Event Breakdown: YCS Providence
Date: May 4 - 5, 2025
Overview
YCS Providence Top 32 Breakdown
12 Maliss
11 Mitsurugi (10 Ryzeal, 3 Fiendsmith, 1 Pure)
4 Ryzeal (1 Fiendsmith, 1 Heraldic Beast, 1 Nemeses)
1 Kashtira Regenesis
1 Atlantean Mermail
1 Fiendsmith Bystial
1 Primite Blue-Eyes
1 Horus Crystron
Charley Futch wins YCS Providence with Ryzeal Mitsurugi! He dueled against Shunping Xu in the Finals, who was on Fiendsmith Ryzeal. There were 1572 Duelists at the event, with 11 rounds of Swiss and a cut to Top 32. Click here to view all the lists from the event! These heavenly Ritual Reptiles might just be the best World Premiere / TCG Exclusive archetype we've had in recent memory.
Reptillian Retribution
Alliance Insight has brought Mitsurugi to a truly monstrous level, surprising a lot of people (including myself), being the second best performing deck out of the YCS, nearly tying Maliss and winning the entire event! Ame no Habakiri no Mitsurugi is an absurd 1-card combo that fully unlocks the deck's capabilities. Mitsurugi no Mikoto, Aramasa is another strong addition that plays nicely with Mitsurugi Ritual and Mitsurugi Prayers, forming a formidable trio alongside his fellow level 4 main decks in Mitsurugi no Mikoto, Kusanagi and Mitsurugi no Mikoto, Saji.
Duelists are on a couple of builds, we've seen Pure who can run Pot of Extravagance, Gordian Slicer, Dominus Impulse and Mitsurugi no Miko, Wousu, Ryzeal, Fiendsmith, and even the latter two combined.
Ryzeal and Mitsurugi have been a long-stablished pair, but the second wave really makes the deck shine. Ice Ryzeal, Sword Ryzeal, and Ext Ryzeal are able to go into Mitsurugi combo thanks to King of the Feral Imps adding the new Ritual monster. Unlike before, you don't need to commit Eclipse Twins and search twice with KOTFI to get your plays going. Not only that, the deck still has access to Ryzeal Detonator (even if Ryzeal Duo Drive doesn't resolve, because of Node Ryzeal) which can be heavily back-breaking when paired with Ame no Murakumo no Mitsurugi + their Quick-Play Spell. Of course, the Mitsu cards are able to field a healthy amount of level 4s to bridge into Ryzeal plays. This makes its so both halves can seamlessly access the other engine while comboing off.
I:P Masquerena into Dyna Mondo is a very powerful play that provides two high-impact disruptions. First is Mondo's removal effect on summon, then its other effect to revive Ame no Murakumo to wipe the opponent's field of monsters. Ryzeal Cross is able to guard against Bystials that may potentially stop you, or pairing Prayers with Dyna Mondo to secure your Murakumo safely returns to the field.
Players are still divided on ratios and tech cards, as some choose to run options like Night Sword Serpent to bolster their Mitsurugi Ritual. Some duelists prefer to run the Rank 8 package with Divine Golden Shadow Dragon Dragluxion as the bridge to Ryzeal instead via Seventh Tachyon. Other Rank 4 options are also effective, such as Gallant Granite to search Nibiru, the Primal Being, Daigusto Emeral to draw cards and recycle engine requirements (can be used twice thanks to Eclipse Twins) or Code Igniter to force a Ritual Summon after getting hit with a Dominus Impulse. Pre-Preparation of Rites is a strong power Spell that gets you to any of the three Ritual monsters and Mitsurugi Mirror, an alternative way to Ritual Summon. Overall, the deck is extremely flexible when it comes to individual card choices, so feel free to try things out and see if they work for you!
Fiendsmith Mitsurugi is a relatively new discovery that takes advantage of the deck's newfound ability to effortlessly pump out bodies while increasing its ceiling and resiliency at the same time. It was a lot more prominent over at week 1 of Nationals but had a good showing nonetheless at the YCS.
Both variants are able to offer something to assist the deck against Droll & Lock Bird, which is normally a death sentence. Habakiri through Droll can set up Fiendsmith's Desirae + Dyna Mondo, reviving Murakumo in the Fiendsmith variant or pass on D/D/D Wave High King Caesar + Lacrima / Paradise setup with followups from both engines (Kusanagi add back Saji or Ritual, depending on the hand). Meanwhile the Ryzeal variant is more than capable of fielding a Ryzeal Detonator through Droll, which is still a formidable boss monster. Using Mitsurugi Prayers in the Draw Phase and tributing a Mitsurugi monster can often be a great way to play through this troublesome hand trap. (This play potentially nets you three searches before they have an opportunity to cut you off.)
Queens of the Meta?
Maliss is the other superstar from Alliance Insight, projected to be the best deck of the format, with many high-profile duelists like Ruben Penaranda and Ryan Yu topping with it at the event and facing each other in the Top 32. The additions of Backup @Ignister, Wizard @Ignister, and Allied Code Talker @Ignister have boosted it to ridiculous levels and even give it some level of counterplay against Artifact Lancea. Cyberse Wicckid allows the Maliss cards to bridge into Backup thanks to its search effect. Maliss in the Mirror gives Maliss Q Red Ransom a whole new dimension of utility and blesses the deck some flexible interaction, while Maliss P March Hare can truly do it all!
Despite all the efforts to hate side against it, even running up to 9 cards, it still managed to take the most spots in the event, 12/32! Topologic Bomber Dragon is an increasingly popular tech in order to out the likes of Chaos Hunter. Not only that, it's a Topologic for Borrelcode Dragon's GY effect, which lines up nicely with Ultimate Slayer! It also doubles as an impressive boss monster, turning the board into a minefield with March Hare and/or GWC 06. Meanwhile, some Maliss duelists cut a few of their Trap cards to streamline their plays. Spell Card "Monster Reborn" saw some niche play in a few of their side decks to serve as both a versatile extender and a potential disruption going into the mirror match.
Raise the R4NKs!
Ryzeal outside of its Mitsurugi pairing has a couple of new tricks up its sleeve. Star Ryzeal lets the deck proactively access Ryzeal Cross or its other backrow if and when needed. Carl Manigat paired the strategy with Nemeses cards, as Infernal Flame Banshee can access them or Ryzeals with ease. Michael Park used Heraldic Beasts, as Ext Ryzeal sending Number 18: Heraldry Patriarch to dump Heraldic Beast Leo and Heraldic Beast Stad Whale offers ridiculous amounts of advantage and the deck is able to spam level 4s to pair Detonator with the Heraldic boss monsters.
Mulcharmy Minigame
Players have been increasing their Mulcharmy counts (Fuwalos, Purulia, and Meowls) to combat the popular decks of the format. Droll & Lock Bird ran rampant in this event as well, seeing high main deck usage. We also saw a bit of anti-GY action with Ghost Belle & Haunted Mansion and D.D. Crow popping up in Swiss rounds, with the latter being in Shunping Xu's 2nd place list.
Regenerating Ice
Regenesis gets its YCS debut top, piloted by Steven Wind! The Kashtira cards add a whole lot of stability to the archetype. Because of this, he opted to run the full package with both Kashtiratheosis and Kashtira Birth. Both Kashtira Fenrir and Kashtira Unicorn are highly useful in enabling your plays. The former adds a 2500 ATK monster so you can summon Warrior, Dragon, or Sage while the latter lets you board Archfiend onto the field. Dragon's Mind is a recurring Counter Trap that also helps the deck seal the game, able to answer most blowouts and cut off the opponent's plays.
Against all odds, Steven Santoli made it incredibly far with Horus Crystron, a relatively unpopular variant of the deck. Crystron is managing to fight its way through the high powered ALIN format thanks to its unique blend of interactions which are difficult to come by, doing well in Regionals, Nationals and sneaking into YCS Providence! Imsety, Glory of Horus and King's Sarcophagus are able to freely pitch Crystron cards (e.g, Crystron Smiger and Crystron Thystvern) to facilitate their plays and make Rank 8 monsters to insulate or extend with Xyz monsters such as Number 90: Galaxy-Eyes Photon Lord or The Zombie Vampire. His Super Polymerization tech proved to be very useful, dumping Crystrons while decimating or preventing opponent's boards. Notably, this relieves a lot of strain that D/D/D Wave High King Caesar presents otherwise. Other interesting decks include Atlantean Mermail, Fiendsmith Evil Twin and Primite Blue-Eyes.
Conclusion
YCS Providence was quite the eventful tournament and is a decent springboard into the start of the ALIN format. We have a lot of National Championship events happening every week, so it's a great time to tune in to the competitive scene. Mitsurugi takes the event by storm and has been finishing incredibly strong in other events, potentially challenging Maliss as the best deck. I'll be creating a write-up about Nationals soon once we get week 2 results! Until next time folks, Renren out! Be careful on your way out there, duelists! Otherwise, you may have to discard a card or else you might get negated by Ame no Murakumo no Mitsurugi!
