Ride into the Future Warps Master Duel Meta

The imagery of the Yu-Gi-Oh! card Sinful Spoils of Submission - Snake-Eye. The image depicts a gigantic red eye with a long pupil shaped similarly to a cat's. Vine-looking appendages can be found in the pupil and extend outside of it. These vines are black and have lava-looking veins surging through them.
Credit: Konami

The imagery of the Yu-Gi-Oh! card Sinful Spoils of Submission - Snake-Eye. The image depicts a gigantic red eye with a long pupil shaped similarly to a cat's. Vine-looking appendages can be found in the pupil and extend outside of it. These vines are black and have lava-looking veins surging through them.
Credit: Konami

Since the release of the ‘Ride Into the Future’ selection pack earlier this month, Yu-Gi-Oh Master Duel has seen an astounding number of players using the new Snake-Eye archetype.

From the casual to the competitive scene, the Snake-Eyes archetype stands shoulder-to-shoulder with longstanding contemporaries in Master Duel, and its transformative impact is quickly shifting the game's meta.

Already Hitting the Highest Ranks

A picture of the Yu-Gi-Oh! card Snake-Eye Ash on a blurred background of its artwork. The card depicts an enigma made out of blue fire that appears to have four wings and a snake-like tail. It is flying in front of a blue background.
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Credit: Konami

A further dive into this phenomenon reveals that the Snake-Eye archetype boasts a high consistency with relatively few needed pieces.

One of the primary culprits of this situation is Snake-Eye Ash. With one lone normal summon, you can immediately end on board staples such as Baronne de Fleur,
Apollousa, or Borreload Savage Dragon with just one or two combo starters in hand. Even when an opponent can play through your initial board state, you still have options in the form of Accesscode Talker or Underworld Goddess to take back the initiative.

No Cost to Play

Snake-Eye decks enjoy such a small and consistent engine that non-engine pieces like the usual hand traps of Ash Blossom, Maxx C, Infinite Impermanence, and a host of other cards can find homes in the
usually restrictive forty-card deck size that most players favor. This makes playing against a Snake-Eye deck an even tougher order, as you’d have to run through more than the usual enemy disruption.

The Worst has Yet to Come

A picture of the spell card Bonfire placed on a blurred background of its own artwork. Depicted in the card image is a torch with a blazing fire in front of an old wall of yellowed stone.
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Credit: Konami
Bonfire

All of this and the Master Duel player base has yet to fully delve into the combination of running Snake-Eye with the Fire King archetype, a partnership that has been making waves in the OCG.

A heatwave is coming to Master Duel. Once it does, we’ll have to see who can stand against the flames this archetype brings to the table.