Monday, March 3, 2014

A Little Light on the Yugioh Meta


Legacy of the Valiant was supposed to usher in the age of light.  We were all to be blinded by War Gods and Noble Knights.

Somehow, that hasn’t happened.  Perhaps it’s too soon.  Perhaps, these warriors are still in training.  Perhaps, removing the restrictions on Tenki is having more of an impact than I thought. 

To answer these and other intriguing Yugioh questions, I looked at 88 deck lists from regionals, YCS and ARG events that occurred after the release of LVAL.  The results are shown in the graph below:


There were 20 different archetypes represented.  The largest percentage belonged to the Fire Fists (31%) followed be Mermails (15%).  In other words, these two archetypes made up slightly less than half of all the decks that topped these tournaments.  Geargia, Hieratics, Infirnities, and Spellbooks had decent showings.  Noble Knights and Bujins were present, but they were hardly dominating the meta. 

Fire Fists had a more significant showing at the ARG Charlotte tournament. Our fiery friends took over 50% of the top spots.  One could make an argument that the ARG circuit is made up of a higher caliber player.  At the very least, it does not seem to have as many casual but competitive players.  Take it for what you will, but I would consider this a Fire Fist endorsement.  

Overall, this remains a rather diverse game.  A 30% “market share” by one archetype is not particularly dominating.  Dragons took up 60 to 70% of the meta in their heyday.   Though there is a tendency for players to rally around one archetype as the meta matures, I suspect the release of new product will maintain the diversity send the fruit basket tumbling.  Angelly is simply too good to be ignored and the Sylvans are giving me bad dreams.  

In the meantime, don’t overwork your MSTs.

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