A Word From , TPC Manager
Hello all, in light of the recent balance update, the Top Player Council will walk through the current Tier List decks and how the recent updates affected them. Tier List will be formally updated next week
Current Tier List
A big banlist like this after how stale the meta was is definitely very welcome. While I think it could always be better as some decks were left completely untouched I do not want to complain about this as it‘s still awesome to see some changes to the format.
My opinions in a nutshell:
- Odd-Eyes (sans Orcust) is still one of the best decks in the format
- Speedroid is completely dead
- Pure Orcust is much weaker but won't be out of the format
- Metalfoes, Gouki, and Favorite Duel HEROs will probably have an impact in the meta.
- Mekk-Knight (the pure deck and the engine), Burning Abyss, Mermail Atlantean, and Synchron might have a fighting chance.
- Dark Magician, Ritual Beast, Thunder Dragon, and Karakuri still probably don't have a chance to compete.
Tier 1
Loading... to 1 is a good idea as it bans running any limit 1 from the Deck, so no Loading... in the Orcust variant or Loading... / Loading... in some of the alternative ones. That being said, Magistus Odd-Eyes, a deck which we saw perform great at the World Championship this past weekend only loses the regular Loading... which is not essential to the deck, so this will remain playable.
Another hit to the Orcust Odd-Eyes strategies is Loading... to 3, while this might seem like a big change really all it does is remove 1 Loading... fron most lists as most lists only played 1 Harp Horror pre banlist). Pendulum Call is one of the strongest cards in the deck but it remains to be seen if taking only 1 copy away is enough to make this deck significantly weaker, it will definitely be more sacky if they do open it.
The banlist seems to hit Odd-Eyes, but i don't really see a meaningful difference between pre and post-banlist Odd-Eyes. It's still the best deck in the format in my opinion. As far as the Orcust build specifically it loses Loading... and a copy of Loading... , but it somehow got Loading... back which is an insane boost. The deck was great even without Babel, so the hit just reduces consistency of seeing its best card. I'm still extremely confident in Orcust Odd-Eyes.
As for the newly-uncoverd Magistus build (ran at Worlds out of necessity to spread out power cards), it seems fun but I don't recommend it in Side Deck tournaments, as it's easier to hate and has a tougher time recovering (not to mention getting Loading... 'd for your life savings).
Non-Orcust Odd-Eyes was almost untouched. It can consistently put 2+ interruptions on Turn 1 that have no consistent answer except “draw the out + combo”. Thanks to Loading... , the deck can also play going second, so in my opinion it will definitely stay at Tier 1.
The Orcust build, however, is now a pure luck-sack deck. It lost access to Loading... and, more importantly, a valuable copy of Loading... (the deck was already very inconsistent before that). We'll still see this deck top occasionally, but in my opinion it won’t be the best way to play either Orcust or Odd-Eyes.
The Clear Wing Acceleration hit was probably enough to kill Speedroid. The limit on Loading... was the final blow. The only cope for the deck is some kind of Synchron build.