[Season 35] Path to King-of-Games Debriefing

King of Games Banner for Ranked Duels Season 35

12/2/2018

Within the first 24 hours, there were lots of:

1) Sealed Tomb/Bandit Vampires

2) Masked Heroes

3) Spellbooks.

Occasionally, there were a few Bujin’s.

For the next 24 hours after that, the number of masked heroes users decreased- likely from ascending to King-of-Games[KoG]. However, there was an increase in the number of Spellbook users. Bujin’s became even rarer - also from likely having reached KoG. Finally, there was an average increase in the general distribution of other decks such as Sea Assaults, U.A.’s, and Geargia’s.

Vs. Spellbooks and Vampires (Mirror Matchup)

• Activate Sealed Tomb ASAP
• Don’t let Spellbooks activate their Spellbook of Fate
• Don’t let either build momentum from the start. As such, mirror matches will likely see two turns of Sealed Tombs back-to-back.
• In Vampire mirror matches, prioritize playing Vampire Grimson and Vampire’s Domain. Rarely will players be tricked into targeting your Vampire Kingdom with a removal.

Vs. Anti-Traps

• Expect a negation on the first summon either from Solemn Scolding or Divine Wrath.
• You can be ballsy by summoning a Vampire Familiar or Retainer to setup the graveyard, allowing you to cycle from your hand.
• More times than not, you’ll be relying on tributing Gozuki to build up to a double summon that would overwhelm their well-armed Tenkabito Shien or Elemental Hero Wildheart.

Vs. Masked Heroes

• If it’s a bad draw and you see them build up to the normal four card set up, just surrender. Save your time.
• This matchup is basically going to be if they have the right cards vs. if you’ve pulled your right cards. You find yourself winning more because you built a deck with enough strong starters while they built a deck that relies on drawing the right cards in the right quantities.
• Remember, they have fewer winning hands than vampire — but only ever so slightly.

Vs. Dragon DNA Buster Bladers

• Luck of the draw for me. Same for them. If you expect that they drew the right cards, surrender there or make it quick.

Vs. Bujins

• Same deal. Having hare, crane, or tortoise puts the game in their favor unless you somehow brought Debunk or Chow Chow Chan.
• Vampires will have to try to get the Yamato off ASAP and close the game before the above hare, crane, tortoise set-up.
• The other set-up card to be wary of is Bujin Sinyou which can be activated during the damage step from the graveyard.

Vs. U.A.’s

• Block their attacks and hit back hard.
• You’ll likely end up taking possession of their Mighty Slugger (more often than Rebounder).
• Be careful as many U.A.’s run Drowning Mirror Force.
• Work to remove DMF or put some monsters in defense against DMF to not lose momentum.

Vs. Sea Assaults

• Target priority for removals: Umi → Sea Assault (2) → Monsters on Field.
• Removals will likely cause your opponent to activate Sea Assault and banish a card on the field.
• Another counter is thus just to remove the 5 star+ monster to circumvent sea assault’s effect for the turn being.
• Expect to take possession of their boss monsters with Vampire Vamp.

Overall:

A chunkier mid-range option became available and bulking up became a good counter to other value-laden decks that stopped fast/aggro decks. Yet, this new “chunk” depends on adding high-value (and thus pricey) cards like Sphere Kuriboh, Mirror Wall, and Gozuki — more so than moderately-priced cards like Vampire Grimson.

With graveyard cycling becoming more common, sealed tomb is what accounts for the last gap for Vampires to reach King of Games. The prevalence of graveyard play makes for targeting the graveyard a vulnerability for any opponent. Even Bujin Sinyou’s coverage can be nullified with Sealed Tomb.

I can see “Sealed Tomb” and “Bandit” being the most generally-used skills. “Seal Tomb” has seen play by Spellbooks and “Bandit” by Masked Heroes. Deck-specifics like “A Trick Up My Sleeves” will always stay a staple of their specific archetype.

Thank you for the read and I’ll see you next season for season 36.

Artwork for Vampire Red Baron