KOREY MCDUFFIE WINS THE 2014 NORTH AMERICAN WCQ!!! (with coverage highlights)

Congratulations to Korey McDuffie, who just won the 2014 North American WCQ with his HAT deck! Also, congrats to Deon Akridge for coming in second place while also playing HAT.

As you all probably know, the top six finishing players from this event will go on to represent North America at the 2014 World Championship! Thus, 2014's Team North America will be:

(L to R) Korey McDuffie, Deon Akridge, Tej Trivedi, Jimmy Nguyen, Sean McCabe, and Sehabi Kheireddine.

In addition to a super-diverse metagame (especially in contrast to last year), this event was also the first North American non-Worlds event to feature a livestream! I found records of the streamed matches online, so those will be included in today's coverage summary. (You can check here for the stream in its raw, uncut form: http://www.yugioh-card.com/en/video/2014_YGOWCQ_live.html) Continue reading for a collection of highlights from the event coverage posted below!

A. Top Cut

(Still working out all of the numbers here. Check back occasionally for more updates! Also, if you know any deck played by someone whose name is listed in any part of section A, leave a comment and let me know!)

Top 4 - https://yugiohblog.konami.com/?p=18725

2 HAT
1 FHAT (HAT + Fire Fist)
1 Artifact Traptrix

Top 8 - https://yugiohblog.konami.com/?p=18703

3 FHAT
2 HAT
1 Artifact Traptrix
1 Dragon Ruler
1 Infernity

Top 16 - https://yugiohblog.konami.com/?p=18691

3 FHAT
2 HAT
2 Artifact Traptrix
2 Infernity
2 Geargia
1 Dragon Ruler
1 Bujin
1 Sylvan
1 Mermail
1 Madolche

Top 32 - https://yugiohblog.konami.com/?p=18681

(Incomplete: 31/32)

6 Geargia
3 FHAT
3 HAT
3 Sylvan
3 Madolche
2 Artifact Traptrix
2 Infernity
2 Dragon Ruler
2 Bujin
1 Mermail
1 Frog OTK
1 Lightsworn
1 Prophecy
1 Hieratic
1 Terry Kellum, Jr.

Top 64 - https://yugiohblog.konami.com/?p=18672

(Incomplete: 58/64)

13 Geargia
6 FHAT 
6 Sylvan
6 Madolche
5 HAT
4 Artifact Traptrix
4 Infernity
3 Bujin
3 Lightsworn
2 Dragon Ruler
2 Mermail
2 Hieratic
1 Prophecy
1 Frog OTK

Complete Swiss ranking list:

1 Artifact Traptrix
2 Bujin
3 Infernity
4 HAT
5 Geargia
6 Prophecy
7 Sylvan
8 Madolche
9 Geargia
10 Marco Antonio Martinez Garcia
11 Artifact Traptrix
12 HAT
13 FHAT
14 HAT
15 Sylvan
16 Geargia
17 Dragon Ruler
18 Geargia
19 Mermail
20 Hieratic
21 Geargia
22 Sylvan
23 Geargia
24 Madolche
25 Madolche
26 Infernity
27 Madolche
28 FHAT
29 Infernity
30 Geargia
31 Lightsworn
32 Bujin

33 Artifact Traptrix
34 Madolche
35 Jordan Silver
36 Geargia
37 Sylvan
38 Kenneth Hughes
39 Hieratic
40 Lightsworn
41 Madolche
42 FHAT
43 Mermail
44 Geargia
45 Geargia
46 Matthew Thomas
47 Bujin
48 Geargia
49 Lightsworn
50 HAT
51 Dragon Ruler
52 Dexter Rodriguez
53 Frog OTK
54 Sylvan
55 Sylvan
56 FHAT
57 HAT
58 Geargia
59 FHAT
60 Terry Kellum, Jr.
61 Infernity
62 FHAT
63 Geargia
64 Artifact Traptrix

List of all players with unknown decktypes: (6)

1 Marco Antonio Martinez Garcia
1 Jordan Silver
1 Kenneth Hughes
1 Matthew Thomas
1 Dexter Rodriguez
1 Terry Kellum, Jr.

B. Feature Matches

Round 1 - Lightsworn defeat Mermails
https://yugiohblog.konami.com/?p=18309

Round 1 - Mausoleum of the Emperor defeats Geargia
https://yugiohblog.konami.com/?p=18351

Round 2 - Sylvans defeat Skill Drain Control
https://yugiohblog.konami.com/?p=18369

Round 2 - "Tribute Summon" defeats Scraps
https://yugiohblog.konami.com/?p=18398

Round 3 - Chain Burn defeats Lightsworn
https://yugiohblog.konami.com/?p=18418

Round 3 - Geargia defeats Frog OTK
https://yugiohblog.konami.com/?p=18443

Round 4 - Koa'ki Meiru Beast Warriors defeat Lightsworn
https://yugiohblog.konami.com/?p=18431

Round 4 - Wind-Up Artifacts defeat Constellar Artifacts
https://yugiohblog.konami.com/?p=18470

Round 5 - Prophecy defeats Madolche
https://yugiohblog.konami.com/?p=18481

Round 5 - Sylvans defeat Cyber Dragons
https://yugiohblog.konami.com/?p=18542

-

Round 6 - Spirits defeat Bujin
https://yugiohblog.konami.com/?p=18523

Round 6 - Gusto OTK defeats Infernity
https://yugiohblog.konami.com/?p=18551

Round 7 - Dragon Rulers defeat HAT
https://yugiohblog.konami.com/?p=18564

Round 8 - Geargia Mirror Match
https://yugiohblog.konami.com/?p=18595

Round 8 - Geargia defeats HAT
https://yugiohblog.konami.com/?p=18589

Round 9 - Mermails defeat Infernity
https://yugiohblog.konami.com/?p=18617

Round 9 - Bujin defeats Infernity
https://yugiohblog.konami.com/?p=18633

Round 10 - Frog OTK defeats Hieratics
https://yugiohblog.konami.com/?p=18642

Livestreamed Round 10 - Koa'ki Meiru Beast Warriors defeat FHAT
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IMk1HLl3s2w

Round 11 - Prophecy defeats FHAT
https://yugiohblog.konami.com/?p=18653

Livestreamed Round 11 - Geargia defeats Berserk Archfiends
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WfDltDjGEBo

-

Livestreamed Top 64 - FHAT defeats Sylvans
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=teH7UOfKFlU

Top 32 - Mermails defeat Dragon Rulers
https://yugiohblog.konami.com/?p=18683

Top 16 - Artifact Traptrix defeat Madolche
https://yugiohblog.konami.com/?p=18714

Livestreamed Top 16 - Dragon Rulers defeat Artifact Traptrix
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k6lGJjZFDX8

Top 8 - Artifact Traptrix defeats Infernity
https://yugiohblog.konami.com/?p=18718

Top 8 - HAT defeats Dragon Rulers
https://yugiohblog.konami.com/?p=18732

Livestreamed Top 8 - HAT defeats FHAT
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EUb7TnqAo54

Livestreamed Top 4 - HAT defeats FHAT
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0neybouwQEw

C. Top Tables Updates

Round 6 - https://yugiohblog.konami.com/?p=18562

4 Infernity
3 HAT
2 Lightsworn
2 Bujins
2 Evilswarm
1 Sylvan
1 Hand Traptrix
1 Dragon Rulers
1 Reversal Quiz OTK
1 Hieratic
1 Mermail
1 Geargia

Round 8 - https://yugiohblog.konami.com/?p=18611

6 Geargia
3 Mermail
2 Dragon Ruler
2 HAT
1 Artifact
1 Fire Fist Artifact Hands
1 Traptrix Hands
1 Lightsworn
1 Sylvan
1 Reversal Quiz OTK
1 Bujin

Round 10: https://yugiohblog.konami.com/?p=18663

4 Geargia
2 Bujin
2 Lightsworn
2 Madolche
2 Artifact Traptrix
1 HAT
1 Mermail
1 Reversal Quiz OTK
1 Prophecy
1 Dragon Ruler
1 Hieratic
1 Sylvan
1 Infernity

D. Standings Updates

After Round 1 - https://yugiohblog.konami.com/?p=18358

After Round 2 - https://yugiohblog.konami.com/?p=18360

After Round 3 - https://yugiohblog.konami.com/?p=18381

After Round 4 - https://yugiohblog.konami.com/?p=18427

After Round 5 - https://yugiohblog.konami.com/?p=18488

After Round 6 - https://yugiohblog.konami.com/?p=18535

After Round 7 - https://yugiohblog.konami.com/?p=18572

After Round 8 - https://yugiohblog.konami.com/?p=18604

After Round 9 (End of Day 1) - https://yugiohblog.konami.com/?p=18615

After Round 11 (End of Swiss) - https://yugiohblog.konami.com/?p=18672

E. Pairings Updates

Round 1 - https://yugiohblog.konami.com/?p=18293

(Round 2 is now missing for an unknown reason.)

Round 3 - https://yugiohblog.konami.com/?p=18364 (Is that a girl I see at Table 1?)

Round 4 - https://yugiohblog.konami.com/?p=18302

Round 5 - https://yugiohblog.konami.com/?p=18429

Round 6 - https://yugiohblog.konami.com/?p=18490

Round 7 - https://yugiohblog.konami.com/?p=18537

Round 8 - https://yugiohblog.konami.com/?p=18574

Round 9 - https://yugiohblog.konami.com/?p=18606

F. Miscellaneous Articles

Opener - https://yugiohblog.konami.com/?p=18231

Pressure Point: Lightsworn - https://yugiohblog.konami.com/?p=18253

Pressure Point: Mermails - https://yugiohblog.konami.com/?p=18291

Tech Update - https://yugiohblog.konami.com/?p=18477