Mei July-Aug Meta Report

THE PHILIPPINE META

July 14 - August 23, 2023

About

The Philippines Meta Report

July 15 - August 23 Top Decks Representation

The decks mentioned is based on the commulative number of decks that appear in every Top 4 of any tournament ranking and/or events held across Philippines.
The overall results of the chart was ONLY BASED on the on sample population, which are the community Tournament Reports mentioned below:

ODA (Order of Duelist in Albay)
YGO Puerto Prinsesa (Palawan)
Gapo Tabletop Community (Olongapo)
YGO Central Cebu
Cebu Casual Duelists (Northern Cebu)
YGO Elyu (La Union)
Duel Bacolod Community (Bacolod)
YGO Zamboanga
Kai Duelists Tabletop Community
Toy Shogun
Eris Toys and Games
Final Turn Hobby Shop
Aqua Card Games Feliz
Play2Learn

ABOUT THE SYSTEM

01

ENTERING TOP 4

When a certain deck from a community enters Top 4, it wil be recorded immediately. It is equivalent to 1 meta point, which reflects the capability of the deck to consistently top.

02

ENTERING TOP 2-1

When a deck, having entered Top 4 has been recorded, it is determined if it also reaches Top 2 or Top 1. It is equal to an additional 1 meta point. This reflects the dominance.

03

GRASP OF CONTROL

When the decks top, they are also determined if they have control over the other communities, for an additional 1 meta point. This reflects the overall effectiveness and grasp of control of the decks.

Discussion

META Highlights

Tier Rating: S

VS, or Vanquished Souls, recieved an S rating for the number of times it became Champion + number of times it appeared on Top 4 of every Tournament within the communities across Philippines.

  • Vanquished Soul, with its recent support Jiaolong takes the lead with increased consistency and power along with its destructive interruptions. Paired with Kurikara Divincarnate in the main, the deck can outpower most decks esp in terms of going second.
  • Its unpredictability in terms of "what's next" makes the deck really versatile against most decks available. Vanquish Soul had been used by various players in multiple communities, proving its overall usage and dominance across PH meta.

Tier Rating: S

Rikka

Rikka, specifically Rikka Sunavalon variant, is slowly gaining popularity and dominance across Southern Bicol and Central Visayas regions.

    Notable players, such as Matthew Libo-on, and Karl Steven Renevera are consistently topping in the tournaments with the archetype in despite of the dominance of other decks.

    Rikka's "tribute for cost" mechanic is one of the best counters to any boss monsters currently available, and its ability to inherently go second with this mechanic is extremely vital to the deck's power level. Aside from this, Rikka had also proven its power with its dominance on YCS and World Championship, proving it's no wonder the deck performs very well in the Philippines as well.

Tier Rating: S

Labrynth takes her own lead in full power because of the new supports, Arias the Labrynth Servant from Age of Overlord. With the help of transaction rollback from Animation Chronicles, Labrynth and her servants sets foes a trap doomed fashion.

Labrynth became more potent and consistent, having intensive turn 0 play and stun.Dbarrier can be forced shot-gun on turn 0 with the help of Arias, crippling any deck a similar extra deck usage. Most notable players in this list are Jhomar Maravillas from Order of Duelists in Albay and Jeremy Solera from YGO Central Cebu. Maravillas was the Top 15 in the Swiss Rankings of the recently concluded 2023 Duelist Cup Philippines held in Manila using Purrely.

Tier Rating: S-

Rescue-Acetakes their own lead in full power because of the new supports, Sinful Eyes and Diabellstar from Age of Overlord.

    Rescue Ace's core Mechanic is disruption and control, a prominent advantage in today's meta. Without interruption, R-ACE can setup a board full of beatstick interruptions and control with protection, consistently improved through the power of Original Sinful Spoils - Snake - Eye that searches level 1 fire monsters, such as Rescue Ace Fire Hydrant.


    Notable players from Rescue Ace includes Armell John Gabuya from AquONE, topping several Tournaments consecutively. Gabuya was one of the dominant players in Central Rizal, bringing Rescue-Ace to scene in multiple communities and tournaments he join.

About Power

The Best Decks so far

What the Data Suggests

The Tiers represent the capability of each archetype to outperform other decks in terms of tournaments and the likeliness of them to enter top cuts and win as top 2 to 1. It also represents their strenght when matched with specific other tiers.

The decks are rated in order, on the following criterias:

RANK S - These are the decks that respectfully perform better than most decks in most communities, and has more likeliness to enter Top 4 of any event. They usually outpower and outgrind lower tiers (except specific counters) and has the highest number of appearances as Top 2 or Top 1 in recent events.

RANK A - These are the decks that has a significant impact in the overall metagame of a certain community. They can sometimes outperform decks from Tier S depending on their side or build, and at the same time gatekeeps other decks from lower tiers from climbing due to their core mechanics.

RANK B-C - These are good decks to use and to start with because they can par against most decks. Their power level as a whole is relatively balanced - they don't usually top every tournament but they really can when played correctly.

About

Deck Highlights

Vanquished Souls

Joshua Curiano topped two major community Tournaments from Robinson's Galleria Ranking Tournament and Tabletop Gapo Ranking Tournament using Vanquished Souls with both being as champion. Vanquished Soul came from Deck Build: Valiant Smashers released last June, 2023. It performed really well from the time it was released and had already entered the recently concluded World Championship 2023. Its recent support Vanquished Soul - Jiaolong from Duelist Nexus booster improved the overall consistency of the deck, increasing its potency and power. It can be special summoned from the hand when the owner reveals a card to activate another Vanquished Soul's effect, and when on field, by revealing 2 Fire attribute monsters, can add any Vanquished Soul card from deck. Ash Blossom and Joyous Springs and Kurikara Divincarnate are both fire type monsters that are generic to most decks, making it easily accessible.

Curiano, originally a member of the Yu-Gi-Oh! Community Zambales, who scored 3-0 against Tearlaments and RESCUE-ACE in his last tournament already grabbed two major community tournament titles in two different regions/communities just by using the deck a few times, incredibly showing talent in using the archetype. Vaquished Souls had been known for its high skill ceiling capacity making it really hard to pilot as every move might trigger a critical misplay, but at the same time also hard to match against, as the deck moves in a "reactive" form of play.



Rikka

Karl Steven Renevera was hailed as champion in ODA's First Season Ranking tournament Week #3. Rikka had always been a contender in Southern Bicol and is slowly dominating Central Visayas, specifically on Cebu and Bacolod. Reneverra was the previous BDA (Bicol Duelist Aliiance) Grand Champion title holder with same deck before it was disbanded earlier this year, and was ODA's (Order of the Duelists in Albay) First Season Side Event Grand Champion using Live-Twins.

Rikka's Rikka Konkon that was released from Power of the Elements was the archetype's most crucial card to counter as it is the heart of the "tribute for cost" mechanic, one of the best counters to any boss monsters currently available, similar to Kaijus, and its ability to inherently go second with this mechanic is extremely vital to the deck's power level.

Konkon's effect is when the user would be required to tribute their monster to activate a "Rikka" card and/or effect, they could instead use opponent's monster as a cost for it, effectively bypassing any form of protection, except by being unnaffected by card effects. At the same time, Konkon allows the user to set any 1 "Rikka" Spell or Trap directly from deck to field if they control a Rikka monster, which can the be activated immediately in the same turn. It had already proven its competetive level as it became part of the recently concluded World Championship 2023.



Labrynth

Jhomar Maravillas went Top 2 on ODA (Order of Duelists in Albay) Weekly Ranking Tournament, with Labrynth. He fought against Karl Steven Renevera (Rikka) but unfortunately lost at game 3 during finals. Maravillas was the Top 15 in the Swiss Rankings of the recently concluded 2023 Duelist Cup Philippines held in Manila using Purrely, but already had abandoned the archetype right after the hit on OCG Banlist Regulations last June. He opt to focus on consistency build to maximize the chance of getting good starting hand. During the time this report was made, Arias The Labrynth Butler is not yet released, and so the build was mainly focused on getting as much starters as possible. He also included 3 Nibiru, The Primal beings on the deck to assure that he can have a counterplay against most meta decks such as Tearlaments. Maravillas is currently Top 2 in the overall ladder in ODA followed by Renevera. Labrynth is a Trap-focused deck that is composed of quick-effect shenanigans that allowss the deck to par with most combo decks within the meta. The deck can set-up lots of interruptions even during opponent's turn when going second, and create protection and disruption. The deck can also set-up most trap techs, which includes Dimensional Barrier, Virus, and Infinite Impermanence, which are crucial to current meta game.



RESCUE-ACE

Armell-John Gabuya had been Champion 4 consecutive times in multiple Weekly Ranking Tournaments and events held across Robinson's Galleria and other OTS within Rizal and Feliz using Sinful Rescue-Ace. Gabuya was the previous Grand Champion of Duelist Cup 2023 Side Event, using the same deck.

Rescue-Ace's core mechanic is mainly based on disrupting opponent's plays that focuses on affecting their monsters and swarming the backrow with 4 set Spells and Traps for another set of interruptions for the next turn. The most crucial part of the deck is the presence of Rescue-Ace Fire Hydrant, its level 1 monster that facilitates the deck's overall bonus effects and power. Rescue-Ace was released way back from 2022 in Deckbuild: Amazing Defenders together with Purrely and Mikanko Archetypes.

The deck's power increased its potency with the release of Diabellestar along with Sinful Spoils and Snake Eyes archetypes. Diabellestar engine is an archetype of the Sinful Spoils that works together by summoning Diabellestar just by sending 1 card from hand or field. When resolved, it consistently setups the board with a negate and they can also special summon 1 level 1 Fire Monster from deck, meaning they can easily search Rescue-Ace Fire Hydrant for another line of play.



Tearlaments

Castel Noleal went first-runner up two consecutive times in Order of Duelists in Albay End Season Ranking Tournament and 1st Season Grand Championship Side Event. He was previously a contender of Black Luster Soldier Event 2023 Manila and was ranked 43rd in the recently concluded Duelist Cup 2023 participated by 203 players, but this time, he modified his setup and included Naturia engine, an unusual setup for the deck which is similar to the engine used on Runick decks.
The release of Diabellestar and Sinful Spoils from Age of Overlord jumpstarted a boost on the consistency of the deck. Diabellestar is a level 7 monster which can be summoned by sending a card from field/hand as cost, which means they can have new access to Chaos Ruler synchro since the Sinful Spoils Spells can search "Jet Synchron" being a level 1 fire monster.
To answer this, Noleal instead included Naturia engine which focuses on dropping Naturia Rosewhip on field which limits opponent from activating Spell/Trap Cards to once per turn. "Naturia Mole Cricket", when on grave, has a trigger effect that special summons itself when the opponent special summons a monster from the extra deck and on the field has a quick effect that tributes itself as cost to special summon any "Naturia" monster from the deck, special summoning "Naturia Camellia" which on summon sends any "Naturia" monster from deck to grave, sending "Naturia Rosewhip" as target, and later on summoning it from grave from its trigger effect when the opponent summons a monster.

Final Thoughts

Conclusions

Unlike Japan, Vanquished Souls is the most dominant deck while Purrely being out of the list. Purrely had dominated the meta in different regions on Philippines in the last 3 months but suddenly fall out of the metagame probably due to the recent hit from the current banlist. Although this does not mean that the deck had become relatively weak, but it reflects how the deck underperform in most communities and tournaments. Rikka and Labrynth as well as Rescue-ACE was also dominating several communities as well, with Rikka being close to Vanquished Soul being the best deck so far. Majority of the communities in Southern Luzon and Central Visayas had the Scareclaw performing well, while Northern/Central Luzon and Mindanao are having similar meta statistics with being Vanquished Soul and Rescue-ACE, along with Labrynth as their most effective decks up-to-date.







Partners

Special Thanks to:

Pixelate!

Official Merch Partner

References

July 15, 2023 | ODA S1 Final Ranking Tournament 3
July 27, 2023 | ODA First Season Grand Championship Finals
July 27, 2023 | ODA First Season Grand Championship Finals Side Event
July 3o, 2023 | Robinson's Galleria Weekly Pod1A Ranking Tournament
August 5, 2023 | Yu-Gi-Oh! Day Day 1 Play2Learn Cebu
August 12, 2023 | ODA S2 Weekly Ranking Tournament 3
August 12, 2023 | Yu-Gi-Oh! Day Day 2 Toy Shogun Novaliches
August 13, 2023 | Tabletop Gapo Weekly Ranking Tournament Meta
August 19, 2023 | Jeran's Invitational North Cebu Week 3
August 19, 2023 | Duel Bacolod x Final Turn Hobby Shop Special Tournament
August 21, 2023 | Robinson's Galleria Weekly Pod1B Ranking Tournament
August 21, 2023 | Robinson's Galleria Weekly Pod1A Ranking Tournament
August 22, 2023 | Tabletop Gapo Weekly Ranking Tournament 6
August 23, 2023 | Tabletop Gapo Weekly Ranking Tournament 6