Instead of just going through the list card by card, let's look at what the changes could mean for the format. Zombies lost one of their most important monsters, Monarch got several consistency hits, HERO is being pushed a little more toward actual Fusion plays, and a few new cards could open completely different builds.
Some of these changes are pretty safe. Others, especially Future Fusion and Reckless Greed, are things we want to see players experiment with.
Zombies Have to Rebuild
The biggest change is probably the end of Pyramid Turtle.
Pyramid Turtle is now Forbidden after being selected by the middle player at the NeoDraft: Forbidden event. This removes one of the most reliable engines Zombie had. Turtle could replace itself with another Turtle, bring out a bigger Zombie directly from the Deck, and could even be reached through Giant Rat.
But Zombie isn't being left with nothing.
- Pyramid Turtle: 3 → 0
- Gozuki: New → 2
- Ryu Kokki: 1 → 3
- Card Destruction: 0 → 1
Gozuki gives the deck a completely different way to work. Instead of waiting for Pyramid Turtle to be destroyed in battle, Zombie can now start preparing the Graveyard directly.
Ryu Kokki also goes back to three. Without Pyramid Turtle pulling it straight from the Deck, playing multiple copies comes with a much more real risk of drawing a big monster you can't immediately use.
Zombie isn't dead. It just has to figure out how to be Zombie without three Pyramid Turtles doing half the work.
Monarch Gets Hit From Three Directions
Monarch was the most represented family in our August tournament data, with 24.4% of the field and a 57.9% match win-equivalent. It also had a huge effect on Side Deck construction, with Pulling the Rug appearing in 71.9% of Side Decks.
So instead of killing one Monarch completely, October reduces the consistency of the whole engine:
- Soul Exchange: 3 → 2
- Thestalos the Firestorm Monarch: 3 → 2
- Brain Control: 2 → 1
The deck still has plenty to work with. Zaborg is still available, Mobius is still at two, and Hydro, Gadget, Banisher and other Monarch variants aren't going anywhere.
What should happen less often is opening the same Soul Exchange into Thestalos line over and over again.
Thousand-Eyes Is Finally Gone
Thousand-Eyes Restrict goes from Limited to Forbidden.
This isn't really about Metamorphosis itself. Metamorphosis stays at three, and we still want players using it to explore cards like Dark Balter the Terrible, Ryu Senshi and the rest of the Fusion toolbox.
The problem was Thousand-Eyes Restrict. Taking a monster and then shutting down attacks could create slow game states where both players spent several turns trying to get around the same TER.
Crystal Seer entering the Extra Card Pool also would have given Flip and Apprentice decks another useful Level 1 monster that could generate value first and then immediately become Thousand-Eyes Restrict through Metamorphosis.
So Metamorphosis survives. TER doesn't.
Flip Decks Get a New Toy
Crystal Seer enters NeoGoat at three copies.
It's a simple card, but that's part of what makes it interesting here. Flip it, look at the top two cards of your Deck, add one to your hand and put the other on the bottom.
It gives Apprentice and Flip decks another way to generate card selection without simply adding another LIGHT or DARK monster for Chaos.
At the same time, Night Assailant drops from two to one. The Flip engine still exists, but it gets a new piece while losing some redundancy from an old one.
Card Destruction Is Back
Card Destruction returns from Forbidden to Limited.
This could help a lot of different decks: Zombie can put monsters in the Graveyard, Archfiend can discard useful pieces, Ritual decks can fix awkward hands, and Chaos can turn dead cards into something new.
But one related engine is getting smaller.
Thunder Dragon goes from three to two. With Card Destruction returning, we didn't want three Thunder Dragons making it too easy to fill the hand with discard material while simultaneously loading LIGHT monsters into the Graveyard.
Thunder Dragon still works. It's just a smaller package now.
HERO Gets Less Prisma, More Fusion
HERO also gets an interesting trade.
- Elemental HERO Prisma: 2 → 1
- Elemental HERO Shining Flare Wingman: 1 → 3
- Future Fusion: New → 2
Prisma was one of the easiest HERO cards to splash into different shells. Reducing it to one lowers the consistency of the small generic HERO package without removing HERO from the format.
On the other side, Shining Flare Wingman is fully released and Future Fusion joins the format at two.
Future Fusion uses its modern text, so it doesn't immediately dump Fusion Materials into the Graveyard when activated. The opponent has time to answer it before that happens.
The idea is pretty simple: less generic HERO engine, more reasons to actually build around Fusion Summoning.
Future Fusion Is One to Watch
Future Fusion probably has the highest ceiling of any new card in October.
HERO isn't the only deck that can use it. Dragon decks can prepare Fusion Materials for Dragon's Mirror, and other Fusion strategies may find completely different uses for it.
That's why we're starting at two instead of three.
We want the card to actually show up enough for players to experiment with it, but this is definitely one of the cards we'll be watching closely.
Trap Decks Get a Little More Room
Reckless Greed goes back to three while Royal Decree drops to two.
- Reckless Greed: 2 → 3
- Royal Decree: 3 → 2
Reckless Greed is much more interesting at three because decks can actually build around seeing multiple copies. Activating several copies together can turn it into a real draw engine instead of just a random Trap that makes you skip two Draw Phases.
PACMAN, Burn, Destiny Board, Toon and other Trap-heavy decks are some of the obvious places to try it.
Royal Decree still exists as a strong answer, but at two copies it should be a little less common for a deck to simply shut off an entire backrow strategy with repeated copies.
Toons Get Another Counter Trap
Toon Terror moves from one to two.
It's a very strong Counter Trap, but it only works while the Toon player has both Toon World and a Toon monster established. That makes it powerful inside the deck without turning it into another generic staple.
Two copies should make Toon better at protecting the board it worked to build without giving the deck three copies of its best negation.
Normal Monsters Quietly Get Better
Birthright moves from one to two.
This isn't the flashiest change on the list, but Normal Monster decks now have more access to a revival card that only they can really take advantage of.
Combined with cards already in the pool like Ancient Rules and Summoner's Art, this gives players a few more reasons to experiment with big Normal Monsters instead of treating them only as bricks.
Harpies Get a Small Consistency Hit
Harpie's Oracle moves from three to two.
Harpie had some very good results during the previous format, but its representation was still relatively small. Because of that, we didn't want to hit the whole engine or push Oracle all the way to one.
Queen, Harpies' Hunting Ground and the rest of the core remain intact. This is just a small consistency adjustment.
Some New Faces
October also brings several new cards into the Extra Card Pool.
Exploder Dragon gives Dragon decks and Masked Dragon another defensive option. It can trade with a much larger monster in battle without dealing battle damage to its controller.
Mist Archfiend gives Archfiend decks a 2400 ATK monster that can be Normal Summoned without a Tribute. The drawback is that it destroys itself during the End Phase and burns you for 1000, but Pandemonium and other Archfiend cards may be able to turn that drawback into part of the strategy.
Cyberdark Keel is another experimental addition. Small Dragons already exist throughout the format, and now players have another reason to look at what can be done with them.
And of course, Gozuki is probably the new card with the biggest job. Zombie just lost Pyramid Turtle, so we'll find out pretty quickly whether Gozuki can help the deck build a new identity.
What Happens Next?
October isn't meant to erase the decks that were good in August.
Monarch, Zombie, HERO, Chaos and Harpie are all still here. The difference is that some of their most automatic lines are less consistent, while several underexplored strategies received new tools.
Zombie now has to figure out life without Pyramid Turtle. HERO has fewer copies of Prisma but more reasons to actually Fusion Summon. Metamorphosis remains at three, but Thousand-Eyes Restrict is gone. Trap decks get three Reckless Greed while Royal Decree drops to two.
And then there's Future Fusion.
We don't know yet exactly what players are going to do with all of this.
That's the fun part.
