. Yu-Gi-Oh! TCG Event Coverage » Round 3 Feature Match: Dex Benedetto vs. Tyler Nolan
Home > 2010/04 - 75th SJC - Edison, New Jersey > Round 3 Feature Match: Dex Benedetto vs. Tyler Nolan

Round 3 Feature Match: Dex Benedetto vs. Tyler Nolan

April 24th, 2010

Tyler Nolan is 2-0 so far here today with one of the most creative Decks we’ve seen. He’s running Black Garden, building a strong defense with monsters like Gravekeeper’s Spy and Volcanic Rocket, capitalizing on his control over the field with Blaze Accelerator and Don Zaloog. The result is a Deck that’s really tough to attack, and slowly drains the Life Points (and cards) from Nolan’s opponent.

Speaking of which, Nolan’s opponent this round is Dex Benedetto, a Machina Duelist who’s also 2-0. Nolan’s Deck runs a heavier emphasis on monsters like Machina Force and Scrap Recycler instead of Gadgets. He only plays 1 of each Gadget card. Unconventional, but effective.

Nolan opened the match with a hand of Gravekeeper’s Spy, Card Trooper, Don Zaloog, Torrential Tribute, Divine Wrath, and Volcanic Rocket.  He Set Spy, Set Divine Wrath, and ended.

Benedetto Summoned Green Gadget. He used its effect to search his Deck for Red Gadget, added it to his hand, and attacked into the Spy. Nolan Special Summoned Gravekeeper’s Descendant in Attack Position. Benedetto eyed the Descendant, wary of its effect, and Set 2 cards to his Spell & Trap Card Zone.

Nolan Tributed Gravekeeper’s Spy for Descendent’s effect, to destroy his opponent’s Bottomless Trap Hole. He Summoned Card Trooper next, sent Dekoichi the Battlechanted Locomotive, another Spy, and Blackwing – Gale the Whirlwind to his Graveyard to power up Trooper, then attacked with Trooper. Benedetto used Dimensional Prison to remove it. Descendant attacked over Green Gadget and Nolan ended.

Benedetto drew to 5 cards, and Normal Summoned Red Gadget to get Yellow Gadget from his Deck. He activated Solidarity, attacked, and his 2100 ATK Red Gadget destroyed Descendant in battle. Benedetto Set another card to his back row and ended.

Nolan Summoned Volcanic Rocket, and activated its effect, but it was destroyed by his opponent’s Divine Wrath! Benedetto discarded Pot of Avarice to pay Wrath’s cost, leaving Nolan to Set a Spell or Trap and take 2100 damage from Red Gadget next turn. Benedetto Set another Spell or Trap, then Nolan drew and Summoned another Rocket, and searched his Deck for Blaze Accelerator!

He activated it, and discarded Volcanic Shell to destroy Red Gadget. He paid 500 Life Points for the Shell’s effect, got another Shell from his Deck, and ended. Benedetto Summoned Yellow Gadget, didn’t use its effect, and Nolan activated Torrential Tribute. “This is interesting,” remarked Benedetto. “You must be using Phoenix Wing Wind Blast, I think.”

Nolan snapped into action next turn. With the opening he created, he summoned Don Zaloog and attacked… into Mirror Force. In Main Phase 2 he used his Shell to get another copy from his Deck, Set a second Spell or Trap, and ended with 3 cards in hand. Benedetto Set 2 cards to his Spell & Trap Card Zone, then Nolan Set a monster and another Spell or Trap, and Benedetto Set another card to his back row. Next turn Nolan Flip Summoned Dekoichi the Battlechanted Locomotive! He drew a card and attacked for 1400 damage. The Duel stood at 4300 Life Points to 5900, with Benedetto leading.

He Summoned Scrap Recycler next turn, trying to use its effect to send a Machine to the Graveyard, but Nolan Chained Divine Wrath, discarding Volcanic Shell to pay its cost. Benedetto Chained Solemn Judgment in return, dropping to 2950 Life Points to use the Recycler’s effect and send Machina Fortress to the Graveyard! He attacked with the Recycler, but Nolan responded with Phoenix Wing Wind Blast, discarding Volcanic Shell, and targeted Solidarity. But Benedetto activated Book of Moon, turning his Recycler face-down to stop the attack.

Nolan attacked it with Dekoichi next turn, and Set a third card to his Spell & Trap Card Zone. He now had 3 Set cards, the face-up Dekoichi, and 1 card in hand. Benedetto had 1 Set Spell or Trap, 1 in-hand card, and drew a second.

He activated Pot of Avarice, sending Machina Fortress, Scrap Recycler and all 3 of his Gadgets back to his Deck. He drew 2 cards, Summoned Machina Gearframe, and lost out again to Divine Wrath, as Nolan discarded Dimensional Prison to pay its cost. He Set another Spell or Trap and Nolan attacked for another 1400 damage. Benedetto now had just 1550 Life Points left, when Nolan activated Black Garden!

Benedetto Set a third Spell or Trap next turn, and Nolan activated Pot of Avarice a turn later: he sent 2 Volcanic Rockets, Don Zaloog, Volcanic Shell, and Gale back to his Deck, drawing Morphing Jar and Gravekeeper’s Spy. He attacked for another 1400 damage. Benedetto had just 150 Life Points remaining, and Nolan Set Gravekeeper’s Spy. He then paid 500 Life Points to get Volcanic Shell, dropping to 3800.

Benedetto Set a monster and passed. Nolan Flip Summoned Gravekeeper’s Spy, attacked with Dekoichi, and destroyed Benedetto’s face-down Machina Peacekeeper. It was all over moments later as Nolan attacked for the win with his Spy!

An interesting Duel unfolds, as Divine Wraths stack up on both sides of the table and both players score plenty of free cards! Tyler Nolan chalks up the first win, but we still have two Duels left to decide this Match. Both competitors took their time making use of their Side Decks.

“That’s rough,” commented Benedetto. “Now I’ve gotta work extra hard.” Benedetto had to be wondering on some level what exactly he was up against. Seeing that Black Garden in the final turns of the first Duel likely threw off whatever assumptions he’d made by that point. “I’ll go first.”

Benedetto opened up with Scrap Recycler, sending Machina Fortress from his Deck to his Graveyard. He discarded Machina’s Force to Special Summon Fortress, then Set 2 cards to his Spell & Trap Card Zone.

Nolan had Blaze Accelerator, Volcanic Shell, Solemn Judgment, Pot of Avarice, Black Garden, and Cyber Dragon! He Special Summoned the Dragon, and when Benedetto had no response, he used all 3 on-field monsters for Chimeratech Fortress Dragon! He attacked, lost his monster to Dimensional Prison, and activated Black Garden to end the turn! Nolan had successfully used his Cyber Dragon to eliminate 3 of his opponent’s cards!

Benedetto Summoned Machina Gearframe, and searched his Deck for another Machina Force. Black Garden halved the Gearframe’s ATK and Special Summoned a Token to Nolan’s field. Benedetto pressed on, discarding Machina Force to Special Summon Machina Fortress. Gearframe attacked the Token, and Fortress attacked a second Token. Benedetto ended his turn by equipping Gearframe to Fortress.

Nolan Set 2 cards to his back row. Benedetto Special Summoned his Gearframe, Nolan got another Token with Black Garden, and Gearframe attacked to destroy it. A direct attack from Machina Fortress, its ATK halved by Black Garden, dropped him to 6200 Life Points. Benedetto Set another monster.

Nolan had Solemn Judgment and Prison Set, with Pot of Avarice, another Prison, Volcanic Shell, and Blaze Accelerator in-hand. He activated Accelerator, discarded Volcanic Shell, and used Accelerator’s effect to destroy Fortress. He paid 500 Life Points to dig another Shell from his Deck, discarded it to destroy Benedetto’s face-down Machina Peacekeeper, and Benedetto got another Machina Gearframe. He paid another 500 Life Points, got another Shell, and discarded it to destroy the remaining Gearframe. Nolan Set Dimensional Prison.

Benedetto drew to 4 cards in hand, with 1 card Set in his Spell & Trap Card Zone. He Summoned Gearframe, searched his Deck for Machina Peacekeeper, and attacked Nolan’s newly-Special Summoned Token. Nolan responded with Dimensional Prison, removing the Gearframe, and Benedetto Set another Spell or Trap.

Nolan attacked with his Rose Token for 800 damage next turn, dropping his opponent to 7200 Life Points. Nolan had 5200 left, and Set a monster. Benedetto discarded Machina Force next turn, Special Summoning Machina Fortress and giving Nolan another Token. Fortress attacked, Nolan flipped Prison, and Benedetto Chained Book of Moon to save his Fortress and turn it face-down. Nobleman of Crossout removed Nolan’s face-down Volcanic Rocket from the game in Main Phase 2, and Benedetto Set his remaining cards, leaving himself with 2 face-down monsters and 2 Set cards in his Spell & Trap Card Zone.

Nolan passed, and Benedetto Flip Summoned Machina Fortress, but Nolan negated the Summon with Solemn Judgment. Benedetto Set a third Spell or Trap, Nolan Set a monster, and Benedetto Flip Summoned Machina’s Peacekeeper. That let him activate Torrential Tribute, destroying Nolan’s Rose Tokens and Gravekeeper’s Spy, and he used Peacekeeper’s effect to get another Machina Gearframe from his Deck. He Summoned it, Nolan got another Rose Token, and Benedetto got another Fortress from his Deck. Gearframe attacked the Rose Token, destroyed it, and Benedetto ended his turn.

Nolan drew, holding an extra Black Garden and 2 Pots of Avarice. He activated one of them to send all of his Graveyard monsters to his Deck, drawing another Black Garden and Phoenix Wing Wind Blast. He Set Wind Blast and ended his turn.

Gearframe made a direct attack for 900 damage next turn. Nolan activated Blaze Accelerator’s effect, but Benedetto Chained Dust Tornado to keep his Gearframe alive. He attacked next turn to drop Nolan to 700 Life Points, and Nolan drew Terraforming next turn! He Set Volcanic Shell, unable to do anything else to save himself.

Pot of Avarice let Benedetto shuffle back 3 Machina Forces, a Gearframe, and Machina Peacekeeper, drawing 2 cards. He activated Solidarity, attacked, and destroyed Volcanic Shell. Nolan drew and Set Gravekeeper’s Spy next turn, since he couldn’t pay the Life Points to get another Volcanic Shell from his Deck.

Benedetto activated Dust Tornado, destroying Black Garden. He Summoned Red Gadget, got Yellow Gadget from his Deck, and discarded it alongside Machina’s Fortress to Special Summoned the Fortress. He attacked with the Fortress, hit Gravekeeper’s Spy, and when Nolan tried to activate the Spy’s effect Benedetto Chained Divine Wrath!

Dex Benedetto fights his way through Black Garden one small attack at a time, and takes us to 1 more Duel! Both competitors made brisk use of their Side Decks, as the Match got closer to the end of the round. Nolan would open the last Duel.

Dex Benedetto

Nolan had Bottomless Trap Hole, Dimensional Prison, Volcanic Rocket, Blaze Accelerator, and 2 copies of Gravekeeper’s Spy. He Set Spy, Set Prison, and ended. Nolan Summoned Scrap Recycler, used its effect to send Machina Fortress to the Graveyard, and Set 2 cards to his back row. Nolan drew Black Garden.

He Flip Summoned Gravekeeper’s Spy, and this time he succeeded in Special Summoning another Spy from his Deck. The first Spy attacked Recycler to destroy it, and the second one made a direct attack, knocking Benedetto down to 6500 Life Points. Nolan Set a Spell or Trap and ended, matching his opponent.

Benedetto Set a third card to his back row, and when Nolan attacked with each Spy next turn he lost them both to 2 copies of Dimensional Prison. He Normal Summoned Volcanic Rocket, Benedetto responded with Bottomless Trap Hole to remove the Rocket from play, and Nolan got Blaze Accelerator from his Deck. He activated Black Garden as time was called.

Benedetto Set 1 card to his back row, ended, and Nolan Set a monster. Benedetto couldn’t do anything on his final turn to even the Life Point totals and offered Nolan the handshake!

Tyler Nolan takes a 2-1 victory in overtime with his Black Garden Volcanic Deck!

 

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

Jason Grabher-Meyer (The Old Man of Dueling)
Nolan had the first Duel in the bag when he attacked with Dekoichi to drop Benedetto to 1550 Life Points. He activated Black Garden to finish that turn, but I don’t think I would’ve bothered. It would’ve been way harder for Benedetto to Side Deck against him for Game 2 if Benedetto still didn’t know about the Black Garden in Nolan’s Deck. Sometimes it’s important to step back, and remember that each Duel influences later Duels in a Match.

 

Michael Kohanim (2009 World Championship Competitor)
In Duel 2, Nolan used Cyber Dragon and Benedetto’s own Machines to Summon Chimeratech Fortress Dragon and clear Benedetto’s field. This is a powerful play that has been gaining rapid popularity against Machine Decks.

 

Michael McTavish (Top 8 Finalist – 2009 Canadian National Championship)
Here’s something important to remember when playing with or against a slow paced Deck like one based around Black Garden and Defense Position monsters: It’s very important to play quickly (while still concentrating on making the right moves). Because if you don’t, you could find yourself in Benedetto’s position in this Match, where he lost because time ran out in the round.