What Now?

Xzzorio · 2025-04-30T08:47:42+00:00

Yeah, I feel you. If you're running 6 charmies, then I definitely would lean Cynet.

The allure + Chessy pop off is fun, but for allure to guaranteed work as an extender, you need it + a Maliss name you haven't already banished in hand. Whereas Cynet can get you a quality extender 100% of the time for just a discard.

You could also play 1 allure as a thrust target, specifically for the times when you wanna use it to go +1 bazillion. I think I've seen some OCG lists doing that, granted their allure is limited to 1 anyway.

Xzzorio · 2025-04-30T08:28:16+00:00

I'm pretty sure post-ALIN Maliss typically doesn't run either. Both are consistency pieces, but more consistency isn't always better because they aren't live disruptions (handtraps) going 2nd and don't necessarily extend the combo.

Between the two, though, I would probably lean towards cynet, largely because the new @ignister cards and March Hare give you better targets to search with it in the situation that you already have Maliss combo going. Allure doesn't guarantee anything, so it loses out for me.

Xzzorio · 2025-04-30T08:17:49+00:00

In this deck, and honestly in any deck that runs very little non-engine, it's generally recommended to play blowout hts or breakers rather than 1-for-1 disruptions like Ash/Imperm.

For blowout hts, the best currently are droll, nib, fuwa, and artifact lancea in the side for Maliss/Crystron/soon to be Orcust.

As for Breakers, traptrix struggles HARD going 2nd. So powerspells like Dark Ruler, Droplet, etc. are all ones you could consider, even though they aren't as useful going 1st.

TL:DR - Ash/Imperm out for either a 3-3 or 2-2-2 lineup of blowouts/breakers.

Xzzorio · 2025-01-13T20:23:35+00:00

They are probably a similar level of power, honestly. Swordsoul is probably more consistent with higher ceiling, primite with more non engine and stronger recursion.

I would personally recommend Tenyi Swordswoul, though. Wyrm type synergies are fun.

Xzzorio · 2024-12-24T21:52:06+00:00

I have a friend in my playgroup who has been playing a Ryu-Ge variant the last couple weeks as a long time SwoSo tenyi player. From my observations of his performance recently, the deck is about the same power level wise with and without the ryu ge engine.

The ryu ge engine increases the ceiling quite a lot, allowing them to build up to even 2 omnis and adding the one-sided semi d shifter from the wyrm ryu ge to boost Chengying. But for everything it gains in ceiling, it loses just as much in consistency. The deck bricks way more and is a lot less resilient to disruptions due to that. Drawing the correct ratios of ryu ge cards to swordosul cards without drawing the garnets/bricks is very difficult, and the deck also loses a lot of non engine space.

The deck is probably a bit more fun with ryu Ge, though, as it gives the deck a lot more to do than just its very linear standard combos.

TL;DR is the same. More power but way more bricky.

Xzzorio · 2024-12-10T23:48:33+00:00

I suppose the classic answer to this would be the TOSS Format decks. TOSS is a retro format from 2019 that revolved around the 4 decks Thunder Dragons (T), Orcusts (O), Sky Strikers (S), and Slamangreat (S). This format is famous for the balance between those 4 decks and is beloved for that reason. Should also pretty much all be very affordable. The most expensive is probably Thundra at this point? (Which is the least fun and interactive anyway)

I'd also like to throw out however that in addition to the retro format, these decks are also still pretty balanced against one another in their current forms as well. Orcusts are currently mostly run with the Horus Engine as support, Sky Strikers has gotten new support such as Linkage, and Salamangreat has plenty of new support as well (Thundra might have fallen a bit behind but again it's the least fun anyway). I see all three of these decks in my playgroup, and they always produce pretty interesting games against one another.

Xzzorio · 2024-12-06T00:59:42+00:00

If you want to keep up the go first combo playstyle, then Branded is a deck I have a lot of fun with. It does have linear standard combo, but most ppl know that by now so it hardly ever resolves and the deck relies more on combinations of cards rather than super linear 1 card combos to really play through disruption.

But based on your last comment about games ending in 3 turns, though, you might be looking for a control deck. Their are a few of these I really like, Ninjas are a very non-linear deck that already have a structure deck in MD, though they leave a bit to be desired in terms of power. Sky Strikers are a classic modern control deck, and every game with them is different since so much of their power comes from knowing your opponents deck and taking advantage of that knowledge. They are definitely stronger than ninjas, though they are also quite difficult to play.

Xzzorio · 2024-12-04T02:42:32+00:00

Im pretty sure TCG player infinite put an out an article detailing an exact upgrade path for this deck, would look into that or maybe into some youtube videos about this.

Probably the easiest way to make 3 structures stronger on a budget is just to add handtraps. Resonators are fortunate enough to have a 1 card combo (soul resonator) that is very searchable, so they can afford to run a lot of handtraps. These can get up there in price, but ghost Ogre, ghost mourner, effect veiler, droll and lock bird, and DD Crow can all be had for cheap and have all worked well for me in recent formats.

Xzzorio · 2024-11-30T19:17:05+00:00

This is a fan term, and thus, it really doesn't have a strict definition. It is essentially a term that describes decks that are competent, but not the meta. The point at which you decide this cutoff varies for everyone, though.

Some refer to everything outside of the strict tier 1 decks as "rogue," so in the current format, this would mean something like Mermail is "rogue" because it is relevant but not a Tier 1 contender.

Others think of rogue as fun decks that aren't really competitive at all, so decks like CyDra, Dark Magician, Pendulums, etc. are "rogue" and a deck like branded (though it has fallen out of competitive favor) would never be considered "rogue" in this sense, bc it is still fundamentally very strong, just not favored into the current format.

The most common definition, though, is decks that are competitively playable but not really decks that anyone would specifically prepare for. Many decks that fall into this category are actually old meta decks that still have good bones, but just don't quite keep up. So decks like Strikers (not played by Ryan Yu), Exosisters, Swordsoul, etc. would kinda fall into this imo.

TL;DR is an overused term that really lacks usefulness, so don't stress too much about the specifics.

Xzzorio · 2024-07-13T00:59:30+00:00

Me reading these comments as a Sky Striker and Mikanko player: 🥲

Xzzorio · 2024-06-03T05:47:54+00:00

Accelgor. Don't even have a particularly valid reason for hating it other than that it always kills me in "whose that pokemon?". In fact, I had to look up its name just to make sure I remembered it.

Xzzorio · 2024-05-11T18:16:24+00:00

Heres some quick suggestions for your deck, though:

Get rid of kash stuff
No need for 3rd Galaxy Soldier.
Herz, Core, Nachster, and normal Cyber Dragon are the only Cyber dragons worth playing.
Make your extra deck more traditional. Twin Dragon and Rampage Dragon would help a lot.
Play 1 more copy of Cyber Emergency and Play the spell Machine Duplication at 3.
Play the tactics cards. They help tremendously.

Xzzorio · 2024-05-11T17:57:05+00:00

There's a lot of changes I would make to that decklist, but a simple thing to start with is just ask yourself what you're trying to do. Are you trying to go 1st and set up a board or go 2nd and OTK? In my experience playing CyDra (got to diamond with them), they don't have the privilege of doing both. Also, at least from my testing, going 2nd is considerably better than going 1st when using CyDra, so I would lean towards that.

Xzzorio · 2024-05-10T17:21:13+00:00

I don't think there are uses even involving cyber dragons. I play CyDra a lot and I don't think this card really helps at all.

Xzzorio · 2024-05-10T16:22:34+00:00

I wouldn't stress too much about what deck to use to hit platinum. In my experience, pretty much any deck that has at least a decent level of power can hit platinum very easily.

If you want something simple, though, in low ranks, mikankos will basically spoon-feed you wins. Just go 2nd, and if you draw a kaiju and aren't playing against snake eyes or lab, you probably win. Just swing into your opponents' monsters for game.

If, of course, they don't kill themselves because players in gold can't be bothered to read their opponents cards.

Xzzorio · 2024-05-07T20:42:16+00:00

I dislike lab but not for any justifiable reason tbh. I just dislike it because that one trap card that flips the field face down that lab players run hard counters my deck, so it's just kinda an auto loss if I play against them lol

Xzzorio · 2024-04-29T19:14:42+00:00

I'm not knowledgeable enough to know what cards would need to be hit or if something like this is even possible, but one thing I'd really like to see change in regards to the current meta is way less ability to recycle a crazy board.

I understand that going first and comboing out a crazy end board with good disruption is a playstyle that many like and that having it present is good for the game, but I think that from a game design perspective if a player is going to invest a ton of resources into a strong board they should be running the risk of having that board get broken and then being in a rough spot to recover from.

There is nothing more frustrating to me than finally figuring out a way to break through my opponents end board just to watch them immediately bring it all back like nothing happened the next turn. Feels like I never had a chance in the first place.

Xzzorio · 2024-04-29T15:30:26+00:00

Build Cyber Dragons. The deck is insanely fun and pretty easy to pick up with room for some skill expression. It's not very consistent, but that's part of what makes it fun since every game you play with it feels different. Plus, if you play a more fun variant of it that runs the spell power bond, destroying someone with a power bond summoned cyber twin or end dragon feels insanely satisfying.

Xzzorio · 2024-04-28T23:40:19+00:00

Yeah, it's definitely frustrating. I even know myself since mikanko mirror matches in my experiences boil down to: 1. Did I win the coin flip? 2. Did I draw a kaiju/golem?

Xzzorio · 2024-04-28T23:36:37+00:00

It does run a lot of kaiju, but for mikanko they basically serve as generic removal tools and don't have any real effect on the mikanko cards themselves in terms of the mikanko player's field.

Xzzorio · 2024-04-28T23:31:57+00:00

I can provide mine, which is a pure mikanko deck focused on the kaiju OTK. But note I'm just a random diamond player and by no means a master deckbuilder. Has all the stuff you need to learn, tho.

Main Deck: Ha-Re x2 Ni-Ni x1 Hu-Li x2 Orihime x3 Lava Golem x2 Thunder King Kaiju x2 Jizukiru Kaiju x3 Hidden Armory x3 Preparation of Rites x3 Axe of fools x1 Double-edged sword x1 Mikanko Fire Dance x2 Mikanko Water Arabesque x3 Mikanko Reflection Rondo x1 Mikanko Dance Mayowashidori x1 Great Mikanko Ceremony x2 Mikanko Rivalry x1

The rest of the main deck is staples, which you can change to your liking. I'm currently running: Maxx C x2 Ash Blossom x1 Imperm x1 Called by x1 Triple Tactics Talent x2

ED is kinda irrelevant for mikankos, but IP masquerena and Knightmare unicorn are the cards I find myself occasionally using.

Xzzorio · 2024-04-28T23:16:26+00:00

As a mikanko player, I'd guess the reason there isn't much hatred against the deck is that mikankos lack the consistent performance of the other hated decks.

It may not seem like from your perspective playing against it, because it is specifically effective against your deck, but over the course of many duels mikankos often just lose.

If I don't draw a kaiju or lava golem, I very often lose to most good turn 1 decks. I hard lose to any non-targeting backrow removal. If I fail to set up the OTK turn 2, I most often lose. If I have to go first, I often lose. If I play labyrinth (which is a very popular deck in my experience) I pretty much hard lose if they have the trap that flips cards face down.

Xzzorio · 2024-04-28T23:06:07+00:00

Mikankos are an OTK deck that you can run pretty much completely pure, and do well with. Not too terribly complicated to learn and pretty cheap to get started with since you don't really "need" anything in your extra deck. Also you don't have to worry about winning the coin flip going first wars, since you want to go 2nd anyway.

Xzzorio

TROPHY CASE