Tier 1
Tier 2
, World ChampionThe more I've been engaging with Shinobirds, the more I’ve started to change my opinion on the deck.
Yes, it has some weaknesses, and that happens to be the case for every meta deck, especially Branded. Shinobirds are really starting to look like the deck with maybe the fewest weaknesses among all the meta decks, and arguably the most positives, at least from my perspective.
I expect it to be a big favorite for a lot of top players in the upcoming KC Cup.
Shinobird‘s strengths are being good against a lot of the cards that counter Branded (Loading... does nothing, and Loading... can be played through by Ritual Summoning over the face-down monsters, and it doesn‘t deal with your interruptions going second) and being weak against cards that are bad against Branded (Loading... ). So while Branded is the deck to beat, Shinobird is in a good position. It has a decent match-up spread all around, and even against Branded you can win going second by drawing a combination of Loading... + Loading... / Loading... / Second Book of Eclipse. However, if the meta changes and Droll & Lock Bird becomes a strong tech, Shinobird will struggle.
Tier 3
I think Traptrix is underrated in the current meta. The deck has a strong grind game thanks to Loading... , its ability to recycle Traps, and its ability to generate card advantage with Loading... . Its matchup spread also looks solid, with most matchups feeling like coin flips or favored for Traptrix. In my opinion, the main thing holding the deck back from being one of the strongest options right now is its rather poor matchup against Branded Despia.
High Potential
, World Champion
P.U.N.K. has gotten almost all of their TCG support, but they are lacking some crucial cards, namely Loading... P.U.N.K. Art of Soul can access it, but only going 2nd (on top of it being pretty mediocre overall), so people are experimenting with other skills, which I expect to do better. The main issues of the deck are supbar card quality in every P.U.N.K. engine card aside from Loading... , meaning the deck heavily relies on techs to play through interruptions. This strategy is risky because if your techs cannot deal with what the opponent have (for example having only cards like Loading... and Loading... against backrow-based disrupttion will liekly mean you cannot push through).