Mithyard
We live in a twilight world, and there are no friends at dusk.
This is the first thing that comes to my mind looking at the meta (and Tier List) right now.
Water being as the main dominant force, easy to play as any other nobrain meta-decks, and thus attracting the most people. Access to Loading... and both Loading... and Loading... is important for Side Deck strategies.
To find counters for such a deck, we were forced to look over previous decks and formats and found the solution: Star Seraph Darklords. The Star Seraph engine is great for luring out as many disruptions as possible, while the Darklord engine here helps with building an unbreakable wall that's very complicated for Water to pass through. Also, Water's primary removal is Destruction-based so Loading... can win duels on its own sometimes. It's still unclear which Skill is better to use, but so far we have only 3 options left: Destiny Draw , Beatdown and Level Tuning (a new idea). Funnily enough, Level Tuning turned out to be the most successful due to the recent MCS results, but we'll have to see how it will develop from here.
Of course, we need three sides for a triangle format, that beat each other just like Rock-Paper-Scissors. This where we introduce Water's best matchup and Darklords' worst matchup: Blue-Eyes. How Water beats Blue-Eyes should be obvious, with Dweller stopping the main power of the deck in Loading... . How it stops Darklords? Ironically, just by spamming 3000 ATK Vanilla monsters. Darklords don't have much offensive power againts such beatsticks, aside from the Star Seraph engine or }Loading... . However, in order to make matchups against Water Xyz less awkward, Blue-Eyes starting to rebuild their techs, throwing away Loading... s and Loading... s, as they make Loading... super valuable. They once again have included Loading... and Loading... , trying to accentuate on the aggressive part of the deck, so they could “overbeat” Water. And, of course, they side threats to Water like Loading... , making entire deck basically unplayable. This is one of the reasons Water gradually switched from Lance to Loading... , a new addition to the game. It's main advantage over Loading... is not losing 1000 LP, but mainly the fact that hitting a Trap turns off Loading... until the end of the duel.
We live in a twilight world, and there are no friends at dusk.
One deck's evolution leads to others' metamorphosis. This development is endless and only new “product” can include new variable to the established equation.
Negative1
The Top 3 decks of the format are Water Xyz, Blue-Eyes, and Star Seraph Darklords. Water has the highest representation, but I believe that it may be the weakest of the three strategies. Blue-Eyes and Darklords push the ceiling of the format and can overpower the weaker strategies. I believe all of them are potentially strong enough to be positioned in Tier 1, however, Water Xyz has been placed in Tier 1 most likely due to its popularity; Blue-Eyes is also fairly straightforward but is not favored against Water so it's placements can suffer, but Darklords have a degree of technicality that punishes mistakes which is detrimental to it's usage.
Tier 1
TPC Comments
DanielYGO
Water Xyz is very consistent at what it tries to accomplish and is able to deal with a lot of problems naturally while also being able to run all the floodgates like Loading... , Loading... and Loading... without any drawbacks, locking out a lot of strategies. Additionally, Water Xys is able to run Loading... , the most important Trap in this format. It's arguable whether or not Water Xyz is the the best deck of the format or the best counter to the best decks in this format. It's powerlevel is not the highest when compared to Star Seraph Darklords and Blue-Eyes. However, it deals with both of these matchups decently well, especially post-Side. As such, one could say that it is the best counter to those decks in this format since every other deck can only deal with one but not the other. This is what makes Water Xyz Tier 1 in the eyes of the TPC.
Tier 2
TPC Comments
Max K
Star Seraph Darklords gets promoted back to Tier 2. It has since replaced See You Later! with Level Tuning in a way. If you open Loading... and your Darklord combo you use Loading... to turbo through your deck get the missing combo piece with Loading... and by copying Banishment and Loading... you can now Level Tuning to make everything Level 4 to have access to a Loading... to pop a card, draw a card, and pop another card afterwards. If your opponent cannot interrupt this play the moment the third monster comes out with 2000 or less LP, the opponent won't be able to respond until the Delteros activates its effect.
Even without the Star Seraph cards, turning 2 Darklords into Level 4 monsters can give you outs like Loading... or even lethal in certain board states with Loading... into Loading... (Especially effective against Blue-Eyes).
Level Tuning gives the deck a lot more flexibility and plays to out boards, gain massive card advantage, or endlessly loop your Darklord engine. Alternatively, Destiny Draw is very good as consistency option to get your Loading... or "Stick + Chair" combo piece, while also letting you fish for cards like Loading... to deal with problems like Loading... and Loading... . Beatdown is also nice for letting you swing over multiple 3000 ATK beaters at once or just finishing the game instead of just looping.
Star Seraph Darklords has the highest ceiling in the meta game and good matchups overall.