Round 2 Feature Match: Joanna Foss vs. Hai Nguyen
Joanna Foss is from Ocean Springs, Mississippi, and defeated a Fortune Lady hybrid Deck in the first round of the tournament. She is 1-0 with her Earthbound Immortal Deck. Hai Nguyen is from Alabama and is 1-0 with his Zombie Deck. He had no idea what he was about to face.
Nguyen won the dice roll and chose to go first. He Set a face-down Spell or Trap Card and ended his turn.
Foss opened up with “Gravekeeper’s Spy,” “Sangan,” “Fires of Doomsday,” “Earthbound Immortal Chacu Challhua,” “Mausoleum of the Emperor,” and “Earthbound Wave.” She Set “Sangan” along with “Fires of Doomsday” and “Earthbound Wave” on her first turn.
Nguyen Summoned “Plaguespreader Zombie” next turn and activated “Mind Control” to take Foss’s face-down “Sangan.” Nguyen flipped the “Sangan” face-up and then Tuned it to the “Plaguespreader Zombie” to Synchro Summon “Ally of Justice Catastor.” Foss searched her Deck for “Masked Dragon” with the effect of “Sangan” and added it to her hand. Catastor attacked directly and Foss took the damage, dropping to 5800 ATK. In Nguyen’s End Phase, Foss flipped “Fires of Doomsday” to Special Summon 2 “Doomsday Tokens” to the field.
Foss drew “Earthbound Immortal Wiraqocha Rasca” next turn. She activated “Mausoleum of the Emperor” and Tributed both “Doomsday Tokens” for “Earthbound Immortal Chacu Challhua.” Nguyen tried to destroy “Mausoleum of the Emperor” with “Raigeki Break,” but Foss flipped “Earthbound Wave” to negate it! Chacu Challhua attacked directly, right over Nguyen’s Catastor, and Nguyen dropped to 5100 Life Points.
Nguyen Summoned “Zombie Master” next turn. Then he discarded “Tragoedia” to activate its effect and Special Summon “Plaguespreader Zombie.” He Tuned the two monsters together to Summon “Brionac, Dragon of the Ice Barrier” and then discarded “Thunder King Rai-Oh” to bounce “Mausoleum of the Emperor” back to Foss’s hand. Without a Field Spell Card, Foss’s Earthbound Immortal was destroyed. Brionac and Catastor attacked directly and Foss dropped to 2300 Life Points.
Foss drew “Dark Illusion” next turn. She had “Earthbound Immortal Wiraqocha Rasca,” “Gravekeeper’s Spy,” “Mausoleum of the Emperor,” “Dark Illusion,” and “Gravekeeper’s Spy” in her hand, but no way to get rid of Nguyen’s Brionac. She Set “Gravekeeper’s Spy” and “Dark Illusion” before ending her turn.
Nguyen discarded 2 cards with Brionac to bounce both of Foss’ cards to her hand and then attacked directly with Catastor and Brionac for game! There was nothing Foss could’ve done to prevent it.
Foss began Duel 2. She opened up with “Gravekeeper’s Spy,” “Dark Illusion,” “Soul Exchange,” “Mystical Space Typhoon,” “Terraforming,” and “Earthbound Immortal Chacu Challhua.” She activated “Terraforming” to retrieve “Mausoleum of the Emperor” from her Deck and activated it. Then she paid 2000 Life Points to Summon Chacu Challhua and burned Nguyen for 1200 damage with Chacu Challhua’s effect, before he even got a turn! She Set “Mystical Space Typhoon” and “Dark Illusion” and ended her turn.
Nguyen picked up and read Chacu Challhua. “That’s kinda broke,” he said. Then he activated “Brain Control” to try to take control of the Earthbound Immortal, but Foss negated it with “Dark Illusion.” Next, Nguyen activated “Lightning Vortex” by discarding “Tragoedia.” Chacu Challhua was destroyed. Then he Summoned “Thunder King Rai-Oh” and attacked directly, dropping Foss down to 4100 Life Points. He Set a “Divine Wrath” before ending his turn, but lost it to Foss’s “Mystical Space Typhoon” in the End Phase.
Foss Set “Gravekeeper’s Spy” next turn and ended. Nguyen attacked the Spy with “Thunder King Rai-Oh” and took 100 points of damage. Then Foss Special Summoned another Spy from her Deck. Nguyen Tributed “Thunder King Rai-Oh” for “Caius the Shadow Monarch” in Main Phase 2 and removed the “Mausoleum of the Emperor” from play.
Foss drew “Fires of Doomsday” and Set it before ending her turn. Nguyen attacked with Caius next turn to destroy a Spy and Foss drew “Earthbound Wave” on the following turn. Without a Field Spell Card that would let her keep an Earthbound Immortal on the field, it was useless.
On his next turn, Nguyen declared another attack with Caius and destroyed Foss’s second Spy.
Foss flipped “Fires of Doomsday” in Nguyen’s End Phase, hoping to draw the Field Spell Card she needed. Unfortunately, she didn’t draw it and passed her next turn with no other play.
Next turn, Nguyen Summoned “Goblin Zombie” to the field to join his Caius and attacked both of Foss’s “Doomsday Tokens.”
Foss Set “Hardened Armed Dragon” next turn, hoping to survive long enough to draw another card. But Nguyen Tributed “Goblin Zombie” for Caius and removed Foss’s face-down “Hardened Armed Dragon” from the game. Then both copies of Caius attacked directly! Foss couldn’t survive the 4800 damage she was about to take and Hai Nguyen won the Duel!
Hai Nguyen sweeps the Match 2-0, nevertheless impressed by the power of some of Foss’s Earthbound Immortal cards.
See what our panel of experts had to say after the Duel.
Michael Kohanim (2009 World Championship Competitor)
Foss played flawlessly in this match, but there was nothing she could do to win. She built her Deck around one of the strongest cards that can be used with Earthbound Immortals, “Hardened Armed Dragon,” but was unable to Tribute it for an Earthbound Immortal to pull off its effect. She may consider using some other tricks the Earthbound Immortals have at their disposal, including the “Revival of the Immortals” combo with “Earthbound Linewalker” and “Earthbound Immortal Chacu Challhua,” or my favorite Earthbound Immortal support card, “Offering to the Immortals.”
Michael McTavish (Top 8 Finalist – 2009 Canadian National Championship)
Foss put up a good fight in this match but there was literally nothing she could have done. With the Zombie Deck’s ability to quickly and easily make “Brionac, Dragon of the Ice Barrier” on Nguyen’s side, combined with all his other cards capable of eliminating a Field Spell Card, this was a very tough matchup from the beginning.
