Round 1 Feature Match: Octavio Alvarez vs. Daniel McNally
Daniel McNally traveled here this weekend from Detroit. He’s one of a handful of intrepid Duelists playing Monster Surge here today, a high-monster Deck that in McNally’s case packs 38 monsters and just 2 Spells.
His opponent is Octavio Alvarez, a Frog Monarch Duelist from Green Bay, Wisconsin. This matchup is a nightmare for Monster Surge Duelists, because an aggressive strategy can get stopped by the Battle Faders that make Frog Monarchs so resilient. This one could go either way.
McNally opened with a hand of Dandylion, Battle Fader, Gorz the Emissary of Darkness, and 2 Gallis the Star Beast. He Set Dandylion.
Alvarez passed on his turn.
McNally drew Necro Gardna and Set it. Play was back to Alvarez.
Alvarez activated Cold Wave and ended his turn, normally a solid defensive move, but there was no way he could know his opponent didn’t have any Spells or Traps to stop.
McNally drew Lonefire Blossom, and he Summoned it. He Tributed Dandylion for its effect, Special Summoned another Lonefire in Defense Position, and Summoned his 2 Fluff Tokens. He Tributed one Fluff Token to his second Lonefire, Special Summoned Tytannial, Princess of Camellias from his Deck, and attacked with Lonefire for 500 Battle Damage. Tytannial made another direct attack, shaving 2800 Life Points off Alvarez’s total, and McNally ended his turn. Alvarez was down to 4700 Life Points.
Alvarez took a moment to double check Tytannial’s effect, then Normal Summoned Beast King Barbaros. Barbaros attacked the Attack Position Lonefire Blossom, destroying it. He Set a card to his Spell & Trap Card Zone to finish out.
McNally drew his all-important Magical Merchant. He had Plaguespreader Zombie in-hand, and he could bring out Spore from his Deck with Lonefire Blossom. With 2 Gallis the Star Beast to fuel his Synchro Summons, he briefly looked at his Extra Deck, before deciding to just attack over Barbaros with Tytannial. Alvarez dropped to 3800 Life Points, and in Main Phase 2 McNally Tributed his last Fluff Token to Special Summon Spore. He Flip Summoned Necro Gardna, Tuned Spore to it, and Synchro Summoned Armory Arm. Next, he removed Lonefire Blossom from his Graveyard to Special Summon Spore at Level 4, Tuned it to Armory Arm, and Synchro Summoned Stardust Dragon.
Alvarez passed on his next turn.
McNally drew his own Cold Wave and activated it! He Special Summoned Gallis, sending Caius the Shadow Monarch to the Graveyard for 1200 damage to Alvarez. Then he Normal Summoned Plaguespreader Zombie, Tuned it to Lonefire and Gallis, and Synchro Summoned Colossal Fighter! Tytannial attacked, but Alvarez blocked with Battle Fader! McNally ended.
Alvarez Set a monster on his turn.
McNally drew Light and Darkness Dragon, Special Summoned another Gallis, and sent Magical Merchant to the Graveyard for 200 damage. He placed a card from his hand on top of his Deck, Special Summoned Plaguespreader Zombie, then Tributed Gallis and Plaguespreader for Light and Darkness Dragon. The Dragon attacked Alvarez’s face-down Ronintoadin, Stardust Dragon blew through Battle Fader, and Colossal Fighter attacked for victory!
Daniel McNally takes the first Duel, demonstrating a slow, but effective Monster Surge strategy! Both competitors made ample use of their side Decks before starting the second Duel.
Alvarez got the Duel started with a Set monster and a Set card to his Spell & Trap Card Zone. He seemed to have a better opening hand than in the first Duel.
McNally had Dandylion, Quickdraw Synchron, Light and Darkness Dragon, 2 Battle Fader, and Ryko, Lightsworn Hunter. He Set Ryko and passed.
Alvarez Flip Summoned Substitoad, Tributed it to its own effect, and Special Summoned Swap Frog from his Deck in Defense Position. He used its effect to send Treeborn Frog from his Deck to his Graveyard. He Tributed Swap Frog for Caius the Shadow Monarch, and removed McNally’s Ryko from play, but when Caius attacked McNally responded by Special Summoning Battle Fader to stop the attack.
Next turn, McNally drew another Battle Fader! He discarded Dandylion to Special Summon Quickdraw Synchron, but Alvarez negated the Special Summon with Royal Oppression! He paid 800 Life Points, then paid another 800 to negate the Special Summon of McNally’s Fluff Tokens. McNally passed.
Caius attacked McNally’s Battle Fader, destroying it, and Alvarez ended.
McNally drew Cyber Dragon, passing.
Alvarez attacked with Caius, Set a card to his back row, and play was back to McNally.
McNally drew another Quickdraw Synchron and passed.
Alvarez Set a monster, attacked for 2400 damage with Caius, and ended.
McNally drew Dark Simorgh, still pinned down under Royal Oppression. He tried to Special Summon Cyber Dragon, but Alvarez negated it. He discarded Light and Darkness Dragon to try and Special Summon Quickdraw, which Alvarez also negated. Alvarez was down to 4800 Life Points and McNally ended.
Caius attacked, McNally tried to Summon Battle Fader, and Alvarez negated it with Royal Oppression. Alvarez was down to 4000 Life Points, while McNally had 800 Life Points left. Alvarez Set another monster, and McNally drew Sangan.
McNally removed Quickdraw Synchron and Battle Fader to try and Special Summon Dark Simorgh – again, Alvarez negated the Summon with Royal Oppression.
Alvarez Tributed 3 monsters next turn, Summoned Destiny Hero – Plasma, and took Sangan to equip it! A direct attack from Plasma ended the Duel!
Octavio Alvarez activates Royal Oppression, and rides it to victory as Daniel McNally draws nothing but Special Summon monsters! This Match was headed to a third Duel!
McNally’s opening hand was Dandylion, Necro Gardna, Ryko, Lightsworn Hunter, Giant Trunade, Spore, and Quickdraw Synchron. He Set Ryko.
Alvarez Normal Summoned Swap Frog, sent Treeborn Frog from his Deck to his Graveyard, and returned Swap Frog to his hand to end.
McNally drew Level Eater. He discarded Dandylion, Special Summoned Quickdraw Synchron, and Special Summoned his 2 Fluff Tokens. He Tuned Quickdraw to 1 Token, Synchro Summoned Drill Warrior, and attacked for 2400 damage. In Main Phase 2 he discarded Necro Gardna to remove Drill Warrior from play with its own effect, ending the turn.
Alvarez Special Summoned Treeborn Frog from his Graveyard. He Special Summoned Swap Frog by discarding another Swap Frog, and used its effect to send Ronintoadin to his Graveyard. He Tributed both his monsters to Tribute Summon Light and Darkness Dragon, and attacked Ryko. The Dragon negated Ryko’s Flip Effect.
McNally drew Plaguespreader Zombie. He Special Summoned his Drill Warrior, but didn’t get to return a monster to his hand with Drill Warrior’s effect due to the Dragon’s ability. The Dragon dropped to 1800 ATK. McNally ran it over with Drill Warrior and dealt 600 damage. The Dragon’s effect activated, Alvarez Special Summoned Swap Frog in Defense Position, and he sent another Ronintoadin to his Graveyard. McNally discarded Level Eater in Main Phase 2 to remove Drill Warrior from play.
Alvarez Special Summoned Treeborn Frog in his Standby Phase. He Tributed Swap Frog for Caius the Shadow Monarch, removed McNally’s Fluff Token from play, and removed 2 Swap Frogs from his Graveyard to Special Summon both Ronintoadins! He Tributed Treeborn Frog and both Ronintoadins to Special Summon Destiny Hero – Plasma. Plasma attacked for 1900 damage, Caius attacked, and McNally was down to 3700 Life Points.
McNally drew Magical Merchant next turn, and Special Summoned Drill Warrior back to the field, but couldn’t return anything to his hand since Drill Warrior’s effect was negated by Destiny Hero – Plasma. Drill Warrior attacked Plasma, destroyed it, and McNally discarded Plaguespreader Zombie to remove Drill Warrior from the game.
Alvarez Special Summoned Treeborn Frog, attacked with Caius, and McNally blocked it by removing Necro Gardna from his Graveyard. Alvarez ended.
McNally drew Cyber Dragon. He Special Summoned Drill Warrior, returning Dandylion to his hand. Time was called as McNally debated his next move. He had 3700 Life Points to Alvarez’s 4500. McNally lowered Drill Warrior’s Level to 5, Special Summoning Level Eater in Defense Position. He returned a card to the top of his Deck to Special Summon Plaguespreader Zombie, then Normal Summoned Magical Merchant. He Tuned everything together to make Mist Wurm, bumping away Treeborn Frog and Caius the Shadow Monarch! When Mist Wurm attacked, Alvarez took the damage and Special Summoned Gorz the Emissary of Darkness! Gorz Summoned an Emissary of Darkness Token with 2500 ATK, and in Main Phase 2 McNally Special Summoned Level Eater in Defense Position again. He Set Giant Trunade as a bluff.
Giant Trunade was bounced back to his hand by Alvarez’s own Giant Trunade! Alvarez would have 2 turns to win this – then the Match would end, and the winner would be the Duelist with the highest remaining Life Points. He Tributed his Emissary of Darkness Token to Tribute Summon Caius. Caius removed Level Eater from the game, dealing 1000 damage, and made attacks to drop McNally to 100 Life Points. Alvarez ended his turn by Setting a single Spell or Trap. The Duel stood at 2000 Life Points to 100.
McNally drew Cyber Dragon for his last turn. He had Cyber Dragon, Giant Trunade, Spore, and Dandylion. His only play here was Brionac, Dragon of the Ice Barrier, and he knew it! McNally activated Trunade, Special Summoned Cyber Dragon, Normal Summoned Spore, Synchro Summoned Brionac, and bounced away Gorz by discarding Dandylion. He Special Summoned his 2 Fluff Tokens, removed Dandylion to Special Summon Spore as a Level 4 Tuner, and Synchro Summoned Goyo Guardian! Goyo attacked Caius, McNally took control of it, and when Brionac attacked, Alvarez didn’t have the Battle Fader to make it to next turn!
Daniel McNally has a rough time in Games 1 and 3, but rides Drill Warrior for most of Duel 3 and uses every last card he had to win the Match on his final turn in time, with just 100 Life Points left!
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, Alvarez used Royal Oppression to negate the Special Summon of McNally’s Quickdraw Synchron and Fluff Tokens, but he could have used it to negate McNally’s Battle Fader one turn earlier! Royal Oppression was already face-down when McNally Special Summoned his first Battle Fader to the field, and if Alvarez had used Royal Oppression to negate it, he could’ve dealt some extra damage and kept Battle Fader off of the field in case McNally had a Monarch to Tribute it for.
P.J. Tierney (Duelist from across The Pond)
Monster Surge is one of the most unusual Decks you’ll come across. Since the majority of the Deck is Monster-based, cards like Cold Wave, Dust Tornado and Heavy Storm will do nothing against it. Alvarez activated Cold Wave in the early turns of Duel 1, before he even knew he was up against Monster Surge, which left him wide open to McNally’s attacks next turn. When McNally drew his own Cold Wave, this Duel was as good as over.
