There’s a quote I’d like to begin this article with, “There are decades where nothing happens; and there are weeks where decades happen”, because for the Yugioh TCG, February of this year is going to change nearly everything. Releasing next month is both Burst Protocol & Maze of Muertos, and collectively I would wager this will feel like one of the largest shifts for the game since prior to the pandemic. This stems both from the cards we know will be in the sets, but also what isn’t known: The TCG Exclusives, hot off of last year’s printing of archetypes like Mitsurugi & Tombkeeper. Sneak Peeks for Burst Protocol are only a few weeks away, though, and the full set list will arrive soon, so I wanted to take some time to cover all the new singles, engines, and archetypes arriving to ring in 2026 for Yugioh. It’s going to be a wild ride.
Let’s start with the spoon in the room, Spenta, the Magistus Sealer, which is finally being imported to the TCG in BPRO. Spenta’s been a thorn in the side of the OCG since 2024, appearing in Spellcaster & Fusion decks as a secondary engine ala Fiendsmith, but in the TCG it’s also arriving with Invoked Magistus Omega, and in Maze, Dark Magician of Destruction. This culminates in the dreaded ‘pile’ strategy for Spellcasters being fully realized in the TCG without any relevant hits to its component pieces, but to demonstrate why Spenta’s set to turn the game on its head, let’s talk about what it actually accomplishes.
With Spenta and any card, pitch it & Normal Summon Magistus Flame Zoroa, equipping Ninaruru from the Extra Deck. Special Summon back Spenta, and make Synchro Zoroa, equipping Artemis, the Magistus Moon Maiden. Search & Special Crowley, the Gifted of Magistus, going into Invoked Magistus Omega, and then the entire Dracotail line. This can even be paired by then getting 2 Magistus monsters in the Spell & Trap Zone by way of Omega, going into Snake-Eyes Doomed Dragon, and your choice of Rank 8.
Of course we knew Spenta was good in Dracotail, but the thing that’s truly shocking is how it plays with a number of other Spellcaster decks, especially with Dark Magician of Destruction. There’s a number of sub-engines that all come together to allow any individual Spellcaster line to find all your engines, but function independently if interrupted. Diabellstar, Azamina, Dracotail, etc—if it’s a Spellcaster deck, it’s going to be eating well in a post-February world.
Also boosting the power of Dracotail, however, is Fallen of the White Dragon, a brand-new piece of Branded support that’s seen splashes alongside Spenta in OCG versions of the deck. Fallen is, as the community calls it, a ‘Circular’, named so for the Mathmech starter that boosted that strategy’s power to meta dominance. It is a card that simultaneously fixes nearly every problem the deck has, while moving resources around for cost, meaning the opponent literally cannot negate it. In Dracotail, it’s a way to access Branded Fusion by way of a small package, but as the Fusion decks have semi-generic material this format, it’s at worst a great material for Dracotail Arthalion.
As I covered last week, Dracotail is far from the only meta deck to get a step up from BPRO: Radiant Typhoon, which has been on the backburner since its debut, has started seeing tops after its support in the set. It’s only got ~1/3rd of the meta share of Dracotail, but given the Fusion pile is by far the most represented deck in the OCG, that's still substantial! Better still, biased though it may be, it’s the more fun deck to both play and play against. Radiant Typhoon Varuroon, the Sea Spirit is the linchpin here, giving the deck something to make out of the Extra Deck, and adding ‘free’ copies of both Mystical Space Typhoon and their Continuous Trap, Radiant Typhoon Mandate, to play.
Helping Typhoon see its tops is the new Quick-Play Forbidden Crown, which serves as the best removal we’ve seen in a while, or inversely, an incredible protection Spell. It essentially prevents anything from being done to a single Monster for the rest of the turn, ‘locking’ it on the board; this stops many set-up plays, but for Radiant Typhoon, also ensures they get another turn to grind out advantage.
Let’s talk about Rogue strategies in BPRO, though, as it’s a set with some dark horses that may perform better here in the TCG than the OCG, given differences in our banlists. For starters, First Penguin—in spite of being the 19th Penguin card—may be the first of the archetype to have sincere meta impact. Being an incredible starter for all manner of WATER decks, the ones that have seen experimentation are Mermail-Atlantean, and Ice Barrier, although Ghoti fans claim it fixes many of the strategy’s woes. Then, seeing a modest pair of tops I can find from the OCG, is Tri-Brigade, one of my favorite decks, receiving an incredible extender in Tri-Brigade Springans Kitt…though I’m less bullish on this card unless someone manages to find a Branded-Tri build that works.
Artmage, a deck that’s dominated Genesys format since it began, receives Artmage Non Finito, which reads like an incredible way to set up with the strategy, but given so much of the deck relies on going second I imagine it likely won’t rise to the heights of something like Tenpai without a more concise route to OTK. There’s still no 1-card combos, as their core gameplan requires cards to pitch to the Field Spell.
Let’s get speculative for a moment, however, as last year was when the TCG actually flexed its muscles a bit in terms of exclusive cards. In every set that arrives stateside, Konami of America selects a number of OCG cards from weird small products to bring over, such as Spenta, but also has the opportunity to create brand-new cards and increase the set size. Historically, this has given us things like Kozmo, Burning Abyss, and Noble Knights, but there’s been a streak of pathetic releases leading up to 2025. Last year, though, we received both Tombkeeper (often referred-to by its key card, The Man with the Mark) and Mitsurugi, which each topped a number of tournaments; Mitsurugi wasn’t just good, it was arguably the best deck from the entirety of last year, when coupled with Ryzeal, and currently is seen as the second or third best deck in the OCG. We know BPRO has a brand-new Dinosaur archetype, and have even received word of Tombkeeper’s successor, a deck focused around Call of the Haunted.
Konami has been far more open to revealing aspects of Maze of Muertos’ Call archetype, including the fact that it has a fairly consistent line to set up both a multi-bouncing Xyz Monster that comes with protection, and at least 3 cards which can chain searches to either 3x Call of the Haunted or Level 6 Zombies. If you’ve been keeping an eye on TCG-Exclusives, you’ll know last year had a number of Zombie support cards, particularly Dark Necromancer, which led Vendread to some Rogue success. To me, it feels as though they’re teeing up this deck to be as good or better than Tombkeeper, given the fact that last year’s Maze set has 3/5 of its most expensive cards as those from that archetype. TCG products are more and more being carried by TCG-Exclusives, and it wouldn’t shock me to see that trend continue with the Call of the Haunted deck, especially given its similarity to Radiant Typhoon’s boosting of the classic Mystical Space Typhoon.
The unknown quantity, though, is this new Dinosaur deck. Konami of America has been cagey about its actual effects, but we know from the artwork that it involves mad scientists turning into Dinosaurs, ala Sauron/Stegron from Marvel Comics. Dinosaurs as a type have languished for the past few years, never reaching the dominance they saw following the release of Ultimate Conductor Tyranno; the archetype has never been able to escape its identity as a self-destruction deck, so my hopes are that this new theme provides the type with some new gameplan to accomplish. This is of course just the first wave of this mysterious unnamed deck, but it’s worth reminding ourselves that Mitsurugi placed at a YCS with only its first 7 cards.
Beyond these choices though, we still don’t know every card being imported into either BPRO or Muertos, and there’s a chance some sleeping giants might awaken if the TCG rushes the import of cards intended to work well with either strategy. The cards we know are already debuting in February are shockingly strong, and with a probable banlist in March, I expect the tools seen that month will only strengthen their grip on the metagame in the Spring.
We’re in for an awesome time next month, so while the meta right now has been largely solved, and there’s not much to be explored, 2026 really will kick off with a bang in just a few short weeks! Whether you’re excited for one of the aforementioned strategies, or things like Mikanko, Archfiend, or even Fur Hire, there’s lots of excitement awaiting us as TCG players.
How do you think Genesys might change with the February releases? Are you excited for the first full year with the format, including some tournaments? What support are you most excited for in February? Let me know in the comments below!
