Round 12 Feature Match: Patrick Clarey vs. Money Smith
Our Round 12 Feature Match pits Money Smith’s Six Samurai Deck against Patrick Clarey’s Dandysworns. The relentless aggression of Six Samurais and the 3 copies of Starlight Road in Smith’s Main Deck may make this a tough Match for Clarey, but he’ll be fighting his hardest to win this Match and stay in the tournament. “You’re running Samurais!” Clarey yelled as Smith walked to the Feature Match table. He had seen Smith’s field earlier in the tournament and it was filled with Samurais. “I can’t beat that stuff! It’s too fast!” We’re about to find out if Clarey’s right about that.
Clarey won the dice roll and chose to go first. He drew Ehren, Lightsworn Monk, Jain, Lightsworn Paladin, Lumina, Lightsworn Summoner, Solar Recharge, Caius the Shadow Monarch, and Wulf, Lightsworn Beast in his opening hand. He activated Recharge to discard Wulf, draw Foolish Burial and another Recharge, and send Trap Dustshoot and Gorz to the Graveyard. Then he activated another Recharge to draw Judgment Dragon and Card Trooper, sending Charge and Aurkus, Lightsworn Druid to the Graveyard. He Summoned Jain and ended his turn, sending Ryko, Lightsworn Hunter and Honest from the top of his Deck to his Graveyard in the End Phase with the effect of Jain.
Smith activated Gateway of the Six next turn and Normal Summoned Hand of the Six Samurai, putting 2 counters on his Gateway. Then he Set 3 cards in his back row and ended his turn.
Clarey picked up Torrential Tribute next turn and Summoned Card Trooper to the field. He sent Dandylion, Plaguespreader Zombie, and Beckoning Light from the top of his Deck to his Graveyard, and Smith flipped Torrential Tribute to clear the field when the Fluff Tokens were Summoned by Dandylion. Clarey drew a card for the effect of Card Trooper and then activated Foolish Burial to send Wulf from his Deck to his Graveyard and Special Summon it. Wulf attacked directly and Smith dropped to 5900 Life Points. Clarey Set a back row and ended his turn.
Smith Summoned Hand of the Six Samurai next turn and added 2 more counters to his Gateway. Then he removed 4 counters from it to search his Deck for Grandmaster of the Six Samurai and add it to his hand. He Special Summoned it to the field and Clarey flipped Torrential Tribute! But Smith chained Starlight Road to negate it and Special Summon Stardust Dragon! Stardust Dragon attacked Clarey’s Wulf, and then Hand of the Six Samurai and Grandmaster attacked directly.
Clarey Summoned Lyla next turn and activated its effect to destroy Smith’s Call of the Haunted. Smith chained it to Special Summon Hand of the Six Samurai and add 2 more counters to his Gateway. Then Clarey Special Summoned Judgment Dragon and returned a card from his hand to the top of his Deck in order to Special Summon Plaguespreader Zombie from his Graveyard. He Tuned Plaguespreader Zombie with Lyla to Special Summon Goyo Guardian. Goyo attacked and destroyed Stardust Dragon and then Judgment Dragon attacked and destroyed Grandmaster of the Six Samurai. Smith dropped to 4700 Life Points. In Main Phase 2, Clarey blew up the field with Judgment Dragon and ended his turn, sending 4 cards from the top of his Deck to his Graveyard.
Smith drew a card and then Set 1 card to his back row turn. But it was all over a turn later! Clarey destroyed Smith’s Set Solidarity with Judgment Dragon and then Special Summoned another one from his hand to attack directly for 6000 damage!
Money Smith will be going first in the second Duel! He opened up with Solemn Judgment, The Six Samurai – Yaichi, Six Samurai United, 2 copies of Dimensional Prison and a Grandmaster of the Six Samurai. He activated Six Samurai United, Summoned Yaichi and Grandmaster of the Six Samurai, then popped Six Samurai United to draw 2 cards. He picked up The Six Samurai – Zanji and Barrier Statue of the Drought.
Clarey Set 1 monster next turn and passed. Smith drew Hand of the Six Samurai next turn and Summoned it. He Tributed Yaichi to destroy Clarey’s Set Dandylion and then used his monsters to attack and destroy both Fluff Tokens it generated.
Clarey Summoned Lumina, Lightsworn Summoner next turn and Set 2 cards in his back row before ending his turn. He sent 2 Lightsworn monsters from the top of his Deck to his Graveyard in the End Phase, along with another card.
Smith Summoned The Six Samurai – Yaichi next turn and Clarey flipped Torrential Tribute. But Smith negated it with Solemn Judgment! Yaichi destroyed Clarey’s Set Beckoning Light and then Hand of the Six Samurai attacked and destroyed Lumina. Grandmaster followed up with a direct attack.
Clarey Summoned Jain next turn and attacked Hand of the Six Samurai, but Dimensional Prison removed Jain from play. Clarey Set 2 cards and ended his turn.
Smith destroyed one of them with Yaichi next turn. It was Monster Reincarnation. Then he Summoned Barrier Statue of the Drought and switched his Hand of the Six Samurai and The Six Samurai – Yaichi to Defense Position. He attacked with his Barrier Statue and Grandmaster, ending his turn.
Clarey Summoned Lyla next turn and attacked Barrier Statue of the Drought, but Smith flipped Dimensional Prison to remove Lyla from play. Clarey instantly conceded, with just a Pot of Avarice face-down and nothing but a Wulf, Lightsworn Beast in his hand.
Clarey will be going first in this final Duel of the Match! He activated Solar Recharge discarding Ehren to draw 2 cards and send Judgment Dragon and Charge of the Light Brigade to the Graveyard. Then he Set 1 card to each zone and ended his turn.
Smith opened up with Grandmaster of the Six Samurai, Royal Oppression, The Warrior Returning Alive, Starlight Road, Rivalry of Warlords, and Solemn Judgment. Smith Set 4 cards to his back row and ended his turn.
Clarey flipped his face-down Ryko next turn and Smith activated Solemn Judgment to negate the Summon. Then Clarey Summoned Lyla and switched it to Defense Position to destroy Smith’s Royal Oppression. He ended his turn, sending 3 cards from the top of his Deck to his Graveyard with Lyla’s effect.
Smith drew another copy of Grandmaster of the Six Samurai on his next turn, unable to make a play. He passed back to Clarey, who Tributed Lyla to Summon Caius. Clarey removed Smith’s Starlight Road from play with the effect of Caius, then attacked directly.
Smith drew Six Samurai Irou next turn and Summoned it to the field, but lost it to Clarey’s Bottomless Trap Hole. On his next turn, Clarey Summoned Aurkus and Smith flipped Rivalry of Warlords. Clarey took his Aurkus off the field and then attacked directly with Caius, winning the Match!
Patrick Clarey wins the Match with his Dandysworn Deck, finishing the swiss rounds with a 10-2 record and a spot in the Top 32!
See what our panel of experts had to say after the Duel.
Jason Grabher-Meyer (The Old Man of Dueling)
Clarey won the first Duel, but he could have saved himself a lot of trouble if he’d played his Torrential Tribute earlier. When Smith Summoned Hand of the Six Samurai to place his third and fourth Bushido Counters on Gateway of the Six, it was obvious he was going to use those Counters to get Grandmaster of the Six Samurai and Special Summon it. If Clarey had immediately responded to Hand’s Summon by activating Torrential Tribute, Smith never would have been able to Summon Grandmaster, nor would he have been able to activate Starlight Road. He would have had 2 less Counters on Gateway, no Stardust Dragon, and Clarey would’ve saved himself 4100 damage. When you’re playing a high-powered card like Torrential Tribute, it’s always important to think carefully about how and when you use it, especially if your opponent might have Starlight Road.
Michael Kohanim (2009 World Championship Competitor)
In Duel 3, Smith paid 4000 Life Points on Clarey’s second turn to negate the Flip Summon of a Ryko, Lightsworn Hunter with Solemn Judgment. Smith may have been better off saving his Solemn Judgment and losing one of his 4 back rows at random. It can be dangerous to pay 4000 Life Points early on against a Lightsworn Duelist capable of quickly swarming the field, and Smith quickly lost Duel 3 due to his high payment.
Michael McTavish (Top 8 Finalist – 2009 Canadian National Championship)
Smith activated Starlight Road to negate a Torrential Tribute that was threatening to destroy his Hand of the Six Samurai and his Grandmaster of the Six Samurai. Since Grandmaster can add itself back to his hand (or any Six Samurai monster, if he didn’t want Grandmaster) when destroyed by an opponent’s card effect, it may have been a better idea to let the Torrential through, saving his Starlight Road for something more important such as a Judgment Dragon (which was the cause of Smith’s loss in game 1). Had he saved the Starlight Road, the Match may have gone somewhat differently in Smith’s favour.
