speculating malaysia acq meta 2.0

Hi guys, its been a while since i made a proper post. This blog may be relived again, whereby i will be writing relevant long articles as an additional section for HLG, compared to the short random things that popped up in my mind like my older posts. So, today i will go into discussing malaysia's meta for the ACQ.

A while back,  i discussed this in a briefer version, where i said verz would not have a strong showing due to it being overshadowed by harpies, firefists etc. However, that was discussed before Konami + shriek ocg news released the info on the incarnate dragons, or on the baby dragons. Thus, with that, that post is now IRRELEVANT.

I would have done another post like this a while back, like 1 week before Singapore's (which concluded last weekend), but posting about how imba 4 dragons might ruin the surprise factor some players wanted to bring to the event. Everybody knew the deck was legit, but not many expected the top 4 to be wholly dominated by dragons. Personally, with some testing for the deck, i knew the complete one, which includes burner and lightning, would be a beast, but i was not sure how well the incomplete version would fare. (burner and lightning aren't legal for use in SG ACQ) (my dn account constantly produces poker hands like 3 tidal, or 3 gold sarcophagus, whereby the latter is a good thing)

With that said, it is important to note how good the deck will be since the full version will be legal for Malaysia. So, lets go over the potential meta candidates.

1) Incarnate Dragon. Malaysia has seen an increase of demand in dragons since last weekend, and at the same time, the supply for Big Eyes has diminished, whille inflating its price to at least a full rm50. It is safe to say the players are looking forward to repeating Kenneth, Nian Jie, and Wesley's success. I will not discuss card ratios or card techs, as certain players who want to use the deck will not like it.

2) Verz. Now that dragons are first in line, Verz will be the most played deck. Most players had access to it since last format, and this is the only deck which has a consistent solid matchup vs dragons in game 1. Games 2 and 3 go eitherway, whereby if your opponent opens LADD, + super rejuvenation, there isnt that much you can do.

3) FireFists. Between the 2 variants, i personally think level 3 firefist are a force to be reckoned with because they are on par with spellbooks, and have the potential to beat dragons due to speed. I expect level 4 to be more popular because most players have been using them since last format, and again price, becomes a limiting factor for the level 3 popularity. You will expect to see a decent number of firefists, especially since Verz is popular, and firefists have a good matchup vs verz.

4) Prophecy. The hated deck of the format. Nobody likes Judgment, and things get worse when they sack open One day of Peace vs you. It will be heavily sided against. The deck will have some showings, but probably not as many as you would expect.

This about describes the tier 1 decks and what you can expect.

Now i will discuss the tier 1.5- 2 decks that may have a showing.

1) Mermail. I was debating to include mermail in the tier 1 list, but i am not convinced of the deck at the moment. It has iffy 50-50 matchups versus the tier 1s, and the deck did not top Singapore's at all. This deck will have a showing in malaysia, with tidal and stream and the deck capitalizes on the ability to make Abyssgaios which is hard for the dragon matchup, and level 3 firefist.

2) Hero, Dark World, Six Samurai, Agents- I didn't want to go over this one by one because everybody knows how it works. I arranged them in decreasing order of the numbers, with Heroes being the most run and Agents being the least. These decks will always be around, but i do not expect even a handful to top. These are decks which can be potent if run by the right player, but most of the good players would not gamble on these

3) Machines- Now this is interesting because the deck dies to Ophion, but it is consistent. I do not have much of a clue, but i think they will be represented but i dont see them going pass the preliminary rounds.

And to all TCG players who are wondering:

Yes, windups are dead here.

What do I think will top in this event?

I expect the top 16 to comprise of the following tier 1 decks which i have listed, along with mermail or hero.

I will not speculate the number a deck topping because I am not God.

I will not speculate top 32, because the top cut has 16 seeded players, and we already know what some of them are running due to player preference, news and gossips, listing of decks on MYS info website, etc.

So, how do i suggest you prepare for the tournament?

The format is a single elimination one, which means consistency is key.

Rid your decks of unplayable inconsistent techs which would be a hindrance to you in mid/late games or if you start second. For example, i think nobody should main starlight road because it is inconsistent and situational.

Personal experience when i played ACQ last year, i drew 3 veiler in opening hand with no inzektors and irrelevant stuff vs agents.

Thus watch out for card ratios. 1 common mistake is when players try to stack their decks by placing certain cards with others before a round (dont lie, i know you've done it before). This is uncalled for because while pile shuffling, you may accidentally stack yourself (story of my life). At the same time, fiddle around with your deck to know its optimum number of piles which you should shuffle into. Some decks produce more consistent hands with 5 or 6 piles, some with 8, so take abit of time to know that so that you wont produce bad hands. This is not stacking unless the player does it intentionally.

I dont think many players do this, but it is something which can be applied to your yugioh.

Since it is a single elimination format, remember one random rogue matchup which you are unprepared for, and your out... So, make sure you have generic sidedeck cards which are flexible for several matchups. Do not hate so much on a certain deck until you dedicate too many main/side slots for a matchup you could never face. In malaysia it gets random so you may see a wild inzektor, or hieratic, which makes it tough.
Or perhaps your opponent Royal tribute + necrovalley your dragon hand?

Apart from the usual sufficient sleep, prepare yourself mentally stuff which you hear constantly, i think you should do what suits you. If you can perform better, by sacrificing sleep for late night playtesting, so be it. Some people perform better on an empty stomach (like me), so keep your food intake minimal as long as it suits you.

Singapore's HLG members will be there to provide some coverage so make sure you stay updated through FB!

Thats all for today.