We’re starting off our day with a Feature Match between Dylan DeBolo of Rochester, New York, and 2008 Mexican National Champion Alejandro Reyez Suarez! Both of these competitors are 7-1 in this tournament: each just 4 wins away from a guaranteed seat in the Top 32.

Suarez opened the day with a hand of 2 Solar Recharges, Necro Gardna, Aurkus, Lightsworn Druid, Book of Moon, and Archlord Kristya. He discarded Aurkus for Solar Recharge, drew Shire, Lightsworn Spirit, and Honest, then sent Jain, Lightsworn Paladin and Lyla, Lightsworn Sorceress to the Graveyard. He discarded Shire next, getting Mystical Space Typhoon and Threatening Roar, and sending Cyber Dragon and Celestia, Lightsworn Angel to the Graveyard. He Set Book, Set Honest, and ended. He now had 4 Lightsworn and 2 Fairies in his Graveyard, off to a great start.

DeBolo Summoned Scrap Recycler and activated its effect, sending Machina Fortress from his Deck to his Graveyard. Recycler attacked, smacked into Honest, and DeBolo took 1000 Battle Damage. He Set 4 cards to his back row to finish out.

Suarez drew Lumina, Lightsworn Summoner. He activated Honest’s effect, returned it to his hand, and Summoned Lumina, Lightsworn Summoner. “Negate?”

“Summon’s good,” answered DeBolo.

Suarez discarded Necro Gardna for Lumina’s effect, targeted his Lyla, Lightsworn Sorceress, DeBolo Chained Royal Oppression, paid 800 Life Points, and Suarez Chained Mystical Space Typhoon to destroy Oppression! Lyla was Special Summoned, but DeBolo flipped Torrential Tribute to clear the field and destroy Suarez’s 2 monsters! That left Suarez with Threatening Roar, Honest, and Kristya in hand, with Book Set.

DeBolo drew and Set a Spell or Trap. Suarez drew and Summoned another Lyla, but she was destroyed by Bottomless Trap Hole. DeBolo Set a third card to his Spell & Trap Card Zone, ended, and Suarez Summoned Honest to attack next turn – he’d drawn Celestia, and wanted to get that Kristya going. DeBolo took 1100 damage from Honest, Suarez Set Roar, and left Honest on the field.

DeBolo tried to destroy it with Smashing Ground, but failed as Suarez Chained Book of Moon. DeBolo Set his last 2 cards to his back row, ending his turn with 4 Set cards, none of them monsters.

Suarez drew Judgment Dragon next! His hand was now Judgment Dragon, Archlord Kristya, and Celestia, Lightsworn Angel, with Honest on the field and Roar Set. Honest attacked into Dimensional Prison, DeBolo passed, and Suarez topdecked Ehren, Lightsworn Monk. He Summoned her and ran her into Mirror Force. DeBolo passed, down to 2 back row cards.

Suarez drew Aurkus, Lightsworn Druid, and Special Summoned Judgment Dragon, but it was negated by a second copy of Royal Oppression. He Summoned Aurkus, attacked, and then sent Solar Recharge and Beckoning Light to the Graveyard in the End Phase. DeBolo drew, activated Heavy Storm, and Suarez Chained his Threatening Roar! DeBolo lost his own Royal Oppression and Starlight Road for nothing, and had just 2 cards left in-hand!

He discarded Machina Force to Special Summon Machina Fortress and ended his turn. Suarez drew Garoth, Lightsworn Warrior, Summoned it, turned Aurkus to Defense, and sent Honest, Bottomless, Wulf, Lightsworn Beast, and Lyla to the Graveyard. He drew 2 cards with Garoth and Special Summoned Wulf! He now had 3 Fairies in his Graveyard.

DeBolo attacked Aurkus with Fortress, destroying it. He Set Dimensional Prison, but it was destroyed by Heavy Storm next turn. Suarez had drawn Plaguespreader Zombie, and Summoned it to Tune it to Garoth and Synchro Summon Brionac, Dragon of the Ice Barrier. It was the beginning of the end! He Set a card to his back row, discarded Celestia to bounce that card back to his hand, and now had 4 Fairies in the Graveyard! He Special Summoned Kristya and DeBolo reeled, immediately conceding!

Alejandro Reyez Suarez starts his morning off with an explosive opening and a commanding win in the first Duel, overcoming not 1, but 2 copies of Royal Oppression! That Heavy Storm had totally cost DeBolo any chance at the win – he couldn’t afford to make another mistake like that in this Match. Suarez Sided out Book of Moon, Bottomless Trap Hole, Necro Gardna, Celestia, Lightsworn Angel, Shire, Lightsworn Spirit, and Archlord Kristya, bringing in Lightning Vortex, System Down, Cyber Dragon, Dimensional Prison, Trap Stun, and Dust Tornado.

DeBolo opened the second Duel with Red Gadget, searching out Yellow Gadget from his Deck and adding it to his hand. He Set 1 card to his Spell & Trap Card Zone.

Suarez had Beckoning Light, Lyla, Lightsworn Sorceress, Judgment Dragon, Aurkus, Lightsworn Druid, Lumina, Lightsworn Summoner, and Jain, Lightsworn Paladin. He Set Beckoning, Set Aurkus, and ended.

DeBolo Summoned Yellow Gadget, searched Green Gadget from his Deck, and attacked into Aurkus with Red Gadget, suffering 500 Battle Damage. Suarez drew Honest next turn, Summoned Lyla, attacked Yellow Gadget, and then used her effect to destroy DeBolo’s Royal Oppression! In the End Phase he sent Lightning Vortex, Cyber Dragon, Charge of the Light Brigade, Solar Recharge, and another Lyla to his Graveyard! Things seemed to be going well for the former Mexican Champion.

DeBolo Normal Summoned Machina Gearframe, getting Machina Fortress from his Deck. He activated Solidarity, attacked Aurkus, then attacked Lyla, destroying both. He Set 1 card to his back row.

Suarez drew Ehren, still holding Honest, Lumina, Jain, and Judgment Dragon. He Summoned Lumina, discarded Ehren, and brought back Lyla. He activated her effect, destroyed Mirror Force, and sent Recharge, System Down, Roar, Celestia, Ryko, and Trap Stun to his Graveyard. He was loading up for that Beckoning Light, looking to end this in one big push.

DeBolo attacked Lyla with Red Gadget, then sent Gearframe at Lumina. Suarez didn’t use Honest, and took the damage, instead. DeBolo Set another monster.

Suarez drew Dust Tornado, and Special Summoned Judgment Dragon. He activated its effect, Chained Beckoning Light, and discarded his 3 cards to take back Cyber Dragon, Honest, and Lyla. DeBolo lost Solidarity, Red Gadget, Gearframe, and his Set Machina Peacekeeper, getting Machina Gearframe from his Deck with Peacekeeper’s effect. DeBolo had 6 cards in hand. Suarez Summoned Lyla, attacked for 3000 Battle Damage with Judgment Dragon, and another 1700 with Lyla. He Sent Gorz the Emissary of Darkness, Aurkus, Garoth, Plaguespreader Zombie, Honest, Book of Moon, and Heavy Storm to his Graveyard in the End Phase.

“This is so bad, you have that Honest in hand…” DeBolo gave a groan. Seven cards in-hand and he still didn’t seem to have much going on. He Summoned Scrap Recycler, sent Machina Fortress from his Deck to his Graveyard, then activated the Recycler’s second ability to send Gearframe and Yellow Gadget back to his Deck, drawing a card. “Give me Brain Control. You just got rid of Gorz without a Necro Gardna…” DeBolo drew, shuffled his hand, and considered his options.

He discarded Fortress and Green Gadget to Special Summon the Fortress… then discarded another Green Gadget and another Fortress to do it again! The Duel stood at 2300 Life Points to 5400 with Suarez in the lead. One Fortress attacked Lyla, prompting Suarez to activate Honest’s effect to destroy the Fortress. DeBolo used Fortress’ effect to destroy Judgment Dragon but had no followup. He was down to just 600 Life Points.

“All monsters?” asked Suarez, eying DeBolo’s sizable hand.

“I think I misplayed… ahh well.” DeBolo Set 2 cards to his back row and lost one to Lyla next turn – his Mystical Space Typhoon.

With 1 face-down Spell or Trap Card remaining on DeBolo’s side, Suarez Special Summoned Plaguespreader Zombie. He Tuned it to Lyla, Synchro Summoned Tempest Magician, and DeBolo had no response! Suarez discarded his last card, the Cyber Dragon he’d retrieved with Beckoning Light, and used Tempest Magician’s effect to burn Debolo out for 1000 damage and win the Duel!

Alejandro Reyez Suarez claims a 2-0 victory! Another 3 more like that and he’d be headed to the Top 32.

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

Jason Grabher-Meyer (The Old Man of Dueling)
When DeBolo attacked Lyla with Machina Fortress and the Fortress was destroyed, he used the Fortress’ effect to destroy Judgment Dragon, dropping to 600 Life Points. He definitely had to destroy that Dragon, but what he could have done was destroy Lyla first. Then, he could have sent his second Fortress to attack Judgment Dragon. He knew Suarez’s last card in hand was Cyber Dragon (not another Honest), so he would have taken 500 damage, dropped to 100 Life Points, destroyed Judgment Dragon, and survived the turn with no threat of Tempest Magician. If his second Set card in his Spell & Trap Card Zone was Mirror Force or Dimensional Prison, he would’ve survived the Cyber Dragon attacking his Recycler next turn as well, and would’ve had a strong chance at the win.

Michael Kohanim (2009 World Championship Competitor)
In Duel 1, DeBolo used Heavy Storm, most likely expecting to activate Starlight Road to negate it and Special Summon Stardust Dragon. Since Suarez chained Threatening Roar, DeBolo couldn’t even flip Starlight Road. Even if Suarez didn’t have a Threatening Roar to chain, he’d still be able to negate the effect of Starlight Road with Royal Oppression. It’s important to think about all possible scenarios of what may happen before activating a card like Heavy Storm. DeBolo’s mistake in the first Duel made it an easy win for Suarez.

Michael McTavish (Top 8 Finalist – 2009 Canadian National Championship)
One great move by Suarez in this Match is something that I don’t see enough people do. He had Mystical Space Typhoon in his hand, and instead of blindly using it on a face-down , he held on to the Typhoon until Royal Oppression was activated on his monster. This allowed him to chain the Typhoon from his hand, destroying the Oppression, negating its effect, and forcing his opponent to pay 800 life points for nothing. While this may seem like an obvious move, a premature MST is something a lot of people are guilty of.