Notes & Combos

S52: Bass Drop

The jams, jingles, and beats are here and they are loud! Kewl Tune offers an interesting shake-up to a largely underexplored meta, where pre-banlist stalwarts like Mitsu Ryzeal have faded and new threats like Radiant Maliss have emerged. While there's not much creativity in KT deckbuilding since you max out on engine pieces, I want to discuss this deck's positioning and how it might fare as the meta develops.

Across ~50 games in the initial hours of 1st day testing, here are my observations about KT's play patterns so far:

• Endboard: The combos are quick and the result is seemingly a barebones board — typically Remix + Reco + KT Synchro set. But the perfect information you get is MASSIVE to beat your opponent's hand. If you get hit by Fuwalos, you want to pivot your game plan to end on Remix + KT Synchro, in similar style to the Yummy half-board.
• Resilience: Rotary really makes a big difference in boosting your 2-card combinations and helping you eat through Ash on Overtake or NS Cue. It's also the only reliable way to stick Rosewhip via the extra NS, to preserve Cue's effect for KT names.
• Going second: In general, KT still shares the common struggle with other Synchro decks, as it's weak to removal with only a few immediate pushes. Getting access to Track Maker + KT Synchro is still as critical as going 1st, as this is how you snowball most of your GY effects and follow-through plays.
• Tech choices: Desires is a very fun card to play with to either bait Ash or dig for HTs at the end of your combo, but I'm not totally sure if it's worth over additional HTs like Fuwa / Nib. The addition of Rosewhip is probably a meme, but worse case it's a level-3 tuner that can sync with Rotary in extremely awkward hands.
• KT mirror: Very coinflip dependent due to the information asymmetry + easy removal options for the going 1st player. The Clip + Mix pair is actually an insane option for turn 0, as you put them on an extender after you pop their NS. Going 2nd, if you turbo out RS, you can often check their KTS.
• Problematic matchups: Engine-heavy decks that can gas through your interruptions like VSK9 and Radiant Typhoon, but this can often be alleviated by timing your disruptions optimally and your non-engine.

While KT adds a toxic presence to the meta, its simple yet slippery playstyle is also a ton of fun (as the player!), so give it a shot!