Tier 1

TPC Comments

I think most people underestimated the impact of Loading... on Rose Dragons.

Previously, in the Rose Dragon mirror, it is difficult for the player going second to play into Loading... or Loading... with Loading... set behind. However, Trishula Zero comes as a tool to potentially blow out your opponent's setup. The non-targeting banish effect not only lets you remove Samurai Destroyer / Yazi cleanly without triggering their respective effects, it also somewhat nullifies your opponent's Loading... as they are stuck with a difficult choice of not chaining it or chaining it to maybe revive a Loading... , but getting said Roxrose banished on resolution of Trishula Zero's effect.

Furthermore, the banish effect is also really nice into the different HERO variants. I foresee Trishula Zero will be forcing Favorite Duel players to put back effect negation cards such as Loading... , Loading... , etc, as the current cards commonly used such as Loading... and Loading... don't work that well into Trishula Zero.

Now, while Trishula Zero is really nice, the topic of whether to use Loading... , is still up for debate. There's an argument to be made for both sides of the coin, as the Rose Dragon's extra deck is already extremely tight as it is. However, being able to activate Trishula Zero's 2nd effect in certain matchups such as against HEROs can be game-changing. So we'll see how things develop.

While the inclusion of Loading... is already spreading in many lists, something that is being somewhat overlooked is the Level 8 option in Loading... . While not having the exact blowout potential as Trish Zero in the mirror, going for both plays usually doesn't lead to an OTK on that turn unless damage was already dealt, with the difference being Crimson Blader can stall out the game and prevent the opponent from playing while you draw more backrow or engine pieces to push for game. This is more potent in HERO matchups, as setting up Trish Zero usually gets prevented in the first place, can get countered by Loading... , or just leads to them coming back due to not being able to OTK or deal with their Graveyard recovery. Meanwhile with Crimson Blader, you usually can have Loading... pop a disruption first before you commit to it, and if you know Loading... won’t be able to lethal their board (for example having a Loading... in hand or too many monsters), Crimson Blader slowing the game down and forcing them to deal with it before playing can give you the chance to get the resources you need to win. Its 2600 DEF and 2800 ATK is also a good statline against boss monsters in this meta. Crimson Blader leads to a slower win but its impact is something to be respected it summoned. And unrelated to these Synchros, Loading... is also seeing some play as a Loading... send for Loading... floats and Baxia revive target to lethal in a way that doesn’t require Loading... . Either way, whether Rose Dragon lists playing Trish, Crimson Blader, and even try to play both, the deck only got better over the past week with new options to beat other decks and the mirror.

Tier 2

TPC Comments

As the easiest way to turbo into backrow vis Loading... , HERO variants have been the go-to option to combat Rose Dragon (outside of just opting for the Rose Dragon mirror). While the ceiling of the Favorite Duel variant might not be super high, the ability to reliably output a similar boardstate regardless of hand proves to be enough in both Side and Non-Side formats to see formidable success.

Tier 3

TPC Comments

Meklord has been demoted to Tier 3 for the week. While Meklord is really decent going first with cards such as Loading... into Loading... and Loading... to draw into backrow, the deck is absolutely abysmal going second into the other meta decks at the moment.

Meklord is unable to deal with Rose Dragon's common opener of Loading... backed up with disruption or Loading... . Not only that, Meklord also has trouble going second into the different HERO decks of the current meta, whether is it Favorite Duel HEROs or the Vision HERO variant with multiple Loading... .

If there's one thing going for Meklords, it's their ease of access to Loading... , whose spell negation is crucial in this spell-reliant format. Many players are starting to play up to 2-3 copies of Wisel to adapt to the meta. Only time will tell if Meklord can keep up or get left in the dust.