Continuing our look at some of the more successful Decks from yesterday, we look at Bobby Chambers’ Blackwing Deck, the only Blackwing Duelist seated at the Top 10 tables at the end of the Day 1 Swiss Rounds. Chambers went undefeated in all 8 Rounds of Day 1’s competition. Here’s how he did it: Read more…

Grant Kelly finished 7-1 in yesterday’s Swiss Rounds, claiming victory in our Round 8 Feature Match over Carolyn Colajezzi’s X-Sabers. He was the only Duelist seated at the top tables piloting a Synchro Cat variant, so it’s a great opportunity to look at the innovative build he played. Kelly decided to run Caliber Cat – Synchro Cat with Doomcaliber Knight. Read more…

With a 6-3 record heading into the final round, Steven Kraml is running a strategy that Summons huge monsters like Volcanic Queen, Lava Golem, and Grinder Golem to his opponent’s field, then takes them all back with Remove Brainwashing and Owner’s Seal! Read more…

When we looked at the Top 10 tables in Round 8 last night, there was only one Herald of Perfection Deck amongst the 20 Duelists we profiled. Andrew Lindskog won his Round 8 Match, and was sitting pretty with an undefeated 8-0 record heading into Round 9. There were plenty of Duelists running Heralds in yesterday’s competition – what made Lindskog excel? It might have been his Deck’s speed. Check it out! Read more…

Herald of Perfection made a big splash the YCS in Washington, D.C. last month, making it to the Top 8 in that event. This new Ritual Monster from The Shining Darkness allows you to send Fairy-Type monsters from your hand to the Graveyard in order to negate the opponent’s card effects.

A lot of Duelists are playing their own Decks with Herald in today’s competition, including 2-time SHONEN JUMP Champion Jeff Jones. Here’s what his Deck looks like: Read more…

Karryon Dietrich’s Spellcaster Deck is like a blast from the past. He’s packing tons of old-school favorites, like Gemini Elf and Dark Elf, along with newer cards that bring them up to a new level of competition. Check out Karryon Dietrich’s ‘Little Village’ Deck. Read more…

While many Duelists are flocking over to the newest Decks made viable by The Shining Darkness, including X-Sabers and Infernities, others have instead chosen to re-innovate with older Decks that can defeat them. Roy St. Clair, the first player ever to make it to the Top 4 of a championship level tournament with X-Sabers, has now switched over to Gladiator Beasts, just as X-Sabers are seeing the most play. St. Clair knows that Duelists will be less prepared to play against Gladiator Beasts, now that X-Sabers are more popular, and he plans to use that to his advantage. Read more…

One of the Decks that could make a big impact at this tournament is a Deck made up almost entirely of monsters, also known as “Monster Surge.” The cards played in a Monster Surge Deck can vary wildly from Duelist to Duelist, but what ties these Decks together is the ratio of monsters to the number of Spells and Traps. This strategy uses an abnormally high number of monsters: usually 37 or 38 with just 2 or 3 spells. By running almost no Spell or Trap Cards, a Duelist is guaranteed to draw monsters to attack with, and certain card effects become much more reliable than they would be normally. Read more…

Rey Garza is no stranger to the tournament scene. He’s a frequent judge at championship-level events, but this time, he’s taking a break to play. Garza entered today’s tournament with his Symbols Coelacanth Deck – a cool Deck based around using the effect of Superancient Deepsea King Coelacanth to swarm the field with Fish and win. Read more…