Round 5 Feature Match: Gabriel Shaket vs. Ryan Spicer
Both Ryan Spicer and Gabriel Shaket currently hold 4-0 records with their X-Saber Decks, but only one of them can remain undefeated after this round.
Shaket won the dice roll and chose to go first. He Set one card to his back row and ended his turn.
Spicer opened up with XX-Saber Faultroll, Brain Control, Book of Moon, Cold Wave, Giant Trunade, and Mystical Space Typhoon. He Set Mystical Space Typhoon and passed.
Shaket Summoned X-Saber Airbellum next turn. He attacked directly, dropping Spicer to 6400 Life Points and sending a Giant Trunade from his hand to his Graveyard with Airbellum’s effect. Shaket Set a second card to his back row and ended his turn.
Spicer drew Gold Sarcophagus next turn! He activated Brain Control to take control of X-Saber Airbellum and then attacked directly, dropping Shaket down to 6400 Life Points and stripping a Faultroll from his hand with Airbellum’s effect. Next, Spicer activated Gold Sarcophagus to remove Rescue Cat from his Deck so he could reclaim it in 2 turns. Spicer Set Book of Moon and ended his turn.
Shaket Summoned XX-Saber Fulhelmknight next turn and attacked directly with X-Saber Airbellum. The attack was blocked by Book of Moon, but Fulhelmknight scored a direct attack, dropping Spicer to 4300 Life Points.
Spicer drew Book of Moon next turn, Set it, and passed to Shaket. In just one more turn, he’d be able to grab the Rescue Cat that might save him.
Shaket Flip Summoned X-Saber Airbellum next turn! Then he Special Summoned XX-Saber Faultroll from his hand. Fulhelmknight attacked directly, but when X-Saber Airbellum declared an attack, it was stopped by Spicer’s Book of Moon. XX-Saber Faultroll attacked directly next, dropping Spicer to 600 Life Points. Shaket ended his turn.
Spicer drew Gottoms’ Emergency Call next turn and then added his removed from play Rescue Cat to his hand. He activated Cold Wave, pinning down Shaket’s 2 back row cards, and then Summoned Rescue Cat to the field! He Tributed it to Special Summon X-Saber Airbellum and XX-Saber Darksoul from his Deck! Then he Special Summoned XX-Saber Faultroll from his hand. Next, he Tuned Airbellum to Darksoul in order to Synchro Summon XX-Saber Hyunlei and destroy Shaket’s Set Bottomless Trap Hole and Torrential Tribute with Hyunlei’s effect. Spicer activated Faultroll’s effect next, in order to Special Summon X-Saber Airbellum from his Graveyard. Airbellum attacked Fulhelmknight, but Shaket negated the attack with Fulhelmknight’s effect. Hyunlei attacked it next, dropping Shaket to 5400 Life Points. Faultroll attacked next, trading blows with Shaket’s Faultroll and sending them both to the Graveyard. Spicer Tuned Hyunlei with Airbellum in Main Phase 2 in order to Synchro Summon XX-Saber Gottoms! In his End Phase, Spicer searched his Deck for XX-Saber Faultroll and added it to his hand with the effect of his Darksoul.
Shaket Set a monster next turn before passing right back to Spicer. He still couldn’t play any Spell or Trap Cards due to the effect of Cold Wave.
Spicer activated Mind Control next turn, gaining control of the face-down monster he knew was X-Saber Airbellum. He flipped it face-up and Special Summoned Faultroll from his hand. Then he activated Faultroll’s effect to Special Summon XX-Saber Darksoul from his Graveyard. He Tuned Darksoul to Airbellum in order to Synchro Summon Brionac, Dragon of the Ice Barrier, and then discarded Gottoms’ Emergency Call to bounce Shaket’s Set monster to his hand with Brionac’s effect. Brionac, Hyunlei, and Gottoms attacked directly, ending the Duel by taking Shaket’s remaining 5400 Life Points.
Ryan Spicer comes back from just 600 Life Points left, to win the first Duel, thanks to a decisive Cold Wave!
Both players Side Decked and Shaket chose to go first in Duel 2! He Set 2 cards to his back row and Set a monster before ending his turn.
Spicer opened up with Sangan, Bottomless Trap Hole, XX-Saber Emmersblade, X-Saber Airbellum, and 2 copies of XX-Saber Darksoul. He Set Sangan and Bottomless Trap Hole before passing to Shaket.
Shaket Normal Summoned X-Saber Airbellum next turn, but lost it to Spicer’s Bottomless Trap Hole. He passed to Spicer, who drew Royal Oppression!
Spicer Set XX-Saber Darksoul and Royal Oppression face-down before ending his turn.
Shaket Summoned another X-Saber Airbellum next turn. Then he Flip Summoned his face-down XX-Saber Emmersblade. Airbellum attacked Spicer’s Set Sangan, which allowed Spicer to grab Rescue Cat from his Deck and add it to his hand. Then Emmersblade attacked Spicer’s Set Darksoul, triggering its effect. In Main Phase 2, Shaket Tuned his Airbellum to Emmersblade in order to Synchro Summon XX-Saber Hyunlei, but Spicer flipped Royal Oppression and paid 800 Life Points to negate the Summon! Shaket Set a third card to his back row before ending his turn. In Shaket’s End Phase, Spicer used the effect of XX-Saber Darksoul to search his Deck for XX-Saber Faultroll and add it to his hand.
Spicer drew Mind Control next turn. He Summoned X-Saber Airbellum and attacked with it. Shaket flipped his face-down Book of Moon to stop the attack and put Airbellum face-down. Spicer passed.
Shaket Summoned XX-Saber Fulhelmknight next turn and attacked Spicer’s Defense Position Airbellum. Then he used Fulhelmknight’s effect to Special Summon Airbellum from his Graveyard, and attacked directly to drop Spicer down to 5600 Life Points and send Emmersblade from his hand to the Graveyard.
On his next turn, Spicer drew XX-Saber Faultroll. He Summoned XX-Saber Darksoul. Next, he used Mind Control to take control of Shaket’s X-Saber Airbellum and Tuned his 2 monsters together to Synchro Summon XX-Saber Hyunlei. Shaket negated the Summon with Spicer’s face-up Royal Oppression, by paying 800 Life Points.
Shaket Summoned Thunder King Rai-Oh next turn and attacked directly with both Thunder King Rai-Oh and Fulhelmknight. Next, he Set another card to his back row and ended his turn.
Spicer drew and Summoned XX-Saber Boggart Knight next turn! He tried to attack Fulhelmknight, but Shaket negated the attack with Fulhelmknight’s effect.
On his next turn, Shaket flipped Gottoms’ Emergency Call to try to Special Summon 2 X-Sabers, but Spicer negated it with Royal Oppression. Next, Shaket flipped Call of the Haunted, and Spicer negated that too. But that left Spicer with just 800 Life Points left. Rai-Oh rammed into Boggart Knight and Fulhelmknight ended the Duel with a direct attack.
Royal Oppression turns into a double-edged weapon, as Gabriel Shaket triumphs in Duel 2! Ryan Spicer will be going first in the final Duel of the Match.
Spicer opened up with XX-Saber Darksoul, Bottomless Trap Hole, Gottoms’ Emergency Call, X-Saber Airbellum, and 2 copies of XX-Saber Faultroll. He Set Bottomless Trap Hole and XX-Saber Darksoul, ending his turn.
Shaket Summoned Thunder King Rai-Oh next turn, and Spicer flipped Bottomless Trap Hole to try to remove it from play. But Shaket Chained My Body as a Shield to protect it! Rai-Oh attacked Darksoul and destroyed Spicer’s Set Darksoul. Shaket Set a back row card and ended his turn. Spicer was unable to search his Deck for Darksoul’s effect in the End Phase, due to Rai-Oh’s effect.
Spicer drew Trap Stun next turn. He Set it to his back row along with Gottoms’ Emergency Call, and Set X-Saber Airbellum to his Monster Card Zone before ending his turn.
Shaket Summoned XX-Saber Boggart Knight next turn. Boggart Knight attacked Spicer’s Set Airbellum and destroyed it. Rai-Oh attacked directly next. Shaket passed, and Spicer activated Gottoms’ Emergency Call in his End Phase to Special Summon XX-Saber Darksoul and X-Saber Airbellum from his Graveyard.
Spicer Special Summoned XX-Saber Faultroll next turn, but Shaket negated its Summon by Tributing Thunder King Rai-Oh. But it didn’t matter! Spicer Special Summoned another one from his hand. Next, he Tuned Darksoul to Airbellum and Synchro Summoned XX-Saber Hyunlei, destroying Shaket’s Set Call of the Haunted and Mind Crush with Hyunlei’s effect. Next, he Special Summoned X-Saber Airbellum from his Graveyard thanks to the effect of Faultroll, and attacked directly with Hyunlei, Airbellum, and Faultroll. Airbellum discarded Fulhelmknight from Shaket’s hand with its effect. In Main Phase 2, Spicer Tuned Hyunlei with Airbellum to Synchro Summon XX-Saber Gottoms, and Tributed Faultroll with its effect to discard Shaket’s last card: XX-Saber Darksoul. Spicer searched his Deck for Fulhelmknight in the End Phase thanks to Darksoul’s effect.
Shaket drew a card and Set it to his back row, but it was all over moments later.
Spicer drew Giant Trunade next turn and activated it, sending Shaket’s Set Torrential Tribute to his hand. He instantly conceded with only 2100 Life Points left, staring down Spicer’s 3100 ATK XX-Saber Gottoms.
Ryan Spicer advances 5-0 with X-Sabers, proving his Deck’s power in an exciting X-Saber mirror match!
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, Spicer used the effect of XX-Saber Darksoul to search his Deck for XX-Saber Faultroll, even though he had Royal Oppression face-up on the field and no way to get rid of it. He may have been better off choosing a different monster to add to his hand, like XX-Saber Boggart Knight, which he could Normal Summon to threaten Shaket’s Life Points and fend off his attacks. He already had a Rescue Cat in his hand, and he knew he couldn’t resolve its effect due to Royal Oppression. Searching his Deck for a monster that can only be Special Summoned, and hoping to draw a card like Mystical Space Typhoon, Giant Trunade, Trap Stun, or Cold Wave to get rid of Oppression’s effect was very risky and didn’t pay off for Spicer.
P.J. Tierney (Duelist from across The Pond)
Rescue Cat and Cold Wave are 2 of the most powerful cards in an X-Saber Deck, and when both are played together on the same turn, the Deck is capable of doing anything. Spicer was struggling in Duel 1, managing to hold on with 600 Life Points before he got his Rescue Cat through Gold Sarcophagus’ effect. As soon as he got it though, things turned around. He played Cold Wave, Summoned the Cat, and started to mount a comeback before ending the Duel moments later.
