Notes & Combos

S54 — Virtuous Signalling

Upgraded Branded is truly the deck that you can build in 1000 ways, and might as well be the poster child of modern interactive Yugioh. A lot of the tech choices in this Day 1 list will change significantly as I become more fluent with different play patterns and combo routes. As the format develops and the top tier decks settle, I'm excited to see this build evolve leading up to this month's WCQ.

That being said, I wanted to call out specific engine options and ratios:

• Bricks Played: This list uses minimal bricks except for Tri-Brigade Springans Kitt, Branded Sword, and Dogmatika Ecclesia. New Kitt is situational, but is a good send off Quem if I have Cartesia / Walbaz in rotation already, and a solid High Spirits target. Playing Sword literally feels like a double-edged sword at times, but is necessary to raise the ceiling of 1-card Aluber & 1-card Brafu lines. Dogma Ecclesia is not a starter on its own, but is critical to make the 1-card Nadir line strong enough.
• Bricks NOT Played: Golden Swordsoul, Branded In Red, Mercourier. While each of these cards have merit and come up in different game states, the hand quality just tanks at a certain point where you would need to go to 45-50 cards to see decent hands.
• Shrouded Dragon: Inspired by Julien Kehon's YCS list theory, 3 copies of Shrouded allows for more flexible plays with High Spirits / Retribution, and can help dig for boardbreakers going 2nd. This is most important in the Kewl Tune matchup to mess up their perfect information and sack into Super Poly.
• Extra Deck: In typical Branded fashion, the ED is extremely tight. The main Super Poly target is Mudragon for now, but will also test if Theseus is worth for extra insurance vs KT. Three Champions of Swordsoul is the biggest flex spot, which in theory is a better card for going 2nd + enables Cartesia access in more niche lines. If I end up cutting this, it would be for a 2nd Grang.

Preliminary matchup thoughts:

• KT: Super Poly makes this matchup immediately easier, as you can even threaten solo Remix boards the moment you land Walbaz on board.
• Striker: Deceptively tricky, they can often break your board with a strong gas hand, so the main goal is just to SURVIVE and out-grind.
• Dracotail: Probably the most miserable to play into going 2nd. Under Fuwa, they can give you 1 draw for 2-3 Traps + Faimena setup, threatening Secreterion.