Raffle Playoffs Feature Match: Tyler Forrester vs. Daniel Turman
As this Yu-Gi-Oh! Championship drew to a close, two Duelists remained in the Raffle Playoff event, and minutes from now, one of them would walk away from this table with a Super Rare set of Prize Cards! While Forrester was playing Infernities, Turman was running Gladiator Beasts.
Forrester opened the Match with Infernity Archfiend, and Set 4 cards to his back row.
Turman had Bottomless Trap Hole, Mirror Force, D.D. Crow, Gladiator Beast Equeste, Waboku, and Gladiator Beast Laquari. He revealed that hand when Forrester activated Trap Dustshoot: “D.D. Crow! Get him out of here!” exclaimed Forrester. Turman sent it back to his Deck, laughing. He Set Equeste, Set Mirror Force, Bottomless Trap Hole, and Waboku, then lost Mirror Force and Bottomless to Dust Tornado and Mystical Space Typhoon in the End Phase, keeping his Waboku!
Forrester Summoned another Archfiend, attacked into Equeste, and forced Turman to activate Waboku. Turman tagged in Gladiator Beast Bestiari, and destroyed Forrester’s face-down Infernity Barrier.
Next turn, Turman drew Gladiator Beast Equeste! He Summoned it, tagged both monsters back to the Deck for Gladiator Beast Gyzarus, cleared the field, and attacked, then used Gyzarus to Special Summon Gladiator Beast Laquari and Gladiator Beast Retiari. Retiari removed 1 of the Archfiends from Forrester’s Graveyard, and Turman Set Compulsory Evacuation Device.
Forrester Summoned Infernity Necromancer, but Compulsory Evacuation Device was activated to bounce it away.
Laquari and Retiari knocked Forrester down to 2300 Life Points, then Turman tagged Retiari out, tagged Laquari in, and tagged out his first Laquari to bring Retiari back to the field and remove the second Archfiend from the Graveyard.
Forrester Set a card to his Spell & Trap Card Zone, Set a monster, and ended.
Turman activated Giant Trunade. Then, Laquari attacked Forrester’s face-down Plaguespreader Zombie, and Retiari made a direct attack. Forrester was down to 1100 Life Points. Turman brought out Laquari and Retiari again, this time removing Plaguespreader Zombie. Forrester conceded after his next draw.
Daniel Turman takes the first Duel with authority, repeatedly Summoning Gladiator Beast Retiari to strip Forrester’s Graveyard! Both competitors made lengthy use of their Side Decks. Turman was 1 Duel away from a set of Darklord Prize Cards.
Forrester opened up with Dark Grepher, discarding Infernity Beetle to send Infernity Archfiend to his Graveyard. He Set a Spell or Trap and ended.
Turman haad a hand of Rescue Cat, D.D. Crow, Call of the Haunted, Gladiator Beast War Chariot, Consecrated Light, and Gladiator Beast Retiari. He Summoned Rescue Cat, sent it to the Graveyard, and Special Summoned Test Tiger and Gladiator Beast Samnite. He Tributed Tiger, tagged out Samnite, and Special Summoned Gladiator Beast Murmillo to destroy Grepher. Murmillo attacked, was destroyed by Mirror Force, and Turman Set Call of the Haunted.
Forrester Set a Spell or Trap on his next turn.
On Turman’s turn, Forrester took an attack from Gladiator Beast Retiari. Turman tagged in Gladiator Beast Bestiari, and Forrester activated Swallow Flip to destroy it.
Forrester Set another card to his back row on his turn.
Turman activated Call of the Haunted, and brought back Rescue Cat! He used its effect, and once again he Special Summoned Samnite and Tiger. Tiger was Tributed, Samnite returned to the Deck, and Turman Special Summoned Gladiator Beast Darius, trying to get back Bestiari. Forrester responded with Torrential Tribute and cleared the field, leaving Turman to Normal Summon Gladiator Beast Equeste for a direct attack. He tagged it out at the end of the Battle Phase for Gladiator Beast Laquari.
Forrester activated Brain Control, took control of Laquari, and Normal Summoned Infernity Beetle so he could Synchro Summon Brionac, Dragon of the Ice Barrier. He discarded Infernity Barrier to bounce Turman’s Set card, then activated Infernity Launcher, trying to Special Summon Archfiend and Beetle. But Turman chained D.D. Crow from his hand, removing the Infernity Archfiend! Forrester Tuned Beetle to Brionac for Stardust Dragon. It attacked for 2500 damage and Forrester ended, with nothing left but the Dragon.
Turman drew, holding Dimensional Fissure, Elemental Hero Prisma, Consecrated Light, and Gladiator Beast War Chariot. He Set Fissure, Set War Chariot, and Set Elemental Hero Prisma.
Forrester drew Infernity Archfiend! He Special Summoned it, activated its effect, and the Duel was over moments later!
Tyler Forrester explodes with a flurry of Summons thanks to Infernity Archfiend, fighting back to even the Match score. Whoever won the next Duel would win this playoff event.
Turman opened with Gladiator Beast Retiari, Dust Tornado, Waboku, Consecrated Light, Gladiator Beast War Chariot, and Compulsory Evacuation Device. He Summoned Consecrated Light, Set Dust Tornado, and Set Evacuation Device.
Forrester Set 4 cards to his Spell & Trap Card Zone.
Turman Summoned Retiari, turned Consecrated Light to Defense Position just in case, and, sure enough, attacked into Mirror Force. Turman Chained Compulsory Evacuation Device to take back his Retiari, Set 2 cards to his back row, and ended.
Forrester activated Infernity Inferno, discarding Infernity Archfiend to send another Infernity Archfiend to his Graveyard. He Set a third card to his back row, and tried to Summon Infernity Mirage, but was reminded that Consecrated Light prevented him from doing so. He Set Mirage instead. Next he activated Infernity Launcher, but immediately lost it to a Chained Dust Tornado. He also lost his Compulsory Evacuation Device in the End Phase to another Tornado, but Chained the Device to bounce Consecrated Light off the field.
Turman Summoned Consecrated Light again next turn, and Set another Spell or Trap.
Forrester Set a monster on his turn.
Turman Summoned Retiari, and Retiari ran over the face-down Infernity Mirage. Turman Summoned Gladiator Beast Bestiari, but Forrester once again had Swallow Flip! Bestiari was destroyed, its effect negated.
Forrester passed on his turn.
Turman activated Gladiator Proving Ground, searched his Deck for Gladiator Beast Laquari, and Summoned it to attack for 1800 Battle Damage. He tagged Laquari out for Gladiator Beast Darius, brought back Bestiari, tagged both out in Main Phase 2 for Gladiator Beast Gyzarus, destroyed Forrester’s Trap Dustshoot, and Set Gladiator Beast War Chariot. (Neither Duelist noticed that Gyzarus was a DARK monster and that Consecrated Light was on the field. Play moved on, and the error wasn’t noticed until 2 turns had passed; too late for the mistake to be corrected.)
Forrester Set Infernity Inferno, but lost it to Dust Tornado.
Next turn Turman couldn’t attack with Gladiator Beast Gyzarus due to Consecrated Light.
Forrester Set a monster on his turn.
Turman Set a card to his Spell & Trap Card Zone.
Forrester also Set a Spell or Trap, on his turn.
Turman Summoned Elemental Hero Prisma next, activated its effect, and sent Gladiator Beast Laquari to the Graveyard. Prisma attacked, and destroyed Forrester’s Infernity Beetle. But Turman lost his Solemn Judgment to Dust Tornado in the End Phase.
Forrester Set a monster, then Set a Spell or Trap.
Turman attacked with Prisma, slamming into Infernity Necromancer, and Set another Spell or Trap.
Forrester passed.
Turman activated Dimensional Fissure next.
Forrester Set another monster on his turn.
Turman attacked with Prisma, destroying Infernity Avenger, which Dimensional Fissure removed from the game.
Forrester passed again.
Turman activated Prisma’s effect once more, removing Gladiator Beast Bestiari from the game to copy its name. He then Special Summoned Test Tiger, Tributed it, and tagged Bestiari back into his deck to Special Summon Darius. Darius got Laquari back, and with 3 Gladiator Beasts on the field Turman Fused for Gladiator Beast Heraklinos! Heraklinos attacked to destroy Necromancer.
Forrester Set Dark Grepher on his turn.
Turman attacked Grepher next turn to destroy it.
Forrester Set another Spell or Trap on his turn.
Turman Sumoned Gladiator Beast Samnite, and he attacked for a combined total of 4600 Battle Damage. Forrester had just 1600 Life Points left, and Turman tagged out Samnite for a 2100 ATK Gladiator Beast Laquari.
Forrester drew, shuffled his hand, thought a bit about his options, and finally conceded.
Daniel Turman wins a set of the Darklord Prize Cards!
Post-Event Analysis!
See what our panel of experts had to say about this Duel after the event was over.
Jason Grabher-Meyer (The Old Man of Dueling)
Gladiator Beast Retiari removed not 1, but 2 copies of Infernity Archfiend from the Graveyard in one Duel.
Michael Kohanim (2009 World Championship Competitor)
Daniel Turman’s Gladiator Beast Deck defeated Tyler Forrester’s Infernity Deck, earning him a set of Darklord Prize Cards. Gladiator Beasts have a great matchup against Infernities thanks to the copies of Gladiator Beast War Chariot and Gladiator Beast Retiari in the Main Deck, which shut down or prevent an Infernity Duelist’s biggest plays. Gladiator Beast Bestiari is also a strong card against Infernity Duelists who Set their hand of non-chainable cards in the Spell and Trap Card Zone. Gladiator Beast Bestiari can destroy those cards one at a time. Gladiator Beast Duelists can also Side Deck Consecrated Light effectively, since Gladiator Beast Gyzarus is the only DARK Gladiator Beast monster.
