David Viera appears to be the only Duelist at the top tables playing Zombies. With so many of the top Decks in this tournament depending on their Graveyards, Viera runs multiple copies of Book of Life to Summon his own monsters and remove key cards from his opponents’ Graveyards.

Jeffrey Daniels is competing in his second Feature Match today, and is looking for another win! We already saw Daniels defeat X-Sabers earlier this afternoon – could he take on Zombies, too? We were about to find out.

Daniels Set a Monster and Set a card to his Spell & Trap Card Zone to start us off.

Viera had a hand of 2 Caius the Shadow Monarch, Ryko, Lightsworn Hunter, Goblin Zombie, Call of the Haunted, and Gorz the Emissary of Darkness. He Set a monster to end his turn.

Daniels Flip Summoned Blackwing – Shura the Blue Flame, attacked Ryko, Lightsworn Hunter, and lost Shura while Viera Sent Tragoedia, Bottomless Trap Hole, and Morphing Jar to his Graveyard. Daniels Summoned another Shura and ended.

Viera drew Dust Tornado, and Set it.

Daniels activated his Set Heavy Storm next turn, attacked for 1800 damage with Shura, and Viera Special Summoned Gorz the Emissary of Darkness and an Emissary of Darkness Token. Daniels Set 1 card to his back row.

Viera drew Book of Life, turned Gorz to Defense Position, and attacked with his Emissary of Darkness Token. Daniels activated Blackwing – Kalut the Moon Shadow’s effect, destroyed the Token, and Viera Tributed his Gorz in Main Phase 2 for Caius the Shadow Monarch, removing Shura from the game and dealing 1000 damage. A Set card to his Spell & Trap Card Zone ended his turn.

Daniels Summoned Blackwing – Blizzard the Far North, used its effect to Special Summon Shura, and Tributed Shura for Icarus Attack, destroying Caius and Call of the Haunted. He Special Summoned Blackwing – Bora the Spear, attacked with both of his monsters, and Viera was down to 1800 Life Points. In Main Phase 2 Daniels Synchro Summoned Goyo Guardian.

Viera’s next draw was Spirit Reaper. He Set it, Set Book of Life, and ended.

Daniels attacked Reaper with Goyo Guardian next turn, and ended.

Viera drew another Goblin Zombie. He Tributed Reaper for Caius, removed Goyo Guardian from play with Caius’ effect, and flipped Book of Life to target his opponent’s Shura and his own Spirit Reaper. Spirit Reaper was removed with D.D. Crow before Book of  Life resolved, and Daniels lost his Shura. Caius attacked and dropped Daniels to 4600 Life Points.

Daniels Set a monster, ending with 2 cards left in-hand.

Viera drew Book of Moon, Summoned Goblin Zombie, attacked Daniels’ Set D.D. Crow with Caius, and attacked with Goblin Zombie, sending Black Whirlwind to the Graveyard. He Set Book of Moon.

Next turn Daniels activated Mystical Space Typhoon, Viera Chained his Book, and turned his Goblin Zombie face-down. Daniels Summoned Shura, attacked Goblin Zombie, Viera got Plaguespreader Zombie from his Deck with the Goblin’s effect, and Daniels Special Summoned Blackwing – Breeze the Zephyr from his Deck with Shura’s effect! In Main Phase 2 he Synchro Summoned Blackwing Armor Master.

Viera drew Foolish Burial. He activated it, sending Mezuki to his Graveyard. He removed it, Special Summoned Goblin Zombie in Defense Position, Summoned Plaguespreader Zombie, and when he Synchro Summoned Brionac, Dragon of the Ice Barrier, Daniels immediately conceded.

Jeffrey Daniels controls the majority of the Duel, but an explosive finish courtesy of Mezuki turns everything around for David Viera, and Viera wins the first Duel! Both competitors made extensive use of their Side Decks before starting the second Duel.

Daniels opened up with Blackwing – Bora the Spear and a Set card to his Spell & Trap Card Zone.

Viera had Trap Hole, Blackwing – Gale the Whirlwind, Plaguespreader Zombie, Goblin Zombie, Foolish Burial, and Ryko, Lightsworn Hunter. He Set Ryko.

Daniels Tributed Bora next turn for Caius the Shadow Monarch, removing the Set Ryko from play. Daniels Set Book of Moon.

Viera used Mystical Space Typhoon next turn to destroy Book of Moon, and Viera did in Caius using Blackwing – Gale the Whirlwind. Viera then Set Trap Hole.

Viera used Trap Hole on Daniels’ turn to destroy Daniels’ Blackwing – Sirocco the Dawn. Daniels Set a Spell or Trap after that, and ended.

Viera hit him next turn with Goblin Zombie and Gale, forcing Blackwing – Shura the Blue Flame into Daniels’ Graveyard with Goblin’s effect. In Main Phase 2 he sent Goblin Zombie and Gale to the Graveyard to Synchro Summon Blackwing Armor Master, but Daniels responded with Royal Oppression to negate the Summon! Viera still got to search his deck for Spirit Reaper with Goblin Zombie’s effect. He ended with 4 cards in hand.

Daniels drew to 4 cards himself, with Oppression on the field. He Set a monster and ended.

Viera drew Call of the Haunted. He Set Spirit Reaper, Set Call of the Haunted, and play was back to Daniels who Set another card to his back row. Viera drew another Book of Life. Daniels passed.

Viera drew and Summoned Mezuki, attacked, and destroyed Daniels’ Set D.D. Crow. Daniels had 4700 Life Points left, while Viera had 5600.

Next turn Daniels activated Dust Tornado, targeted Call of the Haunted, and Viera Chained it to target his Goblin Zombie. Daniels had to pay another 800 Life Points to negate the Summon. He Summoned Blackwing – Bora the Spear, attacked Spirit Reaper to press through 1500 Battle Damage, and ended with 3900 Life Points.

Viera drew, holding Chaos Sorcerer, 2 Books of Life, Plaguespreader Zombie, and Foolish Burial. At this rate, he could consider hurling Special Summons at Daniels to wear down his Life Points by forcing him to pay for Oppression. He attacked with Mezuki and Daniels activated Blackwing – Kalut the Moon Shadow’s effect, destroying Mezuki. Viera Set Foolish Burial and ended.

Daniels activated Heavy Storm destroying Royal Oppression! He Summoned Blackwing – Blizzard the Far North, and Viera conceded, knowing he’d lose to Brionac, Dragon of the Ice Barrier moments later!

Jeffrey Daniels pulls out the second Duel, pressing the Match to a third and final game! Side Decking and shuffling was quick. Viera would open the third Duel.

He opened with Blackwing – Gale the Whirlwind, Spirit Reaper, Ryko, Lightsworn Hunter, Dust Tornado, and 2 Trap Hole. He Set Ryko, Set Dust Tornado, and ended.

Daniels blasted him with Heavy Storm, then followed up with Black Whirlwind and Blackwing – Sirocco the Dawn, using Whirlwind’s effect to get Blackwing – Gale the Whirlwind from his Deck. He Special Summoned it, then Tuned it to Sirocco to Synchro Summon Stardust Dragon. Stardust attacked Ryko, and Ryko’s effect sent Chaos Sorcerer, Brain Control, and Mezuki to the Graveyard, destroying Black Whirlwind.

Viera drew Mirror Force, and destroyed Stardust Dragon with Blackwing – Gale the Whirlwind’s effect and attack. Safe from Heavy Storm, he Set Trap Hole and Mirror Force.

Daniels passed his next turn.

Viera punished him for it, Summoning Spirit Reaper. “That’s what I was afraid of,” noted Daniels. Reaper attacked, forcing Daniels to discard D.D. Crow, and Gale made a direct attack. Viera Set another Spell or Trap to finish out. His lack of a Synchro Summon was telegraphing his protective traps.

Daniels Special Summoned Dark Armed Dragon! He removed his D.D. Crow to destroy Spirit Reaper, removed Gale to destroy Mystical Space Typhoon, and finally removed Sirocco, destroying the all-important Mirror Force! Dark Armed Dragon then attacked Gale, destroying it! Daniels had destroyed 4 cards with Dark Armed Dragon, and Viera had no immediate way around it.

Viera tried to Special Summon Spirit Reaper next turn with Mezuki, but Daniels Chained D.D. Crow to remove the Reaper from the Graveyard. Viera Set Book of Moon and another Trap Hole.

Next turn, in Daniels’ Standby Phase, Viera actiated Book of Moon to turn Dark Armed Dragon face-down. Daniels was forced to Flip Summon Dark Armed Dragon and lost it to Trap Hole. He Summoned Blackwing – Bora the Spear next, then lost that to the second Trap Hole.

Viera passed his next turn.

Daniels Summoned Blackwing – Blizzard the Far North, Special Summoned Bora, and Tuned them together to Synchro Summon Goyo Guardian. He attacked with Goyo, knocked his opponent down to 900 Life Points, and Set a Spell or Trap.

Viera drew Charge of the Light Brigade next turn, activating it to get Ryko, Lightsworn Hunter from his Deck. He Set Ryko and ended, with Caius the Shadow Monarch in-hand and a Spell or Trap Set in his Spell & Trap Card Zone.

Daniels summoned another Blizzard! It got him his Bora back, and he used it to Synchro Summon Brionac, Dragon of the Ice Barrier. He discarded Smashing Ground for its effect, targeting his opponent’s Book of Moon, and Viera Chained it to turn Brionac face-down. Daniels attacked Ryko with Goyo Guardian, and Ryko’s effect destroyed it. Daniels Set another card to his back row.

Viera Drew and Set Call of the Haunted. Daniels Flip Summoned Brionac, didn’t use its effect, and made a direct attack for the win anyways!

Jeffrey Daniels wins his second of 2 Feature Matches here today!

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 and Duel 3, Viera used Trap Hole to destroy Daniels’ monsters. Trap Hole is a good card to use against Blackwings, since Blackwing Duelists Normal Summon a lot of powerful monsters like Bora, Shura, and Sirocco. If a Blackwing gets hit by Trap Hole while Black Whirlwind is on the field, the Blackwing Duelist doesn’t get to search his Deck for another Blackwing monster to add to his hand, either.

P.J. Tierney (Duelist from across The Pond)
In Duel 1, Viera had Gorz the Emissary of Darkness and an 1800 ATK Token while Daniels had a Blackwing – Shura the Blue Flame. When it was Viera’s turn, he attacked Shura with the Token first, since Daniels would have to use the Blackwing – Kalut the Moon Shadow in his hand to keep Shura on the field and destroy the Token. However, since Tokens don’t go to the Graveyard when they’re destroyed, Daniels wasn’t able to use Shura’s effect to Summon another Blackwing from his Deck, which he could have if Viera had attacked with Gorz.

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