With nearly two thirds of Day 1 now in the record books, it seemed like a good time to take a peek at the action on Table 1.  Sasha Del Conte traveled here this weekend from Montreal, Quebec, while his opponent Justin Reyes is from right here, in Toronto.  Reyes is playing X-Sabers, while Conte is playing Blackwings.

Reyes opened the Match with Cold Wave, XX-Saber Darksoul, XX-Saber Fulhelmknight, 2 Book of Moon, and Mind Control.  He Set Darksoul, Set Book, and ended.

Conte destroyed Reyes’ Book of Moon with Mystical Space Typhoon, and activated Black Whirlwind.  He Normal Summoned Blackwing – Sirocco the Dawn, used Whirlwind to search his Deck for Blackwing – Shura the Blue Flame, and added it to his hand.  He attacked with Sirocco to destroy Darksoul, then Set 3 Spell or Trap Cards.  Reyes used Darksoul’s effect to search his Deck for XX-Saber Faultroll.

He drew X-Saber Pashuul next turn, and activated Cold Wave: Conte Chained Solemn Judgment, dropping to 4000 Life Points to negate the Spell Card’s activation.  Reyes had to settle for just Summoning Fulhelmknight and attacking, but he was denied by Book of Moon, and Fulhelmknight went face-down.  He Set his second Book himself, but lost it to Delta Crow – Anti Reverse in the End Phase.

Conte activated Pot of Duality next turn, revealing the top 3 cards from his Deck: Dark Hole, Monster Reborn, and Cards for Black Feathers.  He shuffled the 2 Limited cards back in favor of grabbing Feathers, and Normal Summoned Shura to get Blackwing – Vayu the Emblem of Honor from his deck with Whirlwind.  He removed the Vayu for Cards for Black Feathers, drew 2 cards, and attacked with Shura, destroying Fulhelmknight: he couldn’t use Shura’s effect due to the restrictions from his Spells, but made a direct attack with Sirocco and Set a Spell or Trap Card.

Reyes drew another Pashuul.  He Set it and ended.

Conte activated Icarus Attack next turn, Tributing his Shura to destroy Pashuul and his own Black Whirlwind.  He then Normal Summoned Blizzard, Special Summoned Shura, and activated Sirocco’s effect to boost its ATK to 5100.  His last card was Blackwing – Kalut the Moon Shadow, and he used it to let Sirocco attack for 6500 Battle Damage in a single shot to end the Duel!

Sasha Del Conte takes commanding control over Duel 1, and is now one win away from a 6-0 record.  Both competitors made ample use of their Side Decks.

Reyes’ hand for Duel 2 was XX-Saber Darksoul, XX-Saber Fulhelmknight, Solemn Judgment, Mind Crush, Mystical Space Typhoon, and Trap Stun.   He Summoned Fulhelmknight, then all his Spell and Trap Cards.

Conte had Pot of Duality, and he activated it to reveal Mystical Space Typhoon and 2 Icarus Attack: he chose to add one of the Attacks to his hand, shuffling back the remaining 2 cards.  Reyes then activated Mind Crush, forcing him to discard the Icarus Attack.  Conte Set a monster, then Set a card to his Spell and Trap Card Zone.  He lost his Set Book of Moon to Reyes’ Mystical Space Typhoon in the End Phase.

Reyes Summoned XX-Saber Darksoul, Tuned it to Fulhelmknight for Goyo Guardian (3+3=6), and attacked Conte’s face-down Blackwing – Bora the Spear, destroying it and Special Summoning it to his side of the field!  In the End Phase, he searched his Deck for XX-Saber Faultroll with Darksoul’s effect.  His other in-hand card was XX-Saber Emmersblade.

Conte activated a second Pot of Duality next turn, this time choosing Royal Oppression over Blackwing – Shura the Blue Flame and Mystical Space Typhoon.  He Set a card to his back row, Set a monster, and ended.

Reyes Summoned Emmersblade, attacked with Goyo Guardian, and couldn’t Special Summon the monster he destroyed: Blackwing – Blizzard the far North.  Bora and Emmersblade both made direct attacks, and Reyes Set another Spell or Trap.

Conte Summoned Shura, attacked his Bora, and was blocked by Enemy Controller: he took a brief look at his hand and conceded.

Justin Reyes battles back, and sweeps the second Duel to even the Match score!  One more Duel would decide who would move on undefeated.

Conte started the third Duel by Summoning Blackwing – Bora the Spear, then Set 3 Spell or Trap Cards.

Reyes had Sangan, Book of Moon, Call of the Haunted, XX-Saber Darksoul, and 2 XX-Saber Fulhelmknight.  He Summoned Fulhelmknight and Set Call and Book.  Conte activated Mystical Space Typhoon in the End Phase, destroying Call: no Icarus Attack.

Conte activated Mind Control, took Fulhelmknight, and attacked for 1700 Battle Damage with Bora.  In Main Phase 2 he Tuned Fulhelmknight and Bora together, Synchro Summoning Black Rose Dragon without using its effect (4+3=7).

Reyes drew Super-Nimble Mega Hamster and Set it.

Conte Summoned another Bora, attacked the Hamster, and Conte took 100 Battle Damage when Bora’s 1700 ATK slammed into the Hamster’s 1800 DEF.  Reyes Special Summoned X-Saber Airbellum from his Deck, knowing he could protect it from Black Rose Dragon with Book of Moon if needed.  Sure enough, Conte sent the Dragon after the face-down Airbellum, and Reyes flipped Book to turn the Dragon face-down.  A Set Spell or Trap ended the turn.

Reyes Flip Summoned Airbellum next turn, but Conte responded by Tributing Bora for Icarus Attack and destroying both of Reyes’ monsters.  Reyes then Set XX-Saber Darksoul and Trap Hole, not making an attempt to attack the Black Rose Dragon with XX-Saber Fulhelmknight.

Conte activated Skill Drain, then attacked Darksoul with Black Rose Dragon to destroy it.  Darksoul’s effect activated, Conte Set a monster, and Reyes used Darksoul’s effect in the End Phase to get XX-Saber Emmersblade from his Deck.

Next turn, Reyes drew Mystical Space Typhoon, holding that, Sangan, Fulhelmknight, and Emmersblade, with Trap Hole Set.  He tried to Summon Sangan, and Conte negated the Summon with Solemn Judgment, dropping to 3450 Life Points.  Reyes had 6300 Life Points left, and ended.

Conte Flip Summoned Blackwing – Gale the Whirlwind, and attacked with both Gale and Black Rose for a total of 3700 Battle Damage.

Reyes activated Mystical Space Typhoon next turn, targeting Conte’s face-down Spell or Trap Card: it was Icarus Attack, and Conte Chained it, Tributing Gale to destroy the Mystical Space Typhoon and Reyes’ Trap Hole.  Reyes Set XX-Saber Emmersblade.  The score was now 3450 Life Points to 2600 in Conte’s favor.

Conte Summoned Shura, and attacked Emmersblade with Black Rose: Reyes Special Summoned another Emmersblade from his Deck.  Conte attacked that one with Shura, Reyes Special Summoned Darksoul, and Conte ended.

Reyes drew XX-Saber Boggart Knight, holding XX-Saber Fulhelmknight and X-Saber Pashuul.  He Summoned Fulhelmknight, Tuned it to Darksoul, and Synchro Summoned Goyo Guardian (3+3=6).  He sent Goyo to attack Black Rose, destroyed it, and ended, getting XX-Saber Faultroll from his Deck with Darksoul’s effect.

Conte Set a monster and left Shura in Attack Position, with 1 card left in hand.

Reyes drew another Darksoul.  He Normal summoned Boggart Knight, didn’t use its effect, and attacked to destroy Shura. Conte didn’t have the Kalut.  Goyo Guardian destroyed Conte’s Set Bora and play was back to Conte.

Conte Normal Summoned Blackwing – Vayu the Emblem of Honor, then activated his last card, Monster Reborn to Special Summoned Black Rose Dragon!  With Vayu’s effect negated by Skill Drain, Conte tuned Vayu to Black Rose, Special Summoned Colossal Fighter, and attacked Goyo Guardian to destroy both monsters in battle!  He then Special Summoned his Colossal Fighter with its effect to attack again, this time destroying Boggart Knight. (Colossal Fighter’s effect to Special Summon activates in the Graveyard, avoiding Skill Drain)

Reyes drew Starlight Road, with a hand of Darksoul, Pashuul, and Faultroll.  He Set Darksoul, Set Starlight Road, and ended.

Conte attackde the Darksoul next turn, destroying it, and letting Reyes search his Deck for another Boggart Knight.

Reyes drew Bottomless Trap Hole next, and Set both that and Pashuul.

Conte attacked, revealing Pashuul and destroying it.  “Yay, Skill Drain!” laughed Reyes.

Reyes drew and Special Summoned Cyber Dragon, then Set Boggart Knight.

Conte Tributed Colossal Fighter to Summon Blackwing – Sirocco the Dawn: Reyes removed it with Bottomless Trap Hole.  Conte then activated Dark Hole, but Reyes had Starlight Road to stop it!  Dark Hole was negated, Reyes Special Summoned Stardust Dragon, and Conte Set his last card to his Spell & Trap Card Zone!  Conte had 2950 Life Points left.

Reyes Flip Summoned Boggart Knight, Conte activated Torrential Tribute, and Reyes negated it with Stardust Dragon’s effect!  That left Boggart Knight and Cyber Dragon free to attack directly, and Reyes was suddenly the victor!

Justin Reyes moves on for 3 more Rounds of Dueling, now undefeated with a 6-0 record.  2 more wins and Reyes would be a lock for Day 2!

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)
In Duel 3, we saw Reyes Normal Summon Fulhelmknight so he could Tune it to Darksoul and attack over Conte’s Black Rose Dragon with Goyo Guardian.  But Conte also had Shura on the field, and Reyes had Boggart Knight in his hand.  He ended up summoning Boggart Knight next turn to attack and destroy Shura anyways, but if he’d just used the Knight’s effect to Special Summon Fulhelmknight (instead of Normal Summoning Fulhelmknight on its own), he would’ve secured the field a turn earlier.

Michael Kohanim (2009 World Championship Competitor)
In Duel 3, Conte was tearing down Reyes’s defenses with his Colossal Fighter before Tributing it to Summon Blackwing – Sirocco the Dawn. Instead of Tributing Colossal Fighter, he could have continued attacking with it, putting the pressure on Reyes. It was a big risk for Conte to Tribute the monster that was carrying him through the Duel, and when he lost his Sirocco to Bottomless Trap Hole, he quickly lost the upper hand.

P.J. Tierney (Duelist from across The Pond)
Pot of Duality’s a powerful card that any Deck can use, but on top of its limitations in terms of Special Summoning, it has another weakness that opponents can exploit. As you have to reveal the 3 cards for Duality’s effect your opponent will obviously know which one you add to your hand. If they have Mind Crush Set and activate it, the card you got is almost certainly going to be discarded, which is exactly what happened in Duel 2 here.

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