At a glance
- Advanced: Trevor Lee Parker (United States) wins out of 1,074 duelists with Light and Darkness Ritual in the Azamina and Dark Magician build. In the final he beats Blake Funderburke with Elfnote.
- The Top 8 comes down to three decks: three Elfnote, three Angelechy and two Light and Darkness Ritual.
- Genesys: Enzo Fiallos (United States) wins with Blitzclique out of 273 duelists. In the final he beats Juan Sebastian Andrade Castro (Ecuador), who plays Angelechy and was at the World Championship in August.
- No Kewl Tune in the top 32 of Advanced: since September 21, Kewl Tune Rotary is Forbidden in the Advanced format and Elfnote Tinia is Limited, and the deck that won Worlds vanishes from the standings.
The schedule
Friday is Day 1 of the Genesys format, Saturday is Day 1 of Advanced, and Sunday is Day 2 of both. Alongside the two main tournaments there are public events and the Dragon Duel for players born in 2013 or later. At stake, besides exclusive prizes, are invitations to the next World Championship qualifier.
Advanced, the standings
- 1. Trevor Lee Parker (US): Light and Darkness Ritual with Azamina and Dark Magician.
- 2. Blake Funderburke (US): Elfnote with Ars Magna.
- 3-4. Steven Trifunoski (CA): Elfnote with Ars Magna.
- 3-4. Jamie Hunter (GB): Angelechy.
- 5-8. Brian Mejia (US): Light and Darkness Ritual with Horus, Azamina and Dark Magician.
- 5-8. Julien Kehon (US): Elfnote with Ars Magna.
- 5-8. Dylan Dallmeyer (US): Angelechy.
- 5-8. Roberto Hernandez Bonilla (US): Angelechy.
Advanced, the meta
In the top 32 the field is mostly three decks: Elfnote, almost always with Ars Magna, with 10 players; Light and Darkness Ritual with 9, in builds with Azamina and Dark Magician, with Branded, with Angelechy or with Ars Magna; Angelechy with 8. Five spots remain, one each for Branded with Despia, Dark Time Wizard with K9, Sky Striker, Yummy with Dark Magician and D/D/D. Already by round 8, according to Konami's coverage, Elfnote and Angelechy held more than half of the top 20 tables. The winning deck goes against the grain: the Yu-Gi-Oh! wiki describes it as an Azamina deck with Sinful Spoils, Dark Magician and Chaos, without the Mitsurugi engine. For Parker, again according to the wiki, it is only his second Top Cut at a major tournament.
Genesys, the points format
Genesys is Konami's alternative format in which every card has a point cost and the deck has a cap. Here the Top 8 belongs to Blitzclique and Angelechy:
- 1. Enzo Fiallos (US): Blitzclique.
- 2. Juan Sebastian Andrade Castro (EC): Angelechy.
- 3-4. Brian Dong (US): Angelechy. Matthew Vanden-Heuvel (CA): Blitzclique.
- 5-8. Ittipat Arunnaveesiri (CA) and Jesse Kotton (CA): Fairy Tail. Michael DiGiorgio (US): Angelechy with Ancient Fairy Dragon. Khalil Afaneh (US): Blitzclique.
In the top 16 Blitzclique has 6 players plus one with Angelechy, Angelechy 5, Fairy Tail 2. Rounding out the group are one Dark Time Wizard with Radiant Typhoon and one HERO.
Familiar faces from Worlds
- Julien Kehon was among the 30 finalists in Tokyo with Power Patron Artmage. In Houston he switches to Elfnote and makes the Top 8.
- Logan Johnson, top four at Worlds with Kewl Tune, finishes in the top 32 in Houston with Angelechy.
- Juan Sebastian Andrade Castro played Elfnote in Tokyo. In Houston he reaches the Genesys final with Angelechy.
- Jamie Hunter (United Kingdom) is the only European in the Advanced Top 8, and he gets to the semifinals.
What comes next
Next stop is YCS Orlando, November 6–8 at the Orange County Convention Center, with the same three-day schedule. Then Santiago, Chile, November 27–29.
Sources. standings and decks from ygoprodeck.com (tournaments 5185 and 5186); schedule and prizes from yugioh-card.com (YCS Houston 2026 page); Forbidden and Limited List of September 21, 2026 from yugioh-card.com; details on the winning deck from the yugioh.fandom.com wiki; table trends from the coverage on yugiohblog.konami.com. Deck variant names differ from source to source; match scores not published.