Jakob Sandberg is from Toronto, Canada, but moved to Capistrano Beach in Southern California just a year ago. He’s undefeated here today. But his opponent is California native Pete Navarro! Navarro is running a Volcanic Shell variant of Quickdraw Dandywarrior that’s won every single Match he’s played so far in this tournament.

Sandberg opened the Match with Reinforcement of the Army, searching his Deck for Elemental Hero Stratos. He Summoned it, activated its effect, and Navarro negated that with Effect Veiler. He Set 2 cards to his back row.

Navarro had Pot of Avarice, Raigeki Break, Spore, Book of Moon, and Dark Hole. He Set Break and Book, and lost Book in his End Phase to Sandberg’s Mystical Space Typhoon.

Sandberg attacked with Stratos for 1800 Battle Damage next turn.

Navarro drew Quickdraw Synchron and passed.

Sandberg smacked him with Stratos for another 1800 Battle Damage.

Navarro drew Pot of Duality, activated it, and revealed Debris Dragon, Caius the Shadow Monarch, and Royal Decree from the top of his Deck. He took Debris Dragon, shuffling the remaining 2 cards back. He Set Debris Dragon to block Stratos’ next attack.

Sandberg Summoned Thunder King Rai-Oh, attacked with Stratos, and took 200 Battle Damage deflecting off the Debris Dragon. He Set a second card to his back row.

Navarro drew Volcanic Shell and Set it.

Sandberg passed.

Navarro drew Ryko, Lightsworn Hunter, Setting Spore.

Sandberg attacked Ryko with Thunder King Rai-Oh, and Navarro destroyed Sandberg’s Set Solemn Warning, sending Ryko, Decree, and Book of Moon to his Graveyard off the top of his Deck. Stratos then attacked Spore, destroying it.

Navarro drew Lonefire Blossom. He activated Raigeki Break in his Standby Phase, discarding Volcanic Shell, and destroyed Sandberg’s face-down Bottomless Trap Hole. He needed to get rid of Thunder King to use Volcanic Shell’s effect, so he Summoned Lonefire Blossom, Tributed it to Special Summon another from his Deck, and Tributed that to Special Summon Tytannial, Princess of Camellias. Tytannial attacked Thunder King and Sandberg didn’t have an Honest to keep the Thunder King around! It was destroyed, and Navarro paid 500 Life Points in Main Phase 2 to get another Volcanic Shell from his Deck to his hand. He then shuffled Effect Veiler, 2 Rykos, and 2 Lonefire Blossoms back into his Deck for Pot of Avarice, drawing Royal Decree and Dandylion. He Set Decree, discarded Dandylion to Special Summon Quickdraw Synchron, and Special Summoned 2 Fluff Tokens. He Tuned Quickdraw to 1 of the Tokens and Synchro Summoned Drill Warrior! That let him discard Volcanic Shell to remove Drill Warrior from play, and he paid another 500 Life Points to add another Volcanic Shell to his hand.

Sandberg attacked Navarro’s last Fluff Token with Stratos next turn, then riffled through his 7-card hand. He Set 1 card to his Spell and Trap Card Zone, and Navarro activated Royal Decree in Sandberg’s End Phase. All those cards just really didn’t seem to be helping Sandberg.

Navarro Special Summoned back his Drill Warrior next turn, using its effect to return Dandylion to his hand. He Normal Summoned Dandylion, Tuned it to Debris Dragon, and Synchro Summoned Black Rose Dragon. He Special summoned another pair of Fluff Tokens, then discarded Volcanic Shell to remove Drill Warrior from play again. He removed Dandylion to Special Summon Spore at Level 4, Tuned it to his 2 Fluff Tokens, and Synchro summoned Brionac, Dragon of the Ice Barrier! He activated Charge of the Light Brigade, sent Dandylion, Quickdraw, and Pot of Avarice to his Graveyard to get Ryko from his deck, and Special Summoned 2 more Fluff Tokens. He discarded for Brionac to clear the way, and attacked with everything to end the first Duel!

Pete Navarro gets off to a rocky start, but recovers with a string of combos and tricks to claim victory in Duel 1! Both competitors spent some considerable time using their Side Decks before hunkering down for the second Duel.

Sandberg got us started with E – Emergency Call to get Elemental Hero Stratos, then Summoned it to search his Deck for Elemental Hero Neos Alius.

Navarro had Caius the Shadow Monarch, Dandylion, Royal Decree, Pot of Avarice, Snowman Eater, and Quickdraw Synchron. He discarded Dandylion to Special Summon Quickdraw and 2 Fluff Tokens, then Synchro Summoned Drill Warrior. It attacked to destroy Stratos, and Navarro discarded Caius to remove Drill Warrior. He Set Snowman Eater and Royal Decree, a huge first turn.

Play was back to Sandberg, who Special Summoned Cyber Dragon to attack and destroy Snowman Eater; its effect destroyed Cyber Dragon in turn. Sandberg Normal Summoned Neos Alius in Main Phase 2, then Set 2 cards to finish his turn: Navarro activated Royal Decree in the End Phase.

Navarro Special Summoned Drill Warrior, returning Caius the Shadow Monarch to his hand. He discarded Volcanic Shell to remove Drill Warrior from play, paid 500 Life Points to get another Shell from his Deck, and Tributed his Fluff Token for Caius the Shadow Monarch. Its effect targeted Neos Alius, but Sandberg Chained Gemini Spark to Tribute Alius and destroy Caius, drawing a card in the process!

Sandberg Summoned Thunder King Rai-Oh and attacked for 1900 Battle Damage.

Navarro drew Enemy Controller, brought back his Drill Warrior, and took back Dandylion. He halved Drill Warrior’s ATK, attacked for 1200 damage, and then discarded Volcanic Shell to remove Drill Warrior from play, and paid another 500 Life Points to get another Shell to his hand. He Set Enemy Controller and Dandylion.

Sandberg Summoned Neos Alius, attacked Dandylion, and Navarro got 2 Fluff Tokens. Thunder King attacked 1 of them, and Sandberg Set another Spell or Trap.

Navarro drew Spirit Reaper and Special Summoned Drill Warrior again, returning Dandylion to his hand. He activated Drill Warrior’s effect to halve its ATK, made a direct attack, and discarded Volcanic Shell in Main Phase 2 to remove Drill Warrior again. He Set Spirit Reaper to finish out. The Duel stood at 5100 Life Points to 5000, with Navarro narrowly in the lead.

“This Deck is ridiculous,” laughed Sandberg.

“That’s why it’s my favorite!” laughed Navarro. “I want that Regional mat with Junk Destroyer and Drill Warrior so badly!”

Sandberg attacked Spirit Reaper with Thunder King, and attacked the Fluff Token with Neos Alius.

Navarro drew Sangan, and Special Summoned Drill Warrior to return Caius the Shadow Monarch to his hand. He flipped Enemy Controller, Tributed Spirit Reaper, and took control of Neos Alius. He then Tributed it for Caius, removing Thunder King, and activated Pot of Avarice. Sandberg removed 1 of his targets, Quickdraw Synchron, with D.D. Crow, then took 4800 Battle Damage from Caius and Drill Warrior. Navarro discarded Dandylion to Special Summon 2 Fluff Tokens, removing Drill Warrior again.

Sandberg drew and activated Pot of Duality, revealing Cyber Dragon, Mystical Space Typhoon, and Royal Oppression. He took the Typhoon, Set 2 cards to his back row, and ended.

Navarro Special Summoned Drill Warrior, got Spirit Reaper back to his hand, and discarded Effect Veiler, removing Drill Warrior again. He then Normal Summoned Sangan, attacked, and Sandberg immediately conceded. “That was a really good deck. I had no idea what it was capable of.”

Navarro returned the handshake. “I can’t wait for the next set! Formula Synchron makes it even better.”

Pete Navarro moves on with a 6-0 record, now guaranteed a seat in the Day 2 Swiss Rounds!

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)
One big lesson to learn from this Duel?  Don’t activate Mystical Space Typhoon unless it’s going to provide needed protection, or allow a big play.  Sandberg activated it on his opponent’s first turn to destroy Book of Moon, and while that allowed him to do a bit more damage with Stratos, it left him with no way to destroy Navarro’s Royal Decree later.  Destroying that Book didn’t really help Sandberg at all.

Michael Kohanim (2009 World Championship Competitor)
Volcanic Shell was a great choice for Navarro to include in his Quickdraw Deck. Since Volcanic Shell lets Navarro add a monster to his hand every turn at the cost of 500 Life Points, discarding it to activate Drill Warrior’s effect nets him an extra useful monster, like Effect Veiler, every time Drill Warrior comes back to the field. Volcanic Shell also has great synergy with other cards in Navarro’s Deck that require him to discard cards from his hand, such as Raigeki Break.

P.J. Tierney (Duelist from across The Pond)
Sandberg attacked into a face-down Debris Dragon with his Elemental Hero Stratos in Duel 1, losing 200 Life Points in the process. This seemed to be an awkward move considering Sandberg saw Navarro add Debris Dragon to his hand with Pot of Duality of the previous turn. Sandberg had Summoned Thunder King Rai-Oh on this turn as well, so maybe he was expecting his opponent to have something weaker Set like a Sangan or Volcanic Shell, hoping to get a direct attack in. If Sandberg wanted to be totally safe though (by expecting a Ryko, Lightsworn Hunter) he could have attacked with Thunder King first, forcing Navarro to choose between being locked out of Synchro Summons or taking 1800 points of damage if the Set monster did indeed turn out to be a Ryko.

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