Meta Weekly 208 Champion Spotlight - GymLeaderBrawl
Overview
In case you missed it, this week's Meta Weekly was the first Meta Weekly with the recent Skill Balance Update (with DLM Banning Harpies' Hunting Ground until it can be properly implemented. In the finals, we had
's eponymous Magnet Warriors up against up against 's old-school Shiranui Deck, with GymLeaderBrawl coming out on top!
Interview with GymLeaderBrawl
How does it feel to win this Meta Weekly?
Honestly it still feels kinda surreal. It seems like just yesterday I was entering my first Meta Weekly, asking how to report my games on Smash and topping with Fortune Ladies, so to go from that to winning a Meta Weekly feels really great. I'd say I’ve come a long way from my first tournament and winning definitely helps to reinforce this idea that I’m actually learning and growing as a player. It’s a very rewarding feeling.
What was your approach going into the format?
Well my first thought was “Holy crap. Harpies' Hunting Ground is actually banned”. My second thought was “Ok, with HHG gone, what do I think will rise to the surface in the vacuum of HHG?”, to which Water, Melodious, and more trap-heavy decks immediately came to mind. To that effect, I tried to account for these decks most when building my main and side decks.
Why did you go with Magnet Warriors this Weekly?
Well anyone in the community who hears the name
probably associates the name with either Triamids or Magnets at this point. Magnets have been my favorite deck in Duel Links for quite a while, even back when we only had a single copy of Beta and your big boss monster for the deck was Loading... . In terms of this tournament in particular, I think it just felt right. On top of being a deck I enjoy playing, Magnets have a number of good traits to help them stand out and compete in the current meta, especially with Harpies (a pretty rough MU for the deck) being weakened via the Skill change. The deck still has its issues (Melodious comes to mind), but if there were ever a meta where Magnets could be successful, this would be it.
How did the day go for you? Any notable matchups?
Pretty much your standard day with more or less the decks that I expected to see at this point in the meta (Water, Harpies, Melodious). I wasn’t expecting to face nearly as many Magnets as I ended up facing. In my run, I played 3 mirror matches which was both exciting and a little sad as it meant that win or lose, a Magnet deck was getting knocked out, one of whom was my clanmate
who I ended up knocking out in Top 16 which was bittersweet (sorry Jojo). That being said, it was cool to see Magnets getting so much representation in the Top Cut. I will admit, I also wasn’t expecting to face 1, let alone 2 Shiranui decks in Top Cut (my Top 32 and Finals matches) but I suppose with Harpies' Hunting Ground out of the picture for now, it only made sense. Was very glad to only face 1 Melodious on my run, that’s for sure.
Would you like to explain any of your Deck choices?
This week, I decided to run a magnet build with more emphasis on disruption over swarming with higher counts of cards such as Loading... , Loading... , Loading... , and Loading... as opposed to more Loading... and revival traps like Loading... and Loading... . My thought process behind this decision was that basically any 2 monsters in hand can get you the required material for a Loading... summon the following turn (Loading... itself is a one-card Berserkion setup), and because of that, the tech space that could be spent passively swarming could be better spent actively disrupting your opponent’s plays on their turn. I still don’t know if this is the optimal way to build the deck, but it certainly worked out for me today. As for the side deck, I didn’t really use it too much, but Loading... and the second Loading... were definitely standouts and came in clutch in certain matchups during my run.
Do you have anything else you'd like to say about your Tournament Experience?
This was a big tournament for me as this was pretty much my last chance to get the points necessary for me to be eligible for the TPC next season. So going into it, I was definitely nervous about being able to make it to top 8. Once I did, though, everything else felt like gravy. As always, I had a lot of fun with the tournament. Shout-outs to the mods for always working hard and keeping everything moving and of course to
, , and (dat's me