Top Cut Meta Analysis

Unfortunately, we were not provided with complete attendance numbers for this event, so it is difficult to draw comparisons to YCS Toronto and comment of format development. From the information available, we know that Hero controlled the largest percentage of the top cut of Toronto, while Wind-Up controlled the largest percentage of the top cut of Guatemala. Interestingly enough, Wind-Ups won in Toronto, while Heros won in Guatemala.

The prevalence of Wind-Ups in Guatemala was unexpected in some regards, due to the lack of Number 16: Shock Master outside of the North American metagame. Traditionally, it would have been unexpected due to the small size of the competitive cardpool and the expense behind the Wind-Up deck. However, recent product releases in the form of tin promos have been beneficial in advancing the size of competitive cardpool, by lowering its price, in developing metagames like Latin American and lesser developed parts of Europe.

The question now remains as to whether or not this will be Wind-Up’s format or not. Despite its win, Hero only claimed one playoff seed to the eight it claimed in Toronto. You would have expected Hero to find more playoff seeds in Guatemala, as it is an extremely cheap deck to build and was likely a large portion of the initial meta. This was not the case, which points to the Hero deck as a whole losing a lot of steam moving forward. Meanwhile, Rabbit and Geargia decks maintained top cut control percentages relative to their Toronto numbers. The remainder of the top cuts were filled with one-offs of a variety of decks.

Currently, we are faced with a more diverse spread of equal deck strength than we were last format. However, the seeds of a typical three-deck format have been planted. YCS Indianapolis will be our next indication of whether or not the format shifts from an extremely diverse format with equal deck strength to a three-deck or Wind-Up/Rabbit/Geargia format.

United Gosus at YCS Guatemala
Galileo De Obaldia finished in the Top 8 of YCS Guataemala. His decklist can be viewed here.

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