It’s Round 2 here at YCS Anaheim, and things are starting to heat up! In this round’s Feature Match, we have two players that each won their first round. Adam Samuel Baron is playing the Vanquish Soul K9 Deck; despite seeing Stake Your Soul! and Vanquish Soul Razen Limited to 1 on the most recent Forbidden & Limited List, the Deck remains strong, receiving a boost in Doom of Dimensions from the release of K9-04 Noroi. On the other hand, Kenneth Ray Mooney is playing the Dracotail Deck, an already strong Deck that received a couple of new cards in Dracotail Sting and Dracotail Phryxul. Which of these Duelists will maintain their hot start and move on with a 2-0 record? Let’s find out! It’s time to Duel! 

Duel 1

Mooney won the die roll and chose to go first! He opened with Rahu Dracotail, Ketu Dracotail, Dracotail Lukias, and two copies of Dracotail Faimena. He started by activating Rahu and searching for Dracotail Urgula, then Normal Summoned Lukias and searched for Dracotail Mululu. Next, Mooney activated the effect of Dracotail Faimena, as Baron Chained the effect of Mulcharmy Fuwalos! Mooney used Mululu from his hand and Lukias from the field to Fusion Summon Secreterion Dragon, allowing Baron to draw a card. Mooney used the effects of Mululu and Lukias to Set Dracotail Flame and Dracotail Sting from his Deck. On resolution, Baron activated the effect of Vanquish Soul Hollie Sue, Special Summoning it from hand, then revealed K9-04 Noroi and Vanquish Soul Dr. Mad Love in his hand to take control of Mooney’s Secreterion Dragon until the End Phase! 

Mooney followed up by activating Rahu Dracotail, using Dracotail Pan from his Deck and Urgula from his hand to Fusion Summon Dracotail Arthalion! He wasn’t able to activate the effect of Arthalion, but he Set Dracotail Horn and another Rahu from his Deck as well as destroy Baron’s Hollie Sue. He returned Urgula to the bottom of his Deck and added Lukias back to hand, then ended his turn. Secreterion Dragon was returned to Mooney’s side of the field. 

Baron began his turn by Normal Summoning Vanquish Soul Dr. Mad Love, adding Vanquish Soul, Start! from the Deck to his hand. He then activated Mad Love’s effect, revealing Noroi and K9-66a Jokul in hand, and Mooney Chained Dracotail Horn; both Baron’s Vanquish Soul Dr. Mad Love and Mooney’s Secreterion Dragon were returned to the hand and Extra Deck, respectively. On resolution, Baron Special Summoned Vanquish Soul Jiaolong, then activated Jokul’s effect, Special Summoning it and Noroi from his hand. He activated Jokul’s effect, searching for K9-17 Izuna, then used Jokul and Noroi to Xyz Summon K9-17 “Ripper”! He activated Ripper’s effect, searching for K9-66b Lantern. Baron then used Jiaolong to Link Summon Rock of the Vanquisher, but when he activated its effect to add a Vanquish Soul monster from his Graveyard back to his hand, Mooney Chained Dracotail Sting, banishing Jiaolong from Mooney’s Graveyard as Mooney added Vanquish Soul Hollie Sue back to hand. 

Baron followed up by activating “A Case for K9”, adding another copy of K9-66a Jokul to his hand. On resolution, Mooney activated the effect of Droll & Lock Bird, which he had just drawn off of the effect of Dracotail Sting! Baron then activated Lantern’s effect, Special Summoning it from his hand and Noroi from his Graveyard, then used Noroi’s effect, sending Case from his field to the Graveyard to look at Mooney’s hand full of Dracotail monsters. Baron activated the effect of Vanquish Soul Hollie Sue, Special Summoning it from hand; here, Mooney attempted to activate the effect of Dracotail Faimena, but Baron responded with the effect of Ripper, negating it! Finally, Baron activated the effect of Hollie Sue, taking control of Mooney’s Dracotail Arthalion, and entered the Battle Phase. With a field full of monsters against Mooney’s open board, Baron attacked directly with all of his monsters to win the first Duel! 

Duel 2

Mooney’s opening hand contained Dracotail Pan, Blazing Cartesia, the Virtuous, Ghost Belle & Haunted Mansion, and two copies of Dracotail Mululu. He began by Normal Summoning Cartesia and activating its effect, but Baron responded with the effect of Mulcharmy Fuwalos once again! Mooney used Dracotail Pan and Dracotail Mululu in hand to Fusion Summon Dracotail Arthalion, then used Arthalion to add Pan and Mululu back to hand, while he Set Rahu Dracotail and Ketu Dracotail from his Deck. Next, he activated Ketu, adding Dracotail Faimena from his Deck to his hand. He then activated Rahu, using Dracotail Urgula from his Deck and Dracotail Faimena from his hand to Fusion Summon Dracotail Gulamel, allowing Baron to draw another card! He used the effects of Faimena and Urgula to Set Dracotail Sting and Dracotail Flame from his Deck to his backrow, then returned Urgula to the bottom of his Deck to add Faimena back to hand. He then ended his turn. 

Baron began his turn by activating Gravekeeper’s Inscription, choosing to prevent both players from activating the effects of cards in the Graveyard until the end of Mooney’s next turn; Mooney Chained Flame to try and negate it, but Baron responded with the effect of Ghost Belle & Haunted Mansion, allowing his Inscription to resolve! Next, Baron activated the effect of K9-66a Jokul in his hand, Special Summoning it and Vanquish Soul Hollie Sue. In response to the summon, Mooney activated the effect of Cartesia, using Pan and Mululu in his hand to Fusion Summon another Dracotail Arthalion, and activated its effect to return Baron’s Hollie Sue and Jokul to hand. Baron then Normal Summoned Jokul and activated its effect, searching for K9-66b Lantern. Afterwards, Mooney attempted to activate the effect of Dracotail Faimena, discarding it from his hand, but Baron Chained Called by the Grave, banishing Faimena and negating its effect! Here, Baron chose to activate Harpie’s Feather Duster; Mooney Chained Dracotail Sting, banishing Baron’s Ghost Belle and Inscription, then used Gulamel’s effect to destroy Baron’s Jokul. Finally, Baron activated the effect of Lantern in his hand, attempting to Special Summon it and the Jokul from his Graveyard, but Mooney responded with the effect of his own Ghost Belle & Haunted Mansion! Without anymore plays and staring down Mooney’s field full of Dracotail monsters, Baron conceded. We’re moving on to game 3!

Duel 3

Mooney’s opening hand consisted of Blazing Cartesia, the Virtuous, Rahu Dracotail, Dracotail Lukias, Effect Veiler, and Dracotail Mululu. 

Baron chose to go first in the pivotal game 3! He started by activating Reinforcement of the Army, searching his Deck for Vanquish Soul Razen. He then Normal Summoned Vanquish Soul Dr. Mad Love and activated its effect; Mooney responded with the effect of Effect Veiler, but Baron Chained the effect of Vanquish Soul Heavy Borger! Baron Special Summoned Heavy Borger and returned Mad Love to his hand, allowing him to resolve Mad Love’s effect to search for Vanquish Soul, Start!. He activated Heavy Borger’s effect, drawing him a card, then activated Start, targeting Borger and searching for Vanquish Soul Jiaolong. Next, he Special Summoned Vanquish Soul Hollie Sue from hand, revealing Jiaolong, then Special Summoned Jiaolong and used the two to Xyz Summon K9-17 “Ripper”! He activated Ripper’s effect, adding “A Case for K9” to his hand and Set K9-X Forced Release to his backrow. He activated Case, searching for K9-17 Izuna, then activated Stake Your Soul!, revealing the Izuna to Special Summon another Vanquish Soul Hollie Sue from his Deck. He activated Hollie Sue’s effect, revealing Mad Love and Razen in hand to Special Summon out Vanquish Soul Caesar Valius, used Hollie Sue to Link Summon Rock of the Vanquisher, then Special Summoned K9-17 Izuna and sent K9-ØØ Lupis to the Graveyard. Finally, he Special Summoned Lupis from the Graveyard, and used Lupis and Izuna to Xyz Summon N.As.H. Knight! He used Rock to add Hollie Sue back to his hand, used N.As.H. Knight to Xyz Summon CXyz N.As.Ch. Knight, then finally Xyz Summoned Number C104: Umbral Horror Masquerade! He Set a card to his backrow, Set Vanquish Soul Snow Devil to his backrow with the effect of Start, and ended his turn. 

Mooney drew Ketu Dracotail for turn. However, during the Draw Phase, Baron activated Anti-Spell Fragrance! Mooney started his turn by Normal Summoning Cartesia and activating its effect, but Baron Chained the effect of C104, negating Cartesia’s effect, reducing Mooney’s Life Points by half, and sending Ketu Dracotail from Mooney’s hand to the Graveyard. Mooney Set a card to his backrow and ended his turn. During the End Phase, Baron activated the effect of Caesar Valius, destroying Mooney’s face-down Rahu! Baron’s C104 was also destroyed during the End Phase. 

Baron drew for turn, and in the Draw Phase, activated the effect of Caesar Valius once again! Cartesia was destroyed, as its effect could only be activated during the Main Phase. Baron proceeded straight to the Battle Phase and attacked Mooney’s Life Points directly with all of his monsters to win the Duel!

Baron wins the round, and advances with a 2-0 record!