Chris Spencer and Adam Cory are both undefeated with their X-Saber Decks. But only one of them will advance 4-0 in the tournament after this X-Saber mirror match!

Spencer won the dice roll and chose to go first. He opened up with X-Saber Airbellum, XX-Saber Emmersblade, Royal Oppression, Gottoms’ Emergency Call, and 2 copies of XX-Saber Faultroll. He Set Emmersblade, Set Gottoms’ Emergency Call, and ended his turn.

Cory Set 1 card to his Spell and Trap Card Zone and 1 monster in Defense Position before passing right back to Spencer.

Spencer drew Dust Tornado next turn. He Summoned X-Saber Airbellum and then flipped XX-Saber Emmersblade face-up. He tuned them together to Synchro Summon XX-Saber Hyunlei and targeted Cory’s face-down Gottoms’ Emergency Call with Hyunlei’s effect, but Cory chained it to Special Summon X-Saber Airbellum and XX-Saber Emmersblade in Defense Position from Spencer’s Graveyard (since Emergency Call can Summon X-Sabers from either player’s Graveyard). Spencer attacked XX-Saber Emmersblade with Hyunlei and then Special Summoned XX-Saber Fulhelmknight from his Deck with Emmersblade’s effect (since Emmersblade was sent back to his own Graveyard). He used Fulhelmknight to attack and destroy Cory’s Defense Position X-Saber Airbellum and then Special Summoned X-Saber Airbellum from his Graveyard in Attack Position with Fulhelmknight’s effect. Airbellum attacked Cory’s Defense Position Emmersblade, and Cory Special Summoned another XX-Saber Emmersblade in Defense Position from his Deck.

“I totally wasn’t aware this is a mirror-match,” Spencer said.

Continuing his turn, Spncer Tuned Airbellum to Hyunlei in Main Phase 2 in order to Synchro Summon XX-Saber Gottoms. Then he Special Summoned 2 copies of Faultroll from his hand. He used one of their effect to Special Summon X-Saber Airbellum and Tribute it with Gottoms to discard XX-Saber Faultroll from Cory’s hand. Then he activated his other Faultroll’s effect to Special Summon X-Saber Airbellum again, and Tributed it to discard Mystical Space Typhoon from Cory’s hand. Next, he Tuned XX-Saber Faultroll to XX-Saber Fulhelmknight to Synchro Summon another XX-Saber Gottoms. He flipped his face-down Gottoms’ Emergency Call and Cory immediately conceded.

Cory chose to go first in Duel 2! He Summoned X-Saber Airbellum, Set a back row, and ended his turn.

Spencer opened up with Royal Oppression, Saber Hole, Gorz the Emissary of Darkness, Heavy Storm, Sangan, and XX-Saber Darksoul. He Set Sangan and ended his turn.

Cory Summoned Thunder King Rai-Oh! He attacked Sangan with Thunder King Rai-Oh, and Spencer was denied his search thanks to Rai-Oh’s ability! Then X-Saber Airbellum attacked directly. Spencer dropped to 6400 Life Points, Special Summoned Gorz from his hand, along with a 1600 ATK Token, and lost Saber Hole from his hand due to Airbellum’s effect. Cory ended his turn.

Spencer drew another XX-Saber Darksoul next turn. He rammed his 1600 ATK Token into X-Saber Airbellum, destroying them both, and then attacked Thunder King Rai-Oh with Gorz, dropping Cory to 7200 Life Points. Spencer Set XX-Saber Darksoul and Royal Oppression in Main Phase 2, ending his turn.

Cory Set a monster and passed right back to Spencer. Spencer drew Dust Tornado next turn. He Set it along with a Darksoul and passed back to Cory.

Cory had 5 cards in his hand with a face-down monster. Spencer had a Royal Oppression and Dust Tornado Set, 2 Darksouls Set, and a Gorz in face-up Attack Position. Cory Flip-Summoned XX-Saber Emmersblade, normal Summoned XX-Saber Ragigura without activating its effect, and then tried to Special Summon XX-Saber Faultroll from his hand. But Spencer flipped Royal Oppression and paid 800 Life Points to negate the Summon! Cory Set Book of Moon and ended his turn, but Spencer blew it away with Dust Tornado in Cory’s End Phase.

Spencer drew XX-Saber Faultroll next turn. He attacked Ragigura with Gorz and ended his turn. Cory switched Emmersblade to Defense Position and passed back to Spencer, who drew XX-Saber Fulhelmknight! He Summoned it and used it to attack XX-Saber Emmersblade. Cory Special Summoned another Emmersblade in Defense Position. Spencer decided not to attack with Gorz, and ended his turn.

Cory Set a back row next turn and passed right back to Spencer.

Spencer drew Gottoms’ Emergency Call and attacked Emmersblade with Fulhelmknight. Cory Special Summoned another Emmersblade in Defense Position. Spencer once again chose not to attack with Gorz, and ended his turn.

Cory Set 1 monster on his next turn and passed to Spencer.

Spencer drew another Dust Tornado! He Set it in his Spell and Trap Card Zone and then attacked Emmersblade with Fulhelmknight. Cory tried to use Gottoms’ Emergency Call, but Spencer negated it by paying 800 Life Points with Royal Oppression. Emmersblade was destroyed by Fulhelmknight, and Cory Special Summoned XX-Saber Ragigura from his Deck in Defense Position. He used Ragigura’s effect to retrieve an Emmersblade from his Graveyard. Gorz attacked and destroyed Ragigura and Spencer ended his turn.

Cory Set a monster and a card to his back row and ended his turn. Spencer drew Rescue Cat next turn and then activated Dust Tornado to destroy Cory’s Set One for One. He attacked and destroyed a Set Summoner Monk with Gorz, and ended his turn.

Cory drew a card and then passed back to Spencer without making a play.

Spencer drew Solemn Judgment next turn! It looked like he had the Match locked up, but he refused to attack with Gorz. He ended his turn, without even Setting Solemn Judgment.

Cory drew a card and passed right back to Spencer.

Spencer Summoned X-Saber Airbellum next turn and attacked Cory’s Set XX-Saber Emmersblade with it. Cory Special Summoned XX-Saber Darksoul from his Deck and Spencer chose not to destroy it in battle. He ended his turn instead.

Cory drew a card and Set a back row, ending his turn.

Spencer drew My Body as a Shield next turn. He flipped both of his face-down copies of Darksoul face-up and Cory used his Torrential Tribute. Spencer thought about using My Body as a Shield but eventually chose not to use it. In the End Phase, Spencer searched his Deck for XX-Saber Faultroll and XX-Saber Ragigura with the effect of his Darksouls, and Cory searched his Deck for XX-Saber Fulhelmknight with the effect of his. Spencer ended his turn.

Cory Summoned X-Saber Airbellum next turn and attacked directly. Spencer took the damage and dropped to 3200 Life Points, losing My Body as a Shield from his hand. Cory gave a puzzled look, wondering why Spencer hadn’t chained it to Torrential Tribute. He ended his turn, now in the lead.

Spencer drew Gottoms’ Emergency Call next turn. He Set Ragigura and ended his turn.

Cory Summoned Fulhelmknight next turn. He used it to attack and destroy Spencer’s Set XX-Saber Ragigura, and then Special Summoned X-Saber Airbellum from his Graveyard with Fulhelmknight’s effect. Both copies of Airbellum attacked Spencer directly and he dropped to 0 Life Points!

Spencer will be going first in Duel 3! He opened up with XX-Saber Faultroll, Solemn Judgment, XX-Saber Fulhelmknight, Brain Control, XX-Saber Darksoul, and Gorz. He Summoned Fulhelmknight and Set Solemn Judgment, ending his turn.

Cory Set a monster and passed to Spencer.

Spencer drew Saber Hole. He Summoned XX-Saber Darksoul, Special Summoned XX-Saber Faultroll, and Tuned his Darksoul to his Fulhelmknight to Special Summon Goyo Guardian. Then he revived Fulhelmknight with the effect of XX-Saber Faultroll. Fulhelmknight attacked and destroyed Cory’s Set XX-Saber Darksoul, and Spencer Special Summoned XX-Saber Darksoul from his Graveyard in Attack Position. XX-Saber Faultroll and XX-Saber Darksoul attacked directly, and when Spencer attacked with Goyo Guardian, Cory Special Summoned Gorz! In Main Phase 2, Spencer Tuned XX-Saber Darksoul to XX-Saber Fulhelmknight to Synchro Summon Brionac, Dragon of the Ice Barrier. He discarded Brain Control and Gorz from his hand to send Gorz back to Cory’s hand and get rid of Cory’s Emissary of Darkness Token. In the End Phase, Spencer took X-Saber Pashuul and XX-Saber Faultroll from his Deck and added it to his hand thanks to Darksoul’s effect. Cory added XX-Saber Emmersblade from his Deck to his hand with his Darksoul’s effect.

Cory Set 1 card to each zone and ended his turn. But it was all over!

On his turn, Spencer discarded Pashuul to bounce Cory’s Set monster back to his hand and then attacked for the win with Goyo Guardian. Cory only had 2700 Life Points. He flipped Mirror Force to try to stay alive, but Spencer flipped Solemn Judgment to negate it!

Chris Spencer advances undefeated with X-Sabers! If all of the X-Saber Duelists at the top tables keep up their winning streaks, we may see quite a few X-Saber Decks make it to Day 2!

Post-Event Analysis!
See what our panel of experts had to say about this Duel after the event was over. 

Michael Kohanim (2009 World Championship Competitor)
In Duel 2, Spencer was way too cautious when he refused to attack Cory’s XX-Saber Emmersblades or XX-Saber Darksouls with Gorz. Spencer was in a dominating position and could have used his 2700 ATK Gorz to tear down Cory’s defensive monsters and start scoring some direct attacks. There was nothing Spencer needed to worry about his opponent Special Summoning with Emmersblade, since he could use Royal Oppression to negate the Synchro Summon of any monster strong enough to take down Gorz. If Spencer had used My Body as a Shield against Cory’s Torrential Tribute in Duel 2, he also never would have lost his overwhelming lead.

P.J. Tierney (Duelist from across The Pond)
Gottoms’ Emergency Call is one of the best cards to have in an X-Saber mirror-match. Since it doesn’t matter who controls an “X-Saber” monster, it can be activated at almost any time, as you’re both Summoning X-Sabers every turn. It’s also a great card to use against your opponent’s Gottoms’ Emergency Call, since you can declare the same targets as your opponent when you Chain it, and you’ll get to Special Summon them instead! Spencer didn’t need to do this though, since he wanted to attack the XX-Saber Emmersblade that Cory took from him, so that he’d get its effect when it hit the Graveyard.

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