With 9 Rounds of Swiss competition to be played today, we have hit the halfway mark!  It is Round 5 here in Day 1 of the North American WCQ, and it’s a great time to look at what Decks are at the top tables right now.  The WCQ is a remarkable event, but in some ways it’s just like any other tournament: as the tournament progresses round by round, the Duelists with the best records – the most wins – are sorted towards the lower table numbers.  The lower the numbers go, the better the performance of the Duelists seated there: Table 1 is the most coveted position in a competition like this one.  So let’s look at the first 10 Tables, and see what those Duelists are playing!

Table 1:

David Mann with Tengu Synchro

Versus

Cesar Pichardo with Tour Guide Tengu Synchro

Table 2:

Jeff Walker with Tour Guide Tengu Synchro

Versus

David Rolando Villeareal with Six Samurai

Table 3:

Dean Thomas Linden with Six Samurai

Versus

Justin Delhon with Tengu Gadgets

Table 4:

Troy Marumoto with Six Samurai

Versus

Justin Katz with Gladiator Beasts

Table 5:

Daniel Deputy with Anti-Monster

Versus

Sanche Jess Chan with Tengu Synchro

Table 6:

Skylar Schlutz with Hero Plant Synchro

Versus

Phillip Howard Anthony with Tour Guide Tengu

Table 7:

Jonathan Weigle with Gravekeepers

Versus

Yang Ling Wu Miracle Gemini

Table 8:

Allan Autino with Tengu Synchro

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Tyler Brandon Tracy with Tengu Synchro

Table 9:

Adam Ginsberg with Gravekeepers

Versus

Dominique McPherson with Tour Guide Tengu

Table 10:

Donuel Benedetto with Chain Strike

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Michael Dundas with Tour Guide Tengu

Tengu Synchro is certainly the most popular Deck at the top tables at the moment, but what’s more interesting is that the Tour Guide version of the Deck seems to be taking over as the dominant version of the strategy.  Tour Guide from the Underworld allows a Tengu Synchro Duelist to search out Sangan, and that allows for the easy searching of combo pieces: often Lonefire Blossom.  The Deck is more consistent with the addition of Tour Guide, and more flexible.

Also huge are Gravekeepers and Samurais, with Gladiator Beasts;  Anti-Monster; and even Chain Strike each scoring a seat at the top tables.  Despite Tengu Synchro being so well-represented, a lot of Duelists are teching other strategies to counter it, and those Duelists are being quite successful here this weekend.  Will the Top 64 tomorrow wind up looking like the top tables today?  We won’t know until we see the results after the cut to the playoffs.  But for now, this is the tournament as it stands!