Top 16 Feature Match: Thai Bui vs. Jake Mattern
You may remember Jake Mattern from his Day 1 Deck Profile. He’s running a Prisma Gladiator Deck that easily Summons Gladiator Beast Gyzarus to destroy his opponent’s cards and take control of the Duel. Now, he made it to the Top 16 and is Dueling Thai Bui, a Lightsworn Duelist determined to bring his Lightsworn Deck to the Top 8. But only one of these Duelists can win the prized Dark End Dragon awarded to the Top 8 competitors of this event.
Jake Mattern won the dice roll and chose to go first. He opened up with 2 copies of Starlight Road, Cold Wave, Reinforcement of the Army, Gladiator Beast Bestiari, and Test Tiger. He activated Reinforcement of the Army to search his Deck for Elemental Hero Stratos, then Summoned it to his field and activated its effect to move Elemental Hero Prisma from his Deck to his hand. He Set 1 copy of Starlight Road and ended his turn.
Bui activated Solar Recharge by discarding Ryko, Lightsworn Hunter to draw 2 cards and send 2 Spell Cards from the top of his Deck to his Graveyard. Then he Summoned Lyla to the field and switched it to Defense Position to destroy Mattern’s Set Starlight Road. He Set 1 card to his back row and ended his turn, sending Threatening Roar, Necro Gardna, and Celestia, Lightsworn Angel from the top of his Deck to his Graveyard with the effect of Lyla.
Mattern drew Gladiator Beast Secutor next turn! He Normal Summoned it to the field and used it to attack and destroy Bui’s Defense Position Lyla. Then he attacked directly with Elemental Hero Stratos and Bui dropped to 6200 Life Points. He Set Cold Wave and Starlight Road in Main Phase 2 before ending his turn.
Bui Set a second card to his back row on his next turn before ending.
Mattern drew Test Tiger next turn! He flipped his face-down Cold Wave to activate it and then Set Gladiator Beast Bestiari. He fused Gladiator Beast Bestiari with Secutor to Summon Gladiator Beast Gyzarus and destroy Bui’s Set Mirror Force and Torrential Tribute. Stratos attacked directly, dropping Bui to 4400 Life Points, and Gyzarus’s attack was negated when Bui removed Necro Gardna from his Graveyard.
Bui Summoned Aurkus, Lightsworn Druid next turn before ending and sending Celestia, Lightsworn Angel and Gold Sarcophagus from the top of his Deck to his Graveyard.
Next turn, Mattern attacked Aurkus with Stratos and Bui dropped Honest from his hand to boost it. Stratos was destroyed. Mattern Set Dust Tornado and ended his turn.
Bui activated Foolish Burial next turn to send Wulf, Lightsworn Beast from his Deck to his Graveyard and Special Summon it to the field. Then he Normal Summoned Plaguespreader Zombie and Tuned it to his Wulf to Synchro Summon Goyo Guardian. Goyo attacked Gyzarus and Bui Special Summoned Gyzarus to his side of the field with Goyo’s effect. He activated Gyzarus’s effect to destroy Mattern’s Set Starlight Road and Dust Tornado. Aurkus attacked directly and Mattern dropped down to 5200 Life Points. In Main Phase 2, Bui put a card from his hand on top of his Deck to Special Summon Plaguespreader Zombie from his Graveyard. He tuned it to Gladiator Beast Gyzarus to Synchro Summon Stardust Dragon! Then he Set one card in his Spell and Trap Card Zone and ended his turn. He sent a Wulf from the top of his Deck to his Graveyard during his End Phase with the effect of Aurkus.
Mattern drew a card next turn, giving him a hand with Gladiator Beast Murmillo, Elemental Hero Prisma, and 2 copies of Test Tiger. He Summoned Prisma to the field, activated its effect to send Bestiari from his Deck to his Graveyard, and then Special Summoned Test Tiger from his hand. He Tributed the Tiger to send Prisma back to his Deck and Special Summon Gladiator Beast Darius in its place, bringing Bestiari back from the Graveyard. He fused his monsters for Gyzarus but didn’t activate its effect because Stardust Dragon would negate it. Gyzarus attacked Aurkus instead and Bui lost 1200 Life Points. Mattern tagged out Gyzarus for Laquari and Darius, and activated the effect of Darius to Special Summon Gyzarus back from the Graveyard. He fused all 3 of his Gladiator Beast monsters together to Summon Gladiator Beast Heraklinos, ending his turn.
Bui Summoned Ehren, Lightsworn Monk next turn and switched Stardust Dragon and Wulf to Defense Position. He couldn’t handle Mattern’s Heraklinos. He ended his turn, sending 3 cards including Judgment Dragon from the top of his Deck to his Graveyard.
Mattern Summoned Gladiator Beast Murmillo next turn and Special Summoned Test Tiger. He Tributed the Tiger to send Murmillo back to his Deck and grab Secutor in its place. Secutor attacked Wulf, and Heraklinos attacked Stardust Dragon. Secutor recruited Gladiator Beast Bestiari and Gladiator Beast Laquari from his Deck at the end of the Battle Phase, and then Mattern fused his Gladiator Beast Bestiari and Gladiator Beast Secutor to Summon Gyzarus and clear Bui’s field. Bui was left on total topdeck. After seeing his next card, he conceded, unable to deal with Mattern’s Gladiator Beast Heraklinos or Gladiator Beast Gyzarus on the field.
Bui will be starting off Duel 2! He started things off with Solar Recharge, discarding Ryko to draw 2 cards and send Aurkus, Lightsworn Druid and Plaguespreader Zombie from the top of his Deck to his Graveyard. He Set one card to his back row and ended his turn.
Mattern started off with Starlight Road, Gladiator Beast Darius, Elemental Hero Prisma, Gladiator Beast Equeste, and 2 copies of Test Tiger. Mattern Summoned Darius but lost it to Torrential Tribute and then Set Starlight Road and ended his turn.
Bui activated Mystical Space Typhoon next turn to destroy Mattern’s Set Starlight Road. Then he Summoned Garoth, Lightsworn Warrior to the field and used it to attack directly. He Set a back row before ending his turn.
Mattern drew another copy of Starlight Road next turn. Then he Summoned Elemental Hero Prisma to the field and revealed Gladiator Beast Gyzarus to send Gladiator Beast Bestiari from his Deck to his Graveyard and change Prisma’s name. He Special Summoned Test Tiger and sent Prisma back to his Deck. This let him Special Summon Darius and return Bestiari from the Graveyard to his field. He fused his 2 Gladiators together to Summon Gladiator Beast Gyzarus and destroy Bui’s Garoth and Set Mirror Force. Then he attacked with Gyzarus and tagged out his monster to let Gladiator Beast Laquari and Gladiator Beast Retiari take its place. Retiari removed Plaguespreader Zombie from Bui’s Graveyard. Mattern Set Starlight Road before ending his turn.
Bui Set 2 cards to his Spell and Trap Card Zone next turn before passing right back to Mattern.
Mattern Summoned Gladiator Beast Equeste. He attacked with all 3 monsters and Bui took the damage, dropping to just 700 Life Points. Mattern tagged out his Gladiator Beast Retiari for Gladiator Beast Bestiari, destroying Bui’s Set Cold Wave. Then he tagged out Gladiator Beast Equeste for Gladiator Beast Retiari, removing Aurkus from Bui’s Graveyard. Laquari tagged out next, and Equeste took its place, bringing Darius back to Mattern’s hand. Mattern Set Dimensional Prison to his back row and ended his turn.
Bui Summoned Jain, Lightsworn Paladin next turn and attacked, but Mattern flipped Dimensional Prison to remove it from the game. Bui promptly conceded, staring down 3 Gladiator Beasts he couldn’t defeat.
Jake Mattern advances to the Top 8 with his Gladiators, proud owner of a Dark End Dragon!
See what our panel of experts had to say after the Duel.
Jason Grabher-Meyer (The Old Man of Dueling)
Mattern made really good use of Gladiator Beast Retiari in the second Duel. First he used it to remove Plaguespreader Zombie from the game, keeping Bui from Synchro Summoning. Later, Retiari’s effect stripped Aurkus, Lightsworn Druid from Bui’s Graveyard, helping keep both Aurkus and Judgment Dragon out of the game. Everybody’s looking for an edge against Infernities, and Retiari does a great job of disrupting an Infernity’s Duelist’s Graveyard.
Michael Kohanim (2009 World Championship Competitor)
Mattern opened up with 2 copies of Starlight Road, but only Set 1 copy to his back row on his first turn. He could have set both copies, in case Bui used Heavy Storm against Mattern. Heavy Storm can easily destroy Mattern’s 1 Set back row, but if Mattern had Set 2 cards to his back row, he’d be able to Chain Starlight Road and Special Summon Stardust Dragon.
Michael McTavish (Top 8 Finalist – 2009 Canadian National Championship)
I think Gladiator Beast Decks based more around Elemental Hero Prisma will be a much more common sighting after the performance this Deck showed at this SJC. Coming back from what looked like a nearly impossible situation to end up dominating game 1, and just outright obliterating his opponent in game 2.
P.J. Tierney (Duelist from across The Pond)
During the first Duel, Bui Summoned Goyo Guardian and took down Mattern’s Gladiator Beast Gyzarus in battle. Bui then Special Summoned Gyzarus with Goyo’s effect and targeted Mattern’s Starlight Road and Dust Tornado. Mattern couldn’t activate Starlight Road at this time since the Gyzarus was summoned in the Damage Step by the effect of Goyo Guardian, which meant that his 2 cards were destroyed.