Now that everything is underway, it”s a great time to talk about some of the awesome prizes on offer here at the World Championship Qualifier!

First up, all Duelists who earned the privilege to compete in the main event take home this exclusive WCQ Six Samurai Game Mat, featuring Legendary Six Samurai – Shi En, Legendary Six Samurai – Enishi, and Legendary Six Samurai – Kizan.  Last year, participants were also awarded exclusive blue 2011 WCQ card sleeves: this time around the sleeves are a striking crimson instead.  Each pack contains 80 sleeves, ensuring that both the Main and Side Decks of the competing Duelists will be stylishly clad for weeks to come!

After eleven rounds of Swiss competition today and tomorrow, the tournament will cut to the Top 64 Duelists.  Those competitors will all earn a unique marker of their success: an uber-exclusive Top Cut Game Mat featuring one of the most devastating cards of 2011: Trishula, Dragon of the Ice Barrier!  The only way for competitors to earn a copy of the Trishula mat is to make the Top 64 tomorrow.  Demand for this Game Mat can only be described as “feverish” here this morning.

(pics to come!)

Victory in the Top 32 will earn a Duelist an entire set of Gold Series 4: Pyramids Edition, while a ninth  through sixteenth place finish will also nab you six packs each of Duelist Revolution; Starstrike Blast; Storm of Ragnarok; and Extreme Victory.  If your story this weekend ends in the Top 16, you’ll also take home a 16 GB digital music player.

Reach the Top 8, and you’ll take home a beautiful trophy with which to celebrate your success, plus anywhere between 24 to 72 packs of this year’s hottest boosters.  The two Top 8 finishers who don’t make the Top 6 won’t be headed to the World Championship, but they will get an Xbox 360 Elite, complete with an Xbox Live Subscription and a copy of Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D’s Decade Duels.  The last six Duelists score big: each wins a stack of Game Mats; a complete set of Extreme Victory; a high-end tablet PC; and a trip to the World Championship!

Competitors Dueling in the WCQ main event are all aiming to win their ticket to Worlds, but the prizes won along the way are a big part of the excitement!  Our lucky winners this weekend will be going home with treasured memories of their triumph, and some awesome swag to boot.