The Best TETR.IO Season 1 Openers

Modern Tetris players have developed a plethora of openers throughout the years, and every player has their own repertoire of special setups to help them gain an advantage right out of the gate. Here are some powerful openers that were prevalent in TETR.IO's first season of Tetra League, along with brief explanations of why they were so good!

Honorable Mentions:

These openers saw deserved use during Season 1, but are a tier below the best openers in the meta.

PCO

PCO remains a widespread opener due to its simplicity and flexibility. It's incredibly easy to build and often cheeses wins via second PC into DPC. Declined PCO also leads to a versatile 5-4 stack perfect for B2B chaining. Unfortunately, 1st PC almost never kills and will almost always backfire by becoming counterspike fodder, making it a risky choice that many players have plenty of experience punishing. As such, although PCO is one of the most popular openers of all time, it's not quite up there with the best.

DPC

While not itself an opener, DPC single-handedly created an opener meta that abused the 7-bag system to a whole new level. Short for (T-Spin) Double Perfect Clear, DPC tags on 14 extra attack to any 8-line PC opener and sends players right back to the opener-ready first bag. This tech completely revolutionized the Blitz meta, allowing players to easily loop high-scoring All Clears one after another. Against a well-practiced DPC user, players must immediately deny an empty board by sending some well-timed cheese. In any case, the game sure is easier when you don't have to think.

Fairy Cannon

Also known as Breakerspin, Fairy is the ultimate nerd opener.

Once mastered, Fairy Cannon can be a meta breaker at the highest level. Its versatility and unpredictability disrupt the opener phase and take opponents by surprise. Notably, Fairy can (very rarely) send 23 lines in 15 pieces, which makes it one of the highest damaging openers. More realistically, Gyan99's Fairy-C4W and Tiki's Fairy-3W are notorious examples of Fairy continuations that sometimes feel unstoppable.

So, why does no one use it?

Fairy has a very high skill floor. Many of its continuations are bag-dependent and play differently. To make matters worse, the PC continuations have dozens of minimals, making them essentially freestyle. Consequently, Fairy is only played by a small minority (mostly Filipinos) and is unlikely to see widespread adoption.

Reliable TSD -> 3D 

Ol' reliable into 3D may only have an 85% build rate, but it's incredibly easy to learn and, of course, very consistent even when the 3D continuation isn't available. Safe to build and easy to follow up, this TKI variant is a nice beginner-level opener that's relatively simple and still packs a punch at the top level. Although it doesn't peak particularly hard, it doesn't miss and will always be an opener you can count on.

Mr T-Spin's STD

Any opponent who uses this opener is a terrifying opponent. Mr T-Spin's STD is such a rare sight that any user is almost guaranteed to be a tryhard, some oddball who found this opener through some forsaken grapevine.

Despite its rarity, Mr T-Spin is a straightforward opener that can both counterspike and aggress. It always leaves the same residue, so finding PCs and B2B continuations is quite trivial after enough practice.

MKO

Did someone say MKO?

Named after its creator, MKO is simple and fast to build, with easy B2B continuations and a 1/3 chance to PC. As a midgame-focused opener, though, MKO has a relatively high skill floor. Like Gassho, MKO's main strength is its quick and smooth transition to midgame, and users must have good stacking fundamentals to properly utilize MKO. Its straightforwardness is, therefore, its weakness as MKO offers essentially no surprise potential nor opener kill ability.

Top 3 S1 Openers

Three openers stand far above the rest in the Season 1 TETR.IO meta and are almost guaranteed to appear in any high level set. Here they are.

#3: TKI

This opener has stood the test of time, more so than any other modern Tetris opener. Also named after its creator, TKI remains one of the most flexible openers ever invented and requires so few keypresses to build that misdrops are incredibly rare. Consistency is a powerful opener trait, and TKI is the epitome of a consistent opener.

As a midgame-focused opener, TKI has a relatively high skill floor, but its continuations are very easy to spot, making it a great way for beginners to start learning midgame T-spinning. Followups include LST and PC.

#2: TD > 8-line PC

Triple Double openers gained popularity throughout TETR.IO S1 and saw widespread adoption, especially MS2. Modern TD openers improve upon the original C-Spin TD by centering the TD, leading to either PC or B2B-conducive stacks. DPC can follow up the former for quick kills while the latter ensures a safe transition to midgame.

Quickly built and adaptable, TDs have become a staple of any opener arsenal, but take care and don't misdrop them...

#1: SingleYou (Single-TD)

SDPC-Spin is easily the most powerful opener in Season 1. Since SingleYou first gained notoriety in the form of Stickspin, players quickly discovered any variant was fearsome to go against. Just the default SDPC-DPC loop could consistently KO via raw damage output, boasting a near 100% PC chance especially with an early T in the 3rd bag. 

Stickspin and SDPC-Spin strike a balance between greed and aggression that works perfectly in the S1 ruleset, frequently counterspiking for 20+ attack and catching even experienced players by surprise. This is because the TD, itself a 12 spike, is delayed just enough for the SDPC user to combine it with received garbage.

SDPC's consistency and power place this opener at the top of this list, and some may argue it's here by a large margin.