The day is finally here! 2,091 Duelists who have qualified for this year’s North America World Championship Qualifier (WCQ) and 83 Duelists who have qualified for this year’s North America Dragon Duel WCQ are competing this weekend for a chance to qualify for the most prestigious tournament of the year: the Yu-Gi-Oh! TRADING CARD GAME World Championship and Dragon Duel World Championship in Berlin, Germany. You can follow all of the action from the weekend right here on the official tournament coverage website and over on the YouTube Live Steam available here!

Yesterday, two Duelists earned their invitations and paid accommodations to attend this year’s World Championship by triumphing in the World Qualifying Points Playoff. After a year of intense Dueling, Jesse Kotton and Gabriel Vargas used their Sky Striker and Danger! Thunder Dragon Decks to take victory and earn an invitation to the World Championship before today’s event even begins. But that’s not stopping them from continuing to Duel! Despite the fact that they’ve already won the most coveted prize of the weekend – that elusive invitation to compete on the global level – both of them are continuing to put their skills to the test by participating in the WCQ.

There’s a ton of excitement in the tournament hall this weekend, as Duelists prepare for some of the most important Duels of their lives. Duelists have had plenty of time and opportunity to research the big Decks in the current Advanced Format. Last weekend’s South America WCQ and the preceding weekend’s Central America WCQ may have given us a glimpse of what we can expect this weekend. These events were largely dominated by Salamangreat, Orcust, Sky Striker, and Thunder Dragon Decks; but Pendulum-based strategies, Altergeists, Infernoids, Subterrors, and True Dracos also held a presence in the top cut. Will these strategies reign supreme in this weekend’s WCQ, or will new Decks and strategies arise?

In addition to the main North America WCQ and Dragon Duel WCQ, there’s a lot more going on this weekend. Beloved Yu-Gi-Oh! voice actors from the original series, Nell Balaban (who voices Ishizu Ishtar) and Wayne Grayson (who voices Joey Wheeler) will be making tournament-related announcements throughout the weekend, and will engage in a Live Duel against one another tomorrow afternoon! There are lots of other cool things to check out this weekend as well, including an FYE pop-up store that sells Blue-Eyes White Dragon t-shirts, Blue-Eyes White Dragon Berry Blast Cereal, and Blue-Eyes White Dragon Berry Blast chocolate bars. Plus, there will be lots of cool public events hosted throughout the weekend, including a 3 vs. 3 Tournament, Speed Duels, and more. A demo kiosk for trying out the upcoming Nintendo Switch game, Yu-Gi-Oh! Legacy of the Duelist: Link Evolution, is also set up for Duelists to use this weekend.

The pairings for Round 1 have just been posted, and the Duelists are heading to their seats. At the end of the weekend, 4 more Duelists from North America will be selected to compete in this year’s World Championship. It’s time to Duel!