Four Duelists remained in this tournament: two X-Saber Duelists, one Lightsworn, and one Machina Gadgets.  Roy St. Clair and Alex Vansant were Dueling for a seat in the finals, and a set of the Darklord Prize cards – the winner here would be guaranteed a set of prize cards, while the defeated Duelist would have to compete and win third place to score their set.  Vansant was playing Machina Gadgets, while St. Clair was running X-Sabers.

Vansant got us started with Machina Gearframe, searching his Deck to add Machina Fortress to his hand.  He discarded Machina Fortress and Card Trooper to Special Summon the Fortress, attached Gearframe to it, and Set 2 Spell or Trap Cards.

St. Clair had XX-Saber Darksoul, Trap Stun, XX-Saber Fulhelmknight, Book of Moon, XX-Saber Faultroll, and another Fulhelmknight.  He Set Darksoul, then Set Book and Trap Stun.

Vansant Normal Summoned Spirit Reaper, attacked with Fortress, and St. Clair blocked it with Book of Moon, destroying the attached Gearframe.  Vansant Set a third Spell or Trap.  Would he walk straight into a Hyunlei?

St. Clair drew another Faultroll, and activated Trap Stun! Vansant activated Solemn Judgment to negate it.  St. Clair Normal Summoned Fulhelmknight, Flip Summoned Darksoul, and Special Summoned Faultroll.  Vansant activated Royal Oppression, and suddenly St. Clair’s control over the Duel was shattered.

St. Clair attacked Spirit Reaper with Fulhelmknight, forcing through 1000 Battle Damage, and ended.  He had his 2 monsters on field, with 2 cards left in his hand.  “I’m not in a good position,” commented St. Clair.

Vansant Summoned Red Gadget, searching his Deck for Yellow Gadget.  He Flip Summoned Fortress, attacked Fulhelmknight with it, and St. Clair negated the attack.  That left Vansant to slam his Red Gadget into Fulhelmknight, destroying both.

St. Clair drew another Darksoul and Set it.

Vansant drew and activated Pot of Duality, revealing Blackwing – Gale the Whirlwind and 2 Smashing Ground off the top of his Deck: he took a Smashing Ground.  He Summoned Yellow Gadget, got Green Gadget from his Deck, and attacked the face-down Darksoul with it.  Machina Fortress took out the next Darksoul, and Vansant Set a second Spell or Trap Card.  St. Clair got 2 XX-Saber Emmersblades with his Darksouls.

He drew Gold Sarcophagus next turn, and activated it to remove Giant Trunade from his Deck.  He Set Emmersblade to finish.  “Pass.  Proceed to kill me.”

“I can’t say that’s not the plan.”  Vansant summoned another Machina Gearframe, grabbed another Machina Fortress from his Deck, and attacked Emmersblade with Yellow Gadget: St. Clair Summoned another Emmersblade.  Gearframe destroyed that one, St. Clair got XX-Saber Fulhelmknight, and Machina Fortress attacked to force the activation of Fulhelmknight’s attack-negating effect.  He flipped his Set Smashing Ground in Main Phase 2 to destroy Fulhelmknight.

St. Clair drew Mirror Force.  He Set it, and Set his last Emmersblade.

Vansant controlled Yellow Gadget, Spirit Reaper, Machina Gearframe, and Machina Fortress, with a Set card in his back row plus Royal Oppression.  He drew to 4 cards in hand.  St. Clair had just his 2 cards in hand, plus his Set Emmersblade and Mirror Force.  That Mirror Force was the big possible equalizer: Vansant turned his Spirit Reaper to Defense Position, attacked, and St. Clair flipped Mirror Force!

“Ouch.”  Vansant lost his Gearframe, Fortress, and Yellow Gadget.  He Set a monster, Set a Spell or Trap, and ended.

St. Clair drew and took his Giant Trunade.  He now had his Set Ememrsblade, Trunade, Book of Moon, Fulhelmknight, and Faultroll.  He activated Trunade, Summoned Fulhelmknight, and Special Summoned Faultroll!

St. Clair grinned, activated Faultroll’s effect to Special Summon Darksoul, then Tuned it to Fulhelmknight to Synchro Summon Brionac, Dragon of the Ice Barrier (3+3=6).  He discarded his last card, Book, to bounce away Spirit Reaper, and attacked Vansant’s face-down: “That face-down’s gonna kill me, I know it.  But I have to go for it.”  Vansant had just 2200 Life Points left and this was St. Clair’s one and only shot.  He attacked with Emmersblade and bounced off Red Gadget!  Brionac destroyed the Gadget in battle, and Faultroll made a direct attack to end the Duel!

Royal Oppression locks Roy St. Clair down early on, but Emmersblade keeps him in the Duel, and Giant Trunade buys him just the opportunity he needed: it took every card he had, but Roy St. Clair wins Duel 1!

In between Duels, St. Clair removed Reinforcement of the Army, Gold Sarcophagus, and 2 Book of Moon from his Deck, replacing them with Mystical Space Typhoon and 3 System Downs from his Side Deck.  Vansant Sided out most, if not all, of his Machina monsters, so he could side in 3 Zombie Worlds and protect his Machines from the System Downs he anticipated.

Vansant started with 2 Set Spell or Trap Cards and a face-down monster.

St. Clair had Trap Stun, 2 XX-Saber Darksoul, XX-Saber Fulhelmknight, Cold Wave, and XX-Saber Emmersblade.  He Set Emmersblade and Trap Stun.

Vansant Flip Summoned Ryko, Lightsworn Hunter, destroying Emmersblade and sending Pot of Duality, Effect Veiler, and Banisher of the Radiance to his Graveyard.  He Summoned Yellow Gadget to get Green Gadget.  “I’m going to get smashed online for that,” laughed Vansant, having taken a risk with the Ryko: he could’ve easily hit a Darksoul, but didn’t.  He attacked with both monsters and then activated Zombie World.

St. Clair drew Monster Reborn and Set Darksoul.

Vansant Summoned Green Gadget, got Red Gadget from his Deck, and attacked Darksoul with Yellow Gadget.  Green Gadget and Ryko made direct attacks to drop St. Clair to 5000 Life Points.  St. Clair got XX-Saber Emmersblade with his Darksoul search.  “Good thing I don’t have Red Gadget out,” commented Vansant. (Red Gadget and Emmersblade have the same ATK, and Emmersblade’s effect activates when destroyed in battle.)

St. Clair Set Emmersblade and Gottoms‘ Emergency Call.

Vansant activated Mystical Space Typhoon, destroying the freshly-set Emergency Call.  He Summoned Red Gadget, got Yellow Gadget, and attacked with Red to destroy Emmersblade: Solemn Warning negated Emmersblade’s effect!  The Gadgets and Ryko all attacked, and St. Clair was down to 2200 Life Points.

He drew Fulhelmknight, holding another Fulhelmknight, Darksoul, Reborn, and Cold Wave, with Trap Stun Set.  He Summoned Fulhelmknight, activated Reborn, and targeted Emmersblade: Vansant had no response and Emmersblade was Special Summoned.  Emmersblade attacked Red Gadget, both were destroyed, and this time there was no Solemn Warning: Emmersblade’s effect let St. Clair Special Summon Darksoul.  Fulhelmknight attacked Yellow Gadget, and St. Clair Synchro Summoned XX-Saber Hyunlei in Main Phase 2 (3+3=6), targeting Zombie World and Bottomless Trap Hole with her effect: Bottomless was Chained, and St. Clair Chained Trap Stun to keep Hyunlei around!  Bottomless and Zombie World were destroyed.  St. Clair searched his Deck for XX-Saber Faultroll in his End Phase.

Vansant drew to 5 cards in hand, with Green Gadget and Ryko on the field.  Vansant Summoned Green Gadget, grabbed Red Gadget from his Deck, and ended.  He left Ryko in Attack Position, trying to dodge Fulhelmknight’s effect.

St. Clair drew Bottomless Trap Hole, Normal Summoned Fulhelmknight, and Special Summoned Faultroll.  Vansant was visibly unhappy, and didn’t seem to like his chances.  St. Clair used Faultroll to Special Summon Darksoul in Defense Position, and Tuned it to Fulhelmknight for Brionac, Dragon of the Ice Barrier (3+3=6).  Vansant had 5900 Life Points: St. Clair discarded 2 cards to bounce away both Green Gadgets, then attacked with Brionac, Hyunlei, and Faultroll to win the Match!

Roy St. Clair is headed to the Finals, where he’ll face Lazaro Bellido in an X-Saber mirror Match to compete for the title of YCS winner!

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)
Zombie World was a really cool Side Deck choice for Vansant.  Against Monarch and Naturia Decks, Zombie World can prevent his opponents from Tribute Summoning.  Against St. Clair’s X-Sabers, Vansant used Zombie World strictly to fend off System Down, a Spell Card that removes Machine-Types from the game.  Vansant played around that threat by turning all his Machines into Zombies. 

Michael Kohanim (2009 World Championship Competitor)
Machina Fortress is a great monster to use to attack XX-Saber Fulhelmknight. Fulhelmknight’s effect, which negates a monster’s attack, targets the attacking monster. This means that the effect of Machina Fortress, which discards a card from an opponent’s hand when Machina Fortress is targeted by a monster’s effect, would be triggered by Fulhelmknight’s attack negation.

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