This Feature Match looks like it could have come from the WCQ. We’ve got San Diego Duelist Brian Burlaza, using Gem-Knights! This strategy popped off at the North America WCQ, where Isaias Estrada took the unexpected Deck all the way to a World Championship qualification. On the other side, we have Ali Yassine, who lives right here in Vancouver! He’s playing the @Ignister Maliss strategy today, proving that the Deck is still a threat to be prepared for.

Duel 1

Yassine won the dice roll and chose to play first. Bruzala had a hand of Mulcharmy Fuwalos, Triple Tactics Thrust, Forbidden Droplet, Gem-Knight Dispersion, and Gem-Armadillo.

Yassine began with Maliss in Underground, banishing Maliss <P> Dormouse from his Deck. He paid 300 Life Points to Special Summon Dormouse, He activated its effect, banishing Maliss <P> White Rabbit from his Deck, and paid 300 Life Points to Special Summon that as well. White Rabbit’s effect Set Maliss <C> GWC-06 on the field. Burlaza activated Mulcharmy Fuwalos, but Yassine had Ash Blossom & Joyous Spring to negate it. Yassine Link Summoned Splash Mage, using it to revive Dormouse. He then Link Summoned Maliss <Q> Red Ransom, which put Maliss in the Mirror in his hand. He activated GWC-06 by banishing Red Ransom, bringing Dormouse back to the field. He paid 900 Life Points to Special Summon Red Ransom and banish Maliss <P> Chessy Cat from his Deck. He paid 300 Life Points to Special Summon Chessy Cat. He activated Chessy Cat’s effect, banishing Mirror to draw two cards. Mirror’s effect then let him banish White Rabbit from his Graveyard to add Maliss <P> March Hare to his hand.

He used Dormouse and Chessy Cat to Link Summon Cyberse Wicckid. He then Special Summoned Backup @Ignister with Wicckid pointing to it. Wicckid put another Backup in the hand, and Backup put Wizard @Ignister in his hand, discarding the spare Backup. He used Backup and Red Ransom to Link Summon Firewall Dragon. He Special Summoned Wizard, returning Chessy Cat to the field. He used Chessy Cat and Wicckid to Link Summon Maliss <Q> White Binder, next to Firewall. Firewall brought March Hare to the field, and White Binder banished GWC-06 from his Graveyard. He then used White Binder’s other effect to Set Maliss <C> MTP-07 on the field. Yassine then used White Binder, Wizard, and March Hare to Link Summon Maliss <Q> Hearts Crypter. He banished White Binder to Special Summon another March Hare from his hand, then paid 900 Life Points to Special Summon White Binder and draw a card. He used White Binder, Hearts Crypter, and March Hare to Link Summon Allied Code Talker @Ignister, which revived White Binder and Red Ransom. He Set one more back row card, and finished with Firewall co-linked in the center of his other three Link Monsters.

Burlaza drew Gem-Knight Nepyrim. He Normal Summoned it, and Yassine flipped Infinite Impermanence. Burlaza responded with Forbidden Droplet, sending Nepyrim and Armadillo to the Graveyard. Yassine responded with MTP-07, then Chained to that with Firewall Dragon. He added March Hare, Wizard, and Ash Blossom from his Graveyard to the hand. His trap put another March Hare in his hand. Droplet now negated Allied Code Talker @Ignister and White Binder. Infinite Impermanence had no target now, so finally, Nepyrim could resolve and add Gem-Knight Hollowcore to Burlaza’s hand. He Special Summoned Hollowcore by sending Gem-Knight Fusion from his Deck to the Graveyard. Yassine now Special Summoned March Hare from his hand by banishing Hearts Crypter from the Graveyard. That let him pay 900 Life Points to Special Summon Hearts Crypter with its ATK doubled. Burlaza activated Gem-Knight Dispersion, choosing the Fusion Summon effect, and Yassine used Ash Blossom to negate it. Burlaza activated his final card, Triple Tactics Thrust, to put another Dispersion in his hand. He activated it, adding Gem-Knight Quartz to his hand. He used its effect to Set Brilliant Fusion. Yassine activated Hearts Crypter’s effect, shuffling back one of his monsters to banish the Brilliant Fusion. That left Burlaza with nothing left to fight back!

Duel 2

Burlaza chose to play first, with a hand of Mulcharmy Meowls, Nepyrim, Forbidden Droplet, Crossout Designator, and Sales Ban. He Normal Summoned Nepyrim, adding Armadillo to his hand, and Yassine activated Droll & Lock Bird. Burlaza used Nepyrim’s effect to Normal Summon the Armadillo, then Set Forbidden Droplet and Crossout Designator.

Yassine Normal Summoned Dormouse, using its effect, and Burlaza responded with Forbidden Droplet, sending Mulcharmy Meowls to the Graveyard. Yassine Link Summoned Linguriboh, then played Maliss in Underground. Underground banished Maliss <P> White Rabbit, and he paid 300 Life Points to Special Summon it. He used its effect to Set Maliss <C> MTP-07. He used Linguriboh and White Rabbit to Link Summon Splash Mage, which brought Dormouse back to the field. He used both monsters to Link Summon Maliss <Q> Red Ransom, adding Maliss in the Mirror to his hand. He activated MTP-07 by banishing Red Ransom, adding March Hare to his hand. He paid 900 Life Points to Special Summon Red Ransom and banish Chessy Cat from his Deck, and he Special Summoned that as well. He used Chessy Cat’s effect, banishing March Hare to draw two cards, and then paid 300 Life Points for March Hare’s effect to return to his hand. Burlaza recognized that he had no defensive options remaining, and conceded the Duel!

Ali Yassine takes the Match with Maliss! After the last Duel, Burlaza commented on how he should have used Sales Ban on Droll & Lock Bird to ensure his play would have worked. He’d planned to sequence his play into Archnemeses Protos to block his opponent’s all-DARK Deck, but he’d gotten tunnel vision and didn’t think to play the Sales Ban first. An unfortunate mistake, but recognizing the error is the first step to improvement!