This is the first Tier List for your new Top Player Council.
Tier 1
TPC Comments
DanielYGO
While Noble Knights takes the spot as the best deck of the format Desperado is not too far behind. It is one of the few decks in this format able to play through one interruption going second while also having a decent first turn board. The biggest plus this deck has compared to any other deck is Loading... , which allows them to see their Side Deck cards like Loading... easier against the current best deck of the format. However, the biggest downside is simply the power discrepency between your good and bad hands: you can either beat any deck in the format or just open unplayable. As such, its Tier 1 status might change with a more solved format and the upcoming Structure Deck and Selection Boxes, but for now its strengh is undenied.
Davide Magri
Noble Knights receive a promotion due to new wave of support the deck received in the last Main BOX, Infinite Ray. Loading... is their new Rank 4 Xyz which allows them to have a Loading... -esque accessible monster that bounces up to two face up cards from your opponent's field, and floats into another Noble Knight Xyz when destoyed. Loading... also found his way in some decklists, as he is an additional name for Loading... with a good effect. The deck is also massively popular due to how cheap it is, and that's why we expect to see a lot of them in the future. While it is true that Side Deck cards like Loading... and Loading... are able to keep it in check, the main combo generates so much advantage going first you don't really care about them most of the times.
DarkRagno
After the new box, as we all expected, Noble Knights have become stronger and we decided to promote it to Tier 1. The strength of Noble Knights is their ability to create a really strong board that generates huge card advantage with just a 2-card combo. On the other hand, the weakness of this deck is going second against heavy-backrows decks. This is because Noble Knights need consistency that Balance provides, meaning theres practically no room for backrow removal (only in the Side Deck, where we usually see Loading... or Loading... ).
Max K
Desperado stays Tier 1 for now, as the Deck is still super flexible can draw into the Side Deck cards very efficiently. They also have the ability to "out-luck" their unfavorable matchup with the right hands and coinflips, and as such show good representation and conversation rate into the Top Cuts.
Desperado will struggle with the rise of Noble Knights, who play around Loading... quite easily with multiple destructions/bounces per turn on top of their destruction protection with Loading... . Desperado usually only wins against Noble Knights by going first with cards like Loading... and Loading... or by drawing into Side Deck techs like Loading... or Loading... quickly.
Additionally, with the release of the new BOX and Thunder Dragons getting more popular, Desperado will have another another unfavorable matchup to deal with. Loading... 's non-targeting destruction coupled with multiple Thunder Dragon triggers on summon makes it so Loading... isn't that big a deal. Thunder Dragons and Levianeer also don't really care whether or not they're banished, so Desperado only really win the matchup with cards like Loading... or a well-timed Loading... / Loading... .
Future weeks will tell if Desperado can still maintain their good conversation rates and win unfavorable matchups often enough - otherwise they could easily see demotion.
Tier 2
TPC Comments
gift
Witchcrafters remain at Tier 2 and this is probably a fair place for the deck. It can show solid results, such as 3 WC players playing the Meta Weekly and all 3 topping, but its representation is a bit lacking. If the purpose of the Tier LList was to be based solely on representation, then Witchcrafters can probably be demoted to Tier 3, but strength-wise, Tier 2 is a good fit. If we want to base decks solely on representation then we can simply use DLM Power Rankings, but the purpose of TPC is to try to make predictions as if a MCS will happen during the following weekend. It should be noted that despite the lack of representation, it also remains at Tier 2 on the DLM Power Rankings.
The deck is very solid and doesn't have many bad match-ups among the most played decks. It's problem, despite how insane it can be when it fully sets up, is that is a bit of a 'fair' deck (it just can't gain advantage as easily as the best decks of the format). The Noble Knight match-up is very coin flip. Going first, Witchcrafters can easily set up Loading... and negate Loading... / Loading... . The Witchcrafter player will then set up Loading... if they haven't already to play through Traps like Loading... . At the same time, if Witchcrafter goes 2nd, it is very hard breaking a Noble Knight board.
Against decks like Desperado, you are favored but only slightly as Desperado has a great number of ways of stealing games through Loading... , Loading... , Loading... , and Loading... .
Compared to the Tier 1 decks and their overall match-ups across the meta, Witchcrafters is definitely lacking in aspects. Witchcrafter lacks the insane board Noble Knights can make Turn 1. While Loading... + Loading... is very good, it is not as consistent as Noble Knights and not as unbreakable of a board either. Compared to Desperado, the Side Deck utility that Desperado has is simply superior, as Desperado is able to easily dig through their deck for their Side Deck cards. Desperado is probably weaker than Witchcrafter in a KC Cup setting but Witchcrafter is probably behind in Side Deck format. It doesn't deserve to be at Tier 1 when both of those decks have those clear advantages across the meta. At the same time, it is incorrect to place a deck like this at Tier 3 when it has a very solid match-up spread and has shown it can perform well. When you are playing it in a tournament, most of your matchups will be slightly favored and the most played deck of the meta, Noble Knights, is 50/50, which isn't a bad thing at all.