Last weekend
the highly anticipated YCS Madrid took place. Some of you may ask why was this
YCS highly anticipated. In this article i want to explain why this YCS was so
special. Roughly 500 players attended this event which was a surprisingly small
number. I personally had expected a higher number (approximately 700 – 800
players) since Madrid is a popular city which many players were keen to visit.
Two things
made this event remarkable. It was the first YCS after the new Draw Rule became
effective – meaning that the player to start the game has to skip his draw
phase and starts with only five cards in hand. Players were discussing this
change in depth and how it would affect the game. Previously, everbody wanted
to start the game. There was no downside to beginning. Now, the player to start
the game can set up, but has the disadvantage of being one card behind. Which
deck wants to start and which deck prefers to go second was a matter of
discussion and I expected this YCS to lead the way. I was really excited to see
how players would handle these changes at a large scale tournament like a YCS.
The second
big change since the last YCS was the release of Duellist Alliance. The new set
also was highly anticipated, because it was expected to change the metagame
completely. During the nationals season
there were a few decks competing and able to win a big scale tournament like
Mermails, Lightsworn, Dragons, HAT etc. The new set was expected to establish
new top tier decks – and looking back at the YCS– we can say for sure it did. Duellist
Alliance introduced four new archetypes into the game and three of them were
the most successfull decks at the tournament. One of them even won YCS Madrid
(and YCS Toronto, which took place at the same time in North America). The
metagame consits of Shadolls vs. Satellarknights vs. Burning Abyss. For those
that followed the coverage oft he event, which has improved a lot since the
introduction of a live stream of the feature matches, could see that the older
decks just could not keep up with those new decks. Even though the archetypes
use completely different engines, the constant flow of cards and ressources
make them stronger then older decks like Mermails (which won European
Nationals).
Satellarknights
is a light theme, that’s focused on rank 4 XYZ summons. Rank 4’s are the most
powerful XYZ monster at the moment.
Burning Abyss
spams a lot of Rank 3 XYZ Monsters. The
monsters recycle each other again and again and you can hardly run out of
ressources. The weakness of the deck is that Rank 3s are not as powerful
anymore.
Shadolls is the
first deck that is able to use fusion monsters successfully thanks to shadoll
fusion, which allows the player to search the fusion material monsters out of
the deck and therefore reducing the amount of necessesary ressources.
Those three decks
took 27 spots out of the Top 32. Only 5 s called rogue decks that are not out
of Duellist Alliance could place in the
top 32. The change in the meta also forced players to prepare for these
matchups resulting in side decks. full
of light and dark imprisoning mirrors. It reminded me a lot of the DAD vs.
Lightsworn era. Shadolls seem the be the best deck at the moment due to their
flexibility: they can play its fusions as well as synchros and XYZ monsters. It
also can play super polymerization which is a win condition on its own due tot
he fact that it cannot be negated and use opponents monsters for a fusion
summon. The card is especcially good vs. Satellarknights and gives the deck the
edge over its competition. Otherwise i think that satellarknights were the
better deck. It has a stronger tutor with Deneb and a really strong control
card with Stellarnova Alpha. And as mentioned earlier Rank 4s are the best
toolbox. They can solve almost any problem.
Unfortunately
YCS Madrid was also the last big tournament with this format. In approximately
two weeks we will get a new banned list meaning that the format will change
again. Although I do not expect the new cards to get hit. That would be very
unusual. Meaning the next YCS in London will probably have a different metagame.
The game remains fast paced just like we love it.
