Chris Bowling is 6-1 here this evening with the Deck we profiled earlier today: a Skill Drain Dimensional Fissure Deck featuring Guardian Eatos. His opponent is Timothy Saunders, one of many Blackwing Duelists in the running for Day 2.

Saunders started off the Match with 2 Set cards to his back row.

Bowling had Dimensional Fissure, Guardian Eatos, Skill Drain, Thunder King Rai-Oh, Pot of Duality, and Bottomless Trap Hole. He activated Fissure, Normal Summoned Thunder King Rai-Oh, but lost it to his opponent’s Bottomless. He Special Summoned Eatos, but Saunders had a Bottomless for that one too! Bowling Set 2 cards to his back row.

Saunders Set another Spell or Trap.

Bowling activated Pot of Duality, revealing Beast King Barbaros, Book of Moon, and Seven Tools of the Bandit. He took Barbaros, shuffling the rest back. He tried to Summon Barbaros, and this time Saunders had Solemn Warning to negate the Summon. A Set Spell or Trap ended his turn.

Saunders passed.

Bowling drew another Dimensional Fissure and passed back.

Saunders Set a Spell or Trap.

Bowling passed.

Saunders Set a second Spell or Trap.

Bowling drew, holding Cyber Dragon, Dimensional Fissure, and Starlight Road. He passed.

Saunders Set a third Spell or Trap.

Bowling drew D.D. Survivor, but lost it immediately to Trap Dustshoot, forced to shuffle it back into his Deck! He passed.

Saunders activated Pot of Duality, revealing Blackwing – Sirocco the Dawn, Blackwing – Vayu the Emblem of Honor, and Blackwing – Blizzard the far North. He added Blizzard to his hand. He activated Black Whirlwind, Summoned Blizzard, and used Whirlwind’s effect to get a Vayu from his Deck. He then activated Cards for Black Feathers, removing Vayu, to draw 2 more cards. Allure of Darkness got him 2 more, removing a second Blizzard from his hand, and he attacked with his on-field Blizzard for 1300 Battle Damage. In 1 turn, he’d activated Pot of Duality, Cards for Black Feathers, and Allure of Darkness.

Bowling drew another Beast King Barbaros, and Special Summoned Cyber Dragon, but the Summon was negated by Royal Oppression. He Normal Summoned Barbaros, attacked Blizzard, and Saunders blasted Barbaros and Dimensional Fissure with Icarus Attack! Bowling activated his second Dimensional Fissure.

Saunders activated another Pot of Duality, this time revealing Kalut, Sirocco, and Mirror Force. He took the Mirror Force and Summoned the Kalut he already had, getting Blackwing – Gale the Whirlwind from his Deck with Black Whirlwind’s effect. Kalut attacked for 1400 damage, and a Set card to the back row ended Saunders’ turn.

Bowling activated Dark Hole to clear his back row, and Set another card there.

Saunders Summoned Blackwing – Shura the Blue Flame, but lost it to Bottomless Trap Hole.

Bowling activated Pot of Duality, revealing D.D. Survivor, Skill Drain, and Torrential Tribute. He took Torrential Tribute, then Set it.

Saunders Summoned another Kalut. Bowling responded with Torrential Tribute, Saunders Chained Icarus Attack, and Bowling Chained Starlight Road. Then Saunders paid 800 Life Points to negate Starlight with Royal Oppression. Bowling lost his Starlight Road and Dimensional Fissure to Icarus Attack, and when Saunders Summoned Shura next turn he immediately conceded. “I’ll go to our second game.”

A strong opening hand for Chris Bowling falls apart after double Bottomless Trap Hole and Solemn Warning, leaving Timothy Saunders to bat cleanup and slowly build towards victory! Both Duelists made quick, systematic choices with their Side Decks before starting the next Duel.

Bowling had a hand of Cyber Valley, Torrential Tribute, Starlight Road, Dimensional Prison, Bottomless Trap Hole, and Upstart Goblin. He activated Upstart and drew Trap Dustshoot.  He Summoned Valley, and ended his turn by Setting everything but Torrential.

Saunders got nailed by Trap Dustshoot next turn, revealing his hand of Blackwing – Vayu the Emblem of Honor, Blackwing – Bora the Spear, Blackwing – Sirocco the Dawn, Mirror Force, and Icarus Attack. Bowling sent Vayu back to Saunders’ Deck, leaving Saunders to Set a monster and his 2 Trap Cards.

Bowling drew My Body As A Shield and Set it.

Saunders Summoned Shura, attacked, and Bowling activated Dimensional Prison. Saunders Chained Icarus Attack, and Bowling Chained Starlight Road! Icarus Attack was negated, and he Special Summoned Stardust Dragon.

Next turn Bowling activated Dimensional Fissure, turned Cyber Valley to Defense Position, and attacked into Mirror Force with Stardust, but he Chained My Body As A Shield to save his monster, and destroyed Saunders’ Set Bora with Stardust Dragon.

Saunders activated Pot of Duality next turn, choosing Bottomless Trap Hole over Trap Stun and Vayu. He Summoned Shura, attacked Cyber Valley, and Bowling removed it to draw a card with its effect. Saunders Set a Spell or Trap.

Bowling Summoned D.D. Survivor! He attacked over Shura with Stardust Dragon, then made a direct attack with Survivor.

Saunders Normal Summoned Sirroco, but Bowling responded with Bottomless Trap Hole.

Bowling then attacked with Stardust and Survivor, dropping Saunders to 2200 Life Points.

Saunders Summoned Blizzard next turn, used its effect to Special Summon Shura from his Graveyard, and Synchro Summoned Brionac, Dragon of the Ice Barrier. He discarded Monster Reborn with its effect, but Bowling Chained Torrential Tribute. When Survivor came back in the End Phase Bowling removed it with Bottomless Trap Hole.

Bowling activated Upstart Goblin next turn, Special Summoning his Survivor back in the End Phase again.

Saunders passed.

Bowling attacked for 1800 Battle Damage with Survivor. Saunders passed his next turn and conceded, unable to beat that D.D. Survivor!

Starlight Road gets the ball rolling for Chris Bowling, who plays D.D. Survivor to press this Match to a third and final Duel! The winner of this last Duel would move on with a 6-1 record, assured a seat in the Day 2 Swiss Rounds.

Saunders started with Pot of Duality, choosing between Trap Stun, Blackwing – Bora the Spear, and Blackwing – Sirocco the Dawn. He took Trap Stun. He activated Allure of Darkness, drawing 2 and removing Sirocco, before Setting a monster and 3 cards to his back row.

Bowling had Dark Hole, D.D. Survivor, 2 Upstart Goblin, Dimensional Fissure, and Cyber Dragon. The first Upstart got him Exiled Force, and the second got him Cyber Valley. He Special Summoned Cyber Dragon and Saunders blew it away with Royal Oppression. Bowling then activated Dimensional Fissure, Summoned Exiled Force, and Tributed it to destroy Saunders’ face-down Ryko, Lightsworn Hunter! He ended with just the Fissure on the field.

Saunders Summoned Blackwing – Kalut the Moonshadow and attacked for 1400 Battle Damage.

Bowling drew Thunder King Rai-Oh. He Summoned D.D. Survivor, attacked Kalut, and Saunders flipped Mirror Force, removing D.D. Survivor from the game. When Bowling tried to bring it back in the End Phase, the Special Summon was negated by Oppression.

Saunders attacked for another 1400 Battle Damage with Kalut, and Set another card to his back row. The Duel stood at 8400 Life Points to 5200, with Saunders leading.

Bowling Summoned Thunder King Rai-Oh, but lost it Bottomless Trap Hole.

Saunders activated Pot of Duality, getting Solemn Judgment over Dark Hole and Solemn Warning. He attacked for another 1400 Battle Damage and Set Judgment.

Bowling Summoned Cyber Valley, Saunders activated Solemn Judgment, and Bowling negated it with Seven Tools of the Bandit! He Set another Spell or Trap to end.

Kalut attacked Cyber Valley next turn, and Bowling drew Cyber Dragon with its effect. Saunders ended.

Bowling drew Mirror Force. He activated Dark Hole to destroy Kalut, and Set Mirror Force.

Saunders activated Trap Stun next turn. He Summoned Shura, then activated Monster Reborn to Special Summon Cyber Dragon. Shura attacked for 1800 Battle Damage, and Cyber Dragon’s attack was blocked with Book of Moon.

Bowling Set another Spell or Trap.

Saunders attacked with Shura, losing it to Mirror Force. He Flip Summoned Cyber Dragon in Main Phase 2.

Bowling Special Summoned his own Cyber Dragon next turn, fused it to Saunders’ for Chimeratech Fortress Dragon, and Saunders negated the Summon with Royal Oppression.

Saunders Summoned Bora next turn, but that Summon was negated by Solemn Judgment.

Bowling Set another Spell or Trap.

Saunders passed.

Bowling passed.

Saunders Set a monster.

Bowling drew and activated Pot of Duality, revealing Thunder King Rai-Oh, Torrential Tribute, and another Pot. He took Torrential Tribute, then Set it.

Saunders Flip Summoned Ryko, destroyed Dimensional Fissure, and sent Solemn Warning, Kalut, and Black Whirlwind to his Graveyard. He Tributed Ryko to Summon Blackwing – Sirocco the Dawn, Bowling activated Torrential Tribute, and Saunders Chained Icarus Attack, Tributing Sirocco. Bowling Chained Starlight Road and forced Saunders to activate Royal Oppression, but he was out of cards. It was all over a turn later, as Saunders attacked with Shura to finish the Match!

Timothy Saunders moves on, now 6-1 with Blackwings!

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 the first Duel, we saw Saunders activate Pot of Duality, Cards for Black Feathers, and Allure of Darkness all in 1 turn.  That level of draw power makes it a lot easier for a Blackwing Duelist to get to key cards like Black Whirlwind and Royal Oppression.  Many Blackwing Duelists didn’t run more than 1 copy of Duality or Black Feathers at YCS Toronto, and the Deck fell short of the Top 16. In San Jose, the top-ranked Blackwing Duelists played as many as 2 Black Feathers and 3 Dualities, leading to a Finals and a Top 4 finish for 2 Blackwing Decks.

Michael Kohanim (2009 World Championship Competitor)
In Duel 1, Saunders was off to a slow start with no monsters. But starting from the turn he activated Pot of Duality, Cards for Black Feathers, and Allure of Darkness, he never missed another Summon! These 3 cards make Blackwing Decks more consistent than ever before.

P.J. Tierney (Duelist from across The Pond)
Most Duels are won by attacking with Monster Cards, so if you can keep your opponent’s monsters off the field, your chances of winning greatly increase. Solemn Warning, Royal Oppression, Bottomless Trap Hole and Trap Dustshoot will all help you to keep your opponent’s field clear, and pave the way for an easy victory. That’s exactly what happened in Duel 1 as Bowling had what seemed to be a strong opening hand, but the sheer volume of removal cards that Saunders drew meant that Bowling was never able to keep a monster on the field for more than a few seconds, and Saunders eventually won that Duel.

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