This article is a follow-up to the original article on Cat Synchro strategy.
Matt Peddle in his post of the week and Dale Bellido in his interview both disagree with the general idea that Cat Synchro wins through methodical generation and conversion of card advantage.
Dale, Matt, and many other top duelists feel Cat Synchro requires spell/trap removal followed by strong OTK pushes to win consistently. This is due to Cat Synchro’s inability to deal with developed boards and general lack of firepower outside of the Airbellum/Monk exchange.
On the other hand there are players just as strong who feel Cat Synchro wins through an incredible card-advantage engine. Teammates Chris Bowling and Jerry Wang (of Empire Arcadia) both used unique variants of Cat Synchro control that packed similar spell and trap line-ups featuring three Solemn Judgment, one My Body as a Shield, and a Giant Trunade. (Chris Bowling, Ryan Spicer, and Kyle Bowling’s build was featured at Yu-Gi-Oh Nationals 2009.)
I had a conversation with Jerry (most likely the best duelist in the USA right now) shortly after his disappointing loss to Gladiator Beasts in the top 16. We discussed the inconsistency of Lightsworn and his choice of Cat Synchro. Jerry described it as the “only control deck” out of the big three (we both agreed GB are very inconsistent at a big event like Nationals) and the biggest advantage generator. Another of the best U.S duelists, Spicer (who also day 2’ed the event) in a forum post states “the cat (article) is pretty true. I only first turn otk’ed one time throughout all of nationals.”
So here we have a split in opinion. I don’t think either opinion is necessarily correct (although the “Why Cat Synchro Wins” side is definitely better looking and cuter). And I certainly respect the ideas of numerous top players who refuse to use Cat Synchro because they feel it is an “all or nothing” approach. But this part two will feature some empirical data supporting my argument.
I have gone over every single Cat Synchro match played on record at Canadian Nationals and U.S. Nationals to see which games were won with card advantage compared to which games were won with the OTK. Though this method is nowhere near perfect, the feature matches have the least amount of stacking and are the only records we have so far. Also, certain games of certain matches were omitted when the Cat player drew a terrible hand and did not threaten either an OTK or card-advantage victory. (i.e Flores vs. Scurry, Tyrome Cox vs. Tom Walter.)
Without boring you with a recap of every match, I found that 14 of the games (out of 13 total matches featuring Cat Synchro at both Nationals) ended through sheer card advantage generated by cards like Dark Armed Dragon, Crush Card Virus, the Gravekeepers + Arcanite Magician, and Airbellum. While spell/trap removal was often involved, many of the games were won through use of cards like Mind Control and Monster Reborn instead. On the other hand, only three of the games ended in one turn kills or turns resembling one turn kills.
The games that featured OTK’s were Charles Easton’s game one versus Matt Peddle, Jerry Wang’s game two in his first feature, and Kris Ferber’s game three versus Michael Kohanim.
The games that featured advantage-based plays leading to victory for Cat (with no turn really dealing more than 4000 life points of damage) were game 2 and game 3 of Easton’s first feature and game 3 of his finals versus Peddle. U.S Nationals featured both games of Chris Bowling’s feature match, both games of Ryan Spicer’s feature match, both games of Spicer’s feature match versus Kohanim, both games of Billy Brakes’ feature match, game 2 of Wang and Kohanim, game 1 of Ferber’s first feature, and game 1 of Ferber versus Kohanim.
All of the other games not mentioned were omitted for various reasons. I just wanted to make a quick note as well: There was a game for Ferber versus Gladiator Beast where I thought he basically luck-sacked a Monster Reborn tributing a DSF for game (when the GB player had complete control). However, if you look closely at that game, you’ll see that a CCV drawing Prisma was missed. If that CCV draw was counted, Ferber would have retained dominant control with a Stardust Dragon and card versus the opponent’s War Chariot and not much else.
A Few Patterns of Cat Synchro
If you’ll kindly believe my findings (or go back and read the matches yourself), it would appear Cat Synchro players are winning more through advantage based pushes using Mind Control and synchro summons than OTK or near-OTK damage pushes with spell or trap removal. Granted, Matt and Dales’ point that Cat Synchro requires s/t removal to win is fair and valid. But I don’t think damage is the issue. Cat players tend to use s/t removal to set up card advantage pushes that morph into game ending ones when the opponent has not developed a field. And furthermore, it’s difficult to criticize a deck for not winning without s/t removal when Cat Synchro generally packs about 6 copies of s/t removal or more (MST, Storm, 3 Cold Wave, Trunade or MST, Storm, My Body as a Shield, Trunade, and 3 Solemn Judgment come to mind).
I think this provides some food for thought to those players who think Cat Synchro is simply a garbage deck that “luck-sacks” a bunch of OTKs.
Related posts:
There should be a Canada (Non-Cat) vs USA (Cat) team battle at indy xfd.
Good article Jae, personally I think the deck is hit or miss, when it tries to play a card advantage game to me it seems like every other deck can beat it, the deck is only really a problem when it actually opens nutty and otks you(lol). I beat 4 Cat decks at Nats and only lost to 1 because it otk’d me and I misplayed 3rd game(so I guess I deserved to lose) but the other 4 matches the deck didn’t otk me and tried playing a card advantage war and I won easily(cept vs Sam Jones, I had to win in time in that one). I think that the Texas players and Jerry had the best cat decks and honestly Spicer was my pick to win the whole thing after I lost, they made their decks so that when they play card advantage they would have a lot better chances than the Cold Wave versions where if they couldn’t otk or keep up they would just flat out lose.
Yeah but Jhub we both played LS right? LS dominates Cat imo with normal draws for both parties.
Jae, I think a lot of people were confused about this and you clarified this situation of Cat Synchro with this very well, but let me add that cards like Cold Wave and Giant Trunade which are supposed -1′s (Which I recall you saying in a previous article) basically are cards that generate so much advantage for Synchro Cat, without those cards, including heavy storm you have a deck basically prone to every kind of removal this game has, but that’s what makes the deck great the ability to make of stopping the opponent and hitting them hard and gaining that advantage via Airbellum and Arcanite Magician and then ending your turn with 2 level 7 synchros.
Thanks for the great reads jae ^_^.
Yes we both did ^_^, it’s still a choice for me to run at Indy if I go, I really want to run my SalvoDAD though.
I was sad at Nats because I beat 4 Cats in a row and lose to it when it matters most :[.
I would try to make a list of cards that generate Card Advantage for each of the big decks and then count/compare them and find out how much Card Advantage cards each of them have.
In the end, the deck with the most/powerfulst cards should be Cat Synchro and this is why this deck is the tier 1 deck of the format.
Yugioh is all about Card Advantage since it was created…
Example (build in a few minutes so it’s not the final list):
Cat-Synchro:
X-Saber Airbellum (Hand)
Gravekeeper’s Spy (Field)
Rescue Cat (Field)
Dark Armed Dragon (Field)
Gorz (Field)
Sangan (Hand)
Pot of Avarice (Hand)
Heavy Storm (Field)
Crush Card Virus (Hand + Field)
Mirror Force (Field)
Torrential Tribute (Field)
Blackwing:
Dark Armed Dragon (Field)
Gorz (Field)
Shura (Field)
Blizzard (Field)
Black Whirlwind (Hand)
Heavy Storm (Field)
Mirror Force (Field)
Torrential Tribute (Field)
Lightsworn:
Judgement Dragon (Field)
Celestia (Field)
Wulf (Field)
Garoth (Hand)
Heavy Storm (Field)
Crush Card Virus (Hand + Field)
Mirror Force (Field)
Torrential Tribute (Field)
Another great article Jae, i’d just like to hear your opinion on the debate over whether the solemn based builds like Spicer’s and Wang’s are superior in the current environment to the more traditional cold wave versions?
A point to make about Cat “sacking” into S/T removal is that it simply isn’t true. With them running deck thinners like Cat and PoA to draw, they will draw into it most likely by Turn 2/3. They run 3x Cold Wave/1x Heavy Storm/1x Giant Trunade. That gives them a 5/40 chance of drawing it first draw, but since they draw 6 cards in their opening, they have an approximate 80 to 90% chance of having a S/T removal card right away for their OTK.
I would assume he would prefer the solemn judgement version. Being a fan of the “Cat wins by card adv” idea he would probably say that the otk generating cold wave versions are inferior to the neutral card adv/harder to otk and thus middle game and late game invoking sj.
Couple of comments and responses regarding your article:
I am basing my current analysis on the fact that if less people play a certain deck, then there is an inherently less chance of it topping. Therefore, for a deck to be consistent and prove its mettle in my analysis, its played ratio from all attendees must be about the same as the ratio vs the top 8 or 16. If these 2 numbers are similar, it shows not only a deck’s balance vs other decks, but also its consistency over the course of 2 major events. From the lists I have seen, baring the decks that made top 8 but not top 4 (basically the 1 I cant find on official coverage, there were 3 GB decks, 5 cat sync, 1 BWand 6 LS. This shows that by percentages, GB’s had about 18-19%, LS had 36-37%, cat sync had about 30%, 6% BW and the last 6% is unaccounted for. even if I give the last 6% to BW, the totals come out to be about 19%, 37%, 31%, 13%, with rounding errors. When these values are then compared against the played rates of 26% for BW, 22 each for cat sync and ls, and 14% for GB’s, it seems that the most underrepresented deck in the top 16 is actually BW’s.
Now I will also factor in the canadian lists, of which I only have the top 8: 3 BW, 1 GB 2 LS 2 Cat, which by percentages are: 37, 13, 25, 25. Their played rates in the same order are 32, 15, 22, 10. This list shows that cat sync is indeed ahead, it not about equaling its played and toping ratio’s, it is above it, followed very closely by LS. GB’s showing to topping ratio is about equal, but black wings have it slightly off in the US. My point in all this is that Cat sync is indeed top, followed closely by LS. BW and GB’s both most likely had a smaller showing(in the US), and this was immediately demonstrated by decrease in presence of these decks in the top 8/16. The point of these numbers is really to show that none of the decks are too inconsistent, it is infact the player that makes it matter, and not the deck itself.
The only part I truly disagree with is the “slow” push for advantage. Cat sync does run ALOT of cards that allow it to gain advantage. However, it does not win necessarily on the slow push. It has a great many cards that allow it to give a very sudden push for huge amounts of advantage that are very hard to come back from. I am guessing that this very sudden huge push is what makes players think it is sacky. However, it does run a great number of +1′s to off set the -1 of syncing, which is the other part of its power. Finally, cat sync has a tool box ability that is similar to the teledad decks of old. Both decks had access to a huge toolbox that is the extra deck and can get off numerous powerful effects from there. This toolboxing ability seems to be the key reason many format dominating decks win: LS have charge to get what they need and milling to allow the GY as a toolbox, BW have black whirlwind as well as easy access to tuners, cat sync has the extra deck, and GB’s are just completely toolboxing. If we look further back, GB’s of old still toolboxed, warrior toolbox, teledad, Six Samurai’s all had some way to access a toolbox effect to get what they needed. It seems to me that a key part of why a deck wins in addition to card advantage is the versatility it can bring to the table. The more versatile a deck, the more consistent and likely to win it is.
My last point is that we can’t exclude horrible hands from calculations of whether or not a deck is sacky or consistent. Sacky usually means they need a perfect hand to win, and if they lose thanks to horrible hands, then it does support this argument. HOWEVER, there are bad hands for every deck, and just because its harder to play out of some bad hands for certain decks does not mean the deck as a whole is sacky. Just because BW can get say trip whirlwinds, 2 icarus, and no monsters, LS can get something like 2-3 wulf’s, celestia, JD, cat sync can get 2 rescue cat and 3 airbellums, and GB can either get all monster or not enough protection doesnt necessarily mean its a bad deck. In general, I guess (bashing myself as well in this statement), saying a deck sacks to win is ignorant.
Great post darkpaladin. However I just wanted to clarify that nowhere in either article was a reference to a “slow” push for card advantage. On the contrary, most of the Cat plays (as well as every other top deck) are actually rapid shifts in tempo that take 1-2 monsters on the opponent’s side and convert it to 2-3 monsters on the Cat’s side.
This is some good stuff Jae.
Normally I can’t stand reading anything about “Why X Wins”, but you put some real research into this stuff and it is very informative to read, it’s also quite right. It is much better than “BAN DSF ASAP OMG!!” hah
I can’t wait to read more.
Just finished reading all content on here after being directed to it from your article about our tasty pie meta.
I think one of the reasons you get these arguements regarding whether or not cat synchro is otk based or advantage based really stems from why the deck is so good, it’s both. Fact of the matter is it’s easy to identify common plays and situations where the deck gets into a winning position utilizing either of these strategies.
If you consider how the deck is designed overall, almost all cards function successfully in both roles. For example Tomato and Guard/Spy are simultaneously a means of enabling otk, getting through damage and airbellum direct, and good defensive sets that improve field presence. DAD, Gorz and CyDra are all cards which allow quick wins but can also draw out cards the opponent didn’t otherwise want to use. Then there’s the deck eingine, which successfully turns into one of two amazing synchros, which work very differently, depending on the situation. Spells like Scapegoat, Mind Control, Cold Wave even, all function to both move towards successful otk as well as advantage, whether it be via card for card exchanges, or drawing out a game to the point where you’re prepared to win.
One of the great things about this deck is that it is also very open to card changes that alter whether it plays for otk or plays for advantage. A few inclusions such as solemn in the Spicer build shift it towards a more control oriented build. With the shift will come a change in the number of games where you play for advantage as opposed to otk. Alternately put in the third cold wave and more spies and you head towards a more otk build, with a similar change in the number of games you play towards that goal.
The thing is synchro cat is versatile. Any given hand can play out in more than one way, depending on what style is most appropriate. If only I stopped drawing all 3 cold waves in my opening hand every game lol.
My bad, I misunderstood “gradual” as slow. I cant remember off the top of my head where I saw the word gradual, but I misunderstood gradual as slow. otherwise, I think my repsonse was already too wordy.
Claudio lists 11 different cards that provide advantage in cat, with some being able to be run in multiples of 2 or 3. Lightsworn has 8 different cards that provide advantage many of which can also be run in multiples. What I strongly disagree with his list is that he does not include Necro Gardna (perhaps he simply forgot to list it). Although it doesn’t provide brute card advantage, the presence of a free floating ability that prevents your opponent from defeating you in one turn or making game swinging pushes is insane. In many cases it’s almost a free threatening roar, and lets you set up for a huge play the next turn.
The other thing with Lightsworn is that it can run Judgment Dragon, which is arguably one of the best cards in the game at the moment, arguably the best because of how abusable the card is and how much of a swing in the game it can produce. The card on its own can win in so many different situations that it’s just crazy. Late game Cat Synchro can be +1/2 over you, but JD can just win you the game when backed up with gardna, because the only out is pretty much Neo-Spacian Dark Panther or Summon Priest after JD hits the field, with it being impossible to set up with Spy/Guard or mind control.
Thus cards like Beckoning Light that lets you abuse this monstrosity amongst celestia/honest/luminas etc despite their -1s easily pay for themselves, so I would put Beckoning in the same league as a ‘power card’.
Aurkus is yet another huge card because of how badly it can disrupt the strategy of cat decks. Simply playing it nearly ensures the impossibility of losing in one turn as long as you have gardna/honest, with honest probably winning you the game here. It nullifies the biggest cards in the deck like brain/mind control/arcanite and book and there is no standard out to Aurkus on the cat player’s turn outside of a desperate Black Rose Dragon, Vortex (if they run it) or battle, in which honest will win almost every time. If they decide to pass the opportunity to play their hand, they’re only playing to the LS player’s plan. They still need a way to get rid of Aurkus, and LS will outadvantage cat the longer the Cat player does nothing, eventually winning the game outright.
Also to note, Lightsworn will theoretically be able to use their power cards moreso than any other deck. Recharge/Charge can easily allow for a standard lumina + Garoth/Aurkus/Lyla play and mill into gardnas/wulfs, both of which swing the game in LS player’s favour. That + honest ensures that the cards survive and beckoning/jd become live within a turn.
How this applies to its various matchups can be theorised in the following. LS against cat generally has a great matchup between gardna, aurkus, jd, honest and various other power cards. LS has the distinct advantage against cat in that cat cannot make explosive plays when LS player has aurkus + honest/gardnas in grave, and JD has such a ridiculous effect on a cat player. LS can also explode on Cat if cat does nothing, or gives LS enough time to set up.
Against BW gardna wins games. If BW player doesn’t synchro, Wulf trumps every normal summoned BW in the deck, Honest beats Kalut, Gardna prevents otks, Aurkus (if you play it) reduces icarus options and Garoth drawing a card t1 is also huge. Judgment Dragon is once again a game winner because it’s an out to everything the BW player can ever throw at you (clearing BWAM, icarus set ups etc), with the same going for celestia as well. Reborn is also a lot more live in this matchup since you can play lumina -> lyla, clear f/d reborn gale -> sync into arcanite or w/e. Kind of depends on who starts first in a way though. G2/3 are harder obviously due to side decking and such.
Against Glads depends on which deck starts first imo. If LS starts with lumina garoth or something, glads should have a hard time winning. If glads open with glad chariot/solemn, then Ls player has an obvious problem. Maybe even like book hop or something. There’s a lot of t1 plays that glads have that can beat ls, and likewise a lot of t1 plays from ls can beat glads. I don’t play much of this matchup anymore, but it should be similar to Glad vs LS format pre – dark drain.
Dark Drain is possibly a difficult matchup as well, but then again Dark Drain has always been one of the most under-represented decks in tournaments, so the fear in facing this matchup is significantly less. LS against Dadrain is a pretty complicated matchup, and it depends on what cards the LS player runs and who starts first etc.
Tbh, I think LS is definitely Cat’s worst matchup at the moment, and LS has a pretty good matchup against the other represented decks in the format. I think referring back to Claudio’s theory of whichever deck has the most ‘CA’ cards will be the best deck only ends up supporting LS if we can apply slight adjustments like certain CA cards being worth more than others. LS has some of the most devastating card advantage cards in the game, amongst 6 cards which are potential ‘mill’ targets to gain advantage instantly. Cards like Aurkus shut down cards against certain matchups, specifically against cat decks where Aurkus gives you an implied advantage of cards and once again cards like honest that support this field presence.
I think some people might laugh when I say this, but LS is probably the most consistent deck of the format, despite the irony that it generally loses when it draws bad every so often, but then again every deck draws bad every so often, and when LS doesn’t, I feel that it should win more than any other deck g1, at least.
From the testing I did before the UkayPro Championship in about 16-20 games against Cat Synchro (I was running Lightsworn) I rarely got OTK’d whenever I lost. If I didn’t open up with an Aurkus I’d usually get stomped by a Lightning Vortex, Mind Control or Arcanite Magician.
My opponent (Mathijs Kujil, he finished in the Top 4 I believe) was also teching a single De-Synchro in roder to both control and OTK with the same 2 Synchro Materials. He would go into Arcanite Mgaician, clear the field, De-Synchro and then synch up again for a Dark Strike (or another Arcanite if there were more cards that needed destroying).
So basically, it’s the versatility of the deck (when it doesn’t draw horribly) combined with the constant thread of ‘Monk, 2 Spells’ that makes Cat ynchro one of the main contenders in this format.
Paladin has stated that Synchro Cat wins because of it’s versatility.
But this versatility runs much deeper than wthat was stated, yes it’s true that part of it’s versatility comes from the extra deck. It can be either in the form of controlled removal with arcanite magician, mass removal with black rose, or OTK potential with Dark Strike for LV 7 synchros, or the LV8 or LV6 synchros that are used in the same manner as they were in the teledad-era, that end up ginving it a lot of quick and efective answers to the situation at hand.
But here’s where I’d like to elaborate some more, The deck also has versatility on the answers that come from the hand/draws, the deck is versatile to answer threats from your opponent whether they have a committed field with arcanite/Black rose to whether you have an open field DSF/X-saber but this is just the tip of the iceberg, because the cat deck plays with the opponent’s commitment/Non commintement to the field, If you set back row cards it will stop you with one of it’s many Spell/trap removal, if you have monsters on the field it will take them and use them against you with brain/mind control and if you decide not to invest on the field it will punish you with X-saber and still cost you card advantage.
Another part of it’s versatility comes from the ability to change gears from a slow/moderate tempo into a fast/devastating exchanges that the opponent won’t be able to come back from or even go into OTK mode with ease.
So in the end I will have to agree with Jae in saying that Cat most of the times wins by positive exchanges that end up costing the opposing player card advantage in the long run.
I have to agree 100% with Jae. I built a control version of cat using 3 nimbles (lv 2 beast) (and great with multi pots)that is almost impossible to otk, and creates the time needed to set up some of the card advantages.
Great Article. I’ll admit Tyrome Cox got some aweful hands against me at Nats.
Hi Tom thanks for posting. Yes, and I hope offense wasn’t taken because the article was not meant to belittle you or your solid anti-meta Plant deck at all. It just felt unfair to include games where the OTK or Advantage interaction wasn’t tested.
Jhub I have to agree with you about cat synchro OTKing you just like that when they open with nut hands. But usualy these OTKs happen through card advantage given by GK’s spy & Summoner Monk ( I know I havent said anything new/original this far
).
I sadly couldnt attend nationals etc. because I dont live in America but far away, in Greece. I ve been playing YGO tho for a lot time and have a lot of experience. Anyways, I think Nobleman Of Crossout is one damn solid solution VS rescue cat. If you could actually manage to book of moon a summoner monk and then use nobleman of crossout on him next turn, its almost guaranteed win.
Same goes for GK’s spy. But that of course is a bit luck-based. Still, I find nobleman a great solution to synchro cat. Also in my locals I beated synchro cat with GBeasts through constant pressure mostly with murmillo destroying their places and massive waboku spamming as soon as field-flooding was happening with rescue cat/summoner monk and it seemed to work great.
Sorry, something I forgot. Tom, altho you dont know me, I must say great job on that plant drain deck of your’s it was really cool, I must say I wish they had another feature match of you so I could get to see a bit how the deck fully works. ( Vs Cox I must say altho it was a win it was an easy one considering his oppening hands werent what he exactly expected.)
Cat Synchro also wins because it otk’s or just rolles with it until the win.