Chris Bowling is one of four Duelists here today who received a free trip to this event, since he won the Yu-Gi-Oh! Championship Series tournament in Texas in 2009. Bowling was also the Yu-Gi-Oh! TCG U.S. National Champion in 2008, and represented the Unitd States at the World Championship held in Germany that year. Today, he’s back to earn another shot at the Yu-Gi-Oh! TCG World Championship title, by first making it through to the Top 4 of this WCQ. Take a look at the X-Saber Deck Bowling chose to run this weekend.

Monsters:

3 XX-Saber Faultroll

3 X-Saber Airbellum

1 XX-Saber Fulhelmknight

3 XX-Saber Darksoul

2 XX-Saber Boggart Knight

1 Sangan

1 Rescue Cat

1 X-Saber Pashuul

1 XX-Saber Emmersblade

1 Summoner Monk

3 Thunder King Rai-Oh

Spells:

3 Book of Moon

2 Gold Sarcophagus

1 Heavy Storm

1 Giant Trunade

1 Mind Control

1 Brain Control

1 Cold Wave

Traps:

1 Torrential Tribute

1 Trap Dustshoot

1 Solemn Judgment

2 Royal Oppression

1 Mind Crush

2 Trap Stun

2 Bottomless Trap Hole

Chris Bowling made some unconventional Deck choices that are still experimental by most X-Saber Duelists’ standards. While he’s running a full line-up of X-Sabers including XX-Saber Faultroll, X-Saber Airbellum, and XX-Saber Darksoul, he also found room for Thunder King Rai-Oh in his Main Deck!

Thunder King Rai-Oh will be a powerful card in this weekend’s tournament. It prevents players from using key card effects of monsters like Sangan, XX-Saber Darksoul, and Infernity Archfiend to set up big plays. It can also be difficult for Duelists to attack over Rai-Oh without performing a Synchro Summon, which Thunder King Rai-Oh can negate.

Bowling has also chosen to run Book of Moon in his Main Deck. Book of Moon allows Bowling to disrupt his opponent’s biggest plays by putting monsters face-down to prevent Synchro Suummons. It also brings his Deck up to 10 Spell Cards, which is more than enough to accommodate the effect of Summoner Monk, which can Special Summon Rescue Cat by pitching a Spell Card. Bowling also uses Gold Sarcophagus to assemble game-ending combos in his hand, like Rescue Cat or Summoner Monk with Cold Wave.

Bowling’s Trap Card line-up really sets it apart from other X-Sabers Decks. His decision to Main Deck Mind Crush in addition to Rai-Oh allows him to heavily punish his opponents who rely on searching their Decks to win. Bowling also uses Royal Oppression. Normally, Royal Oppression would be a dangerous card to use in an X-Saber Deck since it can negate Bowling’s Synchro Summons and the effect of his Rescue Cat. But Bowling is running Cold Wave, Giant Trunade, Heavy Storm, and Trap Stun to shut off or destroy his Royal Oppression, so he’s free to Special Summon as many monsters as he can that turn. Bowling has also chosen to omit Gottoms’ Emergency Call from his Trap Card line-up, preventing as much interference from Royal Oppression as possible.

A lot of Duelists are running X-Sabers this weekend, but few of them are running builds like Chris Bowling’s. Bowling is counting on his tech choices to push him ahead of this weekend’s competition. We’ll see if it’s enough to bring him to the Yu-Gi-Oh! TCG World Championship again.