Every event has popular cards that once weren’t popular, and if you’re a longtime reader you know that such tech thrills us to no end here at Metagame. With the new rotation of the format, the field was ripe for new single cards to rise in popularity. Sure enough, we weren’t disappointed. Here are the four cards that have made the most impact in this new format.

Vampire Lord: Everyone knew that Vampire Lord was going to be big in the new format. Expectations were high for Zombie decks, but the surprise came when Vampire Lord escaped the bounds of his archetype, and was found in basically everything. Beatdown, Control, Chaos Variants, and even quirky Machine and Lockdown decks were packing their two copies of Vampire Lord. For some it was the resiliency that Vampire Lord can give that drew them to use it. For others, the allure of three Pyramid Turtle and two Vampire Lord was just too strong. Any deck that risks having a weak early game, such as Lockdown Burn, can actually benefit from having just two or three Pyramid Turtle and a single Vampire Lord to give it a far more deadly opening.

For those who thought the Vampire Lord craze was over, think again. Though it’s likely that Vampire Lord won’t be quite as popular three months from now as he is at the moment, don’t expect to go to a local tournament in the near future and not face several. Expect it to be a large factor in any metagame you compete in.

Magical Merchant: The Merchant was one of the more surprising pieces of tech that this weekend produced. Frequently seen in Chaos variants played by veteran players like Jae Kim, Magical Merchant accomplished many different things. Though its immediate use—digging for an important spell or trap card—was important, especially in decks that relied on key combos or defensive spell and trap support, its main value was actually in sending monsters to the graveyard.

Not only did it fill Mirage of Nightmare’s role in burying Light and Dark monsters for use with Black Luster Soldier – Envoy of the Beginning, but it also added a large amount of utility to Monster Reincarnation and The Warrior Returning Alive. The more monsters the Merchant laid to rest, the better those cards became for players running them. That was especially useful in decks running few multiple copies of certain monsters, and in decks that really wanted to see Black Luster Soldier.

Magician of Faith: The Magician was easily the most abused card of the day. The reason? Well, people liked Delinquent Duo, and hated to be on the receiving end of it. They hated being hit with Duo twice even more! Magician of Faith accomplished three major things. It allowed for the abuse of some of the format’s key spell cards, it provided Light fodder for Black Luster Soldier – Envoy of the Beginning, and it gave people a reason to run Apprentice Magician.

The Apprentice also saw a huge amount of play, and in an environment packed with King Tiger Wanghu it presented something that Mystic Tomato and its ilk did not, the ability to maintain board presence through special summoning without summoning the replacement monster face up. This made a huge difference in many matchups, including the quarterfinal match between Mike Rosenberg and Elton Cho.

Phoenix Wing Wind Blast: The Blast played a huge role in many decks, in combination with Sinister Serpent and Night Assailant to minimize its cost and to cause deadly amounts of damage to an opponent’s strategy. A lot of different cards can cause board disruption, but the fact that Phoenix Wing Wind Blast also disrupts the opponent’s deck makes it an incredibly powerful piece of game manipulation. Flat out, most Yu-Gi-Oh! players hear the word “control” and think hand control or maybe field control. The concept of deck control is alien to most beginners and mid-level duelists. Expect Phoenix Wing Wind Blast to bring deck control to the forefront of duelists’ minds, and expect to see it run in conjunction with Back to Square One, á la Mike Rosenberg and Robert Smith’s decks.

These four cards showed the diversity of the tournament’s metagame, but other tech popped up in notable decks as well. Back to Square One, Morphing Jar, Night Assailant, Royal Decree and Sacred Phoenix of Nephthys all had a considerable impact over the course of the weekend. Kevin Hor had one of the best and most truthful lines of Day 1, expressing his thoughts about deckbuilding in Yu-Gi-Oh! when he said, “It’s all personal opinion.” Indeed, in a game that is often viewed as being plagued by cookie-cutter archetypes, tech has always been the skilled player’s bastion of style, and love it or lump it, the new Advanced list seems to be opening up a new era of creativity.