There are more than 500 Duelists competing here at YCS Vancouver, and for some, it’s their first time competing in a YCS! This group of friends is local to the Vancouver area, and they’re excited to compete in an event in their hometown. 

Aiden Kim, Stephen Lee, Neil Mangonon, and Eric Cai are all Duelists from the Vancouver area, and they’re thrilled to be competing in their first YCS.

Aiden was overwhelmed by the turnout of the event. “It’s so much bigger than our locals, or even regionals,” he said. “I met some people that are from the States and from other parts of Canada, it’s really cool that they would travel so far to come to an event. Hopefully I’ll get to travel to more events in the future.”

We asked them about how they went about preparing for the event, and the group acknowledged that they put in a lot of time testing with each other. “We had to test quite a bit, because there’s three new decks in Justice Hunters that are all really good,” Eric said. “Originally we thought we were going to keep on playing our old decks, since that’s what we’re comfortable with, but the new decks are really fun and strong. So we spent a lot of time learning all of the new cards and getting ready. It really helped to have our group practicing together, it’s way easier than trying to learn everything by yourself.”

Finally, we asked which Deck these players thought would come out on top this weekend, and they all held the same belief. “Vanquish Soul K9 definitely seems the best, that’s why we’re playing it,” Neil said. “There’s a lot of really good decks right now, even Maliss and Ryzeal Mitsurugi are good, but I think cards like Vanquish Soul Hollie Sue and K9-17 Izuna are just way too good.”

Even though it’s their first time at a YCS event, these Duelists could see their preparation pay off and make it to Day 2, or even the Top 32! Keep an eye on the blog coverage all weekend long to see if any of these first-time Duelists advance!