Additional YCS Atlanta Analysis

Now that the deck lists are up, I can do more in depth analysis.

So, after seeing the Gravekeeper's decks that topped, I see that my initial view of the deck wasn't completely correct. These were Trap-heavy builds that only ran 14 Monsters, three of which were used to search Necrovalley. Of course, Stele helps to get Monsters back, but I'm still surprised that the Gravekeeper's players didn't find themselves constantly running out of Monsters. Yes, Recruiter searches additional Monsters, but the searches run out eventually in a deck like that.

Apparently, "Royal Tribute Control" is a better name for the deck, since Royal Tribute basically did all of the work. Tearing apart your opponent's hand, then knowing what they have left over is a devastating opening play that it's nearly impossible to recover from. Looks like Gemini Imps and Reign-Beaux might see some play again.

That's enough about Gravekeepers, let's discuss (Quickdraw) Plants. Apparently, 13 Plant Synchro decks (which may or may not have used Quickdraw Synchron) topped. That's more than a third of the Top 32. Whether that's because the deck is good/consistent or because so many people played it will have to wait until the Konami Event Coverage Team decides to post the deck spread for the event, which usually occurs the day of the following event. So yeah...

I generally don't like (Quickdraw) Plants. It's just a personal thing, and also because I used to draw terrible hands all the time. So, I'm inclined to hate the deck. But, I just saw dubkdad1's take on the deck, and it looks very solid. I would actually consider making one like it.

Plant Synchro decks are usually too slow, and they can't really fill the Graveyard that quickly. Still, I'm hesitant to use a deck that relies on Dandylion too much. I mean, every play in the deck revolves around Fluff Tokens, so not getting Dandylion means an auto-loss. Sure, there are quite a few ways to search for Dandylion, but if it gets removed, then you can't really do anything about it.

So yeah, besides the four Gravekeeper's decks and 13 Plant Synchro decks, the field was fairly diverse. There were six Blackwing decks, three X-Saber decks, two Lightsworn variants (one straight Lightsworn, the other Zombiesworn), and the rest were one-ofs: Machina Gadgets, Dimensional Eatos, Infernities, and Frog Monarchs.

With that spread, it becomes apparent that Gravekeeper's were able to take advantage of the Graveyard-dependent decks to take the top three spots. Oh, and Royal Tribute probably helped a lot, too.