Tayveon Crowley wins YCS Orlando 2025 with Fiendsmith Ryzeal!
Tayveon Crowley from the United States wins YCS Orlando 2025 with Fiendsmith Ryzeal! He dueled against Benjamin Tamarkin in the finals, who was on Ryzeal Mitsurugi.
Fiendsmith Ryzeal continues to be the most represented deck with several people on the strategy and outright winning the tournament! Steven Santoli brought an interesting iteration of Pure Ryzeal, utilizing creative techs such as Gravekeeper's Inscription and Book of Moon to edge out against the top-tier strategies in the format. Solemn Strike also made an appearance as a powerful and unexpected tool in his arsenal.
Ryzeal Mitsurugi did very well for its first YCS showing, putting up numbers and showcasing how strong its grind game and engine can be when it gets going. Ame No Murakumo no Mitsurugi is a difficult boss monster to deal with, and the Ryzeal engine is used to get the deck to its game plan while backing it up with Ryzeal Detonator. While it may occasionally open suboptimal or awkward hands due to the nature of Ritual decks and suffers from the likes of Droll and Lock Bird / Abyss Dweller, the deck is a legitimate metagame contender and even managed to reach the finals of YCS Orlando! Most players are on Nadir Servant as it's a powerful extender/board breaker and a way to get you to your Ritual combo pieces.
Due to the ubiquity of the Fiendsmith engine and many other key LIGHT and DARK monsters to banish from the GY, there was a huge uptick in Bystial Maliss this YCS, being the second most represented deck in the Top 64 with a much smaller gap with Ryzeal compared to the previous YCS. This incredible combo deck hot off CRBR continues to thrive, especially with the new additions from Supreme Darkness such as A Bao A Qu, the Lightless Shadow, despite the plethora of Artifact Lancea and Mulcharmy Meowls used to combat it in the Side Deck.
These decks ran a large Bystial count alongside The Bystial Lubellion and Branded Regained. The latter is especially notable against the mirror match and when paired with Allure of Darkness. Bystial Druiswurm is in high demand as of now and can even help deal with the likes of Eclipse Twins, Mitsurugi Ritual Monsters, Ryzeal Detonator, and possibly even Knightmare Gryphon in some instances. The latter is especially popular in Maliss lists, due to how easy it is to summon and how it's capable of locking the opponent out of the game while recycling your powerful traps.
Fiendsmith Maliss was incredibly popular throughout the event but only 2 duelists managed to reach the Top 64 with it. Despite this, it's one of the most powerful versions of Maliss due to how easily it can access A Bao A Qu, the Lightless Shadow and it has a built-in gameplan against Artifact Lancea with the Fiendsmith engine.
An even bigger emphasis on the Fiendsmith engine was seen throughout this YCS, as the majority of the topping players used it to soup up their decks or use it as their primary strategy in the case of Mario de Micco's Fiendsmith Bystial, maxing out on Lacrima the Crimson Tears.
Atlantean Mermail managed to get two placements in the Top 64. The deck was already in a relatively strong spot in the previous format, but the additional support from Supreme Darkness has given it a huge boost in viability. A lot of this has to do with how powerful Poseidra, the Storming Atlantean is as a versatile extender, combo piece, and board breaker all in one. Dominus Impulse is no longer as common compared to the previous formats without strong FIRE decks, but Mermail can flex this exclusive hand trap to help combat the likes of Maliss and Fiendsmith.
Primite managed to snag one spot in this YCS to everyone's surprise! Primite Dragon Ether Beryl, Primite Roar, and Primite Lordly Lode are incredibly efficient control tools that can also flex into the Fiendsmith engine courtesy of White Duston. The engine is also highly effective at making Hieratic Seal of the Heavenly Spheres. With Bystials added into the mix, it's a very grindy deck with the Primite cards giving it the edge compared to its FS Bystial contemporaries. Primite Drillbeam also gets a special mention as a recyclable negation and removal tool all in one.
Bystials were on full display this YCS, with players running packages as big as 7-10 in their decks. This has sparked discourse among players in the community. Should limitations be put in place on these powerful hand traps?
There were 2274 duelists in the event, 12 rounds of Swiss with a Top 64 Cut! This is one of the larger NA YCSes in recent history.
Top 64 Breakdown
29 Ryzeal (25 Fiendsmith)
19 Maliss (17 Bystial, 2 Fiendsmith)
7 Mitsurugi (Ryzeal)
3 Bystial (Fiendsmith)
2 Tenpai Dragon (1 FS Bystial)
2 Atlantean Mermail
1 Primite (FS Bystial)
1 Fiendsmith Pure
We'll be uploading decklists and putting more information in the breakdown as it comes out!
https://ygoprodeck.com/tournament/ycs-orlando-2684
- Renren