While alot of Duelists are familiar with the new cards in Starstrike Blast that support older Decks like Scraps, Quickdraw, and Gravekeepers, the all-new “Karakuri” monster family remains a mystery to many. With a bunch of great effects, and some sweet Spell Cards at their disposal, Karakuri Decks can be built in several different ways.

Duelist Dylan Buff is running a Karakuri Deck that packs Black Salvo and Cyber Valley, centered on a killer combo that’s only possible in Karakuri strategies, one that can end the Duel in a single turn. By combining strong Karakuri monsters with Salvo standbys like Dekoichi the Battlechanted Locomotive, Buff’s strategy could take alot of competitors by surprise here this weekend. This is what his Deck looks like: Read more…

One of the oldest Decks getting new support from Starstrike Blast are the Gravekeepers. There’s just 1 new Gravekeeper monster in Starstrike, but it’s a powerful pick. Gravekeeper’s Recruiter makes the Gravekeeper Deck stronger than it’s ever been before, by making it faster, more consistent, and by makes its older cards easier to play.

Since Recruiter can search Gravekeeper’s Commandant from your Deck, it’s suddenly much easier to find and activate Necrovalley. You’ll get the Recruiter’s effect when you Tribute it, so Caius the Shadow Monarch, Gravekeeper’s Chief, and Gravekeeper’s Visionary are suddenly far easier to play. And since Recruiter fills your Graveyard while getting you another Gravekeeper, it’s easy to load up 2 Gravekeepers so you can get them back with the Spell Card Gravekeeper’s Stele. Zackery Thomas Charles Biscardi is one of many Duelists playing Gravekeepers here this weekend: here’s what his Deck looks like… Read more…

Justin Devletian’s Psi-Blocker Falcon Deck is packed with cool combos based around Mist Valley Falcon. With his Falcon, he can reuse his best cards and recycle his strongest monsters effect. Check out Devletian’s list and see how he makes the most of his Mist Valley Falcon! Read more…

Starstrike Blast has a lot of cards that strengthen a lot of different Decks, but Quickdraw Synchron Decks got one of the biggest pushes of the bunch. With Quickdraw taking second place at YCS Philadelphia just six weeks ago, and among the 5 most popular Decks at the last few events, it was already a powerhouse. But now, with the addition of powerful Main Deck cards like Glow-Up Bulb and Tuning, plus new Synchro Monsters like Formula Synchron and Shooting Star Dragon (which is seeing a ton of play today), Quickdraw Duelists are definitely at their strongest.

While some competitors are sure to imitate successful Quickdraw Decks from past tournaments, many are also taking the Quickdraw concept in wild new directions. We’ll see some of the more traditional builds later in the tournament, but for now, Samuel Elicker’s Deck is drawing a lot of attention. Elicker has taken the standby cards from familiar Quickdraw builds and brought the strategy back to its 5D’s roots, creating a competitive character-themed Deck. One that taps the Dueling style of the legendary Turbo Duelist Yusei Fudo.

Elicker’s gameplan? “I’m gonna REV IT UP at the YCS!” Read more…

Welcome Duelists! A total of 876 competitors are here today in Atlanta, Georgia for the main event of this Yu-Gi-Oh! Championship Series. As always, there’s lots of buzz about what kinds of Decks we’ll see, especially since the new Starstrike Blast booster set just released 4 days ago.

Let’s go over the numbers from the past few events and see if we can find some clues about what to expect today. At YCS San Jose and YCS Toronto, the 5 most popular Decks of each tournament were the same: X-Sabers; Gladiator Beasts; Blackwings; Quickdraw variants; and Gadgets. Read more…