YCS Anaheim: Recap
The dust has settled on the third largest YCS ever, and we have a new YCS Champion! Out of nearly 1,800 Duelists, Elvis Vu has emerged victorious, with his ABC Deck!
There was a huge variety in the top Decks in this tournament, but there were two major standouts. Metalfoes were the most popular strategy at the top tables for the majority of the tournament. As things progressed the number of Metalfoes Decks dwindled, but still remained the first or second most common Deck to be found, until the Top 4.
The other was ABC, the Deck most hyped up heading into the event. The Deck was somewhat common, but it wasn’t until the Top 32 when it became apparent just how many there were. ABC were actually the most common Deck in the Top 32, though they lost most of their numbers going into the next round. Perhaps the Top 32 Duelists were just more prepared for that matchup, or the inconsistency of the ABC Decks got the better of them. Regardless, we did see ABC win the tournament!
Toadally Awesome made a huge impact, with many of the top Decks focused on Summoning it in different ways. Paleozoics use their trap monsters and Frogs to Xyz Summon Toadally Awesome, and can protect it using their Paleozoic effects. Of the three Mermail Duelists in the Top 32, two of them also included Frogs to quickly play Toadally Awesome. One of them did not use Frogs, though all three Decks can still easily Special Summon the Toad with Bahamut Shark. Finally, HERO Decks were using Elemental HERO Bubbleman to reliably play Bahamut Shark for the Toad. Even without playing Aquas to use with it, you can have Toadally Awesome use itself to pay the cost of its effect, and then its Graveyard effect can activate. HERO Decks use this play to protect Masked HERO Dark Law and control the Duel.
Besides those major Decks, we also saw appearances from Yang Zing Metalfoes, Darklords, and Blue-Eyes Decks! The Top 32 had so much diversity, it was impossible to predict what would win.
In the end, the Top 4 was just a single ABC, a single Metalfoes, and two Paleozoics – something most probably hadn’t expected.
This is the last YCS of 2016 – we’ll see you in 2017 for another great year!
YCS Anaheim attendees still have something to play for; by helping Konami and completing this short survey, two random winners will get a display box of Invasion: Vengeance. https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/YCS_Anaheim16
