Top 4 Feature Match: Chris Arantes vs. Daniel LaMartina
Both Chris Arantes and Daniel LaMartina have made it to the Top 4 of the World Championship Qualifier and will be representing the United States in the 2010 Yu-Gi-Oh! World Championship. But now, they were competing against one another for additional prizes and the title of 2010 Yu-Gi-Oh! TCG U.S. National Champion.
Chris Arantes won the dice roll and chose to go first. He opened up with Gold Sarcophagus, Thunder King Rai-Oh, Call of the Haunted, XX-Saber Fulhelmknight, and 2 copies of XX-Saber Faultroll. He activated Gold Sarcophagus and removed Rescue Cat from his Deck to reclaim it in 2 turns. Then he Summoned XX-Saber Fulhelmknight to the field and Set Call of the Haunted, ending his turn.
LaMartina Summoned Gladiator Beast Darius and attacked. Arantes negated the attack with the effect of Fulhelmknight. LaMartina Set 2 cards in Main Phase 2 and ended his turn.
Arantes drew Dust Tornado next turn. Then he Normal Summoned Thunder King Rai-Oh to the field. LaMartina flipped Solemn Judgment and paid 4000 Life Points to negate the Summon! Then Arantes flipped Call of the Haunted to bring it back! Thunder King Rai-Oh attacked and destroyed Gladiator Beast Darius and then XX-Saber Fulhelmknight attacked directly, dropping LaMartina to 2500 Life Points. Arantes Set Dust Tornado in Main Phase 2 and ended his turn.
LaMartina Summoned Gladiator Beast Equeste next turn. Then he Special Summoned Test Tiger and Arantes Tributed Thunder King Rai-Oh to negate its Summon. Gladiator Beast Equeste attacked over XX-Saber Fulhelmknight next, inflicting 300 points of damage to Arantes. LaMartina tagged out his Equeste and Special Summoned Gladiator Beast Bestiari from his Deck. Bestiari targeted Arantes’s face-down Dust Tornado, and he chained it to destroy LaMartina’s Gladiator Beast War Chariot! LaMartina Set a back row and ended his turn.
Arantes drew Solemn Judgment next turn. Then he Summoned Rescue Cat to the field and Tributed it to Special Summon 2 copies of XX-Saber Darksoul from his Deck. Next, he Special Summoned XX-Saber Faultroll and activated its effect to Special Summon XX-Saber Fulhelmknight. He Tuned Fulhelmknight with Darksoul to Synchro Summon XX-Saber Hyunlei and destroy LaMartina’s face-down Cold Wave. Then Arantes Special Summoned another copy of Faultroll and LaMartina conceded.
A rocky start for LaMartina allows Arantes to make quick work of him in the first Duel. LaMartina will be going first in Duel 2!
LaMartina started things off by Summoning Gladiator Beast Darius to the field. Then he Set 4 cards to his back row and ended his turn.
Arantes opened up with Rescue Cat, X-Saber Airbellum, Thunder King Rai-Oh, Solemn Judgment, Royal Oppression, and Mind Control. He Summoned Thunder King Rai-Oh to the field. Then he Set Royal Oppression and Solemn Judgment face-down and ended his turn.
LaMartina attacked Thunder King Rai-Oh with Gladiator Beast Darius next turn. Then he activated Book of Moon to flip the Rai-Oh face-down and destroy it in battle. When he tried to tag out Darius, Arantes flipped Royal Oppression and paid 800 Life Points to negate its effect. LaMartina ended his turn.
Arantes drew XX-Saber Boggart Knight next turn. Then he Summoned X-Saber Airbellum to the field and attacked directly with it. LaMartina lost Brain Control from his hand due to Airbellum’s effect. Arantes ended his turn.
LaMartina activated Dimensional Fissure next turn and passed.
Arantes drew Thunder King Rai-Oh next turn. He attacked directly with X-Saber Airbellum and LaMartina lost Gladiator Beast’s Respite from his hand due to Airbellum’s effect. In Main Phase 2, Arantes Normal Summoned Boggart Knight and ended his turn.
LaMartina drew a card and Set it to his back row next turn.
Arantes drew Torrential Tribute next turn. Then he attacked directly with X-Saber Airbellum and LaMartina took the damage. When Boggart Knight attacked, LaMartina put it face-down with Book of Moon to block the attack. Arantes Set Torrential Tribute in Main Phase 2 and ended his turn.
LaMartina drew a card and ended his next turn.
Arantes drew another copy of Thunder King Rai-Oh next turn. Then he flipped his Boggart Knight and Summoned Thunder King Rai-Oh to the field. LaMartina had just 3200 Life Points left. Arantes attacked directly with X-Saber Airbellum, nailing Rescue Cat from LaMartina’s hand. Then Thunder King Rai-Oh attacked directly to end the Duel and LaMartina flipped Compulsory Evacuation Device to try to stop it. Arantes chained Solemn Judgment and it was all over! LaMartina’s 1600 Life Points wouldn’t be enough to save him.
Chris Arantes uses Royal Oppression to defeat Daniel LaMartina’s Gladiator Beasts to advance to the finals of the 2010 World Championship Qualifier! He was just one win away from becoming the National Champion!
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, Arantes left XX-Saber Fulhelmknight and Thunder King Rai-Oh on the field together, even though he already used Fulhelmknight’s effect to negate an attack and didn’t have any Spell or Trap Cards that would stop an attack. This was a risky play for Arantes to make against a Gladiator Beast Duelist. Even without the Test Tiger, LaMartina could have Summoned Equeste, attacked over Fulhelmknight, and tagged-in Gladiator Beast Murmillo to destroy Thunder King Rai-Oh and clear LaMartina’s field. It’s usually not a good idea to leave a weak monster on the field alongside a strong one when facing a Gladiator Beast Deck, especially when you don’t have any cards to stop your opponent’s attacks. It would have been a much safer play for LaMartina to Tune his Rai-Oh and Fulhelmknight together. This way, he’d get his 1300 ATK monster off the field and Synchro Summon a Level 7 Synchro Monster that would be hard for LaMartina to attack over with a Gladiator Beast.
Michael McTavish (Top 8 Finalist – 2009 Canadian National Championship)
Duel 1 in this duel is a perfect example of one of my favourite lessons as far as single card strategies go. When using Solemn Judgment it’s very important to consider every possible scenario that could happen as a result of its use. It almost always has a steep cost of thousands of Life Points to use, and as such, needs to be very carefully considered when deciding whether to use it or not.
In this game, LaMartina activates it very early on Arantes’ Thunder King Rai-Oh and it ends up costing him the game when Arantes simply activates his set Call of the Haunted to get it back. He may not have had a choice in the matter as far as needing that Rai-Oh off the field goes, but it did end up costing him.
