Like the image above, a few months ago we wouldn't have thought of Spellbooks to be such a dominating deck in the meta game. Of course, that all changed on Judgement Day... bad pun? Anyway Spellbook Judgement Day changed everything and is... well... broken.

Playstyle

I'm sure that most of you are familiar with SJD by now but the general idea of the card is that you can search any number of Spellbooks from the deck according to the amount of Spell cards (including Spellbook of Fate which deals with nearly everything) you activated after SJD. Oh and then you can summon a Spellcaster from your deck whose level is less or equal to the amount of number of cards added by this.

The deck can easily generate up to +6 advantage as well as getting a powerful monster on the field with little effort. This search power, speed, and ability to pop out a Kycoo/Jowgen instantly is the reason this deck can stand up to Dragon Rulers (Elemental Dragons) and the rest of the meta game.

Frequent turn 1 plays:

1. Summon Spellbook Magician of Prophecy.

2. Add either Spellbook of Secrets, Spellbook of Fate, The Grand Spellbook Tower, Spellbook Library of the Crescent, or Spellbook of Judgment to their hand depending on what you already have.

3. Activate Spellbook of Judgment.

4. Use any series of three Spell cards.

5. Set Spellbook of Fate and/or Spellbook of Wisdom (this depends: some may set cards just so they don't have to discard)

6. During the End Phase, add Spellbook of Secrets, Spellbook of the Master, Spellbook Star Hall or any other Spellbook Spell Card, or more (depending on the deck and what you have in hand).

7. Special Summon either Justice of Prophecy (and use her effect to add High Priestess of Prophecy and Spellbook of Judgment), Jowgen the Spiritualist, or Kycoo the Ghost Destroyer.

The first turn obviously changes depending on a variety of factors but that is a standard first turn.

As one of our staff put it so delicately, 'Spellbooks are gay' - Maria



Siding

Of course, any deck is beatable and a good side will help with that. As you can see now Spellbook decks are heavily reliant on activating (and resolving) their Spellbook Spell cards. In theory, any card that can halt their plays, stop their effects, force their hand size down, prevent them from adding cards, stop their Spell activations, or even get rid of their Spells will inevitably give you the momentum to take the game; now let's look at some of the siding cards.

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Droll & lock Bird

This card received a lot of hype and honestly, at the start I didn't like it. I felt that a Prophecy user can play around the card even if it was awkward for them. What I missed was 2 points: it is a very powerful side (or even main) card to stop their Spellbook of Judgement on turn 1. Another point was that I thought of Prophecy players too highly: after dueling people on YGOPro I realized that many don't bother playing around this card and then scoop.

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Eradicator Epidemic Virus

Without the doubt the strongest type of siding you can have against Spellbooks (Aside from Naturia Beast which isn't exactly siding). Now... I always liked seeing Kaiba destroy 90% of a deck with one Crush Card Virus. It's not the same of course but you will feel that same level of satisfaction if you pull this off. Evilswarm Ophion, Fusilier the Dual Mode Beast, Number 85: Crazy Box (Thanks Sabb) and Number 11: Big Eye are the main monsters you’ll probably spread the virus with.

p.s. if you set Fusilier it meets the requirement.

Other cards that are used:

Quote :

Mistake, Curse of Darkness, Anti-Spell Fragrance, Effect Vieler, Spell Canceller, Number 16: Shock Master, Spellbook of Judgement (in a mirror), Imperial Iron Wall, Retaliation (in a mirror), Breakthrough Skill, Forbidden Chalice, Thunder King Rai-Oh, Mind Crush, Deck Lockdown, Puppet Plant, Gozen Match

There are obviously more but really, you shouldn't need more than those side cards.



Good Match ups: Most decks
Bad Match ups: Solitare

I didn't count Dragon Rulers or Evilswarm because it really depends on siding and one deck doesn't have a big advantage over others.

Well, that's the end of the Facing the Meta series, good luck until next season when Konami (hopefully) updates the banlist.