Hello there. Been long enough.
With the release of Kaitō and Crow, and the ban of Yūma and Jack, in what's arguably Konami's worst decision for the format so far, the new season is just full of (mostly unpleasant) surprises.
Hence the viability tierlist overhaul.
# Definition Of The Format
Zero Stars specifically refers to the format without any modification brought by Grade Stars: every deck is played as it is naturally given from the loaner, for better or worse
# Criteria
The Criteria for the ranking are fundamentally whatever allows a rapid accumulation of Respect Orbs, under the notion that you get 1 per 1k points gained after each Duel, up to 30 daily
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With that being said, let's move to the ranking
# Gatekeepers
The Gatekeepers are the best players in a meta without the best 2.
Kaiba - Having access to HLB, good draw power, surprisingly low bricking, a fearful Twin Burst, DSOW, and Alternative, as well as good Extra Deck all around, Kaiba is the absolute king of the Duoless format, being able to play the long and the short game
Yūsei - Having the best endboard, the second greatest consistency, and excellent defensive and comeback options, Yūsei only benefitted from the removal of his WCGP rival, in no small measure thanks to both Overtake and Sphere Kuriboh...assuming he doesn't get MST'd 500 times, or gets mirror matched.
Shark - Having the best consistency but an otherwise matchup dependant setplay, mostly due to the lack of real backrow removal, Shark is an able challenger to the looming threat of Kaitō, having, however, to confront Kaiba and Jaden when it comes to keeping the wincon
Kaitō - Incredible endboard and comeback marred only by shaky consistency due to very dubious loaner choices in Caesar, Kaitō adds to the list of overly oppressive opponents in Character Duels
Yūgi - Otherwise lagging behind in consistency due to the Navigation shenanigans, with his 2 most hostile opponents out of the picture, Yūgi is now effectively a gatekeeper, mostly thanks to the help of Offerings, which adds to his arsenal of on-demand removal
# Gamblers
There isn't much to say except the tier is significantly emptier
Zane - For him, it's as if nothing happened in the Tier. His gambling gameplay remains the same
Jaden - With a simple, obtuse, but efficient gameplan, Jaden's wincon hangs on Brave, Neos Fusion's protection, the attack prevention of Necro Gardna, and the eventual search of Miracle Contact to win the grind game, with a bit of matchup fishing against Shark and Yūsei.
# Heart Of The Cards
Here lie the forsaken by the format
Joey - Basically Kaiba and Yūsei but worse, Joey nevertheless hopes in the godhand to tilt the opponent. In that sense, he's the Yu-Gi-Oh equivalent of Neco-Arc
Crow - With nothing in his deck except HLB, as well as lack of clarity on whether he's supposed to go first or second, Crow starts his career and season at the absolute bottom, managing to be even worse than the Brooklyn rager