Introduction

Hey all, it's me - perennial YGOPRODeck author MBT. I don’t get much of a chance to write here much anymore (trust me - the last thing you want to do after writing scripts and homework is more writing), but I knew I had to make an exception when I heard the New York City ComicCon online event would be running Speed Duel pods all weekend. Sixteen pods fired, and I was able to track down every single winning list (sans one), published below.

An explanation of the decks would be remiss without some context. The NYCC event was understaffed with regard to Speed Duels - I don’t think they expected them to be this popular. As a result, a pod would have to completely finish before the next one would fire. This meant the two-hour events firing eight hours a day for four days only produced the following sixteen event winners.

Ruling Irregularities

Before the lists, I should mention the rulings delivered at NYCC drastically changed the playability of some of the metagame. This shouldn’t come as a surprise - Speed Duels have historically caused ruling nightmares, many of which remain unresolved. Here are the oddities from this event:

1. Jinzo was not legal. Jinzo is currently only available as a promotional product for EU Speed Duel introductory events. Unfortunately, he’s also a metagame powerhouse. Due to the lack of Jinzo, control decks were much, much more playable and spell-based spot removal was less necessary.
2. Trap monsters did not take up a Spell/Trap zone. Zoma the Spirit is a clear outlier in the Speed Duel cardpool, but (at least in the TCG) it comes with a significant downside - it occupies a Spell/Trap zone. In a format where backrow is king, this is a liability, but NYCC played under the OCG rule revision. This meant Zoma was absolutely everywhere.
3. Cocoon of Ultra Evolution can be Floodgate Trap Hole’d. Cocoon of Ultra Evolution was one Speed Duel's first truly troubling ruling cases. Skills do not start a chain, so there is a question as to whether the summon response window stays open if a monster is summoned by a skill’s effect. At NYCC it was ruled that Floodgate Trap Hole can be activated if a monster is summoned via Cocoon’s effect. Because of this, Moth decks were much weaker than normal.
4. Dark Ruler Ha Des negates Zoma the Spirit. This one is less controversial , as a historic UDE ruling confirms it has worked this way in the past. If format staple Ha Des is on the field and a Fiend-type monster destroys Zoma, its burn abilities are negated.

So with these oddities out of the way, let’s look at the lists!

Speed Duel Flight Winners

And unfortunately, I was unable to get the final list, spietru1's Twisted Warrior. Isn't that a classic MBT moment to choke at the last second!

Conclusions

One of the biggest tragedies in the YGO community is that Speed Duels aren’t taken seriously - but this tournament proved to me not only do players WANT to play Speed Duels, they're doing so in more ways than ever. To those of you who previously felt Speed Duels were too one-sided, too simple, or too boring to warrant a second look, I’d urge… well, a second look. The most recent product release has clearly revitalized the metagame, and where there once was Moth and Moth alone, there are now three playable decks, all with strikingly different playstyles.

The above decks are a great resource for jumping back in and being battle-ready before the Battle City Box releases in December - though I hope to see you dueling at high velocity before then.