For one year, thousands of Duelists across North America have weathered the long road of Regionals, Extravaganzas, and Yu-Gi-Oh! Championship Series events, all to make it here to the North American World Championship Qualifier! The stage does not get any grander: 4396 competitors earned the privilege to compete in this weekend’s main event, and now the most skilled and practiced Duelists on the continent have gathered right here in Detroit for one reason: to select four ambassadors to compete at the World Championship in Italy.

Geargia, Traptrix Hand Artifacts, Bujins, and Madolches have dominated the past four months of Dueling across Canada and the US, but the story’s been different elsewhere. While Mermails were a fringe strategy at best here stateside, that deck won both the European and Central American WCQ’s. Meanwhile Machina Gadgets won the South American WCQ, and two newer strategies are clearly on the rise: Lightsworn and Sylvans. With new support from the Realm of Light Structure Deck, the Lightsworn Ruler deck may play a pivotal role here this weekend. While most victories will be won and lost this weekend on the tables, the first big triumph may simply be selecting the right deck; the field is wide open. And since the new Advanced Format begins Monday and is so close to the current one, players the world over will surely be taking notes.

Meanwhile today, countless Duelists are duking it out in Last Chance Qualifiers to try and win their way last-minute into tomorrow’s Championship! A huge number of Public Events are on offer too, including the Mega Duel – a giant-sized Duel played with massive cards on an enormous playmat – as well as the Duel Dash Kuribo-racing interactive experience! And of course, one of the fan-favorite staples of the WCQ season makes its return: this weekend we’ll see an epic scripted Duel with characters portrayed by their original voice actors from the Yu-Gi-Oh! TV series.

The competitive season’s almost over, but things are heating up here in Detroit! To the one Duelist who’s smart enough, strong enough, and lucky enough to beat out thousands of other competitors, we’ll award the title of North American Champion. And when the smoke clears and the last Duelists fall, our top finishers will go from rivals to teammates, as Team North America heads to the Yu-Gi-Oh! TRADING CARD GAME World Championship in Italy! Stick with us all weekend for written coverage of all the action, and join us on Sunday for live streaming commentary of feature matches and playoffs, right here at the North American WCQ!