100th YCS Judge

I was super excited and at the same time, super nervous. As I'm listening to Keep Ya Head Up by 2Pac, I'm reflecting about how thankful I am with such great judges around me. My friend's judge from Ecuador came up to help with judging and he was my supervisor for the event. It was great because I could tell people if they were right or wrong, catch people trying to cheat and to create a fair and enjoyable time for the players. Even though I don't know 100% of the rulings, it was good to help people to understand why certain cards interact the way they do. I did mess up on one ruling, but it was forgivable since it was mid rounds and at the last tables (x-2) so they wouldn't make it to the tops, especially with the decks they were running... Sorry, but it's the truth. I saw a dude run a Tour Guide From the Underworld Inzektor build and was in the last tables for the 11th and 12th round.

What I've learned from this YCS judge event is that, there are a lot of players, but it really is up to the players to read the card text, read the opponent, judge the circumstance, and figure out what the best option is for the hand that was given to you. That is if you want to win/top the YCS events. If you were there to have fun, by all means, do so. I had a blast judging and I hope as a player, I get that same enjoyment. Although my legs were super tired and wanted to do nothing but sleep after the first day, it was great. One thing that Konami has started to do is Problem Solving Card Text, PSCT as some judges call it. It helps the players understand from previous card texts by rewording punctuation and misleading card text. I give a round of applause to Konami for that. So it's less work for the judges. The only/bigger issue is the certain card interactions, (e.i. - Neo-Spacian Grand Mole vs. AoJ Catastor.)

For the first round, I was given a situation where one player drew an extra card, he was honest enough to tell me that he drew an extra card, but he shuffled his hand. I asked him if he could verify what card it was, but he "believed" it was this card, but the game state was irreversible. He already used Pot of Duality, normal summoned a Barbaros and set one card. So, I give him credit for telling me, but without verification of what card he drew extra into, I can't help him. Game Loss. As much as that sucks, it is what it is. Worst part, he could have beat his opponent from what deck he was playing. What can I say, if you try to cheat, you're cheating yourself. Later on, same instance happened, again, game loss, irreversible game state. *sigh* Please stop doing that...

After the YCS, I ran into some "locals". Not sure if you can call them that especially if they're about 30 miles from the city. I approached them and asked if they were going to the airport and wondered what time their flight was. 930pm and 1130pm, I look at my watch,  10am... LOL I asked them if they wanted to join me to go to the local Long Beach Aquarium. They said sure, we went to eat brunch first, at Hooters (normal burger restaurant, just some eye candy for the guys). Then we went on an adventure at an arcade and a hunt for the aquarium... apparently I led them to the wrong place and eventually, we found it. We had a blast as nerdy as we already were, we found ourselves enjoying our time in the Aquarium. After the Aquarium, we went to the Airport, found our flights and that was it for that. I made new friends and met new people this entire weekend. It was great. I can't wait to do it again if I could :]

Thanks for reading!
Allen Fung