Obelisk 72 Decklist Coverage

Another Obelisk tournament is done and dusted, with Tiso coming out on top in the 72nd entry of this series, securing a qualification to next month's Goat Format World Championship! We are back with some event coverage and analysis of the participants' decklists.

Tiso took down the event with Warrior, arguably the breakout deck of the year. The Warrior strategy has steadily shown strong performances and increasing usage share throughout the season, and Tiso has a signature variation on the strategy.

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Their list features the standard thirteen-monster, two Reinforcement of the Army lineup, with maximum copies of Blade Knight and two Kycoo. However, they have opted to cut Torrential Tribute from the main, along with commonly seen "high-floor" filler cards such as Book of Moon or Smashing Ground, in order to fit in two copies of Upstart Goblin! The side deck features a medium flip package (three Gravekeeper’s Spy and a Magician of Faith) alongside a variety of utility one-ofs. Of note are Chaos Sorcerer and Mobius as additional large threats, and a powerful option against flip-based decks in Mind Control (with the aforementioned Spies making the card live more often). Tiso was kind enough to share some of their thoughts on the more unconventional card choices in the list.

On the inclusion of Upstart Goblin:
"Upstarts help the deck in executing its main gameplan as consistently as possible. The Life Point gain rarely ever matters; the real cost of running them comes from having less space in the side and in being a little less flexible game one. In this very narrow meta, these tradeoffs are worth it in my opinion."

On moving Torrential Tribute (TT) to the side board:
"I genuinely think TT is overrated in Warrior; it's a good card but forces you to make uncomfortable plays often. The second Sakuretsu Armor is much more consistent and is a better answer to Tsukuyomi in particular. You have to main TT in big events because the top cut is open decklist and you don't want your opponent to know it isn't there, but in Obelisk I knew people wouldn't be able to figure it out." 

They also made some adjustments specifically targeting the anticipated meta in the event, a read that paid off in a Warrior-light, Turbo-heavy field:
"If I remember correctly, the side is a little teched toward control with Asura Priest and Book of Moon. Normally I run more stuff for the mirror, but based on who was qualified I didn't expect to face any Warrior decks."

The runner-up was FungusAmungus (aka "imakemoosic" or "Ash is Spicy"), utilizing the tried-and-true Chaos Turbo. Notably, they have opted for an even higher flip density, bumping the monster count up to twenty-one. In addition, Phoenix Wing Wind Blast is the discard trap here, perhaps a nod to the recent increase in the prevalence of Chaos Control. Most interesting, of course, is the side deck, particularly the approach to Warrior and other aggressive strategies. Fungus has overloaded against aggro in their side, with EIGHT removal traps (Sakuretsu, Widespread, and Bottomless all making a showing), and an interesting mix of beaters (D.D. Warrior Lady, Giant Orc, and Luster Dragon). Fungus has seen sustained success with this type of Turbo strategy, topping Format Library Championship 40.

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Finishing in third place was Remioli on the Chaos Return strategy. Their deck is very similar to Chaos Turbo, cutting only the lowest-attack flip monsters and splashing a single Return from the Different Dimension. Instead of a recruiter-based Light supplement, they have managed to fit in a mini Warrior engine with a single copy of Reinforcement of the Army (ROTA), alongside three strong targets: Blade Knight, Exiled Force, and D.D. Warrior Lady. A singleton Spell Canceller in the side is an interesting tech choice against combo decks like Reasoning Gate, and the singleton side deck Zombyra becomes stronger with ROTA.

Rounding out the Top 4 is lat33, also playing Chaos Turbo. They are on what could be considered the "standard main deck 40", with three Gravekeeper's Spy and a pair of each of the other flip monsters. Flipping over to the side, we see a single Kycoo in addition to the typical copies of Mind Control. There's also a singleton Phoenix Wing Wind Blast, providing additional discard trap options to the mained Raigeki Breaks. Finally, for the aggro matchups, lat33 has trimmed the commonly seen third Sakuretsu Armor to fit both Zombyra and a Scapegoat/Metamorphosis package.

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As to the rest of the field, taking a quick gander at the decks brought by the other competitors in this event, we have:
- gangsterbro also bringing Chaos Turbo, a deck with which they've already qualified for Worlds. Their list cut Trap Dustshoot from the main entirely and plays a full set of Zombyra in the side.
- HNVB as another Chaos Return entrant, with the same strategy of a small Warrior package to round out the monster lineup. They have also included a copy of Mystic Swordsman Lv2 in the side to really lean into the flexibility of the ROTA toolbox. 
- Mythic Piper on Chaos Control, a deck that saw a surge in popularity this summer, running the commonly seen three Scapegoat, two Metamorphosis, two Creature Swap ratio. Their side features a slew of utility one-of Light and Dark monsters for different situations.
- Polarcube with Chaos Warrior, a deck blending the upside of Thunder Dragon with the flexibility and Nobleman of Crossout immunity of Warrior.

In a field where every other player brought a Chaos variant with three copies of Thunder Dragon, it was ultimately Tiso who prevailed with a pure Warrior deck. Interested readers should visit the Academy Discord, where they can watch the replays of the event and see for themselves how Warrior effectively navigated a Chaos-heavy field and came out on top.

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