Thousands of Yu-Gi-Oh! TRADING CARD GAME (TCG) players traveled to Chicago for a weekend jam-packed with competition, attending the annual Yu-Gi-Oh! North America World Championship Qualifier (WCQ) and Yu-Gi-Oh! North America Dragon Duel WCQ. The best of the best from America and Canada went head to head, duking it out for the title of North America WCQ Champion and Dragon Duel Champion and a place in Japan’s 2017 Yu-Gi-Oh! TRADING CARD GAME World Championship this August.
Duelists competed in countless premier-level tournaments this past weekend, as Konami Digital Entertainment, Inc. (KONAMI) brought the culmination of an entire year’s worth of competition to the Donald E. Stephens Convention Center. And while North America’s greatest gave it everything they had, there could only be two winners: Chester Henson in the Main Event, and Ryan Yu in the Dragon Duel division.
Kentucky’s Henson consistently outplayed the field throughout the weekend, flexing the might of a perfectly-built True Draco Zoodiac Deck. After two days of fierce Dueling in the Main Event, the Finals came down to an electrifying clash between Henson and New York’s Roland Fang. Despite a tremendous effort from Fang and his pure Zoodiac Deck, it was Henson who reigned supreme after a knock-down, drag-out 2-1 Finals Match.
But rivals quickly become teammates! Henson and Fang will join Top 4 finishers Richard Yam and Kenny Nguyen to represent North America in August’s 2017 Yu-Gi-Oh! TRADING CARD GAME World Championship, traveling to Japan in style with complimentary travel and accommodations. While all of the weekend’s Top Cut finishers took home lavish prizes, to the victor go the spoils: newly-minted Champion Henson took home complete sets of Maximum Crisis and Raging Tempest; 72 booster packs; exclusive Championship Game Mats and Card Sleeves; a PlayStation® 4 system; and two copies of the YCS Prize Card Number 93: Utopia Kaiser.
An exclusive Championship Trophy celebrated the achievements of all the Top 8 finishers, and the four Duelists who earned their invitation to Japan will each wear a Personalized Jersey to be awarded at the World Championship – a longstanding tradition reserved for Dueling’s greats.
Not to be outdone, the North America Dragon Duel WCQ showcased some of the world’s most incredible up-and-coming Duelists. Featuring Competitors born in 2004 or later, the youth division Championship demonstrated a stunning level of talent. At the end of the competition it was Ontario, Canada’s Yu who captured the title with his Performapal Magician Deck, narrowly triumphing over Charley Futch III from Indiana, defeating Futch’s True Draco Zoodiac Deck in the Finals and delivering a performance for the ages.
As the North America Dragon Duel Champion, Yu will travel to the Dragon Duel World Championship next month in Japan. He earned some awesome prizes along the way too: complete sets of Maximum Crisis and Raging Tempest; a PlayStation® 4 system; exclusive Game Mats and Card Sleeves; and a copy of the coveted Number 93: Utopia Kaiser YCS Prize Card. Yu’s victory was celebrated with a Championship Trophy and he’ll wear a Personalized Jersey at the World Championship.
Duelists can now watch episodes of the exciting new Yu-Gi-Oh! animated series, Yu-Gi-Oh VRAINS, available subtitled on Crunchyroll. The series will be simulcast with a new episode available one hour after it is broadcast in Japan, at 6:25AM EST (Simulcast currently available in the US and Latin America). Watch here: http://www.crunchyroll.com/yu-gi-oh-vrains!
Additionally, Duelists can watch a new episode of Yu-Gi-Oh! ARC-V every Sunday on Nicktoons – check local listings for times. In addition, all-new Yu-Gi-Oh! ZEXAL episodes every Tuesday as well as all of classic Yu-Gi-Oh!, Yu-Gi-Oh! GX, and Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D’s can be seen on www.yugioh.com in the United States. In Canada, Duelists can watch episodes of Yu-Gi-Oh! ARC-Vevery Friday and Saturday on Teletoon! For more information on KONAMI or the Yu-Gi-Oh! TRADING CARD GAME, please visit www.yugioh-card.com or call 310-220-8630 to speak directly with a Yu-Gi-Oh! customer support team member.
About The Yu-Gi-Oh! TCG
The Yu-Gi-Oh! TRADING CARD GAME is the #1 trading card game in the world with over 25 billion cards sold. It is a game of strategy, where players create individual Decks of cards collected from Structure Decks and Booster Packs. Two players engage in a Duel while using cards that represent powerful monsters, magical Spells and surprising Traps. Duelists with well-constructed Decks, dominating monsters, solid strategy and good fortune are the victors in the Yu-Gi-Oh! TCG. Konami Digital Entertainment, Inc. is the exclusive licensee and rights holder to the Yu-Gi-Oh! TCG in North America and Latin America.
About KONAMI
KONAMI is a leading developer, publisher and manufacturer of electronic entertainment properties and traditional trading card games. KONAMI’s software titles include the popular franchises Metal Gear Solid, Silent Hill, DanceDanceRevolution and Castlevania, among other top sellers. KONAMI is also the manufacturer of the wildly popular Yu-Gi-Oh! TRADING CARD GAME, which has sold more than 25 billion cards worldwide. The latest information about KONAMI can be found on the Web at www.konami.com. KONAMI HOLDINGS CORPORATION is a publicly traded company based in Tokyo, Japan with subsidiaries, Konami Digital Entertainment Co., Ltd. in Tokyo, Japan, Konami Digital Entertainment, Inc. in the United States and Konami Digital Entertainment B.V. in Windsor, the United Kingdom. Details of the products published by KONAMI can be found at www.konami.com.
