YGO: San Diego YCS Opinion

Seeing as this is going to be my second time going to a YCS tournament I think I have enough experience worth sharing.

After alls said and done, for the most part not many people are going to win it big at the end of the tournament, so where does it leave all the normal, non-awesome, duelists? Well there are a couple of things that you can check out and SHOULD check out before you leave.

-Vendors
-Special Events (i.e. special guest/ guest duels, freebees)
-Trading with other Duelists
-Duel Terminal
-Public Events

Personally I'll be looking forward to these Public Events:

1: Battle Pack: Epic Dawn Sealed Pack Tournament
Cost: $12
Bottom line: you get to keep the cards you play with (booster pack that you open)

Opinion: Again this is similar to the $2/pack, but there's a downside. Before playing, you'll pick 1 card that you want and then push the other cards to the next player and then draw again from the pool you're given. Its also kinda random, but it just means that you won't get all the cards that you initially pull from the first packs that you open. However, it DOES mean that you choose the cards that you leave the table with. All at the cost of an extra $2. 

1: Battle Pack: Epic Dawn Draft Tournament
Cost: $10
Bottom line: you get to keep the cards you play with

Opinion: For $2 a pack, it really isn't all that bad. This is probably the one thing that I'm really looking forward to.

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These other's I really don't care all too much, and only if I have money to splurg then I'll participate. But really, I don't think they're all at worth it. 

2: Battle Pack & Dawn of the Xyz Sealed Tournament
Cost: $20
Bottom line: you get to keep the cards you play with (xyz deck + booster pack)

Opinion: Its a little steep, but if you don't have the Dawn of the XYZ starter yet, then its worth the price. Course if you really think about it you're paying 10 for the deck and 10 for the boosters. I'd rather just get the boosters, since I have two of these already. One from my local, and the other from the previous YCS tournament. 

3: Duel Terminal
Cost: $1/play
Bottom Line: You get to keep the card that you receive at the end of the game
Opinion: I don't have a lot of duel terminal cards that I really want. If I wanted a card, I'll get the common/ if I wanted a starfoil, I'd get a battle pack, and if I wanted a duel terminal specific card, I'd wait for the Hidden Arsenal to come out. You'll save up on a lot of money if you do this. Every dollar counts.


4: Onslaught of the Fire Kings Structure Deck Tournament
Cost: $10
Bottom line: You get to keep the deck at the end of the competition

Opinion: Probably the least public event to interest me out of the list. The only good cards within the pack is Flamvell Fire Dog and Rekindling. Sure you can get Pot of Duality, but I already have a play set. So that'll leave just Rekindling and Flamvell Firedog. Rekindling is about $1 if you get it at T&T so I don't think it makes much economic sense, at least for ME, to get it.

At the end of the day I'll probably be spending around this much:

Battle Pack Sealed: $10

Battle Pack Draft: $12

Entry Fee: $20

Money for Cards: $20

Binder: $20

Sleeves: $10

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$92 + gas

So just looking at the bottomline, it looks like I won't be buying any kits for awhile. Sorry RG Destiny, I'm going to have to put you on hold.

But if you really think about it: the matt is around $10, and I'll be getting around 16 packs with 5 cards each. So that'll be around 80 cards. If you take that and divide it by the cost of just the cards minus the cost of the mat:

(10 + 12 + 20 - 10)/80 = that's 40 cents/card. which isn't all that bad.
regardless I'm still paying for $2/pack

Course people also have their own opinions:

Link:
Why YCS San Diego is the Most Important YCS This Year - YouTube