Hey everyone, this is The_SynchroGuy, and welcome to “YGO Recap Week!” The weekly series where we go over just about any and all Yu-Gi-Oh! related goodness so you don’t miss out on anything.
Well this past week has been quite interesting. We had some exciting reveals. One that will have your anime nostalgia hyped up. One that will make you shriek by the amount of cuteness. And one that was… questionable. The metagames for both the OCG and TCG have also been very interesting recently. Not so much as a big change, but there are some things worth mentioning. Makes me excited to see what could possibly happen moving forward.
So enough talk, let’s get into it!
OCG News
https://ygorganization.com/beewitchingbeautysd/
A new Structure Deck has been announced to be released in the OCG on December 3rd, and it’s centered around Traptrix! This archetype can be quite hard to deal with when they are the first ones to take centerstage. While they have never broken into the metagame spotlight before, they’ve certainly tried to. And maybe this new Structure Deck will help them do just that. This is only a guess as we don’t know what the new cards do yet.
In terms of the OCG metagame, with how things are right now, I don’t know if this will help break Traptrix. Maybe after their current meta gets hit on the next banlist (again, that’s assuming the new cards will be really good). In the TCG, however, there could be a chance for this deck to at least make an appearance here and there. Maybe even potentially win a regional tournament.
No confirmation for when/if this Structure Deck comes to the TCG, but be ready for this deck when the time comes.
TCG News
Konami has revealed to us the new prize card that’s going to be handed out to the top 4 players at future YCS events. (Starting with YCS Rio de Janeiro.) And this card was… not met with a lot of positive responses. One of the reasons being the fact that prize cards like this can be legally played in Yugioh.
We’ve had prize cards in the past that have been really good. And some have managed to warp the meta at one point. But Konami has been trying to be careful with making cards like that as prize cards. Somewhat. The fact that prize cards like this can be used in a duel is what everyone dislikes about it. How it’s nothing more than a vanilla monster that’s “not stronger than Blue-Eyes”, and its best utility is to be used as fodder for a card like Trade-In.
However, we do have some players that were not on board with the outrage. Stating that this is a prize card and not a card that’s going to be in an upcoming product, and how most players aren’t even going to get it since, again, it’s a prize card.
But we had others firing back at this. Saying the problem is that the card doesn’t inspire others to play competitively. And that the card doesn’t even have to be playable; that it could be a print of a currently existing card, but with a rarity/foiling that won’t be reprinted in any foreseeable future, and that would make the prize card so much better. (Konami, take notes.)
My personal take on this: I was not onboard with the whole outrage thing, but I get where everyone is coming from. And yes, I would love to see a reprint of a well known card in an exclusive kind of rarity. However, with the prize card we currently have, I don’t see this highly affecting the end result. Many players are still gonna be showing up and participating in Yu-Gi-Oh! tournaments. There’s never been any cash prizes, ever, and still, many players show up to compete in Yu-Gi-Oh! all the time.
Regardless of all this, this is going to be our new prize card until the next one gets revealed. Which is not going to be any time soon.
(Source: RevzCards )
The next deck building set, Tactical Masters, is less than 2 weeks away from its TCG release, but we were able to get an early look of what’s to be in this set thanks to some of the YugiTubers videos, in their partnership with Konami. We already know what was going to be in this set, but now we know what rarities they’re going to be, and what the reprints in this set are. Some of the key reprints to take note of are cards like “Droll & Lock Bird”, “Cosmic Cyclone” and “Anti-Spell Fragrance” – all of which are really good cards to have. Droll, however, is a bigger highlight since the cheapest version of that card, before this setlist was revealed, was going for $15 per copy. So this card definitely needed another reprint.
Besides that, all of the other reprints are there to either help support one of the three new archetypes, or to help you combat against them. (I will laugh if someone manages to drop Invader of Darkness against a Runick player.) Not only that, but there’s a slight chance that you can also get one of the new cards, or one of the reprinted cards, in a Collector’s Rare foiling!
(Source: MST.TV)
Again though, it’s a small chance, so don’t expect to be lucky enough to pull one. Especially in just one box.
One note I do want to add here is this: do not underestimate some of these new archetypes. They can be quite strong. Probably not strong enough to become top tier meta, but capable of making an appearance every now and then. Make sure you’re ready for them.
If you want to see the full list for this set, click here: https://ygorganization.com/tcg-tactical-masters-name-checklist-rarities/
https://www.db.yugioh-card.com/yugiohdb/card_search.action?ope=1&sess=1&pid=2000001172000&rp=99999
Yu-Gi-Oh! Meta
OCG:
https://roadoftheking.com/ocg-2022-07-metagame-report-5-6/
Spright and Tearlament continue to dominate the OCG. I know, this is nothing new, but there are a few things I do want to touch on.
First off, Spright has been shown to be teching in Dragon Buster Destruction Sword along with Union Carrier in order to lock Tearlaments out of the Extra Deck. We won’t be seeing this happen in the TCG though since Union Carrier is banned. And this could possibly lead to Union Carrier or Dragon Buster to getting banned in the OCG. Maybe.
The second thing is I:P Masquerena, as she’s been highlighted for a while now. She’s playing quite a big part in this format. Specifically for Spright, which makes sense since she’s a Link-2 monster. Spright players have been recently having to deal with Raigeki now that it’s back at 3. And thanks to Masquerena’s effect to protect a Link Monster from card destruction, she started to play more of an important role.
This has lead them to try out stuff like Mekk-Knight Crusadia Avramax in order to have a Towers-like boss monster and win the duel through it. Others are going for Apollousa to keep Tearlaments off of their plays.
While Tearlament is still the best deck in the OCG, Spright are getting very creative to keep Tearlaments on their toes.
However, there was one interesting thing that happened during this past week. The Japan Championship 2022 took place during the weekend. It was won by Ishizu Tearlaments, no surprise there. But what was a surprise was what got second place, and that was Dracoslayer!
https://roadoftheking.com/yu-gi-oh-japan-championship-2022/
What’s funny is that there was another player that played the exact same deck list and got 4th place with it. Now this does not make Dracoslayer a meta deck, yet. We’ll have to wait and see what happens after this. But if the deck continues to pop up, then we might have found our third meta deck for the OCG. No promises though.
TCG:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gILcEro94sQ
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H-Gufxs2BDk
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CMCIisNmhbQ
We had another couple of regionals take place during this weekend. Not much real change besides the variety of decks that are still managing to do well in this post Power of the Elements world. But we are starting to see decks like Mathmech and Exosister starting to rise up. I’m not sure if I would consider them to be tier 1, but they are making some noticeable appearances in the metagame.
Mathmech’s one new card, Mathmech Circular, has really helped push this deck into a more rouge contender. Same for Exosister. Their new card, Exosister Martha, helps the deck with its Xyz Summons without needing to rely too much on the opponent to do something. And they will be a good deck to use against Tearlaments once they get the new Ishizu cards in November, since they are practically the arch nemesis of Tearlaments. Gameplay wise that is.
We’re even seeing P.U.N.K. being played as more of a pure variant thanks to their two new support cards. They’re both really good and help increase the consistency of this deck.
Other than that, everything is still pretty much the same. The new Spright and Tearlament decks are also still doing well, of course. (More so in Spright’s case.) They are seeing tons of play not just because they’re good, but also because they’re something new. But of course, it’s still cool to see that the other decks that we’ve had for a while can still put up a good fight against these other decks that are popping into the meta.
https://img.yugioh-card.com/uk/events/detail.php?id=12608
As a reminder, the European Yu-Gi-Oh! Championship is this weekend. No idea if this event will be live streamed, but it’s worth paying attention to as it will help determine what the future metagame will look like. Until we get another banlist. Best of luck to everyone that’s participating in the event! Do your best and have fun!
Card Reveals
https://ygorganization.com/overtopclearpureryclearly/
https://ygorganization.com/dbad-expurery-noir/
Say hello to Purery, the now dubbed Eevee archetype of Yu-Gi-Oh! This is one of the new archetypes debuting in the Amazing Defenders set. This archetype specializes in Xyz Summons, and trying to equip Xyz Materials to itself. Mainly Quick-Play Spells, which also grant these Xyz Monsters other effects while attached as Xyz Material. Right now, they only have 1 Main Deck monster, so you will have to throw in some other monsters to help give them a boost. And seeing as how most of the Xyz Monsters are Rank 2 monsters, I can think of one certain archetype that can help them out. They also have a few Rank 7 monsters, but luckily there are ways to summon them out.
https://ygorganization.com/orangeyougladequipsarebackinstyle/
https://ygorganization.com/dbad-mikanko-arabesque/
Then we have the third and final archetype from Amazing Defenders revealed. Now we knew ahead of time that this archetype was going to involve some Ritual Summoning, but not the equip part. But what makes this even more crazy is how this archetype protects you from all battle damage, and can make your opponent take all of the damage you would’ve taken! If you have ever seen the combo play with Lyrilusc – Assembled Nightingale & Lyrilusc – Recital Starling against a big beatstick, that’s what this archetype is all about. (@Ignister who?)
https://ygorganization.com/intruderwindow/
The final Rescue-ACE card from the Amazing Defenders set has been revealed, and it’s the counterpart to “Rescue-ACE Air Hoister.” Where Air Hoister searches Spell cards, Intruder searches Trap cards. And instead of summoning a Rescue-Ace monster from the hand, Intruder Special Summons one from your GY. In my opinion, this can probably fit nicely in the current rough draft version we have for Rescue-ACE. Maybe.
I say maybe, considering the fact that this archetype has an easy to summon big guy that can set up to 4 Rescue-ACE Spell & Trap cards. But still, the Trap cards for this archetype are really good, so it might be worth playing this card. That or we just need to wait to see what the future support is going to look like.
https://ygorganization.com/ohlookchaosnumberwithoutthe1000lprestrictionawesome/
Eight new Galaxy/Photon cards were revealed last night, giving a power boost to the deck’s strategy of beating down the opponent. And finally giving Kite his long awaited Chaos version of “Number 62: Galaxy-Eyes Prime Photon Dragon”. Their new Continuous Spell is also nice, as it lets you get a sneak peak at your opponent’s Extra Deck and see what it is they’re playing. Overall, these new cards, at least the monsters, are going to be very nice additions to the Galaxy/Photon archetype.
Miscellaneous
https://ygorganization.com/almost-called-these-mats-before-realising-how-confusing-that-would-be/
If you’re interested in some new Yu-Gi-Oh! merch, or you just need a new rug to lay out on your floor or to hang on your wall, well then, Hypland has you covered with some new Yu-Gi-Oh! rug merch! These new rugs will come in the looks of the three Egyptian God Cards, the Dark Magician Duo, Yami Yugi, and the playing card versions of: Dark Magician, Blue-Eyes, and Red-Eyes. Currently, these rugs are not out yet, nor are they available for pre-order yet, so keep an eye out for when the new drops about their release date. Also, it’s expected that these rugs will probably cost about $100 a piece, so make sure you start saving up.
Decks To Checkout
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Br__OYSEuEE
Beetrooper has recently just been added to Master Duel, and it can be quite strong, given how it can spam out some strong Insect monsters onto the field. If you’re looking to give this deck a try, here’s El Exordio’s list to help give you an idea on what to go for. This deck can definitely give some meta players a run for their money.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6j6YoKoLSwo
If you’re looking for something more casual, then check out Duel Evolution’s Nordic Deck for Master Duel. The new support helps add some good consistency to this archetype
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uaayN_G9ORE
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FjoywHzvSwg
Pro player PAK gives us another interesting take on P.U.N.K. This time, he has combined them with the Tearlament archetype. It’s an interesting take given how P.U.N.K. decks can easily summon a monster like Chaos Ruler, which can mill some of your Tearlament monsters and trigger their effects. He’s even kind enough to show us how the deck plays out.
Favorite Content of the Week
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bLWc9NfIcI8
Cardmarket – Yu-Gi-Oh! is back at again with getting a professional Magic The Gathering player taking guesses on whether a Yu-Gi-Oh! card is good or bad.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vVxJu93sgU0
Tombox gives a video on how to beat Tearlaments. With this archetype gaining some popularity here in the TCG, it’s important to learn how and where to deal with them.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K1RjBvXCtiM
Finally, TeamAPS gives us an example of what happens when a Yu-Gi-Oh! player decides to try a different card game.
Conclusion
Thank you guys for reading this! We had a lot of good reveals for the week. I’m excited to see some ideas players come up with with all of the new cards/archetypes that have been revealed. And I’m excited to see what happens when Tactical Masters fully releases here in the TCG. I know 2 of the 3 archetypes from this set are going to try to make an appearance in the metagame, or at least 1, so it’s going to be fun to see what happens.
Still no word about a new TCG banlist yet. But given how we have a bunch of events coming up in Europe and Rio, Konami is probably going to wait for these events to conclude and use the data there to make their choices. And then maybe have YCS Niagara be the first event under the new list. Or maybe Niagara will also help decide what’s getting hit on the next banlist. Guess we’ll have to wait and see.
I’ll see you guys in the next one! Hope you have/had an awesome day today! 
