Tray Massengale is 21 years old and came here from Topeka, Kansas. He’s running an interesting hybrid of a Destiny Hero and Twilight Deck, with “Deep Sea Diva,” “Spined Gillman,” and “Miracle Fusion” in it. Justin Huskey is 16 years old from Branson, Missouri and running a Twilight Deck. Both competitors are 3-0 entering this round of the tournament, but only one of them will advance in the tournament undefeated.

Massengale won the dice roll and chose to go first. He opened up with “Charge of the Light Brigade,” “Chaos Sorcerer,” “Allure of Darkness,” “Heavy Storm,” “Deep Sea Diva,” and “Destiny Hero – Malicious.” He Summoned “Deep Sea Diva” and Special Summoned “Spined Gillman” from his Deck with its effect. Then he activated “Charge of the Light Brigade” by sending “Reinforcement of the Army,” “Ryko, Lightsworn Hunter,” and “Bottomless Trap Hole” from the top of his Deck to his Graveyard to search for “Lyla, Lightsworn Sorceress” and add it to his hand. Next, he activated “Allure of Darkness” to draw “Future Fusion” and “Jain, Lightsworn Paladin.” He removed “Chaos Sorcerer” from his hand for the effect of “Allure of Darkness.” Then he activated “Future Fusion,” revealed “Elemental Hero Absolute Zero” from his Extra Deck, and sent “Deep Sea Diva” and “Destiny Hero – Diamond Dude” from his Deck to his Graveyard. Next, he Tuned Spined Gillman with “Deep Sea Diva” to Summon “Magical Android” and ended his turn, gaining 600 Life Points. At last, Huskey was up.

Huskey activated “Solar Recharge” to begin his turn, discarding Lyla from his hand to draw 2 cards and send the top 2 cards of his Deck to the Graveyard. Then he Normal Summoned “Blackwing – Gale the Whirlwind” and halved the ATK and DEF of “Magical Android.” He attacked over it with Gale, dealing 100 points of damage to Massengale. Then he Set 2 cards to his Spell and Trap Card Zone and ended his turn.

Massengale drew “Destiny Draw” next turn! He activated it by discarding “Destiny Hero – Malicious” and drew 2 cards from his Deck. Then he activated “Solar Recharge” to draw 2 more cards and send the top 2 cards of his Deck to his Graveyard. He activated “Miracle Fusion” next and removed “Destiny Hero – Diamond Dude” and “Deep Sea Diva” from his Graveyard to Summon “Elemental Hero Absolute Zero”! Then he Summoned “Lyla, Lightsworn Sorceress” and switched it to Defense Position to destroy Huskey’s set “Solemn Judgment.” Absolute Zero attacked over Gale and Huskey dropped to 6800 Life Points. Massengale stood strong with 8500 Life Points.

Huskey activated “Monster Reincarnation” next turn, discarding Gorz to return a monster to his hand. Then he Special Summoned “Dark Armed Dragon” and removed Gale and Gorz from his Graveyard to destroy Massengale’s Lyla and “Future Fusion.” “Dark Armed Dragon” attacked Absolute Zero next, and Massengale lost 300 Life Points. Absolute Zero was destroyed and “Dark Armed Dragon” was destroyed by Absolute Zero’s effect. Huskey Summoned Lyla before ending his turn, and sent the top 3 cards of his Deck to his Graveyard in his End Phase.

On his next turn, Massengale activated “Charge of the Light Brigade” to add a Lyla from his Deck to his hand. Then he removed “Destiny Hero – Malicious” from his Graveyard to Special Summon another one from his Deck. He Normal Summoned “Destiny Hero – Diamond Dude” next and activated its effect to reveal the top card of his Deck. The card was “Brain Control”! Next turn, he would be able to use it on one of Huskey’s monsters. Massengale Special Summoned “Chaos Sorcerer” next and used its effect to remove Huskey’s Lyla from play. “Destiny Hero – Malicious” and “Destiny Hero – Diamond Dude” attacked directly and Huskey dropped down to 4600 Life Points.

Huskey Summoned “Garoth, Lightsworn Warrior” next turn and attacked Massengale’s “Destiny Hero – Diamond Dude.” Massengale lost 450 Life Points and his monster. But when Huskey ended his turn, Massengale activated the effect of the “Brain Control” in his Graveyard to take Control of “Garoth, Lightsworn Warrior.” Garoth, Malicious, and “Chaos Sorcerer” attacked directly and Huskey’s Life Points dropped to 0!

Both players dipped into their Side Decks and Huskey chose to begin the second Duel!

Huskey started things off by activating “Solar Recharge” to discard Wulf and draw 2 cards before sending the top 2 cards of his Deck to his Graveyard. Then he activated “Charge of the Light Brigade,” sending a Spell Card, a “Necro Gardna,” and a “Lumina, Lightsworn Summoner” to the Graveyard. He searched his Deck for Lumina with the effect of Charge and added it to his hand. Then he activated another copy of “Solar Recharge” by discarding “Celestia, Lightsworn Angel” and drew 2 more cards. He sent “Chaos Sorcerer” and “Honest” from the top of his Deck to his Graveyard with the effect of “Solar Recharge.” He Summoned “Lumina, Lightsworn Summoner” next and discarded “Lyla, Lightsworn Sorceress” to Special Summon it back to the field with Lumina’s effect. In his End Phase, Huskey sent “Wulf, Lightsworn Beast,” “Plaguespreader Zombie,” and “Judgment Dragon” to the Graveyard, along with 3 other cards. Wulf was Special Summoned to the field and Massengale was up.

Massengale started off with “Pot of Avarice,” “Mirror Force,” “Plaguespreader Zombie,” “Destiny Hero – Diamond Dude,” and “Dark Armed Dragon” and “Miracle Fusion.”

He Summoned “Destiny Hero – Diamond Dude” and activated its effect, sending “Soul Release” from the top of his Deck to his Graveyard. He tried to attack Lumina with Diamond Dude, but had his attack blocked by Huskey’s “Necro Gardna.” He Set “Mirror Force” and “Pot of Avarice” face-down before ending his turn.

On Huskey’s next turn, he switched Lyla to Defense Position to destroy Massengale’s Set “Mirror Force.” It was a great pick! Then he returned a card from his hand to the top of his Deck to Special Summon “Plaguespreader Zombie” from his Graveyard. He Tuned it with Lyla to Synchro Summon “Tempest Magician.” Next, he discarded “D.D. Crow” from his hand to remove Massengale’s “Soul Release.” With exactly 3 DARK monsters in his Graveyard, he Special Summoned “Dark Armed Dragon”! He destroyed both of Massengale’s cards with the effect of “Dark Armed Dragon” before Special Summoning “Judgment Dragon” and attacking for game with his field of 5 monsters: “Judgment Dragon,” “Dark Armed Dragon,” “Lumina, Lightsworn Summoner,” “Wulf, Lightsworn Beast,” and “Tempest Magician.”

Massengale would be going first in Duel 3!

“One last handshake before it’s done,” he said, extending his arm. “Yeah,” Huskey accepted.

Massengale opened up with “Future Fusion,” “Reinforcement of the Army,” “Charge of the Light Brigade,” “Dark Armed Dragon,” and 2 copies of “Miracle Fusion. He activated “Charge of the Light Brigade” sending “Deep Sea Diva” and “Destiny Hero – Diamond Dude” and “Bottomless Trap Hole” to the Graveyard to fetch “Ryko, Lightsworn Hunter” from his Deck. Then he activated “Future Fusion” to send another copy of “Deep Sea Diva” and a “Destiny Hero – Malicious” to his Graveyard. He Set Ryko and ended his turn. His first turn had just ended, and he was already Set to activate the 2 copies of “Miracle Fusion” he had in his hand.

Huskey started off with “Allure of Darkness” to draw 2 cards and remove “Chaos Sorcerer” from his hand. Then he activated another copy of “Allure of Darkness,” this time removing “Tragoedia” from his hand. He Summoned “Lumina, Lightsworn Summoner” next, and attacked Massengale’s face-down Ryko. Lumina was destroyed and Massengale sent the top 3 cards of his Deck to his Graveyard.

On his next turn, Massengale drew “Solemn Judgment.” He removed “Destiny Hero – Malicious” from his Graveyard to Special Summon another copy from his Deck. Then he sent “Reinforcement of the Army” from his hand to the top of his Deck to Special Summon “Plaguespreader Zombie” from his Graveyard and Synchro Summoned “Stardust Dragon” by Tuning it with Malicious! Huskey flipped “Solemn Judgment” and paid 4000 Life Points to negate the Summon of “Stardust Dragon”! Then Massengale Special Summoned “Dark Armed Dragon” from his hand and remove “Destiny Hero – Diamond Dude” from his Graveyard to destroy Huskey’s last Set card: “My Body as a Shield.” He activated “Miracle Fusion” next by removing “Deep Sea Diva” and Malicious from his Graveyard to Special Summon “Elemental Hero Absolute Zero.” Absolute Zero and “Dark Armed Dragon” attacked directly, and with only 4000 Life Points, Huskey couldn’t withstand the attacks.

Massengale wins the Match 2-1, using his innovative hybrid Deck to triumph over Huskey’s Twilight Deck.

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

Michael Kohanim (2009 World Championship Competitor)
In Duel 1, Massengale removed “Destiny Hero – Malicious” from his Graveyard to Special Summon one that would deal an additional 800 points of battle damage to Huskey. Since Huskey still had a lot of Life Points left after the attack, Massengale may have been better off keeping the “Destiny Hero – Malicious” in his Graveyard until he could make a stronger play (such as a Synchro Summon) with the one he Special Summons from his Deck. Huskey also should have Set Garoth in his final turn in Duel 1 instead of Summoning it, since he knew that the “Brain Control” flipped with “Destiny Hero – Diamond Dude” would definitely finish him off next turn if he Summoned Garoth in Attack Position.

Michael McTavish (Top 8 Finalist – 2009 Canadian National Championship)
Normally, I’d disagree with Massengale’s strategy of setting up the “Magical Android” first turn, activating the “Future Fusion” with no “Miracle Fusions” and a “Heavy Storm” in hand, activating the “Charge of the Light Brigade” and just generally giving away all his plays immediately. Thankfully it worked out for him and Huskey couldn’t take advantage. Just because something works out once doesn’t mean it always will though, and some restraint in future games might serve him well. If he was worried about losing his “Spined Gillman” he could have just held off a turn and seen what his opponent was running. Perhaps he may have decided “Ally of Justice Catastor” would have been a better choice.

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

The second Duel showed just how powerful a Twilight Deck can be. After setting up on the first turn by sending lots of cards to the Graveyard, Huskey went all out on his second turn, attacking for well over 8000 Life Points with his “Judgment Dragon,” “Dark Armed Dragon,” “Wulf, Lightsworn Beast,” “Lumina, Lightsworn Summoner,” and “Tempest Magician.”

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