No changes this week, as Mermail Atlantean simply drops to Rogue and the list remains the same. While the situation might look desperate, we have some promising leaks for the next Main BOX, which could come out before the KC, giving us some pretty fun Rogue decks, that with the added benefit of being new, usually make people play incorrectly into them, giving them a good shot at doing well.
But why can no deck at the moment get close to Salamangreat? Well, Odd-Eyes, which is regarded as Salads biggest competition, is (in my opinion) simply underwhelming. Don't get me wrong, it has some powerful Turn 1 setups that get really unfair if paired with Loading... , however, those hands are the minority, and most of the times you're ending on suboptimal boards of only a Rank 4 or a Rank 7 Xyz Monster by themselves with little-to-no follow-up. While playing higher card-counts gives you more steam to play with in hypothetical grind game situations, it also reduces your chances of opening the boards you want to make, and it severely reduces your chance of seeing the non-searchable Loading... , which the deck really needs to do well against Salamangreat. However, Necrovalley itself is pretty much useless against anything else in the meta barring Galaxy Photon, which makes the only card that helps you permanently deal with Salamangreat a double-edged sword.
Speaking about Galaxy Photon, the deck is trying to look for a non-searchable blowout itself, with Loading... as their floodgate of choice. Once again, DiFi is great against Salamangreat, but it shares the same issues as Necrovalley: it doesn't do well against other decks, and it also doesn't really help you deal with established boards that much (DiFi does that even less than Necro). Loading... is almost mandatory for Salamangreat, making Loading... setups rarely safe, as Salamangreat is realistically speaking just looking to either sack you with Enemy Controller, or to just set some backrow and try to get to Turn 4.
Mermail Atlantean has some pretty potent setups, Loading... + Loading... is surely a great board, however most of the times the deck settles for follow-up in the form of Loading... paired with Dweller, as Croco setups require players to open unsearchable 2/3-card combos (Mostly Loading... + Loading... ). Dweller is surely strong against Salamangreat, but once again, the deck can fold in the same way Galaxy Photon does: If Salamangreat opens a lot of non-engine techs, Water normally doesn't have the chance to end the game, and eventually they'll run out of resources, as the deck tends to do.
Now, another fairly big problem with these 3 decks I just mentioned is...they don't really have a good shot at beating Salamangreat going second. Galaxy Photon has a lot of trouble dealing with Loading... 's protection, Odd-Eyes normally doesn't have enough steam to produce lethal through Loading... + Circle (let alone any other backrow), and Mermail Atlantean needs a Loading... for each and every non-Circle backrow that Salamangreat has, and even then, Circle searching Loading... normally lets Salamangreat see the light of another turn. You don't really get a lot of chances to end the game immediately, and as we've learned in the past few weeks, there isn't really a better Turn 3 deck than a properly-played Salamangreat: it has loads of follow-up and often just straight up kills you or leaves you with little to no resources against a re-established board.
Tier 0
TPC Comments
Not much has changed, Salamangreat remains the best deck. This deck has simply proven to be dominant against all other existing decks as it simply has it all, from consistency to disruptive Turn 1's to explosive Turn 2's. With the transition to Non-Side Deck format, we're seeing more Salamangreat builds incorporate cards that are good against Odd-Eyes like Loading... and even Loading... , this Deck also has the ability to adjust for less-favored matchups due to the large amount of tech space it has access to. It will be interesting to see how Salamangreat builds develop as we enter the KC Cup.
There's not much left to say about Salamangreat. despite the latest switch to the no side format (in an attempt to subdue their stranglehold), Salamangreat still managed to dominate the format, regardless of the format change and the latest Mini BOX. The deck is, without any doubts, rightfully Tier Zero, managing to win almost every single tournament out there since its release, despite the many efforts trying to counter them, and it's absurd to doubt that at this point (if there are any doubters left out there).
Salamangreat is still dominating, with the change to non-Side format doing little to impede their stranglehold on the meta. We could see more Burning Abyss with solidification of non-Side format, but we don't expect much to change without a huge meta shake-up.
Tier 2
TPC Comments
Odd-Eyes remains at Tier 2 for now. The conversion to Non-Side format was beneficial for this deck, as tech choices become easier for this deck (as opposed to Salamangreat which has a slightly harder time catering its main deck techs to the format). We've seen Odd-Eyes teching things like Loading... to gain greater advantage in the Salamangreat matchup, while they are trying to tech in things like Loading... and Loading... to to have a betterr time against Odd-Eyes. However, it is harder for Salamangreat to adjust techs since the techs that are good against Odd-Eyes are bad for the mirror. To put it shortly, Odd-Eyes' reasonable Salamangreat matchup, consistency, and adaptation to non-Side format keep it at a Tier 2 position for now