Notes & Combos

I can't believe it, Konami actually made B.E.S. into an unironically competent deck. It's gonna be quite a long write up this time since there's a whole lot I want to talk about as per usual. Also, was super close to being the first in the world to KoG with this Skill but logiorzz got it an hour and a half before me, so shoutouts to them. Still the first B.E.S. player to KoG with it tho, so we still take those lol

First, finally, we can escape the accursed B.E.S. lock that B.E.S. Rush forced us into. A skill like The Unsealed Forbidden Door was far from something I expected to ever see, but here we are. Definitely amusing having to pay attention to what cards negate activations vs effects, because it matters for the Skill's Orichalcos effect. The only problem I have with it is that Setting Orichalcos in the Draw Phase is a huge pain in the a** because the opponent can just pop it before you have a chance to flip it. Would appreciate if it was buffed to either play it at start of main or just add it to hand, but gotta deal with what we got.

Onto the deck itself, first thing to address from what I see in other lists is that people are getting too hung up on Hydralander and running all their best cards at one, including Hydra himself. Run 3 or none at all, or you're just hurting your chances of seeing your good cards for no good reason. Beyond that, Citadel, Ruinforce, Regulus and Jizukiru are all extremely important and 100% mandatory if you're looking to succeed. I also chose to run Fortress because he's an easy send to unbrick the other Machinas.

Some other high-level Machine options I've seen used include: Gizmeks Kaku, Okami and Orochi, Desperado (did you know he can search Covered Core?), a larger Machina package, and I've also seen some people running Gimmick Puppets or Arcjet Lightcraft for additional Skill targets but idk looks pretty trash to me lol. Also, not a Machine, but Mind Control is great with the Skill; feel free to use that over the playset of Ultimate Slayers :)

We're finally able to use Vic Viper, and he has his moments. Best case scenario with him is to give him to the opponent and block the effects of some Skills, then pop it later with Citadel and get an extra Metal Slave pop; I'll go into more detail on the endboard in a bit. A fun interaction is that he procs off of simply being destroyed, so equipping him with Regulus will proc him when Regulus negates. Being the only Normal Summon made it quite easy to send him for a search, so he didn't feel too bricky either.

On that note, try not to cut Boss Rush. It can be annoying to draw, but it's what enables you to make use of Vic Viper going first as well as improving followup, and it adds an easy point of interaction to your endboard if you don't OTK going second. It's a free card in hand most of the time, and it resolves more often than you'd think.

The endboard post support is similar to what we were doing pre-support, but just better lol. Usually it's Zelos + Boss Rush + Metal Slave + Derringer alongside either Regulus or another B.E.S., with Citadel + Ruinforce (followup) in Grave, and potentially Vic Viper on the opp's board. I also try to avoid using the send effect of the Skill going first so I can use it for followup. Uninpeded, it's ~4-5 interactions + Citadel boardwipe, but unimpeded is the key word, since The Staples™ still pose a problem. Blizzard is still in the list for this reason; I'd prob use 3 but couldn't find a way to fit another one.

Regulus usually doesn't stop them since he needs to negate early so Derringer can revive Blaster and then Citadel. And that's assuming it's BoE and not f*cking Lava Golem or Sphere Mode to just lose instantly. Sidenote, with Therion abusing those cards now, surely it's about time for these instawin shitlords to be taken out back? Deadass, winning going first already feels so luck-based with all the crazy board breakers and main engine gas we have, and we need these uninteractable bozos running around as well? 😓

Going second usually fares much better, with special mention to Ruinforce, who is an absolute house of a monster. Piloting the deck well is closely linked to how well you can make use of him; for example, his summoning condition isn't once per turn, so you can revive him, then send him for a search and just revive him again.

Also, his own revive procs off of being destroyed by ANY card effect, so you can set up huge damage by popping him in the Battle Phase with Metal Slave. B.E.S. was already proficient at playing through boards, and with this thing in tow, it's rare to miss an OTK, but even if you do your board is probably something like Zelos + Citadel + Metal Slave + Derringer anyway.

Regarding the actual climb itself, if you've never played Ranked early in the month, don't. This whole thing was a stressful three entire days, 80 total wins, from Gold to KoG, constantly facing off against other skilled players on very competent decks (with the occasional freebie tbf), just to try to be the first B.E.S. player to KoG with the new support. Great to test my own mettle, but I'm never playing ranked early again, outside of a possible Madolche-related exception years from now.

It felt like playing in a KC Stage 2 but even more stressful due to the whole win 5 times in a row thing, though I will admit I got quite lucky in the 5-streak, as per usual with this sort of thing. Play later in the month for your time and sanity, please. Will say that I can still spot misplays in my replays so I've got a ways to go with mastering these new tools, but at the very least, the struggle this time wasn't due to my deck being abysmal dogshit lol

Honestly, with this support B.E.S. legitimately feels like a meta strategy at times. Imagine if we could use the Extra Deck and add the likes of Liebe, Super Dora, Anger Knuckle, and Underclock + Vic Viper on top of all this, we might actually have made it there! Super excited to chat with other players and see what other people can figure out. Unlike when the B.E.S. structure first dropped, we aren't dead on arrival this time round lmao