James Coates has been playing Yu-Gi-Oh! for just over two years, but he’s already an Oceania champion, and has his eyes on more championship wins after remaining unbeaten on the world stage in Japan.
The Yu-Gi-Oh! trading card game is played in turns that follow a specific order of operations. Each player draws an opening hand of five cards from a deck of between 40 and 60 cards.
In tournament play, where a round is decided by a best-two-out-of-three, a separate Side Deck of up to 15 cards can be used to swap in between duels to adapt to your opponent’s deck.
“For example, if I have a card in my main deck that is not good against my opponent’s stack, I’ll swap those cards out for cards that are good,” James explains.
He first started playing as a 12-year-old Broadgreen student.
“My friend Rocky got me into it. He told me about Card Merchants. I came here, met the great community, and I’ve loved it ever since.”
A short time after his first trip to Card Merchants, he met Liam Gill, who would become James’ mentor. Just a year later, James beat him in a duel, a proud moment, James says.
Last year James became the 2024 Oceanic Dragon Duel Champion, beating out 150+ others from NZ and Australia.
Dragon Duel is the format for younger duellers 13 and under. James says the game is not a matter of luck, but strategy.
“It depends on what deck your opponent is playing, because different decks require different strategies.”
The Oceania Championship won him a trip to Japan in December, to attend Comic Con, as well of a slew of other prizes including a Nintendo Switch and a 5kg glass trophy. It was there that James played other champions from across the world – Korea, Israel, United States, Japan and China - beating them all.
Now that he is 14, he moves from Dragon Duel to the Official Play category, where he will take on players from all age brackets.
The Nayland College Year 10 student says his collection of tens of thousands of cards has built over time, but he makes a good earning trading cards, according to his dad Steve.
James explains that it’s not as simple as buying cards and building a good deck, as Konami, publisher of Yu-Gi-oh!, is constantly releasing new cards, and banning others, effectively making them unplayable. He sees it as investing - his collection of cards is worth a few thousand dollars, he reckons.
He buys cards and, if he’s done his research properly, often sells them for a higher price, as they grow in value.
“When he trades, he comes back from tournaments with $400, $900, and his last one, $1300,” Steve says proudly.
“It’s a real trading environment, which is great for his brain.”
James says the most valuable Yu-Gi-Oh! card is currently worth about $2million. He doesn’t have one of those, yet.
His favourite card is not one that’s worth the most, or good to play with, but one that holds memories.
“When I was in the North Island, I found this card on the ground at my old primary school. I picked it up and just chucked it in my room and didn’t really think much about it. When I picked up Yu-Gi-Oh! I found it in my room, and I’m like, ‘wow, I remember this card’. So, this card kind of symbolises the start of my journey into professional Yu-Gi-oh!.”
And what does he like most about playing cards? “I love the community. I love the friends that you make along the way, the interactions with opponents, and I love beating them,” he quips.
Steve says playing has opened the door to travel, with friends placed all over the world, as well as invitations from Konami to attend international tournaments.
James practices every day and plays most Sundays at Card Merchant. He’s had tutoring and spends “countless hours” watching YouTube trying to improve his skill.
“I surround myself with people who know a lot more than me.” He’s successful because he’s always looking a few moves ahead. “I try to anticipate what my opponent will do,” says James, who is also a brown belt in karate.
To raise funds to continue heading to international tournaments, with eyes on being an official world champion, James plans to start a business selling functional stationary including desk pads and wall planners, seeking support from the local business community. James, a Type 1 diabetic, plans to not only fund his travel, but return a percentage to Diabetes NZ for further research.
