Our first feature match of the day will pit New York’s Chris Digregorio against Florida’s own James Laurent! Digregorio made it to Day 2 with a Synchro Cat Deck, a Deck that was very popular last format but was hit by the new September 1 Forbidden & Limited Cards List. His opponent James Laurent is playing a DARK combo Deck based around “Sky Scourge Norleras,” a Deck we’ve never seen in Day 2 contention before. This was going to be good!

Laurent opened the match with a hand of “Sky Scourge Norleras,” “Upstart Goblin,” “Dark Armed Dragon,” “Summoner Monk,” “Dark Grepher,” and “The Dark Creator.”  He discarded Norleras to Special Summon Grepher, then Normal Summoned “Summoner Monk.” He then discarded “Upstart Goblin” for “Summoner Monk’s” effect, Special Summoned “Phantom of Chaos,” and tried to mimic Norleras’ effect right here and now!

But Digregorio had “D.D. Crow” in his hand, the single copy he ran in his Main Deck! He removed Norleras from his opponent’s Graveyard, and Laurent had to end his turn, unable to use “Phantom of Chaos” to mimic Norleras and send everything to the Graveyard.

Digregorio followed up with “Allure of Darkness,” drawing two cards and removing “Gravekeeper’s Spy” for Allure’s effect. “Brain Control” let him take “Summoner Monk” from Laurent – exactly what a Synchro Cat Deck wants! He discarded a second “Allure of Darkness” for the Monk’s effect, Special Summoning “Rescue Cat.”

He next sent “Rescue Cat” to the Graveyard to Special Summon two copies of “X-Saber Airbellum,” and Tuned one Airbellum to “Summoner Monk” to Synchro Summon “Arcanite Magician” in Attack Position. He removed one Spell Counter from Arcanite to destroy “Dark Grepher,” then attacked “Phantom of Chaos” with Arcanite, and made a direct attack with Airbellum to force Laurent to discard “The Dark Creator.” Digregorio Set a card to his Spell & Trap Card Zone and ended his turn.

Laurent was up, but could do nothing but pass; he had “Dark Armed Dragon” and “Trade-In,” both dead cards. Digregorio attacked with Arcanite again next turn, and Laurent drew and activated “Gold Sarcophagus,” desperately removing another “Phantom of Chaos” from his Deck. He Set “Trade-In” as a bluff and ended.

“Arcanite Magician” made a third attack on the turn that followed, and Digregorio Set a second back row card. Laurent drew “The Dark Creator,” passed, and lost next turn to attacks from “Arcanite Magician” and “Sangan.”

Chris Digregorio manages to draw his single copy of “D.D. Crow” in his first five cards, and totally dismantles James Laurents opening combo because of it! Digregorio had only a twelve percent chance of opening with the Crow, but beat the odds, and beat Laurent into the ground shortly after.

Laurent opened the second Duel with “Dark Armed Dragon,” “Sky Scourge Norleras,” “Trade-In,” “Summoner Monk,” “Necro Gardna,” and “The Dark Creator.” He discarded Norleras for “Trade-In” and drew “Dark Grepher” and “Plaguespreader Zombie.”

After a little thought, he Normal Summoned “Dark Grepher” and discarded “Necro Gardna” to send a card to his Graveyard with Grepher’s effect. He considered “Darklord Zerato,” “Destiny Hero – Malicious,” and briefly considered another Norleras in case of another “D.D. Crow,” but settled on Malicious. He then Special Summoned “Dark Armed Dragon” and ended.

“He runs Oppression,” explained Laurent. “If I don’t do it now, he could just draw Oppression and win.”

Digregorio Summoned “Rescue Cat,” sent it to the Graveyard to Special Summon “X-Saber Airbellum” and “Sea Koala,” and activated the Koala’s effect to drop “Dark Armed Dragon’s” ATK. Airbellum attacked over “Dark Armed Dragon” and in Main Phase 2 Digregorio Tuned Airbellum to the Koala to Synchro Summon “Magical Android.” He Set one card to his Spell & Trap Card Zone and ended.

Laurent drew another copy of “The Dark Creator,” and discarded “Summoner Monk” for Grepher’s effect to send “Phantom of Chaos” to the Graveyard. He Normal Summoned “Plaguespreader Zombie,” Tuned it to Grepher, and Synchro Summoned “Goyo Guardian.” He now had just two cards left in hand: two copies of “The Dark Creator.”

Laurent was pleasantly surprised not to see “Royal Oppression.” He removed Malicious from his Graveyard, Special Summoned his second copy from his Deck, and sent one copy of “The Dark Creator” back to his Deck to Special Summon “Plaguespreader Zombie.” He Tuned that to Malicious to Synchro Summon “Stardust Dragon.” “Goyo Guardian” ran over “Magical Android,” Special Summoned it to Laurent’s side of the field, and “Stardust Dragon” attacked for 2500 Battle Damage. The Duel stood at 5700 Life Points to 7000, with Laurent leading.

Digregorio activated “Allure of Darkness,” drew two, and removed “Gravekeeper’s Spy” from the game to complete Allure’s effect. He Summoned “Summoner Monk,” discarded “Heavy Storm,” and Special Summoned “Rose, Warrior of Revenge.” He Tuned his two monsters together and Synchro Summoned “Colossal Fighter.” “How many Warriors in your Graveyard?” he asked.

Laurent had three Warriors, while Digregorio had one, so “Colossal Fighter” hit the field with 3200 ATK and attacked “Goyo Guardian.” Digregorio Set a second back row card and ended. Laurent drew his second Dark Creator, turned his Stardust to Defense Position, and ended. “Colossal Fighter” destroyed “Stardust Dragon” next turn.

Another Spell or Trap was Set by Digregorio, and play was back to Laurent. He drew “Dark Grepher,” and turned “Magical Android” to Attack Position, sending it in against Colossal Fighter. Android was destroyed, but Laurent made the attack because he needed to clear his field for “The Dark Creator.”

He tried to Special Summon it, and asked “Do you have Oppression?” Digregorio did not, but he activated “Solemn Judgment” instead! Laurent Special Summoned his second copy afterwards, removed Malicious from his Graveyard for its, and Special Summoned “Phantom of Chaos”! He then removed Norleras for Phantom’s effect, activated the borrowed effect, and blew away every card in the game! He drew and got another copy of Norleras.

Digregorio drew “Mystic Tomato” and attacked for 1400 damage! Laurent drew “Allure of Darkness,” activated it, and drew “Dark Nephthys” and “Upstart Goblin.” He removed Norleras for Allure’s effect, activated “Upstart Goblin,” drew “Foolish Burial,” and removed Grepher and “Summoner Monk” from his Graveyard to place “Dark Nephthys” in his Graveyard.

Laurent took another shot from Digregorio’s Tomato next turn, then drew “Hand Destruction.” He tried to Special Summon “Dark Nephthys,” but lost out to “D.D. Crow” yet again, as Digregorio removed Nephthys from the game! Laurent threw “Necro Gardna” into the Graveyard with “Foolish Burial,” blocked “Mystic Tomato’s” next attack, and Digregorio Set “Royal Oppression.”

Digregorio used it next turn to negate the Summon of a third copy of “The Dark Creator”! “Mystic Tomato” attacked into another “Necro Gardna,” Digregorio Set a card to his Spell & Trap Card Zone, and Laurent discarded “Darklord Zerato” and Norleras for two successive copies of “Trade-In”! He cleared the field with “Heavy Storm” and set “Dark Grepher”!

“Mystic Tomato” smacked into Grepher and bounced off harmlessly next turn. Laurent drew, and was left holding “Phantom of Chaos” and “Hand Destruction.” He Summoned the Phantom, removed a copy of “The Dark Creator” (one that had not been properly Summoned) to mimic its effect, and then used its ability to bring back another Dark Creator from the Graveyard, paying for it by removing Norleras from his Graveyard. He then removed Grepher to Special Summon “Phantom of Chaos” with “The Dark Creator,” and removed “Dark Armed Dragon” to mimic it with the second Phantom. Finally he removed another Dark Creator to destroy “Mystic Tomato” and clear the field. “Dark Grepher” and “The Dark Creator” then attacked for game!

James Laurent fights through “Royal Oppression” to make a flurry of plays with Phantoms and Dark Creators to steal the Duel! This match was going to one more game!

Digregorio started with a Set monster and ended his turn.

“What?” Laurent was surprised at his opponent’s single-card opening. He had two copies of “Upstart Goblin,” one “Darklord Zerato,” “Phantom of Chaos,” “Giant Trunade,” and “The Dark Creator.” He activated one Upstart, drawing “Summoner Monk.” He activated the second Upstart and got Norleras. “If I end my turn, you’ll just flip “Gravekeeper’s Spy”,” mused Laurent. “If I Summon, you could “Mind Control”…” He Summoned “Summoner Monk” and discarded “Giant Trunade” for its effect, Special Summoning “Dark Grepher” from his Deck. He discarded Norleras for Grepher’s effect, and sent “Necro Gardna” from his Deck to his Graveyard. “I’ll end my turn. Do you have Brain? Brain or Mind?”

Laurent leaned back in his chair, waiting to see an OTK turn seemingly convinced he couldn’t prevent it if it happened. Digregorio Flip Summoned “Gravekeeper’s Spy,” Special Summoned a second Spy in Attack Position, and Normal Summoned “Rescue Cat”! “Wow” remarked Laurent, nervously resting his face on his fist. Digregorio Special Summoned two copies of “X-Saber Airbellum” with “Rescue Cat’s” effect.

Digregorio also had “Brain Control”! He took control of “Summoner Monk.” Digregorio Tuned Airbellum to it, Synchro Summoned “X-Saber Urbellum,” and Tuned his second Airbellum to “Gravekeeper’s Spy” for “Arcanite Magician.” “I misplayed,” stated Digregorio, giving a bit of a sigh as he checked his Graveyard and hand. He attacked “Dark Grepher” with Arcanite, leading Laurent to remove “Necro Gardna” from his Graveyard. That left Laurent with two DARKs in his Graveyard, giving Digregorio a moment of pause. He was wary of giving Laurent his third DARK for “Dark Armed Dragon.” He pressed on though, attacking Grepher with Urbellum, and then attacked with “Gravekeeper’s Spy” to finish his turn.

Laurent drew “Dark Armed Dragon”! He Special Summoned it, then Normal Summoned “Phantom of Chaos” to remove “Sky Scourge Norleras” from his Graveyard. He sent “Dark Armed Dragon” to attack over “Gravekeeper’s Spy,” then activated Phantom’s effect to send everything in the Duel to the Graveyards! Laurent drew “Royal Decree” and Set it.

Digregorio drew, passed, and Laurent Set a monster on his next turn. Digregorio Set a card to his Spell & Trap Card Zone, and Laurent activate “Foolish Burial” to send “Destiny Hero – Malicious” to his Graveyard. He removed it, Special Summoned another, then Flip Summoned “Plaguespreader Zombie” to Synchro Summon “Colossal Fighter”! The Fighter came out with 3200 ATK and attacked directly. Digregorio took the damage.

Digregorio drew, activated “Call of the Haunted,” and Laurent Chained “Royal Decree”! Digregorio Set a monster, “Neo-Spacian Dark Panther,” and lost it to “Colossal Fighter” next turn in battle. Laurent removed “Summoner Monk” and Malicious to send “Dark Nephthys” to his Graveyard. Digregorio Set a Spell or Trap Card.

“Dark Nephthys” came up out of the Graveyard and destroyed Digregorio’s face-down “Bottomless Trap Hole.” “Reinforcement of the Army” got Laurent another “Dark Grepher,” he Summoned it, and all three monsters attacked for game!