Card Statistics from YCS Atlanta

It’s great to know which Decks you’re likely to encounter in a tournament, but it’s even better to know which cards you’re likely to encounter in those Decks. Take a look at some of the most popular cards used in YCS Atlanta, so that you’re not surprised when your opponents use them against you.

Moving Up the Charts…

Pot of Duality

36.6% of the Duelists in Atlanta used at least 1 copy of Pot of Duality in their Decks. This is a up from the 33% of Duelists who used it at the prior YCS in Philadephia. Pot’s numbers keep going up at every tournament, as more Pots get pulled from packs of Duelist Revolution. While the number of Duelists using just 1 Pot of Duality in their Decks actually went down, the number of Duelists using more than 1 copy increased by six times as much as that decrease.

Pot of Duality is a powerful card that can make any Deck more consistent. In the Top 16 of Atlanta, 13 Duelists ran a total of 29 copies of Pot of Duality, compared to 10 Duelists in Top 16 who ran a total of 21 copies in Philadephia. That’s an increase not just in the number of players using it, but an even greater increase in the number of Pots being used by each Duelist.

Scrap Dragon

Almost 58% of field in YCS Atlanta used at least 1 copy of Scrap Dragon in their Extra Decks. This is about a 13% increase from Scrap Dragon’s popularity in Philadelphia. In fact, almost exactly half the field in Atlanta used exactly 1 copy of Scrap Dragon in their Extra Decks, while only 39% of the Duelists in Philadelphia used exactly 1 copy.

This rising presence of Scrap Dragon means that you should beware of your opponent’s ability to Synchro Summon Level 8 monsters. Since Scrap Dragon can easily destroy any of your cards, allowing your opponent to Summon a Level 8 monster could mean the instant destruction of one of your most important cards.

Effect Veiler

Effect Veiler also saw a slight increase in popularity from YCS Philadelphia to YCS Atlanta, rising from appearances in 21% of the Decks to appearances in 26% of the Decks. This increasing popularity of Effect Veiler has some heavy implications for Duelists everywhere.

First of all, just because your opponent has no Spells/Traps in the back row doesn’t mean you can do whatever you want. At any moment, Effect Veiler may pop out of your opponent’s hand to stop you.

Second, Cold Wave plays are riskier than ever before. If you lock out your own Spell and Trap Cards with Cold Wave, hoping to make a big play, but your opponent stops you with Effect Veiler, that Cold Wave could hurt you more than it hurts them. You’ll be defenseless during your opponent’s next turn, and he’ll be able to strike fearlessly, unless you have an Effect Veiler of your own. It only takes a single copy of Effect Veiler to turn a Duel around.

Book of Moon

78.5% of the Duelists in Atlanta used at least 1 copy of Book of Moon in their Decks. In fact, nearly 50% of the field used a whopping 3 copies in their Decks – a huge increase from the 41.5% of Duelists who used 3 copies of Book of Moon in Philadelphia. In the Top 16, 15 Duelists ran an incredible total of 41 copies of Book of Moon, up from the 14 Duelists that ran 39 copies of Book of Moon in the Top 16 of YCS Philadelphia.

Moving Down the Charts…

Trap Stun

Less than 23% of the Duelists in Atlanta used Trap Stun in their Decks – a drastic decline from the 35% that used it in Philadelphia. The number of Duelists running multiples dropped nearly in half, and only 3 Duelists used it in the Top 16.

With the new release of Forbidden Lance, which grants a monster protection from Spell and Trap Cards, we’re likely to see the popularity of Trap Stun decline even further this weekend.

Mystical Space Typhoon

Strangely, Mystical Space Typhoon also had a steep decrease in popularity from YCS Philadephia to YCS Atlanta, dropping from 61% of Decks to only be in 55% of Decks. Players seem to prefer mass-removal effects from cards like Black Rose Dragon, or versatile effects that can take down Spells, Traps, and Monsters, like the effects of Caius the Shadow Monarch and Icarus Attack.

Since Mystical Space Typhoon is capable of destroying Necrovalley, it’s a powerful card against Gravekeeper Decks. The decline in Mystical Space Typhoon’s popularity is probably one reason for the huge success of Gravekeeper Decks in Atlanta.

Bottomless Trap Hole

Bottomless Trap Hole dropped from 74% of the Duelists in Philadelphia to only 64% in Atlanta. More surprisingly, the number of Duelists using 2 copies in their Decks dropped by a whopping 15%!

As with Mystical Space Typhoon, the decreased popularity of Bottomless Trap Hole may be partially responsible for the success of Gravekeeper’s in Atlanta. Bottomless Trap Hole is strong against Gravekeepers, since they usually only Summon 1 monster each turn. Stopping a Summon early on can leave a Gravekeeper’s Duelist wide open for attack. Gravekeepers also rely on Gravekeeper’s Stele to retrieve fallen Gravekeeper’s monsters from the Graveyard, while Bottomless Trap Hole removes Gravekeeper’s monsters from the Duel so they can’t come back to the hand.

Dimensional Prison

Another simple card that has seen a decrease in popularity. While almost 34% of the Duelists in Philadelphia used it, only 24% of the Duelists in Atlanta used it.

Realizing that the popularity of Dimensional Prison is trending downwards, you may decide that attacking is safer than it has been before.

Keeping in mind the trends of specific card popularity could help you determine which cards your opponent may use against you. However, there’s no guarantee that a trend will continue. The rise of new Decks will force Duelists to change their tech choices and reallocate the space in their Decks. Plus, new cards like Maxx “C” and Forbidden Lance are likely to occupy some slots in existing Decks. When the weekend is over, we should have a better sense of which cards are moving up and down the popularity charts.