Since the last Duelist Cup, more cards and more Decks have defined the current meta in Master Duel's Ranked Duels. See what Decks and archetypes will run rampant in this run of the Duelist Cup!

Best Decks for December 2022 Duelist Cup

Of the endless Decks possible to build, ten Deck and archetypes are seen as the most likely Decks players can encounter frequently during the climb up the ranks in the Duelist Cup.

Runick

The Runick archetype made its debut in Master Duel on the same day as the start of the Duelist Cup, and already players have been excited to try out its unique style of control and oppressive gameplay against players. Those familiar with the TCG know its prowess with Quick-Play Spells and their additional effect to banish cards from the opponent's Deck. When things go right, they can end up banshing all cards before their next turn, leading to an automatic win via Deck Out.

Branded Despia

Branded Despia decks are some of the most intimidating to Duel against due to face that they seem to have a response for everything that can be thrown at them. They can also switch up their playstyle, from beatdown and aggro to burn and control, depending on how the player chooses their cards. There's even a new instance of lockdown using another card to prevent the opponent from summoning at all, albeit tricky to pull of if the necessary cards are not available from the start.

Expect quite a lot of variations of Branded Despia decks during the entirety of the Duelist Cup. Other archetypes might use them as well as a Deck Engine for more options.

Swordsoul

Swordsoul Decks have consistent opening hands, and are pretty easy to get learn for such a powerful Deck. Easy access to Level 8 and Level 10 Synchro Monsters provide flexibility for options for this Deck archetype. With the right hand, a typical Swordsoul Deck can finish Turn 1 with Swordsoul Grandmaster - Chixiao and Swordsoul Supreme Sovereign - Chengying on the field. Once they have the momentum, Swordoul Decks will be pretty hard to stop.

Tenyi Swordsoul Deck Guide

Marincess

Marincess Decks hit fast, hit hard, and with the proper set-up and/or zero counters against it, can become untouchable to the opponent. This is one of the easiest Decks to conduct Link Climbing with, and getting to the boss monsters like Marincess Aqua Argonaut or Marincess Great Bubble Reef is relatively easy to get to.

Marincess Deck Guide

Floowandereeze

A Deck that rarely, if at all, uses Special Summons, and instead relies on its strength to constantly conduct Normal Summons, even on the opponent's turn. Floowandereeze is notoriously one of the hardest Decks to go up against because of this, in a meta where everyone is conditioned to counter Special Summons instead of Normal Summons.

Floowandereeze Deck Guide

Dragon Link

One of the rare cases where a Deck is encouraged to have the maximum size of 60 cards in a single Deck, Dragon Link Decks are essentially constructed for one long combo that ends with lots of Monsters with negating effects. It needs that many cards because it utilizies sending cards to the Graveyard to activate effects and keep the combo going until all the Boss Monsters are summoned for an unbreakable field.

Dragon Link Deck Guide

Scareclaw

Scareclaw Decks has a good balance between offense and defence, forcing the opponent's monsters into Defense Position and remain unaffected by those effects. Its own monsters in Defense Position also provide the boss monster Scareclaw Tri-Heart insane offensive effects and stat boosts, which can become hard to deal with the later the game continues.

Pure Scareclaw Deck Guide

Numeron

Numeron Decks are still in contention against all other Decks, depending on the first few turns and the players' starting draws. All this Deck needs is to clear the field of any potential threats like effect negations and face-down Spells and Traps, then activate Numeron Network for the signature combo to begin. It also has options for Link Monsters to further pressure the opponent through negates, should the 4 Xyz Monster be unable to defeat the opponent through their own effects.

Numeron Deck Guide

Eldlich

The quintessential Control Deck full of synergistic Trap Cards, and a near unkillable monster that keeps being brought back from the Graveyard at times, Eldlich Decks have been one of the most popular and most frustrating Decks since Master Duel opened its servers. This Deck is what makes it that backrow clearing becomes a necessity..

All Eldlich Deck Lists
Eldlich Control	Budget Eldlich

Adamancipator

Another Deck that can go up to the maximum size of 60 cards in a Deck, Adamancipator Decks are arguably the strongest Rock-type Deck in the game, and the competition isn't even close. The archetype's synergy can create a powerful field even on the first turn, all helped with the synergy of Block Dragon. For Synchro enthusiasts, this might be the go-to Deck for this Duelist Cup.

Adamancipator Deck Guide

Best Duelist Cup Decks - Honorary Mentions:

While not as strong, consistent or frequent as the Decks mentioned above, these Decks are still very competitive and can beat the top-tier Decks on a good day. Play against these Decks in the same threat as the aforementioned Decks.

Salamangreat

Salamangreat Decks managed to get a huge buff with the recent Structure Deck, providing resource management and control to the Deck. While not as aggressive or combo-intensive as many other Decks, Salamangreats can surprisingly respond against many things against it, provided the cards are on hand.

Salamangreat Deck Guide

Evil☆Twin

Evil☆Twin Decks' boss Link Monster are surprisingly eluse to effects because of Quick Effects, and can quickly aggravate the player into making rash decisions just to try and remove said Link Monsters out of the field. Hit and run definte their playstyle, but when they hit, it can be harder than expected.

Evil☆Twin Deck Guide

Pendulum Magician

This Deck is a menace when they manage to get to first place, especially on Pendulum Magician Deck Variants with the OTK strategy involving Supreme King Dragon Starving Venom and Lyrilusc - Independent Nightingale. This is an all-or-nothing offensive Deck, that when stopped in the middle of a combo, leaves a massive opening for players to exploit.

Pendulum Magician Deck Guide

Thunder Dragons

Thunder Dragons can work either as a Deck or as an Engine, due to how easy one of its boss mosnters can be brought out. Thunder Dragon Decks uses discarding to their advantage, and uses both the Graveyard and the Banished card pile to their advantage, thus making this Deck peskier than normal. It doesn't have many fall back plans when it does get disrupted, compared to other Decks.

Thunder Dragons Deck Guide

Tri-Brigade

Tri-Brigade Decks are strong in of itself because of their ability to constantly Link Summon, especially with the help of their exclusive Trap Card, Tri-Brigade Revolt. It can be on its own as a standalone Deck, but recently its found more popularity being used as an Engine for Link Summons. There are quite a number of Decks centered around Beast, Beast-Warrior and Winged Beasts that can take advantage of the archetype.

Tri-Brigade Deck Lists
Pure Tri-Brigade	Zoodiac
Bird Up	Spright

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