Good afternoon, class. My name is Dr. Crellian Vowler, PhD in Dueling and Department Chair of Tournaments here at Duel Academy. I’ll be informing you today of some of the more interesting elements from the U.S. Yu-Gi-Oh! National Championship; namely, the things that the other writers won’t tell you . . . or can’t tell you.
First of all, I’d like to inform you of some very interesting and innovative new things that UDE has trotted out for this very prestigious National Championship here in San Francisco.
For starters, we now have our very own Featured Match Dueling Dome, built in the architectural style of Duel Academy and capable of accommodating two feature matches, reporters, judges, and spectators at the same time. It’s a magnificent structure and stands at the very entrance of this exhibition hall. It’s the first thing you see when you come in, and it’s quite breathtaking.
Head Judge Julia Hedberg is being quite strict about the rules for shuffling cards. All shuffling must be done face down with the cards parallel to (and flat on) the table. After the owner shuffles, then the opponent shuffles (not a cut—a real shuffle!) in the same manner (face-down on the table) for ten seconds. Then the owner cuts the deck once. One can only hope that other judges across the nation will follow this fine example of fair shuffling protocol.
They’ve also taken considerable effort to prevent scouting of matches between rounds. All of the spectators have to remain outside of the Dueling area behind ropes. Once your match is done, you leave the Dueling area. Everyone has been surprisingly cooperative with this so far. (Quite amazing, really. Perhaps they’re all just crowding into the Dueling Dome instead . . .) The benefits of this have been readily apparent: judges can actually see the matches that are still going on, the players can focus on their Duels without interruption, there isn’t a lot of talking, and people aren’t checking out their future opponents’ decks in advance. Good call, Julia!