A Look At The Format So Far

The March 1, 2010 Advanced format is about three weeks old at this point, and we're starting to get a better grip on the top decks. As is usually the case in YGO, the top tier is an assortment of expected/preordained contenders, and a few surprises. At the top we have:

Tier 1

Rescue Cat Variants ("pure" Cat w/o Flamvell, Flamvell Cat)
Flamvell Variants (Flamvell with no Cat/Beasts, w/Battle Fader etc.)
Blackwings
Lightsworn
Machina/Gadget
Infernity (OCG only)

These decks appear to have distinguished themselves to a high degree. Right behind them:

Tier 2

X-Sabers
Final Countdown
Gladiator Beasts
Zombies
Plant Synchro
Light and Darkness Dragon/heavy Monarch
Dragunity (OCG only)

Below that, we have a variety of decks including

Tier 3

Codarus/A Legendary Ocean
Insect
Koa'ki Meiru
Aliens
Cyber Dragon/Machine

I'm probably leaving out a few decks. Either way, we are looking at one of the most diverse formats in a while, certainly more so than the dull hierarchy of last format, and perhaps even beyond the free-for-all of DSF format. This profound change can be attributed to several factors.

1. The Death of the Destiny and Ligthsworn engines

While I do not approve of Kevin Tewart's decision-making logic, or even his lacking professionalism (he has numerous times revealed obvious biases against cards like Tribe-Infecting Virus, Spirit Reaper, and the whole Destiny Hero archetype), the Destiny engine was a cancer that had been eating at YGO since 2007, and needed to go. The sheer power of Elemental Hero Stratos, its unintended synergies with the ancient Reinforcement of the Army, and the seamless ability of Destiny Hero - Malicious to fuel Tribute and Synchro Summons while also providing acceleration with Destiny Draw, made this "theme" a mainstay of tier 1 decks for almost 3 calendar years. T-Hero, DDT, PCM, LaDD, DAD Return, Prisma Glads, TeleDAD, JeffJones.dek, SalvoDAD, DHZ, AbsZero...the list goes on and on, spanning a wide range of disparate types, attributes, and formats unified in their love of Stratos and his cohorts.

With D-Draw, Allure of Darkness, and RotA all at 1, and Malicious at 2, the engine has become terribly shaky. The inability to have a D-Draw to pair with your Malicious/RotA/Stratos now gives rise to too many hands filled with dead cards and incomplete combos. The ultimate impact of this inconsistency is that players must now resort to alternative engines to emulate the advantage provided by the D-engine for years. The decline of Stratos et al has been the windfall of Flamvell and Machina in particular, and Setting in general. Without the accleration and rapid advantage of a RotA/Hero engine, many decks now resort to slower monsters like Ryko, Lightsworn Hunter and the classic Gravekeeper's Spy to manufacture card advantage.

On the other end of Mr. Tewart's spectrum is the Lightsworn engine, with its RotA/D-Draw clones (Charge of the Light Brigade and Solar Recharge, respectively), which went untouched until just recently. With the limits on Lumina, Lightsworn Summoner, CotLB, and Necro Gardna, the LS engine can no longer as consistently set up plays like Lumina + Garoth, Lightsworn Warrior, mill copies of Wulf, Lightsworn Beast, and/or set up incredible fields of multiple Lightsworn monsters backed up by graved copies of Necro Gardna. This gives other decks a chance to breathe, further reinforcing the return to Setting and the pursuit of alternative engines that can now stand on at least equal footing with their Destiny and Lightsworn predecessors.

2. The Rise of Flamvell

Whereas Rescue Cat's attributes as a powerful, competitive engine in tandem with Summoner Monk, X-Saber Airbellum, and Arcanite Magician is well known, its newest ally, the Flamvell monsters, have only recently come to prominence. Competitive players immediately saw the brokenness inherent in Flamvell Firedog and Rekindling upon their release in Ancient Prophecy: after all, Firedog was a superior version of Blackwing - Shura the Blue Flame, and Rekindling has a ridiculous swarm effect reminiscent of Dimension Fusion and/or Return from the Different Dimension. These cards were always good, but they haven't had a sufficient window of opportunity until now. The decline of the Destiny and Lightsworn engines, and the return of the briefly dormant Cat Synchro archetype, has given Flamvell an ample chance to becomea tier 1 engine. Flamvell Magician's attributes as a valid search target for Flamvell Firedog AND Summoner Monk, and its perk of being the only Level 4 Tuner which dodges the ubiquitous Bottomless Trap Hole, has cemented a decktype which can relentlessly spam Stardust Dragon.

Stardust Dragon is now arguably more powerful than ever. The relative weakening of Blackwings (until the next set, anyway), the banning of Dark Strike Fighter, and the typically sheepish return of many players to Gladiator Beasts, has made Stardust Dragon + fat Spell/Trap backrow a game-winning strategy. Starlight Road (see my previous article on that subject) has made Stardust itself even more decisive; having your Mirror Force or Heavy Storm negated by Road, and then having to deal with a floater Stardust thereafter, is more than many decks can handle. The overpowering position of Stardust has pushed GB back down to tier 2 at least. It has also quelled some of the hype around Super Nimble Mega-Hamster, due to the ability of Flamvell Firedog to run it over and then segue into a Stardust (via Magician) and make Hamster searches like Ryko into dead cards.

3. Cyber Dragon and the Machinas

Machina Gearframe is the new Elemental Hero Stratos. It can search an array of useful targets, including Machina Soldier, Machina Sniper, Machina Fortress, Machina Peacekeeper, and Machina Force. In tandem with Destiny's decline, it finally puts Gadgets over the hump of having lots of big bodies (mainly Gearframe + Fortress) to reduce their reliance on simplistic removal. Fortress is also one of the better anti-Stardust cards, in that it has enough ATK to at least trade with the Dragon, and can net a +1 in the process!

Cyber Dragon's return to 2 copies per deck has been a boon and a curse for this decktype, though, and for other decktypes, too. CyDrag's ability to be a high-utility offensive weapon, which also segue into an easy Synchro by simply Normal Summoning a Tuner, has thrust it back to the forefront of competitive play. It can bait out cards like Bottomless Trap Hole, run over the annoying Gravekeeper's Spy/Guard and Flamvell Firedog, and...it can make Chimeratech Fortress Dragon, the bane of Machine decks everywhere. CyDrag's default status as a Raigeki against Gadget/Machina keeps a potentially dominant deck in check, and also makes for a convenient out to Ally of Justice Catastor and Card Trooper, both common sites in this metagame.

While CyDrag may no have helped already dominant decks like Blackwings or Lightsworn, it has become a powerful, versatile tool for a variety of newly competitive decks, and has reinforced the strength of Flamvell/Cat.

That touches on some of the major tectonic shifts in this metagame. Some other shifts to be wary of:

-Nobleman of Crossout is amazing now that so many decks attempt to exploit Ryko, Spy, Guard, and Hamster.

-Dimensional Prison is arguably superior to Mirror Force and Torretial Tribute since it dodges common powercards like Stardust, Starlight, and My Body as a Shield. It also doesn't feed your opponent's lingering Pot of Avarice/Rekindling.

-Final Countdown is a real annoyance. A burn-oriented side with Stealth Bird can be one of the more effective counters to this decktype.

-The lack of Trishula, Dragon of the Ice Barrier may hamper Infernity's power in the TCG; Mist Wurm, though powerful, simply cannot disrupt a game like Trishula can.

(Did you know that Trishula, Brionac, and Gungnir, the three most powerful Ice Barrier monsters, are all named after Scandinavian spears?)

My current decks are a Flamvell/Synchro variant without Beasts, and an Alien deck which now runs double Starlight as well as One for One. My next post will look at some of the cards from Duelist Revolution, the upcoming OCG set.