"New month, new chapter", this is normally heard when a month starts but not for OCG players who are a month away (or 1 week away ) from the reveals of the January OCG 2022 Forbidden & Limited List. December is the month where PH OTS are holding their Duelist Cup qualifiers and while that is still ongoing, we'll first cover the 16 topping lists out of 40 HC from 6 different tournaments combined from Dec 4-5, 2021:
Let's dive in!
Tournament Venues: Toy Shogun, Hyuray Trading, FT Duel Grounds
Dates Covered: Dec 4-5, 2021
Deck Breakdown: 16 Topping Lists out of 40 participants from 6 different tournaments
4 Swordsoul (3 Mono, 1 Tenyi)
3 Floowandereeze
2 Tri-Brigade
2 Invoked
1 Altergeist
1 Good -Stuff Brave Enforcer
1 Phantom Knight Brave Enforcer
1 Fluffal
1 Nordic
Swordsoul
This is the list piloted by Archie Escober of FT Duel Grounds placing 3rd. Tenyi Spirit Vishuda is a great tech card that can bait a lot of stuff and/or act as a swift card removal. This clears your way from negation/back row that can disrupt your summons or effects. Establishing a board with multiple negates using few cards consistently can secure your wins and Swordsoul is also a great contender next format in case they aren't affected by the next list. We'll see....
Fluffal
This is the Fluffal Deck piloted by Ely Dave Ramadilla of Toy Shogun placing 1st last Dec 5th. Fluffal has great offensive-defensive strategy in a form of Guardian Chimera and Edge-Imp Scythe making it very versatile going first or second. Having an easy access to Artifact Dagda setting Artifact Scythe can be game changing if managed right. As the deck requires multiple cards to function at its fullest, cards such as Droll & Lock Bird, Imperial Order, Vanity's Emptiness and Skill Drain can really slow the deck down so it's very important to have your Cosmic Cyclone, Twin Twisters or even Mystical Space Typhoon ready to get rid of the floodgates during games 2-3.
Brave Token
This is the list I piloted Dec 4th winning 1st Place at Toy Shogun. I switched back to the standard 3 Infinite Impermanence and adding a second Wandering Gryphon Rider and disregarding the mini Psychic Engine (Ghost Ogre and Snow Rabbit, Psychic Wheeleder and 2 Emergency Teleport). Infinite Impermanence increases your changes of surviving the turn if you lose the die roll and has a neat interaction against Floowandereeze and Swordsoul. It is also your perfect out to prevent Destiny Hero - Destroyer Phoenix Enforcer from at least using its non targeting destruction effect.
The 2nd Wandering Gryphon Rider is actually just a tech to fill the 40th slot which worked really well as it's either a free Special Summon, a beefy 2000 ATK beater or an additional target for Journey of Destiny in case the first one gets destroyed. I'm still testing whether a second Journey of Destiny will fit my liking but so far, this build had a great success. ( And I have to use the deck while it's available so...)
Delaying the Agony
As most of the PH and other OCG regions know, Structured Deck 43: Albaz Strike is delayed in the Philippines that's why it hasn't seen an impact yet in our game scene. This gives players a window of chance to gather their resources and prepare once it arrives.
I know that some of you have already done their testing or research but here are our top cards that you may want to consider using to counter it:
Note: I didn't include obvious choices such as Vanity's Emptiness, Imperial Order, Skill Drain as these are win-more limited cards and or some decks may not be able to adapt in main/side.
Going First - You want cards that shines and controls the pace of the match so I have included Dimensional Barrier, Shadow-Imprisoning Mirror, Artifact Scythe (Thru Artifact Dagda or Sanctum) and Anti-Spell Fragrance. Branded Despia, if that's how they will call it soon, is focused on Fusion summoning and doesn't have any relevant main deck answers or removals in main except for their powerful fusion monsters. These cards should give you an upper-hand going first so make sure you protect them at all cost. Choose the cards that have less backfire to your deck.
Going second - Choose damaging ones like Super Polymerization (+ your Starving Venom and Predaplant Fusions) , Mind Control (Mirrorjade has a weakness in Spell/Trap removal and inability to wipe the field if control shifts), Dark Ruler No More and Forbidden Droplets. Expect that they will end with a bunch of Fusion floodgates ranging from El-Shaddoll Winda to Thunder Dragon Colossus. They may also use the DPE engine if it manages to stay alive next year. Mind Control and Dark Ruler no More may be inferior to Super Polymerization and Forbidden Droplets due to Anti-Spell Fragrance.
There's a lot of other side choices though we hope that this compilation helped in a way.
Summary:
Albaz is preparing to strike ( yet you are unable to secure your copies of Albert jk) and we also have a week to prepare for the upcoming January 2022 OCG Banlist. Like what I was always saying, Konmai is unpredictable when it comes to this list though this is also the week where ban list prediction sounds fun.The question is, can we predict it right this time?
Join me again next week as we welcome to the new list and possibly a shift in format! Thank you so much for reading 'til the end!
~Arcknight
I'll guess that upcoming albaz strike core will going to be a hit
ReplyDeleteI agree! -arc
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