Notes & Combos

KCC Top 1000 with B.E.S.! I spent a while trying out different ideas, and this is the list I found to be the most successful. I played 123 Duels in 2nd Stage, won 67 for a 54.47% winrate, and got 20091 total DP, although I climbed up much faster after I started playing this version of the list. My best winstreak was 6, though I had a few 4 streaks as well. I won't be talking about the 1st Stage climb here much as it was mostly easy and uninteresting.

I'll say right away that my luck for the most part was questionable at best. Biggest example has to be how often I went first against Dragons; when I do, the matchup is heavily in my favour, but I faced them prob like 30 times and only went first 4 times (yes, I counted.) Thankfully playing through boards is something B.E.S. is quite good at.

I'll also admit that I was only aiming to get into Top 1000, but if Shinobird wasn't around I'd definitely have tried to reach higher. Can only pray that Amano-Iwato gets banned ASAP as it's legitimately the most cancerous card I've ever had the displeasure of playing against. Blue-Eyes was usually in my favour going second, but got harder after the meta consistently shifted to Summoning Crocodragon over Spirit Dragon. Also, perhaps unsuprisingly, I never had to play the mirror. Go figure.

For the list itself, first, I'm not running the 5th name for Metal Slave, as the 6th counter has literally never come up, and all the remaining names suck. I also cut the 2nd MK-3, as you can make up the difference in recovery with good piloting. Anything to increase the deck's average card quality. Next, Blizzard is integral as its the best counterplay we have to cards like BoE and Droplet. It's likely to be a 3-of in every B.E.S. list looking to succeed.

Regarding the revival Spells, their main purpose is to make use of the cards Metal Slave dumps; to set up Super Dora on the 1st turn, or to just be used as extension. Also, Reborn may actually be higher value than Terraforming, as it and Network are our only options for this role, whereas Pathfinder can take Terraforming's place and still reach the solid 85% chance of opening Zelos.

In the Extra, the Rank 10s + Liebe and Anger Knuckle are the most important and useful cards. World Gears was mostly here for Shinobird; it didn't work often, but it occasionally saved an otherwise unwinnable Duel. Bounzer, Genius and Pentestag were never used in this run; other options include Equimax and Underclock Taker, but I don't own them. A simple Knightmare could prob work as well.

If you've got any interest in the other ideas that didn't quite make the final cut, they were Pot of Avarice, cut due to sometimes being annoying to set up, and requiring a bad B.E.S. in the list, and Ancient Gear Dragon, cut due to going with revival Spells and wanting Pathfinder as the NS instead. These two show up in some of the replays, so that's the reason why.

On that topic, I saved tons of replays throughout both Stages, so give them a watch if you're interested in seeing some high-level B.E.S. gameplay. Lastly, I did try climbing 1st Stage with Madolche at first but couldn't get very far. The missing Anjelly and friends isn't even a funny joke at this point, ngl.