Monday, October 7, 2013

The Collateral Damage from YCS San Mateo



Mateo means gift from God.  How sweet.   However, it seems that God’s gift this year is an ox-cart full of dragons.  

One could conclude that this was a seismic event that sent all other archetypes and builds to the center of the earth. After all, 83.3% of the top 32 decks were dragon variants.  Gears and Evilswarms made respectable showings but everyone else seemed to vacate the party. 

However, I would be a little careful before you enter your next regional with an “Anti-Dragon” only deck.  I suspect the meta is more diverse than the top 32 decks.  Unfortunately, Konami doesn’t give us a listing of all the decks entered, so I have to rely on tournament reports.  Once again, doolists that made it to the elite level battled a rather wide variety of decks.  We will likely get a better picture after next week’s ARG tournament since that organization provides more deck information. 

That said, I have little doubt the meta is consolidating around dragons.  There was some additional support in the most recent structure deck.  However, the real movement is among the top players. Did Billy Brake enter with his Fire Fists? No … he played dragons.  I’d even take bets that Tyree Tinsley enters next weekend’s tournament with dragons.  Elite players seem to be more comfortable with switching decks.  They adapt quickly.  Those of us in the shallow end of the Yugioh pool are not so flexible.  I know my chances are much better with a deck that I have played for a while.  

Still, the dragon train will not go unnoticed by players of Constellars, Spellbooks, and the like.  They will undoubtedly add more dragon hate to their main and side decks.  So as you put your regional deck together, think about how the following cards can ruin your day:


  • Electric Virus:  I may side my Debunks in preparation for this card.  It’s meant for dragons, but it also effects my machines
  • Imperial Iron Wall:  Prophecy players beware. 
  • Fossil Dyna: Be careful of attacking into set cards. 
  • Vanity’s Fiend: This is the Yugioh cop.  Whenever special summoning becomes a problem, this old friend makes his way into side decks. 


Of course, dragon players will have outs – it’s the best deck for a reason.   Just make sure you have outs as well. 

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