TEAM YCS Las Vegas: General Tech Update
The Ryzeal and Maliss themes have been dominant since their debut in Crossover Breakers, with each strategy consistently making it into the top cut of the last several YCS events. Here at TEAM YCS Las Vegas, both decks continue to perform well, but are joined by other strategies, including Mermails and Blue-Eyes! With the changes to the format, here are some of the tech choices that top players have incorporated into their decks:
Droll & Lock Bird
We’ve seen over the past several years just how important it is to be able to interact with your opponent when going second. Cards like Ash Blossom & Joyous Spring and Nibiru the Primal Being have been competitive mainstays with their ability to disrupt the opponent’s ability to establish monsters on the field. Droll & Lock Bird is a card that has seen a sudden surge in competitive play here at TEAM YCS Las Vegas, as it completely shuts down both Duelists’ ability to add cards from the Main Deck to the hand. The release of Seventh Tachyon has granted players the ability to search for cards like Artifact Lancea, but Droll & Lock Bird can punish players for using certain searching abilities too early in the Duel. There are several cards in the format that search for other search cards, such as Seventh Ascension searching for Seventh Tachyon or Fiendsmith Engraver searching for Fiendsmith’s Tract, and Droll can make it difficult for these engines to fulfill their intended purpose!
Crossout Designator
Crossout Designator is a card that has seen a ton of competitive usage over the last several YCS events! Recently, several competitive staples have found their way into the majority of decks, including cards like Nibiru the Primal Being, Ash Blossom & Joyous Spring, and Infinite Impermanence. Crossout is a very effective way to deal with these disruptions, as you can banish a copy of the same card from your own deck, and in turn, ensure that your intended cards and effects can resolve. In the current format, Crossout Designator has gotten even more attention as a Side Deck option. Ryzeal is an extremely popular strategy, and while Crossout is typically run when going first to ensure that your cards can resolve, it can also be used going second in mirror matches to shut down cards like Bonfire and Ice Ryzeal, making it much more difficult for your opponent to establish their board.
Lightning Storm / Harpie’s Feather Duster
Lightning Storm and Harpie’s Feather Duster have seen a sudden surge in play, making their way into a ton of Side Decks here at TEAM YCS Las Vegas! Both of these cards have the ability to destroy all of your opponents’ Spell/Trap Cards, which can potentially deal with several of your opponent’s interactions at once. Some popular options at the moment include Infinite Impermanence, Solemn Strike, and Dominus Impulse, all of which are extremely vulnerable to backrow destruction. However, the card is also a great call in certain matchups. Against the Maliss strategy, these cards can force the opponent to activate their Maliss <C> MTP-07, Maliss <C> GWC-06, or Maliss <C> TB-11 early, forcing your opponent to activate them and trigger their Maliss monsters’ effects at a suboptimal time. Additionally, these cards can be devastating against the Blue-Eyes deck, as destroying the opponent’s True Light also results in all of their monsters being destroyed, as well!
Metaltronus
Metaltronus has continued to be an extremely impactful card over the last several YCS events, seeing play in both the Main and Side Deck! It is able to deal with problematic monsters, as your opponent cannot activate the targeted monster’s effects in response to this card. The main function of Metaltronus is to deal with Ryzeal Detonator, a difficult card for some decks to deal with because of its ability to pop multiple cards in the same turn, as well as protect itself from destruction. In fact, even decks like Maliss are known to run a single copy of Detonator in their Side Deck or Extra Deck, as if you Special Summon the Detonator off of Metaltronus, you get to banish both copies face-down! Not only do you not have to deal with the interactions anymore, but if the Detonator is banished, it can no longer be recycled with Ryzeal Cross. Alternatively, you can Special Summon a monster that will negate Detonator’s effects while simultaneously advancing your own strategy; Ryzeal Decks will Special Summon an Ice Ryzeal that can be used as Xyz Material, or Blue-Eyes Decks can Special Summon Blue-Eyes White Dragon to set up a big Synchro Summon!
