Notes & Combos

Initially planned to stay in Platinum, but then Tearlaments came out and you couldn't play 5 duels without facing them 6 times. Eventually got so fed up I swore to make it to D1, showing them Tears a thing or three along the way.

I tuned the deck many times along the way, focusing mostly on being able to establish field presence, instead of just disrupting their plays.

Regarding the tech choices:

• I used to ran 2 Zoroa with 1 Artemis and 1 Ninaruru as extenders, but it proved inadequate as Tears move too fast and Zoroa provided no extra benefit beyond recovery.
• Conversely, D.D. Crow was a good Tears counter, but served no purpose in making a board. And Exosister needs field presence.

Thus, after the first week learning to counter Tears, I switched to running the Ishizu shufflers. They are Level 4, which could serve as Exosister Xyz materials, and they could disrupt Tears, even from the field.

Why I didn't run certain techs:

• Dimensional Fissure/Macro Cosmos: good counter, but useless in preventing their board if going second.
• Necrovalley: cost 90 UR, and shut down our own playstyle. No thanks.
• Exosister Carpedivem: I played reactively instead of Asophiel blind turbo, so even if Carpedivem was live, declaring name after-the-fact would be too late. Plus Tears have lots of alternate plays.
• Harpie Feather Duster, Lightning Storm, Triple Tactics Talent: good for going second, except all those **** cards trigger upon destruction. TTT, on the other hand, couldn't break board.
• Pot of Prosperity: deck is consistent enough (most of the time). Extra deck has some fillers, but all the sisters are needed for the grind game (I was being cautious). Also a one-off isn't gonna improve consistency much.

Some realizations:

• I didn't go into Zeus/Bagooska/Dweller/Goddess once, they were just precaution. The sisters were enough.
• If you can set up Magnifica, search for Returnia. If Returnia is already in hand, search Vadis. If under Maxx C, try to reach Mikailis (+ Martha if possible) + Vadis pass.
• If opponent is gonna Fusion Summon >2 times in one chain, spin/remove one Tears and let only one Fusion Summon through. This allows Vadis targets to Xyz, and prevent them making Kitkallos -> Rulkallos. Kaleido-Heart isn't threatening.
• Beware Polymerization, especially if opponent has monster on the field. It could be for Guardian Chimera. Use shuffler to spin GY Polymerization in order to target banish Chimera.
• Banish Kitkallos and win.