[YGOWCS23] Yu-Gi-Oh! 2023 European Champion Jessica Robinson Talks The Joy Of Running Rikkas

During our time at the Yu-Gi-Oh! (YGO) World Championship 2023 that’s happening in Japan, we had the opportunity to speak with Jessica Robinson, fresh from winning the 2023 European Championship for a quick interview.

Winning The 2023 European Championship

There had been a surge of support for Jessica after winning Euros earlier this year, even outside the traditional YGO circles. We asked Jessica how she felt after winning such an intense qualifier.

“I can’t lie and say it didn’t feel good because it did. Honestly, the main thing I’ll say, especially since it reached outside of the traditional YuGiOh community, it was very motivating.”

“Seeing support for people from all different backgrounds everywhere, it was obviously very nice to see but for me, after Euros it was always the next step for me, the next step was Worlds, and for me it was very good motivation to keep moving forward and just stay on focus for Worlds and not lose focus.”, Jessica confessed.

Rikkas As An Archetype

GIven how much the meta tends to rotate around the same decks, we asked Jessica if she could tell us what drew her to Rikkas as an archetype.

To which, Jessica mentioned that it originally had been the concept of a one-card combo, which had happened before the Rikkas were released with Sunseed Genius Loci.

“When they use [Sunvine Sowing] It was just a really good combo that I worked on with Alex Robertson.”, she said.

However, Jessica said that she ended up not doing too well with that, but Alex ended getting second for Nationals 2022. She had eventually added in Rikka support which had been more of a Plant Support that complimented well with the combo.

Jessica further explained that the Rikka cards had access to in-built removal, on top of having access to a plethora of tools that can be used to disrupt enemies plays, as well as combo-ing well with other plant monsters.

” I like to think of Yu-Gi-Oh! as a bit of a puzzle.” said Jessica. “Each game is a bit of a puzzle especially going second, and it provides so many tools to like break the puzzle or get through the end board that I like the amount of tools that RIkka gives you.”

Final Thoughts

Every YGO player dreams of winning Worlds. We asked Jessica what she would do if she won the Yu-Gi-Oh! Championship 2023.

“Honestly? Cry.” Jessica laughs. “Like, of happiness. Worlds is like the ultimate goal, and I think I’ve had a bit of an insane season and I think that would just be- it’d be very surreal. I don’t know what I’d do because I can’t picture it. It’s so surreal to me that I can’t picture it properly.”

We would like to thank Jessica Robinson for taking the time to answer our questions, and we wish her the best of luck during Worlds!

ⓒ2020 Studio Dice/SHUEISHA, TV TOKYO, KONAMI. ⓒ2020 Konami Digital Entertainment.

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