Round 1 Feature Match: Eric Granados vs. Richard Hernandez
Our first Feature Match of the day has 2 locals, both from right here in San Jose, Dueling for their first of hopefully many wins! Richard Hernandez works for a medical device company, and is playing here today in his first premier-level event piloting Machina Gadgets. Eric Granados is a detective – seriously! – for the San Jose Police Department. His Deck of choice? An innovative Elemental Hero Fusion Deck capitalizing on Paradox Fusion.
Hernandez started our day off with Yellow Gadget, Summoning it to search his Deck for Green Gadget and adding it to his hand. He Set a card to his Spell and Trap Card Zone and ended.
Granados had an opening hand of Monster Reborn, King of the Swamp, Torrential Tribute, Elemental Hero Ocean, Miracle Fusion, and Debris Dragon. He discarded King of the Swamp, searched his Deck for Polymerization, and Summoned Debris Dragon. The Dragon’s effect Special Summoned King of the Swamp from Granados’ Graveyard, and Granados activated Polymerization, fusing his King and his Ocean for Elemental Hero Absolute Zero. Hernandez removed it with Bottomless Trap Hole, but the effect of Absolute Zero destroyed his Yellow Gadget. Debris Dragon attacked, and Hernandez Special Summoned Gorz the Emissary of Darkness! Granados Set Torrential Tribute.
Hernandez Summoned Green Gadget, didn’t activate its effect, and lost it to Torrential Tribute, which destroyed all the monsters on the field. He Set a Spell or Trap.
Granados drew another Polymerization, activated Monster Reborn to take Hernandez’s Gorz, and attacked. But Hernandez stopped the attack with Book of Moon.
Hernandez Normal Summoned D.D. Warrior Lady, attacked, and removed Gorz and the Lady from the game with her effect. He Set a Spell or Trap and ended with 2 cards in-hand.
Granados drew Treeborn Frog. He Set the Frog.
Hernandez Summoned Red Gadget, got another Yellow Gadget from his Deck, and attacked to destroy Treeborn. He Set another Spell or Trap.
Granados drew Mirror Force. He Special Summoned Treeborn Frog in Defense Position and Set Mirror Force.
Hernandez Summoned Yellow Gadget, got Green Gadget from his Deck, and attacked, but Granados activated Mirror Force. Hernandez Chained My Body As a Shield to keep his Gadgets from being destroyed. Treeborn Frog was destroyed by the attack, and Red Gadget made a direct attack. The Duel stood at 6700 Life Points to 4500 Life Points, with Granados leading.
Granados drew Solemn Judgment, Special Summoned Treeborn again, and Set Judgment.
Hernandez activated Giant Trunade, Summoned Green Gadget, got Red Gadget from his Deck, and destroyed Treeborn Frog with Yellow Gadget. The remaining 2 Gadgets attacked directly, and Granados was down to 4000 Life Points. A Set Spell or Trap ended the turn.
Granados drew Paradox Fusion. With his opponent’s field now filled with 3 monsters, he activated Miracle Fusion, removed Ocean and King of the Swamp from his Graveyard, and Special Summoned a second Elemental Hero Absolute Zero! He didn’t attack; instead, he Set Paradox Fusion. One of Granados’ biggest combos was now locked and loaded.
Hernandez turned his Gadgets to Defense Position and ended his turn.
Granados drew Interdimensional Matter Transporter. He attacked Red Gadget, Hernandez flipped Book of Moon, and Granados negated it with Paradox Fusion by removing Absolute Zero from play for 2 turns. And since Absolute Zero left the field, its own effect activated and Hernandez lost all 3 of his Gadgets!
Hernandez drew to 5 cards in hand. He activated Mystical Space Typhoon and destroyed Matter Transporter, then Summoned Red Gadget. He didn’t have any more Gadgets left to search from his Deck, but he attacked to knock his opponent down to 2700 Life Points. He Set a card to his back row.
Granados drew Salvage and ended, bringing back Absolute Zero in the End Phase.
Hernandez shook his head, and sent Red Gadget to attack Absolute Zero. He activated Limiter Removal in the Damage Step, but Granados negated it with Solemn Judgment. Red Gadget slammed into Absolute Zero, was destroyed in battle, and Hernandez dropped to 3300 Life Points. Granados had 1350 Life Points left.
He drew Debris Dragon next turn. He Special Summoned Treeborn Frog, attacked with his 3000 ATK Absolute Zero, and Hernandez blocked the attack with Book of Moon.
Hernandez Set 1 card to his back row.
Granados drew Snowman Eater. He Flip Summoned Absolute Zero, attacked, and this time Hernandez destroyed it with Mirror Force. Granados Set Snowman Eater.
Hernandez Set a back row card.
Granados drew Elemental Hero Wildheart! He attacked for 1500 Battle Damage, and in Main Phase 2 he activated Polymerization, Fusing Treeborn Frog and Wildheart to unleash a third Elemental Hero Absolute Zero.
Hernandez Summoned Machina Gearframe, getting Machina Fortress from his Deck to his hand. He discarded Machina Force to Special Summon the Fortress, attached Gearframe to the Fortress, and attacked Absolute Zero. Zero was destroyed, and Gearframe was as well. Zero’s effect then activated, and Fortress was destroyed.
Granados drew Fusion Recovery. He Special Summoned Treeborn Frog, activated Recovery, and used it to return Wildheart and Polymerization to his hand. Hernandez had 1800 Life Points left, while Granados still had 1350. Hernandez had 1 card still Set in his back row, and Granados was weighing the risks very carefully before deciding his move. He Normal Summoned Wildheart, attacked for 1500 damage, and ended. Hernandez had just 300 Life Points left.
Hernandez discarded another Machina Force, Special Summoned Machina Fortress from his Graveyard, and attacked Wildheart! Now Granados had just 350 Life Points remaining!
Granados drew E – Emergency Call. He Set it, Set Polymerization, and Set Salvage before Flip Summoning Snowman Eater. Machina Fortress was destroyed, and Granados discarded Debris Dragon, his last in-hand card, due to the Fortress’ effect. He then activated the Emergency Call he’d just Set, added Elemental Hero Voltic to his hand from his Deck, and Summoned it. He attacked, and Hernandez removed Voltic with Dimensional Prison. Mystical Space Typhoon destroyed Salvage in the End Phase, and Snowman Eater was wide open with its 0 ATK!
But Hernandez couldn’t draw a monster. He Set his only card to his back row.
Granados drew Polymerization, turned Snowman Eater to Defense Position, and ended.
Hernandez passed.
Granados drew another Snowman Eater and Set it.
Hernandez Summoned Machina Gearframe. He got another Fortress from his Deck. It was 350 Life Points to 300! Hernandez discarded 2 copies of Fortress, Special Summoning 1 of them. Gearframe attacked into the Snowman Eater, it destroyed Fortress, and Granados lost his Polymerization to Fortress’ effect. Hernandez lost 100 Life Points.
Granados drew and Set Paradox Fusion.
Hernandez attacked Treeborn Frog, destroying it.
Granados drew another E – Emergency Call. He still hadn’t seen Elemental Hero Stratos, so he activated Emergency Call, grabbed Stratos from his Deck, Summoned it, and added Elemental Hero Bubbleman to his hand from his Deck. He Special Summoned Bubbleman with its effect, attacked with Stratos, but lost it to another Dimensional Prison! Bubbleman was left vulnerable, and a turn later Hernandez attacked it for victory!
A hard-fought Duel comes down to an ambitious play from Granados, and Hernandez takes advantage to score the first win of the Match! Hernandez would’ve had no way to break through Granados’ pair of Snowman Eaters, but Granados gave him the opening he needed. Both Duelists made quick use of their side Decks before starting the second Duel.
Granados opened Duel 2 with a hand of Elemental Hero Wildheart, E – Emergency Call, Monster Reborn, Snowman Eater, Polymerization, and Salvage. He Set Snowman Eater. With access to Elemental Hero Stratos through Emergency Call, this Duel might be far different from the first.
Hernandez Summoned Yellow Gadget, got Green Gadget, attacked, and ran into Snowman Eater, losing his Yellow Gadget. He Set a single Spell or Trap.
Granados Summoned Elemental Hero Wildheart, attacked for 1500 Battle Damage, then Set Royal Decree. It seemed like he wasn’t going to start Fusion Summoning until there was a monster on Hernandez’s side of the field for Elemental Hero Absolute Zero to threaten with its effect.
Hernandez flipped his set Cold Wave next turn. He Summoned Machina Gearframe, got Machina Force from his Deck, and discarded it to Special Summon Machina Fortress. He attacked and destroyed both of Granados’ monsters. Granados had nothing but Spell Cards, so the pressure was on. Hernandez attached Machina Gearframe to Fortress.
Granados drew King of the Swamp, and had to choose between Setting it to defend himself, or keeping it in his hand. He chose to keep it, and passed.
Hernandez Special Summoned Gearframe, Normal Summoned Green Gadget, and got Red Gadget from his Deck. Did he have another Fortress? He did! He discarded Red Gadget and a second Fortress, attacked with everything, and it was game over!
Eric Granados has the Elemental Hero Stratos and Elemental Hero Absolute Zero plays, but doesn’t pull the trigger, and Richard Hernandez has the game-winning Cold Wave! Hernandez chalks up his first victory of the day!
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)
Granados could’ve held back with Bubbleman, attacked with Stratos into Dimensional Prison, and still had control of the field with his 2 Snowman Eaters. He would’ve been able to wait the Duel out until he got another answer to Hernandez’s Machina Gearframe, then attacked for the win. Always ask yourself what could go wrong when you make your plays. If losing is a possibility, and you don’t have to make that play yet, hold back until things are safer.
Michael Kohanim (2009 World Championship Competitor)
Duel 1 became tough for Granados once he used up all 3 copies of Elemental Hero Absolute Zero. He couldn’t make some of his strongest plays that would otherwise be available, like fusing Elemental Hero Wildheart and Treeborn Frog together when he had Polymerization. Hernandez was able to capitalize on Granados’s inability to make any strong plays, and won the Duel because of it.
