u/RedLantern28

A lot of factors to think about when it comes to what should or should not be playable in a format. And of course it's all subjective. But I personally don't think Dracotail should be a playable deck, in almost any capacity, in Genesys format for the following reasons. Now there are no "criteria" for what should be playable or not. These are just some overall opinions I have.

I think the deck is able to play through all of the available handtraps too easily. It's not particularly bothered by the cheap 1 for 1 handtraps in the format. Veiler, Ogre, Mourner, Belle, Crow. The deck was made to generate advantage in such a way that trying to hit it 1 for 1 isn't feasible. All of this is possible because each card serves 2-3 purposes such that stopping one of the effects isn't good enough. Additionally the deck doesn't play into Nibiru. Realistically, just think, what are you supposed to do when you have 2 handtraps in hand and your opponent fuses away 2 Dracotail monsters, what hinders them in a way that is equivalent to your own minus 2? I just don't think it's feasible to play against them without harsher handtraps like Ash available. So the deck isn't stopped by the nonengine so many of us are relying on. Maybe board breakers are a better way to go, I'd need to test more, but I see similar issues arising there.

In return the deck has little to no difficulty putting up interruptions greater or equivalent to the number of cards the opponent has in hand. 3 Dracotail traps, a quick fusion or two, and then fusion material recycled by Arthalion that disrupts when sent to gy as material.

The deck is good going second. Like alluded to earlier, the Dracotail fusion material monsters help you break boards as a bonus effect on their way through their normal combos. They excell going both first and second, due to bonus effects playing into a board, and I'd feel better if they had some kind of weakness to balance out their strengths.

I understand that the deck cannot play pointed non-engine. But I'm saying that their engine is strong enough such that they don't need to, to win games. (List shown above is 105 points). One single concession must be made, but they otherwise have access to their entire engine with decent consistency.

And subjectively, the deck to me, is just too recently viable in the TCG for me to want to be seeing it in Genesys. I know that this is a large issue people have with Genesys right now, that meta decks playable in the last 2-3 years are pointed less heavily than meta decks playable in the last 5-8 years. It's just not the kind of decks people coming into Genesys want to see. They want to see old decks viable, not neutered new decks playable.

I know a lot of people consider Dracotail to be one of the more fun and fair TCG decks of the last few formats, but I still just think it's not the fit for Genesys.

Maybe I'm wrong and just need to get gud, entirely possible I need to address some things with my own play, Dracotail still just seems too good. But that's what discussion is for, something I don't see often enough on this subreddit.

Gimme your thoughts below.

I was already happy playing PK in Genesys, but now I'll be able to afford better extra deck tools or maindeck staples, we're eating well.

Stardust Dragon and Blackwing Armor Master were my two favorite monsters around the 2010/2011 era. And I always imagined a combo of the two.

The card effect protection of Stardust Dragon plus the battle protection of Blackwing Armor Master, I didn't know it yet but I guess I gravitated towards Towers monsters before they were even a thing.

And with Miracle Synchro Fusion coming around towards the end of 5Ds, it would've been perfectly practical to make too.

Personally I think Blackwing Armor Master would be my main. Blocking hits with his indestructible wings, throwing feather blade projectiles, and having sick midair combos. Love this monster.

Whether it comes down to deck preferences, play styles, balance philosophies, card design, or any kind of opinion, is there a yugioh player you find you really resonate with?

And a secondary, kind of larger question, do you think the yugioh community has started to homogenize our opinions to agreeable consensuses, or do you think people still have vastly different opinions all over the place?

It's wild that a game can master the design and balance of many different types of combat so well. Magic, melee, archery, fast combos, big bonks, giant monsters, skilled knights, individual duels, hoards of monsters; all of these types of fights are so fun.

So many different types and styles of combat available and it all just feels so good. Nothing feels too weak or too strong or unfun.

A game where one second I can focus on intensive competitive duels and the next moment I can hunt down some giant creatures.

This game is incredible.

Basically the only two targets for Raider's Knight is Brave Strix to start Raidraptor combo or Arc Rebellion to help break boards. Are those really that problematic?

Raidraptor doesn't feel like it deserves a huge amount of points given it's a towers deck in a kaiju heavy format. And Arc Rebellion is exclusively good going second, something that would benefit the format.

Free my boy, please Konomi. I'm just trying to detach a material to rank up/down into a Phantom Knight, Raidraptor, or XYZ Dragon monster. It's not gonna hurt nobody. Also one of the dopest looking yugioh monsters period. Free him.

Part of the conception of Genesys is that decks that get played will gain points, decks that don't see play will lose points, and generally problematic cards will remain pointed despite playrate.

But I think we've all begun to see that the point adjustment philosophy hasn't been the most fair or consistent in the community's eyes.

And I fear that some decks will never be truly competitively playable despite deserving a spot in the metagame, simply because they're forgotten about on the point list. Or because fear of the deck is irrational (gladiator beasts and ninjas for some reason).

After all this is something we see in the TCG banlist quite often. There are many cards that come off the banlist, long after the point of their playability. Cards that missed their window of opportunity to be played. (Majespecter Kirin falls into this if I remember correctly.) And even many many cards now sit on the banlist that could come off without issue. It's kinda sad to see these cards waste away in a state of unplayable irrelevance.

I really hope that Genesys format doesn't fall into this same hole. I hope with the amount of player feedback and communication they've demonstrated continues.

But if yesterday's decks never actually see playability, and old & new decks are never on an even playing field, I think Genesys format will fail its promise.

PS: not trying to debate Drytron in particular with people. Just an example that's been on my mind. Maybe you think this deck deserves points, idk. Doesn't matter.

The few times people had me play it out, I kinda just fumbled my way through and prayed I didn't fuck up. But even my clumsy play still got to lethal. I didn't even own a Trident Dragion, opponents probably just assumed I did.

Got a lot of locals wins I probably didn't deserve. But funny all the same.

"I got blown out of the water, surely this is the game's fault and not mine."

"An EV? Damn these new mechanics sure are complicated, I refuse to learn them."

"All my monsters died in a single turn each, these new mons are just way too strong!"

When it comes to any competitive game, the game only feels fun, balanced, and interactive when both players are on a similar playing field. You cannot show up to a fighting game tournament, for a game you've played just a few times with friends, and expect to have a good time. You'll get comboed to death, unable to do a single thing, and die instantly, round after round, sound familiar? It does not make it a bad game. You are just bad and thus had a bad time.

Some people act like yugioh is this crazy fast, unbalanced, and unfun game. But they're really just upset at concepts that apply to all competitive games. If you are showing up with a viable deck, knowledge of the game and its mechanics, you will most likely have a good time with back and forth games.

Yugioh gets too much hate in this area.

Historically blind second decks seem like they're either unplayable in the meta or are too strong to the point of being unfun and hated. There are blind second decks that see petdeck play, like Cyber Dragon or Ancient Gears. But they're lucky to get a single match win at locals. Then there's Tenpai which is so consistent and uninteractive that it feels like you're getting blown out.

Maybe there's Sky Striker somewhere in the middle. But that deck has seen so many iterations with different game plans. Maybe that's considered a healthy blind second deck, but they even prefer to go first now, and it's still seen as a hated deck by some.

We all know that going second needs to be stronger in yugioh, but going second specific decks have a rough history. Should blind second decks exist? Or recently we've seen cards include bonus effects going second to bridge that advantage gap, is that better?

Let me know what you think.

Without Cherubini and Bardiche their ability to get material in gy and generate advantage is pretty hampered. Their combos now are very interruptable, especially in a format where Skull Meister and DD Crow are everywhere.

I would've liked to see this deck be playable, but now I'm really doubting it. I think basically all of the maindeck engine should be free so that you can play some valuable non engine, plus extra deck staples like UDF and Zeus.

Some people are saying that a rank 3 pile deck involving Goblin Bikers has the potential to be crazy good, but as for Pure Phantom Knights, I think they're in a very rough spot.

Anyone have any experience playing or testing this deck so far? What have you noticed? Is there anything I'm not seeing or you would recommend?

Someone's gotta look out for these guys!

No reason, just asking for a friend.

I love an underdog. So Red Dragon Archfiend being playable and fun, but not meta viable for so long was really cool. Even after its structure deck it fit that rogue niche pretty well for a while.

Now that I'm playing Genesys and this deck has gotten waves of support, I groan knowing that yet another wombo combo deck is prevalent in the format. Better interrupt them well or they'll end on 5 huge synchros after a long turn.

Just not my preferred playstyle.

Similarly I know Altergeist players were annoyed when new support turned it into (functionally) a combo deck too.

Any other examples people have?

Maybe this is obvious and I'm just late to the party. But wanted to share. It's perfect to stop a ranged summon from drawing a boss's aggression and getting killed right away. Of course you gotta be okay with the boss being on you the whole time, but that's part of the fun.

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Keep your archer friend from getting got

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Hopefully this is new and helpful to someone!

Both big beaters that make closing out games much easier, unique forms of removal, they generate card advantage, and playable going both first and second. These cards really seemed flawless and all encompassing in what they can do.

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And it's not like they're bad. They're still good cards. But not nearly as generically playable either as staples or as engines anymore. Seeing play in almost nothing. Crazy to me.

Edit: apparently I've underestimated how much play Magnumhut is still seeing, almost entirely based on the dragons it is currently searching. I suppose I'm more-so thinking about Druiswurm and the Bystials as a whole.

This guy has always really appealed to me for some reason. Not particularly strong, iconic, or memorable. But I just really like him.