Yu-Gi-Oh! World Championship 2023" report! High-level duels unfold at the first world championship in four years, with the addition of "Yu-Gi-Oh!

The "Yu-Gi-Oh! World Championship (WCS)" has been held since 2003, and after being held in Germany in 2019, it was postponed due to the impact of the new coronavirus and the global situation, but it will return in 2023 for the first time in four years. It will return in 2023 for the first time in four years. The competition will be held for the first time in four years, and the first champion of "Yu-Gi-Oh Master Duel" will be decided. The level of fan attention was even higher than in previous years. In this article, we will report on the final matches held on August 6 for both "Yu-Gi-Oh Duel Links" and "Yu-Gi-Oh Master Duel.

From left to right: Paulie Aronson (Official Card Game), Team "snipehunters" (Master Duel), Yukoo (Lee Jonghwan), Takagi (Jian Yu Jiang) (Duel Links), Team "Team 7 (Master Duel division), Juan Mateo Augusto Renteria Pastor (Official Card Game division)

The August 6 tournament kicked off with a Japanese instrumental band and dance performance. The place was filled with unleashed cheers and claps as the beautiful and brave sounds played by the shakuhachi, koto, and flute harmonized with the dancers' cyber dance performance with LED decorations shining in the darkness. It was a scene that would have been unthinkable under the new coronavirus epidemic.

Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Links.

In the final of the Duel Links section, Yukoo (Lee Jonghwan) and Takagi (Jian Yu Jiang) battled it out.

The most notable player was Takagi, who has been playing for only three years, and was awarded Rank 4 in the new KC Cup points system, in which players with the highest total of KC Cup points are awarded the right to participate in the World Tournament. He won the semifinal match against a field of fierce competitors to advance to the finals.

Yukoo (Lee Jonghwan)

Takagi (Jian Yu Jiang)

The first game was a thrilling affair, with both players playing a mixture of trap cards. First, Yukoo used his "Purgatory Dragon Ogre Dragoon" ability (if he had no cards in his hand, he could nullify magic and trap cards activated by his opponent) to check his opponent's magic and trap cards. However, Takagi activated "Great Catch" while Yukoo still had cards in his hand. By controlling Yukoo's "Purgatory Dragon Ogre Dragoon" with that ability, he was able to use his own Magic and Trap cards before launching an onslaught. He decides a speedy victory in about 6 minutes of game time.

In the second game, Takagi player set up a W-Ace system with "Clear Wing Synchro Dragon" and "Crystal Wing Synchro Dragon". On turn 3, when Takagi played "Crystal Wing Synchro Dragon," Yukoo activated "Great Capture," but Takagi used "Forbidden Holy Spear" to nullify it and attacked directly. Takagi followed with "Clearwing Synchro Dragon," reducing Yukoo's LP to zero and winning again.

The duel was a clash of wills between the two players. In the third game, Takagi won the war of attrition and became the champion of the WCS 2023 "Duel Links Division" with a straight 3-0 score. After the match, Takagi looked exhausted and exhausted.

Master Duel Division

The "Master Duel Division," which began this year, is a three-player team competition in which three-versus-three duels are played simultaneously, and the rounds are repeated for a maximum of three rounds. The team that wins the first five rounds wins the championship. Players are allowed to talk to each other not only during the game, but also during the 10-minute interval between rounds, allowing them to share information such as their opponents' decks. In addition, the eight winners of the online qualifying rounds each became a team leader and appointed two fellow team members, and "shared cards," which allow up to three common cards to be placed in all decks, were among the many team efforts to liven up the team competition.

Team "snipehunters" consisted of team leaders Josh (Joshua Schmidt) and Emre (Emre Kizilates) from Germany and QuantalThink (Jack-Rory Steenkamer) from the Netherlands. Team 7, the team leader Raye (Raymond Dai) from the U.S., Karmano (Ryan Yu) and Jesse Kotton (Jesse Kotton) from Canada. Karmano, in particular, won the "Elementary School Division" of the WCS 2017 after only two years of playing. Six years later, he is back in the finals of the WCS in the "Master Duel Division," which shows the long history of the series.

Team "snipehunters," from left to right: Josh (Joshua Schmidt), QuantalThink (Jack-Rory Steenkamer), Emre (Emre Kizilates)

Team "Team 7", from left to right: Jesse Kotton, Karmano (Ryan Yu), Raye (Raymond Dai)

Round 1 featured a leadership duel between Josh and Raye. The "snipehunters" won two games, and Raye of "Team 7" took one win as the leader.

In round 2, "snipehunters" had to win three straight games to decide the winner, but this time "Team 7" won two games and "snipehunters" won one, making it a 3-3 tie. In the QuantalThink vs. Jesse Kotton match, the two players clashed with each other's tiebreaker decks, but Jesse Kotton's "Fairy Legend-Shirayuki" played a big role. Jesse Kotton named "Legend of the Fairy-Sirayuki" as his favorite card, and he believed in her to fight through the battle with him.

In round 3, Emre and Karmano played to a 4-3 win for the title, and QuantalThink won the final game of the night with a 4-3 victory. In the QuantalThink vs. Raye match, QuantalThink beat the leader of the other team, and "snipehunters" became the first champion with a score of 5-3.

Two surprise announcements were made at the event.

The first was the implementation of a new world for "Yu-Gi-Oh Duel Links": on September 28, 2023, the "Yu-Gi-Oh SEVENS" world, an anime that aired in 2020, will be added, and "Rush Duel," which features massive draws and continuous summoning, will become playable in this world. According to producer Akitsu Terashima, the existing "Speed Duel" will also remain playable, and the company plans to develop the work around the two axes of "Speed Duel" and "Rush Duel" in the future.

Producer Akitsu Terashima

The second is a tournament to be held at the Tokyo Dome next February: "Yu-Gi-Oh Duel Monsters The Legend of Duelist QUARTER CENTURY" will be held on February 3-4, 2024, to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the series. For more details, please wait for future announcements.

The WCS, where fierce duelists from all over the world fought it out, is expected to be even hotter in the future.

©Studio Dice/Shueisha, TV Tokyo, KONAMI ©Konami Digital Entertainment