Tech Genus Guide

Introduction

T.G., short for Tech Genus, is a synchro combo-heavy archetype that debuted in late February 2021 with the Antinomic Theory main box. T.G. monsters have widely varying types and attributes, allowing them to have interesting synergy with cards that support particular monster types. Many of the main deck T.G. monsters will search other T.G.s during the End Phase if destroyed on the field, providing a useful, if slow way to put together combo pieces. The T.G. synchro tuner monsters have the rare ability to synchro summon by effect during your opponent's Main Phase as well (this is called an Accel Synchro), which provides unique interruption opportunities. As the main deck monsters have relatively low attack points and almost no offensive effects of their own, T.G. depends on its extra deck monsters to provide pressure.

The early builds of T.G. that saw some success were focused on using Set! Delta Accel! to summon Loading... to stun your opponent's summons or chain summoning Loading... to wipe the field into Loading... for a swift OTK. However, the meta was a fair bit more powerful and T.G. was unable to break into the tier list, remaining a rogue deck that would see some use and success in tournaments from time to time. When Darklords were removed from the meta again in May 2021, the even more combo-focused Flight Control builds began to show their merit, striking hard and fast on your opponent's turn with Loading... and Loading... . Most recently, a more heavily Dino-focused version of Set! Delta Accel! T.G. was created that mixes combo and control to make powerful monsters while also providing searching power and card destruction. This build became strong enough to break into the tier list at Tier 3. This DinoTG version was by far the most successful, having achieved spots in top cut very often, however it was short lived as in September 2021, Set! Delta Accel! received an unnecessary nerf that made it much harder to bring out the Loading... provided by the skill.

Skills/Variants

T.G. is an interesting archetype in that it has a few relevant archetype-tailored skills that play very differently. These skills, Flight Control , Tuner Level Balancer and Set! Delta Accel! are all exclusive to Antinomy and are vital to the many combos these decks use to stun and OTK the opponent. A consequence of this is that it's difficult for T.G. to bluff other skills with Antinomy, as the only other currently meta-relevant-ish skill he has access to is Loading... . The most common ways to play T.G. are the pure combo OTK focused Flight Control version and the Control focused Loading... version (which can be played using either Tuner Level Balancer or Set! Delta Accel!). The different playstyles using these different skills see success in different formats: Flight Control, for example being strong in KC Cup format in lower to mid ranks.

Flight Control

Flight Control , or FC for short, allows you to reveal and return any T.G. monster in your hand to your deck in exchange for another one, as long as your main deck contains no monsters other than T.G. monsters. This skill is very powerful, allowing you to swap out one combo piece for another at any point during your main phase, either before you start your combo or at any point in the middle. During the turn you use Flight Control, you're unable to summon any monsters level 10 or higher that are not T.G. monsters, but this will be irrelevant in regards to most builds' Extra Decks, as most of the time you won't run any level 10 or higher monsters at all (rare exception being Loading... ).

Flight Control builds are very combo focused, having many different main deck T.G. monsters to choose between in order to make your main combo extender Loading... . Star Guardian has the ability to quick effect synchro summon during your opponent's Main Phase, generally into either Loading... or Loading... for disruption. Additionally, this deck can easily OTK via Loading... , using its effect to attack twice during your Battle Phase if synchro summoned using a synchro monster.

FC's weakness lies in its many moving combo pieces, being easily interruptible if one piece gets flipped face down or if the deck pilot does their math wrong. As the main deck monsters range from levels 1 to 4 with tuners and non-tuners at every level, it's important to keep track of what you have and what you need. Also since FC usually relies on either Hama or Quarion to OTK, the deck can be weak to handtraps like Loading... and Loading... .

Survival's End T.G.

Towards the start of August 2021, a new variant of Set! Delta Accel! T.G. rose in popularity due to its consistent success in reaching top cut of community tournaments. This came to be known as Survival's End SDA. The deck was a variation/extension of the main SDA deck which uses the Lightsworn Engine and Loading... to go into its standard combos. However, rather than trying to maximize the chance of synchro climbing into TG Halberd Cannon as fast as possible, this variation aimed to control the board through the interactions between Survival's End, Paleozoic Cards, Miscellaneousaurus (and other optional techs).

The main strength of Survival's End SDA was that it's a good anti-meta deck that can play around and through most disruptions of the top meta decks while also having strong disruption of its own to stop its opponent's plays. The deck was less reliant on opening with TG combos and more dependent on mills in conjunction with what it opens. In addition to having standard SDA combos, it had a better grind game and strong removal via destruction. Like all TG decks, it's weak to Loading... and Loading... .

As of October 13th, SDA received a skill nerf and now requires returning 1 T.G. card from the hand to the deck to play Recipro Dragonfly, greatly hindering its viability - both due to the increased loss in card advantage, and to the typically low T.G. card count in Dino builds. The skill's main appeal is now mostly the increased extra deck size, as well as the uncommon chance of summoning Dragonfly to extend your plays.

Due to this nerf, players began experimenting with the Tuner Level Balancer skill, displaying a main deck nearly identical to the SDA version, but whose extra deck is now focused on having a far easier access to level 8 synchros: simply being able to make Star Guardian is sufficient to go into any of them, thanks to the level increase provided by the skill.

Playing Survival's End TGs is still possible using the Set! Delta Accel! Skill, but most people now prefer using Tuner Level Balancer for the Level 8 Synchro access.