Hello Yugioh Community! The 11th hour is upon us! We are merely days away from the 100th YCS that will be taking place in Long Beach, California! I know I speak for a majority of duelist out there when I say it is almost impossible to contain my excitement. The best duelists from around the world will be flying in to take a shot at being the winner of this monumental event! I know I will be pulling out all the stops to try and capture my 3rd YCS Championship win! Just before the 100th YCS is here I want to make sure all you guys are prepared and ready to increase your chance to do well! I am going to go over some of the most important things that I keep in mind right before and during every major event that I attend. Having the right mind set and making sure you dot all of your I’s and cross your T’s could be the difference from simply making Day 2 and being a serious contender for the YCS Champion title!
Question of the Article: What deck do you think will win the 100th YCS Long Beach, California?
Don’t forget to answer the question of the article in the comments down below!
A Guide to follow to increase chances of success
Over my many years of traveling to major events I have developed patterns that seem to work and make me feel like I am putting myself in the best chance for success. These are things that have come along naturally and now I can look back and realize how these simple phases have really helped me become a better Top-Level Duelist. This isn’t a strict guideline you must follow in order to do well, but merely my own suggestions on how to go about your weekend the right way allowing yourself to have an enjoyable and hopefully very successful experience.
Friday - Pre-Registration and Final Chance to Play Test
Friday is probably my favorite day out of the three days that make up a YCS. This is the day you get to meet up with your friends from out of town, your forum buddies you have been corresponding with, and just a chance to see a lot of faces you aren’t necessarily familiar with. You are able to talk to people from all over the place and get their input on how the state of the game is and what cards are some of everyone’s favorites going into any event. Communication with others is a key part into making sure you are prepared for an event. Personally, I love to go out to eat with a huge group of people and spend dinner discussing many topics such as: The cards we like and don’t like, decks we think are going to be running rampant, any new decks that might come out of left field and give us a run for our money, special techs to help gain an advantage on the competition, and making sure we are all up to date on all of our rulings so we don’t leave anything to chance in the morning. This process usually happens naturally when a lot of duelists are around each other, but it can be quite important going into any major tournament. Discussing Yugi – Theory -oh with duelist provides a sort of check systems amongst friendly duelist.
Another important aspect of a YCS that many duelist overlook is Pre-Reg. If you ever see me at an event on Friday, there is a good chance I will be the first guy standing in line to get my name registered for the tournament. I always try and make sure I am one of the first few to get registered to not only avoid lines, but add peace of mind. Once you get in the system you are in and all that will be left is to turn your deck list in Saturday morning. I recommend to everyone that you Pre-Register if you are able to as it will allow a lot less stress the morning of the YCS.
One last thing to make sure you get done on Friday night is your deck list! You do not want to wake up the morning of the event and be running a little behind and have to write out your deck list as fast as possible. If you finish it Friday night you can go over the list multiple times, have a friend go over it, and completely make sure you won’t have any penalties for a silly mistake. I cannot stress to you how important filling out your deck list properly is, it can really make or break you for the event.
The day of the Event
With all the Hype that is surrounding the 100th YCS it is not farfetched to say this even will have over 2000 players. That is a lot of duelist under one roof! This will mean the paring boards will be crowded, the bathrooms will be gross, and the day will be very long with lots of dueling. You must make sure you keep a level head during the event and be on alert for the whole day. There are many simple things you can do throughout the day to help make sure you stay on top of your A game!
1) Don’t forget to use the Bathroom!
As silly as this may seem it can be quite important. There is nothing worse than sitting down about to go into a 40 minute round than having to use the restroom from the get go. Not only will you feel uncomfortable it can throw you off your game completely! Just make sure when you do plan to use the restroom know how long it will take you and when the next round will approximately start. I have had a couple opponents show up late or not even at all because they were stuck doing their business in the bathroom and lost track of time. Make sure you relieve yourself, but don’t get a game loss because you weren’t paying attention!
2) Stay Hydrated and Alert throughout the Day
You need to keep liquids in your system during the day. It will keep your body from just feeling awful. Eating a few small snacks in between rounds can really go along way. You want to make sure your body isn’t failing you in the middle of the game round 9 when you are on the bubble and need the win to make it to Day 2. I have been a victim to this kind of fatigue and knew that I was playing much worse because of my lack of food and energy. It is important to keep your body feeling good and your mind in top shape so you can play your best game when it is needed the most.
3) Do not go on Tilt:
I have seen player after player fall victim to this disease, including myself. When you take a loss you need to know how to shake it off and move on to the next round with a blank slate. A friend of mine once told me, “Cards don’t have memories!” and this statement could not be truer. Your deck and the cards in it don’t know what happen from one game to the next and you should be able to feel this way emotionally as well. It is important to understand if you made a misplay and do what you can to prevent that in the future, but don’t beat yourself up about it over the next few rounds and have it affect you in future duels. 8 or 9 rounds is a lot of dueling and you need to take each round the way they are, one at a time. If it is round 5 you don’t need to win 5 rounds in a row, you need to win round 5. Take each round as they come and try not to slump them all together. Avoiding this kind of stress can really help relax your brain and help you keep a clear head to do some top-level dueling.
Conclusion:
When you are going into a YCS you need to make sure you have a good mind set. It’s a good idea to converse with other players about everything you can think of that is related to the event and how everyone plans on gaining an edge on the competition. Anytime you are going to spend all day dueling it’s important to keep your mind in the right place and keep a clear head. Any type of emotional or physical stress can lead to a poor performance. After playing competitively for awhile now, I can honestly tell you at an event where I feel I have followed all of these guidelines have been my most successful ones. Every player has their own ways of going about doing things, but for me this is what I find that works!
Thank you for reading! Good luck to everyone who will be attending YCS Long Beach! I will be there so feel free to come up and say hello to me! As soon as I get back home you can expect a tournament report about my weekend at the 100th YCS so make sure you stay tuned! Play Hard of Go Home!
-Billy Brake
-YCS Toronto and YCS Columbus Champion
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