YCS Denver comes bringing many new changes, and you might be left wondering what Duelists are going to do to adapt. We’ve got new cards from Duelist Saga, a new Forbidden & Limited List, and updated text for several older cards. Here are a few things to watch for:

Imperial Order

One of the most powerful cards in the history of Dueling is back, albeit with a text errata. This Continuous Trap Card still negates all Spell effects on the field, although now it comes it a steeper cost. You’ll have to pay 700 Life Points for Imperial Order during each player’s Standby Phase, and it’s no longer optional. Gone are the days of flipping Imperial Order and simply letting it be destroyed on your own turn! Even with these changes, the ability to negate all Spells is incredibly powerful. You can expect to see Duelists making huge plays, getting all their Spell Cards out of the way, then flipping Imperial Order to protect their field. We also may see Duelists using alternative ways to destroy Spell/Trap Cards, since options like Twin Twisters will be less reliable with Imperial Order in the mix.

Paleozoics and Infernoids – the new top Decks?

While it remains to be seen, these two strategies are shaping up to be very strong contenders in the new Dueling field. Both were very strong before, and benefit from the new Forbidden & Limited List changes. Paleozoics can use Imperial Order very effectively, since their Decks are almost entirely Trap Cards. We’re seeing some new tech choices from Paleozoic Duelists, like Reasoning to load their Graveyard, and Absolute King Back Jack to get a free Trap Card. Paleozoic Duelists are also happy to see Vanity’s Emptiness Forbidden.

With Future Fusion now legal for play, Infernoids can use it to go nuts with Infernoid Tierra. While Future Fusion’s new text makes you wait a turn to send your Fusion Materials, it’s still a very powerful card that demands an answer immediately. Infernoids are another strategy happy to see Vanity’s Emptiness Forbidden (really, what isn’t?).

Paleozoics and Infernoids may be contested by other strategies, however – we’ll see how they perform in the main event this weekend. This may be the tournament of That Grass Looks Greener.

Zoodiacs are still a thing

Even with Zoodiac Ratpier now Semi-Limited, we’ll still be seeing plenty of Zoodiac strategies. However, you’ll need a more dedicated suite of cards to pull off the big Zoodiac combos (Zoodiac Barrage and Speedroid Terrortop being the big ones). That could result in more Duelists playing pure Zoodiac Decks instead of hybrids. The strategy is very much alive and well, and could easily prove to be the dominant strategy once again.

These are just a few of the things you can expect here, but the possibilities are much greater than this. With many other updates to the Forbidden & Limited List – Sangan, Rescue Cat and Brionac, Dragon of the Ice Barrier, to name a few – we could see other strategies performing well this weekend. Check back here to see more updates on YCS Denver, and don’t forget to watch out live stream (right here) to see what Duelists are using!