After 10 rounds of Swiss Pair play, the Top 32 Duelists here today entered into the single elimination rounds.

The first single elimination round has just concluded, leaving us with our Top 16! Here’s how the pairings look for this round:

Mark Garcia (Blackwings)
Versus
Christopher Hurayt (Blackwings)
Mark Garcia wins and advances to the Top 8!

Mario Cordova (Quickdraw Dandywarrior)
Versus
Keanson Ye (Infernity)
Mario Cordova wins and advances to the Top 8!

Austin Kulman (X-Sabers)
Versus
Oscar Renderos (X-Sabers)
Austin Kulman wins and advances to the Top 8!

Pete Navarro (Volcanic Quickdraw Dandywarrior)
Versus
Juan Antillan (X-Sabers)
Pete Navarro wins and advances to the Top 8!

Ryan Machado (Blackwings)
Versus
Angel Flores (Gemini)
Angel Flores wins and advances to the Top 8!

Darien Martell (Quickdraw Dandywarrior)
Versus
Jonathan Cortez (Machina Gadgets)
Jonathan Cortez wins and advances to the Top 8!

Steffon Rice (Plants)
Versus
Darryl Huang (Scraps)
Steffon Rice wins and advances to the Top 8!

Mario Matheu (Black Salvo)
Versus
Tommy Cecil (Blackwings)
Tommy Cecil wins and advances to the Top 8!

After 10 rounds of Swiss Pair play, the Top 32 Duelists were allowed to enter the single elimination play-off rounds. From this point forward, losing a Match means that the Duelist is out of the tournament! Here’s how the Top 32 looks:

Mark Garcia
Versus
William Miller
Mark Garcia wins and advances to the Top 16!

Christopher Hurayt
Versus
Ronald Sharpsteen
Christopher Hurayt wins and advances to the Top 16!

Mario Cordova
Versus
Bobby Chambers
Mario Cordova wins and advances to the Top 16!

Jimmy Li
Versus
Keanson Ye
Keanson Ye wins and advances to the Top 16!

Austin Kulman
Versus
Rich Saculla
Austin Kulman wins and advances to the Top 16!

Sang Bui
Versus
Oscar Renderos
Oscar Renderos wins and advances to the Top 16!

Pete Navarro
Versus
Steven Brown
Pete Navarro wins and advances to the Top 16!

Juan Antillan
Versus
Marc Balan
Juan Antillan wins and advances to the Top 16!

Ryan Machado
Versus
Andrew Do
Ryan Machado wins and advances to the Top 16!

Angel Flores
Versus
Rober Boyajian
Angel Flores wins and advances to the Top 16!

Alejandro Suarez
Versus
Darien Martell
Darien Martell wins and advances to the Top 16!

Jonathan Cortez
Versus
Nico Watson
Jonathan Cortez wins and advances to the Top 16!

Bret Everett
Versus
Steffon Rice
Steffon Rice wins and advances to the Top 16!

Richard Diep
Versus
Darryl Huang
Darryl Huang wins and advances to the Top 16!

Jacob Fonseca
Versus
Mario Matheu
Mario Matheu wins and advances to the Top 16!

Tommy Cecil
Versus
Mitchell Nguyen
Tommy Cecil wins and advances to the Top 16!

Both of these competitors are 8-1 so far in this tournament, and with 1 Swiss Round left, they’re extremely likely to make the Top 32 cut. Pete Navarro is running Volcanic Quickdraw Dandywarrior, while Bobby Chambers is running Blackwings. Chambers is a former YCS Champion, having won in Boston in 2006. For Navarro, a win here this weekend would be his first. Read more…

Mark Garcia and Juan Antillan both won their Feature Matches yesterday and currently hold 8-1 records. A win here will guarantee one of them a spot in the Top 32, while a loss would still leave them with good odds of making it. Antillian is running X-Sabers, while Garcia is piloting his Blackwing Deck.

X-Sabers and Blackwings are two of the strongest and most popular Decks here this weekend, so this is a good example of the kinds of strategies we’re seeing a lot today. Read more…

Get ready for our first Scrap mirror match!

One of the big stories of Day 1 is the rise of some successful Scrap Decks! Two Scrap Duelists finished with 7-1 records yesterday, and today they were paired off in Round 9! Both competitors are playing Scraps, but their Decks are vastly different. While Jerry Tran runs a Gravekeeper version with Gravekeeper’s Spy and Gravekeeper’s Descendant, Huang plays a mish-mosh of tech and easy-to-Tribute monsters like Battle Fader, The Tricky, Treeborn Frog, and Sasuke Samurai #2. Get ready! Read more…

Both Edgar Lopez and Michael Balan are currently 6-2 in the tournament. Lopez lost a Round 8 Feature Match yesterday against X-Sabers after time was called. Will he be able to reverse his luck from yesterday and triumph in his Round 9 Feature Match over Balan’s Blackwings today? Read more…

That wraps up the action for Day One of YCS San Jose. The final 2 rounds of Swiss Pair play will happen on Sunday, along with the single elimination final rounds.

Since the Yu-Gi-Oh! TRADING CARD GAME Legendary Collection will be released on October 5th, and Duelists everywhere will be able to their hands on their favorite Egyptian God Cards, we decided to poll the field at the end of the day.

Which Egyptian God Card is the most popular here in San Jose? Are the Duelists here fans of Yugi’s Slifer the Sky Dragon, Kaiba’s Obelisk the Tormentor, or Marik’s The Winged Dragon of Ra? Take a look at some of the responses that competitors gave. Read more…

Edgar Lopez and Juan Antillan are both California Duelists are that currently 6-1 in the tournament. Antillan is running a standard X-Saber Deck, while Lopez is using a brand new Scrap Deck. Will traditional consistency prevail over rising creativity? Read more…

Austin Kulman was the 2006 U.S. National Champion, and has made the top cut of multiple YCS tournaments in his Dueling career. His opponent is Derek Freeman, who just started playing competitively this year, and is now 6-1 here in San Jose. With this being the last Swiss Round of Day 1, and 2 more Rounds tomorrow, a win here would be a strong push towards a Top 32 qualification. Both Duelists are playing X-Sabers. Read more…

We’re here in the last Round of the day, and with just 2 Rounds remaining tomorrow before the Top 32 cut, it’s a great time to take another snapshot of the top tables!  Here’s what they look like, 3 Rounds after our first Update from Round 5: Read more…