YCS Toronto Deck Analysis part 1

Hey guys! So I was going to post a post that I have been thinking about doing for a while now, but then konami finally posted the top 32 decks for YCS Toronto so I have to put off that post in order to do this one(don't worry post is worth the wait!)  Also since there were so many decks I wanted to review I had to split this post up into 2 parts! On with the post!

Billy Brake (1^st Place – Synchro Summon)Monsters: 22
1 Spirit Reaper
1 Dandylion
1 Black Luster Soldier – Envoy of the Beginning
3 Tour Guide From the Underworld
1 Debris Dragon
2 Maxx “C”
3 Reborn Tengu
1 Glow-Up Bulb
2 Effect Veiler
1 Gorz the Emissary of Darkness
2 Thunder King Rai-Oh
1 Sangan
1 Caius the Shadow Monarch
1 Lonefire Blossom
1 Spore

Spells: 13
1 Scapegoat
1 Monster Reborn
2 Mystical Space Typhoon
1 Book of Moon
2 Enemy Controller
1 Foolish Burial
1 Heavy Storm
1 Dark Hole
1 One for One
1 Mind Control
1 Pot of Avarice

Traps: 6
1 Call of the Haunted
2 Solemn Warning
1 Solemn Judgment
1 Trap Dustshoot
1 Torrential Tribute

Extra Deck: 15
1 Brionac, Dragon of the Ice Barrier
1 Orient Dragon
1 Number 17: Leviathan Dragon
1 Formula Synchron
1 Stardust Dragon
1 Leviair the Sea Dragon
1 Ally of Justice Catastor
1 Scrap Dragon
1 T.G. Hyper Librarian

1 Steelswarm Roach
1 Number 39: Utopia
1 Armory Arm
1 Black Rose Dragon
1 Ancient Fairy Dragon
1 Trishula, Dragon of the Ice Barrier

Side Deck: 15
1 Chain Disappearance
1 Debunk
1 Dust Tornado
2 Bottomless Trap Hole
2 Mind Crush
1 Mystical Space Typhoon
2 Leeching the Light
2 D.D. Crow
2 Cyber Dragon
1 Chimeratech Fortress Dragon

So first up is of course the winners deck list Billy Brake. To call this deck a plant deck would be misleading infact konami's name of synchro summons is much more fitting. But in all honesty it is still a tengu/tour guide deck. The inclusion of rai-oh and caius, shows how versatile this deck can be and probably why this deck survived the banlist. I also like the tech spirit reaper, it provides stall and is very hard to get over now days. The full complement of hand traps are also in full swing here. Basically this deck can go on the defensive very easily all the while setting up, thanks to how versatile tengu and tour guide are. Anyway you look at it tengu is a amazing card, it allows you to go for some minor aggressive pushes and some defensive options all the while having a rai-oh on the field. Judging by the sheer numbers of tour guide in the top 32 decks you would think that the tour guide ruling never happened, at the very least it hasn't hurt the playability of the card at any rate. For the spells nothing really jumps out, except for the scapegoat. Again it is a very versatile card it is mostly used for synchroing and allows for some odd levels to be made, the key in this whole post is versatility. The e cons are a given given the synergy with tengu and being able to tribute sangan to get that game winning lonefire or effect veiler. I don't need to explain any of the traps.

Nicky Lacaille (2^nd Place – Master Hyperion)Monsters: 30
3 Tour Guide From the Underworld
3 The Agent of Creation – Venus
3 The Agent of Mystery – Earth
3 Mystical Shine Ball
3 Master Hyperion
3 Effect Veiler
2 Tragoedia
2 Genex Ally Birdman
2 Archlord Kristya
1 Honest
1 The Agent of Miracles – Jupiter
1 Chaos Sorcerer
1 Sangan
1 Gorz the Emissary of Darkness
1 Black Luster Soldier – Envoy of the Beginning

Spells: 9
3 Pot of Duality
3 Mystical Space Typhoon
1 Dark Hole
1 Monster Reborn
1 Heavy Storm

Traps: 1
1 Trap Dustshoot

Extra Deck: 15
1 Gachi Gachi Gantetsu
1 Leviair the Sea Dragon
1 Number 17: Leviathan Dragon
1 Number 39: Utopia
1 Armory Arm
1 Ally of Justice Catastor
1 Magical Android
1 Brionac, Dragon of the Ice Barrier
1 Black Rose Dragon
1 Ancient Sacred Wyvern
1 Stardust Dragon
1 Scrap Dragon
1 Trishula, Dragon of the Ice Barrier
1 Ally of Justice Decisive Armor
1 Gaia Knight, the Force of Earth

Side Deck: 15
2 D.D. Crow
2 Cyber Dragon
3 Thunder King Rai-Oh
1 Mirror Force
1 Torrential Tribute
2 Bottomless Trap Hole
2 Dimensional Prison
2 Dust Tornado

Konami and their "creative" names, master hyperion if they want to name it after a monster they should have called it archlord kristyia,  or agents would have sufficed. Anyway moving on the trend of tour guide being a format defining card continues here and I don't see that stopping anytime soon. With all of the added dark support(like birdman and tour guide, tragodia) Nicky was able to add more of a choas lineup then just BLS, he also added sorc.  Also interesting is that he played 3 veiler and no herald of orange light, I am not a agent player so I am guessing he didn't like having to discard a possibly critical fairy? Also he used 3 venus instead of the normal 2 but I can see why he did this as with two bridman instead of just making a gacchi gacchi and having a dead shineball he was now allowed a extension of that play: bounce shinball then make a levthian dragon or levair. Looking at the spells I can see why he wanted to max out on copies of critical cards: he only ran 3 pot of duality for consistency, the days of running 3 copies(or nay copies for that matter) are gone, it allows the deck more explosiveness all the while sacrificing little to nothing in the process. I can see why cards from the sky was excluded from nearly every agent decklist, it just doesn't do for the deck as it once did, tour guide has taken that role. The  trap is self explanatory.

Tyler Nolan (Top 4 – Tech Genus)

Monsters: 14
3 Reborn Tengu
3 T.G. Rush Rhino
3 T.G. Striker
3 T.G. Warwolf
2 Beast King Barbaros

Spells: 6
3 Pot of Duality
1 Book of Moon
1 Dark Hole
1 Monster Reborn

Traps: 20
2 Starlight Road
2 Solemn Warning
2 Bottomless Trap Hole
2 Skill Drain
2 Call of the Haunted
3 Horn of the Phantom Beast
2 TG1-EM1
1 Torrential Tribute
1 Dimensional Prison
1 Solemn Judgment
1 Mirror Force
1 Dark Bribe

Extra Deck: 15
1 Gaia Knight, the Force of Earth
1 Naturia Barkion
1 Trishula, Dragon of the Ice Barrier
1 Black Rose Dragon
1 Brionac, Dragon of the Ice Barrier
1 T.G. Wonder Magician
1 Number 39: Utopia
2 Stardust Dragon
1 Gachi Gachi Gantetsu
1 Number 17: Leviathan Dragon
1 Ally of Justice Catastor
1 Scrap Dragon
1 Scrap Archfiend
1 Orient Dragon

Side Deck: 15
3 Mystical Space Typhoon
1 D.D. Crow
1 Trap Dustshoot
1 The Transmigration Prophecy
2 Mind Crush
2 Liberty at Last!
1 Breaker the Magical Warrior
1 Dimensional Prison
2 Chain Disappearance
1 Closed Forest

Well it seems that all of our predictions about the summon set 4 lifestyle were all wrong. We found out how strong backrow was last format and your opponent doesn't always have heavy. With 2 starlight and 2 bribe Tyler insured that he had a small chance of getting stormed. If you have heavy and he has 4 set you know he has bribe or starlight but don't know which one, if he has bribe you get a card if he has starlight he gets a stardust, if he has nether you win, good mind games are good.

Thanks for reading and stay tuned for part 2 coming very soon(probably tomorrow)

-Cameron