For those reading from home, the competition here at YCS Vancouver has been fierce! Duelists are working to find ways to deal with Unchained while still playing around Decks like Purrely and Kashtira. With that in mind, we took the time to look at the Top Tables here during Round 9 of YCS Vancouver to see what some of the hottest tech cards are.

Tech cards are ones that other competitors may or may not know about that can be used to turn the tide of a Duel in one’s favor against the biggest match-ups of the weekend. Unchained is the deck to beat this weekend so the competitors are busting out all sorts of awesome cards to combat it.

Fantastical Dragon Phantazmay hasn’t seen competitive play in quite some time, not since the days when Gouki was the strongest Deck in the room. Phantazmay is amazing against decks like Unchained and Dragon Link where Link Summoning is a core part of the strategy. Fantastical Dragon Phantazmay’s effect gives competitors a chance to draw into some extra cards on their opponent’s turn and maybe see more of their Side Deck, or even see cards like Nibiru, the Primal Being when they really need it!

Marionette Mite is another awesome tech card that is seeing Side Deck play almost exclusively for Unchained. Marionette Mite has an effect similar to Puppet Plant, which has seen plenty of tournament play in the past. By discarding it to the Graveyard, the Duelist is able to take control of any Fiend or Zombie-type Monster on the field! This is incredibly useful against the Unchained strategy, as all the monsters are Fiends! Unlike cards like Mind Control though, Marionette Mite doesn’t put any restrictions on what can be done with the stolen Monster. It can attack, be Tributed, or even used as a material for a Summon from the Extra Deck.

Sauravis, the Ancient and Ascended is another cool tech against tons of different Decks right now because it offers protection from any sort of targeting effects. That means that cards like Kashtira Arise-Heart and Escape of the Unchained can be stopped if they target one of your own cards. Duelists here at YCS Vancouver are using it to protect their monsters from being targeted for destruction, or even from cards like Book of Moon!

Grave of the Super Ancient Organism has always drifted in and out of the competition as a way to deal with high-Level monsters like in the Branded Despia strategies and now it also can be used against Unchained since Unchained Soul of Sharvara and Unchained Soul of Shyama are both Level 6 Monsters. Stopping a player from activating their effects or attacking with them is incredibly powerful and can put a huge damper on the Unchained strategy. 

Cards like Book of Moon and Xyz Encore are both widely popular right now as ways to also deal with the Purrely and Kashtira strategies. Book of Moon, along with Book of Eclipse have both been seeing consistent play since Kashtira came into the mix back at TEAM YCS Las Vegas. They’re both incredibly powerful against both Kashtira and Purrely strategies because they can shut plays off in their tracks and both strategies rely on Xyz Summoning. Xyz Encore can completely disrupt a Purrely Duelist’s field because it doesn’t actually affect the monster so it will work on a fully powered up Expurrely Noir.

These are just some of the awesome cards that Duelists here at YCS Vancouver are utilizing to try and combat the assault of Unchained decks while still respecting other strategies in the room.