Las Vegas Post Mortem

The first event of a format is always a pretty defining moment.  It can tell us what we can expect to see more of for future events, where the prices of cards will go, and similarly what will define the format.  I realize that YCS Brazil was technically the first event of the format; however, we can tell a lot more from an event consisting of over 1000 players than only around 300.  While this will change significantly after the release of both Dragons of Legend and Primal Origins, it is still important to dissect the results of the event.  Vegas provided us with a pretty clear consensus that the top two decks the way the format is currently constructed are going to be Geargia and Mermails.  Geargia took home ten spots out of the top 32 and Mermails accounted for nine spots.  Between both Mythic Rulers and Hieratics, Dragon variants accounted for five spots of the top 32.  Two Bujin, two Fire Fist, and four rogues rounded out the rest of the top 32.  Besides clearly seeing that Geargia and Mermail were the top two decks from the results of this event, we can see what individual cards each of their builds played that make them unique to builds that we have seen before.

The most played and most hyped deck throughout the weekend was clearly Geargia.  Virtually every Geargia player was maindecking either two or three Black Horn of Heaven.  Some players were even siding Traptrix Trap Hole Nightmare as fifth, sixth, and in some cases, seventh Black Horns.  The main reason players were playing Traptrix Trap Hole Nightmare at all was due to the fact that it was a response to Gear Gigant X that would prevent the monster from being special summoned from the graveyard.  It could also destroy Arsenal’d Armors that were trying to flip themselves down, amongst other things.  In response to many players maindecking Black Horn of Heaven, many players began to change their playstyles with the deck; in addition, to playing other cards that would play around the techs players were maindecking.  For instance, in games two and three especially, in Geargia mirrors, most players would not attempt to instantly XYZ into a Gigant, but would instead go for Accelerator/Arsenal beats.  This is largely due to the fact that very few players played outs to plain old attacking.  As well, duelists played Seven Tools of the Bandit, to get around Black Horns and other traps that were plaguing the rest of the deck’s power plays.

While Geargia were far and away the most played deck, the most interesting deck that appeared, in my opinion, was piloted by one of my friends, Chancy Wigglestove, also known by his online screen name, Squiddy.  Squiddy played a version of Mermails that was interestingly unique.  Squiddy’s build played interesting cards and that are not often seen in Mermails builds anymore such as, Dragon Ice, Moulinglacia, and Fishborg Archer.  In addition, by playing a Genex Undine build of Mermails, Squiddy was able to make Beelze, something that few duelists had dealt with before or in testing, giving him another advantage against the competition.  Squiddy’s build was really interesting, in that in dealt with many problems that the format presented and used ways to get rid of them that were not commonly seen, and therefore would cause his opponent’s to try to think hard to get around his plays.  Squiddy’s only loss throughout the constructed portion of the event was due to his decision to go drop a deuce instead of play and got a game loss for his trouble.  His eventual loss came in draft play during top 16 to 3^rd place duelist, Robbie Boyajian.

In short, there were innovative and new ideas seen during YCS Vegas and it provides insight as to what players should expect for local and regional events to come.  Next Friday, marks the release of Dragons of Legend, a set that is sure to change the metagame significantly when it releases a number of powerful meta-changing cards, including Soul Charge, Fire Hand, Ice Hand, Mathematician, Wiretap, and Kuribandit.  Check back later this week for power plays and thoughts on these cards and more in the upcoming set.