Welcome to YCS Austin tournament! 1365 Duelists are competing this weekend, but not all of them are tournament veterans. Take a look at some of the Duelists in attendance who have never entered a YCS tournament before!

Max Moeck is fourteen years old, and made his way to the YCS from Garland, TX. He only started playing in September, but he’s prepared to take on the competition with his Chaos Ninja Deck. His favorite card? Red-Eyes Darkness Metal Dragon!

Ten-year-old Jack Denning is from nearby Kyle, TX. He started playing saw the original TV show when he was eight. Jack plans to play in the Main Event with his Zombie Deck at first, but when Dragon Duels begin, he’ll consider dropping out for that depending on how he’s doing. He had to think for a long time before he could decide on just one favorite card, but he finally decided on Number 39: Utopia!

Next, we have two first-timers who traveled here together. They don’t know each other just through Yu-Gi-Oh! – They’re twins! Eight-year-olds Aiden and Alyssa Tiemann live right here in Austin, and they’re attending the YCS with their dad. Aiden is playing what they affectionately called a “budget control Deck”. It doesn’t follow any strict theme, but it has a lot of cards that are good on their own and have synergy with each other. He took his Deck to a fifth place finish in the Dragon Duel on Saturday! His favorite card? Number 16: Shock Master!

Alyssa is using a Machina Jinzo Deck. She says she frequently can get Machina Fortress and Jinzo on the field together. A crushing combination! Her favorite card is, of course, Machina Fortress.

These siblings have been playing together since they were only six years old. They first learned how to play from watching Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D’s, then got the Starter Deck: Duelist Toolbox to Duel using some of their favorite cards they’d seen in the anime! Here are Aidan and Alyssa showing off their favorite cards!

The Tiemanns are much more pleasant than those other Dueling twins, Para and Dox!

Good luck to our first-timers, and everyone here at YCS Austin!