Yesterday Jordan Palmer took 1st Place in the Saturday ATTACK OF THE GIANT CARD!! tournament, earning a GIANT version of Speed Duel Rainbow Dragon! Today he was back to finish sweeping the Speed Duel GIANT CARD!! tournaments, claiming a Giant-sized Cyber End Dragon as well!

Both of these Duelists are former YCS winners! Cristian Urena became a Champion at YCS Lima in 2019, and Dominic Couch won his Championship at YCS Las Vegas in 2020. Both competitors were defeated in the Top 4, but now they’re scrapping it out for a copy of the new YCS Prize Card Anotherverse Dragon. To make matters more interesting, it’s the first time these two Duelists have ever played against each other.

Luke Parkes is another of the UK cadre in attendance this weekend, traveling to Niagara Falls all the way from Sheffield England to pilot Danger Tearlaments, one of the biggest expected Decks for this tournament. Meanwhile his opponent is Raymond Dai, from Detroit, the last competitor in this tournament running Exosisters. We watched Ryan Yu’s Exosister build fall to Esala Wathuthantrige in our Top 32 Feature Match, but could Dai find more success here in the Top 8? 

With a new YCS season comes a brand-new YCS Winner’s Trophy, featuring the YCS Prize Card Anotherverse Dragon!

Ryan Yu finished in 2nd Place after the Swiss Rounds, taking a clean 9-1 record with a Deck almost nobody was predicting for this weekend: Exosister. We saw Exosister builds top a handful of Regional Qualifiers in August, in venues like Conway Arkansas and Edison New Jersey, but the Deck’s largely flying under the radar. Now two Exosister players were in the Top 32 here at YCS Niagara.

Round 10 marks the end if the Swiss Rounds here at YCS Niagara Falls, so this one is make-or-break. Currently these 20 competitors are the top-ranked Duelists in the room, but some of them may not make the Top 32. The pressure’s on, so let’s take a look at which Duelists are at the top tables right now, and what they’re playing!

Table 1: Chancy Wigglestove (Spright) vs. Luke Parkes (Danger Tearlaments)
Table 2: Calvin Chow (Spright) vs. James Kim (Runick Spright)
Table 3: Raymond Dai (Exosister) vs. Ryan You (Exosister)
Table 4: Jorge Pagan (Adventure Spright) vs. Adrian Gonzalez (Live Twins Spright)
Table 5: Steven Santoli (Runick Live Twin Spright) vs. Simon He (Adventure Spright)
Table 6: Mitchell Martin (Spright) vs. Collin Cleaves (Mathmech)
Table 7: Ruben Penaranda (Spright) vs. North Alton (Tearlaments)
Table 8: Thanh Nguyen (Runick Spright) vs. Gabriel Bonneau (Spright)
Table 9: Brian Kaiser (Adventure Spright) vs. Andrij Rybsky-Shaw (Therion Tearlaments)
Table 10: Ankit Shah (Spright) vs. Kevin Semlali (Cyber Dragon Adventure Spright)

How does it all shake out? The tale of the tape is pretty shocking, as Tearlaments appear to’ve largely slipped from the top tables amidst a serious Spright takeover:

Spright: 14 Decks
Tearlaments: 3 Decks
Exosister: 2 Decks
Mathmech: 1 Deck

Of the 14 Spright Decks currently dominating, at least three are running Runick, and at least four are running the Adventure engine. Are these numbers really representative of the trends in this tournament? Or are a whole lotta Tearlaments Decks lurking just below, in Table 11 and beyond? It’ll be interesting to see what the split looks like once we know the Top 32 proper, but for now, this your last Top Table update from YCS Niagara Falls!

Canadian competitor Gabriel Bonneau traveled here this weekend from Montreal, and he’s paired up against Simon He, a fan-favorite veteran Duelist from the UK. Both of these competitors are playing Spright variants, but they’re running different secondary themes to support them. Both Duelists are very likely to wind up in the Top 32, but the winner of this Match locks their seat here and now.

So who’s it gonna be? Montreal, or Manchester?

Heading into the final round here in Day 1 of YCS Niagara, here’s your look at the Duelists and Decks that made it to the Top 10 tables!

The Speed Duel Public Events here at YCS Niagara are being played under an innovative new Limited List, and so far the biggest, most prestigious tournament under the new format is today’s Speed Duel ATTACK OF THE GIANT CARD!! event! With three oversized and Giant-sized Speed Duel promos on the line, competition was fierce, and these three Duelists emerged victorious.

It’s all over, and three competitors have claimed the top spots in the Saturday ATTACK OF THE GIANT CARD!! Tournament! Meet your winners…