Round 1 Feature Match: Ryan Yu vs. Reda Zekkari
Local Canadian Duelist Ryan Yu from Toronto is an experienced competitor who has been playing the Yu-Gi-Oh! TRADING CARD GAME since he was 11 years old. He won the Dragon Duel Yu-Gi-Oh! TRADING CARD GAME World Championship in 2017 when he was 12 years old, and has continued in his Dueling success ever since. Most recently, he took second place at the 2022 North America Yu-Gi-Oh! TCG Championship in Chicago, Illinois! Now he’s looking for a YCS victory here in Niagara Falls using his Exosister Deck! Reda Zekkari traveled here from Paris, France to compete this weekend with his Adventure Spright Deck and has only competed in one YCS before. He ended that tournament, YCS Utrecht, with a 6-3 record. He was close to a top cut finish, and now he’s looking to perform just a bit better in his second YCS and to make it into the top cut! Yu has experience on his side, but Zekkari had the heart and commitment to come to Canada for just a weekend to compete! It’s time to Duel!
Duel One
Yu opened up with Exosister Sophia, Dimension Shifter, Exosister Elis, Exosister Stella, and Exosister Pax.
He activated Dimensional Shifter and then Normal Summoned Stella and used its effect to Special Summon Sophia. Sophia’s effect drew Yu a card and then he Xyz Summoned Exosister Kaspitell. He used its effect to add Exosister Martha to his hand and Special Summoned it to the field. Martha’s effect Special Summoned Elis from his hand, and then he combined his 2 Level 4 Exosisters to Xyz Summon Exosister Mikailis. He detached Elis from Mikailis to add Exosister Returnia to his hand and then used Exosister Pax. He paid 800 Life Points to add Exosister Vadis to his hand. He then combined his two Xyz Monsters in another Xyz Summon to bring forth Exosister Magnifica! He Set his two Trap Cards before ending his turn.
Zekkari activated Spright Starter to Special Summon Spright Blue from his Deck and lost 1100 Life Points. He activated Blue’s effect to add Spright Jet to his hand. Yu activated his Magnifica’s effect to banish Spright Blue from the field by detaching an Xyz Material. Next, Zekkari Normal Summoned Spright Jet and Yu flipped Exosister Returnia. He paid 800 Life Points to banish Spright Jet. Zekkari banished Water Enchantress of the Temple from his hand to add Rite of Aramesir to his hand next, but couldn’t activate his Rite of Aramesir since his Spright Starter locked him into Level/Rank/Link 2 monsters. Zekkari Set 2 cards to his back row and then passed his turn.
Yu drew a card and then used his Magnifica’s effect to try to banish one of Zekkari’s cards. Zekkari Chained Infinite Impermanence to negate Magnifica’s effect, and Yu Chained Exosister Vadis! Vadis resolved to Special Summon Exosister Sophia and Exosister Irene from his Deck. He drew a card with Sophia’s effect. He combined his 2 Level 4 monsters to try to Xyz Summon Mikailis but Zekkari paid 3450 Life Points to negate its Summon with Solemn Judgment. Yu Normal Summoned Exosister Sophia, and then Zekkari conceded.
Ryan Yu easily wins Duel 1 with his Exosisters!
Duel Two
Zekkari started off Duel 2 by activating Rite of Aramesir to Special Summon an Adventurer Token and put Fateful Adventure from his Deck into his Spell & Trap Card Zone.
He used the Fateful Adventure’s effect to add Wandering Gryphon Rider to his hand and discard Dracoback, the Rideable Dragon, and then used Dracoback’s effect to equip it to his Adventurer Token. Next, he tried to Special Summon Wandering Gryphon Rider from his hand, but Yu Chained the effect of his PSY-Framegear Gamma to negate the effect and destroy the Gryphon Rider before Special Summoning Gamma from his hand and PSY-Frame Driver from his Deck. Both of Yu’s monsters were banished in the End Phase.
Yu drew Exosister Sophia and then had Dark Ruler No More, Harpie’s Feather Duster, Exosister Vadis, and Exosister Elis in his hand with it. He activated Feather Duster and Zekkari paid 4000 Life Points to negate it with Solemn Judgment. Yu Summoned Sophia and used the effect of the Elis in his hand to Special Summon it. He drew a card with Sophia’s effect and then Xyz Summoned Mikailis. He used Mikailis’s effect to add Pax from his Deck to his hand and then entered his Battle Phase. He used Mikailis’s effect to banish Fateful Adventure and then attacked the Adventurer Token to destroy it. In Main Phase 2, Yu activated Exosister Pax to add Exosister Returnia to his hand and Set both of his Trap Cards along with Dark Ruler No More to his back row. Zekkari activated Cosmic Cyclone in the End Phase to banish Exosister Returnia by paying 1000 Life Points.
Zekkari Special Summoned a Swap Frog from his hand by discarding a Water Enchantress of the Temple and activated its effect, but he conceded immediately after picking up his Deck to search through it with Swap Frog’s effect. He saw no way to turn the Duel around.
Ryan Yu uses his Exosister Deck to take a quick 2-0 victory over Reda Zekkari’s Spright Deck in Round 1! Since Spright Decks are expected to be one of the most popular Decks this weekend, this could be a good sign for Ryan Yu’s future in the tournament!
