Johnny Nagel is 7-2 here today with his Gravekeeper Deck. His opponent, Sam Oransky, is running Gladiator Beasts – a tough matchup for Gravekeepers, but certainly not insurmountable. With 2 Swiss rounds remaining in today’s tournament, the winner of this Match would stand a great chance of making the the Top 64. The pressure was on!

Nagel opened the day with a hand of Book of Moon, 2 Thunder King Rai-Oh, Bottomless Trap Hole, Deck Devastation Virus, and Gravekeeper’s Descendant. He Set Bottomless, Summoned Thunder King Rai-Oh, and ended.

Oransky passed.

Nagel drew Gravekeeper’s Assailant. He Summoned Gravekeeper’s Descendant, attacked for 1500 Battle Damage, and then attacked for another 1900 damage with Thunder King. Oransky Special Summoned Gorz the Emissary of Darkness, with a 1900 ATK Emissary of Darkness Token! Nagel Set Book of Moon.

Oransky Summoned Gladiator Beast Samnite, and Nagel removed it with Bottomless Trap Hole. Gorz went to Defense Position, and the Emissary of Darkness Token attacked to destroy Gravekeeper’s Descendant. Oransky then Set 3 cards to his back row.

Nagel drew Trap Dustshoot. He attacked the Emissary of Darkness Token with Thunder King Rai-Oh, destroying both monsters, and Set Trap Dustshoot.

Oransky attacked for 2700 damage with Gorz.

Nagel drew D.D. Warrior Lady, Set her, and Set Trap Dustshoot, seeing that Oransky had 3 cards in hand.

When Oransky drew to 4 cards, Nagel activated Dustshoot, revealing Oransky’s hand of Thunder King Rai-Oh, Gladiator Proving Ground, Gladiator Beast Murmillo, and Gladiator Beast Equeste. Nagel sent Thunder King back to his opponent’s Deck, leaving Oransky to Normal Summon Gladiator Beast Murmillo. He attacked the face-down D.D. Warrior Lady with Murmillo, bouncing off of her DEF, and Nagel didn’t activate her effect. Oransky examined Nagel’s Graveyard before deciding not to attack with Gorz. When Oransky tried to move to the end of his Battle Phase with the intent to tag out Murmillo, Nagel flipped Murmillo face-down with Book of Moon.

Nagel drew and tried to activate Allure of Darkness, but it was negated by Oransky’s Magic Drain! He Summoned Thunder King Rai-Oh, lost that to Bottomless Trap Hole, and shifted D.D. Warrior Lady to Attack Position to attack and destroy Murmillo. He ended his turn with D.D. Warrior Lady face-up, Deck Devastation Virus Set, and Assailant in-hand.

Oransky drew to 3 cards in-hand with Gorz and a Set Spell/Trap on the field. He Summoned Gladiator Beast Equeste and attacked D.D. Warrior Lady. Her effect removed both monsters from the field, and Nagel took 2700 damage from Gorz. Oransky Set a second Spell/Trap.

Nagel drew Gravekeeper’s Spy and Set it.

Oransky used Proving Ground to get Gladiator Beast Laquari, Summoned it, attacked, and ran into the face-down Spy. Nagel Special Summoned another Spy in Defense Position. Gorz destroyed the freshly-Summoned Spy, and Nagel sent Laquari back to his Deck to Special Summon Gladiator Beast Bestiari! Bestiari destroyed Deck Devastation Virus, and Oransky Set his last card to his back row.

Nagel drew Torrential Tribute, Set it, and ended. The Duel stood at 3600 Life Points to 2100, in Oransky’s favor.

Oransky drew and attacked through Gravekeeper’s Spy with Gorz. Bestiari attacked for 1500 damage, and Oransky tagged it out to Special Summon Equeste and get back Murmillo. Nagel wiped the field with Torrential Tribute!

Nagel drew Dark Bribe. He Summoned Gravekeeper’s Assailant, attacked for 1500 damage, and Set Bribe. Now it was 2100 Life Points to 600.

Oransky Set a monster, and Set a fourth card to his Spell and Trap Card Zone.

Nagel drew Book of Moon and attacked into Oransky’s face-down Gladiator Beast Retiari, destroying it. He Set Book.

Oransky Summoned Rescue Cat, and sent it to his Graveyard to Special Summon Gladiator Beast Samnite and Test Tiger. Nagel activated Book of Moon to try and flip down Samnite, but Oransky Chained Magic Drain! Nagel Chained Dark Bribe in response, and Samnite was flipped face-down, forcing Oransky to lose Test Tiger in his End Phase to the effect of Rescue Cat.

Nagel attacked to destroy Samnite next turn, and Set his draw to his back row.

Oransky passed, Nagel attacked for 1500 damage, and Set a Spell or Trap. Both Duelists were down to 600 Life Points!

Oransky activated Dust Tornado, destroying Nagel’s Dark Bribe. Mystical Space Typhoon destroyed his next Dark Bribe, and Nagel was left with nothing but his Assailant while Oransky had an in-hand card and 4 cards Set! He Summoned Gladiator Beast Murmillo, and flipped Torrential Tribute in response to his own Summon to end!

Nagel drew and Set a card to his back row.

Oransky did the same.

Nagel drew Necrovalley, and activated it.

Oransky flipped Dust Tornado, destroying Nagel’s Royal Oppression, then Normal Summoned Gladiator Beast Laquari to attack for victory!

Sam Oransky narrowly captures the first Duel, as both competitors are reduced to 600 Life Points, relying on their top-decked draws to see who would win! Both competitors made ample use of their Side Decks before starting the second Duel.

Nagel opened with Royal Oppression, Vanity’s Fiend, Mystical Space Typhoon, Allure of Darkness, Dark Bribe, and Necrovalley. Activating Allure, he drew another Necrovalley and Bottomless Trap Hole, and he removed Vanity’s Fiend from his hand to complete Allure’s effect. He Set everything but the Necrovalleys.

Oransky activated Heavy Storm! Nagel Chained Dark Bribe, keeping his field intact but giving Oransky another draw. Oransky Summoned Doomcaliber Knight, Nagel activated Bottomless Trap Hole, and Oransky Chained Book of Moon to save Doomcaliber. He Set his remaining 4 cards to his back row to end.

Nagel drew and Set Book of Moon.

Oransky hit him with Doomcaliber next turn.

Nagel drew Mind Crush – still no monsters. He Set it.

Oransky activated Proving Ground from his hand next turn, searched out Gladiator Beast Laquari, and lost it to Mind Crush. He chose not to attack with Doomcaliber, and Set a fifth card to his back row, ending his turn.

Nagel drew Thunder King Rai-Oh. He activated Mystical Space Typhoon, destroying Oransky’s Starlight Road, and Normal Summoned Thunder King Rai-Oh, but lost it to Bottomless Trap Hole and ended.

Doomcaliber Knight attacked for another 1900 damage, and Nagel was down to 4200 ATK.

Nagel drew Gravekeeper’s Commandant. He activated Necrovalley, then Summoned Commandant, but when it attacked, Oransky flipped Dust Toranado to target Necrovalley! Nagel Chained Book of Moon, turning Doomcaliber face-down, and Commandant bounced off its 1800 DEF. Nagel ended his turn by activating his other Necrovalley.

Oransky turned Doomcaliber to Attack Position, activated Dust Tornado, and destroyed Nagel’s Royal Oppression. Smashing Ground destroyed Commandant, and Doomcaliber attacked for 1900 damage.

Nagel Set D.D. Warrior Lady.

Oransky destroyed Necrovalley with Mystical Space Typhoon, and attacked into Warrior Lady. Both monsters hit the Graveyard.

Nagel Summoned Thunder King Rai-Oh, losing it to Torrential Tribute.

Oransky passed.

Nagel drew and Set a Spell or Trap Card.

Oransky Summoned Gladiator Beast Samnite, attacked, and tagged out to Gladiator Beast Laquari.

Nagel drew Book of Moon, Setting it.

Oransky attacked, and Nagel flipped Book to turn Laquari face-down. In Main Phase 2 Oransky Summoned Elemental Hero Prisma, sent Gladiator Beast Bestiari to the Graveyard, and Contact Fused for Gladiator Beast Gyzarus, destroying Nagel’s Set bluff: Royal Tribute.

Nagel drew Trap Hole and immediately conceded!

Sam Oransky moves on to the last Round of Swiss competition with an 8-2 record, now just 1 win away from a guaranteed seat in the Top 64!

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 1, Oransky made it obvious that he had Gorz the Emissary of Darkness in his opening hand, when he passed his first turn without making a single play. Since none of the cards in Nagel’s hand were capable of dealing with Oransky’s 2700 ATK Gorz that came with a 1900 ATK Token, Nagel should have declined the direct attack with Rai-Oh on his first turn. This would put the pressure back on Oransky, who would still have no cards on the field with a Gorz in his hand. It would also give Nagel some more time to draw a card that could deal with Gorz, like the Trap Dustshoot he picked up on his next turn. If Nagel had held off from letting Oransky Summon Gorz right away, he also could have built up a field of Gravekeepers to launch with his Gravekeeper’s Descendant. This would’ve allowed him to destroy Gorz quickly after it was Summoned, instead of letting Gorz wreak havoc.

P.J. Tierney (Duelist from across The Pond)
Usually when a Duelist Sets several Spell and Trap cards at once, at least 1 of them is capable of protecting the others from being destroyed, usually a Solemn Judgment, Starlight Road or Dark Bribe. If you can force your opponent to activate this card right away with a Heavy Storm or Cold Wave, that card will be used up and won’t be there to stop your bigger plays later on. Oransky knew this and activated his Heavy Storm at the start of Duel 2 when Nagel had Set 4 cards. Nagel Chained Dark Bribe, a card that could have caused Oransky a lot of problems later on had it still been Set.

Click here to check out the next feature match.