Lots of cards from the past have seen a huge surge in play this weekend to combat the most competitive Decks. Check out some of the most popular tech cards of the weekend that can be used in just about any Deck!

• Anti-Spell Fragrance

Anti-Spell Fragrance is over a decade old, but it wasn’t until Pendulum Monsters were released that it gained recognition from competitive Duelists. Anti-Spell Fragrance is a Continuous Trap Card that prevents players from activating Spell Cards unless those Spell Cards are Set face-down for at least 1 turn. Normally, this just delays the activation of Spell Cards.

But in today’s Dueling world, Anti-Spell Fragrance does a lot more than that. As a general rule, Pendulum Cards can’t be Set in the Pendulum Zone. That means they can’t be used as Spells at all while Anti-Spell Fragrance is face-up on the field. Without being able to activate Pendulum Spells, Pendulum-based Decks can’t Pendulum Summon monsters and generally fall to pieces. A simple activation of Anti-Spell Fragrance completely shuts down an opponent’s Performapal Pendulum Deck, making it a popular card this weekend.

• Magical Spring

We saw Magical Spring have a big impact in Duel 1 of our Round 4 Feature Match, earning it a spot on this YCS Atlanta Tech Update list. At the surface, Magical Spring looks like a card that lets you draw and discard cards, making it a solid pick against Decks that use Pendulum Monsters. But in this weekend’s environment, it’s actually much more than that.

Performapal Pendulum and Dracoslayer-based Decks frequently depend on destroying one’s own Pendulum Spells, and Magical Spring forbids that from happening. Here are a few examples of cards that benefit from the destruction of Pendulum Scales:

• Performapal Pendulum Sorcerer lets you destroy two of your own cards (for which Duelists usually pick their own Pendulum Scales), and then grabs Performapal Monsters from the Deck for each card destroyed.
• Luster Pendulum, the Dracoslayer lets you destroy a card in your other Pendulum Zone, and then, if you do, lets you get another copy of that card from your Deck.
• Wavering Eyes destroys all cards in all Pendulum Zones, and gets an effect based on the number of cards destroyed.

By preventing an opponent from destroying his or her own Pendulum Scales with Magical Spring, you can make your opponent’s Performapal Pendulum Sorcerer, Luster Pendulum, the Dracoslayer, and Wavering Eyes a lot weaker.

• Droll & Lock Bird

Duelists are adding cards to their hands outside of their Draw Phase all over the tournament hall! Performapal Pendulum Sorcerer, Performapal Monkeyboard, Performapal Guitartle, Luster Pendulum, the Dracoslayer, Upstart Goblin, Pantheism of the Monarchs, Kozmo Tincan, and many, many more cards all add cards from the Deck to the hand outside of the Draw Phase. Droll & Lock Bird prevents players from adding cards to their hand outside of the Draw Phase, rendering all of these cards vulnerable to Droll & Lock Bird.

In some Decks, Duelists can even combo Droll & Lock Bird with the effect of Artifact Durendal to force an opponent to shuffle his or her hand into his or her Deck and draw nothing in return. This play is usually devastating, single-handedly dictating the outcome of a Duel.

• Ghost Ogre & Snow Rabbit

Ghost Ogre & Snow Rabbit saw a surge in popularity this weekend, as Spell Cards that activate effects while face-up on the field have become increasingly popular. Lots of Pendulum cards, including Performapal Monkeyboard, Performapal Guitartle, and Luster Pendulum, the Dracoslayer have powerful effects that activate from the Pendulum Zone. If Ghost Ogre & Snow Rabbit destroys one of them when Chained to its effect, that effect will not resolve, since the card that activated the effect is no longer on the field.

Ghost Ogre & Snow Rabbit can also destroy Domain of the True Monarchs when Domain’s effect is activated to lower the Level of a Monarch in the hand. Using Ghost Ogre & Snow Rabbit in this fashion can be a crucial move in a Duel, when Domain of the True Monarchs may otherwise prevent a Duelist from accessing his or her Extra Deck.

• Effect Veiler

Effect Veiler has almost always been popular, ever since its initial release; but it seems to be seeing even more play than usual this weekend. As Duelists rely on huge plays from the effects of monsters like Performapal Skullcrobat Joker, Performapal Pendulum Sorcerer, Ehther the Heavenly Monarch, Kozmo Farmgirl, and more, Effect Veiler is invoked to stop these plays.