The excitement is over! 277 Duelists have been pared down to just 1 winner – David Flores from Houston, Texas!

Top Duelists competed this weekend for a chance at the UDS Invitational Championship Belt, and after 13 Swiss Rounds and a top 16 cut, David Flores and his Thunder Dragons triumphed. Flores faced many challenges this weekend. The field of Decks that would be used in the tournament was largely unknown beforehand, as the newest Forbidden & Limited List just took effect on July 15^th, and hadn’t yet been used in any large Regional Qualifiers or YCS events. In addition, Battles of Legend: Hero’s Revenge just became legal for tournament play on July 12^th, Rising Rampage became legal for tournament use on July 26^th, and Structure Deck: Rokket Revolt was added to the tournament card pool this past Friday. Since none of the cards from any of these products had been legal in a major YCS or Regional Qualifier event prior to this weekend, the addition of the cards from these products to the tournament card pool complicated the tournament even further and made it even tougher to prepare.

Many Duelists in the tournament combined several different themes to create the craziest string of plays that they could imagine. We saw Thunder Dragons mixed with Guardragons and Crusadias, Phantom Knights and Tenyi mixed with Orcusts, Danger! monsters mixed with Burning Abyss, and many more combinations of themes. But in the end, a pure and consistent 40-card Thunder Dragon Deck allowed David Flores to win the tournament – even after receiving a Game Loss penalty for a play error in the Finals when he was on the verge of winning!

The current Advanced Format is still fresh, and there’s lots of room for change and progress as the format develops. Join us at YCS Portland Aug. 24-25 to see what innovation Duelists bring to the new Advanced Format. Until then, congratulations to this weekend’s Ultimate Duelist, David Flores!