We’re almost there! It’s Day 2 here at YCS Providence, and players are fighting for position to make it into the Top 32. For our Round 10 Feature Match, we have Tan Duc Pham facing off against Timothy Justin Crane. Pham will be piloting the Memento strategy, a Deck that has proven to extremely powerful since taking 1st Place at YCS Houston. On the other hand, Crane will be playing an interesting variant of Mitsurugi; while a lot of players have chosen to combine them with the Ryzeal theme, Crane is actually choosing to play Ogdoadic Mitsurugi, and will look to take advantage of the natural synergy between the two Reptile themes. Each of these Duelists has a 7-2 record, so they each need to win in order to have a chance at the Top 32. It’s time to Duel!

Duel 1

Pham won the die roll and chose to go first! His opening hand contained Super Polymerization, Mementotlan Mace, Ash Blossom & Joyous Spring, Mulcharmy Fuwalos, and Mulcharmy Purulia. He started by Normal Summoning Mementotlan Mace, then activated its effect, destroying it to add Mementotlan Tatsunootoshigo to hand. He Special Summoned Tatsunootoshigo, destroyed it, and sent Mementotlan Ghattic and Mementotlan Shleepy to the Graveyard. He Special Summoned Ghattic back and added Shleepy back to hand, then Special Summoned Shleepy and fused the two into Mementotlan Twin Dragon! He activated Twin Dragon’s effect, destroying it to add Mementotlan Angwitch and Mementoal Tecuhtlica – Combined Creation to hand, then Special Summoned Combined Creation by shuffling the Memento monsters from his Graveyard back to the Deck! Finally, he Set a card to his backrow and ended his turn. 

Crane began his turn by revealing Ame no Habakiri no Mitsurugi and Special Summoning Mitsurugi no Mikoto, Saji from the Deck, then Tributing it. He activated Saji’s effect, but Pham responded with Ash Blossom & Joyous Spring! Next, Crane activated Triple Tactics Thrust, adding Pre-Preparation of Rites to his hand. Here, Pham activated Combined Creation’s effect, Special Summoning Angwitch from his hand and searching for Mementotlan Mace! Crane activated Pre-Preparation, adding Mitsurugi Mirror and Ame no Murakumo no Mitsurugi to hand. Then he activated the effect of Nauya, the Ogdoadic Remnant, discarding it to send Keurse, the Ogdoadic Light to the Graveyard. He Set Mulcharmy Fuwalos in face-down Defense Position, then activated the effect of Keurse to Tribute Fuwalos. He Special Summoned Keurse and Nauya and searched for Ogdoadic Daybreak! 

Next, he activated Daybreak, Tributing Keurse to Special Summon 4 Ogdoadic Tokens. He used a Token and Nauya to Link Summon Haggard Lizardose, used Lizardose to banish Saji from the Graveyard and draw a card, then used Lizardose and another Token to Link Summon Ragnaraika Selene Snapper! In response to the summon, Pham activated the effect of Mementotlan Mace, discarding it to take control of Snapper. Next, Crane activated the effect of Nunu, the Ogdoadic Remnant, sending Futsu no Mitama no Mitsurugi to the Graveyard, then activated Mitsurugi Mirror, Tributing Habakiri to Special Summon Futsu no Mitama while searching for Mitsurugi Ritual! He activated Mitsurugi Ritual, sending Night Sword Serpent and Mitsurugi no Mikoto, Kusanagi from his Deck to the Graveyard to Ritual Summon Ame no Murakumo no Mitsurugi! He added Ritual back to hand, Special Summoned the Sword Serpent, and activated Murakumo’s effect to destroy all monsters on Pham’s field, but Pham followed up by activating Super Polymerization as Chain Link 4! Pham fused Crane’s Futsu and Murakumo into Garura, Wings of Resonant Life, which was then destroyed by Crane’s Murakumo, allowing him to draw a card. 

Crane Special Summoned Nunu from the Graveyard, and here, Pham activated the effect of Mulcharmy Fuwalos! Crane banished Daybreak from the Graveyard to shuffle Saji back into the Deck and send Nephilabyss, the Ogdoadic Overlord to the Graveyard. He used Nunu and Sword Serpent to Xyz Summon King of Feral Imps and search for Aron, the Ogdoadic King. Finally, he activated Mitsurugi Ritual, Tributing Aron to Ritual Summon Habakiri, while also allowing Crane to Special Summon Nephilabyss from the Graveyard! He activated Nephilabyss’ effect, Special Summoning Ame no Murakumo no Mitsurugi from the Graveyard, entered the Battle Phase, and attacked with all of his monsters to reduce Pham’s Life Points to zero! 

Duel 2

Pham’s opening hand consisted of Called by the Grave, Mementotlan-Horned Dragon, Mementotlan Fusion, Mementoal Tecuhtlica – Combined Creation, and Mementotlan Bone Party. He started by activating Memento Bone Party, destroying the Combined Creation in his hand to Special Summon Mementotlan Angwitch and search for Mementotlan Tatsunootoshigo! He Special Summoned Tatsunootoshigo, then destroyed it to send Mementotlan Ghattic and Memento Shleepy to the Graveyard. He activated Ghattic’s effect, and when Crane responded with Mulcharmy Meowls, Pham Chained Called by the Grave to negate the effect of Meowls! He used Ghattic’s effect to add back Shleepy, then activated its effect to Fusion Summon Mementotlan Twin Dragon! He activated Twin Dragon’s effect, destroying it to add Mementotlan Dark Blade and Mementotlan Mace to hand, while also Special Summoning Shleepy back to the field. Next, he activated Memento Fusion, returning Twin Dragon and Tatsunootoshigo to the Deck and sending Dark Blade to the Graveyard to Fusion Summon Mementomictlan Tecuhtlica – Creation King! He sent Mementotlan Akihiron, Angwitch, and Creation King to the Graveyard, then banished Creation King to add Mementomictlan to his hand. He activated it, then banished Memento Fusion from the Graveyard, destroyed Shleepy, and added another Memento Fusion to his hand. He Special Summoned Mementotlan Ghattic and Mementotlan Akihiron while sending Tatsunootoshigo from his Deck to the Graveyard. He used Ghattic and Akihiron to Link Summon Proxy F Magician, as well as Angwitch to Link Summon Artemis, the Magistus Moon Maiden, then activated Proxy F’s effect to fuse Artemis and Creation King into Azamina Ilia Silva! 

To wrap up his turn, Pham Special Summoned Mementotlan-Horned Dragon and used it and Proxy F to Link Summon Moon of the Closed Heaven! He used Moon to make Fiendsmith’s Requiem, then Tributed Requiem to Special Summon Fiendsmith Engraver. He equipped Engraver with Requiem and Special Summoned Necroquip Princess, then Special Summoned back Engraver by returning Moon to the Extra Deck, and used Engraver and Necroquip to Xyz Summon D/D/D Wave High King Caesar. Finally, he Special Summoned Mementoal Tecuhtlica – Combined Creation, Set a card to his backrow, and used Mementomictlan to Set Bone Party to his backrow, then ended his turn. 

Crane started off by Normal Summoning Mitsurugi no Mikoto, Aramasa and adding Ame no Habakiri no Mitsurugi to hand. He attempted to Special Summon monsters with Mitsurugi Ritual and the effect of Ame no Habakiri no Mitsurugi, but both times, Pham negated their effects with Caesar! Crane tried to follow up with Snake Rain, discarding Aron, the Ogdoadic King, but Pham Tributed Ilia Silva to negate it, as well. Finally, Crane discarded Nauya, the Ogdoadic Remnant to send Keurse, the Ogdoadic Light to the Graveyard, and so Pham activated Combined Creation’s effect to Special Summon Creation King from the Graveyard. Pham could use Creation King to destroy Crane’s last monsters, and so he chose to concede. We’re on to game 3! 

Duel 3

Pham’s opening hand consisted of Droll & Lock Bird, Mementotlan Tatsunootoshigo, Ghost Belle & Haunted Mansion, and two copies of Mementotlan Bone Party! 

Crane would choose to first! During the Draw Phase, he activated Mitsurugi Prayers, Tributing Ame no Murakumo no Mitsurugi from hand, but Pham responded with the effect of Ghost Belle! Crane activated Murakumo’s effect, searching for Ame no Habakiri no Mitsurugi, then proceeded to the Main Phase. He activated Habakiri’s effect, Special Summoning and then Tributing Mitsurugi no Mikoto, Saji and searching for Mitsurugi Ritual. On resolution, Pham activated the effect of Droll & Lock Bird, preventing Crane from adding cards from his Deck to his hand for the rest of the turn! 

Next, Crane activated Mitsurugi Ritual, sending Night Sword Serpent and Mitsurugi no Mikoto, Kusanagi to the Graveyard to Ritual Summon Habakiri, then Special Summoned Night Sword Serpent and added Mitsurugi Ritual back to hand. He activated Mitsurugi Mirror, Tributing Habakiri to Ritual Summon Murakumo from the Graveyard, then activated Triple Tactics Thrust, setting Deck Devastation Virus to his side of the field! He Set one more card to his backrow and ended his turn. 

Pham drew Forbidden Droplet for turn! During Draw Phase, Crane activated Deck Devastation Virus, and Pham Chained Mementotlan Bone Party, destroying the Tatsunootoshigo in his hand and searching for Mementotlan Shleepy. Shleepy was then destroyed, which allowed Pham to send Mementotlan Ghattic to the Deck, as Crane returned Mitsurugi Mirror to the Deck, Special Summoned Ame no Murakumo no Mitsurugi, and searched for Mitsurugi Prayers. Pham activated Ghattic’s effect, and Crane Chained the effect of Murakumo, forcing Pham to discard the other Bone Party from his hand in order to Special Summon Ghattic and add Shleepy back to hand. Pham activated Shleepy’s effect, Special Summoning it, as Crane Chained Mitsurugi Prayers, Tributing Murakumo to search for Mitsurugi no Mikoto, Aramasa and then Special Summon back Murakumo. Crane activated Murakumo’s effect to destroy Pham’s monsters, which would prevent him from Fusion Summoning. With only Forbidden Droplet in his hand, he didn’t have enough cards to negate Murakumo’s effect and still Fusion Summon, so he allowed his monsters to be destroyed, and then ended his turn. 

Crane began his turn by Normal Summoning Aramasa and searching for another Habakiri. He used Aramasa and Night Sword Serpent to Xyz Summon King of Feral Imps and search for Nunu, the Ogdoadic Remnant. He activated Nunu’s effect, sending it and Keurse, the Ogdoadic Light to the Graveyard, then Special Summoned Keurse by Tributing Ame no Murakumo no Mitsurugi, then Special Summoned back Nauya and Murakumo to search for Mitsurugi Ritual and Ogdoadic Daybreak. He activated Daybreak, Tributing Keurse to Special Summon 3 Ogdoadic Tokens. He used King of Feral Imps and a Token to Link Summon Haggard Lizardose, climbed into Knightmare Unicorn, then used Unicorn and Nauya to Link Summon Accesscode Talker! With more than enough damage on board, Crane entered the Battle Phase and won the Duel!

Crane secures a victory in Round 10 and his record improves to 8-2. His tournament hopes stay alive, and he’ll play in Round 11 for a chance to make it into the Top 32 here at YCS Providence!