Round 9 Feature Match: Jason Holloway vs. Ryan Spicer
Both players in this Feature Match have 7-1 records. They are experienced players determined to make it to Day 2 of the tournament. Ryan Spicer is hoping his Chaos Deck will get him there and Holloway is trying to make it there with Twilight.
Jason Holloway won the die roll and chose to begin the first Duel.
Holloway played “Solar Recharge,” discarding “Wulf, Lightsworn Beast” and sending “Chaos Sorcerer” and “Lyla, Lightsworn Sorceress” to the Graveyard. He activated a second “Solar Recharge” next, discarding “Lyla, Lightsworn Sorceress” and sending a Wulf and “Plaguespreader Zombie” to the Graveyard. Wulf was Special Summoned to the field by its own effect. Then he activated “Charge of the Light Brigade” to send “Torrential Tribute,” “Heavy Storm,” and “Charge of the Light Brigade” to the Graveyard before searching his Deck for “Garoth, Lightsworn Warrior.” He Summoned “Lumina, Lightsworn Summoner,” discarded Garoth, and returned Garoth to play with Lumina’s effect. Then he Set 2 cards to his back row and ended his turn. In the End Phase, he sent 2 copies of “Judgment Dragon” and a “Necro Gardna” to the Graveyard, among other cards.
Spicer drew “Destiny Draw,” “Card Trooper,” “Royal Oppression,” “Dark Armed Dragon,” and “Mind Control” in his opening hand.
Holloway activated “Trap Dustshoot” during Spicer’s Draw Phase! Spicer revealed his opening hand along with the “D.D. Crow” he had picked up for the turn, and Holloway sent “Card Trooper” back to the Deck. Spicer Set “Royal Oppression” to his back row and ended his turn.
Holloway attacked with all of his monsters and dropped Spicer down to 3050 Life Points. He then activated the effect of Lumina by discarding “Necro Gardna” to Special Summon a Wulf from his Graveyard, but Spicer chained “D.D. Crow” to remove the Wulf from play instead. In Holloway’s End Phase, he sent to the Graveyard 5 more cards. Spicer drew a card then Set one more back row next turn before ending his turn. One turn later, Holloway put a card from his hand on top of his Deck to revive “Plaguespreader Zombie” and Ryan Spicer conceded.
An amazing opening hand give Holloway total domination in game 1!
Spicer chose to go first in Game 2. He opened up with “Brain Control,” “Torrential Tribute,” Kycoo, “Light-Imprisoning Mirror,” “Trap Dustshoot,” and “Destiny Draw.” He Set Dustshoot and Torrential and ended his turn.
Holloway drew a card and Spicer immediately activated “Trap Dustshoot”! He revealed “Legendary Jujitsu Master,” “Honest,” “Solar Recharge,” “Bottomless Trap Hole,” “Malevolent Catastrophe,” and “Necro Gardna” from his hand. “Legendary Jujitsu Master” was returned to his Deck by the effect of “Trap Dustshoot.” Holloway Set one monster face-down along with a face-down back row before ending his turn.
Spicer drew another Kycoo and ended his turn without playing any cards. Holloway did the same on his next turn.
Spicer drew “Destiny Hero – Diamond Dude” next turn, and used it to draw 2 cards by activating “Destiny Draw.” Then he used the “Destiny Draw” and “Destiny Hero – Malicious” he picked up to draw 2 more cards. Unfortunately, he drew his second copy of Malicious, so he couldn’t remove the one in his Graveyard from play. Spicer then Set a “Card Trooper” face-down and ended his turn.
Holloway activated “Solar Recharge” next turn, discarding “Celestia, Lightsworn Angel,” and sending Garoth and “Aurkus, Lightsworn Druid” to the Graveyard. He Flip Summoned “Honest” next, returned it to his hand with its own effect, and then Set one more card face-down in his back row. He then Set a monster and ended.
Spicer drew “Mystic Tomato” next turn. He Flip Summoned Card Trooper, sent 2 cards to the Graveyard to boost Card Trooper to 1400 ATK, and attacked into a face-down “Honest.” He lost 500 Life Points. Holloway drew a card next turn, Set 2 cards to his back row, and activated a face-down “Beckoning Light.” He discarded “Necro Gardna,” “Honest,” and “Malevolent Catastrophe,” to return Garoth, Aurkus, and Celestia to his hand. He bounced “Honest” back to his hand again and then Summoned Aurkus to the field. Aurkus attacked “Card Trooper” and Spicer lost 800 Life Points and drew “Royal Oppression” from Trooper’s effect. Holloway sent 2 cards to his Graveyard in his End Phase with the effect of Aurkus and Spicer was up again.
He drew a “Mystic Tomato” on his turn. Spicer was at 6700 and Holloway was at 8000. Spicer Set his Tomato and ended his turn.
Holloway switched Aurkus into defense mode next turn and Set one monster face-down. During Holloway’s End Phase, Spicer flipped “Light-Imprisoning Mirror” so Aurkus wouldn’t be able to send cards to the Graveyard.
Spicer drew a card next turn, flipped “Mystic Tomato,” and then activated his Set “Torrential Tribute” to clear the field. Holloway’s Aurkus and face-down Lyla were destroyed, along with Spicer’s Tomato. Spicer followed up by Summoning “Breaker the Magical Warrior” but lost it to “Bottomless Trap Hole.” Then he Summoned “Dark Armed Dragon” and removed a Tomato from play to destroy Holloway’s Set D-Prison. Holloway activated “Bottomless Trap Hole” to get “Dark Armed Dragon” off of the field. Spicer ended his turn without setting the “Royal Oppression” he had in his hand.
On Holloway’s next turn, he Summoned Garoth and Set a “Trap Dustshoot.” Garoth attacked Spicer and brought him down to 4850. Trap Dustshoot revealed “Sangan,” “Destiny Hero – Malicious, “Brain Control,” 2 Kycoos, and a “Royal Oppression.” “Sangan” was returned to Spicer’s Deck. Spicer activated “Brain Control” and Holloway chained “Necro Gardna.” Spicer Tributed Garoth for a face-down Malicious, Set Oppression, and ended his turn.
Holloway activated “Gold Sarcophagus” next turn with only 2 cards left in his hand. He searched for “Heavy Storm” and removed it from play. He Set one monster and ended his turn without Setting a back row card. Spicer drew Breaker. He Summoned Kycoo to the field and attacked Holloway’s face-down monster with Kycoo. He hit an “Honest” and lost 100 Life Points, ending his turn. Holloway drew a card and Set a monster before ending his turn too.
Spicer drew “D.D. Crow” next turn. It wouldn’t help him get rid of Holloway’s “Honest.” Kycoo attacked Holloway’s face-down “Legendary Jujitsu Master” with Kycoo, and Kycoo returned to the top of his Deck. He ended his turn afterwards.
Holloway drew a card and then took his removed from game “Heavy Storm” that he searched for with “Gold Sarcophagus.” He activated it to destroy Spicer’s face-up “Light-Imprisoning Mirror” and Set “Royal Oppression.” Then he activated “Charge of the Light Brigade” and sent “Plaguespreader Zombie,” “Card Trooper,” and “Beckoning Light” to the Graveyard. Holloway searched for Garoth with the effect of Charge. He tried to Special Summon Plague from his Graveyard by putting a card on top of his Deck, but was stopped by Spicer’s “D.D. Crow” that removed Holloway’s “Plaguespreader Zombie” from play. Holloway Summoned Garoth instead, and used “Honest” to attack Spicer’s face-down Malicious. Then Garoth attacked directly and dropped Spicer down to 2100 Life Points. Holloway returned “Honest” to his hand in his 2nd Main Phase and ended his turn.
Spicer drew his Kycoo again next turn and realized he couldn’t win. He conceded the Duel. Spicer’s inability to draw a card that get over “Honest’s” 1900 DEF costs him the game and gives Jason Holloway a 2-0 victory in the Match!
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 was a rough Match for Ryan Spicer. I don’t think there were any plays he could have made to change the outcome of the Match. Sometimes a player just doesn’t draw well enough to stay competitive in a game. When it happens, it’s important to just shake off the loss and move on.
Matt Peddle (2009 Canadian National Championship Runner-Up; Five-Time Top 8 National Finalist)
When Spicer flipped “Trap Dustshoot” and sent “Legendary Jujitsu Master” back to Holloway’s deck instead of “Necro Gardna,” he passed on an opportunity to destroy extra cards with “Torrential Tribute.” Jujitsu Master would have to sit in Defense Mode and Spicer simply wouldn’t Summon a monster to attack it. When Holloway does draw another monster he’ll lose both to the Torrential while Spicer will lose nothing. Instead the Duel drags on longer and Spicer has to use his “Torrential Tribute” on his own turn, which is much less effective. Not only that, but Holloway puts the Gardna to good use with “Beckoning Light” as well.