We’re with Hani Jawhari, from Metairie, Louisiana, talking about being a pro Duelist.

Hani has a lot of accomplishments under his belt, starting with making it to the Top 4 at YCS Dallas in 2017. In 2018, he made Top 8 at YCS Secaucus and Top 8 at the North American WCQ. This year he placed in the Top 8 of the UDS Invitational in Las Vegas, the Team YCS in Atlanta, and YCS Portland; then made Top 16 at YCS Niagra Falls. All of that led to his greatest achievement yet: becoming a YCS Champion! Hani, along with Cristian Urena and Arnold Nadaban, won the Team YCS in Lima, Peru, less than a month ago.

We started with the big question. What makes Hani a pro Duelist? “Deckbuilding skills,” he said. He’s really good with building Deck lists. He also practices with a lot of people, like Cristian Urena and Paulie Aronson, but there were too many other Duelists to name everyone.

For YCS Pasadena, Hani’s chosen a Sky Striker Orcust Deck. What made him pick it? “Honestly, this event I was very unsure of what to play. It was either pure Orcust or Sky Striker Orcust.” He noted how his build used very few monsters with effects that activate in the hand, allowing him to reliably play three copies of Into the Void. Not only does Into the Void thin his Deck, but it quickly loads his Graveyard with Spell Cards to gain the full effects of his Sky Striker cards. He also liked that Sky Striker spells gave him some strong options when going second in the Duel, making his Deck more consistent. Finally, he noted that the Sky Striker cards make his Deck very good against pure Orcust Decks, because Sky Striker Mecha – Shark Cannon can take power cards like Galatea, the Orcust Automaton from the Graveyard, or simply banish an Orcust before its effect can be used.

We see Hani at a lot of YCS events throughout the year. He said he usually travels with his brother Hisam, Cristian Urena, Manav Dawar, and Dominic Couch.

And what is it that keeps Hani coming back time and time again? “Honestly, just the people. Obviously you’re trying to win but really you’re here for your friends. Even if you don’t do well at the event, you’re here with your friends and you’re having a good time.”

Check back with the coverage for more Pro-Talk interviews this weekend!