Round 2 Feature Match: Anthony Kelly vs. George Murray
Anthony Kelly is here today running a Zombie Deck with “Shutendoji,” “Hidden Armory,” and “D.D.R. – Different Dimension Reincarnation.” George Murray is running Blackwings, featuring “Blackwing – Vayu the Emblem of Honor.”
Kelly won the dice roll 5 to 3 and chose to go first. He opened with “Plaguespreader Zombie,” “Mezuki,” “Mirror Force,” “Bottomless Trap Hole,” “Morphing Jar” and “Burial from a Different Dimension.” He Set “Bottomless Trap Hole” and a monster before ending his turn.
Murray drew a card on his next turn and Summoned “Blackwing – Bora the Spear” before losing it to Kelly’s Bottomless. Then he Set 2 cards to his back row and ended his turn.
Kelly Flip Summoned his Set “Mezuki” but lost it to Murray’s “Bottomless Trap Hole” on his next turn. He then Normal Summoned “Zombie Master” and attacked for 1800 damage, bringing Murray down to 6200 Life Points. He Set “Mirror Force” and ended his turn.
Murray Summoned “Blackwing – Sirocco the Dawn” on his next turn, declared an attack on “Zombie Master,” but lost his Sirocco to Kelly’s “Mirror Force.”
Kelly kept the pressure coming during his turn, as he attacked with “Zombie Master” after drawing a “Mystic Tomato.” He Set the Tomato after his attack, before passing to Murray.
Murray Summoned “Blackwing – Shura the Blue Flame,” attacked the face-down Tomato, and Special Summoned “Blackwing – Vayu the Emblem of Honor” with Shura’s effect. Kelly Special Summoned “Goblin Zombie” from his Deck with the effect of “Mystic Tomato.” In his second Main Phase, Murray Synchro Summoned “Magical Android” by Tuning Shura with Vayu. He Set another card face-down in his Spell and Trap Card Zone and ended his turn, gaining 600 Life Points from “Magical Android.”
On Kelly’s next turn he drew “D.D.R. – Different Dimension Reincarnation.” Murray had 2 cards in his hand with 2 back rows and an Android on the field. Kelly was still holding “D.D.R. – Different Dimension Reincarnation,” “Burial from a Different Dimension,” “Morphing Jar,” and “Plaguespreader Zombie.” He Set “Morphing Jar” and his 2 Spell cards, then ended his turn.
Murray Set one Spell or Trap Card next turn and attacked “Zombie Master” with “Magical Android,” sending it to the Graveyard and ending his turn.
On Kelly’s next turn he Normal Summoned “Plaguespreader Zombie” and Tuned “Plaguespreader Zombie” with “Goblin Zombie.” Murray negated the Synchro Summon of “Revived King Ha Des” by flipping “Royal Oppression,” and Kelly searched his Deck for “Shutendoji” with “Goblin Zombie’s” effect. Kelly Set one more card to his back row and ended his turn.
On Murray’s next turn he drew a card before activating the effect of the Vayu in his Graveyard to Special Summon “Blackwing Armed Wing.” Armed Wing attacked “Morphing Jar” and both players discarded their hands and drew 5 new cards. Android attacked directly, and Kelly dropped down to 5600 Life Points. Murray had 4800 Life Points. Murray Set another card before he ended his turn, and then gained 600 Life Points.
Kelly’s hand now contained “Hidden Armory,” “Dark Armed Dragon,” “Torrential Tribute,” “Mystical Space Typhoon,” and “Armagaddon Knight” among other cards. He activated his face-down “Allure of Darkness” to draw 2 new cards and remove a “Mystic Tomato” from play. He Set one monster face-down along with 2 back row cards before ending his turn.
Murray drew a card next turn and activated “Heavy Storm”! It threatened to destroy 4 cards on each player’s side of the field! Kelly chained “Burial from a Different Dimension,” but Murray negated it with “Solemn Judgment”! All Spell and Trap Cards were destroyed.
Murray Summoned “Blackwing – Blizzard the Far North” to return Shura to play, Synchro Summoned for “Brionac, Dragon of the Ice Barrier,” and Kelly conceded, knowing that Brionac would bounce his only monster back to his hand, and Murray’s “Blackwing Armed Wing,” “Magical Android,” and Brionac would attack directly for game!
After some lengthy Side Decking, Kelly wished his opponent luck and chose to go first in Duel 2.
His opening hand contained “Armageddon Knight,” “Hidden Armory,” “Trap Hole,” “Blackwing – Gale the Whirlwind,” “Plaguespreader Zombie,” and “Psychic Commander.” He Summoned “Armageddon Knight” and sent “Necro Gardna” to his Graveyard. Then he Set “Trap Hole” to his back row and ended his turn.
Murray drew for his turn and then activated “Allure of Darkness.” He drew 2 cards and removed “Blackwing – Kalut the Moon Shadow” from play with Allure’s effect. Then he Summoned “Blackwing – Bora the Spear” to the field, but lost it to Kelly’s “Trap Hole.” Murray Set 2 cards in his back row and ended his turn.
Kelly drew “Allure of Darkness” on his next turn and activated it. He drew “Mezuki” and “Goblin Zombie,” choosing to remove “Zombie Master” from play with Allure’s effect. He attacked directly with “Armageddon Knight,” dropping Murray down to 6600 Life Points. In his second Main Phase, Kelly activated “Hidden Armory,” sending a “Heavy Storm” to the Graveyard and searching his Deck for “D.D.R. – Different Dimension Reincarnation.” He ended his turn without Setting a back row card.
Murray drew a card on his next turn and then Summoned “Blackwing – Gale the Whirlwind.” He used Gale to attack “Armageddon Knight” after halving its attack, inflicting 600 damage to Kelly. Murray ended his turn.
Kelly drew “Goblin Zombie” next turn. He activated “D.D.R. – Different Dimension Reincarnation,” discarding “Mezuki” to Special Summon “Zombie Master,” but Murray flipped “Bottomless Trap Hole” to remove “Zombie Master” from play. Kelly was stuck with a 4 monster hand. He Summoned Psychic Commander and attacked Gale, but Murray activated “Waboku” to protect it. Kelly ended his turn.
Murray used Gale to halve “Psychic Commander’s” stats before Summoning “Blackwing – Shura the Blue Flame.” Shura attacked “Psychic Commander” and destroyed it, dropping Kelly down to 6800 life. He chose not to search his Deck for Shura’s ability. Then he attacked with Gale directly, and Synchro Summoned “Blackwing Armor Master” by tuning his two monsters together.
Kelly top decked “Allure of Darkness” next turn. He drew “Creature Swap” and “Gorz the Emissary of Darkness,” and removed the “Plaguespreader Zombie” in his hand from play. He Set “Goblin Zombie” and activated “Creature Swap.” He gained control of “Blackwing Armor Master” and gave away his Zombie to do it! It was a great play! Kelly attacked with “Blackwing Armor Master” but lost it to “Mirror Force.” He ended his turn without any cards on the field, ready to Summon Gorz.
Murray Summoned “Blackwing – Blizzard the Far North” next turn and returned Shura to the field. He then Synchro Summoned Brionac, discarded “D.D. Crow” to return the “Goblin Zombie” that was under his control back to Kelly’s hand. Next, he attacked directly with Brionac. Kelly Summoned Gorz along with a 2300 ATK token. Kelly was at 4500 Life Points while Murray was at 6600.
On Kelly’s next turn he attacked with Gorz and the token, toppling Brionac and dropping Murray to 3400 Life Points. After drawing his next card, Murray conceded, unable to deal with Gorz and the 2300 ATK token it Summoned.
Side Decking was quick entering Duel 3. Both players shuffled up and presented their Decks to their opponents. Murray would be going first in their final game.
Kelly opened up with 2 “Bottomless Trap Holes,” “Emergency Teleport,” “Mirror Force” and “D.D.R. – Different Dimension Reincarnation.” Murray Summoned Shura and Set a card to his back row, ending his first turn. Kelly drew “Mezuki,” looked through his Extra Deck, and then decided to Set only a “Mirror Force” before ending his turn.
Murray was up. He drew a card for his turn, Set a second back row, and flipped “Icarus Attack.” He Tributed Shura to destroy the “Icarus Attack” he had just Set and Kelly’s Set “Mirror Force.” Then he Normal Summoned Blizzard, returned Shura to play, and Special Summoned Bora. He Synchro Summoned for “Goyo Guardian” sending Blizzard and Shura to the Graveyard, and attacked with “Goyo Guardian” and “Blackwing – Bora the Spear” to drop Kelly to 3500 Life Points.
Kelly drew “Mystical Space Typhoon” next turn. He looked through his opponent’s Graveyard before deciding to Summon “Mezuki” to the field. He activated “Emergency Teleport” to Special Summon a “Krebons” from his Deck, and then Synchro Summoned “Brionac, Dragon of the Ice Barrier.” He discarded “D.D.R. – Different Dimension Reincarnation” from his hand to bounce Goyo back to the Extra Deck, then discarded “Bottomless Trap Hole” to bounce Bora back to Murray’s hand. Kelly Set 2 more cards to his back row and ended his turn.
Murray Set a back row card and a monster and then passed his turn, but Kelly used “Mystical Space Typhoon” to destroy a Set “Icarus Attack” in Murray’s End Phase. Kelly then drew a “Zombie Master,” Summoned it, attacked a Set Bora with “Zombie Master,” and attacked directly with Brionac.
On Kelly’s next turn he drew a card and Summoned “Dark Armed Dragon.” He destroyed Brionac by using priority and removing a DARK monster from his Graveyard, but lost “Dark Armed Dragon” to “Bottomless Trap Hole” immediately afterwards. Then Murray Summoned Shura and ended his turn without attacking.
On Kelly’s next turn he drew a second “Zombie Master.” He Summoned it, collided one “Zombie Master” with the Shura, and attacked directly with the other one. Murray dropped to 1600 Life Points.
Murray Summoned Blizzard next turn, returning Bora to the field and Synchro Summoning for Brionac! Brionac attacked 1 “Zombie Master” and Murray discarded a card to bounce the other one back to Kelly’s hand. He ended his turn with a Brionac on the field and no cards in his hand.
On Kelly’s next turn he drew a “Trap Hole.” He Set “Trap Hole,” Set “Zombie Master,” and removed “Mezuki” from his Graveyard to special Summon a 2nd “Zombie Master” in Defense Mode.
Murray drew “Allure of Darkness” next turn and activated it without any cards in his hand. He drew 2 cards and removed Kycoo from play with Allure’s effect. Then he discarded a “Black Whirlwind” to return a “Trap Hole” to Kelly’s hand and attacked with Brionac to destroy a “Zombie Master.” Kelly drew “Torrential Tribute” next turn, Set it along with “Trap Hole,” and ended his turn. Murray discarded the card he drew next turn with Brionac’s effect to return Kelly’s “Zombie Master” to his hand, then attacked directly for game with Brionac!
Thanks to some huge plays made possible by “Brionac, Dragon of the Ice Barrier,” George Murray is moving on undefeated in the tournament with his Blackwing Deck!
Post-Event Analysis!
See what our panel of experts had to say about this Duel after the event was over.
Michael Kohanim (2009 World Championship Competitor)
Murray was a bit too hasty in Duel 3. Eager to push damage in against Kelly, he lost two copies of “Icarus Attack” plus a Shura just to destroy an opponent’s face-down Trap Card that turned out to be a “Mirror Force”. Had he held onto his copies of “Icarus Attack” until Kelly committed more cards to the field, he wouldn’t have had to target one of his own cards with it and would’ve been able to get much better use out of activating it.
Matt Peddle (2009 Canadian National Championship Runner-Up; Five-Time Top 8 National Finalist)
Right from the start Kelly had the chance to go for a big “Morphing Jar” play. He gets to go first and starts with “Morphing Jar,” “Bottomless Trap Hole,” and “Mirror Force” along with 2 monsters who belong in the Graveyard and another Spell Card. Had he Set the “Morphing Jar” first turn along with “Bottomless Trap Hole,” the Jar would have survived until next turn. That would allow him to Set all his Spell or Trap Cards before flipping “Morphing Jar” and drawing an entirely new hand. Conveniently, that would also put “Mezuki” and “Plaguespreader Zombie” in his Graveyard. With a “Burial from a Different Dimension” ready to go, Kelly would have been in a great position to win.
Michael McTavish (Top 8 Finalist – 2009 Canadian National Championship)
A great move on the very first turn for Kelly would have been to set “Morphing Jar” and something to protect it (Bottomless or “Mirror Force”). If he had set the Jar instead of the “Mezuki,” he could have then set all his Spells and Traps on his next turn, Summon something, and flip his “Morphing Jar,” killing his opponent’s hand and dropping the cards he wanted into his Graveyard.
