Tier List Update | Duel Links Meta (2024)

It is not surprising to see that most people entered the MCS with Onomat, which ended up being the most represented deck in Top Cut which concluded in an Onomat Mirror in the finals. Anyone who has kept up with the Meta in the last weeks could have predicted this outcome. The most "surprising" part about the MCS was the 17 spots taken by Onomat in Top Cut which means it took up more than 50%. Those results have not been seen in other DLM tournaments, so why now? The answer is very simple, now was the time to try hard. There were no opportunities to test a non-Onomat deck with some weird techs now, to dodge the mirror match (which ends up being decided by who draws the right techs at the right time if both people play optimally). As such, a deck like Resonators, which is very popular in the other DLM tournaments for being able to play weird techs thanks to its flexible engine, had pretty much no entries and also did not perform well. There is a reason why have been saying: "the banlist did not do anything and Onomat is still Tier 0", and it was very clear in the tournament.

However, we now enter "No Side Format". This format is best described as "matchup roulette", where one just tries to face their good matchups at the right time. This is easier said than done, given that most decks in the format rely on Main and Side Deck techs in order to be favoured in specific matchups. As such, decks with a strong engine that can deal with a lot of different situations will be very popular. One such deck is Thunder Dragons, which thanks to the Rank 6 Xyz pool, has no issues finding a solution to any problem. Sadly, this format also means the return of Lunalight. Onomat, Gaia, Harpies, Resonator all struggle against or have no out to Loading.... Onomat needs Loading..., Harpies need Loading..., Gaia need Loading... and Loading... and Resonators have to hope Sabre Dancer is at only 3400 ATK to run over it with Loading.... These are only one-time outs and you better hope they can't make a second one or protect the first one with Loading.... With that, having a Lunalight out will be important, even if it means sacrificing Main and / or Extra Deck spots (the alternative is to just get lucky and dodge the matchup).

In conclusion, if people expected to play a more fun format given that Onomat lose access to the Side Deck, I unfortunately have to disappoint you, as the alternative is by no means better. My advice is to try things out for what they and maybe you too will win the matchup roulette and see success.

Tier 1

Back to the old Tier List , Onomat remains Tier 1 and holds a two-tier gap between the other decks of the format. Although mostly nothing has changed about this deck aside from the some choices in the Extra Deck (mainly the addition of Loading...), some people have been cutting some if not all copies of Loading... to to fit even more tech cards. The deck will keep its the solo best deck status until a balance update or an injection of new cards.

Some Onomat lists have started to revert back to a form seen when Loading... was still at 3 (cutting Loading... and / or Loading... and running less Loading...). These lists focus on cramming as many tech cards into the deck as possible and abusing the Loading... loop to recycle their Loading... and Head if needed. These builds basically run only Rank 6 and 8 monsters with very few rank 4s. The Rank 6 pool in the game is powerful enough, with negates from Loading... and Loading..., to allow this form of the deck to have some success, especially when combined with M7 allowing the deck to resolve Sister and Head multiple times even when both are only at 1 copy each. Additionally, being able to sit on 2-3 Set cards every turn in order to protect your monsters and / or disrupt your opponent's plays makes beating this version difficult. It must be said that this version does lose harder to Loading... due to full reliance on Sister and Rank 6 plays with little to no backup plan, but with the format changing to No Side Deck, this vulnerability is much less exploitable (unless decks like Thunder Dragon start to Main Deck it).

The MCS has demonstrated that Onomat is still the undisputed best deck and is arguably the only deck worth playing in Side Deck tournaments. Notable changes in the recent lists include the addition of Loading... alongside a second Loading..., as well as some duelists opting to reduce the number of Onomat cards in favor of more defensive options in order to better deal with the mirror match. Many players are also being seen not Side Decking for the mirror match as their main deck is already tailormade to handle anything that can be thrown at them, which speaks to the power of this deck. As the KC Cup approaches, there will be a greater focus on tournaments without Side Decks, which will change the way this deck must be built in order to continue being a dominant force. One such change would be the need to include Loading... or Loading... so the deck doesn’t automatically fold to strong monsters that can’t be targeted such as Loading... and Loading.... As the deck adjusts to a shifting tournament environment, it is expected to lose some of its dominance but maintain its status as the best deck in Duel Links.

Tier 2

There are no Tier 2 Decks

Tier 3

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