Overview
Event Breakdown: YCS Orlando
Date: February 1-2 2025
Tayveon Crowley from the United States wins YCS Orlando 2025 with Fiendsmith Ryzeal! He dueled against Benjamin Tamarkin in the finals, who was on Ryzeal Mitsurugi.
There were 2274 duelists in the event, 12 rounds of Swiss with a Top 64 Cut! This is one of the larger NA YCSes in recent history.
Top 64 Breakdown
29 Ryzeal (25 Fiendsmith)
19 Maliss (17 Bystial, 2 Fiendsmith)
7 Mitsurugi (Ryzeal)
3 Bystial (Fiendsmith)
2 Tenpai Dragon (1 FS Bystial)
2 Atlantean Mermail
1 Primite (FS Bystial)
1 Fiendsmith (Kashtira)
The Top Tiers
Fiendsmith Ryzeal continues to be the most represented deck with several people on the strategy and outright winning the tournament! Incredibly talented duelists such as Lucas Sacco invented an unexpected 2-card combo with Ice Ryzeal and Fiendsmith Engraver that puts up a near unbreakable board; Ryzeal Detonator with Ryzeal Cross backed up by D/D/D Wave High King Caesar and Abyss Dweller with Lacrima the Crimson Tears, Fiendsmith's Agnumday and Fiendsmith's Desirae in the GY!
Players are also hot on this deck's trail, as we saw a huge uptick of Mulcharmy Purulia, Metaltronus, and Ultimate Slayer to combat the strategy.
Steven Santoli brought an interesting iteration of Pure Ryzeal, utilizing creative techs such as Gravekeeper's Inscription and Book of Moon to edge out against the top-tier strategies in the format. Solemn Strike also appeared as a powerful and unexpected tool in his arsenal. Nearly all of the Pure Ryzeal players in his circle ran this powerful Counter Trap to help supplement the deck's linear playstyle and secure key victories.
Ryzeal Mitsurugi did very well for its first YCS showing, putting up numbers and showcasing how strong its grind game and engine can be when it gets going. Ame no Murakumo no Mitsurugi is a difficult boss monster to deal with, and the Ryzeal engine is used to get the deck to its game plan while backing it up with Ryzeal Detonator. While it may occasionally open suboptimal or awkward hands due to the nature of Ritual decks and suffers from the likes of Droll & Lock Bird and Abyss Dweller, the deck is a legitimate metagame contender and even managed to reach the finals of YCS Orlando! Unlike most of the topping Regional players, a huge portion of the YCS topping lists have strayed away from the Nadir Servant package to streamline the deck and reduce bricking, but we still do have duelists like Carlos Cortina able to make it work.
Due to the ubiquity of the Fiendsmith engine and many other key LIGHT and DARK monsters to banish from the GY, there was a huge uptick in Bystial Maliss this YCS, being the second most represented deck in the Top 64 with a much smaller gap with Ryzeal compared to the previous YCS. This incredible combo deck hot off CRBR continues to thrive, especially with the new additions from Supreme Darkness such as A Bao A Qu, the Lightless Shadow to enable Knightmare Gryphon, despite the plethora of Artifact Lancea and Mulcharmy Meowls used to combat it in the Side Deck.
Bystials are notably the strongest extenders for Maliss. These decks ran a larger Bystial count overall with a few lists running The Bystial Lubellion and Branded Regained. The latter is especially notable against the mirror match and when paired with Allure of Darkness. Bystial Druiswurm is in high demand as of now and can even help deal with the likes of Eclipse Twins, Mitsurugi Ritual Monsters, Ryzeal Detonator, and possibly even Knightmare Gryphon in some instances. The latter is especially popular in Maliss lists, due to how easy it is to summon and how it's capable of locking the opponent out of the game while recycling your powerful traps. Bystial Baldrake is seeing a lot of recognition due to its powerful disruption ability, now easily fueled by decks that run a high Fiendsmith and Bystial count. Dimension Shifter is seeing more main deck play than ever in Maliss, as it cripples the Fiendsmith engine that the majority of the top duelists are on at the moment.
Fiendsmith Maliss was incredibly popular throughout the event but only 2 duelists managed to reach the Top 64 with it. (Carlos Gabriel Velez & Michael Gold Jr.) Despite this, it's one of the most powerful versions of Maliss due to how easily it can access A Bao A Qu, the Lightless Shadow and it has a built-in gameplan against Artifact Lancea with the Fiendsmith engine.
Fiendsmith Forever?
An even bigger emphasis on the Fiendsmith engine was seen throughout this YCS, as the majority of the topping players used it to soup up their decks or use it as their primary strategy in the case of Mario de Micco's Fiendsmith Bystial, maxing out on Lacrima the Crimson Tears. He ran an interesting tech card in Goblin's Crazy Beast which puts up a lot of pressure against Ryzeal boards. Kashtira Fiendsmith also made an appearance, though has largely fallen out of favor.
Fiendsmith Primite managed to snag one spot in this YCS to everyone's surprise! Primite Dragon Ether Beryl, Primite Roar, and Primite Lordly Lode are incredibly efficient control tools that can also flex into the Fiendsmith engine and then some, courtesy of White Duston! The engine is also highly effective at making Hieratic Seal of the Heavenly Spheres. With Bystials added into the mix, it's a very grindy deck with the Primite cards giving it the edge compared to its FS Bystial contemporaries. Primite Drillbeam also gets a special mention as a recyclable negation and removal tool all in one. Notably, this gives the deck a highly accessible out to LIGHT and DARK Chaos Angel which is on everyone's radar as of late.
Poseidra Storms in!
Atlantean Mermail managed to get two solid placements in the Top 64! The deck was already in a relatively strong spot in the previous format, but the additional support from Supreme Darkness has given it a huge boost in viability. A lot of this has to do with how powerful Poseidra, the Storming Atlantean is as a versatile extender, combo piece, and board breaker all in one. Dominus Impulse is no longer as common compared to the previous formats without strong FIRE decks, but Mermail can flex this exclusive hand trap to help combat the likes of Maliss and Fiendsmith.
Due to the deck's versatility and powerful 1-2 card combos, there's a lot of build variety when it comes to certain techs and endboard pieces. Stephen Klaus' list made use of a very unexpected card: Deep Sea Aria in conjunction with Deep Sea Prima Donna for some incredibly nasty plays. Meanwhile, Brandon Chang's version wielded the power of LeVirtue Dragon, adding back free Mermails and Atlanteans for follow-up and disruption while also adding Virtue Stream for free. It's worth noting they've dropped the Superancient Deepsea King Coelacanth package due to its tendency to brick. Moulinglacia the Elemental Lord remains a powerful ace card of the deck, able to utterly decimate the opponent's hand and leave them unable to recover.
Closing Thoughts
Bystials were on full display this YCS, with players running packages as big as 7-10 in their decks. This has sparked discourse among players in the community. Should bans or limitations be put in place on these powerful hand traps? This marks the end of my analysis article for YCS Orlando 2025. We'll continue to work on decklists for both YCS/Regionals and also provide coverage for the upcoming YCSes this weekend: YCS Birmingham and Latin America Remote Duel YCS! Until next time folks, Renren out!
