CARENCRO, La. (AP) - Most people know you can make money playing card games like poker, but Carencro-native Kobe Short made more than $3,000 last month by becoming a Yu-Gi-Oh! champion.
Yu-Gi-Oh! is a Japanese manga and anime series that spawned into a trading-card game of the same name. The game was first released in Japan in 1999 and came to America a few years later. Short, a 21-year-old working as a expediter in materials control at Stuller, has been playing the game since he was 12 years old.
“I started playing in 2010, and the more I’ve been playing, the more I’ve been trying to push myself to be the best I can be at it,” Short said. “On top of that, I’ve made so many friends from across the world and competing at these kind of events, so even if I don’t win, I get to see people I don’t get to see too often. It’s really special.”
Players like Short use the game’s multitude of different cards to cast spells, set traps and summon fantastical monsters to defeat their opponents in a “duel.” There are more than 8,000 different cards that players can put into their 40-card decks and 15-card side decks. The large variety of strategies and cards makes the game difficult to master, which makes Short’s victory over more than 1,600 Yu-Gi-Oh! duelists in Pasadena, California, last month even more impressive.
Short drove by himself to Houston before taking a flight to California to stay with friends for the weekend. He had made the long journey from the United States’ “Southern Coast” to the West Coast to take part in Yu-Gi-Oh! Championship Series Pasadena with wealth, trips and prizes worth thousands of dollars on the line.
He said he couldn’t decide which deck to play with until the very last moment in the registration line. Yet, without any practice and learning as he played his newly built “Sky Striker Orcust” deck, he would take it to a 14-2 record over two days against players who had gathered there from all over the country.
“I used the first few rounds to learn what the deck could do, but in the fourth round, I made a few mistakes and pretty much lost to myself,” Short said. “It was rough, but I had to tell myself that I had to stop losing to myself. I lost the sixth round because I just couldn’t draw any playable cards, but from round six until the finals, I went undefeated.”
Going undefeated for the remaining five rounds of the first two days, Short lost a total of six games out of the total 15 two-out-of-three matches he played that weekend. This pushed him to the 20th seed in the the Top 32.
He played his way through four more opponents and reached the final round on Nov. 24, but in a stroke of either sheer coincidence or fated providence, Short was matched up against his friend and former YCS Lima Champion Dakota “Koty” Angeloff.
Short and Angeloff traded off wins in the best-of-three match. Short won the first game, but his opening hand was not up to snuff and although he tried to play with the cards he was dealt, Angeloff took the second game. But in the third game, Short dominated the field and when it was done, Angeloff conceded the game, telling Short, “Congrats, you’re a YCS champion.”
“We honestly wouldn’t want to play anyone else. We tested with each other and knew every card in each other’s decks. … There wouldn’t be any surprises. It was who could play better and draw better than the other person,” Short said. “I didn’t know what to do. I just went out hoping to get a Nintendo Switch and I ended up winning the whole thing.”
His victory earned Short an all-expense paid trip to the Yu-Gi-Oh! National Tournament, which if he wins would earn him a ticket to the world tournament, a Nintendo Switch with the latest Yu-Gi-Oh! video game, an impressive glass trophy and exclusive game mat and an exclusive prize card that he sold for $3,000 on the spot.
The location of next year’s national tournament is still unknown. Last year’s event was held in Pittsburgh.
Short says he will be there and be shooting for the big win to help put Louisiana on the map as a place where great Yu-Gi-Oh! players come from.
“It’s pretty cool. I’m finally starting to get a name in the game. People will just add me on Facebook or message me to congratulate me or ask for help with their deck,” Short said. “It’s crazy. I work at Stuller and went to Carencro High. It’s just crazy.”
Please read our comment policy before commenting.