The Forbidden & Limited List (F&L) for the World Championship is a special mix of both the TCG and OCG lists with additional modifications. Because of that, the World Championship becomes a very unique tournament in terms of what strategies are being played. This is a fantastic opportunity for highly skilled Duelists because they can analyze what they think will be the strongest strategies for a completely new environment. Luckily, any Duelist who has made it as far as the World Championship is definitely at that skill caliber, so things are looking exciting for this weekend.
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The Forbidden & Limited (F&L) List for the 2016 World Championship is a special mix of both the TCG and OCG lists with additional modifications. Because of that, the 2016 World Championship becomes a very unique tournament in terms of what strategies are being played. This is a fantastic opportunity for highly skilled Duelists because they can analyze what they think will be the strongest strategies for a completely new environment. Luckily, any Duelist who has made it as far as the 2016 World Championship is definitely at that skill-caliber, so things are looking exciting for this weekend.
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Heading into the weekend there were four big defined strategies that were expected to be heavily represented in the field. Burning Abyss had won the last two North American YCS, so it had a huge target on its head. Monarchs in various forms have been popular since their release, with Extra Deck Monarch pulling ahead by a substantial margin recently over its Domain counterpart. Two different variants of Pendulum had shined a bit more than the rest, one utilizing powerful Performapal combos while the other used the consistent Odd-Eyes Magician engine to Pendulum Summon huge threats like Majespecter Unicorn – Kirin and Mist Valley Apex Avian. Finally, Card of Demise has given life to a ton of different trap strategies as Duelists tried to find the best shell for it. What ended up being the most successful?
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While not a theme or an archetype, Card of Demise has basically become a strategy on its own. Whether it’s reviving an old Deck or giving fire to a new one, it has completely reshaped how Trap-based strategies are being played. Right now, reactive strategies are a huge disadvantage. Burning Abyss and Monarchs are both so good at being proactive, generating a ton of free cards while just following their normal game plan. If you’re trying to disrupt them, you usually end up at a deficit because your Trap Cards can only answer so much.
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Burning Abyss has been in contention as the Deck to beat since its release. It has gone through so many different evolutions, and the fact that it topped the 2015 North American WCQ says a lot. The key to its success has always been consistency. Scarm, Malebranche of the Burning Abyss, Graff, Malebranche of the Burning Abyss, and Cir, Malebranche of the Burning Abyss are all very good at making sure you get to whatever Burning Abyss you want. Dante, Traveler of the Burning Abyss also only takes two Malebranches to summon, so you can almost guarantee that it’ll hit the Field every game. In addition to that, Dante, Traveler of the Burning Abyss is the kind of card that can snowball out of control. Sending three cards to the Graveyard every turn is great, and if it’s sent to the Graveyard you also get to add back a Burning Abyss card. Since then the strategy has taken a couple hits, but the release of Beatrice, Lady of the Eternal has shot it back into the spotlight.
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Pendulums are a very interesting strategy to talk about, simply because the mechanic is what defines the Deck. Because of this, Pendulum strategies tend to have a lot of different themes in them. Mixing archetypes isn’t always the best idea, but with the inherent synergies of the Pendulum mechanic it is clear why it is considered one of the top dogs. Its card pool is just naturally bigger than most other Decks because there are so many different Pendulum archetypes, and ultimately this causes each list to look very different from the other.
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Out of the most dominant strategies represented at the North American World Championship Qualifier this weekend, Monarchs are definitely the most powerful. Such strength comes at a hefty cost: while having the highest ceiling in terms of what the Deck can do, it is also the least consistent. Monarchs are a high-risk, high-reward strategy and nothing can really fight toe-to-toe with it once it manages to get going.
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We’re taking a break from Feature Matches here in Round 4 to get caught up, grab some
lunch, and get you the breakdown of every Deck played in this tournament!
After late registrations into the World Championship Qualifier we ended up with 591
Duelists competing for the Championship. What were they playing? That’s what we
wanted to know, so we found out what the WCQ metagame looks like here in Day 1.
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Here is a quick analysis of what Decks helped their Duelist make it to the Top 16 Draft and the breakdown of Deck Types!
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Jono Ritzau traveled here from Australia to compete in this weekend’s YCS with his Fire Fist Deck. Jono Ritzau came prepared, and Dueled his way up to the Top 16. But now, no amount of preparation and practice with his Fire Fist Deck will help him. Ritzau is about to take part in the first Battle Pack 2: War of the Giants – Round 2 draft ever to take place in the Top 16 of a YCS tournament. Ritzau has never drafted Battle Pack 2: War of the Giants – Round 2 before, but has a keen understanding of the Yu-Gi-Oh! TRADING CARD GAME. Will his strong knowledge about the Yu-Gi-Oh! TRADING CARD GAME be enough to help Ritzau advance to the Top 8, or will his inexperience with drafting force him to face early defeat? I sat down next to Ritzau to watch his draft experience unfold.
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