How to Beat Tenpai Dragon (In Depth Guide)

This the ultimate guide on How to Beat TENPAI DRAGON in Competitive YuGiOh! How are you beating Tenpai Dragon in the meta? If you want to see more guides on how to beat Meta Decks, let me know!
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#yugioh #yugiohtcg #masterduel
Timestamps
Intro: 00:00
What is Tenpai Dragon?: 1:13
Deck Profile: 1:57
Combo / Gameplan: 3:33
Handtraps: 6:50
Board Breakers: 11:27
Other Good Cards: 13:29
Weaknesses / Choke Points: 15:13
Best Decks: 16:35
Worst Decks: 18:19
Final Thoughts: 19:09
End: 19:41

[@MattOsheaYGO]

Quick update! I should've clarified, but more trap heavy Labrynth builds are going to be fine against Tenpai! More monster heavy lab deck are going to be weaker. My bad! EDIT: Other cards that are also good and have been brought to my attention 1. Simul Archfiends

[@nekrozofmakoto120]

What do you think of the voiceless matchup

[@TheSushiAttack]

I'm curious to hear your thoughts on why the trap heavy build will fare better than monster heavy.

[@AdamFSmith]

I'm going to loop Thunder of Ruler, lol

[@TheSushiAttack]

@@AdamFSmith Everyone is talking about using Threatening Roar. But I'm gonna say Thunder of Ruler is better since: 1. They can't go to battle phase PERIOD. 2. Thunder of Ruler has the utility of making your opponent's Evenly Matches DEAD in other match-ups.

[@Rabx32]

The rebirth of battle fader 🔥🔥🔥

[@jacobopadin6360]

Man, you're becoming the best channel out here! This content is what I haver ever wanted last 2 years :D

[@FUBAR87]

Just beat a tenpai player at a local tournament using my updated Ancient warriors deck. I totally agree with the info on this video. Cosmic cyclone on the field spell, ash upon paidra summon along with feather duster, ancient warrior lu feng to snipe as soon as they summon and Sun Mou to pop the big guys who effects activate upon being sniped. Great video, you gained my subscription 👍🏾

[@abendsonnewarriorcats9474]

If my Girl and Moye are drowning, catch me at their funeral calling Dark for Protos

[@MattOsheaYGO]

🤦‍♂️

[@Destrudo5359]

Moye is a dude....

[@Circ00mspice]

​@@Destrudo5359Look closer

[@nouvelle147]

​@@Destrudo5359 Mo Ye has breast armor and feminine legs. But in any case, the original comment had nothing to do with Mo Ye's gender

[@GabrieleLesignoli]

💀💀💀💀💀

[@abedgabrielmachadocastillo5051]

Bro first time watching you , this was helpful , keep the good work !

[@detective_0267]

My homie #41 bagooska cooks them to perfection

[@kcguardian]

Other good option for siding against this deck is Black Goat Laughs. Can use it as a set card to limit their damage output and keep them from special summoning. Calling Chundra is generally the best option since that keeps them from getting a tuner, or if they've already normal summoned it, you can call one of their synchro monsters and limit the damage output. Grave effect allows you to banish it and negate a monster's effects with that name for the turn. Multiple targets that vary depending on game state. Can't use the on field and grave effects in the same turn, so pick your poison, unless you're a Lab player and have rollback in the graveyard.

[@randomeman3]

100% going to be play raidraptor readiness in my raidrapotor build just for this.

[@themoonlitduelist7395]

Oh, you're READY

[@kanishkdevarakonda5538]

Tenpai Dragon? More like Senpai Dragon 🤤

[@MattOsheaYGO]

😮

[@flaccidreflex5563]

Senpai dragons is what I’ve been calling em since they got spoiled but recently I’ve been of the opinion of calling them Hentai Dragons almost exclusively based on how hard and painfully they’ve fucked people at my locals sneak peak

[@Shinde425]

Nightingale is interesting. The other thing about Snake Eyes is their common endboards, assuming they get that far often have a way of answering the field spell whether that’s dis prater popping it, or hot red dragon archfiend negating it or if they can pull it off SP can just banish it…then Tenpai has to compete with a large array of hand traps themselves.

[@Ignistation]

Such a great vid bro! New sub here

[@MattOsheaYGO]

Thanks! Happy you enjoyed!

[@MonkUnitBrawl]

Another counter that no one seems to be considering is Zombie World or Clockwork Night, as long as your deck doesn't care about types. Bident Dragion, Transcend Dragion, and Trident Dragion all require dragons as materials. Bident can't target a dragon in grave, Green can't target a dragon in grave, and Red can't use its hand eff to summon if Zombie World / Clockwork Night is active. They would need to open LS/Duster/Cosmic to beat them or it forces them to make something like Kuibelt which is a generic Lvl 7 synchro that pops a card on summon, but they would still need access to Kaimen to continue extending and OTK there.

[@Dabrownman1812]

Yup, I run lightsworn zombies and with the new mill cards and banshee, you block them quite well. We also have a new card that protects a field card while it's in the grave, great for lightsworn zombies. Super niche, but was fun to lay the smackdown

[@DonMarzzoni]

I run zombie in branded

[@MalikAli-lr5vc]

U r the man , luv ur content, beast

[@MattOsheaYGO]

Thank you!

[@DarkRockerTom]

I think kash will struggle slightly, but scareclaw kashtira is a fantastic card against them. Forces them to have droplet for it.

[@Dovahkiin188]

Interesting vid for sure! How would Purrely match against Tenpai? 🤔

[@MasterDrood]

Waboku, threatening or thunder of ruler, I think can be easily incorporated as they will prevent you from dying that turn

[@jeanpitre5789]

Lyrulisc assembled nightingale is better because the top meta decks ALL make at least 2 level 1 monsters and you don't have to worry about starting with it in hand or hard placing it with Beatrice and transaction rollback, which is still 4000 damage just to use to avoid damage. Lyrulisc is a simple card to make, pass turn, in draw phase activate its effect, and unless they have an effect vieler or imperm on hand, you live that turn, and can even activate some gy effects like that of snake-eyes cards hitting the gy.

[@nike14nadeem]

How to beat PK Horus would be nice to see, love the how to beat series

[@rayarnold7128]

I’ve picked up a play set of mirror force, magic cylinder and battle fader for this match up

[@MattOsheaYGO]

dont forget smoke mosquito!

[@kammerer396]

Why not threatening roar, waboku, thunder of ruler, or something generic like dimensional barrier that hits other decks? All of these are much more generic and chainable so that you don't simply lose to a tenpai player using harpies feather duster or getting their level 10 synchro out before the battle phase (to prevent stuff like battle fader)

[@Dooms_Day_King]

No regular kuriboh?

[@andii2980]

That's why they play samurai destroyer

[@Shinde425]

If they get hit by Cylinder or Mirror Force they should just scoop out of principle

[@ItSpooling_]

Necrovalley looking good

[@lordpapyrus4668]

One of the strongest cards against this deck is still Buster Blader, The Dragon Destroyer Swordsman. You can even mix Buster Blader into the Tenpai Engine easily which is kinda crazy if you mirror match, just slap in a few copies of Trap Trick to get into Prologue of The Destruction Swordsman, or Destruction Sword Memories depending on which you need at the time.

[@SamuelLIII]

Thunder of Ruler shuts down their turn if they are going second, but you need to have removal for whatever they are able to put on board so they don't have follow up in your battle phase.

[@Yogy19]

I was thinking about running Forbidden Apocrypha, but it seems like they'll get to their lvl 10 synchro before having 2 synchro monsters on the field (Unless I get past turn 2 somehow). Maybe Titanocider will help, but maybe not if the main deck monsters have the effect to summon themselves from grave.

[@sakethparimi7664]

I want to play ice barrier when it comes out and I want to know if Cryomancer of the ice barrier good. It stops level 4 or higher monsters from attacking if you control another ice barrier monster. Does tenpai have ways to out its lock. Can it play through it?

[@szymonsadlo]

my mission for this format is to activate Prohibition and call Chundra 😂

[@MattOsheaYGO]

PLEASE!! I need to hear about it when that happens!

[@szymonsadlo]

@@MattOsheaYGO You got it!

[@funkip9888]

What an about earthbound geo kraken, its non-target destruction effect activates if not in the damage step, would that work?

[@lancejones4135]

How about a quick play spell card called “spellbound”? Would that work to stop the battle phase shenanigans.

[@blitzBS]

This is lowkey a free matchup for branded unless u get sacked with Kaiju + droplet, I’m curious wether or not people think buster is worth siding

[@6210classick]

For those who are thinking about playing random garbage like Mirror Force, Wabuko and Battle Fader, don't. Play Numeron Wall as it has the exact same states as Fader but activates during the Damage Step so it it's harder to interact with and doesn't require ya to control no monster monsters or if your deck plays Xyz monsters, Smoke Mosquito

[@kroffen7]

Glad to see you got some bulk or great friends :)

[@MattOsheaYGO]

Sadly I had to pay for my Trident Dragion :(

[@kroffen7]

@@MattOsheaYGO Damn :(

[@adanganaafan2811]

Deck wise lab seems to have the best match up lady is a 3K defense body that’s indestructible when there’s back row and can easy set up Daruma, IDP, and Dimensional Barrier

[@MattOsheaYGO]

Trap heavy lab is better than monster heavy Lab, I don't like monster heavy vs this deck at all

[@deanoor9391]

I just use waboku with dimensional barrier then just break their boards on my turn with rikka Sniping the field spell makes things a bit easier to deal with

[@fabianbeteta5795]

Threatening roar is better because it stops the battle phase before it happens.

[@6210classick]

Wabuko doesn't stop them from attacking ya to summon a couple of dragons

[@alexrichardson8983]

I like playing dis pater for a lot of decks as you can steal opp omega etc

[@OlDirtyNomad]

I'm in. First video but great content

[@quintgilbert7959]

Do you think Tenpai can be combined with RDA case Crimson Gaia fips all opponents monsters face down if a RDA attacks then RDA destroys all defense position monsters that clears the way for the tenpai dragons

[@evoLPFAN2011]

I am definitely going to try this. Having Tenpai on board would interesting for RDA

[@fulloffool5925]

Battle Fader‘ It‘s my time to shine😂😂😂

[@enriqueisaacs8181]

this guide felt more like you saying : "you can beat tenpai by pulling a yami yugi"

[@gungnir382]

You forgot to mention Gold Sarkophag into Blaster to search any Fire Dragon :D

[@KnightofSpear7101]

Threatening Roar 😎

[@WiCloud735]

Waboku and electromagnetic turtle are also great cards to stun them too!

[@whydnt]

Its time for my waboku gaming session

[@masteronii-chan3958]

Issue with ghost ogre is it has to send to gy, if they have shifter then ur still screwed

[@Nytshift636]

I just ordered this whole deck, can’t wait to receive them

[@MattOsheaYGO]

nice! I got my Paidras from sneak peek but still missing a few extra deck cards for tech purposes

[@Protocurity]

I'm old school. First thing I thought of was Threatening Roar and Waboku. Roar is better, but even if you Wab them their monsters will dance feebly without being able to accomplish much, and then you kill them on the next turn.

[@blgarrett77]

Darkfluid negates monster effects during the battle phase. That shoild definitely help.

[@rhomenking538]

How do u think raika traptrix fares?

[@hallyuniverse]

18:35 I mean Lab can literally search Waboku and Threatening Roar though?

[@moneymediamontage1738]

Magic deflector. There. Solved majority of the problems.

[@TezzyNC]

How is Eye of Illusion when they are in battle phase?

[@harrisonslack6383]

Well, looks like I chose the right time to build buster blader

[@warriorofgod2700]

Lol that would be funny. Unfortunately I haven't solved the brick fest yet

[@harrisonslack6383]

@@warriorofgod2700 using Branded and Bystial packages in mine, it's still not perfect but the number of brinks went down a lot

[@laudanum7025]

How about Lair of darkness? Since their field spell only protects fire dragons.

[@cgt3rs446]

These 15 card engine mini decks are a blessing and a curse

[@jeanpitre5789]

Just a curse. This literally happened within a year. Purrely is less than 2 years old and it was considered top meta on release and was a deck core of 21 cards, and that was considered insane, and even then there was still a fair bit of luck involved. Purrely can only add a purrely spell and Trap from the top three which is always a gamble. Now, enter modern format, we have 5 meta decks that have 12-18 card deck cores and can combo off with even half a card's effects, none of the effects have costs (for comparison you constantly have to discard for Purrely), none of them are based on chance (they always pull specific targets, drawing/excavating is near obsolete), they have handtrap/gy effects baked into the card to interact with anything turn 0, and they ALL have massive grindgame level recursion. It's 100% a plague and horrible game design. I'm all for promoting skillful gameplay but there is nothing skillful about decks that are functionally layered interruption on all phases of the duel and functionally unrespondable as the effects activate in areas most cards can't prevent them

[@jonanderirureta8331]

​@@jeanpitre5789You're right, Konami is going too far too fast. I hate the miscellaneoussurus like field spells, they are so braindead. Just perform this combo to win and don't worry, your opponent can't do anything about it. It's just the opposite of the yugioh that I love, the grindy back and forth, the interactive gameplay, until you both are down on resources and just depend on the top deck, like 2 boxers in the 10th round. That's great, this is boring. We're reaching the point where we could show each other the hand and then determine the winner. It's sad.

[@jeanpitre5789]

@jonanderirureta8331 it's sad because you basically need an equally braindead floodgate/stun strategy to compete against the top decks, which is why besides snake eyes the next 2 top decks are voiceless and RUNICK STUN (props to the one guy who made top 32 with runick plunder without stun. Solid gameplay). It's not fun. I started playing competitively like 8 months ago and even then the game was fairly more balanced outside of your floodgates. Multiple decks made a diverse format. Not it's not even remotely close or competitive

[@cgt3rs446]

@@jeanpitre5789 very well said. I’m a boomer. I got back into yugioh 6 months ago, after GX ended when I was in middle school. It’s insane how this game has evolved. I completely agree that this design takes a lot of skill out of the game. Also, it’s almost like you’re punished for running non-engine, different type/attribute. Maybe this is why so many ppl run the exact same 40 card profiles. My thought was smaller engines could create more variation, but…..hand traps, like you said

[@jeanpitre5789]

@cgt3rs446 I'm fine with non-engine being very niche and few between decks. It'd be ridiculous if every deck could essentially be dragon links, which evolved from dragon rulers, which was predated by dragon turbo, which was then predated by dragon beat down. My point is archetype specificity is supposed to keep certain powerful mechanics in check. The problem is these modern archetypes require fewer than 18 cards in the deck to complete the engine so the other 22+ could be literally anything and in most cases that's handtraps or related engines to double up on the toxicity (fire kings and snake eyes for example). And generic boss monsters. Promethian princess is just the newest one but many other cards predate it like accesscode, Baronne, Appilousa, and Borreload. Imagine if just ANY archetype could make Expurrely Noir and use its quick effect? That'd be broken because many decks can spam level 7s. You can still make it without purrely, but it's effect to spin cards would no longer be a quick effect which means it's hardly functional outside of archetype. This SHOULD be how cards are designed.

[@dr.quackers2559]

I flip up dragon capture jar in battle phase an just absolutely laugh at the shit. They get mad asf.

[@Sprind692]

Will battle fader work?

[@benchenriquez2751]

How can Exosister overcome/choke the tenpai dragon?

[@Rai-on]

I think melodious also has a pretty good matchup against tenpai dragon especially if u have aria on board

[@AloneTheorist]

Would ghost mourner & moonlit chill be good against them? Seems like she could ruin a few of their combos especially if a target is destroyed. As their player would take big damage if the target were a synchro monster. Ghost mourner can't be used in the damage step, like ash blossom,etc but any time they special summon a monster is fair game, like a post attack synchro summon. All that has to happen is that the target of ghost mourner leaves the field, so synchro summoning using a target would also trigger mourner's damage effect.

[@mountainmgtow5421]

No. Instead run a combination of Battle Fader, Swift Scarecrow, Waboku, or Threatening Roar. That's what beats Tenpai.

[@kotado6414]

Zombie World maybe good tbh.. but if anyone else has more than this vid idea for main or side

[@xXPain256Xx]

Labrynth can just play battle negate traps and Tenpai cries xD

[@danmanproking2179]

How well does Iblee lock work against tenpai? It turns off Lightning storm and forces them to take link plays, but if they have forbidden droplet then it’s just a massive waste. Is it worth it? (I play spright so I can summon Iblee very easily)

[@MattOsheaYGO]

Droplet is in almost every tenpai list, also the board breaker version can play dark hole. if you have it, it forces them to have the droplet

[@DanteMill3]

Next up to be a top ygo channel. Content is 🔥. Would edit for free for exposure so lmk

[@cr1tikal899]

The one deck that loses to end battle phase effects

[@varis2374]

I kinda think labrynth is actually one of the better decks going against tenpai dragons, most of the time lab struggles going second and going first with being able to play many broken normal traps like d barrier and black goat laughs makes the tenpai matchup much favorable, sure they might get hit hard with duster but better lab players will play during draw phase and standby to avoid those cards

[@MattOsheaYGO]

That's very true, and definitely something I just overlooked, but I don't think it's consistent enough to be reliable. They can definitely play the broken traps but won't always be able to access them, especially through the HT version of the deck that can shut down cards that would set. But yes, I think I may have not given lab enough credit

[@paoluxio]

what about bloom from melodious?

[@thaoxiong6362]

How would Floo decks stand up to Tenpai?

[@Dabrownman1812]

My lightsworn zombies demolished these decks today. Zombie world negates effects that apply to FIRE dragons. Glad sworns are back with more mill and more search.

[@frogtopia8624]

can someone explain why it's not possible to use imperm or ash in damage step?

[@MattOsheaYGO]

In the damage step you can only use effects that would negate activations (ash negates effects) or that modify stats. Imperm does neither

[@ChristosEglezos-nr9js]

Why i cannuse sleipnir in damage stepnto response of their synchro effect ? Did i miss sometjing ?

[@MattOsheaYGO]

Not in damage, in bp. They can't synchro in damage step either

[@youmei357]

Is Terahertz good against tenpai dragon

[@JustinPinedaMedia]

Negate Attack!

[@757gamerguy2]

Man there’s no Battle Fader for the GY. Looks like I’m siding Rollback and Threatening roar for tear

[@ravensquote7206]

Well if they're gonna be destroying my spell and trap cards anyway........ Paleozoic?

[@satyayana1399]

tenpai dragon weakness : chacu chalhua in def

[@timbahr1792]

Dragon Capture Jar….

[@nickvasilis5174]

Super poly or change their types to machine

[@Fear910]

How is the matchup of Voiceless vs Tenpai?

[@custybox1569]

Bad for voiceless voice

[@srjungl3916]

As a Zombie player Im just gonna play Zombieworld and expect the best

[@LiterallyRyanGoslingFromBarbie]

Threatning roar viable!!!!

[@TheMurphyPlaysYT]

How bad is purrely and mannadium going to stuggle against this deck? Asking for a friend 👀

[@wBlack__-]

Odd-Eyes Meteorburst Dragon

[@MattOsheaYGO]

True

[@joshuacastro-sw8mc]

Would There can only be one bother tenpai?

[@bruniTCG]

Tenpai actually struggles a lot with voiceless

[@yourhashfriend]

Side the entire core you say. Runick tenpai does exist! 😢😂

[@MattOsheaYGO]

yep!

[@gigadon120]

Can someone make a vid or explain why you cant use ht during damage step?

[@MattOsheaYGO]

You can use HT during the damage step but only if they negate activation or modify stats

[@gigadon120]

@@MattOsheaYGO is there a specific reason why or just game mechanics?

[@EMBLER]

magic cylinder turbo???!!!

[@RayD-TCG]

One Day of Peace 😂

[@joshuaguste6883]

So in short, Tenpai is explicitly designed to give the middle finger to hand traps, board breakers and set up the opponent may have?

[@MattOsheaYGO]

Pretty much, Tenpai is meant to force people to think twice about going first

[@knallb372]

I play ikea labrynth, the way I plan to beat tenpai dragons is to not do that.

[@anthonyxiong5075]

Can ghost mourner stop tenpai

[@a12483]

I can negate activation o eff in dmg step?

[@MattOsheaYGO]

you can negate activations, but not negate effects isnt the damage step fun...

[@AndrewUdal]

You forgot to mention cards like threatening roar are an ftk against this deck

[@Dingus07]

Just simply activate threatening roat

[@RGARDL]

I don't understand why is this strong and how , feel like any edison format deck beats this , specially something like edison version of gladiator beasts

[@AB-vw8wz]

Notice me tenpai ❤!

[@leonardomoroni4111]

First step : win the Coin flip Second step : go second Third step : win against tempai Easy😂

[@dkphame]

Ppl rlly don’t know about simul archfiend huh

[@MattOsheaYGO]

i can say with certainty, no... no we do not!

[@santo1491]

Activate battle fader in hand. Response? 😂

[@remylordski]

so draw phase waboku

[@TangoMichealXD]

I wonder how bad dino vs tenpai would be like lol

[@andrasburghardt9558]

I dont know the regular dino deck, but i have realy great success againts going 2nd tempai with dinomorphia labrynth soul of the supreme king hibrid deck.

[@topcattai]

this new meta deck can do anything , except stop mirror force.

[@gast321]

What does Tenpai look like without Trident dragon?

[@MattOsheaYGO]

That will be in my deck profile on Thursday 👀