Canada! Welcome back, to the Yu-Gi-Oh! Championship Series!

It’s been three long years since Duelists last gathered here, at the Niagara Falls Convention Center, to compete for Prize Cards, respect, and the title of Champion. That weekend we saw a Top 4 that featured Salamangreat, Sky Striker, and Lunalight Orcust, three of the biggest Decks of the 2018-2019 season, an era some Duelists now fondly call the “Eternal Format”. But in the end, none of those standby strategies took home title gold: instead, we’d see David Mendoza one-punch his ticket straight to the winner’s circle, piloting a deadly and explosive build of Danger Gren Maju!

And now we’re back, three years later, standing at the cusp of a brand-new era. The Power of the Elementsseason is in full swing, Tactical Masters is ready to shake up competition, and the Advanced Format feels wide open. 

YCS Rio de Janeiro took place two weeks ago in Brazil, the day after Tactical Masters‘ official release, but the new set wasn’t legal for tournament play. That meant the 2022 Oceania Yu-Gi-Oh! TCG Championship last weekend was the Dueling world’s first Championship-level glimpse at post-TAMA play, setting the stage for this weekend’s YCS. 

Dino Spasovski won the Oceanic title with a pure Tearlaments build, leaning heavily on Ash Blossom & Joyous Spring, D.D. Crow, and Nibiru, the Primal Being. His opponent in the Finals was former Worlds competitor and the winner of YCS Toronto 2016, the legendary Bohdan Temnyk, who elevated Danger Tearlaments with a newly popular combo of Branded in High Spirits and – seriously – D.3.S. Frog!

While the Finals of the tournament were dominated by Tearlaments, the Floowandereeze, Spright, and Mathmech themes all put in big showings, and the new Runick cards from Tactical Masters were a standout in the Top Cut. The most promising innovation may have been Runick Spright, a super-consistent version of the Spright strategy that bonds the two themes together by the fact that Hugin the Runick Wings is a Level 2 – perfect for Sprights. Such a Deck was piloted to the Top 16 by the winner of YCS Hartford 2022, Poe Jiang, so watch for that here in Day 1. It could be a huge weekend for Runick.

But you know what it’s also a huge weekend for? PRIZE CARDS! Yes, copies of the new YCS Prize Card Anotherverse Dragon are up for grabs, for the first time ever in North America! And while it might be a Normal Monster, there’s nothing “normal” about it…Because the Ultra Rare version of the new Prize Card now features serialization in the form of customized text, celebrating the event at which it was won!

That’s right: the 1st Place Prize Card this weekend literally unique, the only copy of Anotherverse Dragon that will ever carry the text, “This card was awarded to the winner of the 1st North American YCS in the 2022-2023 Season”. Just awesome.

The main event here in Niagara has reached capacity at just over 800 Duelists, and Round 1 is on the way! To the Duel fans across the globe, and to the competitors from the Great White North, the United States, and beyond: welcome to the first Canadian event in the Yu-Gi-Oh! Championship Series since 2019!

Welcome, to YCS Niagara Falls!!