Lunalight's Regional Breakout: How an Underdog Archetype Won Martignacco
Tilen Zugan exploited a gap in the K9 Vanquish Soul gameplan to take down the Italian regional. The result signals that the format rewards innovation over netdecking.
While K9 Vanquish Soul dominated the headlines, the most compelling story of the WCQ regional weekend came from Martignacco, Italy, where Tilen Zugan won the 54-player event with Lunalight — an archetype most players had written off as rogue.
Zugan's build exploited a gap in the K9 Vanquish Soul strategy, using Lunalight's OTK potential to punish the midrange deck's slower draws. The decklist featured several unexpected tech choices that demonstrate the format still has room for innovation.
Lunalight's win rate against K9 Vanquish Soul in the event was reportedly above 70%, a staggering number that suggests the archetype may be more than a one-weekend anomaly. Players are now revisiting the strategy in anticipation of upcoming regional events.
The result underscores a healthy meta dynamic. Despite K9 Vanquish Soul's dominance, the format rewards metagame reads and deck selection — exactly what competitive Yu-Gi-Oh should look like.
