With a new meta-impacting box being released we receive new staples and new archtypes. Mekk-Knights come out on top with the Knightmares and their searchable floodgate in Loading... , Kozmos come to Duel Links with their endless floating capabilities. and Magical Muskets are a Free-2-Play deck with a unique strategy.
We enter the last week of Arms of Giant meta dominated by Mekk-Knights and Infernoids: now Future Circuit could take us into a one deck format again, as Mekk-Knights seem like the best user of the new staples and Knightmare links to be released thanks to its tech space and synergy with links.
Loading... is a powerful handtrap that will see play in Side or Main deck depending on the format to stop decks (like Mekk-Knights) setting up their board in the first turn. On the other hand, Loading... is a powerful board breaker than will let you sack going second.
Loading... & the Knightmares are Konami's way of pushing the Link mechanic, as decks will have to play a Link 1 to out the Iblee lock and will now have access to generic removal tools in their Extra Deck.
While Magical Musket and Kozmo are archetypes with decent potential, they seem like out of place fillers in a link-themed box.
The only change for this week is Salamangreat going down as a result of its drop in usage and overall effectiveness which was already mentioned last week. However it's important to note this is gonna be the last week for this format, as Future Circuit (at least according to our current information) will more than likely change things in a major way. Loading... adds itself in the ongoing battle of best Normal Summon for Mekk-Knight between Loading... and Loading... , Loading... might just be a replacement to a lot of generic Extra Deck monsters that were being run beforehands, Loading... acts as a generic Backrow removal (maybe not too effective in a format where Loading... is flipped up 70% of the games, but still insanely strong for the future) and Loading... does...Dark Hole things. There are genuinely a lot of meta threats and potentially toxic cards in the box (Loading... and Dark Hole to name two, although Droll will most likely be less of a problem than people were predicting on announcement), as a lot of older rogue decks are gonna feel the powercreep advancing. I don't want to make predictions over the Tier List after the box, as that will be something to be done next week, but overall the current top decks shouldn't really fear a potential demotion out of the list. They're still gonna be the better decks around.
As for the decks announced in the new box, I don't see too much instant potential in those (Kozmo and Magical Musket) given how our current format looks like, but they do have good resource loops, which are normally sign of a good deck in the makings. We'll see how they perform and their evolution once they're out.
Tier 1
TPC Comments
Mekk-Knights remain dominating, and will gain another way to play with the Knightmares, which can set up a floodgate on top of your Plus2 and your Loading... . The Loading... Engine can go into Loading... instead of a Synchro Summon, then go into Loading... which then goes into a Link-2, summoning Iblee to your opponent's field in the Loading... column. This sets up Loading... 's +2 which should let you set up Loading... and Secrets. The downside for this strategy is it's stopped by Loading... , but that's shaping up to be more of a Side Deck tech (not to mention it's not worth bothering going through the Iblee line against other Link-based strategies), as such this Knightmare strategy might be more of a going-second thing (It should be noted that the Knightmares make the mirror more interesting as you can give your opponent Iblee to play around the Secrets column [unless they have Loading... ].
Mekk-Knights are still the most-versatile deck in the meta at the moment, with their ability to spam the board and set up an effect negation and plus with ease. The addition of the Nightmares give the deck the option to use Loading... as its Normal Summon, which frees up its Skill while also mandating some kind of Link-1 out before the opponent can start their plays. This upcoming box has a lot of stuff in it, so we'll have to see if Mekk-Knights are still the top dog when the dust settles.
Tier 2
TPC Comments