Giovanny Trivino Wins YCS Guayaquil on Elfnote
Anyone expecting the September 21 banlist to knock Elfnote off its pedestal got an emphatic reality check in Ecuador. At YCS Guayaquil, local favorite Giovanny Andres Trivino Manobanda took home the championship trophy through twelve rounds of Swiss and a cut to Top 8. Trivino piloted Elfnote straight through a field of 263 competitors, proving that even with Elfnote Tinia limited to a single copy, the deck retains enough consistency and board-breaking power to outlast the competition.
The top cut narrowed into a showdown between Elfnote and composite Light and Darkness Ritual builds. Trivino faced off against Argentina's Franco Persano in the final, whose list combined Ritual payoffs with Azamina, Mitsurugi, and Dark Magician. Persano was far from the only pilot relying on that pile; the strategy locked down ten spots in the Top 32 and three in the Top 8, represented by semifinalist Taiel Fernandez alongside quarterfinalists Nicolas Miguel Vera Avila and Alex Mosquera. Elfnote claimed four of the Top 8 berths overall, with Francisco Andres Osorio Bobadilla and Saimont Steward Sela Suarez also making deep runs, while Ulises Tadeo Munguia secured the lone rogue appearance in the bracket on Blitzclique.
Guayaquil also hosted a parallel Genesys format main event featuring 82 duelists, where Blitzclique established total command. Peru's Sebastian Serna took first place over Jonathan Rivas, who brought Kewl Tune paired with Red Dragon Archfiend. Between Serna's trophy and Trivino's Advanced title, the weekend established the definitive targets to beat before the October 8 tournament legality of Beyond the Brave.