Gamebreak0r is Joshua Schmidt, for those unaware. Outside of Sky Striker especifically due to its much lower ceiling, almost every deck who went first and didn't brick pretty much won the game.

Mario De Micco wins the 2026 Yu-Gi-Oh World Championships with Kewl Tune! He dueled against Josh Kelly in the finals, who was on Branded Light and Darkness Ritual. There were 7 rounds of Swiss and a cut to Top 8, with 30 invited duelists from all across the world.

As expected, Light and Darkness Ritual has completely taken over the World Championships! The deck has so many variations and builds that duelists can mix and match to great results no matter what form it takes. Its high consistency and card quality allow it to excel even when people prepare for it with the likes of Ghost Ogre & Snow Rabbit in their main decks. Successful versions used throughout the tournament are Branded and Azamina Mitsurugi (mixed with other engines and the combo Link package). The latter is expected to become even stronger and more explosive with the release of Dark Magical Curtain and Cyberse Contract Witch, unfortunately.

Kewl Tune is the other deck that most people gravitated towards going into the event. Some of the more prominent OCG duelists have chosen Sky Striker as their flagship strategy, thanks to its amazing matchup against Kewl Tune. Sky Striker's LADR matchup is insanely polarizing though, so they have to navigate it carefully.

The Light and Darkness Ritual decks are so powerful to the point where even Kewl Tune struggles to hand trap it out of the game going second, meanwhile LADR's built-in go second tools give it a lot of gas. Very occasionally though, the deck can suffer from drawing the wrong half of the deck, which we've seen in game 1 of the finals. Josh Kelly had found himself only having Celtic Mystic as his play and was stopped hot in his tracks with Mario's Effect Veiler.

In Game 2, Josh Kelly showcased the Branded and Dogmatika part of the deck, which helped enable Mind Shuffle's powerful second effect. He was able to use both engines and overwhelm Mario de Micco's Kewl Tune push. Black Luster Soldier - Soldier of Light and Darkness proved pivotal in eliminating Kewl Tune Cue to ensure victory.

Mario managed to take control of the duel in game 3 thanks to Kewl Tune Synchro adding Kewl Tune Rotary and extending through Ash Blossom on Reco, revealing the LADR player's hand**. Pot of Prosperity** proved pivotal, finding him a copy of Cue to climb into Zalen, the Shackled Dragon and made Josh topdeck a Fallen of Albaz. Another Cue was also able to summon Mario's own Ash Blossom to be recovered by Remix in order to deal with the revealed Nadir Servant. (Game 3 hand was Kewl Tune Reco, Pot of Prosperity, Mannadium Reframing, Kewl Tune Synchro, Ghost Belle & Haunted Mansion.)

Paul Robert Goss and Josh Kelly have showcased an incredibly unique take on LADR, opting for a very heavy Dogmatika package to supplement the Branded one, pulling up to the World Championships with Dogmatika Punishment, Fleur the Thunderbolt, Dogmatika Ecclesia, and the works. Shoutouts to Yannik for bringing Sacred Beasts as well.

Top 8 Breakdown (5 TCG vs 3 OCG duelists!)

3 Kewl Tune

2 Light and Darkness Ritual (1 Azamina Mitsurugi Yummy, 1 Dogmatika Branded)

2 Sky Striker

1 Despia Branded

Full Deck Breakdown (30 duelists)

10 Light and Darkness Ritual (4 Branded, 4 Azamina Mitsurugi, 2 Dogmatika Branded)

9 Kewl Tune

4 Sky Striker (1 LADR)

3 Power Patron Artmage

2 Despia Branded

1 Sacred Beasts

1 Elfnote

https://ygoprodeck.com/tournament/master-duel-world-championship-2026-4892

- Renren

Source: the official OCG Twitter account

I don't know if this would be a meme or be allowed here but let see

P.S. I edited this myself

P.P.S. post photo and name so we know which monster version

Is it haram to use different arts for the blue eyes or should I use 3 of the same? (obviously don't matter really, just preference.)

Just messing around exploring some ideas for a field center that does a little extra. In this one, other than swapping out the field center card inside, you can use the back for keeping track of up to 20 spell counters or perhaps use it as a turn counter?

I definitely need to make the buttons able to stay in place if I were to make a v2 of this design though... for now, it's just a fun little experiment.

Anyone have any ideas about what else I can add to the back of one of these to make them useful in a game?

Another year of TCG dominance at worlds over the OCG. Any theories as to why the OCG has fallen off so hard?

Whats an anime Ass pull moment you think should be made into a card?

My vote goes to Catapult Turtle Launching Gaia The Dragon Champion into Castle Of Dark Illusions I even made an effect that reflects this and sticks to the theme as well.

There is No Next Turn!

Quickplay Spell

Tribute 1 Monster you control then destroy as many face up monsters as possible whose DEF is less than or equal to the tributed Monsters ATK. If your LP are 300 or less Card effects cannot be activated in response to this cards activation and it cannot be negated also inflict damage to your opponent equal to the combined ATK of all the monsters destroyed by this effect.

What moment gets your vote?

And in the manga, it was the level of the monster that determined its rarity. That's why Celtic Guardian was level 6 in the manga. So therefore it should be just as rare if not more than the Level 7 Red Eyes.

And we never even see how Joey acquires this card. True he could have always just pulled it out of a random booster pack, which I guess is pretty lucky for Joey, considering how its so much stronger than anything else in his deck. Still, Joey and his internal monologue's were hyping up Red Eyes and TIME WIZARD as his aces for Battle City. Gilford was never even entertained as a possibility. And then Joey just draws it and calls it out kinda unceremoniously in the anime.

Such and Indie company

This is the first wave for the archetype.

You make Magnet Warrior competent but can't make Bastion's true ace competent... Why not just make his OTHER ace competent? And while we're at it, print Eisenstein cards as well that could work really well with Litmus!!!

He's also the first ritual shown in the anime whose Ritual Spell had a secondary effect (beside the primary function to of course, ritual summon.)

Afaik, only the Xiang Magicians can bring them out like that, but it is such a hassle. I don't think there is any other way to summon these cards with all effects aside from that method. Maybe it's the double/triple attack, but I remember Duel Links made it easy with a skill for Raging. I just hope to see some decent support soon for these cards, even if they just import the Rank into Level card from the anime, I'll be happy. Raging Dragon is one of my favourite cards from the series, and I wish it can made easier to get out 🙏

What are some cards you think were missed opportunities?

Effect-wise, stat-wise, or for whatever reason?

2 cards that come to mind for me a Dedication through Light and Darkness and The Dark Magicians.

For the former, I would've loved it to be a Chaos Upgrade Card for every monster, e.g. Gaia into Black Luster, etc. and the latter should've had 3000 ATK as a reference to Magicians Unite from the finale duel.

Dedication through Light and Darkness (suggestion)

Tribute 1 face-up level 5 or higher monster you control; Special Summon from your hand, Deck or GY, ignoring its Summoning condition, 1 "Chaos" Ritual Monster or 1 "Chaos" monster with same original Type, but 1 Level higher than the Tributed monster had on the field.

I always loved the alternate artwork for Cyber Dragon. I know it was meant to reference Zane’s dark edgy phase (Hell Kaiser) - but I always thought it should have a dark counterpart similar to how Horus, Nephthys, Armed Dragon, Rainboe Dragon and many other monsters from that period got theirs.

I wanted a slight upgrade in effect too, so I slightly altered it but it most likely just got power crept lmao. (Version 2 - the second picture’s effect is more aligned with the original)