Want to stay ahead of the competition during the Duelist Cup? Want to qualify for the 2024 World Championship this early? Check out our more condensed tier list of Decks that can let players climb the ladder to Round 2 of the December 2023 Duelist Cup!

Vanquish Soul

Vanquish Soul has become one of the best Control Decks in the game for its ability to constantly swap monsters from the field and the hand, and trigger effects depending on what Attributes of monsters you have on hand.

It is quite hard to interrupt Vanquish Soul's powerful Monster Effects, and is quite evasive against targeted effects. Their Spells and Traps are no slouches either, providing more control over the field and more card advantage.

Vanquish Soul Deck List & Card Guide

Gishki Spright

The Sprights archetype gets to support another archetype that has powerful Level 2 monsters that can be used: Gishki. Thier ability to chain Special Summons upon having any Level 2 monster is combined with Gishki's unique strengths as a Ritual-centric Deck.

When properly set up, it can be very hard to break through their defenses, especially with multiple negates on board with cards like Spright Carrot, Spright Red, and the newly-added Evigishki Neremanas.

Gishki Spright Deck List & Card Guide

Mikanko

Mikanko maintains in popularity due to its shared effect of reflecting battle damage when attacking with its monsters, while equipped with its signature Equip Spells. Alongside it makes plenty of use of Kaiju monsters and similar monsters like Lava Golem, it can get rid of pesky boss monsters in an instant.

Mikanko Deck List & Card Guide

Purrely

Purrely Decks have very few monsters in their Main Deck, but the power of their Xyz Monsters in this Deck only get stronger the more it absorbs the Quick-Play Spells it utilizes. It gets especially dangerous if the Xyz Monsters manages to get five or more materials attached to it.

This Deck has no problem going first or second, and was a key factor in it becoming the Deck that supposedly won the previous Duelist Cup.

Purrely Deck List & Card Guide

Variant: Ghostrick Purrely

A version of a Purrely Deck that gained popularity, Ghostrick Purrely makes use of the Ghostrick archetype as a pivot point and get even more boss monsters out on the field.

Going full combo with this Deck lets the player at least two copies of Expurrely Noir and maybe a Number F0: Utopic Draco Future in a single turn.

Ghostrick Purrely Deck List & Card Guide

Labrynth

The best Trap-based Deck currently in the meta, Labrynth is near unstoppable once it manages to set up its recursion combo and constantly set key Trap Cards on the field.

Cards like Dimensional Barrier, Dogmatika Punishment can be constantly set up with the help of Lovely Labrynth of the Silver Castle, meaning it almost never runs out of punishes for the opponent.

Labrynth Deck List & Card Guide

Floowandereeze

Floowandereeze players can rest easy knowing that even with numerous hits onto the banlist (including Floowandereeze & Empen being Limited), their Decks still has powerful options to play their usual string of Normal Summons.

Even more concerning for players going up against Floowandereeze is now they have to deal with Floowandereeze & Snowl as a boss monster, which by itself provides three additional Normal Summons upon being summoned itself!

Floowandereeze Deck List & Card Guide

Kashtira

With the addition of crucial cards like Kashtira Big Bang, Kashtiratheosis, and the new boss monster in Kashtira Arise-Heart, this Deck has now reached its full power.

Though it might have lost Number 89: Diablosis the Mind Hacker with the card being banned as of October 10, this is still a very formidable Deck, and one we expect players to encounter the most during their climb in the Duelist Cup.

Kashtira Deck List & Card Guide

Hungry Burger Nouvelles

Hungry Burger has received its retrain in Nouvelles, and has made it quite an adversary in Duels. Their Quick Effects are quite potent, and some of them can tribute the opponent's monsters.

There has been quite a resurgence for Ritual Monsters as of late, and Hungry Burger Nouvelles is the latest addition to the growing trend.
Hungry Burger Nouvelles Deck List & Card Guide

Tearlaments Kashtira

Tearlaments have been hit numerous times in the banlist, yet they still remain very powerful adversaries to deal with in competitive Duels.

Since then, they've opened up more options to add to the Deck, like the Kashtira Engine as part of the Deck now includes the monster bridging the to archetypes, Tearlaments Kashtira

Tearlaments Deck List & Card Guide

Ninja

Ninjas are one of the few archetypes that enables Flip Summons to trigger effects, and it also has ways to constantly flip monsters both face-up and face-down.

It's an old archetype, but it's gotten recent support with the release of Meizen the Battle Ninja being added to the game.

Ninja Deck List & Card Guide

Dragon Link

One of the more consistent combos that has only gotten better over time, Dragon Link was largely unscathed when it comes to consistency and strength of cards.

A single combo from this Deck is very hard to stop unless it's interrupted multiple times, and can result in two key boss monsters out on the field: Borrelend Dragon and Borreload Savage Dragon

Dragon Link Deck List & Card Guide

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