Rodrigo Togores is the current National Champion from Spain, and is here today playing a Blackwing Deck built around “Blackwing – Vayu the Emblem of Honor.”

But his opponent is Taylor Raflowitz, playing Chaos beatdown with “Royal Oppression,” along with the new monster “Card Guard” from Ancient Prophecy. He’s got a number of Trap and monster effects that could make life difficult for Togores in this match. Should be interesting!

Raflowitz opened the match by Summoning “Thunder King Rai-Oh,” then Set a card to his Spell & Trap Card Zone. Togores had “Blackwing – Kalut the Moon Shadow,” “Black Whirlwind,” “Book of Moon,” “Mystical Space Typhoon,” “Blackwing – Gale the Whirlwind,” and “Torrential Tribute.” He activated “Mystical Space Typhoon,” destroying Raflowitz’s face-down “Royal Oppression”!

Togores’ “Black Whirlwind” was useless at the moment, as the effect of Thunder King Rai-Oh would keep him from searching his Deck. He didn’t seem to realize that though, activating Whirlwind and Summoning “Blackwing – Gale the Whirlwind,” moving to pick up his Deck. Raflowitz patted Thunder King, and Togores reeled briefly at his mistake. He halved Thunder King’s ATK and DEF with Gale’s effect, attacked and destroyed it, and Set a card to finish his turn.

Raflowitz destroyed Gale with “Fissure” next turn, then made a direct attack with “Doomcaliber Knight”! He Set a card to his Spell & Trap Card Zone to finish. Togores drew “Blackwing – Bora the Spear,” Normal Summoned it, and (with Thunder King now off the field) searched his Deck to get Kalut with “Black Whirlwind.” He attacked with Bora, and Raflowitz activated “Mirror Force.” Togores Set another Spell or Trap Card.

“Doomcaliber Knight” attacked for another 1900 damage – Raflowitz was doing a great job of keeping Togores off the table and out of this game. Togores drew another “Black Whirlwind” though. He activated it, Normal Summoned Kalut to try and get two cards from his Deck, but lost out to Raflowitz’s Chained “Book of Moon”! Doomcaliber ran Kalut over next turn and Raflowitz Set another Spell or Trap.

Togores Summoned “Blackwing – Blizzard the Far North,” “Doomcaliber Knight” was automatically Tributed to destroy it, and Togores had just one card left in-hand. Then he lost everything on the field to “Heavy Storm”! Raflowitz followed up with another “Doomcaliber Knight,” attacking for another 1900 damage. Togores was down to 2300 Life Points and it was all over a turn later, as Raflowitz swung for game with “Doomcaliber Knight” and Blackwing – Gale!

Taylor Raflowitz really takes early control over the first Duel, and then uses a flurry of removal cards to keep Spain’s Champion Rodrigo Togores from putting together any sort of offense. That’s exactly how Raflowitz’s Deck is supposed to work – keep grind away at your opponent’s monsters, and keep the bigger, more complicated Decks from ever gaining ground. Both competitors made extensive use of their Side Decks.

Togores opened Duel 2 with a hand that included “Allure of Darkness,” “Heavy Storm,” “Blackwing – Gale the Whirlwind,” “Blackwing – Shura the Blue Flame”, and “Blackwing – Sirocco the Dawn.” After drawing, he activated Allure, drew two more cards, and removed “Plaguespreader Zombie.” Togores activated “Black Whirlwind,” Normal Summoned Blackwing – Shura, and searched his Deck for “Blackwing – Vayu the Emblem of Honor.”

Togores asked for a basic Kalut ruling, bluffing about a card he didn’t actually have in his hand. He was trying to give the impression that he already had Kalut in hand, by purposely not searching for it – a risky gambit. Raflowitz was having none of it – he Normal Summoned “Doomcaliber Knight,” attacked, and destroyed Shura! He followed up by Setting two cards to his Spell & Trap Card Zone.

Togores drew, holding “Dark Grepher,” Sirocco, Vayu, Gale, “Heavy Storm,” and “Icarus Attack.” He Normal Summoned Sirocco, but lost “Black Whirlwind” to a Chained “Mystical Space Typhoon” and could not search with its effect. Sirocco attacked “Doomcaliber Knight,” destroyed it, and Togores ended by Setting “Icarus Attack.”

Raflowitz Summoned “Blackwing – Gale the Whirlwind,” activated its effect to halve Sirocco’s ATK and DEF, and attacked. Togores Tributed Sirocco for “Icarus Attack,” and Raflowitz lost his Gale and his Set “Solemn Judgment.” He Set one more card to his back row and ended his turn.

Togores Normal Summoned “Dark Grepher,” ran some numbers, and discarded one copy of Vayu to get another from his Deck into his Graveyard. Grepher attacked for 1700 Battle Damage and Togores ended his turn with another back row Set.

Raflowitz activated “Heavy Storm” next turn, destroying Togores’ Set “Heavy Storm.” He Summoned “Doomcaliber Knight,” attacked over Grepher, and ended. He was in for a world of hurt.

Togores activated the effect of one of his Vayus, forcing the automatic Tribute of “Doomcaliber Knight” to negate the effect, but leaving Vayu still in the Graveyard. Togores activated it again, and removed Vayu and “Blackwing – Sirocco the Dawn” from his Graveyard to Special Summon “Blackwing Armed Wing.” It attacked into “Mirror Force,” and Togores Summoned “Blackwing – Kalut the Moon Shadow” in Main Phase 2. He had another Kalut in hand, along with one more card: Gale.

But Raflowitz had “D. D. Warrior Lady”! He Summoned her, attacked Kalut, and Togores had to play his second Kalut from the hand to boost Kalut’s ATK, in order to force Raflowitz to remove both monsters from play using the effect of “D. D. Warrior Lady.” The field was wiped clean and each Duelist had one card in hand. But Togores was about to draw and had one Vayu left in the Graveyard.

He used it to Special Summon “Blackwing Armor Master,” removing Vayu and “Blackwing Armed Wing” from the Graveyard for it. Armor Master made a direct attack, then Togores Set “Mystical Space Typhoon.” Raflowitz Set a monster, then Set “My Body As A Shield,” which he immediately lost to “Mystical Space Typhoon.”

Togores next Summoned “Snipe Hunter”! He discarded his last card, the Gale, for Snipe’s effect, and succeeded in destroying Raflowitz’s last monster! “Snipe Hunter” attacked, “Blackwing Armor Master” attacked, and we were now headed to a third Duel!

Rodrigo Togores gets called on his early Kalut bluff, but fights back with a double Vayu play to claim the second Duel with authority! This was a really great Match, and it was anybody’s game at this point.

Raflowitz opened Duel 3 by Summoning “Doomcaliber Knight,” and Set two cards to his Spell & Trap Card Zone. Togores had “Blackwing – Sirocco the Dawn,” “Icarus Attack,” “Blackwing – Kalut the Moon Shadow,” “Blackwing – Vayu the Emblem of Honor,” “Allure of Darkness”, and “Black Whirlwind.” He revealed them when Raflowitz flipped “Trap Dustshoot”! Raflowitz sent Sirocco back to his opponent’s Deck and play continued.

“Allure of Darkness” was Togores’ obvious play, and he drew another Vayu and “Torrential Tribute” with it. He removed one of the Vayus, Set a monster, and Set two cards to his back row. Raflowitz activated “Book of Moon” in the End Phase, turning his own “Doomcaliber Knight” face-down. He Flip Summoned it next turn, attacked Togores’ Vayu, and then Set a Spell or Trap Card before Normal Summoning “Kycoo the Ghost Destroyer.” He then lost both monsters to “Torrential Tribute”!

Togores activated “Black Whirlwind” next turn, Summoned “Blackwing – Kalut the Moon Shadow,” and searched his Deck for Blackwing – Gale. He Special Summoned Gale, Tuned it to Kalut, and attempted to Synchro Summon “Blackwing Armed Wing.” Raflowitz used “Royal Oppression” to destroy Armed Wing, but Togores activated Vayu again from the Graveyard to threaten the Summon of “Blackwing Armor Master”! Raflowitz paid 800 Life Points to negate the Summon, but Vayu remained in the Graveyard and Togores just activated the effect again. (Raflowitz was unaware that removing Vayu was not a cost.) “Blackwing Armor Master” hit the field and made a direct attack.

Raflowitz Summoned “D. D. Warrior Lady,” attacked, and Togores destroyed “Royal Oppression” and the Lady with “Icarus Attack.” Raflowitz ended, Togores Set a back row card, and Raflowitz attacked with “Breaker the Magical Warrior” next turn! He destroyed Togores’ “Royal Decree” with Breaker’s effect in Main Phase 2. Togores tried to Summon Blackwing – Shura next turn, but lost out to “Solemn Judgment,” leaving Raflowitz to make a direct attack with Breaker. He then Set a Spell or Trap Card.

Togores next drew “Blackwing – Bora the Spear”! He Normal Summoned it, searched his Deck for “Blackwing – Blizzard the Far North” with “Black Whirlwind,” and attacked Breaker to destroy it. He had two cards left in hand and ended.

Raflowitz drew to two cards in hand, and flipped “Mind Crush” to make Togores discard Blackwing – Blizzard. Raflowitz Set a card to his back row, then activated a desperate “Allure of Darkness” – but neither of the cards he drew was a DARK monster, and with no DARK monster to remove for the effect of “Allure of Darkness,” he had to discard both cards.

Togores was now in total control. He made another attack with Bora, then Set a monster. The Duel stood at 450 Life Points to 4500, with Raflowitz in big trouble. It all came down to his next draw, which he Set in his Spell & Trap Card Zone.

…and it didn’t help. Togores attacked next turn for game, and it was over!

Rodrigo Togores manages to salvage a win, coming back from a loss in the first Duel to win two straight and take the Match! Victory for Spain!