Round 7 Feature Match: Mitchell Anderson vs. Stephano Zmirich
Mitchell Anderson and Stephano Zmirich are each 5-1 here, heading into Round 7. Anderson is one of the few Gadget Duelists sitting at the top tables, while Zmirich is playing Frog Monarchs. This was an uncommon matchup in this event and could make for a good Match.
Zmirich opened things with a Set Spell or Trap.
Anderson started with a hand of Limiter Removal, 2 Dimensional Prisons, Solidarity, Machina Fortress, and Machina Gearframe. He Summoned Gearframe, got a second Fortress from his Deck with Gearframe’s effect, attacked for 1800 Battle Damage, and Set Prison. He lost his Prison to Phoenix Wing Wind Blast in his End Phase, as Zmirich discarded Treeborn Frog to activate Wind Blast.
Zmirich drew for his turn and Special Summoned Treeborn Frog from the Graveyard in Defense Position. He Tributed it for Caius the Shadow Monarch, removed Gearframe from the game, and made a direct attack for 2400 damage.
Anderson drew his Prison again, discarded both copies of Fortress to Special Summon one of them, and then activated Solidarity. Machina Fortress attacked over Caius and a Set Spell or Trap ended Anderson’s turn.
Zmirich activated Soul Exchange next turn, Tributing Machina Fortress for Caius the Shadow Monarch and removing Solidarity from the game! He ended his turn, unable to attack due Soul Exchange’s effect.
Anderson passed on his turn.
Zmirich Summoned Swap Frog, activating its effect to return Caius from the field back to his hand. Swap Frog attacked, and Anderson removed it from the game with Dimensional Prison.
Anderson drew Red Gadget next turn, Summoning it to get Yellow Gadget from his Deck. He had 5600 Life Points to Zmirich’s 5300. A Set card to the Spell & Trap Card Zone finished Anderson’s turn.
Zmirich activated another Soul Exchange next turn, then Tributed both his Treeborn Frog and Red Gadget for Light and Darkness Dragon! He ended, and play was back to Anderson.
Anderson had a hand of Fissure, Machina Force, Yellow Gadget, and Dimensional Prison. He Summoned Yellow Gadget, and Light and Darkness Dragon’s effect negated the Gadget’s search ability. Anderson Set Dimensional Prison.
When Light and Darkness Dragon attacked next turn, Anderson flipped Limiter Removal, the Dragon’s effect Chained automatically to try and negate Limiter, and Anderson Chained Dimensional Prison. Light and Darkness Dragon was removed by Prison, Limiter Removal resolved, and Yellow Gadget was destroyed in the End Phase by Limiter’s effect.
Anderson drew and Summoned Green Gadget, using its effect to get Red Gadget. Free of Light and Darkness Dragon, he discarded Machina Force to Special Summon Machina Fortress, attacked, and Zmirich Special Summoned Battle Fader from his hand to stop the Battle Phase. Anderson activated Fissure in Main Phase 2 to destroy Battle Fader and remove it.
Zmirich Special Summoned Treeborn Frog, took Machina Fortress with Brain Control, and Tributed the Fortress for Raiza the Storm Monarch! Raiza’s effect sent Green Gadget back to the top of Anderson’s Deck, and Raiza attacked for 2400 damage.
Anderson drew his Green Gadget again, Summoned it, and got another Red Gadget. He discarded both in-hand Gadgets to Special Summon Fortress again, and attacked Raiza to destroy it. He ended with nothing left in-hand.
Zmirich Tributed his Treeborn Frog for Caius the Shadow Monarch, removed Fortress, and lost another Caius from his hand, left with just D.D. Crow. Caius attacked Green Gadget.
Anderson destroyed Caius with a topdecked Fissure next turn.
Zmirich Special Summoned Treeborn Frog on his next turn and passed.
Anderson Set a Spell or Trap on his next turn.
Zmirich passed on his turn, making no plays.
Anderson drew another Green Gadget, but he didn’t have another Red Gadget to search for.
Zmirich Tributed his Treeborn Frog in the Standby Phase for Enemy Controller, taking Green Gadget! He Special Summoned his Treeborn Frog again before leaving the Standby Phase, then Normal Summoned Substitoad, but Anderson negated the Summon with Solemn Judgment. That dropped him low enough for Zmirich to finish him off with Green Gadget!
Stephano Zmirich takes a hard-fought first Duel, as Mitchell Anderson simply runs out of options! After a few minutes of deep Side Deck use, Anderson started the second Duel.
Anderson’s hand was Machina Fortress, Green Gadget, Limiter Removal, D.D. Crow, Machina Gearframe, and Mirror Force. He summoned Gearframe, searched his deck for a second Fortress, and Set Mirror Force.
Zmirich discarded Treeborn Frog to Special Summon Swap Frog, using its effect to send a second Treeborn Frog to his Graveyard. He Set a monster to end.
Anderson drew Yellow Gadget. He Summoned Green Gadget, got Red Gadget form his Deck, and discarded 2 Fortresses to Summon one of them. Green Gadget attacked, Zmirich’s defending Legendary Jujitsu Master was revealed, and Anderson activated Limiter Removal in the Damage Step! Green Gadget was bounced away, Machina Gearframe attacked for 3600 Damage, and Machina Fortress attacked for the win!
After a slow and calculated first Duel, Mitchell Anderson explodes out of nowhere to capture the second Duel without a hint of warning! Limiter Removal and three attackers let Anderson take us to one more game. “That was really, really quick,” remarked Zmirich. “Wow.”
Starting off Duel 3, Zmirich passed his first turn.
Anderson had a hand of 2 Red Gadgets, Mystical Space Typhoon, Mask of Restrict, Fissure, and Crevice into the Different Dimension. He Summoned Red Gadget, got Yellow Gadget from his Deck, and attacked. But Zmirich Special Summoned Gorz the Emissary of Darkness! It got him a 1300 ATK Emissary of Darkness Token. Anderson Set Mask of Restrict before ending his turn.
Anderson activated it in Zmirich’s Standby Phase, but immediately lost it to Mystical Space Typhoon! Zmirich Tributed his Emissary of Darkness Token for Caius the Shadow Monarch, removed Red Gadget with Caius’ effect, and attacked with both monsters to reduce Anderson to 2900 Life Points. A Set Spell or Trap ended the turn.
Anderson activated Mystical Space Typhoon, destroying Zmirich’s face-down Enemy Controller. He discarded Machina Fortress and Yellow Gadget to Special Summon the Fortress, attacked over Caius, and destroyed Gorz with Fissure. He Set Crevice into the Different Dimension and ended.
Zmirich Special Summoned Cyber Dragon! He sent that and Fortress to the Graveyard, Summoned a 2000 ATK Chimeratech Fortress Dragon, attacked for 2000 damage, and in Main Phase 2 Summoned Substitoad. He Tributed it for its own effect, Special Summoned Swap Frog, and used Swap Frog’s ability to send Treeborn Frog to the Graveyard.
Anderson drew Machina Force, with Red Gadget in-hand and Crevice Set. He discarded Force to Special Summon Fortress, Normal Summoned Red Gadget to get Yellow Gadget from his Deck, and activated Crevice to remove Substitoad and Treeborn Frog from his opponent’s Graveyard. He then attacked over Chimeratech Fortress Dragon, and made a direct attack with Red Gadget. The Duel stood at 900 Life Points to 4800.
Zmirich Tributed Fortress for Vanity’s Fiend next turn, by using Soul Exchange. Then he ended his turn.
Anderson summoned Yellow Gadget, getting Green Gadget. He Set Prison, turned Red Gadget to Defense Position, and ended.
Zmirich attacked Yellow Gadget, losing Vanity’s Fiend to Dimensional Prison. Time was called on Zmirich’s turn, who Normal Summoned Swap Frog to send another Treeborn Frog to his Graveyard. Zmirich also Set a Spell or Trap to end.
Anderson drew another Prison! He Summoned Green Gadget, but lost it to Pulling the Rug. Yellow Gadget and Red Gadget attacked for 2500 Battle Damage total, lowering Zmirich to 2300 Life Points. He Set Prison, his last card.
Zmirich drew, Special Summoned Treeborn Frog, and Tributed it for Enemy Controller in the Standby Phase, taking Red Gadget. He Special Summoned Treeborn Frog again, Normal Summoned Swap Frog, and sent Ronintoadin to his Graveyard. Red Gadget attacked Yellow Gadget, Anderson removed it with Dimensional Prison, and Zmirich ended.
Anderson drew Machina Gearframe! He Summoned it, searched his Deck for Machina Fortress, and attacked Treeborn Frog with Yellow Gadget. When Gearframe attacked directly, Zmirich Special Summoned Battle Fader! Since this was Anderson’s last turn of the Match, and Zmirich had more Life Points, Zmirich was the winner!
Stephano Zmirich narrowly takes the win with his Frog Monarch Deck, and moves on to the last round of the day with a 6-1 record!
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)
With Treeborn Frog in the Graveyard and Legendary Jujitsu Master on the field, Zmirich thought he was pretty safe against Anderson’s Gadgets. But thanks to Limiter Removal, and the Special Summon of Machina Fortress, Anderson exploded through Zmirich’s defenses to attack for 8600 damage. Always keep track of how much damage you could be dealing!
Michael Kohanim (2009 World Championship Competitor)
Anderson Side Decked in Mask of Restrict for this Match and drew it in Duel 3. Mask of Restrict is a strong card choice against Frog Monarch Decks, because without being able to Tribute their weak Frogs, there isn’t much a Frog Duelist can do. Mask of Restrict prevents the Tribute Summon of Monarchs, Vanity’s Fiend, Light and Darkness Dragon, Obelisk the Tormentor, and more! It also prevents players from Tributing a monster to activate Enemy Controller and gain control of an opponent’s monster. Anderson wasn’t able to keep his Mask of Restrict on the field for long since Zmirich had Mystical Space Typhoon, but it was still a wise decision to include it in his Side Deck. If he could have kept it on the field longer, he most likely would have been able to win the Match by limiting Zmirich’s potential plays.
P.J. Tierney (Duelist from across The Pond)
Treeborn Frog and Enemy Controller can work together for a nifty little combo. Since Enemy Controller’s a Quickplay Spell Card, it can be activated from your hand during the Standby Phase, which is when Treeborn Frog is Summoned. When you Summon your Treeborn, you can Tribute it for Enemy Controller and take control of one of your opponent’s monsters. Then, you can Special Summon Treeborn Frog again since you’re still in your Standby Phase, and you still have no Spells of Traps Set, which turns your Enemy Controller into a ‘free’ Brain Control. Zmirich made the most of this combo to finish off Anderson in Duel 1, as he took Green Gadget, and forced Anderson to use Solemn Judgment on his Substitoad, leaving him low enough on Life Points for Green Gadget to seal the win.
