At a glance
- Advanced: Logan Kite is the champion. In the final he beats Joseph Bellafiore, 2023 YCS Richmond champion, 2-0: it is his first YCS final, played with Angelechy.
- Genesys: Timothy Dahl is the champion with Ashtra Blitzclique, in the final against Jesse Kotton (Magistus Fairy Tail), who came in at 8-0 on Friday.
- The Advanced Top 8 mirrors the meta: four Angelechy, three Ars Magna Elfnote and a single Radiant Typhoon, Sylvia Dupee's. The Angelechy bring two to the semifinals and one to the final.
- First place after Swiss: Rico Eichelberger, 13-1 and 39 points, won the giant Black Luster Soldier – Envoy of the Beginning.
Advanced: from Swiss to the final
Of the 256 who advanced from Saturday, 8 remain. After round 14 the Top 8 is, in order: Eichelberger (39 points), then at 36 Luka Kovac, Patrick Hoban, Logan Kite, Sylvia Dupee, Lennard Klein, Joseph Bellafiore and Brandon Hagen. At the top tables of round 13 the Ars Magna dominate: 12 decks with Power Patron and Elfnote and 8 with Artmage, against 10 Angelechy. Among the feature matches, Steven Niskey beats Levi Dudley 2-0 in round 13 with Ars Magna Power Patron, decided on the very last card, and Sylvia Dupee reaches the Top 8 with Radiant Typhoon after the round 10 feature match.
- Quarterfinals: Hagen beats Eichelberger, Bellafiore beats Kovac, Kite beats Dupee, Hoban beats Klein. Hoban's quarterfinal is shown in full: Klein wins game 1 with Kusanagi, Hoban comes back in game 2 after Nibiru, then wins game 3 with five monsters that get past Inspector Boarder, reaching ten effects.
- Semifinals: Kite beats Hagen, in the derby between two Angelechy; Bellafiore beats Hoban in the clash between two Ars Magna Elfnote.
- Final, Kite against Bellafiore: Angelechy against Elfnote Ars Magna, the pairing that animated the whole weekend. In game 1 Kite wins the dice roll (8 against 7) and goes first; Bellafiore answers with Regina and Power Patron, but Kite stops the Synchro with Ghost Ogre & Snow Rabbit. With Angelechy Destrier he makes every effect cost 500 life points, with Shatranga he limits Bellafiore to five monster effects, and a Dominus Impulse answers the last push: Bellafiore concedes. In game 2 Kite goes second: Bellafiore stops his Mulcharmy Fuwalos with Ash Blossom, but that is exactly what opens the way to the opening card that lets him start playing already on the opponent's turn. Destrier, Castellan, Bastion and Shatranga come in; at the fifth effect Dominus Spark banishes Lucina and Bellafiore shakes hands. Kite jumps off the stage to hug his friends.
Genesys: the Top 8
The Genesys Top 8 is varied too. After round 11 Kotton, Goosby and Dahl led at 30 points (10-1), with Vanden Heuvel, Da Silva, Crowley, Suarez, Flores, Ehresman, Outlaw and Cai at 27. At the top tables of round 11 the most played deck is Blitzclique, with 6 copies, but the many versions of Angelechy are the largest family.
The Top 8 is:
- Table 1001: Jesse Kotton (Magistus Fairy Tail) – Paulo Roberto da Silva (Assault Mode Snake-Eye Elfnote)
- Table 1002: Michael Ehresman (Angelechy Magistus Elfnote) – Khari Goosby (Magistus Fairy Tail)
- Table 1003: Wilfredo Flores (Ashtra Invoked Blitzclique) – Tayveon Crowley (Ancient Fairy Angelechy)
- Table 1004: Timothy Dahl (Ashtra Blitzclique) – Matthew Vanden Heuvel (Ashtra Angelechy Blitzclique)
Kotton, Goosby, Flores and Dahl advance; in the semifinals Kotton beats Flores and Dahl beats Goosby, and in the final Dahl beats Kotton. The score of the final was not read on the broadcast.
Familiar faces
- Joseph Bellafiore: three years after the Richmond title, on the exact day of the anniversary, he returns to the final but is stopped by Kite.
- Logan Kite: dedicates the tournament to Tayveon Crowley, Orlando champion in 2025, who was in the Genesys Top 8 this year. Before this YCS he had played only two local tournaments with Angelechy, losing two matches in all.
- Patrick Hoban: already a YCS winner this year, in the team event, he reaches the semifinals with Ars Magna Elfnote and Power Patron.
- Jesse Kotton: Genesys finalist, 8-0 on Friday and 10-1 after round 11.
- Sylvia Dupee: the only Radiant Typhoon in the Advanced Top 8; she goes out in the quarterfinals against Kite.
What comes next
Orlando was the last broadcast YCS of 2026. The next one is YCS Santiago, Chile, November 27 to 29. The Magnificent Maestros set is released on November 11, and on November 21 and 22 there are the OTS Championships "Beyond the Brave".
Sources. summary and data processing from the official live broadcast of Sunday (Advanced); Top 8, Top 4 and final pairings, Swiss standings, top-table counts and decks from the official coverage at yugiohblog.konami.com (YCS Orlando, November 6-8, 2026). Result of the Genesys final and scores of the semifinals and quarterfinals, unless otherwise indicated, taken from the Konami pairings and the broadcast. Provisional standings.