Round 2 Feature Match: Bruce Harris vs. Dylan Nollen
Dylan Nollen is a13-year-old YCS first-timer who has never won a local tournament. But, in the first round of this event, Nollen beat a former U.S. National Champion and YCS Champion, Adam Corn, in a Gladiator Beast mirror-match! His opponent, Bruce Harris, is 18 years old and running a Quickdraw Dandywarrior Deck. This is typically a good matchup for Gladiator Beasts, so Nollen is going into the Match with a slight edge.
Nollen won the dice roll and chose to go first. He opened up with Cyber Dragon, Gladiator Beast Secutor, Gladiator Proving Ground, Solemn Judgment, and 2 copies of Gladiator Beast War Chariot. He Set all of his Trap Cards before activating Gladiator Proving Ground to search for Gladiator Beast Laquari, and Summoning it to the field. Then he ended his turn.
Harris Set 2 cards in his back row, along with a monster, before passing to Nollen.
Nollen drew Royal Oppression next turn. Then he attacked with Gladiator Beast Laquari and Harris activated Dimensional Prison to try to remove it from the game! But Nollen paid 4000 Life Points to negate it with Solemn Judgment! Laquari destroyed Sangan, and Nollen negated Sangan’s effect with Gladiator Beast War Chariot. Next, he tagged out Laquari to Summon Equeste, returning Gladiator Beast War Chariot from his Graveyard to his hand with Equeste’s effect, and Harris flipped Torrential Tribute to destroy Equeste. Nollen Set Chariot and ended his turn.
Harris Set a monster and a back row before passing to Nollen.
Nollen Special Summoned Cyber Dragon next turn, then Normal Summoned Secutor. Next, he attacked Harris’s face-down monster with Cyber Dragon. Harris activated Mirror Force, and Cyber Dragon and Secutor were destroyed! Nollen Set a card to his back row before ending his turn.
Harris activated Monster Reborn next turn, but Nollen flipped Royal Oppression and paid 800 Life Points to negate it!
Nollen drew and Set Trap Stun before passing to Harris.
Harris and Nollen both passed their next turns without playing monsters.
Finally, Harris drew and Summoned Card Trooper! He sent Ryko, Lightsworn Hunter, Book of Moon, and Trap Stun from the top of his Deck to his Graveyard to boost Card Trooper to 1900 ATK, then attacked directly to drop Nollen to 1300 Life Points.
Nollen drew a card next turn so he had Dimensional Prison and Bottomless Trap Hole in his hand. Since he had 5 cards in his Spell and Trap Card Zone, he wasn’t able to Set either one of them immediately. He activated Trap Stun to make room in his Spell and Trap Card Zone, then Harris chained Dust Tornado to destroy Nollen’s Set Gladiator Beast War Chariot. Nollen Set Bottomless Trap Hole and Dimensional Prison before ending his turn.
On his next turn, Harris boosted his Card Trooper to 1900 ATK again, and attacked with it to try to end the Duel, but Nollen used Dimensional Prison to remove it from the game!
Nollen Summoned Gladiator Beast Equeste next turn and attacked Harris’s face-down Dandylion, negating its effect with Gladiator Beast War Chariot.
Harris activated Dark Hole next turn, destroying Equeste. Then he Summoned Debris Dragon, didn’t activate its effect, and attacked directly. He lost the monster to Dimensional Prison. Nollen only had 1300 Life Points remaining.
Nollen tried to Summon Gladiator Beast Darius next turn, but Harris negated the Summon with Solemn Judgment, by paying 4000 Life Points! Nollen ended his turn.
Harris Summoned Spore next turn and attacked directly for 400 damage! “He’s gonna kill me with that thing,” Nollen laughed. Harris ended his turn.
Nollen drew Test Tiger next turn and Summoned it to the field! He used it to attack and destroy Spore.
Harris activated Pot of Avarice next turn, sending 5 monsters from his Graveyard back to his Deck and drawing 2 cards. Harris Set 2 back rows and a monster, ending his turn.
Nollen drew and Summoned Gladiator Beast Retiari next turn. Retiari attacked, and Harris activated Dimensional Prison to remove it from the game. Nollen switched his Tiger to Defense Position and passed his turn.
Harris drew and passed.
Nollen drew Gladiator Beast Hoplomus and Set it before ending his turn.
Harris Set a monster and passed.
Nollen drew a card and Set a back row.
Harris activated Mystical Space Typhoon and destroyed Nollen’s Set Gladiator Beast War Chariot next turn. Then he Tributed 2 face-down copies of Dandylion for Tytannial, but it was removed from the game by Bottomless Trap Hole. Harris Special Summoned 4 Fluff Tokens from the effects of his Dandylions.
Nollen switched Test Tiger to Attack Position and flipped Gladiator Beast Hoplomus on his next turn. He attacked 2 Fluff Tokens with Hoplomus and Test Tiger, ending his turn.
Harris Summoned Debris Dragon next turn and used it to attack Test Tiger, but Nollen flipped Book of Moon to put the Dragon face-down. Harris ended his turn.
Nollen switched both of his monsters to Defense Position and passed his next turn.
Harris Tributed a Fluff Token to Summon Caius next turn. He had Caius target itself with its effect, hoping the 1000 damage would end the Duel. But Nollen flipped Bottomless Trap Hole to remove it from the game before Caius’s effect could kick in.
Nollen activated Trap Stun next turn! Then he Summoned Elemental Hero Prisma to the field and activated its effect to send Gladiator Beast Bestiari from his Deck to his Graveyard and change its name. He fused it with Hoplomus to Summon Gladiator Beast Gyzarus and destroyed Harris’s Set Bottomless Trap Hole and Ryko, Lightsworn Hunter with its effect. Then Gyzarus attacked Debris Dragon in battle, and Nollen tagged it out to Special Summon 2 copies of Gladiator Beast Laquari from his Deck. He Set a Book of Moon and ended his turn, suddenly in a dominating lead!
Harris Set a monster and passed his turn.
Nollen attacked the Set monster with Gladiator Beast Laquari next turn, but it was a Spirit Reaper. He couldn’t destroy it. Then the other Laquari destroyed Harris’s Fluff Token in battle. Nollen ended his turn with just a Cyber Dragon in his hand.
Harris Set a back row and passed, hiding behind Spirit Reaper.
Nollen activated Gladiator Proving Ground next turn. He searched his Deck for Gladiator Beast Hoplomus and added it to his hand. Then he Summoned it to the field and attacked Spirit Reaper with all 3 monsters. Laquari tried to tag out first, and Harris negated the tag-out by paying 800 Life Points with Royal Oppression. Then the second Laquari tried to tag out, and Harris negated it with Royal Oppression again. Finally, Hoplomus tagged out. Harris only had 800 Life Points left, so he couldn’t negate it! Gladiator Beast Darius emerged from the Deck and Special Summoned Gladiator Beast Bestiari from the Graveyard! Nollen fused his Darius with his Bestiari to Summon Gladiator Beast Gyzarus and destroy Nollen’s Spirit Reaper and Set Enemy Controller. Harris chained the Enemy Controller to switch Gladiator Beast Gyzarus to Defense Position. Nollen ended his turn.
Harris Set Spore and passed.
Nollen switched Gladiator Beast Gyzarus to Attack Position and attacked Spore. Spore was destroyed, and Nollen tagged out his Gladiator to Special Summon Gladiator Beast Laquari and Gladiator Beast Darius from his Deck. Darius Special Summoned Gladiator Beast Equeste. Then Nollen Special Summoned Test Tiger and Tributed it to send Equeste back to his Deck and Special Summon it again. He retrieved Chariot from his Graveyard with Equeste’s effect, Set it, and ended his turn.
Harris conceded on his next turn, unable to deal with all of Nollen’s monsters.
Dylan Nollen wins the first Duel, and Bruce Harris will be going first in Duel 2!
Harris started things off by Summoning Thunder King Rai-Oh and setting 4 cards to his back row.
Nollen started off with Dimensional Prison, Crevice into the Different Dimension, Trap Stun, Solemn Judgment, Test Tiger, and Gladiator Beast Laquari in his hand. He activated Dimensional Fissure, Set his other 3 Trap Cards, and ended his turn.
Harris attacked directly with Thunder King Rai-Oh next turn. Nollen took the damage.
Nollen Summoned Gladiator Beast Laquari on his next turn. Harris flipped Bottomless Trap Hole, but Nollen flipped Trap Stun to try to negate it! When Harris tried to negate the Trap Stun with Solemn Judgment, Nollen flipped his own copy of Solemn Judgment to make sure Trap Stun resolved! Then Nollen used Book of Moon to turn Thunder King Rai-Oh face-down. Nollen Special Summoned Test Tiger next, sending his Gladiator Beast Laquari back to the Deck in order to Special Summon Secutor in its place. He attacked the face-down Thunder King Rai-Oh with Secutor, and recruited Gladiator Beast Murmillo and Gladiator Beast Bestiari from his Deck with Secutor’s effect. Murmillo destroyed Thunder King Rai-Oh. Then Nollen fused Gladiator Beast Bestiari with Gladiator Beast Murmillo to Summon Gladiator Beast Gyzarus and destroy Harris’s Mirror of Oaths.
Harris activated Mystical Space Typhoon next turn to destroy Nollen’s Set Crevice into the Different Dimension, then activated Dark Hole to destroy Secutor and Gladiator Beast Gyzarus! Harris passed with a clear field.
Nollen drew Gladiator Beast War Chariot next turn and Set it before passing back to Harris.
Harris drew a monster and Set.
Nollen drew Mirror Force, Set it, and passed.
Harris Set Dimensional Prison, flipped Debris Dragon, and attacked with Debris Dragon. Nollen flipped Mirror Force to destroy it without taking the damage.
Nollen Summoned Gladiator Beast Laquari next turn and attacked, but lost his monster to Dimensional Prison.
Both players spent their next few turns drawing cards and Setting back rows without Summoning any monsters to the field. Finally, Nollen activated Giant Trunade! Harris chained Mystical Space Typhoon and Dust Tornado to destroy Nollen’s 2 Set copies of Gladiator Beast War Chariot. Dimensional Fissure was returned to Nollen’s hand by the effect of Giant Trunade. Nollen Summoned Gladiator Beast Bestiari next, and attacked directly for 1500 points of damage. Harris Summoned Gorz from his hand, and Nollen tagged out his monster for Gladiator Beast Equeste. Then Nollen activated Dark Hole to clear the field before replaying the Dimensional Fissure that had been returned to his hand.
Harris activated Monster Reborn next turn to Special Summon Gorz from his Graveyard, causing Nollen to concede.
Both Duelists turned a Duel around to gain an unexpected victory, and the Match pushed on to a third Duel!
Nollen chose to go first, and opened up with 2 copies of Dimensional Prison, Mirror Force, Solemn Judgment, Gladiator Beast Retiari, and Gladiator Beast Murmillo. He Summoned Gladiator Beast Retiari and then Set all of his Traps before ending his turn.
Harris Set 4 back rows and a monster before passing.
Nollen drew Test Tiger next turn. He attacked Harris’s Set monster with Gladiator Beast Retiari, but it was removed from the game by Harris’s Dimensional Prison. Nollen ended his turn.
Harris Set a card to his back row and passed.
Nollen Summoned Gladiator Beast Murmillo next turn. He used it to attack Harris’s Set Ryko, and Ryko’s effect destroyed it and sent 3 cards from the top of Harris’s Deck to his Graveyard.
Harris Summoned Spore next turn and attacked with it, but his monster was removed from the game by Dimensional Prison.
Nollen and Harris both passed their next few turns without much action, until finally, Harris Summoned Card Trooper, boosted it up to 1900 ATK by sending the top 3 cards from his Deck to his Graveyard, and attacked with it. Nollen flipped Dimensional Prison to try to remove the Trooper from the game, but Harris chained Trap Stun to negate the Dimensional Prison. In Main Phase 2, Harris activated Pot of Avarice to send 5 monsters from his Graveyard to his Deck and draw 2 cards before passing.
Nollen ended his next turn without making a play.
Harris pumped Card Trooper to 1900 ATK and used it to attack again on his next turn, but Nollen blocked the attack by flipping Book of Moon to put Card Trooper face-down.
Nollen drew and activated Dimensional Fissure next turn. Then he Set another back row, but still had no monsters to play.
Harris flipped Ryko, Lightsworn Hunter next turn. He destroyed Dimensional Fissure with its effect and then sent 3 monsters from the top of his Deck to his Graveyard. He Summoned Sangan next, and tried to attack. But Nollen flipped Mirror Force! Sangan, Card Trooper, and Ryko were destroyed. Harris drew a card with the effect of Card Trooper and searched for a Lonefire Blossom to add to his hand with the effect of Sangan.
Nollen drew Gladiator Beast War Chariot next turn and Set it in his back row before passing. It was no help.
Harris Summoned Lonefire Blossom next turn and Tributed it to Special Summon Tytannial from his Deck. Nollen flipped Bottomless Trap Hole to remove Tytannial from the game.
Nollen drew and activated Dimensional Fissure next turn. He just couldn’t get a monster! He ended his turn.
Harris Summoned Debris Dragon next turn and Special Summoned Spirit Reaper from the Graveyard with its effect. He attacked with both monsters, dealing 1300 points of damage to Nollen.
Nollen drew a card and Set 1 to his back row before ending his turn.
Harris attacked for 1300 points of damage using his 2 monsters, once again. Then he passed to Nollen.
Nollen activated Book of Moon next turn in order to turn Debris Dragon face-down, then activated Gladiator Proving Ground to search for Gladiator Beast Hoplomus and Set it.
The Duel stood with Nollen at 2200 Life Points, and Harris standing strong with 8000 Life Points!
Harris flipped Debris Dragon and Tuned it with Spirit Reaper to Synchro Summon Black Rose Dragon next turn! Harris removed a Plant-Type monster from his Graveyard to activate its effect and switch Nollen’s Hoplomus into Attack Position with 0 ATK. Nollen flipped Bottomless Trap Hole to remove Black Rose Dragon from the Duel. Harris Summoned Super-Nimble Mega Hamster next, and attacked Hoplomus, inflicting 1100 damage to Nollen’s Life Points.
Nollen activated Dark Hole to destroy Super-Nimble Mega Hamster and then Set Test Tiger before ending his turn.
Harris drew and passed to Nollen.
Nollen Set a back row and passed right back.
Harris drew a card and passed his next turn after Setting a monster.
Nollen drew a card, Set a back row, and passed once again.
Harris Tributed Dandylion next turn to Summon Caius the Shadow Monarch, but Harris flipped Torrential Tribute to clear the field.
Nollen drew a card and Set a back row, but it was all over next turn.
Harris Summoned Thunder King Rai-Oh and attacked directly for 1900 damage, ending the Duel! Nollen revealed his face-down Traps, 2 copies of Gladiator Beast War Chariot and a Trap Stun, and offered the handshake.
Bruce Harris takes a close 2-1 victory against Dylan Nollen to advance undefeated in the tournament!
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)
When Nollen Fusion Summoned Gyzarus with the protection of Trap Stun, he could’ve destroyed both of Harris’ monsters and attacked for game. There wasn’t much reason to destroy Harris’ back row card instead. If it was a defensive Spell like Book of Moon, Harris would’ve Chained it to Gyzarus’ effect anyways. When Life Points are low, and decisions need to be made, think hard about which choices could lead to victory.
Michael Kohanim (2009 World Championship Competitor)
In Duel 1, Nollen Normal Summoned Gladiator Beast Secutor to the field alongside his Cyber Dragon before attacking Harris’s face-down monster. This was a great play because it turned his Gladiator Beast War Chariot into a live card, in case Nollen’s attack target had an effect that would activate after it’s attacked.
