Top 16 Feature Match: Barrett Keys vs. Daniel LaMartina
Daniel LaMartina made it into the Top 16 of the YCS in Edison, Jersey with his Lightsworn Deck. Now he’s back, travelling from Rochester, New York, to compete in the World Championship Qualifier with Gladiator Beasts. His opponent, Barrett Keys, traveled here from Los Angeles and is competing with X-Sabers. The winner of this Match will advance to the Top 8, where he’ll be just one win away from an invitation to the World Championship.
Keys won the dice roll and chose to go first. He Set a card to each zone and ended.
LaMartina opened up with Dimensional Prison, Dust Tornado, Torrential Tribute, Bottomless Trap Hole, Gladiator Beast Laquari, and Test Tiger. He Set Dust Tornado and Torrential Tribute before ending his turn.
Keys passed his next turn without making a play and LaMartina destroyed his Set Mirror Force in the End Phase with Dust Tornado.
Next turn, LaMartina Normal Summoned Gladiator Beast Laquari and then Special Summoned Test Tiger from his hand. He Tributed the Tiger to send Laquari back to his Deck and Special Summon Gladiator Beast Secutor in its place. Then Secutor attacked Keys’s face-down Darksoul and LaMartina tagged in Gladiator Beast Retiari to and Gladiator Beast Laquari with Secutor’s effect. Gladiator Beast Retiari removed Darksoul from Keys’s Graveyard with its effect. LaMartina fused Retiari, Laquari, and Secutor together to Fusion Summon Gladiator Beast Heraklinos in Main Phase 2. Then he Set Bottomless Trap Hole to his back row and ended his turn. During LaMartina’s End Phase, Keys searched his Deck for XX-Saber Boggart Knight and added it to his hand with Darksoul’s effect.
Keys Summoned Boggart Knight next turn and activated its effect. LaMartina flipped Bottomless Trap Hole to remove it from play, and then Keys Special Summoned XX-Saber Fulhelmknight in Attack Position. Keys passed his turn without a back row.
LaMartina drew D.D. Crow next turn. He activated Book of Moon to put Fulhelmknight face-down and then attacked it with Heraklinos to destroy it. He ended his turn.
Keys Set a monster and a back row before passing his next turn.
LaMartina drew Rescue Cat next turn! He Summoned it to the field and Tributed it to Special Summon Gladiator Beast Samnite and Test Tiger to the field. Then he Tributed Test Tiger to send Samnite back to the Deck and Summon it back to the field with its tagged in effect. Samnite attacked Keys’s Set Sangan and destroyed it in battle. LaMartina grabbed a Gladiator Beast War Chariot from his Deck and added it to his hand with Samnite’s effect. Then Keys searched his Deck for Rescue Cat and added it to his hand with Sangan’s effect. LaMartina tagged out Gladiator Beast Samnite at the end of the Battle Phase and tagged in Gladiator Beast Laquari to take its place. He didn’t attack with Heraklinos. He ended his turn after setting Gladiator Beast War Chariot to his back row.
Keys Summoned Rescue Cat next turn and Tributed it to activate its effect. But LaMartina flipped Gladiator Beast War Chariot to negate it and Keys ended his turn.
LaMartina drew and Summoned Thunder King Rai-Oh next turn. He attacked directly with Rai-Oh, Laquari, and Heraklinos to drop Keys down to 1000 Life Points. Then he tagged out his Laquari to Special Summon Equeste from his Deck. He tried to return Gladiator Beast War Chariot from his Graveyard to his hand with the effect of Equeste, but Keys pitched a D.D. Crow to remove the Chariot from LaMartina’s Graveyard.
Keys activated Mind Control next turn to try to take control of Gladiator Beast Heraklinos, but LaMartina negated it by discarding a card from his hand. Then Keys Summoned Boggart Knight and attacked over Equeste, but it was all over one turn later! LaMartina attacked over Boggart Knight with Heraklinos, and when Keys flipped Gottoms’ Emergency Call to try to stay in the game, LaMartina negated it with the effect of his Heraklinos by discarding a card from his hand.
Daniel LaMartina wins the first Duel and Barrett Keys will be starting Duel 2!
Keys started things off by setting a back row and ending his turn.
LaMartina opened up with Dimensional Fissure, Gladiator Beast Retiari, Solemn Judgment, Mind Crush, and 2 copies of Bottomless Trap Hole. He Summoned Retiari, but Keys flipped his face-down Torrential Tribute to destroy it. Then LaMartina Set Bottomless Trap Hole, Solemn Judgment, and Mind Crush before activating Dimensional Fissure. He quickly ended his turn after that.
Keys Summoned XX-Saber Boggart Knight next turn and chose not to activate its effect. LaMartina removed it from play by flipping Bottomless Trap Hole. Then Keys Set 2 cards to his back row and passed.
LaMartina drew Starlight Road next turn and Set it along with another copy of Bottomless Trap Hole.
Keys Summoned Thunder King Rai-Oh next turn, but LaMartina flipped another Bottomless Trap Hole to remove it from the game.
LaMartina drew Test Tiger next turn and passed, with no Gladiator Beasts in his hand to use it with.
Keys Summoned another Thunder King Rai-Oh next turn, but this time, he managed to score a direct attack with it.
LaMartina drew Thunder King Rai-Oh on his next turn, Summoned it, and lost it to Keys’s Set Bottomless Trap Hole.
Keys attacked directly with Thunder King Rai-Oh on his next turn, dropping LaMartina down to 4200 Life Points. He ended his turn without playing any cards.
LaMartina drew Gladiator Beast Equeste next turn. He Summoned it to the field and then Special Summoned Test Tiger from his hand. He Tributed Test Tiger to send Equeste back to his Deck and Special Summon Gladiator Beast Murmillo in its place. Murmillo destroyed Keys’s Thunder King Rai-Oh with its effect. Murmillo attacked directly and when Keys flipped Mirror Force, LaMartina activated Solemn Judgment to pay 4000 Life Points and negate it. Murmillo inflicted 800 points of damage to Keys and LaMartina tagged it out to Special Summon Gladiator Beast Equeste from his Deck. LaMartina used the effect of Equeste to return Gladiator Beast Retiari from his Graveyard to his hand.
Keys Special Summoned Cyber Dragon next turn and attacked over Equeste, dealing 500 points of damage to Keys. He ended his turn.
LaMartina drew Book of Moon and Set it next turn.
Keys declared a direct attack with Cyber Dragon and LaMartina flipped Book of Moon to block the attack and put Cyber Dragon face-down.
LaMartina drew Gladiator Beast Murmillo next turn. He Summoned Gladiator Beast Retiari, attacked Keys’s Set Sangan, and tagged out Retiari to Special Summon Gladiator Beast Laquari from his Deck. Sangan was removed from play due to the face-up Dimensional Fissure on the field. LaMartina He ended his turn with Murmillo in his hand.
Keys flipped Cyber Dragon next turn used it to attack LaMartina’s Gladiator Beast Laquari, destroying them both and removing them both from the game. He ended his turn with a clear field.
LaMartina drew Gladiator Beast Bestiari next turn and Summoned Gladiator Beast Murmillo to the field. Murmillo attacked directly and LaMartina tagged it out for another copy of Gladiator Beast Laquari. He ended his turn in dominating position, but behind on Life Points..
Keys Set a back row next turn and ended. Keys had 6400 Life Points left, while LaMartina only had 1600 Life Points.
LaMartina drew Gladiator Beast Samnite next turn. He Summoned Gladiator Beast Samnite and attacked with it, dropping Keys to 4800 Life Points. Then Laquari attacked directly, and Keys flipped Book of Moon to put the Laquari face-down and prevent the damage. At the end of the Battle Phase, Keys tagged out Samnite to Special Summon Gladiator Beast Darius. He didn’t activate its effect because there were no Gladiator Beasts in his Graveyard, but he tagged it in because he was out of Laquaris.
Keys activated Heavy Storm next turn and LaMartina flipped Starlight Road! He negated it and Special Summoned Stardust Dragon from his Extra Deck! Then Keys Summoned X-Saber Airbellum and attacked over Gladiator Beast Laquari to remove it from the game. He Set a back row and ended his turn.
LaMartina Set Gladiator Beast Bestiari next turn and fused it with his Gladiator Beast Darius to Fusion Summon Gladiator Beast Gyzarus! Keys instantly conceded, knowing Stardust Dragon and Gladiator Beast Gyzarus would finish him off that turn!
Daniel LaMartina defeats Barrett Keys and advances to the Top 8 of the World Championship Qualifier. One more victory for LaMartina will guarantee him a spot in the 2010 Yu-Gi-Oh! TCG World Championship.
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, LaMartina rushed Gladiator Beast Heraklinos onto the field with the effect of his Gladiator Beast Secutor and used it to take control of the Duel. This was a great play for LaMartina since most Decks, including X-Sabers, have trouble taking down a 3000 ATK monster without the help of Spell and Trap Cards. Once LaMartina used the effect of his Gladiator Beast Samnite to search his Deck for a Gladiator Beast War Chariot, he gained a complete lock on the Duel.
Michael McTavish (Top 8 Finalist – 2009 Canadian National Championship)
During Duel 1, LaMartina destroyed his opponent’s monster with Gladiator Beast Samnite and searched his Deck for Gladiator Beast War Chariot. He then could have attacked with Gladiator Beast Heraklinos but didn’t. Since LaMartina could have easily swapped Samnite for Murmillo if Keys used Gorz, this could have been an oversight on LaMartina’s part. While this didn’t make a difference in the end, it’s small mistakes like this that add up and can eventually lead to a loss. Always keep an eye out for little things like this to keep your game at its best!
