Our Round 6 Feature Matches feature both of Djuricin brothers! In this Match, Devin Djuricin’s Frog Monarch Deck will face-off against Frazier Smith’s Machina Gadget Deck. Both Duelists here are currently 4-1, so they really wanted this win if they hoped to have a good shot in the tournament.

Djuricin won the die roll and opened up with Soul Exchange, Brain Control, Enemy Controller, Raiza the Storm Monarch, and 2 copies of Caius the Shadow Monarch in his hand. He ended his turn without making a play.

Smith started things off by Summoning Yellow Gadget to the field and searching his Deck for a Green Gadget to add to his hand. Yellow Gadget attacked Djuricin directly and he dropped to 6800 Life Points. Smith Set one back row and ended his turn.

Djuricin drew Thestalos the Firestorm Monarch next turn and activated Soul Exchange! He Tributed Yellow Gadget to Summon Thestalos, but Smith negated its Summon with Solemn Judgment! He paid himself down to 4000 Life Points. Djuricin Set Enemy Controller and ended his turn.

Smith Summoned Machina Gearframe next turn and activated its effect to add Machina Fortress from his Deck to his hand. Then he attacked with Machina Gearframe, dropping Djuricin down to 5000 Life Points. He Set 1 card to his back row and ended his turn.

Djuricin drew Light and Darkness Dragon next turn, adding it to his hand of 3 Monarchs and a Brain Control. He was drawing pretty poorly.  He thought for a while before finally ending his turn, without making a play.

Smith Summoned Green Gadget next turn and searched his Deck for Red Gadget to add to his hand. Then he attacked with Green Gadget and Machina Gearframe, dropping Djuricin down to 1800 Life Points. Smith ended his turn.

Djuricin drew Cyber Dragon next turn. What a topdeck! He Special Summoned it to the field and fused it with both of his opponent’s monsters to Summon Chimeratech Fortress Dragon with 3000 ATK! Chimeratech Fortress Dragon attacked directly and Smith dropped to just 1000 Life Points. He could have Tributed his Fortress Dragon for Caius to remove itself from play and end the game, but didn’t realize it. Instead, he ended his turn.

Smith drew a card and then discarded Machina Force to Special Summon Machina Fortress from his hand. Then he activated Smashing Ground to try to destroy Chimeratech Fortress Dragon, but Djuricin chained Enemy Controller. He Tributed Chimeratech Fortress Dragon to take control of Machina Fortress, who got destroyed by Smith’s own Smashing Ground. Next, Smith activated Pot of Avarice to send 2 Gadgets, a Gearframe, a Machina Fortress, and a Machina Force back to his Deck. He drew 2 cards and then Summoned Red Gadget to the field, searching his Deck for Yellow Gadget and adding it to his hand with his Red Gadget’s effect. Red Gadget attacked directly and Djuricin dropped down to 500 Life Points. Smith Set 3 cards and ended his turn.

Djuricin drew Heavy Storm next turn, but with 4 Tribute Monsters and a Brain Control he couldn’t activate in his hand, it would be no help. He activated Heavy Storm anyway to destroy all 3 of Smith’s Spell and Trap Cards, but then he promptly conceded, knowing he could do nothing more.

A costly misplay gives Smith the victory. Djuricin will be going first in Duel 2!

Djuricin opened up with Brain Control, Enemy Controller, Raiza the Storm Monarch, Thestalos the Firestorm Monarch, Light and Darkness Dragon, and Cyber Dragon. He Set Enemy Controller and ended his turn.

Smith started his turn by activating Mystical Space Typhoon on Djuricin’s Set Enemy Controller to destroy it. Then he Summoned Machina Gearframe to the field. He searched his Deck for Machina Fortress with its effect and attacked directly with Gearframe, dropping Djuricin to 6200 Life Points. Then he ended his turn with no cards in his back row.

Djuricin drew Substitoad next turn. He Special Summoned Cyber Dragon to the field and then Normal Summoned Substitoad. He Tributed Substitoad to Special Summon Swap Frog from his Deck with the effect of Substitoad, and used its effect to send Treeborn Frog to his Graveyard. Cyber Dragon attacked Machina Gearframe and then Swap Frog attacked directly, dropping Smith to 6700 Life Points. In Main Phase 2, Djuricin returned Cyber Dragon to his hand with the effect of Swap Frog and ended his turn.

Smith ended his next turn without making a play. Djuricin drew Creature Swap next turn and Special Summoned Treeborn Frog from his Graveyard. Then he Tributed Swap Frog and Treeborn Frog to Summon Light and Darkness Dragon and attacked directly with it. Smith dropped down to 3900 Life Points.

Smith Set 2 cards and ended his next turn. Djuricin drew Gorz the Emissary of Darkness and attacked with Light and Darkness Dragon. Smith used Enemy Controller after the attack was declared. Light and Darkness Dragon tried to negate it, so Smith chained Dimensional Prison to remove Light and Darkness Dragon from play. Djuricin ended his turn.

On his next turn, Smith discarded 2 copies of Machina Fortress to Special Summon one to the field and attacked directly with it, dropping Djuricin down to 3700 Life Points. Djuricin Special Summoned Gorz after taking the damage, Summoning a 2500 ATK Token in Attack Position. Smith Set 1 card to his back row and activated Smashing Ground to destroy Gorz.

Djuricin drew Caius next turn and then Special Summoned Treeborn Frog in Attack Position. He activated Creature Swap to trade the Frog for Smith’s Machina Fortress. Then the Token attacked Treeborn Frog and Smith used Book of Moon on the Frog to prevent the damage. Machina Fortress attacked directly next, dropping Smith to 1400 Life Points. In Main Phase 2, Djuricin Tributed his Token for Thestalos the Firestorm Monarch, forcing Smith to discard Limiter Removal from his hand. Smith drew his next card and immediately conceded.

The Match pushed on to a third Duel! Smith was starting off this time. He ended his first turn without making a play.

Djuricin started off the Duel with 2 copies of Raiza the Storm Monarch, Soul Exchange, Battle Fader, Creature Swap, and Swap Frog. He Summoned Swap Frog and used its effect to send Treeborn Frog from his Deck to his Graveyard. Then he attacked Smith directly, and Smith Special Summoned Gorz the Emissary of Darkness from his hand! He Special Summoned a 1300 ATK Token in Attack Position along with it. Swap Frog returned itself to Djuricin’s hand in Main Phase 2 and then Djuricin ended his turn.

Smith attacked directly with his 1300 ATK Token on his next turn, but Djuricin used Battle Fader to stop the attack! In Main Phase 2, Smith used Smashing Ground to destroy Battle Fader. He Set one card to his back row before ending his turn.

Djuricin drew Enemy Controller next turn. He Special Summoned Treeborn Frog to the field in his Standby Phase, Tributed it with Enemy Controller to take control of Gorz, and then revived his Treeborn Frog again since he was still in his Standby Phase. Gorz attacked the 1300 ATK token, and then Djuricin Tributed Gorz to Summon Raiza the Storm Monarch in Main Phase 2. He returned the card in Smith’s back row to the top of his Deck with Raiza’s effect and ended his turn.

Smith Special Summoned Cyber Dragon next turn and then activated Brain Control to take control of Raiza. Cyber Dragon attacked Treeborn Frog and then Raiza attacked directly, dropping Djuricin down to 4500 Life Points. In Main Phase 2, Smith Tribute Summoned Machina Fortress by Tributing Cyber Dragon and Raiza. He Set 1 card to his back row before ending his turn.

Next turn, Djuricin Special Summoned Treeborn Frog in Attack Position and activated Creature Swap to switch it with Smith’s Fortress. Machina Fortress attacked over Frog and Smith lost 2400 Life Points. Djuricin ended his turn.

Smith Summoned Yellow Gadget next turn and activated its effect to add Green Gadget from his Deck to his hand. Then he Set another card to his back row and passed.

Djuricin drew a card and Special Summoned Treeborn Frog in his Standby Phase once again. Then he attacked Yellow Gadget with Machina Fortress, dropping Smith to 800 Life Points.

Play passed back to Smith, who Summoned Green Gadget and then Set a third card to his back row. He attacked Treeborn Frog with the Green Gadget and ended his turn. Djuricin declared an attack with his Fortress next turn without Special Summoning his Treeborn Frog first, but lost his monster to Dimensional Prison.

Smith Normal Summoned Red Gadget next, adding Yellow Gadget from his Deck to his hand. Both Gadgets attacked Djuricin directly and he Special Summoned Gorz the Emissary of Darkness from his hand when Green Gadget attacked. Smith Set another card to his Spell and Trap Card Zone before ending his turn.

Djuricin drew another monster to add to his hand on his next turn. Then he Special Summoned Treeborn Frog and Tributed it and his Token to Summon Light and Darkness Dragon. Smith instantly conceded, unable to survive an attack from either of Djuricin’s monsters.

In a close 2-1 victory, Devin Djuricin defeats Frazier Smith. Congratulations to both of the Djuricin brothers for their Feature Match victories over the forces of gadgetdom!

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

Jason Grabher-Meyer (The Old Man of Dueling)
I really like how Djuiricin made full use of some of the more adventurous cards in his Deck. Using Swap Frog’s effect to return his Cyber Dragon back to his hand meant that he could Summon the Dragon again later. That put Smith under constant pressure, because he’d have to worry about Chimeratech Fortress Dragon. Djuiricin also got some awesome combos off with Creature Swap. If you’re playing a slower Deck with monsters that you can reuse (like Treeborn Frog) or Summon easily (like Dandylion’s Fluff Tokens), definitely try out Creature Swap.

Michael Kohanim (2009 World Championship Competitor)
In Duel 1, Djuricin Special Summoned Chimeratech Fortress Dragon to turn the Duel around and bring Smith down to 1000 LP. If he had then Tributed his Chimeratech Fortress Dragon to Summon Caius the Shadow Monarch, he could have used Caius’s effect to remove Caius from the game and take out Smith’s remaining Life Points. Djuricin acknowledged his mistake after the Match and became a better Duelist by doing so. I doubt he’ll be making the same mistake in any future Duels.

Michael McTavish (Top 8 Finalist – 2009 Canadian National Championship)
Despite his eventual victory, Devin almost cost himself the Match by forgetting about the effect of Caius the Shadow Monarch. Looking for a game winning move is something you always have to look out for. Sometimes you might have the game in the palm of your hands, but it just takes a little imagination and backwards thinking to figure it out.