REMINDER! Beginning this season, Genesys is expanding to Regional Qualifiers as well! You’ll need an invite to compete in next year’s Genesys Championship, so check out the locations on the website here! And don’t forget, the new Winner’s Packs get awarded to top finishers at Genesys Regionals, so it’s another chance to get your hands on the latest prizes!

These point changes will take effect on Monday and are based on results from the Genesys Championships held at our recent World Championship Qualifiers (WCQ’s). Let’s start with some of the overall takeaways and trends from the WCQ’s.

Between North America and Europe, there were no severe play rate outliers among individual strategies. The only strategy used by more than 10% of players was Blitzclique (~13%) although Fairy Tail was close. Furthermore, no individual card was used by 50% or more of all players. D.D. Crow did sneak just over 50% in North America but was pulled back to the other side by Europe.

The overall most popular strategy globally was Blitzclique, which swept the weekend’s events. In Europe, the second most popular strategy was Melffy, while in North America, it was “Summoning Therion “King” Regulus”, however when you put the numbers together from both events, Fairy Tail comes out as the overall second most popular strategy. Melffy ended up with no top finishes anywhere, but 1 of the Regulus Decks, teaming it with DoomZ, made Top 8 in Europe. Fairy Tail made Top 32 on every continent and was the winner of the South American Genesys Championship. The Central American Genesys Championship was won by Tellarknights, using Number 86: Heroic Champion – Rhongomyniad. Having finally won a championship, Rhongomyniad can now peacefully retire.

Number 86: Heroic Champion – Rhongomyniad 68->100

A big question was “which obstructive Thunder monster ends up being the monster of choice for Blitzclique?” The actual data shows Thunderclap Monk to be the heavy favorite with a small side of Lightning Rod Lord. The next question is, do you play 1 or 3 Monks, a question that the winner answered with a most emphatic “3”. So here are the Blitzclique point changes for now:

Whisker Blitzclique 0->6
Blitzclique Breakaway 0->2
Thunderclap Monk 0->9
Lightning Rod Lord 0->1

For Fairy Tail, Snow’s points are being redistributed amongst other key cards. Genia and Regulus (the Endymion one) are also being monitored, but we’ll get a better look at them when Beyond the Brave launches.

Fairy Tail – Snow 85->10
Fairy Tail – Matchgiru 0->5
Fairy Tail – Wiccat 0->10
Fairy Tail Ball 0->10

DoomZ is the most popular of the Regulus Decks, but certainly not the only one. The general ability to easily make Rank 4s and skirt the cost of Medius the Pure will also be lessened, but more about that later.

Therion “King” Regulus 20->33

Tellarknights had an extremely good couple of months and were still very impactful after getting their initial points on the BLGG cards.

Tellarknight Lyran 0->5
Darktellarknight Batlamyus 0->1
Exstellarknight Constellar Ptolemy Ω7 0->5
Stellarnova Binding 0->3
Constellar Tellarknights 0->1
Chronomaly Vimana 0->10

The hype for Melffy was quite strong and it saw a lot of play… but not a lot of success. An unfortunate and costly stumble out of the gate, but the Deck still has plenty of cap space for powerful non-engine cards.

Melffy Godmommy 0->2
Melffy Footsteps 0->2
Melffy Staring Contest 0->2

The popularity of Sacred Beasts was one of the biggest surprises. There were a lot of players on the floor looking for Starlight Rare Sacred Beasts and they were delivering strong finishes and awesome Duels all over the place. Card of the Soul has been waiting for a good Deck that runs 4000/4000 monsters for ages, but it’s also a card you have to be careful with because any Deck that inflicts incidental damage can render it unusable.

Calamity of the Sacred Beasts – Hamon, Lord of Striking Thunder 0->2
Infinity of the Sacred Beasts – Raviel, Lord of Phantasms 0->2
Martyr of the Sacred Beasts 2->3
Sacred Beasts Thunderclap 2->3
Nerva the Power Patron of Creation 5->6
Superdreadnought Rail Cannon Gustav Max 0->10

Crystron is currently the Synchro combo Deck of choice. The main flavor of Crystron going around right now is Elfnote Crystron, but the B.E.S. version had a promising start. Currently the B.E.S. version is only being used by a couple players per event.

Crystron Sulfefnir 0->2
Crystron Tristaros 0->2
Elfnote Tinia 0->3
Elfnote Lucina 0->1

The Clown Crew’s antics have steadily increased over the past couple of months.

Clown Crew Flair 0->5

Now, let’s take a look at some increases and decreases on some general use cards.

Despite having its global usage rate dragged just below the 50% mark, Crow is the most played card in the entire format. It’s always been a deceptive card because it reads like it “does nothing” but if you’ve ever played with it you know that’s not true. A newer card with an over 40% use rate is Pair Bear Scare!! This particular card is a fascinating case because the more people play it the worse it gets. So as a 0-point card that anyone can use, it’s at its lowest effectiveness. Were it to gain points, it becomes more likely to resolve its destruction effect since players will start cutting it out to save on points. We’re going to monitor the ebb and flow of this card’s usage for a couple more big events before deciding on what to do with it.

D.D. Crow 1->2

The addition of Tellarknights and Blitzclique into the format in consecutive sets massively spiked the usage of Seventh Tachyon over the last couple months. Going from about 1 in every 11 players using it to almost 1 in 3 is more than enough to warrant a point hike. Similarly, A Hero Lives has become a crucial card in the various Regulus Decks and other Decks looking to spam Rank 4s or find Medius the Pure. There’s also been a jump in players using the Archfiend arsenal thanks to the flexibility of Royal Archfiend and Archfiend’s Usurpation.

Seventh Tachyon 0->11
A Hero Lives 0->8
Royal Archfiend 0->7
Archfiend’s Usurpation 0->3

Now that we’ve got a lot more real-world data on search card usage we’re going to modify the base point values on most of the generic Type searchers and a few other search Spells as well. The Extra Deck monsters will remain where they are for the moment.

Bonfire 33->15
Chaos Space 40->13
Deep Sea Aria 40->12
Emergency Teleport 35->25
Fire Formation – Tenki 35->11
Fossil Dig 33->18
Lonefire Blossom 33->10
One for One 91->19
Original Sinful Spoils – Snake-Eye 100->17
Quick Launch 33->25
Reinforcement of the Army 33->18
Terraforming 33->20

Next up are some reductions and rearrangements for low-pop Decks, and Decks whose cards are being used by non-themed Decks. For example, Shaddoll players have solemnly sworn to us that they are willing to never Fusion Summon El Shaddoll Winda ever again in return for getting points back on their other cards.

The Phantom Knights of Decayed Cloak 4->2
The Phantom Knights of Doomed Soleret 5->3
The Phantom Knights of Malevolent Scythe 12->10
The Phantom Knights of Break Sword 0->1
Blackwing – Boreastorm the Wicked Wind 20->15
Swordsoul Emergence 7->2
Dragonic Diagram 10->5
Tour Guide from the Underworld 3->0
Garunix Eternity, Hyang of the Fire Kings 0->3
Legendary Fire King Ponix 10->7
Fire King High Avatar Kirin 7->5
Goblin Biker Big Gabonga 12->10
Goblin Biker Grand Entrance 20->15
Officiator of Doom Samuel 10->0
Thundercrash Snarecrow 10->0
Purrely Happy Memory 0->2
Purrelyly 7->5
El Shaddoll Winda 60->100
El Shaddoll Apkallone 10->1
Lev Shaddoll Fusion 10->3
Shaddoll Fusion 0->3
Shaddoll Schism 10->1
Pot of Desires 15->10
Raigeki 4->2

And that will do it for this update! The next update will be towards the end of August, covering the new cards in Magnificent Monsters.

Genesys Regionals are now beginning, and while these changes won’t be active for this weekend, they will be for next weekend.

So while you’re at your tournaments this weekend, think about what cards you might want to pick up for the new format!