14 May 2013

(the belated) analysis of YCS Lille - Because 40-card decks are overrated anyway

Yeah, I postponed it due to various reasons, but here it finally is. The analysis of YCS Lille:

Here are some facts and figures:

  • Total amount of players: 828 (less than Bochum, but it’s the biggest French YCS)
  • Card legality: Screwed up, because we were not allowed to play Hidden Arsenal 7. This news by itself already confirmed a win for Mermails.
  • Rounds of swiss: 7 on Saturday, 3 on Sunday (10 total).
  • All players with 15 or more points on Saturday could continue on Sunday (173, but several people dropped due to being unable to attend on Sunday).
  • After 10 rounds of swiss, there was a top-32 cut-off.
  • 8 players with 2 losses were unable to top (always an annoying thing to achieve)

Top 32 players and their decks

DuelistDeck
Alain LyMermail
Alpay EnginMermail
Andrea CarusoFrog Monarch
Andrea ZenariProphecy
Anthony LocogeKarakuri
Antony CadoganProphecy
Billy D’hondtDark World
Brian GreivingFire Fist
Denis MiricFire Fist
Emanuele FollentiProphecy
Enzo DuvalMermail
Frederico ZopponiProphecy
Filippo GallettiMermail
Joschua SchmidtMermail
Karthihan VijiMermail
Long DaoMermail
Luca ChetoniMermail
Marcel LeuckerProphecy
Marcus PatelFire Fist
Martin JonesMermail
Michael SchallenbergMermail
Mickael Da SilvaSix Samurai
Miha FlisekMermail
Nikolay PallerMermail
Oliver LukendaFire Fist
Paolo PacchianaMermail
Robin BachofnerMermail
Roman KieserMermail
Seb MoghimMermail
Sergio CavaliereHieratic
Simon HéMermail
Stefan BatterbeeMermail

Notable toppers are Alpay Engin (winner of YCS Bochum) and multiple YCS-toppers Joschua Schmidt and Simon Hé.

Joke of the weekend: Billy, the only topping Belgian, was somehow registered as Billz D’Hondt. Due to that, we kept calling him Billz for the rest of the weekend (lol).

Cutoff results

Of the 18 Mermail decks that topped, only 8 were cut off in the next round. The lone Dark World deck, Hieratic deck and Karakuri OTK deck were removed from the field and both Fire Bros and Prophecies were reduced to a pair.

This resulted in the following top-16:

  • 10 x Mermail
  • 2 x Fire Fist
  • 2x Prophecy
  • Frog Monarch
  • Six Samurai

Top 8, this was reduced to:

  • 6x Mermail
  • Fire Fist
  • Prophecy

Unlike YCS Bochum, from the top-4 onward this YCS became boring. The top-4 was covered with 4 Mermail decks, thus making the obvious winner a Mermail deck.

It will not surprise you if I mention we didn’t stay to watch the finals (unlike in Bochum).

The victory goes to… a 53-card Mermail deck

The final was thus Mermail versus Memail, Paolo Pacchiani (Italy) Versus Long Dao (Austria). You can read the feature match here: https://tcg.konami-europe.net/coverage/13068/finals-long-dao-vs-paolo-pacchiana

The winner of this YCS was Long Dao, with a 53-card deck! The deck profile was done by fellow Belgian Lithium2300, you can watch it over here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Co2xaflQ3tw

I’m not going to link other deck profiles, because they’re all Mermails… the only interesting one was that of the winner.

Next up in Europe: Nationals and the European qualifier

Next up on the European events is the Nationals for each country. In previous years PJ Tierney gave us a list of all winners. I’m willing to do the same this year (since he's not doing it anymore), but then I’m going to need input from everyone. :-P

Further European YCS’s are postponed until after the World Championship (Vegas). So the last big event in Europe that’s planned is the European Championship. This will be in:

  • Location: Frankfurt Germany
  • Date: June 28th-30th

Afterword

Since I’m kind of late with this, I’ll make it up. So next up this week, I’ll also give you the analysis of YCS New Jersey!

On a few side-notes:

  • Thanks to the great coverage team of Europe (PJ Tierney and Oliver Gehrman). It’s only thanks to them that I’m able to make this report so detailed.
  • Did you notice the number of Prophecy players? According to what I hear, they apparently sided together and made a build that was really good versus Mermails, thus granting them 4 tops! As a Prophecy-fan, I can only say congratz!
  • There was not a trace of Hidden Arsenal 7 at Lille, not even in the shops (probably so they didn't had to defend themselves for not making it legal). Still a sad thing, since it would've sold out in no-time.
  • Mermails declare themselves once more an obvious winner with no real opponents. Fire Fists lack Chicken, Prophecies are good, but not broken and Evilswarm was obviously absent. This theme will repeat itself for YCS New Jersey as well. This will only change with each countries Nationals and the qualifier for each continent.
  • One of my fellow Belgian players went with a Self-Destruct button deck to troll to the max. After three rounds he got the judges against him, because they told that three draws didn’t make a draw as end result (huh)?
  • I was happy to have a YCS this close to my home. It ensured many Belgians would attend the event. And nothing is more fun to have a big event with many people you know.

That's it for now. Now I'll start collecting info of New Jersey. Until then, V out.

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