Notes & Combos

(ughfhghghghhfjhhhhhh!!! I failed 11 rank ups to M5. 11! And my 12th was a bricked hand vs Tenpai. UGhhh)

Anyway, hello everyone. Are we enjoying ryzeal maliss format? I will say this: it is better than the snake eyes format and blue eyes format, but not by much. Ryzeal is the new kid on the block, and very consistent. However, Ryzeal reminded me a lot of mathmech in that they have a very strong turn 1 and turn 3, but if you can outlast them (and deal with Detonator and cross) their grind game vanishes. Maliss is not like that. And, if I'm being honest, I often just prayed I didn't see that deck when I was going second. Not opening maxx c vs them is usually just gg.

So, I played three versions of traptrix this climb.

1. Ryzeal traptrix (first a light version with ext, and then a heavier version). I found ext mid. Sure, it could out a detonator, but people starting prioritizing cross more. And it's a really bad extender for us. The heavier ryzeal package just felt like bad ryzeal and bad trix.
2. Pure Traptrix with a ton of handtraps. I ran this for a good chunk of Diamond. My ability to stop my opponent when I went second went up, but my going first got too weak. And my boards when I went second were often Sera two holes pass. Almost every modern deck can crack that on turn 3.
3. Raika Traptrix with talents. Talents is utterly busted right now. Pure traptrix rarely does enough to warrant handtraps, so talents was often dead. However, Raika spams enough summons that it requires the opp to handtrap, and that turns on talents. Butterfly can help us to draw into handtraps. But two of the biggest reasons I shifted to Raika were: You can beat Detonator if you can keep pushing through its mats and Raika ED monsters can revive from GY and keep up the pressure.

Miscellaneous notes: Veiler isn't awful, nib can be okay when paired with something else. Typhon was amazing. Druis is pretty good. I tried metaltronus, but often it was too little to late, and Ryzeal started running starliege to protect detonator. I also tried cherries, but Ryzeal is not unbeatable. There are a lot of decks that can beat Ryzeal, so I saw a ton of variance that rendered cherries and metaltronus dead cards.

I complained a lot this month. The grind was horrific. As always, thank you to the traptrix channel for your support and advice. Special thanks to Fear, Mila, Jayin4k, and Yusodus.

If you have any questions, feel free to ask here or swing by the trix channel.