I ended up at 1585.44 on rated in Season 52 and wanted to do an analysis and recap for any Exodia players or anyone hoping to give Exodia a try.
I tried many variations, but at 46-50 cards I kept opening double Exodia pieces, which led to too many dead hands.
So I decided to leave it at 52 cards. Increasing the deck size reduced the frequency of unplayable hands, which matters much more on rated, as you need high consistency to have a chance of winning.
This is the deck breakdown:
| At least opening 1 | At least opening2 | |
|---|---|---|
| 6 fiendsmith starters | 47.26% | 9.58% |
| 16 exodia starters | 85.49% | 49.23% |
| 22 any starter | 94.52% | 71.32% |
| 21 htraps (includes ttt and cbtg) | 93.46% | 68.04% |
| 9 bricks ( 5 exodia pieces + 3 traps + gaia) | 62.96% | 20.23% |
Key point analysis:
Going first, depending on the quality of your hand and if your opponent doesn’t have htraps, you can end on up to 7 interactions, as shown in the picture. The idea of this build is to have strong consistency and at least end on a board with Exodia + Fires of Rage as minimum. Having an 85% chance to access Exodia is great. You won’t always have full board, but you can expand your options with the Fiendsmith package.
In the worst-case scenario, considering any starter, you have a 95% chance to open at least one and a 71% chance to open two, so in most scenarios you will have a playable board. Even if you only open Fiendsmith, your board won’t be as strong, but you can still put up 2–3 interactions + any hand traps.
About card choices that may raise some doubts:
- Dimensional Shifter It conflicts with Fiendsmith, but vs Kewl Tune it’s basically a free win. That matchup alone justifies it. Millennium and Shifter don’t conflict that much, although Gaia needs to send a monster to the GY and Blue-Eyes needs to be in the GY to activate. Even so, it affects your opponent more than you.
- 3x Wedju Temple It may seem bricky on paper, but in a 52-card deck the chance of opening multiples drops.
| opening at least 1 wedju | opening 2 wedju or more | opening 3 wedju |
|---|---|---|
| 26.63% | 2.17% | 0.05% |
- As you can see, the chances of opening multiples are low. When you do open it, it gives immediate access to Shield, which can bait Ash and also gives you a play under Droll.
- Heavy hand trap count Going second is still rough, but that’s just master duel in general. The goal is to open 2 hand traps consistently and force weaker boards by using them at the right time.
- Fiendsmith Sanct: Helps avoid losing to Droll, and playing two Requiems prevents Kewl Tune from cutting off access to your engine.
Matchup notes
Kewl Tune This was the most common deck I faced. It’s still hard going second, if you open Retaliating “C” + Infinite Impermanence, you can bait the Synchro with Imperm and then use “C”, which often leads to a win,
TY-PHON can also help a lot in the Kewl Tune matchup. is especially useful because it can shut down the opponent’s ability to activate some kewl tune effects, which disrupts their setup and and can slow their momentum and try to win after with fiendsmith.
If you go first vs Kewl Tune, the matchup is much better, as you can set up Gaia + Azurune + Fires of rage and have an easy match.
About other variants
Odion → Worse in the current meta. Apophis traps don’t destroy, you rely on Azurune, and you also create a conflict with Gaia as a normal summon. With Treasure limited, it’s not optimal.
Super Polymerization → Underperformed. Kewl Tune can see your hand and play around it.
Other small edges / tech
- Using Galatea mate + Orcust sleeves can create misreads, since millennium is associated as an Orcust engines
- Depending on your hand, you can try to hide Exodia as long as possible to bait early hand traps, even at the cost of LP I often avoid showing Ankh even if I have it, to bait Ash Blossom.
Final thoughts
My approach is avoid bricks as much as possible and try to have at least one playable line. I’m not sure if this is the optimal build or if I just had a good run going first + decent htraps going second.
Still hoping for more Exodia support someday 🙏
Would like to know if anyone else is experimenting with other builds, ratios, or engines and finding success.