent support, exchanging their unique playstyles for a more linear gameplan.  More curiously however, there are also archetypes for whom the gimmick never really mattered in the first place: Case in point, Shaddoll.  One of the first words on every Maindeck Shaddoll is, of course, FLIP, although it’s been many years since this aspect of their gameplay has been front-and-center.  Early on in their lifespan, the game was just slow enough to the point where setting a doll and som ..read more

  The various styles of deck in a trading card game don’t just play differently, they also operate within the meta in different ways.  Control & Stun will often be strongest after a sweeping set of changes on the Forbidden/Limited list, as it’s an easy strategy to pilot which tends to affect unprepared opponents in drastic ways, and combo decks will rarely be left alive at full strength for too long, as we’ve seen with the several-times squashing of SPYRAL, for fear of an uninteractive metagame.  One type of deck, however, that has recently become the flavor du jour of Konam ..read more

  The history of TCG-exclusive archetypes for Yugioh has been a harrowing adventure, coming out of the gate with the power of Burning Abyss and radically changing the meta landscape, with Kaiju and today’s topic, Kozmo, quickly following.  These strategies often try to disrupt the meta compared to the OCG’s, so that the western territories have a fresh, unsolved metagame compared to their import schedule, when players often know what’ll be good or bad based on Asian tournament results.  It’s been a while since our TCG exclusives have truly shaped the meta, despite getting some t ..read more

  2024 has been an incredible year for Yugioh so far, with the highest diversity in topping decks we’ve seen in years; in a field where essentially everything can be pushed to viability by way of staple cards, everyone’s going to have a pet deck in the back of their minds.  For me, since the release of Cyberstorm Access, that’s been Superheavy Samurai Gishki.  I’ve covered this strategy before, here, as it’s something that’s been on my mind for a while — Superheavy Samurai came out of the gate as one of the most dominant combo strategies in years, only to seemingly vanish overni ..read more

  2024 has arrived, and with it, another series of legacy nostalgic support for a single monster from Yugioh Season 1: Flame Swordsman.  Much like the Gate Guardian support of January 2023’s Maze of Memories, the Flame Swordsman line in Maze of Millenia makes accessing the clunky older cards a breeze, while giving the strategy a linear gameplan to rely on.  Unlike the Gate Guardian support though, which only saw fringe experimentation in Kashtira due to its easy access to Level 7 monsters & Spell/Trap negates, I have a feeling this lineup of Flame Swordsman cards might have ..read more

  Runick has been a bit of a sleeper hit of an archetype since its debut, being seen regularly in top cuts, and often winning, across both Master Duel and the physical TCG.  Initially underexplored in the OCG due to their assumption that it was a mill deck alone, the TCG brought a…new perspective to this 1st-person archetype, bringing into view the fact that Runick simply does enough as an advantage engine for decks needing drawpower.  This culminated last weekend, with Joshua Schmidt taking YCS Bologna with Bystial Runick, running 3 copies of a curious piece of tech now posting ..read more

  Structure Decks are the epitome of a hit-or-miss product, being a coinflip between a meta-defining way for budget players to enter the game, or forgettable bulk that’s doomed to be sold at-cost by game stores.  Thankfully, Structure Deck: Fire Kings, releasing on December 7th-8th, is very much the former.  Fire Kings were originally bundled with Atlanteans during the Zexal era, receiving a modest initial wave that recalled the play patterns of old-school Nepthys control.  This time, however, they’ve received the tools to punch up like no other modern strategy, holding 8-2 ..read more

  Valiant Smashers debuts in under a week, bringing three new archetypes into the fray: Mementotlan — a mediocre graveyard strategy, Centur-Ion — a means to turbo Hot Red Dragon Archfiend King Calamity, and today’s focus — Vaalmonica.  While Centur-Ion is the deck receiving the lion’s share of hype, I have faith that the tools in Vaalmonica might make it quite a bit better than folks initially assume.  While the fact that they’re Pendulums and rely on counters may recall thoughts of Endymion, this hyper-consistent duo is closer to Live☆Twin/Evil★Twin in that they need only resol ..read more