YCS Toronto Deck Analysis Part 2

Hey guys! So before I get started on this post, I just wanted to say to Michael Bonacini: good luck in your future endeavors and also thanks for all of the wonderful articles that you have written, and I hope you see great success in Magic. With that out of the way lets get into the post!
SIDE NOTE: Due to me seeing alot more decks that I would like to review I must push this deck analysis into a three parter, sorry!

Anthony Alvarado (Top 16 – Karakuri)Monsters: 20
2 Cyber Dragon
2 Thunder King Rai-Oh
3 Genex Neutron
3 Karakuri Ninja mdl 919 “Kuick”
1 Karakuri Watchdog mdl 313 “Saizan”
1 Karakuri Strategist mdl 248 “Nishipachi”
3 Karakuri Merchant mdl 177 “Inashichi”
3 Karakuri Komachi mdl 224 “Ninishi”
2 Effect Veiler

Spells: 12
1 Pot of Avarice
3 Pot of Duality
1 Dark Hole
1 Mind Control
1 Heavy Storm
3 Mystical Space Typhoon
1 Monster Reborn
1 Book of Moon

Traps: 8
1 Mirror Force
3 Fiendish Chain
1 Trap Dustshoot
2 Solemn Warning
1 Solemn Judgment

Extra Deck: 15
1 Trishula, Dragon of the Ice Barrier
3 Karakuri Steel Shogun mdl 00X “Bureido”
1 Scrap Dragon
1 Stardust Dragon
1 Black Rose Dragon
2 Karakuri Shogun mdl 00 “Burei”
1 Naturia Landoise
1 Brionac, Dragon of the Ice Barrier
1 Naturia Barkion
1 Ally of Justice Catastor
1 Naturia Beast
1 Steelswarm Roach

Side Deck: 15
2 Maxx “C”
2 Closed Forest
2 Dimensional Prison
2 Dust Tornado
2 Royal Decree
1 Torrential Tribute
2 Leeching the Light
2 Debunk

The reason that I choose to review this deck is because karakuri's are finally getting their time in the spotlight and even if it took Dale Bellido to say that he was playing karakuri's then so be it. One of my team members has been using this deck for a while now I have personally found out it is capable of doing some pretty amazing things. Anthony though sacrificed some explosivness for some control and consistency, with all of the hand traps we saw at this event that was a smart call. The contuning trend of rai-oh being a mini ant-meta engine also continues here. The genex neutron are also very good allowing  you to search out your game winning tuners alot faster. If karakuri decks are to survive then they need to become much less of a otk deck and more of a consistent less explosive kind of deck, which was anthony did and he did a good job at that, I expect karakuri's to top at Ohio as well.

Chris Bowling (Top 32 – Chaos)Monsters: 27
3 Tour Guide from the Underworld
2 Effect Veiler
1 Black Luster Soldier – Envoy of the Beginning
1 Dandylion
1 Spore
1 Glow-Up Bulb
1 Lonefire Blossom
2 Ryko, Lightsworn Hunter
1 Lyla, Lightsworn Sorceress
1 Gorz the Emissary of Darkness
2 Tragoedia
1 Battle Fader
3 Chaos Sorcerer
2 Card Trooper
1 Sangan
1 Debris Dragon
1 Dark Armed Dragon
2 Maxx “C”

Spells: 13
3 Gold Sarcophagus
2 Solar Recharge
1 Mystical Space Typhoon
1 Pot of Avarice
1 Charge of the Light Brigade
1 Foolish Burial
1 Monster Reborn
1 Dark Hole
1 Mind Control
1 Heavy Storm

Extra Deck: 15
1 Formula Synchron
1 Armory Arm
1 Ally of Justice CatastorT
1 T.G. Hyper Librarian
1 Brionac, Dragon of the Ice Barrier
1 Orient Dragon
1 Black Rose Dragon
1 Arcanite Magician
1 Stardust Dragon
1 Scrap Dragon
1 Colossal Fighter
1 Dark End Dragon
1 Trishula, Dragon of the Ice Barrier
1 Leviair the Sea Dragon
1 Number 17: Leviathan Dragon

Side Deck: 15
1 Maxx “C”
1 Effect Veiler
2 D.D. Crow
2 Thunder King Rai-Oh
2 Mystical Space Typhoon
1 Smashing Ground
1 Trap Dustshoot
2 Light-Imprisoning Mirror
3 Royal Decree

These next two decklists were both imo the best 2 choas decks that topped. Choas decks are really just the  plant engine with a bit more milling brought into them so they can throw some big boss monster's into them. Chris excluded tengu probably because of th all of the milling his deck could do. Also Chris chose to run into any traps which meant he took his deck into a very aggressive minded approach. If you want to run a otk based choas deck this list is close to perfect.

Paul Blair (Top 32 – Chaos)Monsters: 20
3 Reborn Tengu
3 Tour Guide from the Underworld
1 Debris Dragon
1 Sangan
1 Black Luster Soldier – Envoy of the Beginning
2 Thunder King Rai-Oh
1 Spore
1 Dandylion
1 Maxx “C”
2 Effect Veiler
1 Glow-Up Bulb
1 Chaos Sorcerer
1 Lonefire Blossom
1 Gorz the Emissary of Darkness

Spells: 12
2 Mystical Space Typhoon
1 Book of Moon
1 Mosnter Reborn
1 Heavy Storm
1 Foolish Burial
2 Enemy Controller
1 Dark Hole
1 Pot of Avarice
1 One for One
1 Mind Control

Traps: 8
1 Mirror Force
2 Solemn Warning
1 Solemn Judgment
2 Call of the Haunted
1 Trap Dustshoot
1 Torrential Tribute

Extra Deck: 15
1 T.G. Hyper Librarian
1 Brionac, Dragon of the Ice Barrier
1 Stardust Dragon
1 Formula Synchron
1 Orient Dragon
1 Number 17: Leviathan Dragon
1 Armory Arm
1 Ally of Justice Catastor
1 Leviair the Sea Dragon
1 Trishula, Dragon of the Ice Barrier
1 Scrap Dragon
1 Black Rose Dragon
1 Ancient Fairy Dragon
1 Arcanite Magician
1 Steelswarm Roach

Side Deck: 15
2 Bottomless Trap Hole
2 Debunk
2 Light-Imprisoning Mirror
2 Nobleman of Crossout
2 Leeching the Light
2 D.D. Crow
2 Cyber Dragon
1 Chimeratech Fortress Dragon

This chaos deck shows the opposite side of the pendulum. Paul included tengu which allowed him to make minorly aggressive pushes, this reminds of last format when you would play junk doppel or tengu plants, junk doppel was more explosive but less consistent, and tengu plants was less explosive but more consistent. Also rai-oh agains makes a appearance, the constant theme here is rai-oh is a very good card, in case you didn't know. Again if you want to make a slower more consistent chaos deck then this list is near perfect, but I honestly believe that chaos decks are just regurgitated chaos plant decks.    

Logan Djuricin (Top 32 – Monarchs)Monsters: 26
3 Light and Darkness Dragon
3 Thestalos the Firestorm Monarch
3 Raiza the Storm Monarch
3 Caius the Shadow Monarch
3 Battle Fader
2 Tragodia
1 Gorz the Emissary of Darkness
3 Swap Frog
3 Treeborn Frog
2 Effect Veiler

Spells: 14
3 Pot of Duality
1 Dark Hole
1 Foolish Burial
3 Soul Exchange
3 Enemy Controller
1 Heavy Storm
2 Mystical Space Typhoon

Extra Deck: 15
1 Number 39: Utopia
1 Number 17: Leviathan Dragon
1 Gachi Gachi Gantetsu
1 Gaia Knight, the Force of Earth
1 Formula Synchron
1 Brionac, Dragon of the Ice Barrier
1 Ancient Fairy Dragon
1 Black Rose Dragon
1 Scrap Dragon
1 Stardust Dragon
1 Trishula, Dragon of the Ice Barrier
1 Thought Ruler Archfiend
1 Scrap Archfiend
1 Ally of Justice Catastor
1 Armory Arm

Side Deck: 15
1 Mystical Space Typhoon
1 System Down
2 Crevice into the Different Dimension
1 The Transmigration Prophecy
1 Black Luster Soldier – Envoy of the Beginning
3 Zaborg the Thunder Monarch
3 Vanity’s Fiend
3 Swift Scarecrow

So LFN first brought it to my attention that monarch decks were still quite good. This proves it. Logan included 3 of each of the big monarchs, really this brings me back to the days of when monarchs were tier 1(before we had fishborg and all of that stuff) and the main premise was to steal your opponents monster and tribute it off, or tribute off your own monsters and slowly grind for advantage, that is a good play style and is healthy for the game to see such a balanced play style top at a premier event. Really other than that everything is standard, though lately at my locals people playing monarchs have been using kristyia(since it is easy to get 2 tributes) with it being such a good card and all, Logan did not use kristyia(maybe inconsistent) and I don't play monarchs so if someone with experience in the monarch field could explain that to me I would appreciate it!

So that is all for today, on tomorrow's post I will have 2 more deck lists and then a overall recap of YCS Toronto so thanks for reading and stay tuned!

-Cameron