Duel Links Meta Snapshot January 2026 Week #3

Published on January 19th, 2026 by
Bismut

Tournament Analysis

Hello! This Tournament Analysis article series aims to summarize the tournament-winning metagame based on data from a weeklong period (for both Speed and Rush formats).

Today's report is based on tournaments held from January 12, 2026 to January 19, 2026

  • Speed Format
  • Rush Format

Performance Metric

Remarks

Two deck format. You either play Beetrooper or Despia, or you try to draw custom hands to win with any other deck.

Tournaments considered

Format Players 1st 2nd Top 4 Top 4
Meta Weekly #410 SE/No Side 21 Beetrooper Swordsoul Traptrix Dino
Quantum Dailies #502 SE/No Side 44 Despia Despia Shinobird Dino
Suisen Weekly #184 SE/No Side 61 Beetrooper Eldlich Despia Beetrooper
Quantum Dailies #503 SE/No Side 53 Beetrooper Despia Beetrooper Swordsoul
Sky Striker Cup #76 SE/No Side 44 Traptrix Shinobird Despia Despia
Starry Cup #98 SE/No Side 50 Despia Eldlich Despia Kaiju
Starry Cup #99 SE/No Side 59 Shinobird Beetrooper Despia Eldlich
Cloud City Weekly #61 SE/No Side 60 Despia Despia Beetrooper Beetrooper
Duel Links Grand Prix #132 Swiss/No Side 88 Despia Despia Beetrooper Despia
Starry Cup #101 SE/No Side 75 Shinobird Despia Red-Eyes Despia
Fraud Nexus CIrcuit No26 SE/No Side 87 Beetrooper Despia Despia Beetrooper
Seal Cup #55 SE/No Side 27 Shinobird Despia Ancient Gear Beetrooper
Duel Links Dynasty #44 SE/No Side 72 Beetrooper Despia Despia Dark Magician
Duel Links Weekend League #15 SE/No Side 51 Despia Despia Dino Despia
Starry Cup #100 Swiss! Swiss/No Side 80 Traptrix Eldlich Shinobird Swordsoul

Winning Deck Examples

1st Place in Meta Weekly #410 - JoshfishyG
1st Place in Quantum Dailies #502 - Kanaith
1st Place in Sky Striker Cup #76 - pyama
1st Place in Starry Cup #99 - mays
Skill Shinato's Judgment
30 cards
Shinobaron Peacock
Shinobaron Peacock
Shinobaroness Peacock
Shinobaron Shade Peacock
Shinobaroness Shade Peacock
D.D. Crow
D.D. Crow
D.D. Crow
Sakitama
Tsukuyomi
Yaksha
Aratama
Aratama
Nikitama
Nikitama
Nikitama
Shinobird's Calling
Shinobird's Calling
Shinobird's Calling
Pre-Preparation of Rites
Pre-Preparation of Rites
Forbidden Droplet
Forbidden Droplet
Forbidden Droplet
Stars Align Above the Shrine
Stars Align Above the Shrine
Book of Eclipse
Book of Eclipse
Book of Eclipse
Stars Align across the Milky Way
Knightmare Unicorn
Knightmare Phoenix
I:P Masquerena
Underworld Goddess of the Closed World
Abyss Dweller
Steelswarm Roach
Number 60: Dugares the Timeless
Salamangreat Almiraj
Number 104: Masquerade

Prerequisites

  • A registered Konami ID linked to your master duel game
  • Must login to Yu-Gi-Oh! Cards DB using the same Konami ID
  • If the Yu-Gi-Oh! DB website asks to login with Game Card ID just click "I don't have a game card ID" and fill some basic information to proceed

Export Guide

- Via the MDM extension (Recommended): Download on Firefox, or Chromium Browsers
For Chromium browsers (Chrome/Edge/Opera/Brave...etc) just click "Add to chrome" on the store page and it'll work on most if not all chromium browsers.
After using the extension, go to the Master Duel game => Main menu => Deck option => The Card database option at the top right corner => locate the deck you exported and copy it
Don't show this again
- Manually
  1. Click here to copy the export code
    2.
  2. Go to Yu-Gi-Oh! Cards DB and click My Deck => Add a Deck
  3. Once the deck page loads click Edit then do one of the following based on the platform your device is running:
    • (PC Only): Press F12 to open the DevTools window => Navigate to the Console tab in the window => Paste the export code => Hit Enter
    • OR (Other platforms/PC): In the address bar of the current tab remove the URL and type "javascript:" without the quotations then paste the export code, then if you're on mobile look for the *globe* icon and tap on it to run the code (Chrome only), for PC users just hit enter.
  4. The deck will save automatically
  5. Go to the Master Duel game => Main menu => Deck option => The Card database option at the top right corner => locate the deck you exported and copy it

Click here for a more detailed guide

Performance Metric

Remarks

The new skill 'Power to Weave Hope' has found some success alongside Gradies and Dimension Linker. It's an interesting deck but not meta changing.

Tournaments considered

Format Players 1st 2nd Top 4 Top 4
Rush Duel Links Weekly #52 SE/No Side 29 Gradius Level 8 Pile Red-Eyes Aqua
Quantum Rush #91 SE/No Side 22 Music Princess Aqua Level 8 Pile Jointech
Galaxy Rush #38 SE/No Side 24 Aqua Level 8 Pile Red-Boot Hero
Cloud City Rush #39 SE/No Side 28 Music Princess Level 8 Pile Gradius Hero

Winning Deck Examples

1st Place in Rush Duel Links Weekly #52 - Soliman
1st Place in Quantum Rush #91 - elchicokozmo
1st Place in Galaxy Rush #38 - Maher2

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