A VERY AUTISTIC GUIDE TO YOUR FIRST PREMIER EVENT

(This guide is intended for NA residents and NA events, regional differences may exist; I'm not your dad.)

Things to bring:

  • Your deck, side deck, extra deck and it's box
  • A photo ID
  • 2 or 3 printed copies of the decklist you submitted (this is so you can deck check yourself mid event and avoid any issues that may arise , I recommend doing this around every other round)
  • Your playmat (I HIGHLY recommend using one with zones so you dont get sharked on zone placement)
  • Extra Sleeves, enough to resleeve your main + side deck twice and your extra twice
  • A fucking big water bottle, I was shocked how much water I felt I needed halfway through my first regional
  • A calculator, you don't need one of those graphing calculators just any random scientific works
  • At least 3 pens, and a notepad for Life points
  • A battery bank for your phone, you will end up on it between rounds and neuron is a battery hog during your rounds
  • Wear comfortable clean clothes, you can get DQ'd for being stinky and its card game tournament not a fashion show
  • Some variety of clean healthy snack(s). I don't mean clean in terms of ingredients BTW, I mean in terms of ease of clean up. You ideally shouldn't need to wipe your hands or wash them nor have anything that generates crumbs / sticky-ness.

Optional but Helpful:

  • Headphones, while you cannot listen to music while dueling, shutting out the noise of the hundreds of other manchildren between your rounds can alleviate any potential headache development after you quickly lose to some retard playing earth machine in round 3
  • Gum / mints / hard candy for your breath and to chew or occupy your mouth while playing. I make a fucking retarded face when thinking where I slightly stick my tongue out or grind my teeth if really thinking hard.
  • Some source of caffeine if you get tired or start to feel a headache/brain fog forming.
  • Cash for trades, this is technically not allowed inside the venue but Big Brother Komoney cant look at everywhere all at once. (Dont get banned for this its sad.)
  • Cash for vendors, sometimes you spot a good deal and its generally cheaper than tcgplayer shipping, (they also don't make you pay sales tax if you bring cash)
  • A different fun modern deck than the one you brought. There are plenty of FUN side events at YCSes where maybe you don't feel as though you need to sweat as hard.
  • An Edison deck
  • A trade binder (leave everything you aren't looking to get rid of or willing to take offers on at home or in a different binder. Its a dick move to let someone look through your binder and have nothing that you actually would be willing to part with.)
  • A phone wall charger
  • A fresh shirt/underwear (if you end up playing 12 hours of yugioh on day 1 you may start to get ripe and It will feel nice to change)
  • Anything you may want to get signed by your favorite yugituber or voice actor in attendance and a sharpie that actually works on that surface (silver/gold sharpies show up on almost anything)

A general overview of the experience:

  • If its a 2 day event typically there will be pre-reg online and then in-person registration the day before. Typically a decklist needs to submitted two hours before in person registration.
  • If you cannot make the in-person registration you must get in contact with the Organizers to let them know beforehand.
    -School and Work typically are acceptable excuses so if you're trying to save on travel by arriving late just lie and say you had class / work.
  • During registration you do not need your deck, but you may want to bring a printed decklist on the off chance something went haywire.
  • Bring a bag to registration because here is where you receive your entry packs and any other trinkets and accessories they may be handing out.
  • Vendors will be open so its a good time to hit them up before everyone else does and they sell out of shit.
  • If this a two day event such as a YCS you're now free for the rest of the day. Go sight seeing and get a beer.
    • Try not to be hungover for the morning.

Day 1 Begins

  • I'd recommend showing up at least 30 minutes before the start of the first round to get acclimated and get your head in the "zone"
  • Ask a judge where paper parings will be posted
    • I've been to quite a few events and only ever had neuron work for parings a few times.
  • Play your rounds
    • Its not a bad idea to figure out what day the day 2/topcut record is pretty early on, x-2 frequently isn't joever at some of the larger events.
    • Dont waste your time at bottom table(s) after you guarantee a missed topcut. Go play sides or go site-seeing if you travelled far to get to the event.
  • There may be a lunch break but do not count on it or rely on it being long enough to go get something. If you're hungry eat some of your snacks between rounds.
  • Talk with your fellow duellists. You may make some new friends!

Day 2/Topcut

  • If you made day 2 or topcut, congrats you aren't shit at the game!
  • There will typically be a few more rounds of swiss into a single elimination bracket and the winner of that is the overall winner.
  • If you didn't make topcut don't worry! There's still plenty of fun to be had!
    • Sides are a lot of fun or can be just as valuable as the main event
    • Giant Card and Win-a-mat are great if you intend to sell your prizes on ebay later for some $$$
    • Pegasus challenge and Rivalry of Warlords are personal favourites and are litle more on the silly side of yugioh.
    • Regional flights also run at YCSes and so if you're clamoring for a NATS invite its a great place to grind for it.

Other Tips

  • If you are travelling to an event, try to think of it more as a vacation than a yugioh tournament. It sucks to spend hundreds or possibly thousands of dollars only to go x-3.
    • The best thing to do is plan activities assuming you may only end up playing a few matches of yugioh and get salty and storm out the venue.
  • If staying overnight somewhere, prioritize distance to venue
  • Bring your friends for morale support
  • Don't bring your GF/Wife unless she plays as well as you're gonna spend way too much time at the venue
Edit

Pub: 29 Jun 2025 08:14 UTC

Edit: 29 Jun 2025 08:24 UTC

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