The pressure was on! Winners here in the Top 16 would move on to the Top 8, and each would win a copy of Dark End Dragon! This Match would pit Jerry Wang’s Quickdraw Dandywarrior Deck against Bryan Ortiz’s Blackwings!

Wang opened the Match with a hand of Mystical Space Typhoon, Mirror Force, Morphing Jar, Super-Nimble Mega Hamster, Phoenix Wing Wind Blast, and Tytannial, Princess of Camellias. He Set Hamster, Set Wind Blast, and ended.

Ortiz fired back, Summoning Blackwing – Bora the Spear and attacking, taking 100 damage as Bora’s 1700 ATK collided with Hamster’s 1800 DEF. Wang used Hamster’s effect to Special Summon Ryko, Lightsworn Hunter in face-down Defense Position, and Ortiz Set 2 cards to his Spell & Trap Card Zone.

Wang drew Dandylion and Flip Summoned Ryko to target and destroy Bora, sending Trap Dusshoot, Dimensional Prison, and Heavy Storm to the Graveyard. Hamster went to Attack Position and both monsters made direct attacks for a total of 1300 Battle Damage. Wang Set Mystical Space Typhoon, Set Morphing Jar, and Set Mirror Force, leaving Tytannial and Dandylion in his hand. Would Ortiz recognize that as a Morphing Jar play in a format where Morphing Jar is so uncommon?

He Normal Summoned Blackwing – Blizzard the Far North, used its effect to Special Summon Bora in Defense Position, then Tuned them together to Synchro Summon Blackwing Armed Wing. Armed Wing attacked Ryko and Wang took the damage. Ortiz Set a third Spell or Trap, and Wang spun it away in the End Phase with Phoenix Wing Wind Blast, discarding Dandylion. Mystical Space Typhoon destroyed Ortiz’s face-down Book of Moon and Wang had Special Summoned 2 Fluff Tokens.

Next turn Wang drew Treeborn Frog, and Flip Summoned Morphing Jar! He got Light and Darkness Dragon, Enemy Controller, Brain Control, Charge of the Light Brigade, and Lonefire Blossom! Ortiz only had 6600 Life Points left.

Charge of the Light Brigade sent Ryko, Caius the Shadow Monarch, and Lonefire Blossom to the Graveyard, getting Wang another Ryko. He took Armed Wing with Brain Control, attacked with Armed Wing, Morphing Jar, and Mega Hamster, dropping Ortiz to 2500 Life Points. He then Tributed a Fluff Token and Armed Wing for Light and Darkness Dragon.

Ortiz activated Black Whirlwind, losing it to Light and Darkness Dragon! He Set 3 more cards to his Spell & Trap Card Zone and ended, 2 cards in hand.

Wang drew Debris Dragon. He moved straight to his Battle Phase, and Ortiz flipped Trap Dustshoot to bring Light and Darkness Dragon down to 1800 ATK. Morphing Jar attacked, Ortiz flipped up Royal Oppression to degrade the Dragon again, and played Book of Moon to bring it down to 800. But it wasn’t enough – Wang still had 2600 ATK to Ortiz’s 2500 Life Points, and it was all over.

Jerry Wang is now just 1 Duel away from winning a Dark End Dragon and a seat in the Top 8! Ortiz would have to win 2 Duels straight to stay alive in this tournament.

Ortiz started the second Duel with Blackwing – Vayu the Emblem of Honor and 2 Set cards in his Spell & Trap Card Zone. He was telegraphing Icarus Attack.

Wang had a hand of Ryko, Lightsworn Hunter, Phoenix Wing Wind Blast, Caius the Shadow Monarch, Breaker the Magical Warrior, Caius the Shadow Monarch, and Super-Nimble Mega Hamster. He Set Ryko and ended, not leaving any opening for Icarus Attack. Vayu attacked next turn, Wang revealed Ryko, and destroyed Ortiz’s Bottomless Trap Hole, sending Enemy Controller, Book of Moon, and Foolish Burial to his Graveyard. Ortiz Set another Spell or Trap.

Wang Summoned Breaker the Magical Warrior and tried to destroy what he thought was Icarus Attack, only to find it was Delta Crow – Anti Reverse! Breaker attacked over Vayu and Wang Set Dimensional Prison. Ortiz activated Black Whirlwind next turn, Summoned Blackwing – Kalut the Moon Shadow, and searched his Deck for Blackwing – Gale the Whirlwind with Whirlwind’s effect. He Special Summoned Gale, halved Breaker’s ATK and DEF, and attacked with Gale: Wang opted not to activate Dimensional Prison, letting Breaker get destroyed while Kalut made a direct attack. Another Set Spell or Trap ended Ortiz’s turn.

Wang drew and Set another Wind Blast, then Set Hamster. He lose Prison and Wind Blast to another Delta Crow in the End Phase! Kalut attacked into Hamster, Hamster’s effect let Wang Special Summoned Ryko, Lightsworn Hunter in face-down Defense Position, and Ortiz attacked Ryko – Wang destroyed Ortiz’s Mirror Force, sending Mystical Space Typhoon, Pot of Avarice, and Dandylion to the Graveyard! He Summoned 2 Fluff Tokens and Ortiz ended.

Wang drew, and Summoned Lonefire Blossom. He Tributed a Fluff Token to Special Summon another Lonefire in Defense Position. Wang Tributed the first Lonefire with priority for the effect of the second, Special Summoning Tytannial, Princess of Camellias. Tytannial attacked Gale, destroying it, and Wang ended.

Ortiz Tributed Kalut for Blackwing – Sirocco the Dawn, searching his Deck for another Kalut and adding it to his hand. Sirocco attacked Tytannial, Kalut boosted Sirocco’s ATK, and Tytananial was destroyed.

Wang drew Debris Dragon. He Tributed Lonefire Blossom to Special Summon another Dandylion from his Deck, and Ortiz Tributed Sirocco for Icarus Attack, destroying a Fluff Token and Super-Nimble Mega Hamster. He’d wanted to destroy the Lonefire, but had made the mistake of letting Wang proceed to Main Phase 1, where Wang had priority to activate the effect of Lonefire Blossom. Wang dove to his Calculator, never a good sign for Jerry Wang’s opponent. Ortiz had 5300 Life Points left, Black Whirlwind on the field, and only 1 card in hand.

Wang had Dandylion and 4 cards in hand: 2 Caius the Shadow Monarch, Debris Dragon, and Ryko. He Sumoned Debris, Special Summoned Ryko with Debris’ effect, then Tuned it to Debris Dragon for Iron Chain Dragon. Iron Chain made a direct attack and sent Blackwing – Shura the Blue Flame, Icarus Attack, and Royal Oppression to Ortiz’s Graveyard. Wang was thrilled to see the Shura hit the Graveyard – it was Ortiz’s 6^th DARK monster, further distancing him from Dark Armed Dragon, even with cards like Blizzard.

Ortiz Summoned Kalut next turn, searching out Blackwing – Blizzard the Far North from his Deck with Whirlwind. He ended.

“This should be game,” remarked Wang. He Tributed for Caius the Shadow Monarch, removed Kalut, and attacked directly to finish it!

Jerry Wang takes a 2-0 victory and moves on to the Top 8, winning a copy of Dark End Dragon!

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

Jason Grabher-Meyer (The Old Man of Dueling)
In the first Duel of this Match, after Flip Summoning Morphing Jar, Wang could have Tributed his Fluff Tokens to Summon Light and Darkness Dragon. That would have left him with the Dragon (2800 ATK), Super-Nimble Mega Hamster (1100 ATK), his Jar (700 ATK), and the Blackwing Armed Wing he took with Brain Control (2300 ATK): a combined total of 6900 ATK while Ortiz had just 6600 Life Points. The problem? Ortiz had 1 face-down Spell or Trap left, and even though Light and Darkness Dragon’s effect would keep that card from resolving, activating it would drop the Dragon to 2300 ATK. Ortiz would escape the turn with 200 Life Points, and he’d get his Armed Wing back with just enough ATK to destroy the Dragon (and Wang’s entire field with it). So despite having a strong shot at the win, Wang used restraint. He attacked for just 4100 damage, Tributed the Armed Wing, and took the win a turn later instead.

Michael Kohanim (2009 World Championship Competitor)
A great play with Morphing Jar gave Wang the cards he needed to win the first Duel of the Match. By using up the cards in his hand to fill the field and take down Ortiz’s cards, he was able to make his Morphing Jar really count by refilling his hand when it would push him ahead of his opponent.

Michael McTavish (Top 8 Finalist – 2009 Canadian National Championship)
This Match showed that Morphing Jar is capable of winning a game for you with just one flip. In a format where Morphing Jar is very uncommon, players will struggle to read the Morphing Jar. This is especially true considering the last few formats also saw very little Morphing Jar play. What this means is that the newer players won’t even have Morphing Jar in the back of their mind at all from past formats, making the jar an even larger force to reckon with.