Hey there! It’s been a while, and time has run up on us. There’s less than a week until the EUWCQ, and some of the cards I mention here won’t be in your bulk, but others will. Let’s hope you’ve got some terribly old cards lying around to gather all your options. These are a collection
of cards you should expect to see and use to beat what are expected to
be the top decks of the current Genesys format. I’ll be splitting this into a number of posts I release on the lead-up to the event, since there’s a lo
t of cards to talk about, and I want these out as soon as possible with time to digest. I guess you could also play these at other WCQs, but I'm in Europe, so I'm writing about the metagame there, though I can't expect the US to be much different!
The cards in this post I’ll be calling flexible, because you’ll be able to use them both going first and going second when you play, making them good ideas for the main deck.
While you can play this card, you should be prepared to know it’s likely not going to work, and one of the big motivations to use it is to make sure your opponent’s Pair Bear Scare doesn’t work. Be wary when siding, as if you take yours out, your opponent might keep theirs in. Expect it to become a one-of brick post-side once you’ve both revealed the other is on PBS.
The next card is another form of removal, and while it’s lacking against Xyz decks, everything else has a hard time with this +1 monster removal, especially since Super Duper Polymerization(0) is unrespondable. Target a Dark Dragon Synchro, summon something like Amulet Dragon(0), and make your own Predaplant Dragostapelia(0) to continue breaking the board. Or you can make Saint Azamina(0) and tribute another monster your opponent ends on to make Azamina(0).
You can also summon Fata Dragna(0) to remove your opponent’s Crystal Wing Synchro Dragon(0). You’ll have to pay for Filia Regis(7) or Garura, Wings of Resonant Life(4), to fuse those, though. Devastatingly, you can stop Tellusion, The Magna Warrior(0) from summoning its two banished components, and summon either Fossil Warrior Skull Knight(0) or Fossil Machine Skull Wagon(0), using that and Tellusion to make Flux Ochsenfeld(0), who can then bounce your opponent’s own flux made with a set Magnet Bonding(5). Whatever else left on their end board can be dealt with the fossil fusion sent to summon Flux. If you’re struggling with the magnet matchup at all, this is the card to pick.
It’s also alright in Magnets themselves, and good in Darklords too, as an extender for awkward hands within the archetypes. Indulged Darklord(0) as a normal summon needs another card to work with, so you can use Super Duper Poly on the Darklord Gulgolet(0) summoned by indulged to summon The First Darklord(0) or Darklord Eveningstar(0), then depending on your hand, you can summon Darklord Eveningstar(0) with the two monsters and search Darklord Dance(0) through Gulgolet or Eveningstar, draw two cards with Ixchel, and see more of your deck as a result.
Alternatively, if you want to put the Darklord Dance in GY and make Eveningstar with it later, you can fusion summon Predaplant Dragostapelia and have an extra interruption for your opponent next turn. Indulged Darklord doesn’t stop you summoning non-fairies, it just restricts you to using their effects, so it’s a legal play so long as you don’t go through Darklord Djehuty(5).
There’s a lot going for this card, but like I said, its no good against Xyz decks, so if you’re expecting a lot of Constellar at the EUWCQ, maybe relegate this one to the side deck. Also, Genesys is a wide format. Partially from deckbuilding variety, partially from lack of exploration. You need a very open Extra Deck to push this card to its full potential, otherwise, you’ll have to pick which matchups you want it to be live against and let it fall to the wayside in others.
The next option isn’t a typical disruptive non-engine card, it’s actually one of the few anti breaker cards that you can use going first and second. If you’re playing a deck that plans to win in one turn, Blizzard(0) might be the right choice to dodge blowout breakers like Book of Eclipse(4), Dark Hole(1), or Interrupted Kaiju Slumber(0). The problem is these cards will return to the opponent’s hand, letting them use them in their next turn, or set them for your turn in the case of quick-play spells. Having ways to clear backrow after blizzard will be important if Book of Eclipse is what you want to stop. Blizzard is a lot like Dracotail Flame(3) in this way, where its primary point of usage is going to be stopping power spells, but Flame can’t be used when going second like Blizzard can, making it a surprisingly strong choice in the main deck. Both Shaddoll and Constellar, breakout decks from BLGG, rely on a continuous spell to make their plays. Blizzard lets you negate them, and the card doesn’t leave the field to recycle itself since it’s continuous. Mystical Space Typhoon(0) does the same job in this instance, but it doesn’t have that inherent flexibility of Blizzard. It can’t clear trap cards though, so what do you do when you’re staring at Mask of Restrict(0)?
I’m not going to pretend here; Typhoon(0) is the weakest and least likely card in this list you’ll want to play. All it serves for is niche interactions that let you get rid of a problem backrow card your opponent puts face-up on the field before they summon Number F0: Utopic Future Zexal(5), making it untargetable. There’s niche applications elsewhere, like interrupting your Blue Eyes opponent by popping their True Light(0) as chain link two to Roar of the Blue-Eyed Dragons(0). That sounds like it won’t happen, but Genesys is notorious as the “Pet Deck” format. Someone is going to be there playing Blue-eyes. Or you’re more likely to see Clown Crew, and Clown Crew Matinee Operatics(20) is a very good card you want to stop. Typhoon being a trap means they can’t stop it with Herald of the Orange Light(3) either, so all their potential card advantage out of it from turn 1 and your turn is completely gone.
It’s not necessarily the right decision to play Typhoon for these decks, but it’s something you can consider. This card’s got a bit of overlap with Blizzard, but the difference is it can act as a hand trap when you need it to, and in a format where hand traps almost all cost points, the bottom of the barrel is worth a scrape.
I don’t need to go into too much depth about the effect of Ghost Ogre & Snow Rabbit(4). We all know it’s a good card. What’s important to mention is its specific applications against a lot of current top decks you’ll expect. Like I mentioned with Typhoon, it can stop Matinee Operatics. It can also disrupt Clown Crew Biancaviso(0) when it activates to tribute summon, removing that body from their board. You can Ogre Bone Archfiend(0) and it’ll put RDA on having to have an extender, which can be tough for them to do after going through Power Vice Dragon(6). It’ll stop whatever field Melffy you don’t want to use its effect, since they have to return to the hand from field to resolve successfully.
It can stop Constellar Tellarknights(0) when it tries to rank up a monster, but more realistically you’ll be using it on Tellarknight Cygnian(6), to stop them making two level 5s and insulating themselves with Chronomaly Vimana(0). You could also ogre Tellarknight Constellar Delteros(10) when it activates to add, making it harder for them to go through Eclipse Twins(0) and get the effect of Delteros when it gets detached. It’s not impossible for that to happen, though.
Super Quantum, if trying to summon Super Quantal Mech King Great Magnus(33), needs to almost always use their field spell to summon Xyz mechs before sending it to summon magnus, so Ghost Ogre on that is deadly to their win condition. You can also use it on Super Quantal Fairy Alphan(0) if they try to insulate themselves by targeting Super Quantum Red Layer(0), making their monsters level five and summoning Vimana before using Alphan’s tribute effect. It won’t completely stop them all the time, but it makes it a lot harder for them to keep playing after that, especially if their end goal is a 6+ material magnus.
HERO and Fairy Tale may seem like decks with an infinite number of bodies, but they have some key chokepoints with (I think) Masked HERO Dusk Crow(0) and Tails of the Fairy Tales(0). If you Ghost Ogre Dusk Crow’s on summon effect, it turns off the ability to Polymerization(0) into one Contrast HERO Chaos(0), and now Masked HERO Furnace(0) has to find itself in GY to Miracle Fusion(0) to make the second one. These aren’t total shutdowns, but they’re good enough that it lets Ghost Ogre feel alright into those match ups game 1, and is a possible keep with other non-engine for games 2 and 3. These two decks I’m not super versed in, so let me know if there are better spots to interrupt these strategies at with Ghost Ogre!
The last card today is a very specific option that is very dependent on the deck you’re playing. Dogmatika Fleurdelis, the Thunderbolt(0) has an effect to summon itself during the main phase, so long as an extra deck monster is on either field. If it’s summoned from the hand(by any effect, mind you), you get to set a Dogmatika Trap from deck. The strongest option is Dogmatika Punishment(0), which can net you potentially two pieces of removal. If you summon it on your opponent’s turn, though, you’re under the condition that they need a 2500 or bigger extra deck monster on the field to use that Punishment the turn you set it. That’s not too bad, Constellar, Super Quantum, and HERO all fall into this. And even if they’ve got an ED monster with too much attack to send something like Golden Cloud Beast – Malong(4), Punishment can target any smaller monster, send Malong, and then use it to bounce the extra deck monster. Fydraulis Harmonia(50), anyone?
Of course, there’s setbacks. Thunderbolt is a lot more situational, and Punishment locks you out of the extra deck until the end of the next turn. If you’re using that turn zero, you need to be on a deck that won’t feel lacking when it doesn’t go into its extra deck at all turn two. Also, if you play just one punishment, it’s a very nasty brick to draw, so you’ll want to play this gamma-driver style package in a deck that doesn’t need to use the extra deck going second, as well as might want to go over 40 to dilute its bricks. If you can find that deck, you’ve got a great piece of non-engine. Plus, Fleurdelis is level 8, and doesn’t lock you from the ED when it summons itself. That means if you somehow can make use of the level 8 spellcaster body for some Xyz or fusion plays, you’re free to do it turn one and have a Dogmatika Punishment on your end board to boot. That’s the extra bit of double removal that will make it hard for any deck to push through you.
That’s it for our flexible options of note. Of course, there’s cards like Book of Eclipse(4) and Ghost Bell & Haunted Mansion(6), but those cards I feel are very common flexible options across players' decks already. Most pointed non-engine are pointed because we’ve shown we know how strong they can be, and to talk about them more here is to regurgitate ideas we’ve already seen plenty of in online circles and deck profiles, so I tried to keep it at a minimum and only talk about specific applications of those cards. I hope you got some good ideas from this post, and even if you’re not changing your deck, you might not be so surprised when you’re seeing Blizzard flip up on your opponent’s field!
As always, be sure to let me know your thoughts online using the #YGOGenesys hashtag, and I’ll get another post up soon!
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