Notes & Combos

The combos for this event are explained by @TheShapestofSnatches on youtube. Sometimes, you should change the 2nd or 3rd search from Resonance Insect to get a kaiju, because it's important vs lyrilusc.

This was a 12 win streak. My opponents: 3 fire king loaners, 1 custom fire king, 1 reptile loaner, 1 insect loaner, 1 spider otk, 1 insect link (mirror match) + ballpark, 1 digital bugs, 1 tri brigade, 1 zoodiac + tiger king stun, 1 lyrilusc. Streak ended by an insect mirror match, where I (wrongly) took the Maxx C challenge.

While this event is basically stomping on loaners and budget jank, it at least gave me a big sample of games to judge the consistency of my hands.

So how good is an Insect Link deck in the event actually? The winrate is pretty nice, but it is not optimal for fast climbing due to being a combo-heavy deck. I also think people have overrated the deck, because it does have several disadvantages. One imperm on the link-2s makes your turn end on nothing, the lack of backrow removal feels bad, and of course, getting Maxx C'd sucks when you're the biggest combo deck in a go-2nd OTK meta.

I use TTT in my list as one of the ways to not get totally screwed by Maxx C. Try to rip their best play from their hand, and pray that you can get a chance to combo again next turn. The other thing to try is summoning 2x Lv3s, to make Cicada King only. This is why all my Lv3 extenders are max'd to 3 copies first.

Upgrades: 3x Soma is optimal.

Matchups. Lyrilusc: our trap negates AND destroys the yellow XYZ (search effect) without targeting. We have searchable kaiju for the battle reflection, blue XYZ. Fire Kings: they can do literally nothing against Atlas, unless you throw by boosting its attack. Spider OTK: negate Mother Spider, naturally. That deck cannot play through 1 negate, and we have 2. Mirror match: whoever opens Maxx C, Imperm, and/or goes first. TTT can help. Yosenju: the biggest threat is board wipe traps, which Insect Link can't negate or clear easily. Once identified, try summoning something like Neptune in defense position and play it slow. Ancient Warriors: assume they lost to their own draws, but also negate the normal summon. If they draw like a god, it is what it is.