Raging Tempest is only a week old, and it’s already changed the Dueling landscape in some huge ways.

We are seeing many Decks here in Seattle emerge from the themes in Raging Tempest,  one of them is Zodiac engine. They’re being used in full Zoodiac Decks, as well as combination strategies along with things like Metalfoe, Kaiju, Infernoid, and Artifacts. Since each of the Zoodiac Xyz Monsters can be played using any one Zoodiac monster on the field, they can make some huge plays with Zoodiac Ratpier to get out Zoodiac Drident with an Xyz Material, along with one more Rank 4 Xyz Monster. They’ll often go for Daigusto Emeral to get back their combo pieces, but there are many more options depending on what they need at the moment. Since this combo uses mostly the Extra Deck, with only a few Zoodiacs in the Main Deck, it is easy to fit into many strategies.

Like Zoodiacs, the new Windwitches are easy to fit into a variety of Decks. They prefer to be used along with WIND monsters, but actually can work almost anywhere. The basic combo is to Special Summon Windwitch – Ice Bell, which in turn will Special Summon Windwitch – Glass Bell. Glass Bell’s effect will add Windwitch – Snow Bell to your hand, and since you now control two WIND monsters you can Special Summon Snow Bell. Use Ice Bell and Glass Bell to Synchro Summon Windwitch – Winter Bell, and use its effect to deal some effect damage. Then, use Snow Bell and Winter Bell to play Crystal Wing Synchro Dragon. Crystal Wing is already a powerful card, and Snow Bell’s effect makes it unable to be destroyed by your opponent’s card effects. So, while the Windwitches will take up some space in your Main Deck, they enable you to play a super powered Crystal Wing simply by starting with Ice Bell!

That Grass Looks Greener is probably the biggest non-themed card in RATE, taking Deck building to some strange new places – now some Duelists are encouraged to use 60 cards in their Deck! Any Deck that likes to see a huge Graveyard can play That Grass Looks Greener, and the biggest winner here is the Infernoid Deck. Using That Grass Looks Greener along with some new Void cards from RATE, Infernoids can be devastating. A few other strategies can also play That Grass Looks Greener, such as Skull Servants. They also got some great new tools in RATE, like Wightprincess and Sea Monster of Theseus.

While Zoodiacs and Infernoids are looking to be the most popular things to come from RATE, it’s impossible to tell what will be best at this point of the tournament. After all, RATE also brought new Performapals, Subterrors, SPYRALs, Ancient Gears, Cyber Angels, and the new Shinobirds, just to name a few!