What's the best way to counter "Tearlaments"?

 Hey there! Today, I'm going to share some strategies that I do to counter one of the decks to beat this format which is no other than Tearlaments. I hope that this compilation article help in a way especially now that it has arrived in TCG.

Tearlaments happens to be one of my go to decks this format due to its versatility and ability to bring out overwhelming boards that normally starts with a 1 card combo. Playing the deck allows you to be familiar with its strengths and also weaknesses so I'll try to share what I have learned after piloting this deck since its release in OCG.

Overview

Tearlaments is a new archetype released in Power of the Elements that focuses on spamming fusion monsters when Tearlaments are sent to the GY by card effect. While the strategy involves a little bit of RNG factor (unless you are successful in using Tearlaments Reinoheart), this is not an issue if you are using the EARTH Fairy engine also known as the Ishizu Engine. 

While fusion summoning is almost free if you milled Tearlament cards, it is also one of its major weaknesses as the three fusion enablers namely Tearlaments Merrli, Tearlaments Havnis and Tearlaments Scheiren need to hit the GY and also use itself as one of the materials to perform the fusion summoning. Hence, you would want to prevent that from happening as much as possible.

Here are some strategies that you can do to tame this deck:

Limit their Graveyard access

Dimensional Shifter became popular than ever due to its versatility of being played going first or second....if your deck can also handle it of course. It ensures that you can stun a grave-reliant deck for at least two turns which is pretty game breaking in today's metagame. Abyss Dweller is also a good rank 4 that can instantly shut down graveyard effects of the opponent which gives you an upperhand especially on mirror matches.

Decks like Spright, Exosister and Floowandereeze can easily main or side this card with ease which is bad news against Tearlaments player. Dimensional Fissure is also a good card going first and even second to prevent Tearlaments from doing their plays on your turn. This also helps you avoid popular hand traps like Effect Veiler, Maxx "C" and Ghost Ogre and Snow Rabbit from standing in your way. 

Prevent the fusion enablers

If your deck can't handle losing your GY or you want something that is more interactive, you would want to prevent the fusion enablers instead. Remember, Tearlaments Merrli, Tearlaments Havnis and Tearlaments Scheiren need to return themselves to the bottom of the deck in order to perform the fusion summon so if you can prevent that from happening then you can easily control thIS deck. 

Necrovalley can shutdown their fusion strategy as it it negates any effect that would move cards from the GY to a different place. Silent Graveyard on the other hand is a quick play spell card that negates effect that activates in the GY for the turn. This also prevents the Ishizu engine from milling further. 

Cards like D.D Crow, Skull Meister and Called by the Grave can banish or negate the enablers that can fusion summon. 

Play decks that can counter Tearlaments

Floowandereeze has Barrier Statue of Stormwinds that prevents special summon of non-WIND monsters. Exosisters as an archetype interacts everytime a card is moved to a different place from the GY. Byssted is designed to counter the Tearlaments fusion enablers. Heroes got access to Masked Hero Dark Law as a walking Macro Cosmos. Spright received a new trap called Spright Double Cross that can mess with your opponent's GY. Lastly, the Ishizu engine itself has ways to control the opponent's GY. 

Prevent the fusion summoning

There are also cards that prevents access to extra deck or the ability to fusion summon at all. Shadow Imprisoning Mirror works like a Skill Drain for DARK monsters that can work on the field or in the GY. Artifact Scythe paired with Artifact Sanctum can halt a player's Extra Deck summon for the entire turn. 

Dimensional Barrier prevents Fusion Summon and negates Fusion monster effects on the field for that turn. Ghost Reaper and Winter Cherries can banish Tearlaments Kitkallos which is already a good move to slow down a Tearlaments player. Non-Fusion Area prevents fusion summoning. Different Dimension Ground is a harder to counter Macro Cosmos that works for the entire turn. 

Summary

As you can see, there's a myriad of ways to counter Tearalaments and it all boils down to which strategy is the most consistent. Of course, you don't want to over side as you still want to see your combo pieces in your first five. When siding, always consider if you're going first or second because there are side deck strategy that works best on the turn you are on. What about you? What do you think is the best way to counter Tearlaments?

Arcknight