The qualifiers for the upcoming Yu-Gi-Oh TCG World Championship, to be held in Seattle on 7-8 September, are now in full swing. Results from these qualifiers across the planet serve as clear indicators of which decks can be expected to excel at Worlds just over two months from now.

Additionally, the recent updates to the banned and restricted card list that apply to tournaments in Japan and Asia-Pacific will have significant impacts on the metagame. Most notably, these new bans and restrictions have caused declines in the status of the Tenpai Dragon and Snake-Eye archetypes—two archetypes that for months had been staples of top-level tournament play.

As things stand right now, these are the deck archetypes currently at the peak of the meta:

Yubel

This deck built around various Fiend-type monster cards has taken advantage of recent changes in the meta and is likely to get even stronger in the run-up to Worlds. That’s because many of the new bans and restrictions work in favor of many Fiend-type monsters. Additionally, its ability to utilize opposing monsters either as fusion materials or methods by which damage can be dealt is one which is an excellent fit for the meta as it is now.

A highly flexible and stable deck, this control deck contains multiple search methods and options to counter opponents’ monster-heavy decks. Although it does have a slight matchup disadvantage against decks which make heavy use of Trap and/or Spell cards, the deck nevertheless contains cards that facilitate counterplay as well.

Rescue-ACE

This deck seemingly came out of absolutely nowhere to become one of the leading decks in the current meta. However, shifts in playstyles favorable to the meta as well as the releases of recent sets that added various new cards propelled this deck to its new elevated status. This beatdown deck loads the main deck with plenty of monster cards, many of which grow in power when set off by the effects of opponents’ monsters.

Perhaps the most important card to this deck’s strategy is Rescue-ACE Hydrant. During the player’s Main Phase, the player can use the card to add any RESCUE-ACE monster from the deck to the hand except for any other RESCUE-ACE Hydrant card, allowing the player to dictate the state of the board. For this reason, the player’s main priority should be protecting all RESCUE-ACE Hydrant cards from being banished.

Tenpai Dragon

Although this deck is no longer the overwhelming force it once was due to recent bans and restrictions, it nevertheless remains a major force in tournament play. This beatdown deck’s use of Synchro Summons to launch a greater number of attacks per turn makes it one of the most efficient decks in the meta, depleting the opponent’s Life Points at one of the quickest paces of any deck.

This deck is as flexible as it is efficient because of its many counterplay options. Since the deck’s main functions don’t need all that many cards to be used, there are thus more open slots available in which cards that would counter difficult matchups could be placed.

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