560 Duelists gathered in Vancouver, Canada to compete in this weekend’s YCS in a new metagame that is likely to be defined by the recent release of the Justice Hunters booster set.

Maliss, Fiendsmith, Ryzeal, and Mitsurugi cards have been dominating in the Yu-Gi-Oh! TRADING CARD for quite a while. In addition to those strategies, Orcust, Gem Knight, Vanquish Soul, and Onomat strategies made it into the Top 8 of the recent North America WCQ last month. But the release of Justice Hunters is likely to change everything.

The new K9, Yummy, and Dracotail themes from Justice Hunters have drastically different styles and strategies, but each one packs incredible power. K9 is a theme based around Level 5 monsters and Rank 5 Xyz Summons; Yummy is a theme built around low-Level Beasts and Synchro Summons; and Dracotail is a theme full of Spellcasters and Dragons that enable Fusion Summons. Duelists have been experimenting with ways to integrate these archetypes into Decks using other themes.

The end result of the new Justice Hunters cards entering the fray will inevitably be a reshaped metagame that is largely defined by these new strategies. Opinions about the best way to use the new strategies from Justice Hunters vary drastically among top Duelists, and many of this weekend’s attendees entered the YCS with the belief that the way they built their Deck is optimal. At the end of the weekend, however, only one Duelist can be crowned the champion of YCS Vancouver and take home the brand new Ultra Rare Anotherverse Stratios, the accompanying trophy, and lots of other great prizing.

The Duelists are shuffling up their Decks for Round 1. It’s almost time to Duel!