YCS Secaucus: Recap
The final Yu-Gi-Oh! Championship Series of the season has concluded! As everyone begins to shift gears for the World Championship Qualifiers, all eyes were on YCS Secaucus, New Jersey to see what strategy would emerge victorious. This was the first North American event since the most recent Forbidden & Limited List update, as well as the release of both Flames of Destruction and Dark Saviors, so no one knew what to expect.
The Forbidden & Limited List reshaped the competitive landscape entirely. The two most prominent strategies, Pendulum Magician and True Draco, both took solid hits with the Forbidding of Astrograph Sorcerer and Master Peace, the True Dracoslaying King. Both of these Decks were dominating the competitive scene, putting up consistent results across multiple tournaments. With them out of the way, the field looked wide open. However, thanks to Flames of Destruction and Dark Saviors, some older strategies got a substantial boost while some new ones also entered the ring.
Link-centric strategies evolved even further thanks to the Knightmare theme from Flames of Destruciton, the two biggest winners being SPYRAL and Gouki. SPYRAL had been a dominating force since the release of SPYRAL Double Helix in Circuit Break, and even after taking some hits on a couple Forbidden & Limited Lists, still showed quite a bit of promise. The Knightmare Link Monster engine is all about combos, and SPYRAL felt like the perfect fit. However, Gouki pulled ahead and had a substantial amount of hype leading into YCS Secaucus. Coupling the power of the Knightmare with the mighty Isolde, Tale of Two Noble Knights this Deck praised as the go-to combo strategy for the event. Even Altergeist also got a huge boost from Flames of Destruction, now packing Altergeist Multifaker to get their game plan online as soon as they activate a Trap Card.
However, there was one more strategy whose hype exceeded Gouki. Dark Saviors unleashed an arsenal of technology ready to be pushed to maximum throttle by any pilot daring enough: Sky Striker. This theme made waves across YCS Secaucus, boasting unrivaled consistency and utility. Some Duelists simply splashed a small Sky Striker engine of Sky Striker Mobilize – Engage, Sky Striker Mecha – Hornet Drones, and Sky Striker Ace – Kagari into their strategies to help them get their game plan going much faster, while others took it to the mainstream and brought pure Sky Striker strategy. The real surprise was a hybrid strategy that took the tournament by storm, a Deck combining the consistency and utility of Sky Striker along with the raw advantage engine of Trickstar. Like a match made in heaven, Sky Striker Trickstar dominated YCS Secaucus representing a massive 50% of the Top 32.
Dakota Angeloff emerged victorious with Sky Striker Trickstar in the Main Event, claiming his first title win at YCS Secaucus over 1321 other Duelists and earning an Ultra Rare copy of Number 89: Diablosis the Mind Hacker! Angeloff wasn’t the only one to bring home a trophy though, as Jon Kozlik managed to best his foes and be crowned the YCS Secaucus Dragon Duel Champion with his Mermail Deck! Congratulations to them both! With the North American WCQ fast approaching, you can expect Angeloff and all of the other YCS victors from this season to bring their A-game. Make sure to stay tuned to find out who will represent North America at the Yu-Gi-Oh! World Championship!