With all of the interesting new cards introduced in Alliance Insight, here are some of the cards that players are adding to their decks here at YCS Providence to try and get ahead of the competition. 

Ally of Justice Cycle Reader

Monsters with effects that you can activate from the hand during your opponent’s turn are extremely important! Even when going second, these cards give you the chance to try and disrupt your opponent’s combos, weakening their boards so that you’re able to push back more easily on the following turn. One of these hand disruptions that has become popular recently is Ally of Justice Cycle Reader! Cycle Reader has an effect that is very similar to D.D. Crow; you can discard it during either player’s turn to banish up to two Light monsters from your opponent’s Graveyard. The Fiendsmith engine has been incredibly popular recently, accessible to many different decks thanks to Moon of the Closed Heaven. However, using Cycle Reader to banish Fiendsmith’s Requiem and Fiendsmith Engraver from the Graveyard can cut off your opponent’s access to Necroquip Princess, D/D/D Wave High King Caesar, or Fiendsmith’s Sequence! 

Similarly, the card can be a strong Side Deck option against the Blue-Eyes deck. Most players are choosing to run only two copies of the original Blue-Eyes White Dragon, so banishing one of their copies can make playing out the turn difficult. Perhaps more importantly, you can also banish Maiden of White, an important Tuner that helps the deck to make powerful Synchro Monsters like Blue-Eyes Spirit Dragon! 

Dark Ruler No More

Dark Ruler No More is an interesting option that players are looking to add to their Side Decks once again! Dark Ruler negates the effects of all of your opponent’s face-up monsters for the rest of the turn, and also stops your opponent from activating monster effects in response to its activation. This card is something that has historically been very strong against decks that like to flood the field with monsters, as you can use one card to shut off multiple monsters. At the moment, players are looking to use this card against Mitsurugi Ryzeal, as you can turn off Ryzeal Detonator and Ame no Murakumo no Mitsurugi at the same time! The downside is that you can’t inflict damage to your opponent for the rest of the turn; however, players are using Dark Ruler to push through boards and hope that the opponent doesn’t have the resources for another push on the following turn. 

Mulcharmy Purulia & Mulcharmy Meowls

The Mulcharmy monsters have been some of the most popular in the game ever since their release! These monsters have effects that are similar to that of the infamous Maxx “C”, with a few differences; you must control no cards in order to activate them, and you only draw a card if a monster is Special Summoned from a specific area, depending on the Mulcharmy monster being used. Ever since its release, Mulcharmy Fuwalos has been the most popular, as Special Summoning from the Deck or Extra Deck is historically very strong. 

Recently, however, we’ve seen an increasing number of players using Mulcharmy Purulia and Mulcharmy Meowls, often in the Side Deck, but sometimes in the Main Deck, as well! Despite only being able to use two Mulcharmy effects per turn, drawing cards is so powerful that players are choosing to run more Mulcharmy monsters in order to increase the chances of seeing them in their opening hands! Purulia is almost as strong as Fuwalos, as most decks will look to Normal Summon during their turn. However, Meowls is particularly strong against Maliss, and can be activated at the start of your own turn to try and deter your opponent from using cards like Maliss <P> March Hare or Maliss <C> GWC-06.

These are just some of the trends that we’ve here at YCS Providence!