Clay Denneny is 14 years old and came here from Charlotte, NC with his X-Saber Deck. His opponent, Dylan DeBole is from Rochester, NY and running Machina Gadgets. Since both Duelists in this Match are currently 6-1 they’ll both be trying their hardest to win this Match and boost their chances of a Top 32 finish.

Denneny won the dice roll and opened up with XX-Saber Emmersblade, Saber Hole, XX-Saber Fulhelmknight, XX-Saber Darksoul, XX-Saber Faultroll, and My Body as a Shield. He Summoned Emmersblade and Set Saber Hole, ending his turn.

DeBole Summoned Yellow Gadget on his first turn, but had its Summon negated when Denneny flipped Saber Hole! Then DeBole Set a back row and ended his turn.

Denneny attacked with Emmersblade next turn but DeBole removed it from play with Dimensional Prison. Then he Set XX-Saber Darksoul and 1 card to his back row before passing back to DeBole.

DeBole Summoned another Yellow Gadget next turn, and activated its effect to search his Deck for a Green Gadget to add to his hand. Then he attacked and destroyed DeBole’s face-down Darksoul with his Gadget and Set 2 cards to his back row. During the End Phase, Denneny searched his Deck for XX-Saber Boggart Knight to add to his hand with Darksoul’s effect.

Denneny drew Mirror Force next turn! He Summoned Boggart Knight and activated its effect. DeBole activated Bottomless Trap Hole, but Denneny flipped My Body as a Shield to negate it. Then he Special Summoned X-Saber Pashuul from his hand with Boggart Knight’s ability and Special Summoned XX-Saber Faultroll from his hand. He Tuned Boggart Knight to X-Saber Pashuul to Synchro Summon XX-Saber Hyunlei and destroy DeBole’s Set Dimensional Prison with Hyunlei’s effect. Then he Special Summoned Pashuul with Faultroll’s effect. Faultroll attacked Yellow Gadget, then Hyunlei and Pahsuul attacked directly. In Main Phase 2, Denneny Tuned Faultroll to Pashuul in order to Synchro Summon Stardust Dragon! He Set Mirror Force to his back row and ended his turn.

DeBole Summoned Machina Peacekeeper next turn and activated Creature Swap. He swapped his Peacekeeper for Denneny’s Hyunlei and attacked with Hyunlei, but lost it to Mirror Force. He Set a back row and ended his turn.

Denneny Summoned X-Saber Airbellum next turn. He attacked directly with Airbellum, discarding Green Gadget from DeBole’s hand. Then he attacked directly with Machina Peacekeeper and Stardust Dragon, ending the Duel!

DeBole will be going first in Duel 2!

He started things off by Setting a card to each zone and ending his turn.

Denneny opened up with Torrential Tribute, Brain Control, XX-Saber Emmersblade, X-Saber Pashuul, XX-Saber Darksoul, and Saber Hole. He Set XX-Saber Darksoul and Torrential Tribute before ending his turn.

DeBole Summoned Yellow Gadget next turn. Denneny flipped Torrential Tribute to clear the field, destroying the Gadget, DeBole’s face-down Machina Peacekeeper, and his own face-down XX-Saber Darksoul. DeBole searched his Deck for Machina Gearframe with the effect of Peacekeeper. Next, DeBole flipped Call of the Haunted to Special Summon Yellow Gadget from his Graveyard, and activated its effect to search his Deck for a Green Gadget to add to his hand. He discarded Green Gadget and Machina Fortress to Special Summon the Fortress, then activated Solidarity to boost the ATK of his monsters. Yellow Gadget and Machina Fortress attacked directly, and Denneny dropped down 2700 Life Points. DeBole ended his turn, and Denneny grabbed XX-Saber Faultroll from his Deck in the End Phase with the effect of Darksoul.

Denneny Summoned XX-Saber Boggart Knight next turn and used its effect to Special Summon Pashuul. Then he Special Summoned XX-Saber Faultroll from his hand. He used Brain Control on Machina Fortress by paying 800 Life Points and then Tuned it to Pashuul to Synchro Summon XX-Saber Gottoms. Gottoms attacked over Yellow Gadget, and then Boggart Knight, Faultroll, and Pashuul attacked directly. DeBole dropped down to 2500 Life Points. In Main Phase 2, Denneny Set Saber Hole and Tuned Faultroll to Pashuul in order to Synchro Summon Stardust Dragon! He ended his turn.

DeBole activated Brain Control next turn to take control of Stardust Dragon by paying 800 Life Points. Then he activated Heavy Storm to destroy his own Solidarity and Denneny’s Set Saber Hole. Next, he Normal Summoned Machina Gearframe and searched his Deck for Machina Fortress with its effect. He pitched the Fortress and a Green Gadget to Special Summon the Fortress back to the field. Then he rammed his Machina Fortress into Gottoms, destroying Gottoms with its ability, attacked over XX-Saber Boggart Knight with Stardust Dragon, and attacked directly with Gearframe to end the Duel!

The Match pushed on to a third Duel! Denneny opted to go first. He opened up with My Body as a Shield, XX-Saber Faultroll, XX-Saber Fulhelmknight, Torrential Tribute, and 2 copies of XX-Saber Darksoul in his hand. He Set XX-Saber Darksoul and Torrential Tribute before ending his turn.

DeBole started off his turn by Summoning Machina Gearframe. He activated its effect to grab Machina Peacekeeper from his Deck. Then he attacked and destroyed Denneny’s Set Darksoul with Machina Gearframe. In Main Phase 2, he activated Heavy Storm to destroy Denneny’s Set Torrential Tribute and Set a card to his back row before ending his turn. During DeBole’s End Phase, Denneny grabbed XX-Saber Boggart Knight from his Deck with the effect of Faultroll.

Denneny drew Saber Hole next turn! He Summoned XX-Saber Boggart Knight, activated its effect to Special Summon XX-Saber Fulhelmknight, then Special Summoned XX-Saber Faultroll from his hand. Then he activated Faultroll’s effect to Special Summon XX-Saber Darksoul in Defense Position. Next, he attacked Machina Gearframe with Faultroll, but DeBole flipped Dimensional Prison to remove it from play. Denneny attacked Gearframe with Boggart Knight next, destroying it in battle. Gearframe and Fulhelmknight followed up with direct attacks. Denneny Set 2 cards to his back row before ending his turn.

On DeBole’s next turn, he activated Smashing Ground to destroy Fulhelmknight before Setting a monster and a Spell or Trap Card.

Denneny attacked DeBole’s Set monster with XX-Saber Boggart Knight next turn. It was a Machina Peacekeeper! When it hit the Graveyard, DeBole searched his Deck for Machina Gearframe and added it to his hand. Denneny Summoned XX-Saber Emmersblade in Main Phase 2 and passed.

DeBole Summoned Machina Gearframe next turn, but had its Summon negated by Denneny’s Saber Hole! He Set a card to his Spell and Trap Card Zone and ended his turn.

Denneny attacked directly with Emmersblade and Boggart Knight, dropping DeBole to 3400 Life Points. Then he Set a monster and passed to DeBole.

DeBole Summoned Yellow Gadget next turn. He searched his Deck for Green Gadget and then activated his 2 face-down cards: 2 copies of Solidarity! Yellow Gadget had 2800 ATK! He used it to attack over Boggart Knight and then ended his turn.

Denneny switched XX-Saber Emmersblade to Defense Position next turn and then Set a card to his back row before ending.

DeBole Summoned Green Gadget next turn. He activated its effect to search his Deck for Red Gadget and add it to his hand. Yellow Gadget attacked XX-Saber Emmersblade, and Denneny Special Summoned Fulhelmknight from his Deck with Emmersblade’s effect! When Green Gadget tried to attack, Fulhelmknight negated the attack. DeBole Set a back row and ended his turn. Denneny activated Dust Tornado in DeBole’s End Phase to destroy his newly Set Torrential Tribute.

Denneny Special Summoned XX-Saber Faultroll next turn! Then he flipped up his Darksoul and Tuned it to his Fulhelmknight in order to Synchro Summon XX-Saber Hyunlei and destroy both of DeBole’s copies of Solidarity! He activated Mind Control next, and DeBole conceded, unable to stand up to Denneny’s swarm of X-Sabers!

14-year-old Clay Denneny finishes Day 1 with a 7-1 record using X-Sabers!

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 3, Denneny chose not to activate Torrential Tribute when his opponent Summoned Machina Gearframe and he had XX-Saber Darksoul face-down. This was a great decision. Gearframe didn’t pose an immediate threat, and Denneny knew he would easily be able to destroy it by attacking it with XX-Saber Boggart Knight or by using Torrential Tribute later on. Against Machina Duelists, it’s usually a good idea to save defensive Trap Cards like Torrential Tribute, Bottomless Trap Hole, Dimensional Prison, and Mirror Force to take down big plays like Machina Fortress.

P.J. Tierney (Duelist from across The Pond)
Denneny thought he was safe towards the end of Duel 2, having a XX-Saber Gottoms, Stardust Dragon and XX-Saber Boggart Knight on the field, with a Saber Hole Set. DeBole was able to get out of this with just one card: Brain Control. He played Brain Control to take Stardust Dragon, and followed up with Heavy Storm to destroy the Saber Hole. After that, he Summoned Machina Gearframe and Machina Fortress to destroy Denneny’s monsters and end the Duel. If he didn’t have the Brain Control though, there was no way he could stop Denneny’s field of monsters, as Stardust Dragon could be Tributed to protect Saber Hole from Heavy Storm, and Saber Hole could negate the Summon of Machina Gearframe, stopping DeBole from getting Machina Fortress.

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