Notes & Combos

Very rough climb. I demoted many times over the course of the month. Demoted from D1 3 times including from D1 to D4. After that happened, I cheated and switched to another deck from D4 to D2 before switching back to this from D2 to M5.

There are many tough matchups against meta and rogue decks right now. We also want to go 2nd but we have to compete with Tenpai for that.

Main Deck

• I had Pot of Desires early in the season and during my final push. Going to 41 cards slightly reduces the chance of opening multiple copies of HOPT cards. One downside is that it might banish Trap Trick targets.
• Lord of the Heavenly Prison (LOTHP) was important in many matchups. 2 LOTHP can make Gustav Max -> Liebe but that didn't come up. I try to summon it during the End Phase or during the Battle Phase to block an attack. I usually set Secret Blast with LOTHP in case it gets destroyed. Boo-Boo Game is a budget option.
• I briefly tried Timelords but they weren't as good as Lava Golem.

Hedging against Tenpai:

• 2 Threatening Roar. The most replaceable card. It was OK overall and sometimes a life-saver vs Tenpai. I wished it was a burn card in many other games. I'd normally run a 3rd Ring of Destruction or 2 Dimension Walls in their place.
• I had 2 Lava Golem, 1 Jizukiru for most of the season to tribute Spheres if going 2nd vs Tenpai. I found myself wishing Jizukiru was a 3rd Lava Golem in nearly every other matchup so I switched it.
• 3 Bad Luck Blast, 2 Ring of Destruction. Bad Luck can burn under Sangen Summoning when targeting FIRE Dragons while Ring of Destruction can't. I also didn't want to have too many targeting cards for other matchups like Melodious, Voiceless or anything that can play around targeting.

Extra Deck:

• Most of it is unnecessary. I only used TY-PHON.
• Ideally, I would have 2+ TY-PHON, Gustav Max and Liebe to be less likely to banish all copies with Pot of Extravagance.
• Ideal to have Gravedigger Trap Hole to protect Gustav Max/Liebe from monster hand traps. You can also Trap Trick into Gravedigger but I'd only do that in a simplified game state.

Other Tips:

• Enter Battle Phase before making other moves to pretend you have Evenly Matched. Not as effective right now because Evenly isn't played as much.
• Account for Maxx C if using Secret Barrel. It can be chained to Barrel to make it do 200 less damage. Consider Effect Veiler too if you control an Effect Monster and it's your Main Phase.