Top Player Council Thoughts

After zero changes to the Tier List last week, we now have two new additions to Tier 1. Continued success in both tournaments and Clan Wars has finally justified both Buster Blader's and Karakuri's promotion to Tier 1.


Tier 1

Buster Blader and Karakuri have been promoted to Tier 1. While Buster Blader's match-up with Koa'ki Meiru is obviously a huge strength, the deck is oppressive enough to deal with almost any deck in the game after rolling into its lockdown combo of Loading... and Loading... . Karakuri on the other hand naïvely seems much more fair: All you see them doing is making a couple neat Synchros and drawing cards, but by turn 4 you find yourself struggling to keep up with their absurd card advantage and being blown out by a huge Loading... or Loading... play. And once the side deck comes into play, Karakuri's unfair advantage becomes apparent: They see duel-deciding cards like Loading... , Loading... , or Loading... much faster than their opponent will.

Meanwhile Koa'ki Meiru has remained in Tier 1. The deck around which the meta is warped, Koa'ki has the strongest average turn 2 play in the game and can even grind out longer wins with their beefy normal summons like Loading... and Loading... . Loading... is slowly becoming a more popular skill with Koa'ki as well, thanks to Balance lowering the ceiling of your turn 2 moves and Sealed Tombs having almost no effect on any of the other Tier 1 decks.

TPC Comments:

Luke Tyler:

Karakuri rises to Tier 1 due to it no longer being behind Koa'ki Meiru in terms of representation and performance. Being able to dig through the deck efficiently is a great perk to have in a side deck environment.

Though Koa’ki Meiru is no longer the only elephant in the room, this is not a reason to demote it from it’s Tier 1 status. The deck has been the main focus of many people’s deck building, and despite this the deck has still managed to overcome tournament rounds in a side deck environment.

In recent events Buster Blader has not had the same representation as Karakuri and Koa’ki Meiru. However, it is evident that more people are beginning to pick the deck up and its already fantastic conversion rates from swiss to top cut is justification that this deck is worthy of a Tier 1 title. Both Loading... and Last Gamble are elements of the game that are commonly deemed as “unhealthy” and should be addressed.


Tier 2

Masked Heroes and Vampires remain in Tier 2. Neither deck is as highly represented or often used as the Tier 1 decks, but both can still find competitive success and both have continued to perform well. KaibaCorp Bling continues to be explored with these decks, but Sealed Tombs and Bandit remain the most popular skills for Masked Heroes and Vampires, respectively.

TPC Comments:

Serenity: