Round 5 Feature Match: Patrick Older vs. Robert Vissa
Robert Vissa is from Rochester, New York and came here today with his Six Samurai Deck, updated with “Gateway of the Six” from Stardust Overdrive. His opponent, Patrick Older from Georgia, is running Blackwings.
Vissa won the dice roll and chose to go first. He had “Reinforcement of the Army,” “The Six Samurai – Yaichi,” 2 copies of “Six Samurai United,” “The Six Samurai Zanji,” and “Great Shogun Shien” in his opening hand. He activated both copies of “Six Samurai United” before Summoning Zanji and sending 1 of his “Six Samurai United” to the Graveyard to draw a card. Then he Set a “Dust Tornado” that he picked up with “Six Samurai United” and ended his turn.
Older began his turn by activating “Mystical Space Typhoon” and destroying Vissa’s Set “Dust Tornado.” He Normal Summoned “Blackwing – Sirocco the Dawn” from his hand and attacked over Zanji. Vissa lost 200 Life Points. Older Set one card face-down and ended his turn.
Vissa top decked “Gateway of the Six”! Older picked it up to read it and then gave it back to Vissa. Next, Vissa Summoned Yaichi and put 2 counters on Gateway, plus a second counter on “Six Samurai United.” Older activated “Book of Moon” as soon as Yaichi was Summoned. Next, Vissa popped the “Six Samurai United” to draw 2 cards.
Older Summoned “Blackwing – Shura the Blue Flame” next turn. He used it to attack Vissa’s face-down Yaichi, Special Summoned “Blackwing – Vayu the Emblem of Honor,” and then attacked directly with Vayu and Sirocco. Vissa dropped to 5000 Life Points. In his second Main Phase, Older Synchro Summoned for “Goyo Guardian” by Tuning Vayu with Sirocco and Set a face-down Spell or Trap Card.
Vissa began his next turn by activating “Reinforcement of the Army” and searching for “Hand of the Six Samurai.” He then played “Six Samurai United” and Summoned “Hand of the Six Samurai” to put a counter on “Six Samurai United” and 2 more counters on “Gateway of the Six.” Older activated “Bottomless Trap Hole,” but Vissa paid half his life to negate it with “Solemn Judgment”! Vissa Summoned Grandmaster next to put a second counter on “Six Samurai United” and bring the number of Bushido Counters on “Gateway of the Six” up to 6 counters! He drew 2 cards by sending his “Six Samurai United” to the Graveyard. Next, he Tributed Grandmaster with “Hand of the Six Samurai” to destroy Goyo. Then he removed 4 counters from Gateway to bring Grandmaster back to his hand from the Deck and Special Summon it, adding two more Bushido counters to Gateway. Then he Tributed that Grandmaster to destroy Shura, and removed 4 more counters from Gateway to search his Graveyard for Grandmaster and Special Summon it once again. He dropped 2 “Great Shogun Shiens” from his hand and attacked directly with both, plus “Hand of the Six Samurai” and “Grandmaster of the Six Samurai” for 8700 damage! With a lot of help from “Gateway of the Six,” Vissa dropped Older’s Life Points from 8000 to 0 in a single turn!
Vissa sided in 2 Waboku and a Giant Trunade by removing a “Hand of the Six Samurai,” a Yaichi, and a “Six Samurai United” from his Deck.
Patrick Older chose to go first in the second Duel. For his opening play, he Set one card to each zone and ended his turn.
Vissa opened up with 2 copies of “The Six Samurai – Zanji,” “Great Shogun Shien,” “Torrential Tribute,” “Mirror Force” and “Reasoning.” Vissa activated “Reasoning” and Older called “4.” Yaichi was revealed off the top of the Deck. Since Yaichi is a Level 3 monster, it was Special Summoned onto the field. Next, Vissa Normal Summoned Zanji and lost it to Older’s Trap Hole. He Set “Mirror Force” ended his turn.
On Older’s next turn, he activated “Mystical Space Typhoon” to destroy “Mirror Force,” Flip Summoned Shura, Normal Summoned “Blackwing – Bora the Spear,” and attacked Vissa’s Defense Position Yaichi with Shura. Shura recruited “Blackwing – Vayu the Emblem of Honor” from his Deck, and Bora and Vayu both attacked directly. Older tuned Vayu with Bora in his second Main Phase to Summon “Magical Android,” Set one card, and ended his turn. He gained 600 Life Points in his End Phase thanks to Android’s effect.
Vissa Summoned Zanji next turn and attacked Shura. But Older had a “Blackwing – Kalut the Moon Shadow” in his hand! He used it to boost Shura and then recruited Gale from his Deck with Shura’s effect. Vissa Set “Heavy Storm” and “Torrential Tribute” and tried to end his turn. In his End Phase, Older activated “Icarus Attack” by Tributing Gale and destroyed the 2 cards Vissa had just Set. He conceded immediately.
The Match pushed on to a third Duel! Robert Vissa chose to go first. He opened up with “Bottomless Trap Hole,” “Waboku,” “Lightning Vortex,” “Solemn Judgment,” “The Six Samurai – Irou,” and “The Six Samurai – Nisashi.” He Set “Bottomless Trap Hole” face-down, along with Nisashi and ended his turn.
Older activated “Heavy Storm”! He destroyed Vissa’s “Bottomless Trap Hole.” Then he activated “Black Whirlwind,” Summoned “Blackwing – Sirocco the Dawn,” and searched his Deck for “Blackwing – Bora the Spear” with “Black Whirlwind’s” effect. He Special Summoned Bora from his hand and used Sirocco’s effect to pump Bora up to 3700 ATK. Bora attacked Nisashi and Vissa lost 3000 Life Points. Older Set one back row before ending his turn.
On Vissa’s next turn he activated “Lightning Vortex” by discarding Irou to clear Older’s field! Next, he Summoned Nisashi. Nisashi was destroyed when Older activated his face-down “Trap Hole.” Vissa Set 2 Spell or Trap Cards and ended his turn.
Patrick Older activated “Allure of Darkness” at the start of his next turn to draw 2 cards and remove Vayu from play. Next he Summoned “Blackwing – Blizzard the Far North” and Special Summoned Bora from the Graveyard with Blizzard’s effect. He didn’t take a search with his “Black Whirlwind.” He tried to Synchro Summon “Goyo Guardian” by Tuning together Blizzard and Bora, but Vissa negated the Summon with “Solemn Judgment.” Older Set another card and ended.
Vissa was up! He drew Grandmaster and passed immediately. Next turn, Older drew a card, Set one back row card, and also passed. On Vissa’s next turn, he drew a “Giant Trunade” and once again ended his turn without playing a single card.
Older flipped his face-down “Black Whirlwind” next turn, Summoned Bora, and searched his Deck for Blizzard and Kalut with his two “Black Whirlwinds.” He attacked with Bora while Vissa was at 2500 Life Points, but Vissa activated “Waboku” instead of taking the damage. On his next turn, Vissa drew Zanji. He activated Trunade, but Older chained “Threatening Roar.” The 2 “Black Whirlwinds” were returned to Older’s hand. Next, Vissa normal Summoned Zanji and Special Summoned Grandmaster before ending his turn. Thanks to “Threatening Roar,” there was nothing more Vissa could do.
Older activated “Brain Control” next turn by paying 800 Life Points and dropping down to 7200. He Summoned Blizzard next, returned a Bora to the field with Blizzard’s effect, and Synchro Summoned “Gaia Knight, the Force of Earth,” to attack for game!
Blackwings triumph over Six Samurai and Patrick Older moves on in the tournament 4-1 with Blackwings.
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)
This Match gave me my first look at some of the tricks “Gateway of the Six” is capable of and I was impressed when I saw it. It gave Vissa the cards he needed to OTK his opponent. By searching for “Grandmaster of the Six Samurai” with Gateway, Vissa was immediately able to Special Summon it to add more counters onto Gateway – a great tactic that won Vissa his first Duel.
Matt Peddle (2009 Canadian National Championship Runner-Up; Five-Time Top 8 National Finalist)
After losing a Duel it’s important to reflect back on decisions that could have been made differently and see how they affected the Duel. In this Match, Older could have made a seemingly weird move that would have won him the Duel. Instead of Synchro Summoning “Goyo Guardian,” Older could have chosen “Brionac, Dragon of the Ice Barrier” and discarded a card to return “Solemn Judgment” back to Vissa’s hand. That would have prevented Vissa from exploding with “Gateway of the Six” and “Hand of the Six Samurai.”
