Chris Hurayt and Mark Garcia both made it to the Top 16 with Blackwings. Garcia lives right here in California, and Hurayt drove in from Vegas. Both Duelists have had Feature Matches this weekend, but there was never this much pressure. The winner here will advance to the Top 8, while the other competitor will be eliminated.

Garcia won the dice roll and chose to go first. He Summoned Blackwing – Shura the Blue Flame and Set a back row, ending his turn.

Hurayt opened up with Bottomless Trap Hole, Monster Reborn, Dark Hole, Blackwing – Shura the Blue Flame, Cyber Dragon, and Dark Armed Dragon. He Special Summoned Cyber Dragon and then attacked Garcia’s Shura. Garcia discarded Blackwing – Kalut the Moon Shadow from his hand during the damage step to boost Shura upto 3200 Life Points. Cyber Dragon was destroyed and Hurayt lost 1100 Life Points. Garcia Special Summoned Vayu from his Deck with the effect of Shura. Hurayt activated Dark Hole to destroy Shura and Vayu in Main Phase 2. Then he Summoned Shura, Set Bottomless Trap Hole, and ended his turn.

Garcia Special Summoned Dark Armed Dragon next turn! He removed Kalut from his Graveyard to destroy Shura, and Hurayt flipped Bottomless Trap Hole to remove Dark Armed from the game. Then Garcia activated Black Whirlwind and Normal Summoned Shura to the field. He used the effect of his Whirlwind to search his Deck for Blackwing – Blizzard the Far North and add it to his hand.

Hurayt drew Pot of Duality next turn. He now had Monster Reborn, Pot of Duality, and Dark Armed Dragon in his hand, with only 1 DARK monster in his Graveyard and no cards on his field. He activated Pot of Duality, revealing Blackwing – Bora the Spear, Icarus Attack, and Book of Moon from the top of the Deck. He added Book of Moon to his hand and shuffled the other 2 cards back into his Deck. He Set Book of Moon and ended his turn.

Garcia attacked with Shura next turn, inflicting 1800 points of damage to Hurayt. Then he Normal Summoned Blizzard, activating the effects of his Black Whirlwind and Blizzard. He searched his Deck for Blackwing – Vayu the Emblem of Honor with Whirlwind, and Special Summoned Shura from the Graveyard with Blizzard’s effect. Hurayt used Book of Moon to put the Blizzard face-down so that Garcia wouldn’t be able to Tune with it.

Hurayt drew Icarus Attack next turn. Then he used Monster Reborn to Special Summon Vayu from Garcia’s Graveyard, attacked the face-down Blizzard, and Set Icarus Attack. He ended his turn.

Garcia attacked with Shura next turn, but Hurayt flipped Icarus to Tribute Vayu and destroy both of Garcia’s copies of Shura. Then Garcia Summoned Bora and searched his Deck for Blizzard with the effect of Black Whirlwind.

Hurayt drew a card and Set a Kalut to protect himself.

Garcia activated Allure of Darkness, drawing 2 cards and removing Vayu from his hand. Then he Summoned Blizzard and activated its effect to Special Summon Shura from his Graveyard. He Tuned Shura with Blizzard to Synchro Summon Blackwing Armed Wing. Armed Wing attacked Hurayt’s Set Kalut and Bora attacked directly.

Hurayt drew Mirror Force next turn and Set it.

Garcia attacked with Armed Wing, but when Hurayt flipped Mirror Force, Garcia lost both of his monsters! Garcia Summoned Kalut next, searching his Deck for another Blizzard with the effect of Black Whirlwind.

Hurayt drew Solemn Judgment. He Set it face-down, but Garcia flipped Delta Crow – Anti Reverse to destroy it in the End Phase. Hurayt instantly conceded with only 1600 Life Points left.

Mark Garcia dominates throughout the Duel to take the first victory! Chris Hurayt will be going first in Duel 2!

Hurayt opened up with Blackwing – Kalut the Moon Shadow, 2 copies of Snowman Eater, Blackwing – Shura the Blue Flame, Blackwing – Blizzard the Far North and Giant Trunade. He Set Snowman Eater and Giant Trunade, ending his turn.

Garcia activated Allure of Darkness and removed Blackwing – Vayu the Emblem of Honor from his hand. Then he Set a back row and ended his turn.

Hurayt drew Book of Moon. Then he Summoned Shura and attacked Garcia directly, dropping him down to 6200 Life Points. Hurayt Set his Book of Moon and ended his turn.

Garcia activated Dark Hole next turn! Shura and Snowman Eater were destroyed. Garcia Set 2 more cards to his back row before ending his turn.

Hurayt drew Allure of Darkness next turn. He activated it to draw Shura and Seven Tools of the Bandit, then removed a Blackwing – Kalut the Moon Shadow in his hand from the game with the effect of Allure of Darkness. Next, Hurayt Normal Summoned Shura to the field. He attacked with it, and Garcia used Book of Moon to flip it face-down. Hurayt Set Seven Tools of the Bandit and ended his turn.

Garcia Summoned Shura next turn. He attacked Hurayt’s face-down Shura, but Hurayt blocked the attack with Book of Moon. Garcia ended his turn.

Hurayt drew Icarus Attack next turn. He flipped Shura and then used it to attack Garcia’s face-down monster. But Garcia flipped another Book of Moon to turn Shura face-down again! Garcia Normal Summoned Blizzard in Main Phase 2 and activated its effect to Special Summon Shura from his Graveyard in Defense Position. He Set Icarus Attack and ended his turn.

Garcia flipped his Shura into face-up Attack Position on the next turn. Then he Normal Summoned another copy of Shura to the field. One Shura attacked Hurayt’s Defense Position Shura, but Hurayt flipped Icarus Attack to Tribute his face-down Shura and destroy both of Garcia’s Shuras. Garcia tried to negate the Icarus Attack with Seven Tools of the Bandit, but Hurayt negated the Seven Tools with a Seven Tools of his own! Garcia used Monster Reborn to revive Hurayt’s Shura in Attack Position during Main Phase 2.

Hurayt drew Blackwing – Gale the Whirlwind next turn. He activated his Set Giant Trunade, and Garcia chained his only back row, Icarus Attack, to Tribute Shura and destroy Hurayt’s Shura and Blizzard. Hurayt Set a Snowman Eater and ended his turn.

Garcia Set a back row and passed to Hurayt.

Hurayt Set a back row and ended his turn.

Garcia Set a second card to his back row and passed back to Hurayt.

Hurayt drew Book of Moon next turn. He Set it and ended his turn.

Garcia Normal Summoned Blackwing – Sirocco the Dawn from his hand next turn. He used it to attack Garcia’s Set Snowman Eater. The Eater destroyed Sirocco and was destroyed in battle.

Hurayt Summoned Blackwing – Gale the Whirlwind next turn and attacked directly with it, dropping Garcia to 3900 Life Points. Hurayt Set another back row and ended his turn.

Garcia Normal Summoned Blackwing – Blizzard the Far North next turn and activated its effect to Special Summon Shura from his Graveyard in Defense Position. Hurayt used Book of Moon to turn the Blizzard face-down. Garcia Set 1 more card to his back row and then tried to end his turn. In his End Phase, Hurayt flipped Delta Crow – Anti Reverse to try to destroy 3 back rows, but Garcia chained Starlight Road and Special Summoned Stardust Dragon from his Extra Deck!

Hurayt drew Blizzard next turn, and it was the only card in his hand. Garcia used Icarus Attack in his Draw Phase to Tribute a Shura and destroy Hurayt’s Gale and face-down Torrential Tribute. Then Hurayt Normal Summoned Blizzard and Special Summoned Shura from his Graveyard. He Synchro Summoned Goyo Guardian and destroyed Stardust Dragon.

Garcia topdecked a Blizzard of his own on the following turn, with no cards in his hand and no answer to Hurayt’s Goyo Guardian! He Summoned it and activated its effect to revive Shura, then Tuned Shura with Blizzard to Synchro Summon his own Goyo. He switched Shura to Attack Position, then rammed his Goyo in Hurayt’s. Shura scored a direct attack.

Hurayt drew Book of Moon and Set it.

Garcia Set a back row, attacked directly with Shura, and passed.

Hurayt drew Monster Reborn next turn. He used it to Special Summon Goyo Guardian from Garcia’s Graveyard. Garcia flipped Bottomless Trap Hole to try to remove it from the game, so Hurayt chained Book of Moon to put Goyo face-down and protect it.

Garcia drew and Set a monster next turn.

Hurayt attacked Shura with Goyo, Special Summoning Shura to his field in Defense Position thanks to Goyo’s effect.

Garcia drew another Blizzard next turn! He Summoned it to Special Summon Shura from his Graveyard, then flipped Legendary Jujitsu Master face-up. He Tuned all of his monsters together to Synchro Summon Mist Wurm and activate its effect! Goyo was returned to his Extra Deck, and Shura was bounced back to his hand.

Hurayt activated Black Whirlwind next turn. He Summoned Blackwing – Sirocco the Dawn and used the Whirlwind to search his Deck for Blackwing – Kalut the Moon Shadow. But Hurayt activated his 1 back row card, Mind Crush! Hurayt was forced to discard Kalut. He conceded, unable to destroy Mist Wurm.

Mark Garcia advances to the Top 8 of the tournament with Blackwings by taking a 2-0 victory over Chris Hurayt!

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)
When Garcia activated Delta Crow – Anti Reverse on Hurayt’s End Phase in Duel 1, Hurayt had no choice but to concede.  Delta Crow is a card that’s unique to Blackwings, and while most Duelists run just 1 (or often 0) copies of it, Garcia’s Deck stood apart from the pack because he chose to run 2.  A lot of rare Deck building decisions helped Garcia reach the Finals, double Delta Crow in his Main Deck was 1 of the biggest.

Michael Kohanim (2009 World Championship Competitor)
In Duel 1, Hurayt used Book of Moon to turn Blackwing – Blizzard the Far North face-down after Garcia added a Blackwing – Vayu the Emblem of Honor from his Deck to his hand with the effect of Black Whirlwind. He could have used the Book of Moon to put Blizzard face-down before the effect of Black Whirlwind resolved. With Blizzard face-down, Garcia would’ve been unable to search his Deck for a Vayu to add to his hand.

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