Tyler Cole and Jason Huertas traveled here together this weekend from Reno, Nevada. Now, one of them would walk away with a set of the Darklord Prize Cards! Huertas is playing X-Sabers, while Cole is running Gladiator Beasts. Let’s get to it!

Cole opened the Match with a Set monster and 2 Set cards to his Spell and Trap Card Zone.

Huertas had a hand of Torrential Tribute, Book of Moon, XX-Saber Boggart Knight, Trap Stun, Bottomless Trap Hole, and Mystical Space Typhoon. He Set Torrential, activated Space Typhoon, and destroyed Cole’s Set Gladiator Beast War Chariot. He Set Bottomless.

Cole Set a monster, and then Contact Fused for Gladiator Beast Gyzarus. Turns out he’d just Set Bestiari, while he’d Set Gladiator Beast Hoplomus on his first turn. He Special Summoned Gyzarus, targeted both of his opponent’s cards, and Huertas Chained Bottomless Trap Hole to remove Gyzarus. His Torrential Tribute was destroyed. Cole Set a second Spell or Trap.

Huertas drew XX-Saber Fulhelmknight. He Summoned it, attacked for 1300 Battle Damage, and Set Trap Stun and Book of Moon.

Cole activated Gladiator Proving Ground, getting Hoplomus from his Deck. He Set a monster, Set a third Spell or Trap, and ended with 1 card left in his hand.

Huertas drew XX-Saber Faultroll with Boggart in hand. He Summoned Boggart, Special Summoned Faultroll, and Tuned Fulhelmknight to Boggart Knight to Synchro Summon X-Saber Urbellum. He activated Faultroll’s effect, Special Summoned Fulhelmknight from his Graveyard, and attacked with Urbellum. Cole responded with Mirror Force, Huertas Chained Trap Stun, and Cole Chained Waboku. Urbellum attacked to reveal Cole’s Set Gladiator Beast Laquari, and Cole tagged it out for Gladiator Beast Bestiari. It destroyed Heurtas’ Book of Moon.

 

Cole Summoned Hoplomus next turn and Contact Fused for Gyzarus once again, this time destroying Fulhelmknight and Faultroll. He then attacked Urbellum to destroy it, and tagged out to Special Summon Gladiator Beast Equeste and Gladiator Beast Retiari. He took back his Gladiator Beast War Chariot and removed Urbellum from his opponent’s Graveyard. He Set his 2 remaining cards to his back row.

Huertas Set his topdecked Gottoms’ Emergency Call.

Cole attacked with Equeste and Retiari, tagging out for Laquari and Retiari again. This time Retiari removed Fulhelmknight from Huertas’ Graveyard. Cole Set another Spell or Trap.

Huertas drew and played Dark Hole! Cole lost both of his Gladiator Beasts.

Cole passed.

Huertas drew Faultroll and passed.

Cole passed back.

Huertas drew Cold Wave and passed.

Cole Summoned Gladiator Beast Darius, attacked to drop Huertas to 3300 Life Points, and tagged in Equeste to get back Laquari from his Graveyard.

Huertas drew XX-Saber Emmersblade and Set it.

Cole blasted him with Mystical Space Typhoon next turn, destroying Gottoms’ Emergency Call. Cole Summoned Thunder King Rai-Oh, attacked into Emmersblade, and Emmersblade’s effect was negated by War Chariot. Equeste made a direct attack, then tagged out to Darius to Special Summon Retiari. He Set a fourth Spell or Trap.

Huertas’ next card was Trap Stun, and he conceded the First Duel!

Both competitors went straight for their Side Decks. The atmosphere was definitely friendly, as both Duelists joked about knowing what the other was likely to side.

Huertas opened with XX-Saber Darksoul, XX-Saber Boggart Knight, Pot of Duality, Book of Moon, Cold Wave, and Trap Stun. He Set Darksoul, activated Pot of Duality, and revealed another Darksoul, Book of Moon, and Saber Hole: he added Book to his hand, shuffling the rest back. He Set Trap Stun, Set Book, and ended.

Cole Summoned Thunder King, attacked, and Huertas let him destroy Darksoul. Cole Set a card to his back row, and Huertas flipped Thunder King face-down with Book of Moon in the End Phase to claim his Darksoul’s effect. That got him XX-Saber Fulhelmknight from his Deck.

Huertas drew Dark Hole. He activated Cold Wave, Normal Summoned Boggart Knight, Special Summoned Fulhelmknight, and attacked with Fulhelmknight to destroy Thunder King and Special Summon Darksoul. He then attacked with Darksoul and Boggart Knight for a total of 2000 Battle Damage. In Main Phase 2 he Tuned Darksoul to Fulhelmknight, Synchro Summoned XX-Saber Hyunlei, and destroyed Cole’s Set Book of Moon. He got XX-Saber Faultroll from his Deck with Darksoul in the End Phase.

Cole drew to 5 cards in hand. “I need to topdeck to save my life.” He Summoned Gladiator Beast Murmillo, Special Summoned Test Tiger, and tagged Murmillo in and out of his Deck by Tributing the Tiger. Cole destroyed XX-Saber Hyunlei with Murmillo’s effect, then ended.

Huertas couldn’t draw another X-Saber, so he couldn’t Special Summon Faultroll. He destroyed Murmillo with Boggart Knight, then Set Book of Moon and Saber Hole.

Cole Set a monster, then Set 2 cards to his back row.

Huertas drew Pot of Duality, and revealed X-Saber Airbellum and 2 XX-Saber Fulhelmknight: he took a Fulhelmknight. He attacked into Hoplomus with Boggart Knight, and Cole tagged out to Special Summon Gladiator Beast Laquari.

Cole activated Cold Wave! He followed up by attacking with Laquari, destroying Boggart Knight, and Special Summoning Hoplomus in Defense Position.

Huertas drew another Saber Hole. He Summoned Fulhelmknight and ended.

Cole Set a third card to his back row.

Huertas drew Gottoms‘ Emergency Call, and Set 2 cards total to fill his back row.

Cole passed, and in the End Phase Heurtas activated Gottoms‘ Emergency Call. Cole negated it with Trap Stun.

Huertas drew Boggart Knight. He Summoned it, then activated Trap Stun: Cole flipped Boggart Knight face-down with Book of Moon, keeping Huertas from Special Summoning Faultroll. Huertas ended.

Cole Set a card to his back row.

Huertas Flip Summoned Boggart Knight, activated Dark Hole, and cleared the field. He Normal Summoned Airbellum, attacked, and when Airbellum’s effect triggered, Cole responded with Chivalry to save the card in his hand and destroy Airbellum.

Cole Summoned Gladiator Beast Samnite, attacked, and was stopped by Huertas’ Book of Moon.

Huertas Set a Spell or Trap.

Cole attacked directly with Samnite, then tagged out to Gladiator Beast Equeste. Now it was Huertas’ turn to activate Chivalry! Equeste was destroyed. Cole activated Dimensional Fissure.

Huertas Summoned Darksoul and attacked for 100 Battle Damage.

Cole Set a Spell or Trap.

Huertas attacked again with Darksoul, and Set a Spell or Trap.

Cole Summoned Thunder King Rai-Oh, but Huertas negated the Summon with Saber Hole.

Huertas drew another Faultroll he couldn’t Summon. He attacked for another 100 Battle Damage.

Cole Set a fifth Spell or Trap.

Huertas drew Monster Reborn. He thought a moment, checked both Graveyard, and activated Reborn to Special Summon Fulhelmknight. He Special Summoned Faultroll, Tuned Darksoul and Fulhelmknight together for Hyunlei, and Hyunlei destroyed Dimensional Fissure. Huertas Special Summoned Darksoul in Defense Position with Faultroll, and he attacked with Hyunlei, but Cole had Waboku. Huertas Special Summoned his second Faultroll, used it to bring back Airbellum to the field, then Tuned it to Darksoul to Synchro Summon Goyo Guardian. He got XX-Saber Emmersblade from his Deck in his End Phase.

Cole Set a fourth Spell or Trap.

Huertas drew Giant Trunade, activated it, and Cole Chained another Waboku! Huertas used a Faultroll to Special Summon Fulhelmknight, Tuned it to Goyo Guardian for XX-Saber Gottoms, then Tributed the used Faultroll to make Cole discard Solemn Judgment. The second Faultroll then Special Summoned Darksoul, Huertas Tributed that, and Cole discarded War Chariot.  He Tributed Faultroll and Hyunlei to discard Cole’s last 2 cards, another War Chariot and Chivalry. He Set a monster, Set 2 cards to his back row, and didn’t take his Darksoul search. When Cole Summoned Samnite next turn, Huertas flipped Saber Hole and Cole conceded!

One more Duel would decide the winner of the prize cards! After brief Side Deck tweaks they started the last Duel. About 3 minutes remained in the Match.

Cole opened with Dimensional Fissure, Gladiator Beast Equeste, and 2 Set cards to his back row.

Huertas had 2 Chivalry, Book of Moon, Gottoms‘ Emergency Call, Giant Trunade, and Book of Moon. Time was called, and Huertas set everything but Dark Hole and Trunade.

Cole activated Cold Wave and attacked for 1600 Battle Damage with Equeste. He tagged out to Gladiator Beast Hoplomus, with 2400 DEF.

Huertas drew Effect Veiler: he had no way to deal 1600 or more damage this turn, and conceded the Duel!

Tyler Cole wins a set of Super Rare Darklord Prize Cards, as Gladiator Beasts triumph over X-Sabers!

 

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)
We got to see Huertas activate Saber Hole twice in the second Duel – it’s a good Trap to play against Gladiators, because it can negate both the Normal Summon of a “Gladiator Beast” monster, and the Summon of Gladiator Beast Gyzarus.  By comparison, Bottomless Trap Hole can only stop the Normal or Special Summon of Gladiator Beasts with 1500 ATK or more, and it doesn’t stop Gyzarus’ effect from destroying 2 of your cards. Saber hole negates Gyzarus’ Summon, so its effect never activates.

Michael Kohanim (2009 World Championship Competitor)
In Duel 2, Huertas let Cole destroy his XX-Saber Darksoul with Thunder King Rai-Oh, and then used Book of Moon to put Rai-Oh face-down in the End Phase. This was a great play because it allowed Huertas to search his Deck for the X-Saber he wanted (Fulhelmknight) while leaving Rai-Oh face-down and vulnerable for him to take down in battle on his next turn.

P.J. Tierney (Duelist from across The Pond)
In Duel 1, Cole combined his 2 Set Gladiator Beasts to Summon Gladiator Beast Gyzarus from his Extra Deck. Since you can return face-down Gladiator Beasts to the Deck to Summon Gyzarus or Gladiator Beast Heraklinos, it’s always a better idea to Set your monsters instead of Summoning them before making the move, as they could get stopped by Torrential Tribute or Bottomless Trap Hole if they were Summoned instead.

Click here to check out the next feature match.