Hundreds of thousands of duelists around the globe competed in Regional Qualifiers, vying for an invitation to the continental championships. The lucky thousands that made it then converged in Auckland, Austin, Berlin, Hong Kong, Lima, Mexico City, Seoul, Shanghai, and Tokyo, and after grueling multi-day contests of attrition, only the strongest were left standing – and it's quite lonely at the top. From hundreds of thousands hopefuls, the field has been trimmed down to less than thirty contenders; fewer players than your average tournament, at your average card shop, on your average weekend.
Yet, these players are the strongest that the Yu-Gi-Oh! TCG and OCG have to offer. They will clash in what has been often called "the world's highest-stakes locals", to determine who is truly the strongest Duelist in the world.
The World Championship is a unique beast. It is the only tournament that combines the otherwise-disparate realms of the Yu-Gi-Oh! Official Card Game (as played in most of Asia) and Yu-Gi-Oh! Trading Card Game (as played everywhere else). This comes with a different card pool, and a unique Forbidden & Limited List, formed by combining the two component F&L lists. Both regions will need to adjust – TCG players cannot use powerful TCG-exclusive cards such as Necroquip Princess or Aerial Eater, and with Snake-Eye Ash and Sangen Summoning both Limited, two top contenders of the TCG format have their consistency slashed. This is further compounded by limits to TCG staples such as Pot of Prosperity and Kashtira Fenrir. Meanwhile, the OCG's mindset is turned upside down with the absences of the meta-reshaping Maxx "C" and Mulcharmy Fuwaross, and players will have to make do with only a single copy of key cards such as Rescue-ACE Air Lifter and Unchained Soul of Sharvara.
With the stage now appropriately set, let's have a look at fourteen of the twenty-eight Duelists who'll be battling it out across 7 rounds of Swiss, followed by a Top 8 cut, on September 7th and 8th in Seattle, Washington.
Samuel Beboux
Samuel Beboux is a relatively new duelist from Switzerland, who nevertheless managed to use his skills and deck choice to make it all the way to the Top 4 of the European Championships with Fiendsmith Snake-Eyes, securing his spot at the World Championship. His quick wit and adaptability allowed him to pilot the deck's strengths for an impressive finish – as he tells it, he only learned the deck's combos during his flight to the event! Samuel is definitely a duelist you have to respect for his ingenuity, and a contender you must prepare for heading into the World Championship.
Qualified via: EU World Championship Qualifier (Top 4)
Qualified with deck: Fiendsmith Snake-Eyes
Giovanni Barone
Giovanni Barone is one of Italy's most consistent duelists, always performing well in his home country's regional scene. He's most known for using Spright Purrely, which is an often-underrated version of the Purrely deck. In the EUWCQ, he opted to forgo Snake-Eyes and bring the other big Fiendsmith strategy, Fiendsmith Yubel, instead. His play allowed him to achieve an impressive Top 4 finish at the event, punching his ticket to Seattle in September!
Qualified via: EU World Championship Qualifier (Top 4)
Qualified with deck: Fiendsmith Yubel
Azuma Shinichi
Azuma Shinichi is a well-known player within his local Yu-Gi-Oh! community. He began playing with the release of Booster SP: Tribe Force, with his first deck being the newly-introduced Nekroz. He is a talented player with a deep understanding of the meta, and he proved this at the Japan Championship. By piloting the Rescue-ACE deck, he demonstrated his incredible knowledge of the meta against a wide variety of decks. This expertise helped him secure a Top 4 finish at the Japan Championship, earning him a spot as one of Japan's representatives at the 2024 World Championship.
Qualified via Japan Championship (Top 4)
Qualified with deck: Fiendsmith Rescue-ACE
Marshall Demorest III
Marshall Demorest the Third from Connecticut surprised everyone with his amazing performance at the North American World Championship Qualifiers, powering through the competition with his Fiendsmith Yubel strategy to reach a Top 4 finish. While not new to the game itself, this is definitely his first major competitive result and what a debut it is! We'll see how well this rising star competes in this year's World Championship in Seattle.
Qualified via: NA World Championship Qualifier (Top 4)
Qualified with deck: Fiendsmith Yubel
Landon Edward Oliver
Landon Oliver is a great duelist who first started getting acclaim during the late Covid era, with good results in Remote Duel events in 2022. He managed to transition seamlessly back to in-person play, being able to claim back-to-back Top 32 finishes at YCS Richmond and YCS Indianapolis with Purrely last year – an incredible feat. He's a huge fan of technical decks such as the aformentioned Purrely, and he was able to bring Fiendsmith Snake-Eyes to a triumphant Top 4 placement at this year's North American World Championship Qualifier, securing his spot for Worlds!
Qualified via: NA World Championship Qualifier (Top 4)
Qualified with deck: Fiendsmith Snake-Eyes
Wang Chia Ching
Wang Chia Ching is no stranger to anyone following the Asia competitive scene, given his numerous achievements: Top 8 at the Spring Duel Festival 2022, Top 7 at the Dark Magician Tournament Kaohsiung, Top 2 at the Yu-Gi-Oh! Asia Championship 2018, and many more. Most notably, he is also no stranger to the World Championship – winning the title in 2018, and finishing as the runner-up in 2019, making him an idol to many. This year, he has made a strong comeback with high achievements in Taiwan, including Top 5 at the Black Luster Soldier (Normal Monster) Tournament in Tainan City and Top 8 at the WCQ Taiwan final. Representing Taiwan at the WCQ Asia Final, with the composure of a former world champion, he defeated many formidable opponents to reach the finals, securing a ticket to this year's World Championship. Can he become the second person in history to win two World Championship titles? Let's follow his journey this year and find out.
Qualified via: Asia World Championship Qualifier – Final Round (Runner-Up)
Qualified with deck: Fiendsmith Snake-Eyes
Baptiste Derouin
Baptiste Derouin is a hardened duelist who's been performing well all the way since 2016. He's employed a wide variety of decks – such as Kashtira, which he used to win the Netherlands Nationals in 2023, Floowandeereze, with which he topped YCS Lyon and YCS Dortmund in the same year, and Rescue-ACE, with which he took the 2024 German Open by storm. In 2024, he repeated his performance at the Netherlands Nationals with Snake-Eye – a deck which, now equipped with the brand-new Fiendsmith engine, took him to the top of the European WQP Playoff. His passion and dedication for the game is quite unmatched – even though he'd already qualified for the World Championship through the points playoff, he still had a legendary run in the main event of the European Championship, having an impressive Swiss record and making it all the way to the Top 32. Undoubtedly, Baptiste Derouin is one of Europe's players to watch in Seattle!
Qualified via: EU Worlds Qualifying Points Playoff (Top 2)
Qualified with deck: Fiendsmith Snake-Eyes
Kalist Uremovic
Kalist "Kalmight" Uremovic earned his 2nd place at the Oceanic Championships with one of his favorite decks, Branded Despia, thus securing his invite to the World Championships! He has been playing the deck for quite some time, even performing well at YCS Sydney with it. The joint banlist limiting both Branded Fusion and Branded Opening may prove to be too tough for the deck, so we'll just have to see what he cooks up for the big tournament.
Qualified via: Oceania World Championship Qualifier (Runner-Up)
Qualified with deck: Branded Despia
Moriuchi Ginga
Moriuchi Ginga began his Yu-Gi-Oh! career with the Structure Deck - Jonouchi Edition, playing casually with his brother. Although he officially started studying decks during the Nekroz era, it wasn't until he entered university that he began participating in tournaments, achieving various successes in CS tournaments. At the Japan Championship 2024, he chose Labrynth, a deck he had spent over a year mastering, and his dedication paid off as he secured 4th place in the tournament. This achievement made him one of Japan's four strongest representatives at the 2024 World Championship.
Qualified via: Japan Championship (Top 4)
Qualified with deck: Fiendsmith Labrynth
Ruben Penaranda
Ruben Penaranda has been on a roll lately, racking up one of the highest number of worlds points across the US by dominating events all year long. He's had deep and successful runs with various versions of Snake-Eyes (both Pure, Kashtira, Melodious and most recently Fiendsmith) at both YCSes and Regionals, as well as having back-to-back Team YCS wins under his belt. Being one of the strongest duelists representing North America, will he rise to the top and take the entirety of the World Championships?
Qualified via: NA Worlds Qualifying Points Playoff (Top 2)
Qualified with deck: Fiendsmith Snake-Eyes
Gabriel Netz
Gabriel Netz is one of the most popular veteran duelists out there, especially in both the EU and the Brazilian communities. He's known for his extremely creative lists such as the 60-card Adventure piles of old, and even combined Dragon Link with Kashtira cards, allowing him to perform Kyoutou Waterfront combos into Gameciel, the Sea Turtle Kaiju. After many years of hard work and determination, his efforts paid off in the biggest way by reaching the Top 2 in the EUWCQ Playoffs, earning his ticket to the World Championships. This is definitely his most prolific result so far!
Qualified via: EU Worlds Qualifying Points Playoff (Top 2)
Qualified with deck: Fiendsmith Snake-Eyes
Kondo Yuto
Kondo Yuto is a veteran of the game, having played since the release of Legend of Blue Eyes White Dragon (LOB) when he was still in elementary school. He began participating in various tournaments during middle school, carrying the dream of competing on the world stage. Over the years, he tried to qualify as a representative for Japan to earn a spot at the WCS but was unsuccessful. Undeterred, he returned this year and overcame all challenges, securing the runner-up position at the Japan Championship 2024. This achievement has earned him his first-ever opportunity to compete in the most prestigious Yu-Gi-Oh! tournament, the World Championship.
Qualified via: Japan Championship (Runner-Up)
Qualified with deck: Fiendsmith Yubel
Juan Daniel Juarez Nequiz
Juan Daniel Juarez Nequiz is a venerated duelist in the Latin American competitive scene, winning multiple regionals, topping the 200th YCS in Mexico, and performing very well in national level events. This year he managed to punch his ticket to the World Championship by winning the Central America World Qualifying Points Playoff with Mannadium! He's been focusing on this strategy for quite some time, putting up great results with it throughout the year. It will be interesting to see if he sticks with the deck going into Worlds, or if the joint banlist and prominence of the Fiendsmith engine prove to be too harsh of an environment.
Qualified via: Central America Worlds Qualifying Points Playoff (Winner)
Qualified with deck: Scareclaw Mannadium
Adrian Gregory George
Adrian Gregory George is one of Trinidad and Tobago's best duelists, and he managed to win the entirety of the South America World Qualifier Point Playoffs with a very unique deck: Ritual Beast! He's also been doing well at various regionals with decks such as Vanquish Soul, and is known and feared for his unexpected but effective strategies. Since Ritual Beast is looking like a promising contender for the World Championships, who knows – it might even be his deck choice for the event!
Qualified via: South America Worlds Qualifying Points Playoff (Winner)
Qualified with deck: Ritual Beast
I'm sure every one of them has their own idea of what they think the strongest Deck of this unique format will be, but whose guess is right? Only time will tell – and with only a single shot at glory, there are no second chances.
Not enough World Championship for you? Then head on over to part 2 of this article!
