Over the past couple of months we’ve seen some truly international-level Dueling at SHONEN JUMP Championships! First it was Japan’s Satoshi Kato and Spain’s Champion Rodrigo Togores competing at SHONEN JUMP Championship Orlando – a tournament Togores would go on to win. Now, some of the most successful competitors in the French Dueling scene have traveled to the U.S. this weekend, including Vincent Ralambomiadana. He’s playing a Deck called French Twilight.

Twilight Decks pack plenty of high-level Special Summon monsters like “Judgment Dragon” and “Dark Armed Dragon,” but often have to deal with dead hands. Sometimes “Wulf, Lightsworn Beast” or “Chaos Sorcerer” just aren’t useful, and some Twilight builds suffer as a result. The difference-maker in Ralambomiadana’s build is “Tragoedia,” a monster that changes the entire pacing of the Deck. Take a peek at what French Duelists call “French Twilight”:

Like most Twilight Decks, this one is aggressive early on with Lightsworn monsters, then cleans up late game with a flurry of Special Summons like “Judgment Dragon,” “Chaos Sorcerer,” and “Dark Armed Dragon.” But unlike other Twilight builds, this one packs “Tragoedia,” which helps bridge the gap between the two stages of attack.

If Ralambomiadana gets a rough opening hand (like say, multiple copies of “Wulf, Lightsworn Beast” and “Necro Gardna”), he can hold back, take a shot to his Life Points, and then Special Summon “Tragoedia” when he takes damage. “Tragoedia’s” sheer size (600 ATK and DEF for every card in Ralambomiadana’s hand) will fend off attackers, while “Tragoedia” makes attacks itself. This means he can easily Special Summon a monster that trumps popular Synchros like “Stardust Dragon” and “Blackwing Armed Wing,” and he can do it without any combos. That keeps his hand secure and secret, and makes him very difficult to play against.

In addition, a card that isn’t useful in the hand, like “Wulf, Lightsworn Beast,” can be used to take control of an opponent’s monster with “Tragoedia’s” second effect, turning a card in the hand into another attacker while eliminating one of the opponent’s monsters. Since Ralambomiadana is playing copies of Sorcerer, Dark Armed, and Judgment, he can also discard his own big monsters to take his opponent’s. A lone copy of Gorz makes Ralambomiadana even tougher to attack, while giving him another way to steal an opposing “Dark Armed Dragon.”

These extra defenses means Ralambomiadana can play conservatively without fearing a big push from his opponent, but it also means he can go all-out and strike early if he wants to. With single copies of Lightsworn monsters like “Ehren, Lightsworn Monk” and “Aurkus, Lightsworn Druid,” Ralambomiadana is running seven differently-named Lightsworn monsters total, making it easy to unleash “Judgment Dragon.” An aggressive opening with lots of cards sent to the Graveyard also means more Dark monsters in the Graveyard for “Chaos Sorcerer” and “Dark Armed Dragon,” plus more copies of “Necro Gardna” to build on the Deck’s heavy defense.

Vincent Ralambomiadana’s version of Twilight excels because it gives its pilot so much control over how it works. It offers a level of defense that’s extremely rare, the ability to play conservatively or aggressively, and it can change gears at the drop of a hat. Certain card choices Ralambomiadana made have brought more consistency to the strategy, and that consistency, plus the Deck’s flexibility, are what have made it a winner in tournaments before. Will it snag another title here this weekend? We’ll have to wait and see.