Round 8 Feature Match: Claudio Kirchmair vs. Rodrigo Togores
Claudio Kirchmair came here from Austria and is his country’s current National Champion. He placed 4th at the World Championship in 2008 and is looking for another title today. Rodrigo Togores came here from Spain and was the 2004 National Championship. He also made Top 4 at Nationals in 2005, 2006, and 2007. In 2009 he won his Nation’s Yu-Gi-Oh! DS Championship. He is also a SHONEN JUMP Championship winner from SJC Orlando 2009. This was going to be an intense match played by Duelists of the highest caliber.
Togores won the dice roll and chose to go first. He activated “Allure of Darkness” to draw 2 cards and then removed “Krebons” from his hand as part of Allure’s effect. He Set a monster face-down and ended his turn.
Kirchmair opened up with “Royal Oppression,” “Foolish Burial,” “Brain Control,” “Plaguespreader Zombie,” “Mind Control,” and “Dark Armed Dragon.” He Set “Royal Oppression” and ended his first turn of the Match.
Togores flip Summoned “Mystic Tomato” next turn and attacked Kirchmair directly, dropping him to 6600 Life Points. He Set a monster and Spell or Trap in Main Phase 2 and ended his turn.
Kirchmair drew “Burial from a Different Dimension” next turn. Then he Normal Summoned “Plaguespreader Zombie” and activated “Brain Control.” He gave up 800 Life Points to take control of “Mystic Tomato.” He tuned the “Mystic Tomato” to his “Plaguespreader Zombie” to Synchro Summon “Brionac, Dragon of the Ice Barrier.” Then he activated “Foolish Burial” to send “Mezuki” from his Deck to his Graveyard. Next he activated “Mind Control” to take Togores’s face-down monster. It was a “Pyramid Turtle.” He Flip Summoned it and then removed “Mezuki” from his Graveyard to Special Summon “Plaguespreader Zombie.” He Tuned “Plaguespreader Zombie” to “Mezuki” to Synchro Summon “Revived King Ha Des.” Then he put a card on top of his Deck to bring “Plaguespreader Zombie” back from the Graveyard again and Tuned it with Brionac to Synchro Summon “Stardust Dragon.” “Revived King Ha Des” and “Stardust Dragon” both attacked, and Togores dropped to 3050 Life Points.
Togores was up and drew a card for his turn. Then he Summoned “Kycoo the Ghost Destroyer” to the field and flipped his face-down “Emergency Teleport” to Special Summon “Krebons” from his Deck. Kirchmair chose not to flip Oppression yet. Togores Tuned his two monsters together in an attempt to Synchro Summon Brionac next, but Kirchmair shot it down by activating his “Royal Oppression” and paying 800 Life Points to negate the Summon. Togores Set 1 card to his Spell and Trap Card before ending his turn.
Kirchmair drew for turn and then attacked with “Revived King Ha Des.” Togores took the attack. Kirchmair followed up with an attack from “Stardust Dragon,” which finished Togores off.
Kirchmair quickly clinches the game, supported by “Royal Oppression.”
Togores would be going first in the second Duel. He opened up with “Allure of Darkness” and activated it to draw 2 cards and remove “Necro Gardna” from his hand. Then he Set a monster and ended his turn.
Kirchmair opened up with “Mezuki,” “Lightning Vortex,” “Mystic Tomato,” “Goblin Zombie,” “Kycoo the Ghost Destroyer,” and “Bottomless Trap Hole.” He Set “Bottomless Trap Hole” along with “Goblin Zombie” and ended his turn.
Togores drew for his turn and then activated “Heavy Storm” to destroy Kirchmair’s “Bottomless Trap Hole.” Then he Tributed “Sangan” for “Vanity’s Fiend” and searched his Deck for “Goblin Zombie” with “Sangan’s” effect. “Vanity’s Fiend” attacked and destroyed Kirchmair’s Set “Goblin Zombie.” Kirchmair used its effect to search his Deck for “Spirit Reaper” and add it to his hand. Togores Set 1 card to his Spell and Trap Zone and then ended his turn.
Kirchmair drew “Gorz the Emissary of Darkness” next turn and then activated “Lightning Vortex” by discarding “Mezuki.” “Vanity’s Fiend” was destroyed! Then he Summoned his “Spirit Reaper” and attacked Togores directly. Togores dropped to 7700 Life Points and lost a Krebons from his hand. In his second Main Phase, Kirchmair removed “Mezuki” from his Graveyard to Special Summon “Goblin Zombie” in Defense Position.
Togores Special Summoned “Dark Armed Dragon” next turn! He removed “Krebons” and “Sangan” from his Graveyard to destroy Kirchmair’s “Spirit Reaper” and “Goblin Zombie.” Kirchmair searched his Deck for “Plaguespreader Zombie” using “Goblin Zombie’s” effect. Togores Summoned “Goblin Zombie” next and attacked directly with it, dropping Kirchmair to 4100 Life Points and sending a “Caius the Shadow Monarch” from the top of his Deck to his Graveyard. Kirchmair Special Summoned Gorz from his hand in Defense Position after taking the attack. “Dark Armed Dragon” attacked Gorz and Kirchmair avoided taking damage. Togores activated “Burial from a Different Dimension” next, sending “Sangan,” “Necro Gardna,” and “Krebons” back to his Graveyard. He removed the “Krebons” from play to destroy Kirchmair’s “Emissary of Darkness Token.” He ended his turn.
Kirchmair Summoned “Kycoo the Ghost Destroyer” next turn and used it to attack “Goblin Zombie.” Kycoo removed Togores’s “Sangan” and “Necro Gardna” from play. Togores fetched “Zombie Master” from his Deck and added it to his hand when “Goblin Zombie” was sent to the Graveyard. Kirchmair Set “Mirror Force” to his back row and ended his turn.
Togores was up and he started his turn by attacking Kycoo with “Dark Armed Dragon.” Kirchmair flipped “Mirror Force” and destroyed “Dark Armed Dragon”!
Togores Summoned “Zombie Master” next and discarded “Mezuki” to bring “Goblin Zombie” back from the Graveyard in Defense Position. He ended his turn.
Kirchmair drew a card and activated “Brain Control” next turn. He used it to take control of Togores’s “Zombie Master” and then discarded “Plaguespreader Zombie” to Special Summon it back to the field. He Tuned them together for “Revived King Ha Des” and then attacked “Goblin Zombie” with it. “Goblin Zombie” was destroyed and Togores didn’t get its effect due to the effect of “Revived King Ha Des.” Kycoo attacked directly and Togores dropped to 5200 Life Points. He also lost “Zombie Master” and “Mezuki” from his Graveyard because of Kycoo’s effect. Kirchmair ended his turn without a back row.
Togores was up. He drew to 2 cards in hand with a face-down Spell or Trap Card. Kirchmair had a Kycoo and “Revived King Ha Des” on the field and “Mystic Tomato” in his hand. Togores Set a second card to his back row and then Set a monster before ending his turn.
Kirchmair drew “Foolish Burial” next turn and activated it. He sent “Mezuki” from his Deck to his Graveyard. Then he removed 1 copy of “Mezuki” to Special Summon “Goblin Zombie” and another to Special Summon “Plaguespreader Zombie.” He Tuned them together to Synchro Summon “Brionac, Dragon of the Ice Barrier” and searched his Deck for “Goblin Zombie.” He then discarded a card with Brionac to bounce one of Togores’s Spell or Trap Cards back to his hand. “Revived King Ha Des” attacked a face-down “Mystic Tomato” and destroyed it. Its effect was negated by Ha Des. Kycoo and Brionac attacked directly next, and Togores lost “Mystic Tomato” and “Goblin Zombie” from his Graveyard due to Kycoo’s effect.
Togores drew “Allure of Darkness” next turn and activated it. The cards he drew were no help in dealing with Kirchmair’s field and he immediately conceded.
Claudio Kirchmair defeats Rodrigo Togores 2-0 and moves on in the tournament with a perfect 8-0 record!
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See what our panel of experts had to say about this Duel after the event was over.
Michael Kohanim (2009 World Championship Competitor)
In Duel 1, Togores Summoned Kycoo and then flipped “Emergency Teleport” to Special Summon “Krebons” from his Deck. Kirchmair made a great play when he chose not to negate “Emergency Teleport” with “Royal Oppression.” Since Togores had already Normal Summoned a monster, Kirchmair knew that he would try to Tune his 2 monsters together in an effort to get rid of “Stardust Dragon.” By waiting for Togores to announce the Synchro Summon before flipping “Royal Oppression,” Kirchmair was able to get Kycoo off the field without attacking it. This allowed him to attack for more damage on his next turn. It turned out that Kirchmair would have won on his next turn anyway since Togores didn’t have any Trap Cards to stop an attack, but it’s still worth noting the benefits of the play Kirchmair made.
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Matt Peddle (2009 Canadian National Championship Runner-Up; Five-Time Top 8 National Finalist)
These two Duelists played a brilliant match. In the first Duel Kirchmair makes an aggressive push backed by “Royal Oppression,” knowing his opponent is going to need three or four specific cards to come back in the Duel. Chances are good your opponent will almost never have that many specific cards.
In the second Duel, Kirchmair plays much more conservatively. This allows him to get the most out of his “Kycoo the Ghost Destroyer” and “Revived King Ha Des.” Although his opponent draws cards like “Dark Armed Dragon” and “Burial from the Different Dimension,” Claudio is able to overcome the power by slowing the Duel down and having the right cards on the field at the right time. Up and coming players could learn a lot from studying this Match.
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Michael McTavish (Top 8 Finalist – 2009 Canadian National Championship)
This was a fantastic Duel with some great plays, from holding on to and knowing exactly when to use key cards like “Royal Oppression” and “Brain Control”, to using great tech cards like “Vanity’s Fiend.” Kirchmair’s use of “Revived King Ha Des” paired with “Stardust Dragon” during game 1 absolutely destroyed Togores, who had no comebacks to these cards, as they ripped through his effects, eliminating his searchers and slowing whittling away his resources. In game 2 the King comes out again and shows his usefulness one more time.
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P.J. Tierney (Duelist from across The Pond)
Both of these Duelists travelled from Europe to play in this event, showing just how popular SHONEN JUMP Championships are with Duelists from all over the world.
Kirchmair opened Duel 1 with an amazing hand for a Zombie Deck and played it to perfection. By the end of his second turn, he had a “Stardust Dragon,” “Revived King Ha Des” and “Royal Oppression” on his field. Stardust would be able to protect his other cards, while Oppression could protect Stardust from cards like “Brionac, Dragon of the Ice Barrier” and “Goyo Guardian.” Ha Des would be able to take care of any face-down monsters with its effect, preventing any nasty surprises. If Togores managed to get through all of that, Claudio had a “Dark Armed Dragon” waiting in the wings.
