What's up guys? After two days of intense French dueling, we have a new YCS Champion - Long Dao, who took the title with his UNDINE Mermail deck! Coming in second was Paolo Pacchiana, also playing Mermails! Now, let's review the Top Cut:
Top 32: https://tcg.konami-europe.net/coverage/12840/top-32-pairings-3/
18 Mermail (no idea which version as of yet)
5 Prophecy
4 Fire Fist
1 Frog-Heavy Monarch (https://tcg.konami-europe.net/coverage/12602/deck-analysis-andrea-carusos-explosive-monarchs/)
1 Hieratic
1 Karakuri
1 Six Samurai
1 Dark World
Top 16: https://tcg.konami-europe.net/coverage/12916/ycs-lille-top-16-matchups/
10 Mermail
2 Prophecy
2 Fire Fist
1 Six Samurai
1 Frog-Heavy Monarch
Top 8: https://tcg.konami-europe.net/coverage/12930/ycs-lille-top-8-matchups/
6 Mermail
1 Prophecy
1 Fire Fist
Top 4: https://tcg.konami-europe.net/coverage/12946/ycs-lille-top-4-matchups/
4 Mermail
Wow - now this is an interesting Top Cut. First of all, this event is notable this format for the absence of both Wind-Ups and Dino Rabbit from the playoffs. Wind-Ups were kind of expected, but Rabbit? Very interesting. Prophecy came out in force for this tournament, probably owing to what (I think) is a higher amount of European proponents of the deck. We also had a new version of Frog Monarchs make the Top 16 that does combos with Des Frog and TADPOLE to spam Xyz Monsters. Pretty cool, but I think I might stick with my more conventional build.
As far as recognizable names go, we have Simon He, Long Dao and Alpay Engin, who all played Mermails. Speaking of Mermails, it seems as if the deck's stranglehold on the meta is stronger than ever before with a whopping 18 seats in the Top 32, 10 in the Top 16, 6 (3/4) in the Top 8, and ALL OF THE TOP 4. It would appear that Costa Rica and San Diego's differences from a "normal" YCS is what prevented the deck from putting in as much work as usual, although some would say that a European YCS is not quite "normal" either. Nevertheless, I'm quite happy because this helps to increase the chance that Konami will touch this deck on the next banlist.
This YCS likely won't impact the meta that much seeing as it's the last YCS before the format changes (with Hidden Arsenal 7 becoming legal for the next YCS in New Jersey), but you never know. Interesting tech picks will probably sprout up in the coming days that may cause shifts in the evolution of commonly played strategies.
(Fourth YCS of the March 2013 format (of course coming after Austin, San Diego, and Costa Rica.))
Coverage Comments
As usual, I am quite satisfied with the coverage Konami Europe has done for this event. One of the biggest things I noticed (not sure if it's brand new) was the addition of timestamps to a given post. This seems small, but adds a HUGE amount of detail to everyone not in attendance. It lets you gauge what's going on in real time, and I think there's honestly no reason why North American coverage can't at least do this as well.
Another awesome thing they do that makes things much easier for players is a post archive - you can see every single post done for this event here: https://tcg.konami-europe.net/coverage/12556/ycs-lille-coverage-overview-day-1/
Although this post could be marked in a place where it is easier to find, it makes researching this event so much easier that I can't even begin to tell you how good it is. Another page we should take from their book, North America. I could go on and on about how much better Konami Europe is with this stuff, but let's just leave it at this for now.
Finally, this YCS was also notable for revealing a few card names and rarities from the upcoming Lord of the Tachyon Galaxy set through the Giant Card events: Harpie Channeler (Ultra), Spellbook of Judgment (Secret), and Mecha Phantom Beast Dracossack (Secret). I feel bad for people that legitimately like Mecha Phantom Beasts, because you're really getting shafted as far as your boss monster goes. They really should've restricted him to only Wind Materials, Machine Materials... or something.
So thanks for reading, guys! Make sure to join this blog if you haven't, and leave a comment if you'd like. I know there's going to be hundreds of people reading this, so at least a few of you should! Meanwhile, I'll have a post discussing the 2013 Asia Championship sometime this week.
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