None.
"WHAT!? You live less than 30 minutes away from the venue, why aren't you playing?"
I'm actually judging at this event. A lot of people in New England would love to play at this tournament. Instead of playing, I would much rather judge. As much as I like playing the game, judging and overseeing events is a very different experience. To be honest, the amount of fun that some players have is directly related to how their tournaments are ran. A good example was at locals not too long ago. Our card shop, which is more dedicated to other games than YGO, runs each Yugioh tournament with no official "judge" and store associate organizers. The Organizers do not know the rules of the game, less so how to call a dispute between players. Because of that, a few player interactions go down the toilet. If the Organizers doesn't know how to deal with a dispute, he can easily dismiss it, call their match a draw, and do a number of things that the players simply won't agree with. Judging for me is fun because I feel that making players agree with your ideas, feel satisfied, AND have fun is the combination for awesome events.
This is the last YCS in North America before the North American World Qualifers. I'm pretty sure YCSPVD is the last chance for players to get an invite to the World Qualifiers, so I expect the tournament floor to be a red zone. Not red with conflict, but red with passion to get into Day 2. The deck variation in the last few YCS tournaments has been pretty wide, but there have been a few "discoveries" across the Internet that may kill variation this weekend. So this post is mostly to think about what kind of decks to expect.
Tengu Plants
I hate this deck. It is pretty much the epitome of "netdecking." The Tengu Plant deck is plant synchro...with Tengu in it. That doesn't mean the deck doesn't work though, the 3 Tengu just about eliminate all other dead monsters in the deck, creating something a lot more consistent. Tengu actually increases consistency in a lot of decks, by giving you a resource that you can use without TOO much fear of repercussions. It also opens up the chance to defeat your opponent in 1 turn using an explosion of synchros. Two synchros and a Tengu could easily deal 6500 damage to your opponent, if not more. What's even better is how easy the deck is to build. Some people don't even bother with expensive cards like Solemn Warning. Once you get a Glow Up Bulb and 3 Tengu, you just need synchro monsters to make a complete deck. I expect to see many, many Tengu plant variations. It will probably be 40% of the entire population of duelists this weekend.
Samurai
We all know that Samurai are very powerful, but they weren't always consistent. Now that Extreme Victory has been released, the Samurai deck is more consistent than ever. You could almost say that you are more likely to summon a Shi En on turn 1 than not.
Kageki+Kagemusha into Shi En. With the help of Kageki's effect
Kizan+Squire becomes Shi En. No squire in hand? Dojo can Kizan can pull Squire out of your deck.
Elder+Kagemusha into Shi En. Missing one or the other? ASCETICISM.
The deck is actually pretty scary. If you allow them to summon a Shi En, then you have to push back through not only his negation effect, but their spell and trap cards. It is easy to stall against six sams, but the longer you wait to react, the more cards they will have to use against you. I play-tested against friend of the blog Kavy last night using a Six Samurai deck against his real life Zombie plants. As soon as I got out Shi En, he had to get a good card on the field, through all of my Solemn Warnings and Mirror Force. He was able to place a Spirit Reaper on the field that took me a long time to get over, but the problem was his card usage while I am stalled. In a deck like sams that gets out its boss monster easily, then backs it up with a strong backrow, his only option was to deplete my resources. Brionac, Gaia Knight, Colossal, that is 3 Solemns I HAVE to use, because the deck certainly doesn't use bottomless. Either way, Six Sams, no matter who tells you otherwise, is one of the strongest decks in the game. The question is, what you do against them. It is a little bit like Infernities, insanely powerful, but if you play and side in a very specific way, you should be able to win the match.
Gladiator Beasts
A lot of people say that Glads are a weak deck, but there are a lot of tournament winning builds on the internet that work very well. The old Glads were all about tagging out in order to use their effects and Contact Fuse for their boss monsters. The new glads are more like a beatdown deck. It stops your opponent's monster cards, and beats them down with easily playable cards. Whenever applicable, you can Contact Fuse into something dangerous. Forbidden Lance and Safe Zone make the "defensive glad" deck obsolete. I actually like the way the new deck plays. Probably won't be very many showings of this deck, but there should be at least 1 in the top 32.
X-Sabers
In my opinion, X-Sabers are one of the best decks in the game. They are like blackwings, where every monster in the deck an amazing effect. The bosses have great effects too. The only thing Sabers don't have are multiple themed spell and trap cards(well, they have one good trap card). This doesn't make them less powerful though, because Sabers can use just about any spell and trap lineup they want. Some of the most recent tournament winning decks actually use cards that most players side in, just because the deck can do it! The thing is, not many players have the X-Saber cards, so that makes it so they never have a huge showing at tournaments. Despite that, Sabers still manage to get into the top 8 in all events, so that goes to show how good the deck is. I'm sure there will be an X-Saber deck in the top 4 this weekend.
Worms
This is the other deck that everyone wants to see in a YCS. They were in the top 32 at YCS Orlando, but more people are discovering the best part about Worms. Just like Koakis and Sabers, the Worm deck can side into just about anything. Chain Disappearance, Veiler, Dimensional Fissure, Gozen Match, a many other cards can be used to stop most things in the current metagame. I feel like Worms are ALMOST better than gravekeepers, simply for the fact that they don't use a field spell. Other than that, it is almost the same deck. Excessive backrow, easily summonable monsters, anti-meta built into the deck itself(bounce and flip effects). I doubt it will get into the top 4, but top 8 is possible if it isn't 50% Tengu Plants.
Scraps
I wouldn't use Tengu plants over Scraps even if someone payed me. The Scrap deck is SLIGHTLY more easy to side against, but it is much more offensive than Tengu Plants. People would disagree with me, but the explosive power in each deck is just about the same. Scraps can't make Brionac very easily, but your opponent will definitely be on their turns with how easy it is to synchro in the deck. The scrap deck doesn't need luck to synchro every turn, it just needs a turn to set up. After that, it will continue to generate fuel while draining your resources at the same time. Combine this idea with new, overpowered cards like Scrap Orthros, and you have ingredients for a top 16 deck! I'd love to see Scraps win the whole thing, but that would require a creative side deck.
There are many other decks that I would love to see in the top 32 this weekend.
-Nordics: My new deck seems deadly consistent, so I'm wondering how it could fair in a 2 day event.
-Fabled: Another deck that is essentially plant synchro, but better. Not a lot of people feel this way, so it may not see a lot of play.
-Tour Guide Rituals (Herald or Relinquished): Creates fields that are pretty difficult to get out of. Combine that with Safe Zone and your opponent will get pretty annoyed.
-Pure T.G.: No Hyper Librarian, but Halberd Cannon is a pretty good card.
-Hyperion Agents: Not a fan of this deck, but there is no doubt that people will play it. The level 4 and lower monsters just seem so weak to me.
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