Attention duelists! The KC Cup on Yu-Gi-Oh Duel links has drawn to a close and I managed to get a fair few games in and as it turns out, do rather well. Topping out at 10237DP and rank 347 at my prime, I eventually ended up with a humble 9686DP which placed me at rank 1445 in the 10-star bracket as the event ended (Note this was in the Europe/Middle East/Africa regions).

I’ve played Yu-Gi-Oh for long time and have a fairly good grasp of the game, so it was great to play in an event which had a high skill ceiling. Thanks to this difficulty, it forced a lot of players to innervate with their decks and card choices which meant at higher levels more varieties of deck were present. Even decks which had the same themes, such as Gravekeepers and Relinquished decks, started to use cards that you wouldn’t normally see to try and get ahead of the meta which was awesome.

My experience was perhaps a little different however from the average player due to my deck choice; for the entire event, I used the Weevil Parasite Control deck. Hold on hold on! Before you click off the page in disgust let me explain myself. I enjoy playing games in manners outside the norm and the Parasite deck does just that. For some reason, a lot of players have cultivated a hatred for the deck, citing that it is annoying to play against and easy to play. I believe this to be false; control decks are supposed to deny plays and make games last longer which this deck does. Also, the deck requires perhaps the most skill to play out of any deck currently in the game. Knowing when to play cards, when to push for damage and when to lockdown players is not as simple as just tribute summoning Gravekeepers Oracle. That’s the gameplay I enjoy, the stuff that makes me think.

With that out of the way, these are the versions of the deck I went through during the event summarised into 3 different iterations:

 

 

 

 

Version 1 was the simplest version of the deck and contained the least monsters. In the early stages, I came up against no other Weevil decks at all, so running deck thinning cards like Jar of Greed were great as they allowed me to grab combo pieces a lot faster. The early ranks also saw a lot of tribute summoning so Blast Held by a Tribute became a solid tech card along with Eradicating Aerosol. The latter card was used to break out of any odd combos or board states that arose during this time. However, as I started to hit the 7 star areas, the decks became more consistent and, with the release of the new pack, unpredictable.

 

 

 

 

Version 2 was a response to the changes. Harpie Lady Relinquished and Dinosaurs became common and Weevil decks began to pop up everywhere. Pumprincess and Burning Land were added to combat these threats with Divine Wrath being used to swing tempo in my favour in fringe matchups like Pegasus decks with mind scan and in the mirror match. This managed to take me up to 9 star but then I hit a rut and, thanks to real life stuff, I couldn’t play for a few days.

 

 

Version 3 was the final version which broke me into 10 star. After thinking about it, I needed a deck that was less worried about trying to counter certain decks but more able to function by itself against all decks. I really wanted to get Soul Exchange to push this version further but I could not pull it so I went with what I had. At this point the single Parasite I had in the main deck was finally removed, the Jade Whistle reduced to 2 and to replace them a Mefist the Infernal General, a Cobra Jar and Mirror Wall were added. The theory here was that these changes could help with this decks biggest weakness, Gravekeepers. Mefist would rip cards out their hand, Cobra Jar would stall and set up for a tribute summon and Mirror Wall could just help all around. A last-minute inclusion, and one that impressed over time, was Adhesion Trap Hole. The trap was great to cripple monsters like Sergeant Electro and Gravekeepers Oracle that normally would cause a huge problem.

Some cards that players may be wondering about; Big Shield Gardna was a card I considered but at first believed would cause more issues than benefits. This view changed over time and I regretted not trying to get at least 1 earlier as it would have been an auto include. Personally, I would only run 1-2 max anyway. The lack of Enemy Controller is obvious as well as it would have been a fantastic utility card at 2 but Kaiba just seems to be refusing to drop them for me. Finally, I saw a few players splice this deck with the Tea One-Turn-Kill deck, running direct damage cards with the parasite engine. Honestly, that version of the deck was so inconsistent it was just not worth it in my mind, sticking to the one theme made the deck stronger.

Here are some tips on the matchups:

Rex Raptor Dino Deck: Easy-Medium
Depends on how quickly they can get to Order to Charge otherwise just play carefully and don’t equip your Mask’s to Normal monsters if you can help it. After a Parasite is on their field it should be an easy game.

Mako Tsunami Umi Beatdown: Easy-Medium
This match looks hard on the outset but it is simpler than you think. Divine Wrath ruins this deck and a well-timed Windstorm can slow them down enough to get the win. Make sure to save your Masks here and equip them to their tribute monsters.

Weevil Underwood Parasite Deck: Medium
This match-up is about who breaks first because playing a card face up here can basically lose you the whole game! Rule of thumb, wait until your Pandas can be 2300 attack THEN play them and pray that your parasites in their deck come out faster than the ones in yours do.

Bandit Keith Switcharoo Deck(s): Medium-Hard
Thanks to the bug where if Keith draws a Parasite off his Switcharoo ability it doesn’t activate, this matchup is a lot harder. However, you can use this decks consistency against it and keep specific counter cards for when they make their big play such as a Mask for Relinquished or Divine Wrath for Twin-Barrel Dragon etc. Play very safe and you should be able to win.

Pegasus Mind Scan Control deck: Medium
Your strategies are very obvious and since they can see every card you set, your goal should be to get their LP to under 3000 as soon as possible. After that just play as normal and you should be fine.

Tea One-Turn-Kill Burn deck: Easy-Hard
This is purely luck based, if they have the cards to OTK you, you lose, if not, you win.

Joey Wheeler Coin Toss deck: Easy-Medium
True to Joey’s character, this deck can either run you over or be a simple game to win. Be sure to work with their LP manipulation cards (if they play them) to rack up damage and be wary of when they get to under 1000LP. The longer this deck abuses the “Luck on your Side” skill, the more likely you are to lose based on pure card advantage.

Yami Yugi Gravekeeper Deck: Hard-Impossible
This decks worst matchup by a long way and in some cases unwinnable. The amount of destruction, deck shuffling and negation can overwhelm you quickly. The best way to win is to keep Divine Wrath back as long as you can and wait until you can use it for maximum tempo. That or pray you shuffle 3 parasites into their deck and you get all of them asap.

"I’ve played Yu-Gi-Oh for long time and have a fairly good grasp of the game, so it was great to play in an event which had a high skill ceiling..."

Just in case you were wondering, I grabbed a Big Shield Gardna and an Enemy Controller as my rewards for the KC Cup. I would expect my deck to be changing soon because of this. Overall though the event was a lot of fun (Bugs and other exploits withstanding) and I am looking forward to there being more like this. Yu-Gi-Oh Duel Links has surprised me just how good it is; a solid meta has been defined, it has a passionate and active player base and about all else, it is fun to play. Check it out if you have the time and if you want more info, you can read our review of the game to really get an idea of just how great this mobile title is.