Darryl Huang has piloted his Scrap Deck into our Top 16, while Steffon Rice has made it here to the Top 16 with his Plant Deck! The winner of this Match would move on to the Top 8, and in a fresh new matchup like this, it was truly anybody’s Duel. Both competitors were eager to dive right into Duel 1.

Rice opened the Match with a Set monster, and Set 2 cards to his back row.

Huang had a hand of Mystical Space Typhoon, Giant Trunade, Cold Wave, Dark Hole, Sasuke Samurai #2, and Level Eater. He destroyed Rice’s Threatening Roar with Mystical Space Typhoon, Rice Chained it, and Huang Set Level Eater.

Rice Set another monster.

Huang drew Scrap Chimera but had no Scrap Beast nor Scrap Goblin in sight. He passed.

Rice Flip Summoned Ryko, Lightsworn Hunter, destroying Level Eater and sending Mind Control, Lonefire Blossom, and another Ryko to his Graveyard. Rice Set another card to his Spell and Trap Card Zone, then attacked with Ryko.

Huang drew Monster Reborn and passed.

Rice Summoned Spore, attacked with it and Ryko, and ended.

Huang finally drew Scrap Goblin. He activated Cold Wave, Set the Goblin, and ended.

Rice passed.

Huang drew Scrap Beast. He activated Giant Trunade, cleared his opponent’s Spell and Trap Card Zone, and then activated Dark Hole, destroying his own Goblin along with Rice’s Snowman Eater, Ryko, and Spore. Rice had 6 cards in his hand with an empty field. Huang Summoned Scrap Beast, attacked for 1600 Battle Damage, and ended.

Rice activated Pot of Avarice, sending 2 Rykos, Snowman, Spore, and Lonefire Blossom back to his Deck to draw 2 cards. He Summoned Gale, halved Scrap Beast’s ATK and DEF, then attacked the Beast for 500 Battle Damage. Rice Set 3 cards to his back row.

Huang drew another Scrap Goblin. He Set Sasuke Samurai #2.

Rice Tributed Gale to Tribute Summon Caius the Shadow Monarch, and removed Sasuke Samurai #2 before attacking for 2400 Battle Damage.

Huang drew Battle Fader. He Summoned Scrap Chimera, and targeted his Scrap Beast, but lost Chimera to Bottomless Trap Hole. He Special Summoned the Beast in Defense Position, then Special Summoned Gale with Monster Reborn. Rice wiped the field with Torrential Tribute. Huang ended with 2 cards in hand.

Rice drew to 5 cards and Set a monster.

Huang drew The Tricky. He discarded Battle Fader to Special Summon it, Summoned Scrap Goblin, and Synchro Summoned Scrap Dragon! He lowered its level to Special Summon Level Eater, then destroyed Level Eater to destroy Rice’s Set Snowman Eater. He attacked for 2800 Battle Damage, then brought back Level Eater in Defense Position.

Rice destroyed the Dragon and Level Eater with Dark Hole next turn, and Huang used the Dragon’s effect to Special Summon Scrap Goblin in Defense Position. Rice Set a monster.

Huang drew and Set Enemy Controller.

Rice Tributed his Dandylion for Caius the Shadow Monarch, and Huang Chained Enemy Controller to take control of Caius. Rice Special Summoned his 2 Fluff Tokens and got back his Caius.

Huang drew Scrap Golem and passed: he had nothing to Tribute for it.

Rice Tribute Summoned Tytannial, Princess of Camellias and it was all over!

Darryl Huang’s hand just doesn’t come together, and an early lead lets Steffon Rice build more than enough momentum to win the Duel! This next Duel might decide who makes it to the Top 8.

Huang’s opening hand was Dark Hole, Enemy Controller, Imperial Iron Wall, Sasuke Samurai #2, and 2 Scrap Goblins. He Set a Goblin, Set Controller, and Set Iron Wall.

Rice Set a monster.

Huang drew Foolish Burial. He Set Sasuke Samurai #2.

Rice activated Dark Hole, destroying his own Snowman Eater to destroy Huang’s Scrap Goblin and Samurai. He Set a monster.

Huang drew Mystical Space Typhoon, Set it, and Set his second Goblin.

Rice activated Monster Reborn, Special Summoning Huang’s Sasuke Samurai #2 from the Graveyard. He activated its effect and Huang Chained Imperial Iron Wall to turn its effect on. Rice then Flip Summoned Snowman Eater, and instantly realized he made a mistake. “Oh… I messed up.” He had to destroy his own Snowman Eater with its effect. He Summoned Blackwing – Gale the Whirlwind and Tuned it to Sasuke for Armory Arm. He’d clearly been looking to Synchro Summon Black Rose Dragon with that Snowman Eater and Sasuke. He attacked into Goblin with Armory Arm and ended. The Goblin survived thanks to its effect.

Huang drew Battle Fader. He Summoned it, Tributed it for Enemy Controller, took Armory Arm, and attacked for 1800 Battle Damage. He then Tuned Scrap Goblin to Armory Arm and Synchro Summoned Scrap Archfiend. He then sent Level Eater to the Graveyard with Foolish Burial, reduced Archfiend’s Level by 1 to Special Summon Level Eater in Defense Position, and ended.

Rice Set a monster.

Huang drew Scrap Golem! He Tributed Level Eater for the Golem, brought back Scrap Goblin with its effect, and Tuned them together for Scrap Dragon! He brought back Level Eater again by reducing Archfiend’s Level 1 more time, and destroyed Level Eater and Rice’s Ryko! Direct attacks from Scrap Dragon and Scrap Archfiend then won the Duel!

Darryl Huang struggles back to take the second Duel, as Steffon Rice misplays an attempted Synchro Summon and just can’t make up for the mistake. Duel 3 started mere moments later.

Rice opened with Pot of Duality, revealing Jinzo, Bottomless Trap Hole, and Cold Wave: he chose Cold Wave, then Set a monster and a card to his Spell and Trap Card Zone.

Huang’s hand was Imperial Iron Wall, Pot of Avarice, Cold Wave, Mind Control, Enemy Controller, and One for One. He Set Iron Wall and Enemy Controller – if this turned into a fast Duel Huang was done for. He needed monsters, and needed them now.

Rice Flip Summoned Ryko, targeted Enemy Controller, and Huang Chained his Controller to turn Ryko to Defense Position. Ryko sent Spore, Snowman Eater, and Super-Nimble Mega Hamster to the Graveyard. Rice Summoned Debris Dragon, used its effect to Special Summon Snowman Eater, and Tuned it to Debris Dragon to Synchro Summon Black Rose Dragon. Black Rose attacked for 2400 Battle Damage.

Huang drew Cyber Dragon. He Set One for One and ended.

Rice activated Cold Wave, and Summoned Lonefire Blossom, Tributed it to Summon another from his Deck, and then Tributed that for Tytannial, Princess of Camellias. Black Rose attacked, and Tytannial attacked next, dropping Huang to 400 Life Points.

Huang drew Dark Hole, but he couldn’t play it locked down under Cold Wave. “You got this.”

Darryl Huang’s impressive run here this weekend with Scraps comes to a close, but Steffon Rice moves on to the Top 8 with his Plant Deck!

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)
On his first turn of the Match, Huang blasted 1 of Rice’s 2 Set back row cards with Mystical Space Typhoon, but he had no follow-up, and thanks to the Chained Threatening Roar, no way to attack that turn even if he could muster an attack-oriented monster.  When your hand is really weak, don’t simplify the Duel by using up lots of cards. That just makes it easier for your opponent to feel confident in attacking you.  Huang could’ve Set that Mystical Space Typhoon to make Rice wonder, or he could’ve just kept it in his hand.

Michael Kohanim (2009 World Championship Competitor)
Snowman Eater, included in Rice’s Deck, was a popular card in San Jose. Since it’s a Level 3 monster with 0 ATK, it works well with the already-popular card, Debris Dragon. Its Flip-Effect can wipe out an opponent’s monster and its 1900 DEF lets it stick around for a Synchro Summon.

P.J. Tierney (Duelist from across The Pond)
Both of these Duelists made it to the Top 16 with Decks that you don’t see as often as X-Sabers, Gladiator Beasts and so on. Once again proving that the surprise factor of taking a new (or different) Deck to a YCS can work to a Duelist’s advantage, as opponents will not know the best way to play against the Deck. We saw more ‘under-the-radar’ Decks like Volcanic Quickdraw make the top cut here in San Jose, along with several unique Decks in YCS Bochum (Scraps made Top 16 there too) as well, proving that you don’t have to go with what everybody considers to be ‘the best Deck’ if you’ve got a cool Deck idea planned.

Click here to check out the next feature match.