12-year-old Michael Kokovidis from Massachusetts is facing off against 10-year-old Oliver Tomajko from New York in Sunday’s Dragon Duel Feature Match! Tomajko is running a T.G. Flamvell Deck with Horn of the Phantom Beast in it, and Kokovidis is running Six Samurais. The winner of this Match will become Sunday’s Dragon Duel Champion! Read more…

QQ stands for Quick Questions! With so many viable Decks in the tournament this weekend, Duelists are looking to their Side Decks to get every edge in the tournament. I surveyed this weekend’s field of Duelists to find out which Side Deck cards are the competitors’ favorites. Check out their answers! Read more…

Two Duelists were left here in the Finals of the Public Event Playoffs. Tengu Synchro Duelist James Neumann, and Anti-Monster Duelist Christopher Rodriguz. The winner of this Match would claim a set of the Darklord prize cards, while the defeated Duelist would have to take another shot on another weekend. The stakes were high. Read more…

It’s no secret: more and more Duelists are playing Lonefire Blossom and associated Plant-Type monsters to add speed and big Synchro Summoning to their Decks. A Plant Zombie Deck won YCS Orlando, combining Mezuki, Zombie Master, and Plaguespreader Zombie with Glow-Up Bulb, Spore, and Dandylion for a Graveyard-heavy strategy that was tough to beat. Lonefire Blossom’s been a lynchpin card for all sorts of Synchro variants too, often defining Decks like Tengu Synchro, Debris Synchro, and Doppel Synchro. Everybody from Lightsworn Duelists to Gadget fans have been experimenting with the five-card Plant suite.

That’s given rise to a counter-trend, as many Duelists have started playing Dimensional Fissure. By banishing opposing monsters, a clever Duelist can keep key Plant cards from ever using their effects, stopping any Deck dead in its tracks if it focuses on the classic Lonefire cards. Fissure’s great against Pot of Avarice, too, and when it’s active, Duelists can’t activate cards that have to be sent to the Graveyard to claim effects, it stops Effect Veiler, which has been a hugely popular card over the past many months.

Lou Orem played Karakuris at YCS Orlando, but he was back this time with a totally different build. Before Extreme Victory, the most successful Karakuri Decks were ones that used Lonefire Blossom and its Plant-Type pals to kick out Karakuri Shogun mdl 00 “Burei” and Karakuri Steel Shogun mdl 00X “Bureido” as quickly as possible. But with the introduction of Karakuri Komachi mdl 224 “Ninishi”, more and more Karakuri Duelists are playing pure Karakuri builds – no Plants. Those Decks don’t need to reuse cards from their Graveyard, which means they offer the perfect opportunity to run Dimensional Fissure. Here’s what Orem’s Deck looked like. Read more…

Jesus Santos and Billy Brake are about to face off in a Match that will determine who takes home a set of Darklord Prize Cards. Brake is piloting a Plant Tengu Deck against Santos’s X-Saber Deck. Both of these Decks have speed and control, giving neither one of them too big of an advantage in this Matchup. Read more…

In the last hours of every Yu-Gi-Oh! Championship Series weekend, eight intrepid Duelists are selected to compete in two unique mini-tournaments, four competitors in each. The first four are the highest points-earners participating in Public Events over the course of the weekend. The next four are selected at random from the complete pool of participants, regardless of performance. These two groups play off in a two-round Single Elimination showdown, and the winner of each group wins a set of the Darklord prize cards. This Match pitted James Neumann against Nicholas Montano, in the first round of the Random Entry Public Event Playoffs. Neumann is running Tengu Synchro, while Montano is playing Gravekeepers. Read more…

Jesus Santos from Buffalo, New York is facing off against Ricardo Escobar from Puerto Rico in the Top 4 of our point playoffs this weekend! These 2 Duelists racked up some of the most points by playing in Public Events all weekend, and now they’re both 2 wins away from a set of Darklord Prize Cards. Jesus Santos is counting on his X-Saber Deck to take him to the top, while Ricardo Escobar is trusting in his Samurais. Read more…

Blackwings have recently gotten a boost with Duelist Pack 11: Crow, and we saw a number of Blackwing Decks do well this weekend. It’s been a while since we’ve seen a Vayu Turbo Deck make a big showing in a Championship-level tournament, but thanks to the release of new Blackwing cards, some Duelists are banking on the once-popular strategy here this weekend. Victor Santana is one of them. Read more…

Four weeks ago at YCS Orlando we saw Zombies face off against Tengu Synchro in the Finals. Now we’ll see another head-turner of a matchup, as Tyree Tinsley pits his Tengu Synchro Deck against Reinaldo Lainez and his Infernities. Read more…

Tyree Tinsley, with his Reborn Tengu / Synchro Deck, has won YCS Providence, defeating Infernities in the Final Round! Congratulations to our latest Yu-Gi-Oh! Championship Series winner!