Sattellite News: What’s Selling Out?
Round 1 of the Yu-Gi-Oh! Championship Series Main Event hasn’t begun yet, but one of the earliest indicators of the trends in action here today is already in full swing – the vendor booths. We spoke to two of the stores selling booster packs, accessories, and single cards this weekend to ask them what cards were flying out of their cases this morning.
The first vendor we spoke with named Chain Disappearance first and foremost, a powerful card often used against Wind-Up Decks. “We keep selling out of it. From there we’re moving a lot of Black Luster Soldier – Envoy of the Beginning; Number 16: Shock Master; Effect Veiler; and Needle Ceiling.” Shock Master is probably the least surprising of the bunch: as a SHONEN JUMP Alpha promo, it’s a tricky card for some Duelists to find, and it’s become a marquee Xyz Monster for a lot of strategies taking shape this weekend. Here on the tournament floor it seems like every Duelist is trying to work this crippling card into their strategy, tweaking Wind-Ups, Samurais, Gravekeepers, and everything else to fit it in.
Needle Ceiling is a surprising choice; it seems a lot of competitors are expecting big, aggressive fields with lots of monsters from some of the most anticipated strategies this weekend. Decks like HEROes and Dino Rabbit, which don’t invest many monsters to the field all at once, do appear to be represented here this morning. But swarm strategies like Wind-Ups and the new Geargia Decks look as if they may be far more popular (the latter’s proving popular amongst veteran competitors Dueling here today), making a mass field-clearing Trap Card like Needle Ceiling a potentially powerful choice, especially with Duelists trying to amass 3 Level 4 monsters for Shock Master or any other 3 Xyz Material monster they may need.
The next vendor we spoke with named five more cards as their top sellers, four of which were different from the first top five: “Gear Gigant X. We keep selling out of it.” Again, the new Geargia strategy is going to be played here in Toronto by a number of highly experienced Duelists, a couple of whom have won multiple YCS tournaments before. There’s even a certain World Championship representative that’s banking on Geargias. It’s easy to see why: the Geargia theme is really good at making Xyz Summons without investing a risky number of cards, often trading single in-hand monsters for impressive Rank 3’s and Rank 4’s. Gear Gigant X is one of the best of those possible Xyz Monsters, allowing a Duelist to throw down a big attacker and then seek out even more Machine-Type monsters to keep the pressure coming. Grabbing a Gadget monster keeps the search power flowing, while Machina Gearframe can lead to even bigger, faster plays by searching Machina Fortress. Seriously, watch out for Geargias this weekend.
Other top sellers for our second vendor included Elemental HERO Escuridao; Maxx “C”; Maestroke the Symphony Djinn; and again, Number 16: Shock Master. With Wind-Ups emerging as the possible deck-to-beat this weekend, Maxx “C” is a must for a lot of Duelists in this tournament. Elemental HERO Escuridao is a new lynchpin card for a number of HERO strategies, and Number 16: Shock Master is going to be springing up everywhere to limit interference from Spells and Traps and prevent Gorz the Emissary of Darkness from blocking a sure win.
There are countless competitive strategies here in Toronto, and by looking at the most popular cards being sold this morning, we’re starting to get a picture of what players are anticipating this weekend. Will Shock Master really prove to be a dominating card? Can Geargias erupt out of Return of the Duelist and score an impressive showing in their first YCS? Is Maxx “C” as important as many think? We’ll seek out those answers and more as YCS Toronto kicks into high gear!
