In the past year, Desmond Boyd placed in the Top 16 of YCS Philadelphia and Top 16 at YCS Indianapolis, both with X-Sabers! Now, he’s back at the WCQ, this time playing a teched out Six Samurai Deck running 2 copies of Fiendish Chain and a copy of Vanity’s Emptiness. His opponent, Alberto Barrera, is competing in his first-ever WCQ with Gravekeeper’s. Boyd’s experience and Deck choice may give him the edge in this Match, but some great draws for Alberto Barrera could allow him to score a huge upset!

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At every Yu-Gi-Oh! Championship Series event, eight lucky Duelists who competed in Public Events over the course of the weekend get a chance to duke it out for a set of the same Prize Cards offered to the Top 3 finishers in the Main Event.  Four Duelists are selected at random: they Duel in a 2-Round single elimination tournament for the first set of Prize Cards.  Four more Duelists their chance by accumulating points awarded for participating in Public Events: the four competitors who earn the most points get to play in a second Playoff, for a second set of Prize Cards.  This weekend, Matt Hattershide and Alex Reynolds were the last two Duelists in the Points Playoff.  The winner of this Match would take home a Super Rare set of Darklord Asmodeus, Darklord Superbia, and Darklord Edeh Arae.  Reynolds is playing Six Samurai, while Hattershide is running Gravekeepers.
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Juan Morales just defeated a Six Samurai Deck in his Top 8 Feature Match, and now he’ll have to do it again with his Birdman Tengu Deck if he wants to move on to the Finals. But like the Six Samurai opponents before him, Vincent Cassello will be doing everything he can to defeat Juan Morales and advance in the tournament instead of him.
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Vincent Cassello was the final Samurai Duelist left in the tournament. He was so close to the finals, but  he would have to win two more Matches to get there. His opponent, Phillip Smith, intended to put a stop to the Samurai advance with his Plant Synchro Deck.
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Juan Morales is facing off against James Ashley’s Samurai Deck in this Top 8 Feature Match. Juan Morales is no stranger to the Six Samurai Matchup – he’s been facing it all weekend on the road to the Top 8. Now, one more Samurai Deck stands between him and the Top 4. But James Ashley won’t be making it easy for Morales – he’ll be doing everything he can to stop Morales in his tracks and fill that Top 4 spot with another Samurai Deck.
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We just saw Matthew Nunn defeat Dueling veteran Ryan Spicer in our Round 9 Feature Match, taking a 2-1 victory with an all-new build of Samurai that’s devastated opponents this weekend!  Forget Upstart Goblin: this Deck uses Shien’s Dojo, Elder of the Six Samurai, and Asceticism of the Six Samurai to Synchro Summon Legendary Six Samurai – Shi En and Naturia Beast with horrifying consistency on turn 1.  Here’s what Nunn’s Deck looks like:
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Matthew Nunn is playing what may become the next great Six Samurai Deck.  Armed with Shien’s Dojo and Asceticism of the Six Samurai in threes, Nunn’s build can Synchro Summon Legendary Six Samurai – Shi En or Naturia Beast with shocking consistency on turn 1.  But Nunn’s opponent won’t make victory easy: Ryan Spicer is a Duelist who’s racked up countless Top 16 and Top 32 appearances over the years.  He happens to be piloting the 1 Deck Nunn’s stated he doesn’t want to face: Monarchs.  Both competitors are 7-1, so a win here is integral to making the playoffs.  The victor will be a near-lock, while the other Duelist will need a win in the last round and some tiebreaker help to make the cut.
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A field of over 1000 Duelists has been trimmed to just 2: Sean Coovert with Six Samurai, versus Nicky Lacaille with Fish!  One of these Duelists was about to become a Dueling legend!
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Sean Coovert and Elijah Gersten are battling it out in the Quarterfinals! Sean Coovert is counting on his Samurais to carry him to the Semifinals, while Elijah Gersten is banking on his Gravekeeper’s. In the past, the Gravekeeper’s versus Six Samurai matchup has favored the Six Samurai Duelist, but with a new Forbidden & Limited List in effect, either Duelist can win this one.
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Five weeks ago, Nizar Sarhan won YCS Dallas with Six Samurai.  At the time, it was a new Deck that was unfettered by the March 1st Forbidden and Limited List.  Now, Sarhan’s Deck only has 1 Gateway of the Six, and just 2 Solemn Warning… But that didn’t stop him from going undefeated in this weekend’s tournament!  Sarhan was the only Duelist to win every Match he played in the Swiss Rounds of this event: now he’s earned a spot in the Top 16, and he’s looking to repeat his Championship victory!  A win here would be almost unprecedented: no Duelist has won back-to-back Championships since Ryan Hayakawa’s 2-time Championship win in 2005.

But his opponent this Round is Stephen Silverman, another YCS winner!  Silverman is playing X-Sabers, and the veteran Duelist has a pedigree that extends far beyond Sarhan’s win in Dallas.  The X-Saber / Samurai matchup is going to be big in this new format, and this Match is bound to be a formative one for the months ahead.  Both of these competitors are truly great Champions, but only one can make it to the Quarterfinals!
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