It was a shock to see Odion top at a competitive, Regional-level event within the first few weeks of it releasing, but to my delighted surprise, that wouldn’t be it. TCG-exclusive strategies are often derided as being uncompetitive, and lacking staying power, but as of my writing this, Odion has four tops under its belt, with more on the way. I was under no reservation that the strategy could perform at the highest level, but I had mistakenly believed it would take until the release of Alliance Insight for its pilots to have the tools necessary to win. Instead, between some neat tech, shaved ratios, and the application of a prominent engine in Fiendsmith, this anime-accurate archetype has come out the gate swinging for the fences. Given it appears Odion might be the fourth best deck in the metagame, a sentence I never thought would escape my lips, I wanted to synthesize the lists from our top competitors, and look under the hood to see how Temple of the Kings is seeing meta play in 2025. Presenting: Odion Fiendsmith.
Let’s start with the who’s-who of Odion’s best pilots: Michael Ehresman won Philly with a Fiendsmith list packing maindeck Evenly Matched, Hadar Ohom topped Herzeliya with a variant including Lord of the Heavenly Prison, and there have been a couple other notable Top 8s & Top 16s at places like Kissimmee running pure. Each of these lists opted to ask one simple question: How do I extract the maximum value from my Odion pieces? The answer, resoundingly, was to find some way to ensure there’s a Trap in the GY as soon as possible, as to turn on Treasures of the Kings immediately.
As I alluded to in my initial exploration, I think Fiendsmith was the obvious option to pair with Odion, having access to Level 4s & 6s, and being readily able to dump Fiendsmith in Paradise as part of its core line, the perfect Trap to have sitting in the yard. One thing I didn’t catch onto, however, was the synergy the deck has with Lord of the Heavenly Prison, as in especially games 2 & 3, this can be a lights-out answer via any number of potent tech pieces.
Beyond that, it becomes obvious we want to, need to, still run Dominus Purge as an extra hand trap Trap, even though it conflicts with our Lord. That’s okay, however, as there’s an additional Level 10+ Rock we can search with Gallant Granite, being Nibiru. If you know you’re under the lock, a savvy pilot can just banish the Lord for Merciless Scorpion of Serket to remove a dead draw from the deck, and instead use it to search Nibiru as a way to dodge follow-up.
Another great thing about this strategy is that it’s pretty okay playing under Dimensional Barrier, as between your many Links, and ability to be comfortable going into either Fusions via Fiendsmiths + Divine Serpent Apophis, or Xyz with Time Thief Redoer + Gallant Granite, locking half of your options isn’t the death knell for this archetype. No matter where you’re interrupted, locked out, etc, between Fiendsmith and Odion you prompt enough must-negates to get around nearly all of the current meta interaction.
Ehresman was onto something with Evenly Matched, though, as it solves the greatest problem for the deck, while shoring up one of its flaws: It helps you go second by putting a Trap in the yard. This singlehandedly solves your Ryzeal matchup, and does well into things like Blue Eyes (or anyone without Desirae). You don’t intend to kill someone in one Battle Phase anyway, so at worst this is a card to pitch or Set to turn Treasures online.
This synthesized list is running a total of 17 non-engine, which is a very healthy place to be, but it does make one notable concession: It isn’t playing Embodiment of Apophis. Why does that matter? For starters, it’s a free card you miss out on by way of Apophis the Serpent, which can be an extra negate via Swamp Deity, or pop via Statue of Anguish Pattern…if you have space. See, while it can be a great Level 4 extender, or extra interaction piece, not only is it thoroughly dead if drawn, it also sometimes lacks a physical Main Monster Zone to be Summoned into. I don’t think we’ll miss it in the long run, but as a 41st card, it wouldn’t be awful.
Another card we forego in the deck is Verdict of Anubis…but why? Certainly having protection against things like Lightning Storm and other sweepers is great, but the simple truth is that it’s too hard to search in-archetype, and not worth it to search out-of-archetype via something like Lord compared to its peers, namely Dimensional Barrier & Artifact Sanctum (for Lancea). Post-banlist, this might be something that changes, but for now, I quite like the suite Ehresman puts forth for non-engine, with the notable addition of Mulcharmy Fuwalos over Ultimate Slayer. Short answer is that Fuwalos pressures opponents to make worse boards, or give us tons of draws, while Slayer merely answers things we were already going to bait out regardless. Not only that, Slayer necessitates ~2 extra Extra Deck slots we don’t have, so I feel it loses out compared to the Mulcharmy active under Purge. If the deck had an even harder matchup into Maliss, I could also see the inclusion of Mulcharmy Meowls as additional tech to beat that deck, as it sees play now as a hedge vs Blue-Eyes and Maliss, and also plays under our Dominus lock.
As far as the Side goes, it’s fairly standard, and borrows some tools used in all of the posted topping lists. Both Lancea & Chaos Hunter are easy-mode into Maliss, and with Lancea at >90% inclusion between Main & Side, I would be shocked if it survives the next banlist. Thrusts and 1 Talent help play through interaction, and couple beautifully with our suite of 3 Thrust/Lord of the Heavenly Prison targets: Artifact Sanctum, Different Dimension Ground, and Dimensional Barrier. These were chosen specifically to beat three decks, the three decks above Odion lists in terms of meta share, being Maliss, Blue-Eyes, and Ryzeal.
We could be even deeper on means to find Lancea, by way of an included Dagda, but we much prefer to be playing Silhouhatte Rabbit as our spare Link-2 target. Lightning Storm brings up the rear as answers to Blue-Eyes and/or other Odion lists, and with that, we have a fairly comprehensive sideboarding plan. If going second, it can make sense to even side out Lord entirely, given we’re more likely to play under Dominus Purge’s lock, and Merciless Scorpion of Serket suffers vs opposing Lanceas. Similarly, going first it makes sense to sub out Fuwalos, and add Triple Tacs.
While there are some mild differences compared to any of the ~4 topping Odion lists, this is in my view a fantastic summation of what Odion brings to the table, namely that it’s Fiendsmith in a trenchcoat. Between negating face-up cards, acquiring a ludicrous amount of advantage, and looping cards that have no business being accessed as effectively engine (looking at you, Barrier), it’s fantastic to see a TCG-Exclusive strategy do so well. The fact that, by way of the OG Temple, we can activate essentially any of our traps on the same turn means we’re never shy about turning on Anubis or Treasures, and Evenly in the Main solves so many problems with the deck it’s hard to have imagined playing it without the card. While there are some notable omissions, such as Caesar, OG Apophis, and Verdict of Anubis, what is gained by playing a truly trimmed-down engine is that you brick far less, and draw live lines far more. In this metagame, that’s far more necessary than increasing the ceiling on a Trap-based strategy.
It wouldn’t surprise me to see Odion continue to evolve, especially with the upcoming Banlist & release of Alliance Insight, but the fact it’s already done more than any of its contemporaries (Flame Swordsman, Gate Guardian) speaks volume to the current design ethos of the TCG, and why we need to keep our eyes peeled, and minds open, when it comes to western Exclusives.
With that in mind, have you tried playing Odion since its release? Did players rate it correctly when it was previewed, or was this a sleeper hit as many are saying? What else do you think the strategy might need for continued meta play? Let me know in the comments below!
