Grazie, Italia!

I’ve returned from my trip to Milan where I helped out as part of the coverage team. Let’s start by saying that this was one of the best Yu-Gi-Oh! tournament experiences I’ve had outside of Germany (if you’re on foreign ground, it’s always a little different compared to your homecountry – that’s not me trying to say that tournaments in Germany are better than tournaments anywhere else in the world, it’s just that there’s no language barrier involved in German tournaments, etc. and therefore it’s an entirely different thing).

The tournament was a roaring success with more than 900 players making their way to our venue near the Malpensa airport! I wasn’t expecting such an international audience; I was pleasantly surprised to see so many Swiss, French, British, German and Spanish players in Milan. Although our staff was one writer short compared to Bochum, we were able to produce an almost identical amount of content (in terms of the number of articles, we were only 1 behind). Additionally, we played one round less, so that meant we had less time to write all these articles. It might be hard to grasp if you’ve never worked in a coverage team, but that meant we improved quite a lot and not just “a little bit”. It’s cool to be part of a team that keeps on growing and getting better!

That’s not all, though. What fascinated me just as much was the fact that I only interacted with extremely helpful and pleasant people all weekend. Starting with my arrival at the Malpensa airport, continuing with my check in at the hotel and so on, I couldn’t have asked for better treatment. Italy really set the example for me over these 4 days and I hope my future trips will be just as enjoyable!

Back to the tournament; we had a great Top 32 featuring players from 11 different nations. This trend continued throughout the Tops, until it was France vs. the UK in the finals. Noel Garde (France) won the first Duel against Mat Collins (UK), but the Brit started an epic comeback with lots of memorable moves. Even if you’re not a big fan of Feature Matches, you absolutely have to check out the Final Feature Match!

The coverage can be found here: Official Coverage YCS Milan. I would really appreciate some feedback, so if you spot some mistakes or awkward wordings / phrasings, please let me know. I want to improve and provide you with an even better coverage experience in the upcoming tournaments next year!

P.S.: I uploaded 2 videos to YouTube.com: Deck Profile Mario Richert and A closer look at the Top 32.