Kevin Moon is playing a LIGHT Machine Deck built around “Cyber Eltanin” in this SHONEN JUMP Championship. His Deck has some incredible explosive capabilities. His opponent, Carl Randolph, is running a slow-paced Deck-out Deck with “Needle Worm” in it. The potential bad news for Randolph is that “Needle Worm” can fill Randolph’s Graveyard with the LIGHT Machine monsters he needs there to Summon “Cyber Eltanin.” Will Carl Randolph be able to able to hold off Moon’s combos long enough to claim a victory?

Randolph won the dice roll and chose to go first. He drew for his turn before activating “Hand Destruction.” He pitched “The Shallow Grave” and “Book of Moon” to draw 2. Moon pitched “Mirror Force” and “Torrential Tribute” to draw 2 cards. Then Randolph activated “Cup of Ace” and flipped heads, earning the right to draw 2 cards from his Deck. Next, he Set 2 Spell and Trap Cards to his back row, along with a face-down monster, and ended his turn.

Moon had “Lord British Space Fighter,” “Gold Sarcophagus,” “Shining Angel,” “Brain Control,” “Honest,” and “Giant Trunade” in his hand next turn. He activated “Gold Sarcophagus” and searched his Deck for “Limiter Removal” before removing it from play. In 2 turns, he would add it to his hand. Next, Moon Set “Shining Angel” along with “Brain Control” and “Giant Trunade” before ending his turn.

Randolph was up. He Set a “Needle Worm” and then activated “Book of Taiyou” to flip it up. Moon sent 5 cards from the top of his Deck to his Graveyard. Then Randolph played “Book of Eclipse” to put “Needle Worm” back down. He ended his turn and Moon’s “Shining Angel” flipped face-up from “Book of Eclipse.” Moon drew “Tragoedia” from the “Book of Eclipse” that flipped up his face-down “Shining Angel.” Next turn, Moon drew “Cyber Eltanin” and ended.

Randolph Set another monster and a back row card before flipping “Needle Worm” to get rid of 5 more cards from Moon’s Deck. Then he ended his turn.

Moon activated “Giant Trunade” on his next turn. Then he Summoned “Lord British Space Fighter” and switched “Shining Angel” to Attack Position. Lord British attacked a face-down “Penguin Soldier” and both of Moon’s monsters returned to his hand. Moon Set his “Brain Control” again and ended his turn.

Randolph drew a card before activating “Book of Moon” on “Needle Worm” and activating “The Shallow Grave” to return “Penguin Soldier” to the field. Moon Special Summoned “Sangan” face-down with the effect of “The Shallow Graveyard.”

Moon Flip Summoned “Sangan” and Normal Summoned “Morphtronic Scopen” next turn. He Tuned them together to Synchro Summon “Brionac, Dragon of the Ice Barrier”! Moon searched his Deck for “Cyber Valley” with “Sangan” and Randolph flipped “Offerings to the Doom” to destroy Brionac! Moon discarded “Shining Angel” in his End Phase because he had 7 cards in his hand.

Randolph skipped his next Draw Phase and then flipped “Needle Worm” to eliminate 5 more cards from Moon’s Deck. Then he flipped “Gravity Bind” face-up. Next, he Flip Summoned “Penguin Soldier” to return “Penguin Soldier” and “Needle Worm” to his hand, before setting “Needle Worm” back face-down.

Moon Summoned “Cyber Valley” next turn. He attacked a face-down “Shield Wing” with it and took 900, damage dropping down to 7100 Life Points. Randolph still stood at 8000 Life Points. Moon ended his turn with nothing but monsters in his hand.

Randolph drew a card and then Set a monster. Next, he flipped “Needle Worm” and Moon lost 5 more cards from his Deck. There were only 5 cards left!

Moon drew one of them next turn. His hand now had “D.D. Warrior Lady,” “Lord British Space Fighter,” 2 copies of “Honest,” “Tragoedia,” and 2 copies of “Cyber Eltanin” in his hand. He Special Summoned “Cyber Eltanin” by removing all of his LIGHT Machines from play! Eltanin reached 4000 ATK! “Needle Worm” and “Shield Wing” were sent to the Graveyard due to Eltanin’s effect and Moon ended his turn.

Randolph flipped “Penguin Soldier” next turn to return Moon’s Eltanin and his own “Penguin Soldier” back to his hand. Then he Set a monster and ended his turn.

Moon drew “Beckoning Light” next turn. He Set the Beckoning along with a monster before ending his turn. Randolph activated “Hand Destruction” next turn. Each player pitched 2 cards to draw 2 more. Next, Randolph used “Monster Reincarnation” to discard a card and bring “Needle Worm” back to his hand. He Set it and ended his turn.

Moon drew the last card in his Deck next turn: “Mind Control.” He activated it to take control of Randolph’s face-down “Marshmallon.” He ended his turn with no other play. Randolph drew a card, passed his turn, and Moon lost to Duel when he couldn’t draw a card on his following turn.

Carl Randolph wins Duel 1 by decking out his opponent! Moon quickly Side Decked and then lamented about how bad of a match-up he had.

He chose to go first and began the next Duel with “Future Fusion,” “Torrential Tribute,” “Solemn Judgment,” “Cyber Valley,” and 2 copies of “Honest.” He Set “Solemn Judgment” and “Torrential Tribute,” Summoned “Cyber Valley,” and ended his turn.

Randolph Set 2 back rows and a monster on his turn before ending.

Moon drew “Cyber Eltanin” on his next turn. Then he attacked Randolph’s face-down “Spirit Reaper” with “Cyber Valley” and lost 200 Life Points. He ended his turn.

Randolph Set a monster and switched “Spirit Reaper” into Attack Position. He attacked Valley, but Moon removed it to draw “Mystical Space Typhoon.” Then Randolph flipped “Gravity Bind” and Set another back row.

Moon drew “Giant Trunade” next turn! He was getting ready to start a big play! He activated “Giant Trunade” to return all Spell and Trap Cards to Randolph’s hand. Then he activated “Future Fusion” to send 8 LIGHT Machine monsters from his Deck to his Graveyard, including a “Cyber Dragon.” He selected “Chimeratech Overdragon” as the monster that would be Summoned off of “Future Fusion” in 2 turns. Next, Moon Summoned “Honest” and attacked a face-down “Needle Worm.” “Needle Worm” was destroyed and Moon lost the top 5 cards of his Deck. In his second Main Phase, Moon returned “Honest” to his hand and Special Summoned “Cyber Eltanin” with 4000 ATK!

Randolph activated “Monster Reincarnation” next turn to bring back Needle Worm and Set it. Then he used “Book of Taiyou” to flip it up. When Randolph tried to use “Book of Eclipse,” Moon flipped “Solemn Judgment” to negate it. Moon destroyed Randolph’s lone back row card in the End Phase with “Mystical Space Typhoon,” and then Summoned “D.D. Warrior Lady” next turn. He attacked with “D.D. Warrior Lady” and “Cyber Eltanin,” dropping Randolph to 3900 Life Points.

Randolph activated “Level Limit Area B” next turn before ending.

Moon Special Summoned “Chimeratech Overdragon” from “Future Fusion” next turn and lost his entire field to its effect! Then he Set a monster and face-down Spell or Trap Card and ended his turn.

Randolph Set a back row next turn and ended his turn as well.

Moon activated “Gold Sarcophagus” next turn and chose to remove “Return from the Different Dimension” from his Deck. He would reclaim it in 2 turns. Then he Set a monster and ended his turn. Randolph drew a card and then Set a back row before ending his turn. Next turn, Moon drew “Limiter Removal” and ended.

Randolph drew a card and then activated “Reckless Greed.” He drew 2 cards from his Deck and then Moon flipped “Trap Dustshoot”! Randolph revealed 2 copies of “Hand Destruction,” a “Penguin Soldier,” and a “Marshmallon.” Moon returned “Penguin Soldier” to Randolph’s Deck. Randolph Set “Marshmallon” and ended his turn.

Moon drew “Honest” next turn and Set “Return from the Different Dimension” to his back row after retrieving it from the effect of “Gold Sarcophagus.” Then he Set “Limiter Removal” and ended his turn.

Randolph passed his next turn without doing anything. He couldn’t even draw, due to the effect of “Reckless Greed.” It was Moon’s chance to make a big play.

Moon drew “My Body as a Shield” next turn and flipped 2 copies of “Honest” face-up. He then bounced them to his hand and activated “Return from the Different Dimension”! He brought “Hyper Synchron,” “Morphtronic Scopen,” “Lord British Space Fighter,” and 2 copies of “Cyber Valley” to his field in Defense Position. Then he Synchro Summoned “Brionac, Dragon of the Ice Barrier” by Tuning both copies of “Cyber Valley” with the Defense Position “Morphtronic Scopen” and used it to bounce all of Randolph’s cards to his hand. Next he Tuned “Hyper Synchron” with “Lord British Space Fighter” to Special Summon “Red Dragon Archfiend.” Boosted by the effect of “Hyper Synchron,” “Red Dragon Archfiend” attacked for game with 3800 ATK!

Randolph began the next game by Setting a monster and activating “Level Limit Area B.” Moon Summoned “Morphtronic Scopen” next turn and attacked a face-down “Needle Worm.” He sent the top 5 cards of his Deck to his Graveyard and Set “My Body as a Shield” before ending his turn.

Randolph activated “The Shallow Grave” next turn to bring back “Needle Worm.” Moon brought a monster back too. Then Randolph Set a monster and face-down Spell or Trap Card, and ended his turn.

Moon Summoned “Shining Angel” next turn and Synchro Summoned “Black Rose Dragon” by Tuning it to his Attack Position “Morphtronic Scopen.” He activated the effect to destroy everything on the field, including 2 copies of “Needle Worm” and a “Level Limit Area B.”

Randolph activated “Swords of Revealing Light” next turn and ended his turn with no other options.

Moon Summoned “Lord British Space Fighter” and ended his turn, unable to attack due to the effect of Swords.

Randolph activated “Cup of Ace” next turn, this time flipping tails when he activated it. Moon drew 2 cards. Then Moon activated “Mystical Space Typhoon” on Swords and Summoned “D.D. Warrior Lady.” Warrior Lady and Lord British attacked directly, and Randolph dropped to 5300 Life Points. Moon Set a back row and ended.

Randolph Set 2 back rows before passing back to Moon. Moon drew a card and Randolph flipped “Gravity Bind.” Then Moon Summoned “Card Trooper” and activated its effect to boost it to 1900 ATK. When he tried to attack, Randolph put it face-down with “Book of Moon.”

Randolph Set a Spell or Trap Card next turn and ended his turn.

Moon drew “Royal Decree” next turn and then boosted “Card Trooper” to 1900 ATK. He attacked with it and Randolph dropped to 3400 Life Points. Moon Set another back row before ending his turn.

Randolph activated “Hand Destruction” next turn and each player pitched 2 cards to draw 2 more. He passed his turn and Moon activated “Mind Control” next turn to gain control of Randolph’s only face-down monster, “Marshmallon.” Then he flipped “Royal Decree,” boosted “Card Trooper” to 1900 ATK, and attacked directly with “Lord British Space Fighter,” “D.D. Warrior Lady,” and “Card Trooper” for game!

In a close 2-1 Match, Kevin Moon’s explosive LIGHT Machine Deck triumphs over Carl Randolph’s Deck-out Deck!

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

Michael Kohanim (2009 World Championship Competitor)
Against Deck-out Decks, it’s important to play aggressively to speed up the pace of the game. Moon held back a lot of his monsters in this Match and may have been better off Summoning more monsters to attack with. He Summoned a 4000 ATK “Cyber Eltanin” in Main Phase 2, fearing his opponent’s face-down “Needle Worm,” but could have Summoned it in Main Phase 1 instead, attacking for an additional 4000 damage that turn! When your opponent is running a Deck that thrives on the slow pace of a game, it’s important to use your monsters to apply pressure to your opponent, even if it means making some plays that could normally be considered risky. Summoning and attacking with multiple monsters while your opponent has cards set in his Spell and Trap Card Zone will usually pay off against slow Decks. You don’t want to get stuck with tons of cards in your hand on the turn you lose, before you can put them to use, like Moon did in Duel 1.

Michael McTavish (Top 8 Finalist – 2009 Canadian National Championship)
Unfortunately for Randolph, the odds were stacked against him in this match as Moon wanted as many LIGHT Machine-Type monsters in the Graveyard as possible. Randolph gave those to Moon and Moon was able to take advantage after a rocky game 1. Small errors from Randolph such as activating “Gravity Bind” at disadvantageous situations also led to Moon having more knowledge than he should have had, allowing him to work around the Gravity Bind.

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

Randolph’s very first move was to play “Hand Destruction,” sending “The Shallow Grave” and “Book of Moon” to the Graveyard to draw 2 cards. Moon knew right away that he was playing against a Deck that doesn’t win by attacking with lots of monsters, so he discarded his “Mirror Force” and “Torrential Tribute” for Hand’s effect, knowing that they would be of no use to him in this Duel.

Later on in the Duel, Moon attacked a face-down “Shield Wing” with “Cyber Valley.” Even though “Cyber Valley” has 0 ATK and Moon would lose some Life Points, he attacked anyway, just so he could see what the monster was. He could safely do this since Randolph’s Deck didn’t plan on reducing Moon’s Life Points to 0.

In Duel 2, Moon played “Giant Trunade” before playing “Future Fusion” to fill up his Graveyard. If he had played the Future first, he could have returned it to his hand with “Giant Trunade.” Then, 2 turns later, “Chimeratech Overdragon” wouldn’t have been Special Summoned, and Moon would be able to keep his 4000 ATK “Cyber Eltanin.”

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