XX-Sabers

YCS Chantilly is still in-progress at the time of this post, but I believe that X-Sabers will make a strong showing when all is said and done. The addition of cards from both ABPF and TSHD shore up almost all the deck's weaknesses. I find Boggart Knight and Darksoul so powerful that Emmersblade is not only not needed imo, but subpar in a metagame full of removal such as Mist Wurm et al.

3 X-Saber Airbellum
3 XX-Saber Faultroll
3 XX-Saber Darksoul
3 XX-Saber Boggart Knight
2 XX-Saber Ragigura
1 XX-Saber Emmersblade
1 X-Saber Palomuro
1 XX-Saber Fulhelmknight
1 Rescue Cat
1 Card Trooper

2 Saber Slash
2 Book of Moon
1 Cold Wave
1 Heavy Storm
1 Mystical Space Typhoon
1 One For One
1 Brain Control

3 Saber Hole
2 Gottoms' Emergency Call
2 Dust Tornado
2 Bottomless Trap Hole
1 Torrential Tribute
1 Call of the Haunted
1 Solemn Judgment

I'm still torn on a few decisions. I opted for Call over a 3rd Gottoms'. And the Spells seems surprisingly open-ended at this point. I also could run Sangan but it seems almost pointless given that I have 3 Darksoul to search my key cards. Sangan would just be in there for Cat, which admittedly is insane, but I'll have to try it (Sangan) out more to gauge whether it's really optimal.

Infernity Mk. III

2 Dark Grepher
3 Infernity Archfiend
3 Infernity Beetle
3 Infernity Necromancer
2 Infernity Mirage
1 Infernity Avenger
1 Necro Gardna
1 Vanity’s Fiend

3 Infernity Launcher
3 Upstart Goblin
1 Mystical Space Typhoon
1 Heavy Storm
1 Foolish Burial
1 One for One
1 Reinforcement of the Army

3 Infernity Barrier
3 Infernity Inferno
3 Dust Tornado
2 Phoenix Wing Wind Blast
1 Mind Crush
1 Solemn Judgment

Change of Pace

Quickdraw Batteries

2 Debris Dragon
2 Quickdraw Synchron
3 Batteryman AAA
3 Batteryman AA
3 Batteryman Charger
3 Batteryman Micro Cell
3 Batteryman Fuel Cell
2 Ryko, Lightsworn Hunter
1 Sangan
1 Card Trooper

3 Battery Charger
2 Book of Moon
2 Short Circuit
1 Brain Control
1 Mystical Space Typhoon
1 Heavy Storm
1 Foolish Burial

2 Dust Tornado
2 Bottomless Trap Hole
1 Solemn Judgment
1 Torrential Tribute

Infernity pt. 2

I switched up my Infernity build slightly. I added Necro Gardna as an extra layer of defense against explosive decks, went down to 2 Grepher, and redid the Trap lineup to include Mind Crush (dropping one of the Infernity Breaks). Mind Crush is very helpful in combating the amount of search (Darksoul, Gearframe, Archfiend, etc.) in the current meta, and its "drawback" can actually help you by moving you down toward an empty hand.

The side deck was reconfigured to make use of a Crow/Imps engine to combat prevalent metagame trends. The extra deck also now include Hundred-Eyes Dragon, which can copy Necromancer or Dwarf to great effect. Also, don't forget Infernity's capacity to use other unusual Synchros like Stygian Sergeants and Chaos King Archfiend.

3 Infernity Archfiend
3 Infernity Beetle
3 Infernity Necromancer
2 Dark Grepher
1 Infernity Avenger
2 Infernity Mirage
1 Infernity Destroyer
1 Necro Gardna

3 Infernity Launcher
3 Upstart Goblin
1 Foolish Burial
1 Mystical Space Typhoon
1 Heavy Storm
1 Reinforcement of the Army
1 One for One
1 Brain Control

2 Dust Tornado
2 Infernity Barrier
3 Infernity Inferno
2 Infernity Break
1 Call of the Haunted
1 Mind Crush
1 Solemn Judgment

--

2 Gemini Imps
2 Cyber Dragon
2 D.D. Crow
2 Corridor of Agony
2 Imperial Iron Wall
1 Dust Tornado
1 Infernity Barrier
1 Dark Eruption
1 Trap Dustshoot
1 Major Riot

--

3 Mist Wurm
2 Infernity Doom Dragon
2 Stardust Dragon
1 Chaos King Archfiend
1 Stygian Sergeants
1 Brionac, Dragon of the Ice Barrier
1 Hundred-Eyes Dragon
1 Chimeratech Fortress Dragon
1 Goyo Guardian
1 Black-Winged Dragon
1 Flamvell Uruquizas

Infernity

In recent days, I've had the opportunity to finally experience Infernity.dek in its TCG form, and it's truly been...terrifying. The deck has a level of speed, consistency, and plain dumbness that hasn't existed in YGO since the heyday of DSF, or perhaps even DAD era (ReturnDAD/TeleDAD) of 2008. Here's my build:

3 Infernity Archfiend
3 Infernity Beetle
3 Infernity Necromancer
2 Dark Grepher
2 Infernity Mirage
1 Infernity Dwarf
1 Infernity Avenger
1 Necro Gardna

3 Infernity Launcher
3 Upstart Goblin
1 A Feather of the Phoenix
1 Foolish Burial
1 Mystical Space Typhoon
1 Heavy Storm
1 Reinforcement of the Army
1 Mind Control
1 Brain Control
1 One for One

2 Infernity Barrier
2 Infernity Inferno
2 Dust Tornado
1 Solemn Judgment
1 Mind Crush
1 Call of the Haunted
1 Raigeki Break

--

3 Gemini Imps
2 Cyber Dragon
2 D.D. Crow
2 Corridor of Agony
2 Imperial Iron Wall
1 Dust Tornado
1 Infernity Barrier
1 Dark Eruption
1 Trap Dustshoot

--

3 Mist Wurm
2 Infernity Doom Dragon
2 Stardust Dragon
1 Chaos King Archfiend
1 Stygian Sergeants
1 Brionac, Dragon of the Ice Barrier
1 Hundred-Eyes Dragon
1 Chimeratech Fortress Dragon
1 Goyo Guardian
1 Black-Winged Dragon
1 Flamvell Uruquizas

I would suppose you could call my build somewhat standard, although the Upstarts are perhaps a bit off the beaten path. I've also elected to forgo removal like Bottomless Trap Hole etc. since the deck has such massive potential for disruption through its Synchros in particular (Wurm, Doom Dragon, Brionac) that I found that 1-for-1 removal was largely useless. I also am not running Allure of Darkness due to my low monster count and a lack of expendable targets, imo. Dark Armed Dragon, though tempting, also does not appear here due to the need to minimize unusable cards.

The side deck is a work in progress. I have been tinkering with Major Riot to combat Mist Wurm's growing presence in this metagame; it's a card that will surprise basically anyone you use it on. I have also thought about siding Infernity Dwarf for Dandylion spam.

Infernity has favorable matchups against nearly all of the major decks in the metagame, esp. X-Saber, which may in fact be the 2nd strongest deck in the TSHD environment. The ability to topdeck your way out of nearly any pickle, and jumpstart you entire advantage engine, with a simiple Archfiend/Necromancer/Mirage/Launcher is uncanny, and makes hand disruption and card advantage nearly irrelevant in an Infernity match. The deck can play at any pace, being able to OTK swiftly OR play a control game with its powerful Counter Trap, Infernity Barrier. In this sense, the deck replicates TeleDAD.

Much of the online community scoffs at Infernity as a deck "easily sided against," which ignores several key factors, including: 1) Infernity's own ability to side; 2) the expansive nature of the metagame, which requires a player to have a versatile side deck for a variety of potential matchups...siding 10+ cards just for Infernity means that you may win the battle, but lose the war in terms of having a topflight deck ready for major competition.

TSHD has really put a shot into the arm of YGO, having made Infernity, Sabers, Frogs, Fish, and Plants much more interesting and competitive than they have ever been. With DREV on the horizon, the influx of quality, playable cards looks to continue, and I for one, am very happy that Konami has raised the bar in terms of design and diversity in the game.