Notes & Combos

Ah modern Yu-Gi-Oh, the game we all know and love. The game where going first is king, where huge boards and negates are all too common. I once heard that modern Yu-Gi-Oh is like building a giant fortress and daring your opponent to tear it down if they can. Sure there's been decks like Numeron, Crusadia, Trains, and Ancient Gear that have tried to play blind-second strategies, but only to varying degrees of success and never to the level of top contention. Now, we have a new archetype that seems to be another blind-second deck, but can it contend with meta threats like Yubel and Snake-Eye Fire King? The answer is 100% yes. Welcome to the game's best going-second deck.

If you're new to this deck, Tenpai Dragon is a deck that is about all about the battle phase. The gimmick of this deck is that you can quick-effect Synchro Summon in battle phase with your main deck dragons. This means you can attack with all your little dragons, Synchro them off, attack with your Synchros, and then keep Synchro-climbing and attacking until your opponent is dead. The deck can even deal over 30,000 points of battle damage!

Like I said earlier, blind-second is not a new concept and it has never been a top tier strategy, so what makes this deck any different? I'll give you some key points:

• Runs tons of hand traps and/or board breakers.
• Has tons of one-card starters that can act as extenders meaning that there isn't always a prime chokepoint.
• Plays super well into Maxx "C".
• Plays around Nibiru and Droll.
• Can run Dimensional Shifter and still OTK.
• Runs a versatile Synchro toolbox.
• Reliably breaks and OTKs through pretty much any board once it combos off with very few exceptions (including through Prosperity's damage reduction).
• Can shut down interaction from the opponent entirely via Sangen Summoning and Sangenpai Transcendent Dragion.
• Seals pass + hand traps is a respectable endboard when forced to go first and can lead to additional plays during the opponent's battle phase.

I'll go more in-depth with these points down below in the comments, so please check if you would like to know more. I'll also discuss stuff like ratios, deckbuilding choices, and advanced tips.

Is this deck top tier? Definitely. Is it the best deck in the game? It honestly just might be. Yu-Gi-Oh has never seen a deck quite like this before. Don't underestimate the power of unga-bunga dragons.