At a glance
- Advanced: Giovanny Andres Trivino (Ecuador) wins out of 263 duelists with Elfnote. In the final he beats Franco Persano (Argentina), who plays Light and Darkness Ritual.
- It is the first YCS without Kewl Tune: since September 21, Kewl Tune Rotary is Forbidden in the Advanced format and Elfnote Tinia is Limited. The final is between the very two decks that split the tournament, Elfnote and Light and Darkness Ritual.
- The Top 8 speaks two languages: four Elfnote, three Light and Darkness Ritual and a single outsider, Ulises Tadeo Munguia's Blitzclique, which reached the semifinals.
- Genesys: Sebastian Serna (Peru) wins with Blitzclique out of 82 duelists. In the final he beats Jonathan Rivas, who plays Red Dragon Archfiend with Kewl Tune: according to the Yu-Gi-Oh! wiki, it is the first Latin American win at a Genesys YCS.
The schedule
YCS Guayaquil takes over the weekend of October 2–4. The main tournaments, Advanced and Genesys, are played between Saturday the 3rd and Sunday the 4th. It is the first in-person YCS in Latin America since the Tokyo World Championship, two weeks after the remote one.
Advanced, the standings
- 1. Giovanny Andres Trivino (Ecuador): Elfnote.
- 2. Franco Persano (Argentina): Light and Darkness Ritual.
- 3-4. Taiel Fernandez (Argentina): Elfnote.
- 3-4. Ulises Tadeo Munguia: Blitzclique.
- 5-8. Nicolas Miguel Vera Avila (Ecuador): Light and Darkness Ritual.
- 5-8. Alex Mosquera (Ecuador): Light and Darkness Ritual.
- 5-8. Francisco Andres Osorio Bobadilla (Chile): Elfnote.
- 5-8. Saimont Steward Sela Suarez (Ecuador): Elfnote.
Advanced, the meta
In the top 32 Elfnote has 12 players and Light and Darkness Ritual 10: together they make up more than two thirds of the upper part of the standings. According to the wiki, the two dominant builds are Elfnote with Power Patron and a 60-card Light and Darkness Ritual with Sinful Spoils, Azamina, Dark Magician, Mitsurugi and Chaos. Pure Mitsurugi and Blitzclique have two players each. Then one each for Yummy, Snake-Eye, Ryzeal, Mermail, Branded and Gem-Knight. Kewl Tune, the deck that had won Worlds and the remote YCS in September, is gone. The home crowd makes itself heard: there are four Ecuadorians in the Top 8, and at least eleven in the top 32.
Genesys, the points format
In Genesys, Konami's alternative format in which every card has a point cost, Blitzclique takes half of the Top 8:
- 1. Sebastian Serna (Peru): Blitzclique.
- 2. Jonathan Rivas: Red Dragon Archfiend with Kewl Tune, which remains playable in Genesys.
- Top 8: Rico Eichelberger (Switzerland, Dark Magician with Blitzclique), Miguel Angel Hernandez Morales (Mexico, Blitzclique), Gerardo Jesus Delgado Portilla (Peru, Blitzclique), Juan Sebastian Andrade Castro and Javier Alberto Riofrio Bustamante (Ecuador, Sacred Beasts), Ivan Mauricio Calero Garcia (White Forest).
Familiar faces
- Trivino was in the top 16 at the remote YCS in September: two weeks later he wins at home.
- Serna was in the Top 8 of the remote Genesys and here he wins it.
- Juan Sebastian Andrade Castro, at Worlds with Elfnote, makes the Genesys Top 8 with Sacred Beasts. Two weeks later he will reach the Genesys final in Houston with Angelechy.
- Osorio Bobadilla (Elfnote) and Yacine Sahli (Light and Darkness Ritual) repeat the result in Houston: Osorio makes Top 8 here and Top 16 there, Sahli Top 16 in both YCSs.
What comes next
Two weeks later, in Houston, Elfnote and Angelechy split the Top 8 and Trevor Parker wins with Light and Darkness Ritual. The next stop in Latin America is Santiago, Chile, November 27–29.
Sources. summary and data processing from ygoprodeck.com (tournaments 5164 and 5163); Forbidden and Limited List of September 21, 2026 from yugioh-card.com; deck builds and the Genesys first from the yugioh.fandom.com wiki; schedule from Konami. The country of some players is not given; match scores not published.