Top 4 Feature Match: Sean Montague vs. Vincent Pagila
Both of these competitors were now headed to the Yu-Gi-Oh! TCG World Championship to represent the United States, but for now, 2 Rounds still remained in this tournament, and the winner would become the 2010 U.S. National Champion! Three X-Saber Decks and one Gladiator Beast Deck remained in this tournament, and Vincent Pagila was set to Duel Sean Montague in an X-Saber mirror Match!
Pagila started the Match with a hand of X-Saber Airbellum, Royal Oppression, Torrential Tribute, Giant Trunade, Thunder King Rai-Oh, and Sangan. He Set Sangan, Set Torrential, and ended.
Montague Set 2 cards to his back row, Set a monster, and ended.
Pagila drew XX-Saber Darksoul, Set it, and Set Royal Oppression. Montague blasted it with Mystical Space Typhoon in the End Phase.
Montague Flip Summoned Darksoul, and activated his own Torrential Tribute! It destroyed his Darksoul, Pagila’s Darksoul, and Pagila’s Sangan, which got Pagila Rescue Cat. Montague Normal Summoned XX-Saber Boggart Knight, didn’t activate its effect, and Pagila flipped his Torrential Tribute. Pagila got XX-Saber Faultroll in his End Phase. Montague forgot to get his Darksoul search.
Pagila Summoned Rescue Cat, Special Summoned 2 copies of Airbellum, Special Summoned XX-Saber Faultroll, and Special Summoned back his Darksoul. 1 Airbellum attacked, and Montague Summoned Gorz the Emissary of Darkness and a 1600 ATK Emissary of Darkness Token in Defense Position. Faultroll destroyed the Token, and Pagila moved to Main Phase 2 where he Synchro Summoned XX-Saber Gottoms. He Tributed Darksoul to make Montague discard his last card, Heavy Storm, and Set 2 cards to his back row. In the End Phase Pagila got XX-Saber Boggart Knight from his Deck, as Airbellum was destroyed.
Montague drew Rescue Cat next turn, but simply couldn’t fight his way back into the Duel. He conceded and immediately began Side Decking.
A perfect opening leads to a decisive win for Vincent Pagila! Just like the Top 8, Sean Montague is left to try and win 2 Duels back-to-back in order to survive in this tournament!
Montague activated Gold Sarcophagus, activating it to send Brain Control from his Deck to his ‘removed zone’. He Set a monster, Set a card to his back row, and ended.
Pagila had Rescue Cat, 2 Thunder King Rai-Oh, Giant Trunade, Solemn Judgment, and Dust Tornado. He Summoned Thunder King, attacked into Book of Moon, and Set Solemn and Dust Tornado.
Montague bounced away Pagila’s Set cards with Giant Trunade next turn, then Flip Summoned Sangan and Normal Summoned Airbellum. He Synchro Summoned Goyo Guardian, got Rescue Cat from his Deck, and ran over Thunder King to take control of it.
Pagila drew XX-Saber Fulhelmknight. He Summoned Rescue Cat, Special Summoned Airbellum and Darksoul, and attacked Thunder King to destroy it before Synchro Summoning Brionac, Dragon of the Ice Barrier in Main Phase 2. He then discarded Thunder King to bounce Goyo back to Montague’s Extra Deck. He Set Dust Tornado and Solemn once again, then discarded Trunade to bounce his own Brionac, weary of that Brain Control! Darksoul got him XX-Saber Boggart Knight in the End Phase.
Montague got his Brain Control next turn. He Summoned Rescue Cat, but lost it when Pagila negated the Summon with Solemn Judgment. Montague Set Torrential Tribute but lost it to Dust Tornado in the End Phase.
Pagila Summoned XX-Saber Boggart Knight, Spcial Summoned Fulhelmknight, and attacked.
Montague took Fulhelmknight with Brain Control, Summoned Airbellum, and Special Summoned 2 Faultrolls! A flurry of Synchro Summons and Special Summons later, he controlled XX-Saber Gottoms, Goyo Guardian, Faultroll, and a Darksoul, which he Tributed to make Pagila discard his last in-hand card: Gorz the Emissary of Darkness! Montague attacked with Faultroll, Goyo, and Gottoms to win the Duel!
One Duel remained, and the winner would advance to the Finals!
Pagila had Gold Sarcophagus, Gottoms’ Emergency Call, Bottomless Trap Hole, Sangan, XX-Saber Fulhelmknight, and XX-Saber Darksoul. Sarcophagus let him remove Cold Wave from the game, and he Set Bottomless Trap Hole and Sangan.
Montague wiped the field with Heavy Storm, attacked Sangan with Thunder King Rai-Oh to prevent Sangan’s effect, and removed his Rescue Cat from the game with Gold Sarcophagus. He Set a card to his back row.
Pagila drew Heavy Storm. He Summoned Fulhelmknight, Set Gottoms’ Emergency Call, and ended.
Montague Summoned XX-Saber Emmersblade, attacked Fulhelmknight with Thunder King, and the attack was negated. Emmersblade then traded in battle with Fulhelmknight, both monsters were destroyed, and Montague Special Summoned X-Saber Airbellum. Airbellum attacked, and Pagila discarded XX-Saber Darksoul. When Pagila tried to activate Gottoms’ Emergency Call in the End Phase, Montague negated it with Royal Oppression.
Pagila took his Cold Wave, Summoned Airbellum, and attacked his opponent’s Airbellum to destroy them both. He Set 1 card to his back row.
Montague eattacked with Thunder King Rai-Oh.
Pagila Set another Spell or Trap.
Montague attacked with Thunder King again.
Pagila Set another Spell or Trap.
Montague attacked with Thunder King once more – Pagila was down to just 700 Life Points! Montague Set a monster, then Set a Spell or Trap.
Pagila destroyed Montague’s Starlight Road with Dust Tornado, then flipped his Set Mind Control to take Montague’s Thunder King! He also destroyed Montague’s Oppression with Heavy Storm. But that was it! Pagila had no followup, and conceded!
Sean Montague fought back from a first Duel defeat for the second time we saw today, and would now play in the Finals for the title of U.S. National Champion!
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)
Pagila started things off with one of the best openings any deck can make, Setting Sangan and Torrential Tribute. That combo usually baits the opponent into Summoning so Torrential can clear the field and Sangan can get a monster from the Deck. When Montague Set a monster, and Pagila got to Set Darksoul (another monster with a search effect that can be activated off Torrential) things seemed to get even better. But in an unseen twist, Montague had the same set-up! Since Montague played his Torrential first, Pagila got to activate his later. Sometimes, patience is the shortest path to victory.
Michael Kohanim (2009 World Championship Competitor)
In Duel 3, Pagila had XX-Saber Fulhelmknight on the field against Montague’s Thunder King Rai-Oh and XX-Saber Emmersblade. When Montague attacked Fulhelmknight with Rai-Oh, Pagila negated the attack, allowing Emmersblade and Fulhelmknight to destroy one another in battle. This allowed Montague to Special Summon X-Saber Airbellum from his Deck with Emmersblade’s effect. Pagila may have been better off choosing not to negate Rai-Oh’s attack. Even though the decision to negate Rai-Oh’s attack left Pagila able to activate Gottoms’ Emergency Call sooner by quickly putting 2 X-Sabers in the Graveyards, it also allowed Montague to trade his Emmersblade for an Airbellum and score a direct attack. That trade ended up costing Pagila a card from his hand. When playing in an X-Saber mirror-match, try not to let your opponent trade his Emmersblade for your Fulhelmknight in battle.
Michael McTavish (Top 8 Finalist – 2009 Canadian National Championship)
In the final rounds of a World Championship Qualifier tournament, tensions rise and pressure pushes down on you like a weight. This was noticeable in game 1 when Montague not only forgot to use his XX-Saber Darksoul search, but also went overly aggressive in activating his own Torrential Tribute when his opponent clearly had a good chance of having a Darksoul or two of his own. He eventually fought back out of it in games 2 and 3, but it’s an important lesson to always try and keep cool, no matter the pressure pushing down on you.
P.J. Tierney (Duelist from across The Pond)
In Duel 1 Montague Flip Summoned XX-Saber Darksoul, and cleared the field with Torrential Tribute. He then Summoned XX-Saber Boggart Knight and got hit with Pagila’s Torrential. If Montague had just Normal Summoned his Boggart Knight instead of activating his Torrential Tribute earlier, his monsters may have survived, and even if they didn’t, he would still have his own copy of Torrential Tribute to use when Pagila Summoned his monsters next turn.
