YCS Charlotte

This weekend is the first YCS after the Ban List and will set the stage for the format to come. Let us take a look at the decks and feature matches we see today. With a total of 1048 duelists here today, we should be seeing some interesting decks and some awesome tech.

The first deck profile of the day is Frazier Smith's Dragunity deck. You may know Smith from his YCS Atlanta win with Gravekeeper's. He is here today with hopes of striking oil twice. The deck list will be posted after the event.

The Round 1 Feature Match is Frazier Smith's Dragunities Vs. Josh Smith's Gravekeeper's. How perfect is it that Frazier is up against the deck he piloted to victory at Atlanta. This battle of Field Spells is what will draw the deck to victory. You can read all about this duel here.

And we have a second Round 1 Feature Match, Mike Papalazaros' Gravekeeper's Vs. Jeff Jones' Nordics. Jones will have a tough time working around Necrovalley, but he is a seasoned duelist and this should prove to be an excellent duel. You can read all about this duel here.

Jeff Jones is a two time winner of the YCS tournaments and has gotten himself a deck profile with his Nordics. We will be showing the decklist after the event is done.

Round 2 has come and the Feature Match is Robbie Stargel's Dragunities vs. Manny Vargas' Chaos Plants. Stargel's Dragunities are unlike any other here today, because he runs Stardust Dragon/Assault Mode. Dragunities are well known for being able to produce Level 8s on the first turn and Stargel is looking to capitalize on a first turn Stardust with Assault Mode Activate. Great tech in my opinion. And we have Vargas running Chaos Plants with a playset of the newly Unlimited Chaos Sorcerer. This could spell trouble for Stargel's Stardusts, as they are unable to prevent Exile. You can read this whole feature match here.

A second Feature Match for Round 2, this one holds Francisco Brown's Fableds vs. Paul Cooper's Empty Jar deck. Brown's Fabled deck runs a subtle Plant engine and will prove interesting. You can read the whole Feature Match here.

Round 3's Feature Match is Kay Shim's Scraps vs. Christopher Reitz's Gravekeeper's. Both duelists are undefeated as of this round, this match will change that. Shim will have a lot of difficulty playing around Necrovalley, but it should prove a fierce duel. You can read the whole Feature Match here.

Round 4's Feature Match is Jerry Wang's Miracle Geminis vs. Dakota Vandawalker's Six Samurais. Miracle Geminis have guided Wang to Table 6 in this round, but Vandawalker is no chump fourteen-year old. He is one of the top ranked Six Samurai players at this YCS. You can read this entire Feature Match here.

As Round 5 comes along we are getting a Top Table update. The top 10 tables are all undefeated players heading into their fifth round. Gravekeepers are doing well despite the expectations of many critics. We see Jeff Jones at Table 5 with Nordics. Thomas Luebke at Table 3 with Karakuri Machina Plants an interesting, but new choice in deck. Francisco Rome is at Table 3 as well with Black Salvo Chaos, the newly Unlimited Chaos Sorcerer is having a lot of play here today. Joshua Dickerson is the only Gladiator Beast player at a Top Table currently. You can view the entire listing here.

Round 5's Top Table is the place for the Feature Match with Nicky Lacaille's Fish vs Marc Hahn's Gravekeeper's. Both decks as I said are undefeated, but this shall be the downfall of one. You can view the whole Feature Match here.

Round 6's Feature Match is Jonathan Barber's Flamvellsworn deck vs. Marquis Johnson's Gravekeeper's. Both decks have a undefeated 5-0 record and the Gravekeeper's have the advantage in this match up. You can read the whole Match here.

Round 7 shows us our first view of Blackwings today facing off against Six Samurai. Courtney Waller's Vayu Turbo build vs. Kuanchang Lai's Six Samurai. Both duelists are 5-1, giving the winner of this match a strong shot at Day 2. You can read the whole match here.

Table 4 is hosting Round 8's Feature Match with Sean Coovert's Six Samurais vs. Anthony Alvarado's Dragunities. Alvarado, winner of a 2005 Shonen Jump that was hosted in Charlotte, is undefeated, save for 1 Draw. While Coovert is going in undefeated into this match up. You can read the entire report here.

Round 9 is a Mirror Feature, facing Fili Luna's and Billy Brake's X-Saber decks. Both duelists are 7-1 coming into this crucial round. Let's see who will break in this match. You can see the whole match here.

We have another Deck Profile here. This one is Jonathan Barber's Flamvellsworn deck. We saw him win the Round 6 Feature Match and he went 8-1 in Day 1. You can see the whole profile here.

(We will have the deck list up after the event is finished)

Round 10's Feature is Phillip Pena's Six Samurai vs Jacob Haar's Plant Synchro deck. Haar's deck took a hit with the banlist, losing 1 of both Dandylion and Debris Dragon, but both players are 8-1 coming into this round. You can read the whole report here.

Round 11's Feature is Kevin Silva's Dragunities vs. Ramon Mera's Blackwings. Mera's teching in 2 Spirit Reaper into his Blackwings and gave the deck the nickname Spirit Wings. Both players have an 8-2 record this round and we can be expecting a lot of Icarus Attacks flying around. You can view the whole match here.

Finally we are to the Top 32. The Feature Match of this round is Miracle Gemini duelist Jerry Wang vs. Thomas Luebke's Karakuri Machina Plants. Two great duelists with two exceptional decks. You can read the whole match here.

We have the Top 16 match list and it is a interesting bunch. We have 2 X-Sabers, 2 Six Samurai, 4 Gravekeeper's, 1 Empty Jar!, 1 Chaos Plants!, 1 Flamvellsworn, 1 Dragunities, 2 Fish, and 1 Karakuri Machina Plant. Paul Cooper's Empty Jar deck is a real surprise here. I personally

am rooting for the Plant deck (pun intended). Barber's Flamvellsworn deck is doing incredibly well and I wouldn't be surprised to see it in the Top 4. This is turning out to be an incredible YCS.

The first match of the Top 16 that is finished is the X-Sabers vs Six Samurai match. Nizar Sarhan and his Six Samurai triumph over Stephen Silverman's X-Sabers. This leaves only 1 X-Saber deck in the tournament.

The rest of the Top 16 Results are in! We have Paul Cooper's Empty Jar deck beating out Glenn Lightfoot's Gravekeeper's. Elijah Gersten's Gravekeeper's beating Anthony Dignoti's Chaos Plants. Sean Coovert's Six Samurais defeating Justin Wong's Gravekeeper's. Jonathan Barber moves to the Top 8 with his Flamvellsworn defeating Deryck Rothenberger's Miracle Gemini. Nicky Lacaille's Fish pushing Frazier Smith's Dragunity deck out, leaving no Dragunity decks in the Top. Calvin Tahan's Fish defeat Thomas Luebke's Karakuri Machina Plants. and Billy Brake's X-Sabers pushing forward against Camden Keener's Gravekeeper's.

The Quarterfinals matchups are Gersten's Gravekeeper's vs Coovert's Six Samurai, Barber's Flamvellsworn vs Lacaille's Fish, Cooper's Empty Jar vs Sarhan's Six Samurai, and Brake's X-Sabers vs Tahan's Fish. Interesting to say the least.

The first three matches of the Quarterfinals are finished and we have Coovert's Six Samurai beating Gersten's Gravekeeper's, Cooper's Empty Jar beating Sarhan's Six Samurai, and Brake's X-Saber beating Tahan's Fish. This leaves us with Barber vs Lacaille in the last match to finish.

The final match of the Quarterfinals has finished! Nicky Lacaille and his Fish have defeated Jonathan Barber's Flamvellsworn. This puts Six Samurai, Fish, Empty Jar, and X-Sabers in the Semifinals.

The Semifinals are finished with Coovert's Samurai beating Cooper's Empty Jar and Lacaille's Fish beating Brake's X-Sabers in a fantastic game that had to be seen to be believed. The Finals are set, it is Fish versus Six Samurai.

And this YCS comes to a close. Sean Coovert wins against Lacaille's Fish. This makes Sean Coovert and his Six Samurai the winners of the Charlotte YCS. Congratulations to Coovert and everyone who played this weekend.

-Lonefire