i'm starting to feel like modern Yugioh is a clown car, and every time the banlist apprehends the first few clowns that lead the format, 4-5 more step out to take their place. we didn't even have Linkross in handcuffs yet before VFD took the wheel and Vanity's Ruler got into the passenger seat. happy new year
 
This post will give recommendations for decks that can generally do well while generally remaining in the $50 to $150 price range.

• Estimated pricing includes a sample completed main deck and some or all of an extra deck, but no side.
• Pricing is based mainly on singles and you can easily save a lot of money by buying cores for most of these lists all at once.
• Decks were chosen usually based on having some degree of success in recent TCG formats.
  • These deck choices and rankings are heavily based on online tournaments such as Konami's Remote Duel Invitationals, LCS, and other assorted online events.
  • Performance on DuelingBook's ranked ladder also slightly factors in to the placement of these decks, with data taken from Ygoscope.
• Many decklists will include some middle-range power cards that might drive the price point up, which can be cut for players on an extreme budget. For instance, a set of Ash is $25-30 currently, but Ash is included in many of these lists as a generic staple that players might already own.
• Conversely, decklists are oftentimes easily upgraded by adding power cards such as Forbidden Droplet and Triple Tactics Talent.

Decks are grouped into four "tiers" and listed alphabetically by tier. Decklists are built prioritizing simplicity and effectiveness on a budget. Not all of them are perfect, but this post is not an F. Unless there is a particularly offensive deckbuilding error that you want to point out, please don't use this thread to nitpick at the sample decklists. Don't feel obligated to stick to the sample lists either; you should experiment and play cards that feel comfortable and/or optimal to you.
Feel free to leave suggestions for budget players, whether it's a budget tech choice for one of the decks on this list or whether it's a different deck that you think can compete in the coming months.
[Last updated: 23 Jan 2021]
Previous version: October 2020 Post
 

S Tier

The best bang for your buck. Decks in this category have the capacity to top premier events, though they're almost always supplemented with expensive power cards.
 

Drytron

Price: $100 Imgur | DuelingBook

• New Ritual-based combo deck from Genesis Impact that has a lot of recursion from the Graveyard, boasting a strong grind game as well as potent turn 1 boards that can win the game outright.
• The level 1 Drytron cards tribute other Drytron cards or Ritual cards in hand/field, so this deck abuses Cyber Angel Benten's lack of a once per turn clause to gain a ton of resources and search a lot of power LIGHT Fairy cards, such as Herald of Orange Light and Vanity's Ruler.
• Drytron Nova is an automatic 3-of inclusion in every competitive version of this deck, but also currently sits at around $40 each in NA. Novas are a massive boost in consistency, though the deck is honestly still playable without it, and is quite cheap otherwise. With even one copy of Nova, you should look to also include three copies of Drytron Fafnir (their Field Spell) which can search Nova as well.
• The absence of Nova + Fafnir from the main leaves a lot of space to be filled. There are many ways you can go about this.
  • The sample list plays a small Pre-Prep engine with Herald of Perfection. It's very simple to play, especially if you're unfamiliar with the deck, and helps raise your overall ceiling - athough optimized competitive builds have generally moved away from Pre-Prep.
  • Another viable Ritual engine is the Megalith engine, which provides numerous options. These variants generally also suffer from consistency issues, made worse by the lack of Novas in the budget version. Less consistent access to Alpha means less consistent usage of extra Ritual monsters.
  • You could play cards that search Drytron monsters in an attempt to patch up consistency. Examples include Where Arf Thou, or normal summons that fetch Drytrons such as Cyber Dragon Core (getting Emergency) and Mathematician. Also viable is Neo-Spacian Aqua Dolphin, which is an interesting tech in Drytron that helps you beat handtraps like Droll & Lock Bird.
  • Finally, you can always just play more handtraps or generic power cards.
• This deck is a relatively new deck, and is getting support in Lightning Overdrive, which might indicate that it's relatively safe from the next banlist. However, there's no telling what Konami will do, so don't take my word as gospel.

 

Virtual World

Price: $150 Imgur | DuelingBook

• Combo deck with an extra deck toolbox, using Synchro and Xyz monsters to break boards or to win the game with True King of All Calamities and their recurring boss monster, Shenshen. The Virtual World monsters have a shared restriction which means that Link monsters are usually not played in this deck at all.
• Most of the main deck VW monsters can dump other VW cards from Deck to GY, and their continuous spell Qinglong is a searcher in the GY. Combined with Virtual World Mai-Hime - Lulu's ability to search for VW cards as well, the deck is consistent at doing the same combos and executing its gameplan almost every game, as most combinations of 2 Virtual World cards result in some type of combo.
• Despite being one of the top decks in the format, this deck is also quite cheap. Staples aside, the most pricey card in the main is Lulu at around $18-20 each. Can you get away with fewer copies of her? Probably, but you really want to get 3 due to Desires, and her being one of the best cards in your deck.
• Saw success immediately after PHRA release, even in the previous combo-infested format where Virtual World took the most representation and top cut spots at LCS 8, eventually winning the entire tournament. Post-banlist, they also took the most top cut spots and then won LCS 9, versus an entirely different playing field full of Zoodiac, Drytron, and Eldlich variants.
• Recent combos using Chaofeng, Phantom of the Yang Zing to search either one of the Virtual World tuners (Lulu or Laolao) have opened up some new combo routes that make Foolish Burial Goods a lot more forgiving to play, allowing you to still end on impressive boards despite using Qinglong somewhat suboptimally. On the other hand, Chaofeng's price also spiked quite heavily after LCS 9, so you may not want to play it.
• Non-budget players will first and foremost want to add Zeus to the Extra Deck, as it helps greatly with going second and also dealing with threats like Dragoon. Another common inclusion is Triple Tactics Talents, though this card is by no means mandatory in the deck, and has also seen a decline in popularity lately.

 

A Tier

Strong decks, but limited either by a lack of access to powerful staples or by the natural ceiling of the deck. You could still top a regional with one of these decks on a good day.
 

Altergeist

Price: $75+ Imgur | DuelingBook

• Control + backrow deck with incredible recursion and the ability to come back from almost no resources
• Altergeist have seen sparse success ever since FLOD, and are a respectable budget contender. They've have had a fairly modest showing online, and saw recent success with a top 8 finish at LCS 9. That deck was a Dogmatika variant piloted by Lars Junginger, playing the recently released Artemis, the Magistus Moon Maiden to make it slightly easier to summon Ecclesia in some hands.
• The Dogmatika engine is viable even on a modest budget. It's possible to simply play Dogmatika Punishment as a powerful trap capable of utilizing your extra deck, and even a single copy of Ecclesia (around $20 each right now) goes a long way for improving the power of this package. Of course, the deck is also perfectly playable as pure Altergeist.
• Budget players are most hurt by a lack of Pot of Extravagance, Infinite Impermanence, and Evenly Matched. The first three of these cards have reprints, but none are quite cheap enough yet to be easily accessible on a budget.
• The extra deck is extremely flexible (as Altergeist are typically played with Extravagance, anyway) and several options are simply tech cards, such as Elder Entity N'tss.
• Main deck trap choices are also extremely flexible. Torrential is quite powerful against Virtual World, but this could easily be swapped out for many other cards depending on your budget, available card pool, and locals demographics.
• The release of Blazing Vortex in early February also brings along an incredibly powerful staple card in Pot of Prosperity. Altergeist, along with virtually every other deck that enjoys running Pot of Extravagance currently, will appreciate Prosperity as well. Many OCG decks are choosing to play both Extrav + Prosperity in their decklists. Of course, Prosperity is also a Secret Rare, and is virtually guaranteed to be around $100, so this is not applicable on a budget.

 

Prank-Kids

Price: $150 Imgur | DuelingBook

• Floaty combo/control deck with 4 maindeck Prank-Kids that all float into any other Prank-Kid when used for a Link or Fusion summon
• Got a great boost in Phantom Rage with Prank-Kids Meow-Meow-Mu, a Link 1 Prank-Kid monster that makes this deck incredibly consistent and turns any single Prank monster into full combo.
• Prank-Kids Place is a little pricey, currently sitting at around $17 per copy in NA. While it contributes to your overall consistency (as it's equivalent to any Prank name), you can definitely get away with cutting copies of Place if your budget is tight.
• Notably took 1st place at the Canadian Remote Duel Invitational in mid-January, piloted by Hanko Chow.
• This deck appreciates the inclusion of Predaplant Verte Anaconda (currently over $30 apiece in NA) which can dump Thunder Dragon Fusion to help field Battle Butler, your main win condition. It was dropped from the provided list for budget reasons, but it's a great inclusion if you have a copy already. In conjunction with cards like Link Spider, it also improves your ability to play through disruption and through Nibiru.
• This deck has many characteristics of a great deck, but suffers from similar problems as Zoodiac in that it struggles to play through disruption on your normal summon, or cards like Ash negating your first Prank-Kid effect. The inclusion of Polymerization in the main deck helps to combat this, but also popular are builds that don't play Poly at all and instead just load the main deck with handtraps and powerful staples like Forbidden Droplet.
• Pot of Desires is included in this example main deck to help boost consistency and overall power, but some players opt not to run it.

 

Salamangreat

Price: $50+ Imgur | DuelingBook

• Link-based midrange deck with a lot of recursion and a special in-archetype technique, where 1 Link Monster is used as the entire Link material to summon another copy of that monster, granting bonus effects
• The deck is somewhat halfway between control and combo, establishing respectable boards turn 1 with a fairly compact engine, allowing many handtraps to be played. Their real strength comes in turn 3 and beyond, where their arsenal of free summons from the GY, coupled with their stellar resource recycling, easily overwhelm the opponent.
• The majority of the deck is dirt cheap and is mostly able to be built with commons from SOFU+SAST supplementing 3 copies of Structure Deck: Soulburner.
• Accesscode Talker is a huge part of this deck's success, able to steal games easily with the help of Update Jammer. Accesscode is not at all affordable on a budget, so the sample list plays Zeroboros instead. Owning one copy of Accesscode is a tremendous improvement to this deck's strength.
• Salamangreat has found little competitive success in bigger online tournaments this format, but still regularly performs well in smaller events, remote duel locals, and the like. It's also a fairly safe choice, as it's somewhat unlikely we see further Salamangreat hits on the next banlist.
• The provided list plays Rivalry + Strike, a potent option allowing you to sometimes win games even into established boards. Strike is quite solid in the current format, as even the combo decks don't usually end on ways to punish a lot of set backrow.
• Parallel eXceed is an optional card, and can be cut in favor of more backrow or handtraps. On one hand, it allows you to more easily link climb when going second, and can easily add a Dweller or Bagooska to your board going first (Dweller is very good right now, as well). On the other hand, players may prefer to run more defensive cards instead of eXceed.

 

Subterror

Price: $100+ Imgur | DuelingBook

• Subterrors are a control deck with a focus on flipping monsters face-down and generating constant advantage with Subterror Guru.
• Pure Guru control is the most played variant, and is more or less a stun deck that tries to abuse Guru as much as possible. While most Guru lists online are Numeron and/or Dragoon hybrids, the pure version saw some success earlier this format at the Benelux Remote Duel Extravaganza, finishing top 4. You can watch that deck profile here, and the sample list is generally based off of that list.
  • While Dragoon isn't budget-friendly, the Numeron engine is very accessible for little cost, and is a viable variant of this deck as well. Numeron cards aim to make Number S0: Utopic ZEXAL going first or simply OTK going second. S0 is an extremely powerful card that can prevent the opponent from playing the game entirely if it resolves. If you are interested in this version, you can check the Subterror list on the previous budget post.
• The sample list doesn't have a complete extra deck, mainly because it doesn't play Extravagance and you barely go into the Extra Deck to begin with. Relinquished Anima is a decent option if you can shell out the $7-8 for it, since sometimes you can turn Fiendess into Anima. Apart from that, provided Extra Deck options include anti-Maximus cards for the Dogmatika matchup, and Aussa + Zoodiac Drident in case you face a Zoodiac player. Taking their Zoo monster and then slapping your Drident on top can be potent.
• This deck usually plays Extravagance over Desires, but Desires is quite a serviceable replacement. Similarly to Altergeist, this deck also enjoys Pot of Prosperity post-BLVO.

 

B Tier

Like the above category, but generally weaker, less consistent, and/or impacted harder by a lack of access to a certain card(s).
 

Dinosaurs

Price: $100+ Imgur | DuelingBook

• Dinosaurs are an aggressive deck with consistent access to Evolzar Laggia/Dolkka and Ultimate Conductor Tyranno, a formidable boss monster with incredible OTK power and disruption.
• Dinosaur's strength tends to be largely meta-dependent, particularly how well it can counter the existing top decks. During the previous two combo-infested formats with decks like Dragon Link and Adamancipator running around, Dinos had several extremely impressive showing at events, such as TeamSamuraiX1's win at the first NA Remote Duel Invitational, as well as all three first-place players at LCS 7 (a 3v3 event) playing Dino.
• In the current format, Dinosaurs are struggling. The Virtual World matchup is difficult, and it's hard for Dinosaur to build to beat all of VW, Drytron, Eldlich variants, and the plethora of rogue decks running around. Additionally, Mystic Mine is not very potent this format as both Virtual World and Eldlich have in-engine outs to the card, which is another blow to the Dinosaur strategy. Finally, the popularity of handtraps like Skull Meister and Artifact Lancea in the side or even the main deck are also reasons this deck has declined.
• The provided variant still plays Mine, as it has utility breaking boards. Deckout is a much less reliable strategy against VW and Eldlich, but you can still stall for some turns until you can make a push for game. The addition of Cosmic Cyclone is also an attempt at neutering cards like Chuche and Conquistador.
• If you wanted to build this deck without Mines, you would have to find replacements for quite a few cards (and frankly, Dinosaur does not have very many good ones). Most power staples are not budget, such as Lightning Storm, Talents, Droplet, etc. This deck also really appreciates Pot of Extravagance, which still sits barely out of budget range at around $25 each in NA.
• Budget Dino must also deal with the lack of Animadorned Archosaur, an extremely powerful addition to the deck that opens up many new combos. However, sitting at around $60 per copy, the card is inaccessible on a budget.
• The provided list plays the Simorgh combo, bringing out the WIND barrier statue on turn 1 to steal games. Though a full extra deck is provided, very few cards are actually needed, as the deck typically plays Extravagance anyway.

 

Dragon Link

Price: $100-150+ (depending on Extra Deck) Imgur | DuelingBook

• Dragon Link is a Link-centric combo deck that was a dominant force in the meta for about half a year, but lost a lot of resilience and power with the recent bans to Linkross and Dragon Buster Destruction Sword.
• The provided budget version of this deck actually has a ton of extra deck flexibility due to not needing to play Synchro/Link cards related to the Halq/Kross package, meaning that you can play Knightmares, anti-Dogmatika cards, etc. This also means that the budget version doesn't actually care about the Linkross ban at all.
• This deck has seen a great deal of variation online, playing a variety of different engines and tech cards. A few of these include Vylon Cube + Smoke Grenade, the Rose Dragons, several different Dragonmaid cards, and even an FTK variant involving Earthbound Immortal Aslla piscu. However, few of these are viable for budget players, especially if you do not own a copy of Halqifibrax.
• An interesting option the deck has is to use Union Carrier to equip handtraps such as Artifact Lancea. On the opponent's turn, Hieratic Seal can be used to return the handtrap to your hand, making it live immediately. This is something you may want to consider in the main deck if you frequently have to deal with decks like Virtual World and Dinosaur. Another option is to equip Ally of Justice Cycle Reader to Carrier (they're both machines) and then bounce it to hand, as a weapon against Drytron. Carrier isn't in the example list, but this is a really interesting option to consider.
• With Linkross out of the picture, playing Fibrax alone is an option if you either already own a copy or can afford the $20 needed to obtain one. You may have to retool your combos to incorporate Fiber, but the card can definitely add flexibility and resilience to your deck if you use it well.

 

Paleozoic Frogs

Price: $50+ Imgur | DuelingBook

• Backrow-heavy control deck that summons its Traps to the field as monsters and pressures the opponent with Toadally Awesome
• After being absent from the budget post for about a year, Paleo makes its triumphant return as its boss monster, Toad, returns to 3. Toad's reprint in Maximum Gold also brought this card down from $20 each to just a few bucks, making the entire deck extremely cheap.
• As a control deck, Paleo suffers from more weaknesses compared to Eldlich, Altergeist, and Subterror. Notably, the engine tends to bleed advantage unless you've managed to maintain access to Swap Frog, and you can be quickly outpaced by stronger decks. However, in games where you can establish a Toad early, or where you can maintain control with your backrow, you can do quite well.
• Paleo saw a surprising amount of success in various remote duel events this format, though some of that success is likely due to the format being unexplored and some sort of "new toy syndrome" as Toad recently went from 2 to 3.
• Paleo struggles to out Dragoon, especially without access to Ice Dragon's Prison, a $40 card. An interesting option catching on in the meta lately is the use of Mirror Force cards, particularly Quaking and Storming, as they both pressure Dragoon. Still, the card puts quite a lot of pressure on this deck.
• Speaking of Dragoon, some Paleo players opt to play that package in this deck as well. Swap Frog is a one card Dragoon as you can simply dump Ronin, turn Swap into Almiraj, and then revive Ronin to make Verte from there.
• Fiend Griefing is presented as an interesting option which is very decent in the current meta, particularly vs Drytron. Combining it with Absolute King Back Jack is a classic combo that Paleo played a long time ago in 2017, during early Zoo formats.

 

Shaddoll (Magistus)

Price: $100+, can be closer to $50 with fewer copies of Schism Imgur | DuelingBook

• Classic Fusion-based archetype from 2014, debuting in Duelist Alliance. Somewhat of a midrange combo deck that can slow the game down with El Shaddoll Winda or be very aggressive with El Shaddoll Construct
• Winda is a troublesome floodgate that many decks struggle to out, especially combo decks such as Drytron. Shaddoll cards are currently played in several Dogmatika variants due to the sheer power of Winda and the utility of Shaddoll Schism.
• The current meta is favorable for Shaddoll not only due to Winda being effective vs Drytron, but also due to Ariel being very strong against a large chunk of the format, including Eldlich variants. Her ability to banish 3 cards from the GY is so strong that some decks are splashing in Sinister Shadow Games + Ariel just for that option, which we saw played in some of the 60-card Eldlich decks at LCS 9.
  • The growing popularity of Shaddoll cards has also caused Shaddoll Schism to go up in price substantially. Currently, it's around $17, but it may continue to rise.
• The deck's biggest problem has always been its inability to consistently resolve a fusion spell on turn 1. Invoked Shaddoll was a popular hybrid in earlier formats, but with the release of the Magistus archetype in GEIM, Shaddolls got access to Rilliona and Magistus Invocation. This is an improvement since Magistus Invocation can fuse from hand and field whereas the regular Invocation can only fuse from hand when summoning Shaddolls. Additionally, Artemis provides a super convenient way for the deck to turn any Shaddoll into a LIGHT monster, which is important for summoning Construct.
• While the full Dogmatika package is very expensive due to Nadir Servant being a $75 card, one option is to play just one copy of Ecclesia (around $20) along with Maximus and a playset of Dogmatika Punishment. Maximus and Punishment have a ton of synergy in the Shaddoll deck in conjunction with Apkallone's GY effect, and this combination is deadly even on a budget.
• Other normal summons such as Mathematician and even Gale Dogra are potent on this deck, and can be played in addition to Rilliona or as a replacement for her. Yet another option is to run 1 copy of the now-cheap Eldlich the Golden Lord as a LIGHT monster for Shaddoll Fusion that can easily revive itself.
• Another popular variant is a very trap-heavy list, sometimes cutting the Magistus cards entirely. PAK and SirEmanon's YouTube channels both have their own takes on this, if you're interested.

 

Unchained

Price: $50+ Imgur | DuelingBook

• Floaty destruction-based archetype that generates advantage when its cards are destroyed, enabling its gimmick of using your opponent's monsters to Link Summon.
• Can be built to go first or to go second quite effectively. Since going second is very difficult this format, the provided list aims to go first, playing a bunch of trap cards.
• Fairly modest online performance, doing alright at smaller events and more recently finishing top 8 at the second YuGiJoe online series as well as occasional Luxury events. After the December banlist, Unchained has rapidly gained popularity in online remote duel events, and is one of the more prominent rogue decks this format. This success could be because the format is generally slower compared to previous ones, and many destruction-based cards such as Torrential Tribute are very popular currently, which this deck enjoys.
• Mega-Tin reprints of Abomination's Prison as well as their Link 2 have helped make this deck a great deal more affordable. I:P Masquerena being more affordable is also a nice boost, though it's by no means essential in this deck.
• This deck's best weapon is its opponents being unprepared for it. Playing improperly into backrow or Unchained floats can very quickly be fatal. It also matches up decently into some backrow decks as well as Dogmatika variants, which rely on destruction-based removal from Dogmatika Punishment and Elder Entity N'tss.

 

C Tier

Decks in this category have the capability to be just as good as the ones above at times, but often tend to suffer from multiple problems including consistency and power.
 

Burning Abyss

Price: $100+ Imgur | DuelingBook

• Versatile control-based Graveyard toolbox deck that has been swinging in and out of meta relevance since its release way back in 2014.
• Gradually got more and more cards back from the banlist, with Cir and Graff being unlimited on the December 2020 list. The deck is now more or less "full power" with the exception of Beatrice, who is still limited.
• The deck aims to establish Beatrice on turn 1 backed up with trap cards. The BA cards as well as Beatrice are extremely floaty, so this deck can put up quite a fight in grind games. Fiend Griefing is a solid card in the current meta, and is excellent in the Burning Abyss deck as you can send Farfa for further disruption, Graff/Scarm for followup, or Back Jack for more traps.
• This deck was frequently mixed with Phantom Knight cards back in 2016 (often called PK Fire). Nowadays, Phantom Knight decks are typically either built pure or with an extremely compact BA engine. While it's possible to play a more dedicated hybrid build, the release of PK Torn Scales combined with most key BA cards being unlimited means that it's just better to focus on one or the other.
• Many other options are playable - Desires for draw power, playing more traps, more handtraps, etc. Consider Needle Ceiling over Torrential as it can be harder to pull off, but combos better with Trap Trick. Players with access to Ice Dragon's Prison should play it, and adventurous duelists can even opt to play Fire Lake of the Burning Abyss.
• As a deck easily capable of churning out Rank 3 Xyzs, you also have easy access to Divine Arsenal AA-ZEUS Sky Thunder, one of the most powerful extra deck cards in the format. If this is an accessible option, it should be played.

 

Sky Striker

Price: $100+ Imgur | DuelingBook

• Spell-heavy control deck that usually maintains only one monster on the field at a time, in the extra monster zone.
• Formerly an extremely dominant control deck, modern-day Striker no longer accrues infinite resources through resolving Engage multiple times, but instead is easily able to kill you with an Accesscode Talker push after whittling down your LP and resources for a turn or two. The standard combo involves laddering from Halqifibrax -> Selene -> Accesscode and then dismantling your opponent's board before swinging for game.
• You may have noticed a problem: if you're on a budget, you can't use Accesscode. This is a pretty big blow to the deck's overall strength. Some players opt for alternatives such as the Utopia Double package, which Zoé Weber played in the second EU Remote Duel Invitational last format. Another option is to simply not run it at all, and close games the old-fashioned way.
• In previous formats, this deck was oftentimes played like an anti-meta going second deck, packing tons of removal cards and usually 3 copies of Mystic Mine in the main deck. In the current format, this strategy is a lot more difficult due to several factors - it's very hard to go second this format in general, and Mine is a lot less effective vs the top decks right now.
• Instead, the sample list plays a going-first strategy with powerful trap cards like There Can Be Only One and Solemn Strike. It's possible to build this deck to go second, but you'd probably want to play board breakers instead of trap cards, and potentially also maindeck PSY-Framegear Gamma.
• Yet another way to play this deck involves (surprise) Red-Eyes Dark Dragoon and multiple copies of Red-Eyes Fusion. Instead of using cards like Widow Anchor and Afterburners to muscle through disruption and stick a Mystic Mine on the field, you use them to get to your Dragoon and either win the game immediately or put yourself in a position where your opponent can't play through the Dragoon disrupt.
• Roze is the most expensive card in this list. If your budget is tight, you can definitely cut her down to 1.

 

Zoodiac

Price: $100+ Imgur | DuelingBook

• Xyz-focused deck with a gimmick allowing you to use any one Zoodiac as the entire Xyz material requirement for another Zoodiac. This lets you stack Zoo Xyz monsters on top of each other, making use of their effects.
• Plays a compact engine combined with around 20 slots dedicated to handtraps, traps, and draw power. This deck is also commonly played as a hybrid deck, oftentimes with Eldlich and sometimes with Dogmatika cards. Both of these options are quite expensive, so they are not shown.
• The deck's strength in competitive play comes almost entirely from Divine Arsenal AA-ZEUS Sky Thunder, an extremely powerful Xyz monster that Zoodiac can effortlessly make due to Zoodiac Boarbow. Zoo is also easily able to summon Zeus with many materials, allowing it to repeatedly nuke the board.
• Budget Zoo without Zeus is extremely weak by comparison. Relying solely on Drident + handtraps is not a reliable win condition, so cards like Parallel eXceed and Pot of Avarice are included in the sample list to give this deck a boost. While Megaclops is a troublesome boss monster in some matchups, the big three decks (Drytron, Virtual World, and Eldlich) generally don't have much trouble dealing with it.
• Even with Zeus, the deck has been struggling in the current competitive meta. Noteworthy is its performance at LCS 9, where out of a whopping 51 Zoodiac variants that entered the tournament, only 1 survived until top 16.

 

Up-And-Coming

Decks to watch out for, oftentimes due to recent online success or new support being announced. Some might also be decks that could potentially be on the main body of the post, but need a little more time to prove themselves.
 

Tri-Brigade

Price: $100 (for now) Imgur | DuelingBook

• Link-focused deck that plays a variety of Beast, Beast-Warrior, and Winged Beast monsters. The maindeck Tri-Brigades cheat out powerful Link monsters, provided your GY is set up. This deck also trivially access the Simorgh link, which can sometimes seal games on its own through the WIND Barrier Statue.
• In the current format, Tri-Brigade has seen fairly sparse success, usually mixed with Zoodiac. However, BLVO gives us Tri-Brigade Kitt, a great boost to this deck and a fantastic combo piece.
• Further support in LIOV and beyond is also very promising, making this deck a potentially solid investment for the future.
• The Tri-Brigade core is currently quite cheap, but this could change in the future depending on hype and the market.
• owo

 

Traptrix

Price: $100-150 Imgur | DuelingBook

• Control deck with an extremely powerful Link 1 monster, Traptrix Sera, that pumps out constant advantage.
• The sample list incorporates a very small Dogmatika engine. Dogmatika Punishment itself is very cheap, and is one of the best generic traps in the game right now. Just 1 copy of Ecclesia (around $20) provides a substantial power boost to this mini-engine, as dumping one copy of Titaniklad with Punishment and grabbing an Ecclesia for next turn is extremely powerful. Another option is to dump El Shaddoll Apkallone, then adding and discarding Ariel in order to trigger her effect and banish 3 cards, which is insane value.
• If you can't get Ecclesia, you could simply play just Punishment as a generic trap. Another option is to play pure Traptrix, incorporating more power traps/handtraps, and quite frequently the Utopia Double package as well.
• This deck is definitely still getting support, as LIOV brings a new Link 2 and main deck monster.

 

Plunder Patroll

Price: $100+ Imgur | DuelingBook

• Pirate archetype with ridiculous recursion and a unique tag-out and equip mechanic based on Attributes being used in the game.
• The pirates become equips for one of (currently) three Patrollships, extra deck monsters that can all discard Plunder Patroll cards in hand to fuel powerful effects. The ships become stronger when manned (equipped with) a Plunder card, with bonuses such as ignition effects becoming quick effects, or being able to replace the discarded card with a new one from the deck.
• Many Plunder lists play Forbidden Droplet, as it has great synergy with the cards. Without Droplet, you could fill the space with several different options. This deck chooses to play the Undine package, but you can also go for cards like Foolish Burial Goods, Salvage, Silent Angler, Tenyi Spirit - Shthana, Toadally Awesome + Bahamut Shark, or just more generic staples.
• This deck is getting at least one more support card in LIOV, that being Ravenwing. Many people speculate that they'll also get another Patrollship of a new attribute, which would be a huge buff to the deck.

 

Honorable Mentions

• Megalith, Madolche, Pendulum decks, Cyber Dragon, Orcust, Mermail Atlantean, Magical Musketeers, Crusadia (Guardragon), ABC, D/D, Generaider, and more - Decks that are fairly decent but have been left off of the post to make room for other decks that have seen more recent success or have fewer budget resources online.
• Dragonmaid, Eldlich, Infernoid, Invoked variants, HERO, etc - Decks that are pretty good but are sorta in limbo due to some expensive individual cards, such as Chamber Dragonmaid, Cursed Eldland, Invocation, etc.
• Cubics, Phantasm, Chain Burn, Evilswarm, Yosenju, Dinomist, and much, much more - Unfortunately, there is not enough room to cover every single decent, super-cheap deck.

 
 
I hope to keep this post updated for the foreseeable future. Feel free to leave any comments or suggestions.

Introduction
This article discusses the top 5 decks of 2020 in Duel Links. Though I do include my opinion, I have used data from the MCS tournaments and 5 KC Cups to try to make it as objective as possible. Be warned that that is a very long read!
Without meaning to include spoilers, it is telling that 4 of the 5 decks that feature on this list topped the first MCS of 2020, and all 5 were established decks coming into the year. The meta at the time of writing appears to be more diverse, except for one dominant deck – which features a boss monster released in mid-2019.
Here is to a 2021 that brings some new and fresh competitive strategies!
Honourable Mentions
Ritual Beasts
Ritual Beasts performed consistently throughout 2020, topping 9 of the 12 MCS tournaments of 2020, including winning MCS30. The deck achieved the 6th most total tops across the 12 tournaments.
Ritual Beasts’ consistency was enough to see Elder semi-limited on the March ban-list, but the deck never relied on a particular skill, able to pivot to whatever meta relevant Skill was available. Winda is currently featuring as an engine in a top-tier deck, due to the power of the card in combination with the Ritual Beast Extra Deck monsters.
Ritual Beasts also managed tops in all 5 KC Cups across 2020, and at the time of writing is rated as a Tier 2 deck. Given it has remained a meta relevant deck for all of 2020 it is somewhat unlucky to miss out on this list.
Cyber Dragons
Cyber Dragons were another consistent performer in 2020, also topping 9 of the 12 MCS tournaments. Although they did not manage a win, they did achieve the 8th most total tops across the 12 tournaments. This drew both nerfs to the Cyber Style Skill and a semi-limit to Cybernetic Overflow over the course of the year.
Cyber Dragons similarly topped all 5 KC Cups in 2020, including the second most top 100 global decks in the KC GT Preliminaries (peaking at global rank 4).
Still a Tier 3 deck at the time of writing, Cyber Dragons showed themselves to be one of the strongest and most consistent OTK decks of 2020.
Thunder Dragons
Though Thunder Dragons only topped 7 of the 12 MCS tournaments in 2020, it achieved more total tops than Cyber Dragons, ranking it 7th overall. The deck drew numerous bans over the course of 2020, being the best archetype to utilise the Lightsworn engine and get full value out of Skills like Baggy Sleeves.
As with the other 2 Honourable Mentions thus far, Thunder Dragons topped all 5 KC Cups, performing particularly well in the April instalment where it achieved the second most top 100 global decks.
Though the deck has mostly fallen out of the meta, it still did manage a top in MCS37 and remains a strong rogue option.
Blue Eyes
A fan favourite, Blue Eyes had a strong 2020, aided by Skills like Alternative Evolution and more recently Ultimate Dragons. It has great synergy with discarding traps due White Stone of Ancients, which were extremely relevant in the meta of 2020.
Blue Eyes topped 6 of the 12 MCS tournaments of 2020 tying with Cyber Dragons for the 8th most overall tops.
The decks performance in the KC Cups was not as impressive, topping only 2 of the 5 tournaments. Sometimes called Brick Eyes, it is not as well suited to these tournaments where consistency is so key.
Karakuri
Once we received Kunamzan and some other Karakuri support in early September we immediately had a top-tier deck on our hands. Karakuri would have strong showings in MCS34, 35 & 36 using Restart as the Skill throughout the run. This made the deck extremely consistent, capable of ending on a full board of monsters and backrow.
Karakuri would dominate the September KC Cup, with by far the highest representation of top 100 global decks, including global rank 4. It would also have the second most top 100 decks in the November edition of the KC Cup. It managed the November result despite Ninishi being semi-limited in October.
Karakuri’s period of dominance would come to end with the December ban-list however, with Merchant being limited. The deck did not top MCS37 and has fallen out of the meta at the time of writing.
Karakuri managed just one less overall MCS top than Cyber Dragons, despite topping 3 tournaments to Cyber Dragons’ 9! Karakuri did not make the list due to its relatively short period of dominance in 2020, but certainly deserves recognition.
HEROs
OK, last one I swear…
Yet another fan favourite, Konami just loves tossing us some support for HEROs. A bit of a glass cannon strategy, it did manage to top 6 of the 12 MCS tournaments of 2020, with the highlight being a second-place finish in MCS30.
In contrast to Blue Eyes, fast OTK decks like HEROs shine in tournaments like the KC Cup and to prove this the deck won the April KC Cup. A HERO deck made the top 100 global decks of all 5 KC Cups in 2020.
The List
5) Crystrons
It took Crystrons a little while to get going in 2020, as it did not make the top cut of the first two MCS’ of the year. It did manage 3 top 100 global decks in the February KC Cup and followed this up with a second-place finish in MCS28. The deck was at this point running a 30-card version and utilising a pre-nerf Transcendent Crystals Skill. Crystrons being able to maintain consistency whilst running a 30-card deck to counter Grass allowed it to find its way into the meta.
Crystrons managed 4 tops in MCS29 and 5 in MCS30 using the 30-card Trascendent Crystals build. It also had a strong showing in the April KC Cup, with the 3rd most top 100 global decks. The deck also started to shift towards Mythic Depths builds using Sea Stealth Attack. This would soon become the go-to Skill for the deck with Transcendent Crystals being nerfed in May. The May ban-list also saw Crystron Rion semi-limited, taking semi-limited staples away from the deck and making it a bit harder to go into Quarion.
Post ban-list Crystrons performed extremely well in MCS31, placing second and achieving 9 tops (28.1%), the equal best performance of any deck across the 12 MCS tournaments of 2020. This was followed up by a solid MCS32 and a stellar KC GT Preliminaries, a tournament it both won and achieved the most top 100 decks in. Crystrons had started to incorporate the Lightsworn engine and shifted to the Skill See You Later! Still running a 30-card deck. This led to the July semi-limiting of Crystron Impact, to conflict with Rion still at 2.
Following this Crystrons did not top MCS33 or 34 but did bounce back in the September KC Cup with a respectable 5 decks making the top 100 global (peaking at global rank 6). These decks had shifted back to the Mythic Depths SSA build and ran the Undine and Genex Controller engine to make up for the semi-limited cards.
The October ban-list did not hit Crystrons and MCS35 saw Crystrons amongst the top cut again. The deck would finally win an MCS, with the MCS36 deck sticking with the Mythic Depths build. Crystrons dominated the November KC Cup, achieving the most top 100 global decks, including the rank 2 deck.
This would be the decks’ swansong, as it was hit very hard on the December ban-list. Crystron Citree, Scrap Recycler and Genex Controller all being semi-limited made it a total of 5 Crystron core cards at 2. Whilst the deck has tried to pivot to Level Duplication, it failed to top MCS37 and appears it have fallen out of the meta.
Crystrons topped 7 MCS tournaments in 2020, winning 1 in the process. The deck was dominant in its heyday, managing the 5th most total MCS tops, despite other decks topping more MCS tournaments (Cyber Dragons and Ritual Beasts both topped 9/12 in 2020). Crystrons also had very strong KC Cup performances despite being a slower deck not always suited to that format. It won the KC GT Preliminaries and achieved the most tops in the November KC Cup.
4) Blackwings
At 4 we have one of the more iconic archetypes in Yu-Gi-Oh! history – Blackwings! The last ban-list of 2019 saw Rakiri semi-limited, but it started 2020 strongly with the 3rd most tops in MCS26. MCS27 saw Blackwings placing second with solid top cut representation. At this point Blackwings were running Sealed Tombs as their Skill and were an OTK strategy, usually only running a few copies of Blackbird Close in way of defensive options. Blackwings performed solidly in the February KC Cup, achieving the 6th most top 100 global decks. The March ban-list saw Oroshi go to semi-limited, along with Sealed Tombs being nerfed. This essentially meant the deck would run one Oroshi and only the one Rakiri.
Post-nerf Blackwings went on to win MCS28, shifting to No Mortal Can Resist as a Skill and running 3 Blackbird Close. Despite no Blackwing decks topping MCS29 the deck had a strong showing in the April KC Cup, achieving the 4th most top 100 global decks, peaking at global rank 6. The May ban-list saw the NMCR skill nerfed, but otherwise Blackwings made it through un-scathed.
This led to it achieving the most tops in MCS30. The deck had pivoted to Skills like Harpies’ Hunting Ground and Peak Performance and was utilising Ancient Fairy Dragon to open with a T1 Necrovalley as an anti-meta play. The deck had solid MCS32 and KC GT Preliminaries performances, continuing to be meta relevant. It flew under the radar again on the July ban-list.
A solid MCS33 and a second-place finish in MCS34 was followed up by the 4th most decks in the top 100 global of the September KC Cup. Blackwings also started to run Level Reduction as a Skill to get multiple uses out of Rakiri in a turn (being a soft once per turn effect). These performances were evidently enough for Konami to finally take notice and Blackbird Close was semi-limited on the October ban-list. Conflicting with core cards like Rakiri and Oroshi served to take it away from the deck as an option.
This was still not enough of a hit to push the deck out of the meta, and Blackwings topped both MCS35 & 36. Blackwings did have a modest November KC Cup however, with only 1 deck making it into the top 100 global decks. As such it was not hit on the huge December ban-list and managed 2 tops in the final MCS of the year (MCS37).
Still rated as a Tier 3 list at the time of writing, Blackwings has proved to be a very resilient deck. It made the top cut of all but one of the MCS tournaments in 2020, winning one in the process. This amounted to the 4th most total tops of any deck across the 12 MCS tournaments. Add to this tops in all 5 KC Cups and Blackwings was certainly one of the most powerful decks of 2020 in Duel Links.
3) Dark Magician
It was perhaps inevitable that Konami would push this archetype in a game that is so rooted in the anime and Dark Magician delivered in 2020.
Dark Magician started the year well, winning the first MCS of the year (MCS26). Full-power Dark Magician was extremely consistent, with 3 x Rod, 3 x Navigation and 3 x Circle allowing them to run anti-meta Skills like Sealed Tombs. Dark Magician proved it was no fluke by also winning MCS27, achieving the most tops in the process. Its February KC Cup performance was strong, achieving the 3rd most top 100 global decks, peaking at rank 3. The top ranked Dark Magician decks started to incorporate Silent Magician as a counter to Invoked.
Somewhat surprisingly Dark Magician went un-scathed in the March ban-list, and performed solidly in MCS29 and MCS30, topping both tournaments. The April KC Cup saw Dark Magician achieve the 5th most top 100 global decks. It had remained unchanged post ban-list, except for switching from Sealed Tombs to No Mortal Can Resist as the skill. It did finally see a hit on the May ban-list, but Magician of Dark Illusion being semi-limited was just a light tap on the wrist, as the deck often ran only 1 copy of the card anyway.
Still with its consistent core intact Dark Magician topped MCS31 and achieved the most tops in MCS32, including second place. This 9 tops (28.1% representation) in MCS32 was the most dominant MCS performance by a deck all year (a feat also achieved by Crystrons and Shiranui). Unsurprisingly this translated to Dark Magician achieving the 3rd most top 100 global decks in the KC GT Preliminaries. This was finally enough to convince Konami to replace Illusion of Dark Magic on the semi-limit list with Magician’s Rod. This was a much more impactful nerf, which did hurt the consistency of the deck.
Post nerf the deck pivoted to consistency Skills like Balance or Restart and still managed 3 tops in MCS33. It failed to top MCS34 and achieved only 3 decks in the top 100 global decks of the September KC Cup. Despite only 2 tops in MCS35, a Balance build did manage second place. That would be the last MCS of 2020 that Dark Magician topped.
The deck did perform solidly enough in the November KC Cup (with 4 top 100 global decks), enough to be another casualty of the December ban-list. Illusion of Dark Magic was back to semi-limited, with Rod shifted to limit 3. However, this time Magical Navigation was also at limit 3. This has so far appeared to be a big enough hit to the deck’s consistency to push it out of the meta.
Dark Magician did top 9 of the 12 MCS tournaments of 2020, winning two in the process. It was the deck with the 3rd most total tops across the 12 tournaments. Add to this top 100 global deck tops across all 5 KC Cups and it was certainly one of the strongest decks of 2020 in Duel Links.
2) Shiranui
The year began with Shiranui as one of the dominant decks in the format, with the December 2019 ban-list mostly focused on hits to Invoked (including the limit of Cocytus). The first MCS of 2020, MCS26, saw Shiranui achieve the most tops (25% representation). The deck at this point was mostly the 30-card version using Spell Specialist as the Skill with the then un-banned card That Grass Looks Greener. MCS topping would be a common theme for this deck, being the only deck which topped all 12 MCS tournaments of 2020.
Shiranui would go on to have a strong showing in the February KC Cup, with the second most Top 100 Global decks after Invoked, peaking at Global Rank 9. This led to the March ban-list which saw Grass limited and Shiranui Spectralsword semi-limited. This along with the nerf to Spell Specialist killed the 30-card version of the deck. Only one Shiranui deck topped MCS28 in March, but by MCS29 this would change. A Shiranui deck won the tournament, as well as achieving the most tops overall. The deck started to pivot to Skills like Level Augmentation and a 20-card trap-heavy build.
The April KC Cup saw only 4 Shiranui decks in the top 100 global, peaking at rank 19. Despite this, Shiranui Squire was limited to 3 in May. Although the No Mortal Can Resist skill being nerfed did help the deck. A modest MCS30 showing was followed by Shiranui winning MCS31, sticking with the trap-heavy Level Augmentation build.
The KC Grand Tournament Preliminaries saw Shiranui take the 3rd most top 100 global slots, with the rank 2 player using both a 20 and 30 card version of the deck. Cue another ban-list hit for the deck in July, with Shiranui Squire going from 3 to 2 and Shiranui Spectralsword going to 3 in its place. The deck would have respectable showings in MCS32 & 33, before adding another trophy to the cabinet by winning the September KC Cup. The winning deck-list had shifted back to a 30-card version of the deck, incorporating cards like Gozuki and the newly released Ghost Meets Girl spell card.
Following this, we saw the first cards ever banned in DL, with Witchcrafter and Shiranui causing Grass to be banned in October. At this point Grass was not a focal point of the Shiranui deck and the October ban-list impacted other decks far more than Shiranui. In fact, this is when we saw Shiranui at its most dominant point in 2020.
Shiranui would go on to win and dominate MCS35 and we started to see two versions of the deck, Control and Combo, being two of the dominant decks in the meta. Shiranui would again achieve the most tops in MCS36 and had a strong showing in the November KC Cup, achieving the 2nd most top 100 global decks.
Konami had finally had enough of Shiranui, with the deck being obliterated on the December 2020 ban-list. Even so, one Shiranui deck did manage a top in the final MCS of the year (MCS37). However, with the engine now so limited, Shiranui has mostly fallen out of the meta, only really popping up in the odd Mayakashi or Vendread deck.
To re-cap on Shiranui’s achievements in 2020:
- Achieved a top in all 12 MCS tournaments, winning 4 and achieving the second most overall tops.
- Topped all 5 KC Cups (including the KC GT), winning the September edition.
Undoubtedly one of the most dominant decks of 2020.
1) Invoked
Where to start with this deck? Technically more of an engine than a full archetype, I am listing the many versions of it together because it is the main win condition no matter what its paired with! Despite the limiting of Invoked Cocytus in December of 2019 it was clear coming into 2020 that the Invoked Elementsabre deck was still one of the strongest in the game.
The first MCS of the year (MCS26) saw the deck achieve the second most tops and coming in as runner-up. The Invoked Elementsabre deck would go on to win MCS27 and the February KC Cup. It achieved the most Top 100 global deck-lists in the latter, causing it to be labelled the Invoked Cup. At this point, the deck was using a pre-nerf Sorcery Conduit Skill, giving it an absurd level of consistency. The March Ban-list followed and saw Elementsabre Palace and Cosmic Cyclone both limited to 3, as well as Sorcery Conduit nerfed.
The ban-list did not slow Invoked down much, with the deck achieving tops in both MCS28 and 29, still the Elementsabre version. The April KC Cup would see Invoked Elementsabre achieving the most Top 100 global decks for the second consecutive KC Cup. By this point the deck had pivoted to Destiny Draw as a Skill and gone more trap-heavy. The main win condition was Purgatrio, with Concentrating Current often used to secure wins. This brought about the May ban-list which would see Elementsabre Malo limited to slow-down the deck’s ability to go into Purgatrio.
Initially the ban-list looked to have done its job, with no Invoked decks topping MCS30. Although spoiler, this was the only MCS all year where an Invoked deck did not top! Only 2 tops in MCS31 was followed up by the Invoked Elementsabre deck winning MCS32. The deck had a respectable showing at the KC Grand Tournament Preliminaries, though it was not as dominant as previous tournaments it did peak at global rank 6.
MCS33 was again won by an Invoked Elementsabre deck, which beat an Invoked Neos deck in the final! By this point, another version of the deck running Switcheroo, Volcanic Shell and Neos Fusion to compliment the Invoked engine had emerged. The Invoked Neos deck would go on to win MCS34, making it 3 consecutive MCS tournaments won by an Invoked deck. The September KC Cup arrived and saw the Invoked Elementsabre deck having the 3rd highest representation of the top 100 global deck-lists, as well as some tops for the Invoked Neos version.
October saw Switcheroo nerfed and Keeper of Dragon Magic semi-limited, both hits to the Invoked Neos deck. We also saw the long-awaited hit to Aleister, going to limit 3. With Elementsabre Palace still at limit 3, this was finally enough to kill the Elementsabre version of the deck. MCS35 (post October ban-list) saw some experimentation with Invoked Roids and by MCS36 a new optimal version of the deck had emerged – Invoked Magician Girls. The deck if anything went even more trap-heavy, utilising a small Magician Girl engine and a bucketload of staple backrow. It placed second in MCS36 and achieved 4 tops.
The November KC Cup saw 5 Invoked Magician Girl decks making the top 100 global deck-lists, including the global rank 2 player. The deck was mostly running Draw Sense: DARK as the Skill by this point and playing a grindy strategy into the inevitable Purgatrio OTK. The final ban-list of the year in December was probably the most impactful in DL’s history, and besides decimating Shiranui, we saw Invoked Cocytus banned and Invocation going to limit 3. The accepted best Invoked engine was 3 x Aleister and 2 x Invocation, which is no longer possible with both at limit 3. Invoked is now forced to play 2 x Aleister and importantly only 1 copy of Invocation – making it very susceptible to Cosmic Cyclone. The banning of Cocytus not only saw Desperado re-emerge in a big way, but saw players shift away from the Magician Girl engine.
Despite all of this, an Invoked deck won the final MCS of the year, MCS37. Invoked Neos was back in a big way, achieving 8 tops in the tournament, along with 2 Invoked Roids decks. Invoked Neos picked up Volcanic Shell again to utilise the newly obtained FIRE Reload Skill, which is essentially Switcheroo 2.0.
It is now the end of 2020 and much like the beginning, an Invoked deck is still dominating the meta. An Invoked deck won 5 of the 12 MCS tournaments of 2020, well and truly achieving the most tops across the year. Add to this strong performances across the KC Cups, including winning the February Invoked Cup, and it’s impossible to argue that Invoked wasn’t the best deck of 2020 in Duel Links.

I figured this was the better place to post a semi-review of the game, y'all seem more chill. I just finished the game, played as a Corpo, got the secret ending where I stormed the HQ with Johnny, and got The Sun ending, where you straight up rob a space casino.
I'll put the TL;DR here, for those of you who're just scrolling: the game is a masterpiece. One of the best I've played in years. CD tried to do a lot here, more than the Witcher, and while not everything stuck the landing, the hate this game is getting is ludicrously over the top. I don't mean to diss, but games like Fallout 76 and Anthem didn't get this kind of shit, and they deserved it 10X more in my opinion. Hey, at least this game doesn't have any damn time savers or Verizon themed pre order outfits.
I'm gonna get into my main points now, starting with the positives:

1. The soundtrack. It's amazing, from the theme at the main menu to the combat music. the radio stations are all Preem too. There's a little of everything.
2. The voice acting is really solid, I played a male V and he really sounded like Jon Bernthal and Frank Grillo mixed together. Keanu is of course Keanu. Something I also really enjoyed and I hope more games adopt, which I haven't seen mentioned, is people speak different languages. Like not every character speaks perfect English. There are Russians, Japanese, and Spanish gangs and they all speak their respective languages. I dug that, and it's easily explained cause you have translator tech.
3. Similarly to something like Mafia 3, the face models are really out of this world. Character creation is pretty extensive too, I liked being able to give my V crossbones for eyes.
4. Night City itself is drop dead gorgeous at times. When you're driving around North Oak, that long highway just outside town, the city is like something out of Blade Runner.
5. Each district feels really unique, Pacifica and Heywood being favorites of mine. All the fixers have their own shtick, and the gangs are nice and varied. Padre and the Voodoo Boys are great.
6. The combat is solid, and there are a lot of options for different play styles. I kind of opted for a jack of all trades type build, and had a lot of fun. Granted, there's a lot more systems then there need to be, but I'll get to that later.
7. The story itself is gripping, I never lost interest, even when I was off doing side quests I was still thinking about a conversation I'd had with Johnny. Speaking of which--
8. Johnny. I've seen this before, with Handsome Jack in Tales From the Borderlands and the Joker in Arkham Knight, but Cyberpunk really takes a new spin on it. Johnny doesn't just spout off random bullshit all the time--though he does sometimes and it's often great stuff, like him talking about his 'impressive cock'--but he does actively challenge you and get into real discussions with you. He's got a lot of layers that are fun to peel back, and he's a genuinely tragic character. Johnny is written beautifully.
9. The rest of the cast is superb as well. Goro, who really broke my heart when in the ending phone calls he told me to 'Rot in Hell', even though I deserved it. But Julie, River, the guy that wants you to nail him to a cross--they all find a way to stand out.
10. The mission design too I enjoyed, especially in the side gigs. You could be covertly infiltrating a penthouse looking for a priceless guitar one minute, to shooting up an underground nightclub the next. There's the cyber-psychos and all those NCPD crimes, and holy shit, reading those shards was straight up heartbreaking at times. There's story packed in everywhere of this game.

But I've blown the game enough now, time for some constructive criticism.

1. Obviously, performance wise I think we're still a few patches away from being smooth sailing. I've had a few crashes, but mostly I have issues with my controls just freezing up, like not being able to jump or shoot while aiming.
2. There's a disparity in the economy I find, and I haven't seen this mentioned yet, though I could be wrong. The rewards for certain quests, like the amount of credits you earn can be really low. The amount of EXP too. I think these need to be doubled at least, because 1,300 credits for a gig that I was told was 'Very Hard', doesn't check out. It's something to give thought to at least, because right now, unless you abuse the money cheat, getting cash early on can be a little tedious. There could be reward scaling too, based on your level or the area you're in.
3. Combat wise, there are a lot of options, which is good, but at the end of the day blasting people with a revolver that does 1,200 damage is easiest. Melee weapons are fun, as are your cyber hacks, I just feel as though there needs to be more incentive to use them.
4. That brings me to the skill trees. The reason I stuck with handguns is because trying to level up all those individual skills at the same time became almost impossible. Especially certain ones like athletics and engineering. I think a good change here could be either an increase into how much EXP you get form doing certain actions, a reduction in how much EXP you need, or both. Crafting needs this especially when making a legendary item only nets 300 EXP and you need 55,000 to level up.
5. With regards to the life paths, outside of making the intros a little longer, I'd say a more meaningful quest later on would be a nice reward. Using Corpo as an example, the opening ends before you really have a chance to do anything. I think being able to actually complete the hit, or try to and botch the job, would set things up nicely. Also, actually being able to go back and stick it to Jenkins, instead of dealing with that guy who has one conversation with you. I don't need a grand overhaul, just really those two things would do it for me.

So that's really it, I mean I can talk about this game for hours but I know no one has that kind of time. To really wrap up, the response to this game has just really left me speechless. CD isn't perfect, we learned that, but they didn't burn down an orphanage for the blind. When you have companies like Konami that charge you for save slots, and EA--nothing needs to be said about them--it's worth looking at all they get right here.
Visuals can be fixed, as can performance issues. I'm playing on an Xbox One S and I think I've got my $60 worth and more. At the end of the day, if your core game isn't good, then all the patches in the world can't fix that. Here, the core story and game is fantastic, so in lets say a month, I'll be ready for a second play-through no doubt. The hate train is already starting to loose steam, which means hopefully more people will get to experience Night City and all it has to offer.
I appreciate anyone who took the time to read through all my rambling. Keep fighting, Samurais, city won't burn itself!

So we're entering Year 3 of Speed Duel. Assuming it's still successful, I think it's a safe bet that Konami will move on to GX. The Duel Monsters era is pretty much tapped out at this point, which pretty much every character being pretty well fleshed out. There's still a few cards here and there that could be added for those characters, but it's worth mentioning that unlike later anime series, GX is the most like a direct sequel since a lot of DM-era characters either show up or are mentioned in the GX anime. TCG-wise a few of those archetypes were even expanded, such as Toons and Amazons.
If we assume a similar 2-year plan of 3 starter deck releases, 4 booster sets, a few tournament packs and a big final "legendary deck box" type release, I think this is how they could do it;
-GX Starter Deck 1: Slifer Red (Assuming two deck set rather than three) --30-card decks for Jaden Yuki and Aster Phoenix, these guys share a lot in common and have plenty of overlap. They could even get away with throwing in the alternate arts for Avian and Burstinatrix for Aster since he uses Phoenix Enforcer, though they may just go full bore on Destiny Heroes. The extra deck is much smaller in Speed Duels which will limit the amount of HERO fusions they could throw in, but I'd be willing to bet an arm and leg that they will at least throw in Flame Wingman, Thunder Giant and Rampart Blaster for Jaden in addition to their pieces. I think for the rest of Jaden's deck they will use the early seasons and the first few TCG starter decks as a reference point. Ninja Grandmaster Sasuke would be pretty cool, that was a card in Starter Deck: Jaden Yuki. If Konami decided to do a 3-deck set for the first wave, then all they'd need to do is trim down Jaden and Aster then maybe throw in a Chumley deck focusing on Koalas and fusing for Master Of Oz. Though Master of Oz might be too powerful for the format so I'd bet more on a two-deck set. Similarly...
-GX Starter Deck 2: Obelisk Blue (Again, assuming two decks) --30-card decks for Zane Truesdale and Syrus Truesdale, both are brothers and both use machine-type fusion decks. There's definitely a bit of a gap in terms of power level so what they will likely do is stick to early Cyber Dragon support like Proto while Syrus will get a lot of Legendary Duelists 1 reprints like Mixeroid and will only have the best Vehicroids reprinted. I could see this deck being THE vehicroid deck to pick up even for main TCG. If they wanted to do a three deck set, then I could see the third one being based on Chazz with another XYZ deck that adds on the VW stuff, but that might be too redundant since we just got Kaiba's XYZ Dragon Cannon stuff. This makes me think Chazz could get his own deck later on.
-GX Booster Set 1: Duel Academy --45-card set that features cards used by Crowler and Paradox Brothers. This is pretty much the last chance to introduce Gate Guardian, otherwise we may never get it in Speed Duels. The Paradox bros made a one-time reappearance VS Jaden & Syrus during Season 1. They used cards like Kaiser Sea Horse that could serve as a single-tribute for Sanga Of The Thunder, for example. Whirwind Prodigy and Unshaven Angler serve the same purpose for Kazejin and Suijin, respectively. So do those 3, plus the 3 pieces, the Gate Guardian himself and a skill card and you're in business. Obviously Crowler would get Ancient Gears, and they'd throw in a few cards for Jaden and Syrus, though maybe not so much Zane and Aster right now. Chumley could also get his few cards thrown in here if they go the two-deck route for Slifer Red.
-GX Booster Set 2: Chazz It Up --Now is a great time to implement Chazz' stuff. They wouldn't even have to reprint XYZ stuff if they needed the slots. Chazz used plenty of cards like Armed Dragon, Chtonian Soldier, and the like. Further support for Jaden, and more support for Zane, Aster and... Pegasus! Yes, he actually had a duel against Crowler and another principal/teacher, where he debut cards like Toon Dark Magician Girl and Toon Ancient Gear Golem. While it wasn't introduced in the GX era, Toon Cyber Dragon would be a hilarious darkhorse pic.
-GX Starter Deck 3: Ra Yellow (This will for sure be a two-deck set, ala Ultimate Predators) --30-card sets for Tyranno Hassleberry and Bastion Misawa, with the latter focusing on Hydrogeddon since most of those cards interact nicely with other dinosaur cards. A lot of Tyranno's cards were actually implemented into Rex's deck in Ultimate Predators, but by this point I think it will have been long enough that seeing a few of them get reprinted wouldn't hurt anything especially if it's 30 cards. This would be a great opportunity to introduce cards like Ultimate Tyranno, Sabersaurus, and some of those support cards that didn't get printed the first go around. I suspect after this there will be literally 0 dinosaur cards needing a reprint for the Speed Duel format that wouldn't be OP. So I wouldn't expect Ultimate Conductor or Oviraptor, haha
-GX Booster Set 3: Fossil Fighters --Much like Ultimate Predators + Scars Of Battle, except I think this set could focus more on Jim Crocodile who finally got his cards printed in the main TCG not too long ago. A Speed Duel reprint would give them even more exposure, and obviously they'd give him those two alligator cards because why not. Bastion and Tyranno might get a skill each and maybe 1-3 cards, and as a darkhorse I could see them throwing in some Amazons since in Season 1 one of the villains played an Amazoness deck. Don't expect a Mai skill since she wasn't in GX, but Amazoness cards can and likely will get a couple new cards at least.
-GX Starter Deck 4: Crystal Bonds (Jaden Neos Deck + Jesse's Crystal Beasts) --30-card sets for Jaden, this time focusing on his Neos deck, but we can and should expect some non-Neos stuff and a few reprints from the first starter deck. Jesse would replace Aster with a Crystal Beast deck that I'm sure everyone will love, haha
-GX Starter Deck 5: Cyberdarkness (Dark Zane + Artorious) --This is admittingly where my GX knowledge well starts to dry up, since I haven't had a chance to watch the third season of the anime and the fourth season is sub-only. I'm going to assume they'll try to mimic the Bakura+Marik situation though with a bad-guy focused set. This time, Zane will focus on Cyberdark cards and also some newer support for Cyber Dragons. The other deck would be the Arcana Force stuff used by Artorious in Season 2.
-GX Booster Set 4: Possession Of The Evil King --This one seems like a no-brainer. Support for Jesse, Yubel, Evil Heroes, and introducing Axel's stuff. I think he used Volcanics, yeah?
-GX Legendary Deck Set: Duel Academy Graduation --One last hurrah for the era that will tie up all of the loose ends, and throw in a bunch of cards that would otherwise not be big enough to justify full decks. This will probably be when we get a deck for Alexis that focuses on Cyber Blader since she didn't use Cyber Angels until Arc-V. Another deck for Crowler, a proper deck for Chazz, I could see a couple decks for Jaden, Chumley could get one if he doesn't get anything prior to this, the possibilities are high with this one.
Of course, this could all be delayed if they decide they want to support DM some more... but the well is running dry. Waking The Dragons won't add much as none of the characters are in Duel Links. Match Of The Millennium could be decent I guess? We still haven't got regular Yugi as a skill card character but maybe they see it as redundant? Same with Mokuba.

All I know what to do anymore is summon Elpy, it's been so long. I don't know what yugioh is anymore. The other day, I summoned my monsters to set up Guardragon arrows. In goat format. Everything has become dragon to me. There are no other types, no other monsters besides for Fibrax. I have seen God, and I have seen the devil, but they are one and the same. I stared into the abyss and screamed, and it screamed back: "carrier target savage"
 
This post will give recommendations for decks that can generally do well while generally remaining in the $50 to $150 price range.

• Estimated pricing includes a sample completed main deck and some or all of an extra deck, but no side.
• Pricing is based mainly on singles and you can easily save a lot of money by buying cores for most of these lists all at once.
• Decks were chosen usually based on having some degree of success in recent TCG formats. Thus, many of the frequently recommended budget decks like Deskbots and Graydle Kaiju will not be on here.
  • As we have had virtually no IRL events in the last few months, these deck choices and rankings are heavily based on online tournaments such as Konami's Remote Duel Invitationals, LCS, and other assorted online events.
  • Remember that these events are pretty small and high in variance. Don't immediately condemn a deck as being sub-par because it hasn't shown up in online events - there are around 20 decks on this post and not all of them are going to be able to compete with Dragon Link and Dogmatika.
  • Performance on DuelingBook's ranked ladder also slightly factors in to the placement of these decks, with data taken from Ygoscope.
• Many decklists will include some middle-range power cards that might drive the price point up, such as Ash Blossom and Borrelsword Dragon. These can be cut for players on an extreme budget. For instance, a set of Ash is $30 currently, but Ash is included in many of these lists as a generic staple that players might already own.
• Conversely, decklists are oftentimes easily upgraded by adding power cards such as Forbidden Droplet and Triple Tactics Talent.

Not all decklists are perfect and this post is not an F. Unless there is a particularly offensive deckbuilding error that you want to point out, please don't use this thread to nitpick at the sample decklists provided. Decklists were built prioritizing simplicity and effectiveness on a budget. At the same time, if you want to try one of these decks, don't treat them as if they're perfect, either - you should experiment and play cards that feel comfortable and/or optimal to you.
Do feel free to leave suggestions for budget players, whether it's a budget tech choice for one of the decks on this list or whether it's a different deck that you think can compete in the coming months.
[Last updated: 18 Oct 2020]
Previous version: June 2020 Post
Updated version: Jan 2021 Post
 

S Tier

The best bang for your buck. Decks in this category have the capacity to top premier events, though they're almost always supplemented with expensive power cards.
 

Dragon Link

Price: $100-150+ (depending on Extra Deck) Imgur | DuelingBook

• Dragon Link is a Link-centric combo deck that has dominated competitive play since the September banlist. Though it's optimally played with Crystron Halqifibrax and Linkross, the deck is still very strong without these power cards, and is deadly even on a budget.
• The provided budget version of this deck actually has a ton of extra deck flexibility due to not needing to play Synchro/Link cards related to the Halq/Kross package, meaning that you can play Knightmares, anti-Dogmatika cards, etc.
• This deck has seen a great deal of variation online, playing a variety of different engines and tech cards. A few of these include Vylon Cube + Smoke Grenade, the Rose Dragons, several different Dragonmaid cards, and even an FTK variant involving Earthbound Immortal Aslla piscu. However, few of these are viable for budget players, especially if you do not own a copy of Halqifibrax.
• Optimally, this deck plays Dragunity Divine Lance + Dragunity Phalanx, as part of a combo involving Linkross to help establish a negate very early on and make this deck much more resilient. While we can cut this package since we don't play Halq/Kross, it also means that the budget version of this deck is more fragile by comparison.
• As the strongest deck in the meta, Dragon Link is also the deck that everyone prepares for, so you should expect opposing decks to play tech cards designed specifically to beat this deck. Additionally, this deck is extremely likely to be hit on the next banlist, though there's no way to know for sure.

 

Dinosaurs

Price: $100+ Imgur | DuelingBook

• Dinosaurs are an aggressive deck with consistent access to Evolzar Laggia/Dolkka and Ultimate Conductor Tyranno, a formidable boss monster with incredible OTK power and disruption.
• Dinos are one of the only decks that can claim a major win at an official Konami event during the pandemic (with Dragon Link being another), as TeamSamuraiX1 won the first NA Remote Duel Invitational with the deck. It's also seen consistently strong performance in online events for the past several months, able to compete with extremely strong combo decks such as Adamancipator last format and Dragon Link.
  • Sam, like many other players this format, ran Pot of Extravagance, and played strong going-second cards like Dark Ruler No More and Mystic Mine. As the Extrav version doesn't rely much on the extra deck, it's capable of going second into decks that establish the Buster lock, such as Dragon Link. Ultimate Conductor Tyranno then makes it extremely easy to clear the opposing board.
  • Mystic Mine is particularly deadly in this deck as you can use it to force disrupts before killing them with Conductor. In the event Mine sticks to the board, you can then make an extremely powerful push with Oviraptor on a later turn and sometimes kill them outright with Conductor. Or just deck them out if they don't have a way to get rid of Mine.
• The deck can also be played as a Synchro combo deck, making use of Crystron Halqifibrax + Linkross like many other combo decks this format. These cards aren't played in the sample list due to the high price of Fibrax, as well as other cards required in synchro Dino combos such as Jurrac Aeolo and Garden Rose Maiden.
  • The combo variant was piloted to notable success by Jack Verma at LCS 3, where he finished top 8 playing a Fibrax-centered list running cards like Cockadoodledoo.
• Budget Dino must deal with the lack of Animadorned Archosaur, as well as the lack of essential combo cards like Halqifibrax and power cards played in other versions like Pot of Extravagance and Forbidden Droplet.
• The provided list plays the Simorgh combo, bringing out the WIND barrier statue on turn 1 to steal games. Though a full extra deck is provided, very few cards are actually needed, as the deck typically plays Extravagance anyway.

 

A Tier

Strong decks, but limited either by a lack of access to powerful staples or by the natural ceiling of the deck. You could still top a regional with one of these decks on a good day.
 

Subterror (Numeron)

Price: $100+ Imgur | DuelingBook

• Subterrors are a control deck with a focus on flipping monsters face-down and generating constant advantage with Subterror Guru.
• Numeron cards aim to make Number S0: Utopic ZEXAL going first or simply OTK going second. S0 is an extremely powerful card that can prevent the opponent from playing the game entirely if it resolves.
• Subterror tends to want to resolve Subterror Guru as often as possible, and you can still do so after Numeron Calling restricts your ability to summon. You can simply set Guru and then flip it face-up with The Hidden City, so both parts of the deck can work in tandem.
  • Red-Eyes Fusion + Red-Eyes Dark Dragoon are frequently played in other Subterror decks for the same reason (however, Dragoon is not budget-friendly).
• Though Numeron cards were hyped up before their release, they have seen little success in competitive play. S0 is a card that's better in theory than it is in practice, and Numeron variants have in general shown that they're not nearly as scary as some of the other decks out there. Subterror's notable event top this format, a top 16 finish at LCS 6, did not involve any Numeron cards and used Dragoon instead.
• Pure Guru control without Numeron cards or Dragoon is also a viable option. Subterror can be extremely oppressive if it's allowed to establish its resource loop, particularly when backed up with There Can Be Only One. An example budget list is provided in the previous budget post, linked at the top of this post.

 

Salamangreat

Price: $50+ Imgur | DuelingBook

• Link-based midrange deck with a lot of recursion and a special in-archetype technique, where 1 Link Monster is used as the entire Link material to summon another copy of that monster, granting bonus effects
• The deck is somewhat halfway between control and combo, establishing respectable boards turn 1 with a fairly compact engine, allowing many handtraps to be played. Their real strength comes in turn 3 and beyond, where their arsenal of free summons from the GY, coupled with their stellar resource recycling, easily overwhelm the opponent.
• The majority of the deck is dirt cheap and is mostly able to be built with commons from SOFU+SAST supplementing 3 copies of Structure Deck: Soulburner.
• Accesscode Talker is a huge part of this deck's success online, able to steal games easily with the help of Update Jammer. Accesscode is not at all affordable on a budget, so the sample list plays Zeroboros instead. Owning one copy of Accesscode is an enormous improvement to this deck's strength.
• Salamangreat has found little competitive success in bigger online tournaments this format, but still regularly performs well in smaller events, remote duel locals, and the like. It's also a fairly safe choice, as it's somewhat unlikely we see further Salamangreat hits on the next banlist.

 

Megalith

Price: $50+ Imgur | DuelingBook

• Combo Ritual deck that searches basically everything in its deck, accruing a ridiculous amount of advantage
• Famously piloted to a 2nd place finish at LCS 5 by Lundrity, making it farther than all of the Adamancipator players (the other deck from last format that abused Block Dragon). You can watch his deck profile here. Though the Block Dragon ban was a huge blow to this deck, it's still quite strong without it and can turn to Magician of Black Chaos MAX along with Megalith Bethor as its primary forms of disruption. None of the Megalith cards are expensive whatsoever, making this deck ludicrously cheap for how powerful it is.
• The competitive version of this deck generally plays Fibrax combos, with 1 copy of Adamancipator Researcher teched into the main deck to get tuner access off of Gallant Granite. This opens up additional options, allowing you to go into cards like Hot Red Dragon King Calamity, but requires HalqKross and Researcher - which combined, cost more than the entire provided decklist.
• High skill floor and weakness to Droll & Lock Bird could be a deterrent for some players.

 

Zoodiac

Price: $100+ Imgur | DuelingBook

• Formerly an incredibly dominant deck, current Zoodiac has established a small niche for itself in the current meta despite having only 1 Drident. Part of this is due to Infinitrack Fortress Megaclops, which can be easily brought out through several one- and two-card combos. Megaclops can be immensely troublesome for many decks to out, and is extremely effective at closing games.
• Plays a compact engine combined with around 20 slots dedicated to handtraps, traps, and draw power. Makes extremely effective use of the recently unlimited Pot of Avarice, as you can simply stack Xyz monsters, link them off for Gravity Controller, and easily fulfill the activation requirement for Avarice. Recent variants sometimes incorporate the Dogmatika cards as well, though the price of cards like Nadir Servant makes this option impossible on a budget.
• The deck hasn't seen a ton of success in this format, but neither have most other decks. One reason it's high up on the post is in anticipation of Negalogia AA-Zeus, an extremely powerful card in Phantom Rage that has propelled this deck to tier 1 status in the OCG. Note that OCG has a generally slower metagame than us, and that OCG Zoo also has Utopic Future Dragon.
• Zoo's price has gone up lately due to hype around the deck, notably with Chakanine being around $15 each in NA right now. Some people are speculating a Chakanine reprint in Maximum Gold, which would make this deck a lot cheaper. At the moment, the sample list only plays 2 Chak for budget reasons - ideally, you'd run 3.

 

B Tier

Like the above category, but generally weaker, less consistent, and/or impacted harder by a lack of access to a certain card(s).
 

Altergeist

Price: $100+ Imgur | DuelingBook

• Control + backrow deck with incredible recursion and the ability to come back from almost no resources
• Altergeist has seen sparse success ever since FLOD, and are a respectable budget contender. They've have had a fairly modest showing online, notably getting top 32 at the third online Luxury Championship Series.
• Budget players are most hurt by a lack of Pot of Extravagance, Infinite Impermanence, Evenly Matched, and Linkross. The first three of these cards have reprints, but none are quite cheap enough yet to be easily accessible on a budget.
• Be on the lookout for whenever Altergeist Pookuery gets imported to the TCG, as the ability to make Hexstia on turn 1 and then trigger its search effect with Linkross is insane for the deck's consistency.
• The extra deck is extremely flexible (as Altergeist are typically played with Extravagance, anyway) and several options are simply tech cards, such as Elder Entity N'tss.
• Main deck trap choices are also extremely flexible. Torrential is quite powerful against Dragon Link, but this could easily be swapped out for many other cards depending on your budget, available card pool, and locals demographics.
• Some players have opted to include Dogmatika cards in this deck, which is viable even on a modest budget. It's possible to simply play Dogmatika Punishment as a powerful trap capable of utilizing your extra deck, and even a single copy of Ecclesia (around $20 each right now) goes a long way for improving the power of this package.

 

Sky Striker

Price: $100-150+ Imgur | DuelingBook

• Spell-heavy control deck that usually maintains only one monster on the field at a time, in the extra monster zone.
• Striker isn't affected too badly by many of the commonly played handtraps like Nibiru and go-second tech cards like Dark Ruler No More. It no longer accrues infinite resources through resolving Engage multiple times, but instead is easily able to kill you with an Accesscode Talker push after whittling down your LP and resources for a turn or two. The standard combo involves laddering from Halqifibrax -> Selene -> Accesscode and then dismantling your opponent's board before swinging for game.
• You may have noticed a problem: if you're on a budget, you can't use Accesscode. This is a pretty big blow to the deck's overall strength. The provided sample list uses the Utopia Double package instead to steal games, a combo that some players are still using in their Sky Striker decks. For example, Zoé Weber played Double in the second EU Remote Duel Invitational, just a few days before this post was written.
• Focusing on going second and resolving Mystic Mine as much as possible is also still a viable way to play this deck (and is more affordable with the Mine reprint), but you may struggle against decks that play Smoke Grenade of the Thief, like Infernoble and sometimes Dragon Link.
• Yet another way to play this deck involves (surprise) Red-Eyes Dark Dragoon and multiple copies of Red-Eyes Fusion. Instead of using cards like Widow Anchor and Afterburners to muscle through disruption and stick a Mystic Mine on the field, you use them to get to your Dragoon and either win the game immediately or put yourself in a position where your opponent can't play through the Dragoon disrupt.
• Roze is the most expensive card in this list, and 2 is generally considered standard. If your budget is tight, you can definitely cut her down to 1.

 

Traptrix

Price: $100+ (higher w/ Dogmatika package) Imgur | DuelingBook

• Control deck with an extremely power Link 1 monster, Traptrix Sera, that pumps out constant advantage.
• Commonly played as an Extravagance deck, but also makes solid use of its Extra Deck. In particular, Parallel eXceed is really nice for this deck, letting it end on multiple Rank 4s turn 1.
• The sample list takes an interesting approach and incorporates a very small Dogmatika engine. Though the full Dogma engine is very expensive (with Nadir Servant clocking in at around $70 per copy right now), Dogmatika Punishment itself is very cheap, and is one of the best generic traps in the game right now. The addition of just 1 copy of Ecclesia (around $20) provides a substantial power boost to this mini-engine, as dumping one copy of Titaniklad with Punishment and grabbing an Ecclesia for next turn is extremely powerful.
• If you can't get Ecclesia, you could simply play just Punishment as a generic trap, but this would still require 1-2 copies of N'tss (around $5-6 each). Another option is to play pure Traptrix, incorporating more power traps/handtraps, and quite frequently the Utopia Double package as well.
• Like every other backrow deck on this post, you have a great deal of flexibility regarding which trap cards you play. This applies particularly to the Trap Hole options, as cards like Bottomless and Time-Space Trap Hole are also both viable. In the sample list, Floodgate is played at 3 due to being extremely powerful, and Traptrix Trap Hole Nightmare was thrown in as it can negate cards like Verte Anaconda.

 

Burning Abyss

Price: $100+ Imgur | DuelingBook

• Versatile control-based Graveyard toolbox deck that has been swinging in and out of meta relevance since its release way back in 2014.
• Was one of the biggest beneficiaries of the September banlist, with Graff and Cir coming back to 2, Tour Guide coming to 3, and Rusty Bardiche being unbanned.
• Generally played as a combo deck from 2018-2019, incorporating a multitude of options. This was considered the "standard" version of BA until Dinh-Kha Bui won a 130-player online German tournament in April with a much slower trap-heavy list.
  • The strategy is quite simple - set up Beatrice on turn 1 with backrow set, try to search a Tour Guide for turn 3, and push to win the game. The discard traps have good synergy with Farfa and Scarm in hand, and Fiend Griefing is powerful GY disruption that also dumps any BA, Rhino Warrior, Back Jack, or even Token Collector to stop Linkross combo decks.
• The trap lineup can be customized to deal with different decks; cards like Torrential Tribute are strong vs. Dragons, while Ice Dragon's Prison is extremely powerful in several different matchups (but might be a little pricey for some).
• This deck was frequently mixed with Phantom Knight cards back in 2016 (often called PK Fire), and the unbanning of Rusty Bardiche opens that up as a viable option once again. However, this variant is not shown due to cards like Fog Blade and Bardiche itself being a few bucks. PK Fire is also not substantially stronger compared to the regular trap variant.
• Yet another possibility is a Synchro wombo combo deck involving (drumroll)... Halqifibrax, Linkross, and Dragoon. This is not covered here for obvious reasons.
• The Mega-Tin reprint of I:P Masquerena is really nice, as a standard opening results in Masquerena + Beatrice off of Tour Guide alone. Players on a tight budget might not be able to pursue this option, as Masquerena and Knightmare Unicorn are both hovering at $10-13.

 

Madolche

Price: $100+ Imgur | DuelingBook

• Combo deck with several one and two card OTKs that can rip apart established boards. Plus, everything is based on dessert puns.
• Madolche got some fantastic support in recent years that dramatically boosted the power of this deck. Petingcessoeur in SAST and Salon/Promenade in ETCO are all amazingly good support cards.
• Saw varied levels of success in online tournaments over the last two formats, with some occasional breakout performances like Ryan Yu winning the Luxury BLM charity event with this list (pre-ETCO), as well as Dinh-Kha Bui getting top 4 at an HTS tournament with Madolche, winning a Madolche mirror in top 8 to get there.
• Has a weird niche as a viable going second deck that can break the Buster lock with the help of Puddingcess. Typically, you will also require a powerful going-second card like Dark Ruler No More.
• Reprints of key Madolche cards such as Anjelly in BLAR and Magileine in DUOV have made this deck reasonably affordable again after many of its cards spiked earlier this year. There are still some strange aftereffects, such as Hootcake still being around $12 in NA. The deck is very commonly played with Extravagance, which is not included on this budget list, but even Extrav has also gotten substantially cheaper.
• The sample list runs Dimension Shifter, which is devastating against Dragon Link, Infernoble, Dinosaur, and Eldlich. While it makes your own combos awkward, you might consider the trade-off to be worth it. Shifter is, of course, easily substituted for another, more conventional handtrap.

 

C Tier

Decks in this category have the capability to be just as good as the ones above at times, but often tend to suffer from multiple problems including consistency and power.
 

Gouki

Price: $80+ Imgur | DuelingBook

• Aggressive Warrior-based combo deck that takes advantage of the Gouki monsters all searching other Gouki cards upon leaving the field. With the unbanning of Rusty Bardiche and the release of some solid generic Warrior support in ROTD, Gouki has seen a small resurgence online.
• The general goal is to resolve Isolde and then summon Apollousa to protect you from handtraps, before using Gouki Rematch to then go into the Codebreakers. Codebreaker Virus Swordsman, Virus Berserker, and Zero Day can effectively vomit out 6 Link rating worth of monsters off of just the two Goukis revived with Rematch. Competitive versions of this deck usually play Verte Anaconda + Dragoon, Linkross, and sometimes even a small Synchro package to go into the Infernoble synchros. A great resource for current Gouki combos is this combo video from SirEmanon - note that it utilizes Dragoon.
• Most of the warrior stuff is surprisingly cheap, but the reason Gouki is on this post instead of Infernoble is due to a heavy reliance on Halq + Linkross in competitive Infernoble strategies. The provided list plays a few Infernoble cards, but more as generic warrior extenders - Durendal is great for searching Fire Flint Lady as well as Oliver, which help to put extra bodies on board.
• Budget players may find that a lack of Verte + Dragoon leads to the end boards being quite underwhelming, and less resilient in the face of disruption. A weakness to Droll & Lock Bird also doesn't help.

 

Unchained

Price: $75-100 Imgur | DuelingBook

• Floaty destruction-based archetype that generates advantage when its cards are destroyed, enabling its gimmick of using your opponent's monsters to Link Summon.
• Can be built to go first or to go second, although the sample list prefers to go first since you probably want cards like Dark Ruler No More, Lightning Storm, and Evenly Matched for going second.
• Mega-Tin reprints of Abomination's Prison as well as their Link 2 have helped make this deck a great deal more affordable. I:P Masquerena being more affordable is also a nice boost, though it's by no means essential in this deck.
• Fairly modest online performance, doing alright at smaller events and more recently finishing top 8 at the second YuGiJoe online series as well as occasional Luxury events.
• This deck's best weapon is its opponents being unprepared for it. Playing improperly into Dark Spirits or Unchained floats can very quickly be fatal. It also matches up decently into some Dogmatika variants, which rely on destruction-based removal from Dogmatika Punishment and Elder Entity N'tss.

 

Plunder Patroll

Price: $100+ Imgur | DuelingBook

• Pirate archetype with ridiculous recursion and a unique tag-out and equip mechanic based on Attributes being used in the game
• The pirates become equips for one of (currently) three Patrollships, extra deck monsters that can all discard Plunder Patroll cards in hand to fuel powerful effects. The ships become stronger when manned (equipped with) a Plunder card, with bonuses such as ignition effects becoming quick effects, or being able to replace the discarded card with a new one from the deck.
• In terms of performance, Plunder has been doing decently at smaller tournaments (particularly PPG weeklies) but has failed to replicate those results in larger online tournaments such as LCS.
• Toadally Awesome + Bahamut Shark is another option for players who are able to afford Toad, which is currently sitting at around $20 on TCGPlayer. This has been mixed in some builds with cards like Tenyi Spirit - Shthana.

 

Pendulum Magician

Price: 100+ (varies) Imgur | DuelingBook

• Pendulum deck centered around Level 4 Spellcaster monsters that recently got a new breath of life with Double Iris Magician being unbanned.
• Magicians are featured here instead of Endymion as they're newer and haven't been on this post for a while. Both of them have similar online results (which is to say, practically none) and Endymion has a greater weakness to Droll. For an example Endymion list, consider something like this.
• The example list is a Magician-heavy list featuring Tuning Magician, abusing it in conjunction with cards like Selene and Halqifibrax to spam monsters to the board before your Pendulum Summon. Though I'm not sure who created this build, Trif Gaming has been a big proponent of it online, utilizing Linkross as well as several Synchros designed to draw cards.
  • A more budget-friendly version of this list cuts Fibrax and Tuning Magician entirely, and adds in other solid Pend cards like Endymions. The list shown runs a few moderately expensive cards like Fibrax, Apollousa, and a playset of the new Odd-Eyes Revolution Dragon, but Pend easily accommodates a smaller budget. Plenty of budget Pendulum resources exist online, so those versions aren't covered here.
• Tornado Dragon is utilized to great effect in this deck, oftentimes popping Double Iris on your own turn 1 and then popping Artifact Scythe on turn 2 to lock your opponent out of the extra deck. Incorporating the Dagda + Scythe engine gives this deck some much-needed resilience against board breakers like Dark Ruler No More, a classic weakness of build-a-board Pendulum.
• Plenty of other viable options exist for Pend, including incorporating Guardragons, a Phantom Knight engine, playing Dracoslayer cards, adding a heavier focus on Odd-Eyes, etc.
• Pretty much every Pend variant suffers against Droll right now, including Magician, Endymion, and others. There's not really a way to play around this due to the nature of Pendulum as a deck, so just don't worry about it :)

 

Shaddoll

Price: $75+ Imgur | DuelingBook

• Classic Fusion-based archetype from 2014, debuting in Duelist Alliance. Somewhat of a midrange combo deck that can slow the game down with El Shaddoll Winda or be very aggressive with El Shaddoll Construct
• Winda is a troublesome floodgate that many decks struggle to out, especially combo decks. Shaddoll cards are currently played in several Dogmatika variants due to the sheer power of Winda and the utility of Shaddoll Schism, released in ROTD.
• In the OCG, Dogmatika Shaddoll without any other engines is one of the top meta contenders, commonly playing even cards like Gale Dogra to use Apkallone and get to Schism as soon as possible.
• Since the Dogmatika package is extremely expensive, the included decklist is more of a pure Shaddoll list. Schism is still an absolutely fantastic power boost for this deck, regardless of what version. Also possible is the inclusion of just a few copies of Dogmatika Punishment and maybe 1 Ecclesia (around $20), around with some utility extra deck cards.
• The deck's biggest problem has always been its inability to consistently resolve a fusion spell on turn 1. Pure Shaddoll are somewhat prone to bricking on all monsters or all spell/traps, and not being able to afford the Dogma cards is also a blow to consistency.
• Another hybrid build that existed before Dogmatika cards debuted was Invoked Shaddoll, which is still a powerful variant currently (though Dogma cards are always splashed in as well). Meltdown protects Schism, making it an extremely powerful combo that can out cards like Dragoon. However, Invocation is still $20 each, despite its multiple reprints.

 

Up-And-Coming

Decks here will usually be decks that recently started seeing success (usually online) or upcoming decks that might become viable budget decks, oftentimes due to new support or even new reprints. Some might also be decks that could potentially be on the main body of the post, but need a little more time to prove themselves. These decks are also going to be covered in less detail.
 

Buster Blader

Price: Varies Imgur | DuelingBook

• Control deck that abuses the interaction between Buster Dragon and the Buster Blader fusion monster to set up a very annoying lock similar to what Bagooska does. Prologue sending Memories and then Memories's GY effect will accomplish this lock if you have any Dragon in the GY, meaning that Buster Whelp sets it up by itself.
• Has seen a surprising amount of online success, particularly in high-rated DB. Part of this is due to the prevalence of Dragon Link, which the BB Fusion is strong against on its own.
• Buster Blader cards are typically played as an engine, almost always mixed with a heavy Red-Eyes Dark Dragoon package and frequently also mixed with Dogmatika or Eldlich cards. None of these options are budget-friendly, so the price is simply listed as "variable". The sample list takes the deck in a playable direction, using a small Rokket engine to supplement the Buster Blader cards and to help get Dragons in GY for Memories. However, generally, I would not recommend trying to play this deck without Dragoon.

 

Prank-Kids

Price: $150 Imgur | DuelingBook

• Floaty combo/control deck with 4 maindeck Prank-Kids that all float into any other Prank-Kid when used for a Link or Fusion summon
• Phantom Rage comes with Prank-Kids Meow-Meow, a Link 1 Prank-Kid monster that makes this deck incredibly consistent and turns any single Prank monster into full combo. This deck has been popping up a bit in the OCG, so it's worth keeping an eye on.

 

Fluffal

Price: $50+ Imgur | DuelingBook

• Aggressive Fusion combo deck capable of making ridiculous boards going first and easily OTKing going second. Previously known as just an OTK deck, its ROTD support have made its going-first options quite terrifying, and this deck has picked up some steam online
• Frightfur Whale being level 9 enables easy access to Calamities, which can singlehandedly win games. This deck's other possible win conditions include Apollousa / Toad / Dagda+Scythe / Dingirsu+Winda / Punching you for 12000 damage
• Almost every Fluffal card besides Kraken is dirt cheap. Only the generic main/extra deck cards really cost anything substantial.

 

Monarch

Price: $50+ Imgur | DuelingBook

• Classic Tribute-based deck that was one of the best decks in early/mid 2016, and recently was brought back to full power after Pantheism came back to 3.
• Monarch has some new toys to play with as well, including Seleglare the Luminous Lunar Dragon, Magicians' Souls, and the entire pool of Link monsters.
• Notably pulled off a 2nd place finish at the EU Remote Duel Invitational last weekend, piloted by Lithium2300. You can watch his deck profile here.
• Though Extra Deck Monarch is very strong, the Domain build is absolutely dirt cheap and doesn't require an extra deck. Monarchs in general have been performing quite poorly on DuelingBook and in online tournaments, but you're still able to easily steal games with cards like Domain and Vanity's Fiend, and the deck is perfectly fine for smaller events (as we saw from Lithium's performance).

 

Honorable Mentions

• Orcust, Mermail Atlantean, Magical Musketeers, PaleoFrog, Crusadia Guardragon, ABC, D/D, Generaider - Decks that are fairly decent but have been left off of the post to make room for other decks that have seen more recent success or have fewer budget resources online.
• Dragonmaid, Infernoid, Cyber Dragon, Invoked variants, HERO etc - Decks that are pretty good but are sorta in limbo due to some expensive individual cards, such as Kitchen Dragonmaid, Verte Anaconda/Cyber Dragon Nachster, Invocation, etc.
• Cubics, Phantasm, Chain Burn, Evilswarm, Yosenju, Dinomist, and much, much more - Unfortunately, there is not enough room to cover every single decent, super-cheap deck.

 
 
I hope to keep this post updated for the foreseeable future. Feel free to leave any comments or suggestions. Sorry this one took a little longer than usual to publish, I've been busy IRL and the format also needed some time to settle.

INTRODUCTION
Now that we're in the eye of the storm, facing the oncoming wave of PK when Phantom Rage hits, I think it important to address the current status of the meta considering what has just passed yesterday. First and foremost, obviously this is opinionated and is of course subject to change however, my reasoning for such and such will be indicated via and pros and cons list as well as what I believe each tier's characteristics should include. Additionally there are some cards rather than archetypes that should be mentioned and so, I'll have a whole separate category addressing this as well. As always, input is always appreciated and in fact, how the community grows together! Without further ado, here are my thoughts:
BANLIST SUMMARY
BANNED:
Block Dragon
Jet Synchron
O-lion
LIMITED:
Double Iris
The Phantom Knights of Rusty Bardiche
Called by the Grave
Harpie’s Feather Duster
SEMI-LIMITED:
Cir, Malebranche of the Burning Abyss
Graff, Malebranche of the Burning Abyss
ABC-Dragon Buster
Toadally Awesome
UNLIMITED:
Makyura the Destructor
Tour Guide From the Underworld
Evigishki Gustkraken
Pantheism of the Monarchs
Sky Striker Mecha – Widow Anchor
Summarized kindly by PlatonWrites
BANLIST RELEVANCY
Block Dragon: Without a doubt, this rank amongst one of the most significant changes within the meta. Block Dragon’s ability to recur resources and establish presence on the field for, namely Adamancipator, has been recognized as something incredibly powerful and arguably ‘unfair’.
Jet Synchron/O-lion: Arguably the best and second best tuners in the game. I hypothesized tuner would be the ones to suffer before the likes of Needlefiber and Linkross; it just was not going to happen as it's too new of a product. Regardless, the hit of these two cards does not mean ‘degenerate’ synchro are dead, RATHER, it means they are less degenerate and not AS good but can still be executed. This example can be seen with Firewall Dragon and Konami’s banning of everything else before the main card.
Rusty Bardiche: Although fairly mediocre currently (I say with uncertainty), it will, in my mind, be a part of an upcoming tier 1 deck in Phantom Knights. I can hypothesize all I want but until the official release, I will hold my further comments .
Called By The Grave: An unfortunate hit and I believe it's due to a future issue rather than a current one that does not implicate Called By’s effectiveness in the meta. I believe Called By was a hit to sell product; plain and simple. Does this mean Crossout Designator is releasing in Phantom Rage? Does it mean Triple Tactics Talent was not pushed hard enough? Perhaps both? Regardless, this hit moreso effects the budget players rather than the meta (I do not mean budget cannot be meta (i.e. Dragon Link)).
Harpie’s Feather Duster: An excellent removal from the ban list and allows those to counter backrow control decks; I’m looking at you Eldlich and friends. Should be an immediate add-on for most decks and an excellent way for mass backrow removal to come back. Side Note: prices on the card are, for the most part, ludicrous and WILL see a reprint but I digress.
CiGraff/Tour: Allowing Burning Abyss to return to its status of normalcy however, I believe its relevance relies on what Phantom Knights will be doing rather than pure BA and so, my opinion remains the same as Bardiche for now.
ABC/PALEO: As a Paleo lover myself, I'm thrilled but as a realist, I've been stagnant in my opinion since when it was placed on the ban list in the first place. ABC more or less belongs in the same category that will be expressed in further detail at a later point; good but other decks do the same thing but better.
Widow Anchor: An additional tool for Sky Striker and Stun however, nothing too different than what we saw in the past format with Kagari at 3.
TIER LIST
TIER 1- Described as CONSISTENT with the ability to play through multiple interruptions. Has great ability to go first or second. Is adaptable by nature and capable of flexibility with problem solving and establishing boards. Can be observed topping/winning events consistently.
Eldlich- Sure, Eldlich’s arguable most potent strategy, synchro variant, has taken a hit however, it does not change its nature in the defining points I have mentioned.
Pros

• Great Consistency
  
• Able to play through multiple hand traps
  
• Excellent recovery
  
• Easily the best control deck in the game
  
• Depending on variant, Eldlich has no reliance on a single engine
  

Cons

• Can have a hard time if golden lord cannot be drawn or summoned
  
• Can struggle going second in some circumstances
  

Dragon Link- Made it through the banlist without seeing any hits and so, at the moment it is the best combo deck in the game.
Pros

• Great consistency with getting to win con
  
• Numerous Starters
  
• Can easily play through multiple hand traps
  
• Side decks typically are under prepared to deal with Dragon link
  

Cons

• Loses pretty drastically to floodgates (Winda, Summon Limit, etc)
  
• Can have a hard time deal with oppressive back row
  
• Can be vulnerable to board wipes (Nibiru, DRNM, etc)
  

TIER 2- Good consistency and good ability to play through interruptions however, not as effectively as those in Tier 1. Is effective going first or second however, may not be as flexible/adaptive as those in Tier 1. Has the ability to top events consistently however, they are not as consistent in winning them.
Dino- Another deck free from hits on the banlist. Notably won the Remote Duel event against the highest level of competition.
Pros

• Excellent Offensive capabilities
  
• Great potential to play through hand traps
  
• Good consistency
  
• Excellent protection against with Miscellaneousaurus and to a lesser extent, Lost World
  
• Arguably the best going second deck in the game.
  

Cons

• Going first is not as effective as going second and CAN be underwhelming
  
• Can be very poor in the face of floodgates (Winda, Dark Law, etc)
  
• Can be fairly one dimensional and predictable
  

Infernoble- Another deck that incurred no losses following the ban list and has shown great ability to be excellent in the hands of a good pilot. EDIT** Dropped from Tier 1
Pros

• Very good consistency
  
• Many different starters
  
• Can Establish very oppressive boards
  
• Handlooping with grenade
  

Cons

• Reliant on needle/linkross combo to go hard
  
• Can struggle if handtrapped correctly
  
• High skill requirement
  

Invoked Dogmatika- Has seen a lack of representation and had been over-prepared for in the past month following ROTD. However, the deck is still Tier 2 but cannot hold a prolonged position in Tier 1 due to its faults.
Pros

• Excellent control package inserted into already excellent package
  
• Good 1/2 Card combos
  
• Easy access to Winda
  
• Ability to go first or second equally as well.
  

Cons

• Very one-dimensional
  
• Strongest combo countered by mirror match
  
• Can be countered very easily
  

Adamancipator- Can arguably be considered worse however, what has really changed about the deck? Albeit a lot however, the deck can still do the same things it used to be able to with the exception that it can no longer push through as many interruptions and its recovery/recursion abilities have dropped quite significantly. The deck Can be argued for Tier 3 however, I believe more has to be done, events wise, before we know definitively that this deck has fallen from grace.
Pros

• Good consistency with starters
  
• Can establish incredibly oppressive boards for a combo deck
  
• Best combo deck in the game
  

Cons

• Can struggle against floodgates (e.g. Winda, Summon Limit, etc)
  
• Can draw empty at times
  
• Can have a hard time going second vs control boards
  

Salamangreat- No Change from last Tier List
Pros

• One of the most consistent decks in the meta
  
• Will always be able to do generally the same thing every turn
  
• Ability to play a plethora of hand traps naturally
  
• Plenty of starters
  

Cons

• Can be stopped with an effective negation
  
• Susceptible to nibiru
  
• Does not hit hard enough to out oppressive walls and not does wall hard enough to stop oppressive combos
  

TIER 3- Decently consistent, Can play through 1 maybe 2 interruptions. Typically has a definitive gameplan dictated on going first OR second however, is capable of somewhat adapting to the matchup. Can show potential topping at events however is inconsistent in doing such.
Guru- Has been some play recently with both Numeron and Dragoon however, nothing worth noting as of yet. Is now arguably the second best backrow control deck because of its ability to play both engines effectively.
Pros

• Excellent control deck as long as there’s access to guru
  
• Can apply multiple floodgates naturally (e.g. TCBOO, Summon Limit)
  
• Excellent negation tool in Fiendness
  
• Ability to slot in oppressive engines (e.g. Numeron/Red Eyes)
  

Cons

• Over reliance on Guru
  
• Very susceptible to back row removal
  
• Relatively reliant on Hidden City
  
• Can be fairy one dimensional
  

Orcust- (EDIT originally Rogue Tier) The loss of Jet synchron/ O lion has proven not entirely significant for Orcust. Sure, the best Scrap extenders are gone however, the replacement provided by Rosenix and Bardiche can arguably make up the difference. Time will tell if the deck will rise higher in the meta or not.
Pros

• Capable to establish the classic oppressive Orcust board
  
• Excellent ability to operate on opponent’s turn with Babel
  
• Good recovery
  
• Many starters
  

Cons

• Can be stopped by one hand trap
  
• Susceptible to board wipes (DRNM, Nibiru, Evenly)
  
• Can be brick fairly hard
  

Altergeist- Has not shown any results following Faker to 3 and so, it declines a Tier. Arguably no longer the second best control deck with Guru being able to play Numeron and Dragoon much more efficiently.
Pros

• Has the ability to play a plethora of floodgates and hand traps naturally
  
• Excellent Recovery
  
• Excellent Stamina
  
• Among the best going first decks
  

Cons

• Heavy reliance on Multifaker
  
• Multifaker searches can be easily outed
  
• Can be susceptible to back row removal
  

Madolche- Similarly to Altergeist, the deck simply has little to no representation. Albeit probably due to ‘New Toy’ Syndrome however, it arguably is at a disadvantage in most of the matchups in Tier 1 and 2.
Pros

• Strong control deck with the ability to summon effectively and remove opposition’s field effectively as well
  
• Madolche Spells/Traps have destruction protection via Sistart
  
• Fairly consistent deck obtaining the general results the decks wants to accomplish as long as there are no interruptions
  

Cons

• Negating a starter could be the end of a turn
  
• Very susceptible to back row removal
  
• Is not as oppressive as other control decks in the meta
  

ROGUE TIER- Categorized by those who have several weaknesses in the aforementioned points to categorize the former tiers however, is capable at making an appearance at events with little consistency of topping it.
Megalith- Has not done anything following its toppings last month and now that many people are aware of its capabilities, the surprise factor is not as strong.
Pros

• Capable of many surprises
  
• Punished incorrect timing of interruptions
  
• Can snowball fairly quickly if unprepared
  

Cons

• Following its recent tops, opponents are more likely to understand how the deck works and understand when to negate certain things and react to others

Pendulum (EDIT Originally Endymion**)- With Double Iris back in the game, it is hard to say how much more effective Pendulum decks will be. I do not believe it is significant enough to do anything in the meta however, I am more than open to having my mind changed. It has fallen a tier since but it is mostly due to lack of results and representation barring a topping on the LCS.
Pros

• Can establish one of the most oppressive boards in the game
  
• Fairly flexible play style
  
• Decent ability to play through hand traps
  
• Fairly Consistent
  

Cons

• Does a poor job overcoming boards
  
• Losses to floodgates (e.g. TCBOO, Summon Limit)
  
• Can fall to a well timed hand trap
  

Sky Striker- Can be capable of surprises however, it remains the same from the last tier list minus the representation.
Pros

• Good ability to play hand traps naturally
  
• Good ability to play floodgates naturally
  
• Very good recovery and recursion
  

Cons

• No definite win condition outside of Accesscode and poking opponent to death
  
• Heavy reliance on Raye/Roze but more so Raye
  
• Very susceptible to hand traps and back row removal
  

Shaddoll- Can be argued for Tier 3 and possesses innate abilities to perform second however, given the state of the game, it is very difficult to operate second and Shaddoll may not have the capabilities to power through like Dino.
Pros

• Has access to one of the strongest floodgate monsters in the game
  
• Schism allows Winda to be summoned on the opponent's turn
  
• Decent Recovery
  

Cons

• Fair amount of reliance on fusion spells
  
• Requires appropriate material in grave for schism to work
  
• Can brick if Shaddoll spells/traps are not drawn
  

Generaider
Pros

• Back row effective in helping establish decent boards
  
• Can easily spam the field with high powered monsters
  
• Can overwhelm opponent with high attacking beat sticks
  

Cons

• Relatively high reliance on Boss Stage
  
• ‘Boss’ monsters have little to no protection
  
• Can be outed by single negation
  

Mekk-Knights
Pros

• Great ability to break boards
  
• Able to float in big monsters
  
• Plays very well against hand traps
  
• Good amount of starters
  

Cons

• Very poor going first options
  
• Loses to floodgates (Summon Limit, Winda, etc)
  

Heroes
Pros

• Hits very hard and is amongst the strongest in doing such
  
• Dark law is still amongst the best oppression cards in the game
  
• Plasma can be just as oppressive
  
• Excellent amount of starters
  

Cons

• Suffers to board wipes (DRNM, Nibiru, TCBOO, etc)
  
• Outside of Law and Plasma, little to no defense
  
• Can be outed by well timed hand traps
  

Burning Abyss- With Graff and Cir back to 2 respectively, it is to be seen how much better BA can get. It does not change much how the deck operates however, it opens up more potential for the deck to operate as an engine; namely with Phantom Knights.
Pros

• Can operate as a decent control deck or a decent combo deck
  
• Good ability to main/side floodgates
  
• Good recovery
  

Cons

• Recursion and recovery can be easily outed
  
• Loses to one hand trap most of the time
  
• Can brick heavily
  

Mermail/Atlantean
Pros

• Good deck for handlooping
  
• Is fairly consistent in establishing the same end boards
  

Cons

• Outside of handlooping, the deck does not have a win condition
  
• Ineffective in establishing oppressive boards
  
• Can lose to a single hand trap
  

Gren Maju
Pros

• Hits incredibly hard
  
• Fairly consistent in establishing game plan
  
• No reliance on graveyard
  

Cons

• Can be stopped fairly easily as it rarely establishes negates
  
• Has a poor going first game
  

Cyber Dragon
Pros

• Able to dismantle boards effectively
  
• Contains one of the best boss monsters in Infinity
  
• High OTK potential
  

Cons

• Lacklustre going first game
  
• Can suffer to floodgates (Winda, Summon Limit, etc)
  
• Turn could be stopped by a single hand trap
  

Infernoid
Pros

• Very effective in dismantling strong boards
  
• Very high OTK potential
  
• Able to remove troublesome cards without targeting
  

Cons

• Can brick heavily
  
• Bad going first game
  

Fluffal
Pros

• Excellent interruption with Scythe
  
• Excellent OTK Potential
  
• Very explosive in establishing boards
  

Cons

• Can be fairly bricky
  
• Inconsistent going first
  
• Can be stopped by a single hand trap
  
• Poor ability to play through floodgates (e.g. Summon Limit, Winda, etc)
  

Well these are my thoughts. Admittedly, not much has changed in the bottom half of the tier list and that's a good thing. The gap between the top and bottom are a little closer than the last format, albeit the change is fairly small. Dragoon was not mentioned as a single entity due to it being a singular card rather than an archetype however, it is a STRONG card and makes what the gap between top and bottom LARGER than last month as those who can make Dragoon easily reap the benefits of ending with an additional Omni-Negate whereas those who can’t make Dragoon, or rather ineffectively, either are forced to make Dragoon as their end-all be-all or main cards to out Dragoon which ultimately move them away from their gameplan.
Please do not hesitate to provide feedback as this list is a collective effort within the community as well as my own personal biases (;
Cheers!