The final Swiss round is about to begin! We’ve got Dylan Graves, from Bakersfield, CA, and he’s got a doozy of a Deck for us. It’s a mix of Mitsurugi and Maliss, packing Sky Striker and Mathmech cards as well. It sounds wild, but it’s got him to an X-2 record so far! He’s facing Orion Gonzales, from San Angelo, TX, using Crystron K9! This Deck faced some changes after the F&L List and the release of Doom of Dimensions, with Gonzales proving it’s still a strong contender.

Duel 1

Graves played first, with a hand of Mitsurugi Prayers, Maliss <P> Chessy Cat, Mathmech Sigma, Terraforming, and Mitsurugi no Mikoto, Saji.

He activated Prayers, Tributing Saji. He added Ame no Habakiri no Mitsurugi to his hand and took 800 damage to Special Summon Saji. Saji’s effect then put Mitsurugi Ritual in his hand. He played the Mitsurugi Ritual, Tributing Night Sword Serpent and Mitsurugi no Mikoto, Kusanagi from his Deck to Ritual Summon Habakiri. He Special Summoned Night Sword Serpent, and Kusanagi put Mitsurugi Ritual in his hand. He stacked Saji and Night Sword Serpent for Mathmech Alembertian. Its effect put Mathmech Circular in his hand. He played Mitsurugi Ritual again, Ritual Summoning Ame no Murakumo no Mitsurugi from his Deck by Tributing Habakiri. Habakiri returned to the field after putting Mitsurugi Prayers in his hand. He Normal Summoned Chessy Cat, using it and Alembertian to Link Summon Cyberse Wicckid. He then used his two Mitsurugi monsters to Link Summon Haggard Lizardose.

This triggered Wicckid’s effect, letting him banish Chessy Cat to put Backup @Ignister in hand. He paid 300 Life Points to Special Summon Chessy Cat, and drew Sky Striker Mecha – Hornet Drones. He used Chessy and Lizardose to Link Summon Maliss <Q> Red Ransom, which put Maliss in the Mirror in his hand. He used Red Ransom and Wicckid to Link Summon Maliss <Q> White Binder, which banished Red Ransom from the Graveyard. Red Ransom returned to the field and banished Maliss <P> Dormouse from the Deck, and he Special Summoned that as well. Dormouse banished Maliss <P> White Rabbit from the Deck, which hit the field and Set Maliss <C> MTP-07. He flipped it by banishing White Binder, adding Maliss <P> March Hare to the hand. He Special Summoned White Binder and drew another March Hare. He used White Binder to Set MTP-07 again.

Graves then used White Binder, Dormouse, and White Rabbit to Link Summon Maliss <Q> Hearts Crypter. He Special Summoned Backup, adding Wizard @Ignister to his hand and discarding Sigma. He Special Summoned Sigma, using it and Hearts Crypter to Link Summon Firewall Dragon. He Special Summoned Wizard, which brought along Dormouse. He used Wizard and Backup for I:P Masquerena. He banished White Rabbit from his Graveyard to Special Summon March Hare. He used that with Dormouse and Red Ransom for Allied Code Talker @Ignister, which revived White Binder and Red Ransom. He played Terraforming  to get Maliss in Underground, and activated it without banishing anything. He Set all his Spells and Traps to finish!

Gonzales looked over this unbelievable first turn and knew he had nothing to fight through it all. He opted to concede before revealing his strategy for the next Duel.

Duel 2

Graves had Allure of Darkness, Hornet Drones, Habakiri, Murakumo, and Called by the Grave.

Gonzales played Crystron Inclusion, getting Crystron Sulfador. He activated K9-66a Jokul’s effect, Special Summoning it and Sulfador. Sulfador sent Crystron Cluster and Crystron Sulfefnir to the Graveyard. Jokul put K9-04 Noroi in his hand. He Normal Summoned it, Special Summoning K9-17 Izuna. Izuna sent K9-ØØ Lupis to the Graveyard. He stacked Jokul and Izuna for K9-17 “Ripper”, using its effect to add K9-66b Lantern to his hand. He used its effect, Special Summoning it and the Izuna from his Graveyard. Lantern put “A Case for K9” in his hand, and he activated it to put a new Izuna in his hand. He used Noroi’s effect to reveal Graves’s hand, seeing that the coast was clear. He stacked Sulfador with Lantern for Infinitrack River Stormer, detaching Sulfador to add Scrap Recycler to his hand. He used River Stormer and Noroi to Link Summon Platinum Gadget, which let him Special Summon Scrap Recycler. Recycler’s effect sent Spell Canceller to the Graveyard! He revived River Stormer by Tributing Platinum Gadget.

Gonzales used Scrap Recycler to Link Summon Clockwork Knight, then used its effect to Tribute River Stormer and revive Scrap Recycler. Its effect sent another Spell Canceller to the Graveyard! He used Scrap Recycler and Clockwork Knight to Link Summon S:P Little Knight. Then he revived Sulfefnir with its effect by discarding Crystron Tristaros, then destroyed the same Sulfefnir with the rest of its effect. When it was destroyed, he used its other effect to Special Summon a new Sulfador from his Deck. He stacked Sulfador with Izuna for Imperial Princess Quinquery in Defense Position! He revived Sulfador by destroying Inclusion. Now that it was in the Graveyard, he used Inclusion’s effect to revive Tristaros. He used both Crystrons to Synchro Summon Crystron Eleskeletus! It put Cluster back in his hand. He then used Tristaros’s effect, banishing it from the Graveyard to destroy Eleskeletes and Special Summon Sulfador and Sulfefnir from the Deck. Eleskeletus’s effect Special Summoned the banished Tristaros. He used his Level 5 Crystrons for Cyber Dragon Nova, and that for Cyber Dragon Infinity!

Finally, Quinquery Special Summoned Spell Canceller. He’d already seen the three Spell Cards in Graves’s hand thanks to Noroi, and knew this the Ritual Monsters were equally useless without spells to play them. We’re moving on to a third Duel!

Duel 3

Graves started the final Duel with Maliss in Underground, Habakiri, Wizard @Ignister, Maliss <P> March Hare, and Maliss <P> Dormouse. He used Habakiri’s effect to Special Summon Saji from his Deck and Tribute it. Saji put Mitsurugi Ritual in his hand. He used it to Ritual Summon Habakiri, Tributing Night Sword Serpent and Kusanagi from the Deck. Kusanagi put Mitsurugi Ritual in his hand, and he Special Summoned Night Sword Serpent. He played it again, Tributing Habakiri to Ritual Summon Murakumo from the Deck. Habakiri came back to the field and put Mitsurugi Prayers in his hand. He played Prayers, Tributing Murakumo, adding Aramasa to his hand and Special Summoning it. Murakumo added another Prayers to his hand and returned to play, and Aramasa put a new Habakiri in his hand.

Gonzales had Nibiru the Primal Being! Graves’s field was cleared and replaced with a 7300/4100 Primal Being Token.

Graves continued the turn by Normal Summoning Dormouse, and Gonzales Special Summoned Izuna from his hand. It sent Lupis to the Graveyard, and he Special Summoned Lupis. Lupis let him Xyz Summon Vallon, the Super Psy Skyblaster, and its effect flipped Dormouse face-down. Graves continued with Maliss in Underground, banishing White Rabbit from his Deck. He Special Summoned White Rabbit and Set Maliss <C> GWC-06. He used the Primal Being Token to Link Summon Link Spider. He used that and White Rabbit for Cyberse Wicckid, then banished White Rabbit to Special Summon March Hare. Wicckid let him banish Link Spider to add Backup to his hand. He Special Summoned Backup, which put another March Hare in his hand and discarded Habakiri. He used Wicckid and March Hare to Link Summon Red Ransom, adding Maliss in the Mirror to his hand. He Special Summoned Wizard from his hand, which Special Summoned March Hare. He used March Hare, Backup, and Wizard to Link Summon Hearts Crypter. He flipped GWC-06 by banishing Red Ransom, reviving White Rabbit, then paid 900 Life Points to Special Summon Red Ransom and banish Chessy Cat from his Deck. He Special Summoned Chessy Cat as well.

He used Chessy’s effect to banish March Hare and draw Sales Ban and Mitsurugi Mirror, then returned March Hare to his hand. He March Hare, Chessy Cat, and Hearts Crypter for White Binder. It banished Chessy and Hearts Crypter, plus Izuna from Gonzales’s Graveyard. He Special Summoned Hearts Crypter with double the ATK. White Binder put MTP-07 on the field. He used Hearts Crypter’s effect, returning his banished Chessy Cat to the Deck to banish his face-down Dormouse. He Special Summoned Dormouse, then used it with White Binder for Accesscode Talker! It gained ATK from White Binder, and banished the White Binder to destroy Vallon. Vallon destroyed the Set MTP, and the banished White Binder returned to the field and let Graves draw another Chessy Cat. Graves used White Binder, Red Ransom, and Accesscode Talker for Allied Code Talker @Ignister! It revived Red Ransom and White Binder. He Set Maliss in the Mirror, Mitsurugi Mirror, and Prayers.

Gonzales played “A Case for K9”, adding Noroi to his hand. He Normal Summoned it, and Graves flipped Maliss in the Mirror to negate it and banish White Binder. He Special Summoned White Binder, which let him draw Gold Sarcophagus. White Binder banished MTP, March Hare, and Gonzales’s Lupis. March Hare then returned to the hand. Gonzales used Jokul to Special Summon itself and Izuna. Graves flipped Prayers to revive Murakumo and destroy all of Gonzales’s monsters. That was enough for the concession!

Dylan Graves wins the Match with Mitsurugi Maliss!