Announcement from , TPC Manager
With the end of the season approaching this will be the last Tier List for this Iteration of TPC. When October rolls in so will a new iteration of Top Player Council, look forward to it!
This will be the last list of this format, and (inhales copium) the new world will hopefully reshape this to be something that a human being can enjoy again. We're also seeing the effects of the last banlist, as hero gets pushed down, while the decks that got lighter or no hits instead rise or stay where they are. It's worth noting that despite staying at the top, the version of Rose Dragon we have right now is slightly more fair to the other decks, making other consistent strategies such as Meklords a real contender and not just a suboptimal choice.
As for the decks that got buffed by the Extra Monster Zone (EMZ) changes, D/D/D and Metalfoes come to mind as the best (ab)users of this, giving them access to plays they didn't have before. While it's a completely painless transition for D/D/D, which received the ability to go for even crazier boards and Loading... setups (assuming it doesn't brick), Metalfoes instead had to give up on Loading... summoning back from the Extra Deck if there is something already in the EMZ, meaning that sometimes the deck will miss some OTKs which it could previously do, however the change is still overall positive. Odd-Eyes is now able to go into Rank 7+4 without having to completely neg itself with certain hands, however, it still has Odd-Eyes' original faults.
Despite everything getting weaker, Phantom Knights still miss on the list due to them having a hard time with pretty much anything in the format. It's a deck that has the potential to do well in case the meta shapes up in a different way, but as long as the decks in the format remain these, it'll have no time in the light. And don't get fooled by one or two tournament results, the deck still has a harder time then some of the other Rogues out there.
This is a very exciting week and time for Duel Links players. Not only is link summoning and a new world coming to the game, but also there is talk about a Duel Links MCS again, finally. The last couple of weeks since the KCC we have seen a minimal change in the meta. Rose dragon didn't get the hit they deserved (yet), and is still Tier 1 in the meta. Not being able to use Loading... hurts, but come on, that's it konami?
HERO variants seemed to get the bigger hit, as Loading... is now Limited to 2 alongside other HERO cards such as Loading... and Loading... . However, the two HERO variants have managed to adapted to the banlist very efficiently. Favorite Duel decks are still performing on the same level, although most lists only play 1 Liquid now. This clearly proves how broken the Skill is. The more fun version of HERO, in my opinion, had to leave the Vision HERO package to instead play more Elemental HERO monsters. It doesn't thin out the deck as fast anymore, but still is able to draw into good techs through Liquid, set up multiple Loading... quickly, and now also experiment with Xyz plays. I could argue that the HERO decks maintained their power even post-banlist.
Galaxy and Meklord are still the same decks after the banlist, but both have seen an increase of representation and also performance in competitive play. Hence, they stay on the Tier List for now and Meklord even takes one step higher.
The Extra Monster Zone and the new world comes with a lot of opportunities for improving already existing archetypes but also for new archetypes joining the game. Like I said, this is an exciting time for us Duel Links players.
Tier 1
TPC Comments
Surprising literally no one, when a deck that is performing well receives little to no banlist attention: it continues to perform well. While the third Loading... was easily replaced by either a Loading... or a second Loading... , the "Is this deck unfair?" lever of "can this deck run Loading... and/or Loading... ?" has been flipped down for the time being. This gives credence to decks that generally do well in the Rose Dragon matchup to bubble back to the surface without fear of the game-stealing power of the Limit-2 revolving door of power cards. It would be assumed that Side and Main Decks would also be heavily tech'd out for the expected Rose Dragon matchup, so there's hope for a more stable metagame until the VRAINS Launch shakes things up.
Tier 2
TPC Comments
The Limit 3 to Meklords changed basically nothing, as they simple replaced the missing Loading... / Loading... with "the next best purple card" which tended to be Loading... . Some players have been opting to run only two Loading... to accomodate one Limit-3 Trap Card into their suite. The deck naturally having consistency and the ability to go first and disrupt Rose Dragon makes it a contender in the format, at least until we see how VRAINS world shakes up the metagame.