It’s Day 2 of the North American World Championship Qualifier!  We’ve cut to the top 190 Duelists who had 19 Points at the end of Round 9.  We’re playing 2 more rounds of Swiss before cutting to the Top 64!

We saw a lot of strategies during Day 1 and in any tournament as big as the WCQ, it’s the little differences in individual Decks that will make a difference.  Let’s take a look at what tech Duelists brought to the WCQ this year!

Neo-Spacian Aqua Dolphin

If you can believe it, Neo-Spacian Aqua Dolphin, a staple of Yu-Gi-Oh! GX protagonist Jaden Yuki, has appeared in numerous Deck lists at the WCQ.  It’s a good fit in Gouki since the Dolphin is a Warrior and get a look at your opponent’s hand.  If they’re holding a monster with equal or less ATK than a monster you control, you can destroy that monster and deal 500 damage to your opponent.  Removing an option from your opponent’s hand is ideal, but getting the information of what’s coming up is a huge advantage.

Noble Arms – Arfeudutyr

Speaking of Gouki tech, Isolde, Two Tales of the Noble Knights is a near staple in the Deck, and she sends Equip Spells from the Deck to the Graveyard to Special Summon a Warrior from your Deck (like all of the Gouki monsters or Neo-Spacian Aqua Dolphin).  This has given players some options toward what Equip Spells to include in their Deck to get the most out of Isolde.  Nearly every Deck has Divine Sword – Phoenix Blade to Special Summon the Level 1 Gouki Octostretch but including more Equip Spells can widen the possible monsters that Isolde can Special Summon.  Including a second Equip Spell means Isolde can Special Summon the Level 2 Gouki Headbatt while including a third gives access to Gouki Twistcobra or even Neo-Spacian Aqua Dolphin.  Noble Arms – Arfeudutyr can destroy Set cards by having the equipped Warrior lose 500 ATK, so this is good against clearing away possible threats when going second, but being a Noble Arms means that if the Equipped monster is used as Link Material for Isolde, Two Tales of the Noble Knights’ Link Summon, Noble Arms – Arfeudutyr can re-equip to Isolde since she’s a Noble Knight!  That gives you the opportunity to destroy a second Set card with little impact since Isolde is likely going to be used as a Link Material anyway.  

Phantom Skyblaster

Another card from the Yu-Gi-Oh! GX era, this monster was traditionally only able to Summon 2 Skyblaster Tokens with its effect, but thanks to the appearance of the Extra Monster Zone, it’s now possible to Summon three monsters with Phantom Skyblaster!  We saw this yesterday during our Round 9 Feature Match in which Spencer Donnelly used the Tokens to Summon Link Monsters and ended the Duel with an attack from a 4100 ATK Decode Talker!  If you’re playing a Deck that can Summon Tokens without using your Normal Summon, Phantom Skyblaster can do some work!  

Stay tuned for more Feature Matches and more from the 2018 Yu-Gi-Oh! TRADING CARD GAME North America World Championship Qualifier!