Theodore Stamelatos is one of the Duelists who traveled all the way from Greece to compete here this weekend! Stamelatos is playing a version of Lightsworn Zombies with no “Judgment Dragons,” an omission that’s been throwing a lot of opponents off their game.

His opponent is California’s own Hunter Morgan, a Duelist playing a more conventional Zombie build. Both competitors are undefeated in this tournament and sitting at Table 1, but only 1 competitor could keep his pristine record after this Match!

Stamelatos opened the Match with a hand of “Solar Recharge,” “Allure of Darkness,” “Lumina, Lightsworn Summoner,” “Zombie Master,” “Caius the Shadow Monarch,” and “Necro Gardna.” He activated Allure to draw “Jain, Lightsworn Paladin” and “Foolish Burial,” removing his “Necro Gardna.” He discarded Jain for Recharge, drawing Wulf and “Goblin Zombie” while sending “Mezuki” and “Charge of the Light Brigade” to his Graveyard. He Set “Goblin Zombie” and ended.

Morgan Summoned “Mezuki,” attacked “Goblin Zombie,” and its effect got Stamelatos “Plaguespreader Zombie” from his Deck. Morgan Set a Spell or Trap Card and ended. Stamelatos drew “Bottomless Trap Hole” and considered the direction he wanted to take this. With “Plaguespreader Zombie” in hand and “Goblin Zombie” in the Graveyard with “Mezuki” to Special Summon it, he already had a lot of options stacking up. He Normal Summoned “Lumina, Lightsworn Summoner,” passed priority, and discarded “Zombie Master” to Special Summon Jain.

Jain attacked “Mezuki,” and Lumina made a direct attack for 1000 damage. He Set Bottomless, then sent “Wulf, Lightsworn Beast” back to the top of his Deck to Special Summon “Plaguespreader Zombie.” He Tuned it to Jain to Synchro Summon “Goyo Guardian,” ended , and sent Wulf, “My Body as a Shield,” and “Torrential Tribute” to his Graveyard. He Special Summoned Wulf and lost his “Bottomless Trap Hole” to “Dust Tornado.”

Morgan activated “Allure of Darkness,” drew 2 cards, and removed “Mystic Tomato,” Setting a monster and then Setting a card to his Spell & Trap Card Zone. Stamelatos activated Charge, sending Burial, “Solar Recharge,” and another Wulf to his Graveyard! He Special Summoned his second Wulf and Morgan was visibly at a loss: “I can’t do anything about a bunch of Wulfs.” Stamelatos got Lyla with the effect of “Charge of the Light Brigade.”

Stamelatos turned Lumina to Defense Position and attacked with “Goyo Guardian,” hitting Morgan’s “Sangan.” The “Sangan” got him “Plaguespreader Zombie,” and he took a combined 4200 damage from Stamelatos’ pair of Wulfs. In Main Phase 2 Stamelatos activated “Foolish Burial,” sending “Necro Gardna” to his Graveyard. He knew he had Morgan pinned down and just needed to protect his position. Lumina sent Burial, “Waboku,” and another Foolish to the Graveyard in the End Phase.

Morgan activated a “Foolish Burial” of his own next turn, sending “Goblin Zombie” to his Graveyard. He Special Summoned it in Defense Position by removing “Mezuki,” then Normal Summoned “Plaguespreader Zombie.” He Tuned it to “Goblin Zombie,” Synchro Summoned Brionac, and searched out another “Mezuki.” “How many names do you have?” asked Morgan, searching his opponent’s Graveyard for different Lightsworn. Morgan didn’t realize yet that his opponent wasn’t playing “Judgment Dragon.” “One name… that’s awesome.” He discarded “Mezuki” to bounce Wulf with Brionac’s effect, removed “Mezuki” to Special Summon “Goblin Zombie” again, then set a card on top of his Deck to Special Summon “Plaguespreader Zombie.” He Tuned it to “Goblin Zombie,” removing the “Plaguespreader Zombie” from play to Synchro Summon “Revived King Ha Des.” “Goblin Zombie’s” effect got him “Zombie Master” this time.

“Burial From a Different Dimension” returned both “Mezukis” and “Plaguespreader Zombie” back to Morgan’s Graveyard. He removed “Mezuki” for a third time, Special Summoned “Goblin Zombie” yet again, and removed his other “Mezuki” to bring up Plaguespreader. He Tuned it to “Goblin Zombie” yet again, this time bringing out “Doomkaiser Dragon” to Special Summon his opponent’s “Mezuki”! “Goblin Zombie” got him another “Goblin Zombie” from his Deck, and Morgan discarded it to send Stamelatos’ “Goyo Guardian” back to his Extra Deck. Stamelatos had 1 “Necro Gardna” in his Graveyard, with an Attack Position Wulf and a Defense Position Lumina on the field.

Morgan attacked with “Doomkaiser Dragon,” destroying Wulf. “Mezuki” attacked Lumina, destroyed her, and both Brionac and Ha Des made direct attacks. The Duel now stood at 3900 Life Points for Stamelatos to 2400 for Morgan.

Stamelatos activated “Solar Recharge”! He discarded Wulf, drew 2 cards, and sent “Caius the Shadow Monarch” and “Waboku” to his Graveyard. He activated “Heavy Storm” to follow up, destroying Morgan’s face-down “Torrential Tribute,” and was left holding “Burial From a Different Dimension,” Caius, Lyla, and “Zombie Master.” He Summoned “Zombie Master,” discarded Lyla to target Morgan’s “Plaguespreader Zombie” for Special Summoning and his opponent handed it over. But Morgan then activated “D.D. Crow,” removing Stamelatos’ Lyla from his Graveyard. Again, Morgan was fearing a “Judgment Dragon” that didn’t exist.

He Tuned “Plaguespreader Zombie” to “Zombie Master,” Synchro Summoned “Doomkaiser Dragon,” took the “Plaguespreader Zombie” back, Tuned it to Doomkaiser, and Synchro Summoned “Dark End Dragon.” Play proceeded briefly before it was noticed that “Dark End Dragon” couldn’t be Synchro Summoned with the FIRE Attribute “Doomkaiser Dragon” as a Synchro Material. The Duel was rewinded to the point before the Synchro Summon as a result, with “Plaguespreader Zombie” and “Doomkaiser Dragon” on Stamelatos’ side of the field.

Stamelatos sent his “Doomkaiser Dragon” to attack the “Mezuki” Morgan had taken from him, returning that “Mezuki” to his own Graveyard. He removed it from the game in Main Phase 2, Special Summoned “Goblin Zombie” in Defense Position, Tuned Plaguespreader to it, and Synchro Summoned “Brionac, Dragon of the Ice Barrier.” “Goblin Zombie’s” effect got him another “Mezuki” from his Deck. He discarded it to send his opponent’s Brionac back to the Extra Deck, removed the “Mezuki,” Special Summoned “Goblin Zombie,” and used “Burial From a Different Dimension” to return both of his “Mezukis” plus “Plaguespreader Zombie” to his Graveyard.

Now armed with 2 “Mezukis” once again, he removed 1 for “Plaguespreader Zombie.” He Tuned it to “Doomkaiser Dragon” for “Stardust Dragon,” used the second “Mezuki” for “Doomkaiser Dragon,” took Morgan’s “Plaguespreader Zombie,” Tuned it to “Goblin Zombie,” and Summoned “Revived King Ha Des.” His first “Goblin Zombie” got him his second, and he discarded “Goblin Zombie” to send his opponent’s Doomkaiser back to the Extra Deck with Brionac. He reused “Plaguespreader Zombie” again, traded in Revived King for a second “Stardust Dragon,” and ended with a field of 2 Stardust, Doomkaiser, and Brionac!

Morgan Tribute Summoned “Caius the Shadow Monarch.” He removed Brionac from the game, brought up “Plaguespreader Zombie” with its effect, Tuned it to Caius, and Synchro Summoned “Colossal Fighter.” Only 4 minutes remained in the Round. Morgan sent “Colossal Fighter” at “Stardust Dragon,” Stamelatos removed “Necro Gardna” to block the attack, and next turn he drew the Caius he’d placed on top of his Deck for “Plaguespreader Zombie” last turn! He Tribute Summoned it, removed “Colossal Fighter,” and swung for game with his pair of Stardusts.

Theodore Stamelatos captures a grueling first Duel, the length of which will guarantee a time situation in Duel 2. What starts with a pair of Wulfs turns into a brief light of hope for Morgan, but that hope was soon crushed by a back-and-forth flurry of Synchro Monsters that saw Stamelatos come out on top!

The second Duel began moments later. Morgan Set a Spell or Trap and that was it. Stamelatos had “Charge of the Light Brigade,” “Solar Recharge,” “Waboku,” “Mezuki,” “Wulf, Lightsworn Beast,” and “Heavy Storm.” He activated Charge, sending “Mystical Space Typhoon,” “Foolish Burial,” and “Necro Gardna” to his Graveyard. He got “Lumina, Lightsworn Summoner” from his Deck, discarded Wulf for “Solar Recharge,” drew “Dark Armed Dragon” and “Lyla, Lightsworn Sorceress,” then sent Charge and “Bottomless Trap Hole” to his Graveyard.

He activated “Heavy Storm,” destroying Morgan’s face-down “Torrential Tribute.” He Summoned Lumina, discarded “Mezuki” to Special Summon Wulf with her effect, attacked for 3100 damage total, and Set “Waboku.” He sent “Goblin Zombie” and 2 “Burial From a Different Dimension” to his Graveyard in the End Phase.

Morgan blasted him with “Heavy Storm,” but Stamelatos Chained “Waboku.” He discarded “Mezuki” for “Lightning Vortex” to clear the field, Summoned another “Mezuki,” and ended. Stamelatos removed “Mezuki” for “Goblin Zombie” next turn, Normal Summoned “Plaguespreader Zombie,” Synchro Summoned “Brionac, Dragon of the Ice Barrier,” got “Mezuki,” discarded it to send his opponent’s “Mezuki” back to his hand, then Summoned “Dark Armed Dragon” and brought back “Goblin Zombie” – Morgan immediately conceded, and the Match ended just before time was called!

Greece’s Theodore Stamelatos wins a long and hard-fought first Duel, before scoring his second Duel win in an instant! Stamelatos moves on undefeated!

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See what our panel of experts had to say about this Duel after the event was over.

Matt Peddle (2009 Canadian National Championship Runner-Up; Five-Time Top 8 National Finalist)

When your opponent is playing Zombies, having “Plaguespreader Zombie” in your Graveyard is more of a curse than a blessing.  Morgan found that out the hard way, losing game 1 because his opponent was able to use his own Plaguespreader multiple times. It’s important to remove Plaguespreader from the game by using it’s own effect. Your opponent can still put it back with “Burial from the Different Dimension,” but at least you reduce the effectiveness of that Burial and add another Synchro Monster on your field.

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Michael McTavish (Top 8 Finalist – 2009 Canadian National Championship)

This was a great Match that showed that Lightsworn can compete regardless of the inclusion of “Judgment Dragon”. Since almost all players will be constantly checking the amount of Lightsworn cards with different names in their opponent’s Graveyard for fear of the dragon, Stamelatos is able to take advantage of that paranoia and watch as his opponents refuse to place cards on the field. This was almost surely key in this Match as there are times where Morgan checked Stamelatos’ Graveyard for names.

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P.J. Tierney (Duelist from across The Pond)

In the first Duel, Stamelatos was lucky enough to have 2 Wulves out on the field. In a standard Lightsworn Deck, “Wulf, Lightsworn Beast” is a risky card to play, but when you’re trying to combine Lightsworn with another Deck, like Zombies, it becomes an even more dangerous card to add. This high-risk, high-reward choice paid off for him in the first Duel and put a lot of added pressure on his opponent.

Morgan assumed that Stamelatos was using “Judgment Dragon” in his Lightsworn Zombie Deck, and made many plays based around that. If he had known beforehand that Stamelatos wasn’t using any “Judgment Dragons” at all, he might not have played certain cards like “D.D. Crow” when he didn’t need to.

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