With YCS Columbus under our belts (featuring the first Genesys YCS Main Event), and a bunch of OTS events, especially during the Genesys Celebration, we have enough data to do the next Genesys points update. Side note: In terms of OTS data, it looks like Genesys is a very regional format, much like the game was back in its very early days, and it’s fascinating to watch it evolve all over again, like in the early 2000s.

Previously we did a preview article before each points list. But last time, there was a lot of speculation/panic that was excessive, so this time we’re doing the points update and the companion article at the same time.

What Were People Playing at YCS Columbus?
The distribution of Decks at YCS Columbus was a lot more spread out. The most common Decks were Red Dragon Archfiend (RDA), Monarchs, DoomZ, and Darklords, followed closely by a cluster of Radiant Typhoon, Clown Crew, Magnet Warriors, and Mimighoul.

RDA and Radiant Typhoon were the most successful Decks with 4 Duelists each in the Top 32, and 2 each in the Top 8, and the finals was RDA vs. Radiant Typhoon. Monarchs got 3 into the Top 32, but they didn’t quite make the final cut.

As always, we’re clumping the cards into similar groups for discussion. But first, some top Deck adjustments:
Crimson Blade Dragon 0 -> 10
Power Vice Dragon 5 ->6
Darklord Djehuty 0 ->5
Eidos the Underworld Monarch 0 ->5
Mimighoul Dungeon 0 ->5
Radiant Typhoon Krosea 0 ->7

Individual Card Outliers
The most played card in the tournament was Illusion Gate with 56% of all players using at least 1 copy. One copy isn’t shocking since it can only apply its effect once per Duel, but about 12% of the field had 3 in their Main Deck!

Other popular removal cards included Dark Hole (20% of Duelists), Ultimate Slayer (14%), various Kaiju not named Gameciel, and Final Bringer of the End Times (14%). Gameciel on the other hand, being the lowest ATK Kaiju, was 6 times as common as the next most played Kaiju. We’ve debated whether to consider Kaiju on a name-by-name basis or treat all the Kaiju the same, but for the time being we’re considering them as individual cards, so only Gameciel gets tagged, and we’ll see how things shake out from there.

Usage Spikes (Non-Engine)
There are a few non-engine cards that saw a massive jump in play since the last data-based adjustment. The Heralds have seen a ten-times increase in users since February’s Proto-YCS. Part of this was an increase in Decks that use a lot of Fairy monsters, like Fluffal, Darklord, and Purrely, plus Decks splashing in things like Keldo the Sacred Protector.

Let’s talk about Dimensional Fissure. We know a lot of folks have been wringing their hands over this card since Genesys launched, but its actual usage rate has been EXTREMELY low in all the actual Deck data thus far. Until YCS Columbus! At Columbus, the most reviled card in the format finally had an event where its reputation and its registration numbers started to align, though even with a massive spike it still didn’t reach 20% of all Decks. Still, being up in the high teens is enough to finally get it on the radar and get it some points. (Before you ask, Dimension Shifter continues to decline in use with every event. No, we aren’t planning to lower its points, but an increase isn’t justified by the data, either. We continue to watch every bit of data on these 2 cards very closely.) Finally, despite its point increase in March, the usage of Nibiru the Primal Being went up by about a third (which is significant) and its users were very successful, so Nibiru’s cost will tick up again a bit.
Book of Eclipse 3 -> 4
Book of Moon 4 -> 3
Dimensional Fissure 0 -> 10
Gameciel, the Sea Turtle Kaiju 0 -> 3
Illusion Gate 0 -> 10
Shared Ride 0 -> 1
Artifact Lancea 0 -> 1
Herald of Orange Light 0 -> 3
Herald of Green Light 0 -> 2
Herald of Purple Light 0 -> 1
Mulcharmy Fuwalos 7 -> 8
Nibiru the Primal Being 6 -> 8

Another Look at Blazing Dominion
We initially costed Power Vice Dragon aggressively after considering that RDA already had almost half its points tied up in the Extra Deck and it was going to get at least one more Extra Deck monster in the 10-15 point range, possibly two. After watching the Deck storm through the YCS like the Master of Faster himself, and looking at the numbers, Power Vice Dragon was only slightly low, but we need to make RDA pay for Crimson Blade Dragon as well, so it’s getting some points.

We were worried that we might have overcosted the “Clown Crew” Spells and left Flair at 0 to ensure players could at least try the Deck out. It had a pretty good debut despite not landing any Duelists in the Top 8! Some players have concerns about The Wicked Avatar being an achievable Summon in this Deck, which we can understand, however players have been trying to make The Wicked Avatar work on and off for nearly 20 years now. If there comes a day when The Wicked Avatar is able to replicate the past successes of Destiny HERO – Plasma, it could receive the same treatment.  

Princess Dracaena saw more play than we thought she would, which was nice,but only 1 player rolled up with an EARTH Machine strategy, which was less nice. Miracle Ejector escaped containment very quickly. It’s unfortunate for HERO fans, but it’s certainly not the first time in the game’s history something like this has happened.

Shared Engines and Best-In-Slots
Speaking of Miracle Ejector, it falls under this category: Cards that were intended for a specific Deck, but broke containment and are seeing a lot of play beyond their theme. This is also where the basic Kewl Tune monsters land now that they’ve become engine cards in multiple other Synchro strategies in addition to their own. Spell Card “Soul Exchange” is doing its best impression of Super Polymerization across multiple Decks. The Xyz Decks have also become extremely efficient at spitting out the F0s and the Synchro Decks are trending towards generic use of Swordsoul Supreme Sovereign – Chengying.
Conduction Warrior Linear Magnum Plus Minus 0 -> 6
Magnet Bonding 0 -> 5
Miracle Ejector 0 -> 5
Earthbound Prisoner Stone Sweeper 0 -> 5
Keldo the Sacred Protector 1 -> 2
Kewl Tune Clip 6 -> 7
Kewl Tune Cue 6 -> 7
Kewl Tune Mix 0 -> 5
Kewl Tune Reco 0 -> 5
Heavy Polymerization 0 -> 3
Mudora the Sword Oracle 1 -> 2
Spell Card “Soul Exchange” 3 -> 13
Swordsoul Supreme Sovereign – Chengying 0 -> 10
Zalen the Shackled Dragon 10 -> 12
Number F0: Utopic Draco Future 20 -> 25
Number F0: Utopic Future Zexal 0 -> 5

Shenanigans
For as long as SJC/YCS events have existed, there’s always been at least 1 person in the room trying to assemble Exodia, and this one was no different. Those who come after will have a tougher time. The other contentious strategy was the HERO Deck that had Elemental HERO Cosmo Neos filling the same role as Hot Red Dragon Archfiend King Calamity. This is an interesting case because Cosmo Neos isn’t being “cheated” out like King Calamity usually was – the whole point of the HERO combo is to get the correct materials in the GY then use Favorite Contact to fuse them. We’ll price Cosmo Neos the same as King Calamity, because of their similar effects, but Favorite Contact does not get points at this time.
Elemental HERO Cosmo Neos 0 -> 21
Galaxy-Eyes Tachyon Primal 0 -> 5
Darklord Ixchel 5 -> 7
Infernoid Evil 0 -> 7
Magical Mallet 0 -> 3
Subspace Battle 0 -> 5
Chicken Game 7 -> 10
Upstart Goblin 7 -> 10
Into the Void 7 -> 10

Decks (Almost) No One Registered
Plenty of people were running Swordsoul Supreme Sovereign – Chengying as a generic Synchro, but no one was actually playing Swordsoul as a Deck, so we’ve done a bit of a rebalance on that theme. Lyrilusc keeps showing up as an engine rather than a distinct strategy, so we’ve moved some of those points around as well. Union Hangar has dropped again as well and there’s a bunch more. There’s been an ongoing culling of the points from the original launch list, but we’re being cautious because we don’t want to insert a poison pill into the format by accident. This culling pass is more aggressive, though, so we’re being ‘aggressively cautious.’
Big Welcome Labrynth 20 -> 15
Change of Heart 6 -> 3
Crystron Inclusion 25 -> 20
Crystron Sulfador 5 -> 3
Dark End Evaporation Dragon 1 -> 0
Denglong, First of the Yang Zing 20 -> 10
Dragonic Diagram 15 -> 10
Dragonmaid Tidying 5 -> 1
Dragon’s Light and Darkness 3 -> 1
Duality 3 -> 1
Filia Regis 10 -> 7
Fire King Courtier Ulcanix 18 -> 15
Foolish Burial 33 -> 25
Forbidden Chalice 5 -> 1
Forbidden Lance 3 -> 1
Gigantic Spright 15 -> 7
Glow-Up Bulb 21 -> 15
Goblin Biker Big Gabonga 15 -> 12
Guardian Chimera 33 -> 20
Infinite Impermanence 12 -> 11
Interrupted Kaiju Slumber 10 -> 0
Iron Thunder 5 -> 3
Lyrilusc – Bird Call 20 -> 5
Lyrilusc – Sapphire Swallow 0 -> 3
Lyrilusc – Turquoise Warbler 0 -> 3
Magician’s Souls 15 -> 10
Mathmech Sigma 7 -> 5
Metamorphosis 5 -> 3
Monster Reborn 4 -> 3
N.As.H. Knight 15 -> 13
Necrovalley 40 -> 25
Nightmare Throne 25 -> 13
Phantom of Yubel 76 -> 88
Pot of Desires 20 -> 15
Premature Burial 3 -> 2
Rescue-ACE Air Lifter 5 -> 3
Rescue-ACE Preventer 10 -> 7
Return from the Different Dimension 40 -> 20
Return of the Dragon Lords 7 -> 3
Ritual Beast Tamer Elder 10 -> 3
Shien’s Smoke Signal 33 -> 20
Snatch Steal 4 -> 2
Swordsoul Emergence 10 -> 7
Swordsoul Grandmaster – Chixiao 20 -> 10
Swordsoul Strategist Longyuan 5 -> 1
T.G. Hyper Librarian 33 -> 20
Tenyi Spirit – Ashuna 3 -> 0
Union Hangar 15 -> 5
Virtual World Mai-Hime – Lulu 3 -> 0
Welcome Labrynth 20 -> 15

Why Did It Take So Long To Get a Data-Based Point Update?
We don’t want to base changes entirely off data from OTS events. Players use these events to experiment with new strategies, practice for big events, and just generally mess around and have a good time. We think that changing things up before there’s even a chance to try out what you’ve been working on at a big event would leave a bad taste in your mouth. If we were players, we certainly wouldn’t want to have to restart our tournament preparation based entirely on the results of locals. But we do think that as long as there was at least one big event, it’s fair game even if we couldn’t personally attend that event.

There was an unusually long amount of time between major Genesys events this time around, largely because there were no Genesys Main Events at the Team YCSes, and the March/April slate were all team events. This shouldn’t be an issue anymore now that the “big top” events have begun. In the future, there will be plenty of months where there are multiple YCS events (and Genesys regionals) between adjustments and we can be even more precise in our changes as a result.

What’s Next?
The next points update will coincide with the Chaos Origins Premiere events and will include cards introduced in Chaos Origins and Battles of Legend: Glorious Gallery.

And don’t forget that each WCQ in the Americas (North, Central, and South) has an open (you don’t need an invite!) Genesys 2-day event where the grand prize is a trip to Jump Festa in Japan! Also, take note: These are listed in the MAIN EVENT sections on the web sites!

You can find a list of OTS’s hosting Genesys tournaments here!