Jack Hoyt and Alex Vansant last faced off in the Points Playoff Finals in San Jose. It was a close Match that eventually ended in a victory for Vansant in overtime. But Jack Hoyt is bringing his X-Saber Deck back for revenge, this time against Vansant’s Warrior Toolbox Deck. The winner here will receive a Super Rare set of Darklord Prize Cards.

Vansant started off the Match by activating Pot of Duality and revealing Bottomless Trap Hole, Monster Reborn, and Book of Moon from the top of his Deck. He added Book of Moon to his hand and shuffled the other 2 cards back into his Deck. He Summoned D.D. Warrior Lady, Set a card to his back row, and ended his turn.

Hoyt opened up with XX-Saber Darksoul, Mind Control, XX-Saber Fulhelmknight, 2 copies of XX-Saber Emmersblade, and Book of Moon. He Set Emmersblade and Book of Moon, then passed to Vansant.

Vansant attacked Hoyt’s face-down Emmersblade with D.D. Warrior Lady, and Hoyt blocked the attack by using Book of Moon to put the Warrior Lady face-down. Vansant Set a monster in Main Phase 2 and ended his turn.

Hoyt drew Solemn Warning next turn. He flipped his Emmersblade into Attack Position and then Normal Summoned XX-Saber Fulhelmknight. Vansant flipped Book of Moon to put the Fulhelmknight face-down before Hoyt could Synchro Summon with it. Hoyt Set Solemn Warning and ended his turn.

Vansant flipped up his D.D. Warrior Lady, then flipped a D.D. Assailant! He Summoned Breaker the Magical Warrior next, and used its effect to remove a Spell Counter and destroy Hoyt’s face-down Solemn Warning! Breaker attacked and destroyed Hoyt’s face-down Fulhelmknight, then D.D. Warrior Lady attacked Hoyt’s Emmersblade, removing herself and the Emmersblade from play. Finally, D.D. Assailant scored a direct attack, dropping Hoyt down to 6100 Life Points.

Hoyt drew Trap Stun next turn. He Set XX-Saber Emmersblade and Trap Stun, ending his turn.

Vansant activated Pot of Duality next turn, revealing Bottomless Trap Hole, D.D. Warrior Lady, and Thunder King Rai-Oh from the top of his Deck. He added Bottomless Trap Hole to his hand and shuffled the other 2 cards back into his Deck. Next, Vansant Summoned Banisher of the Radiance. Banisher attacked Hoyt’s face-down Emmersblade and removed it from the game. Breaker and Assailant scored direct attacks next, dropping Hoyt down to 2800 Life Points. Vansant Set a Spell or Trap and passed.

Hoyt drew XX-Saber Darksoul next turn. He Set it along with Gottoms’ Emergency Call, but with Banisher of the Radiance on the field, he knew he was finished.

Vansant Summoned D.D. Warrior Lady next turn and attacked Hoyt’s face-down Darksoul. Then Banisher of the Radiance attacked directly, and one more attack from Breaker finished Hoyt off!

A fast start for Vansant allows him to overwhelm the field and win the first Duel!

Hoyt opened up Duel 2 with Royal Decree, Reinforcement of the Army, XX-Saber Darksoul, Monster Reborn, Trap Hole, and Cold Wave. He activated Reinforcement of the Army and searched his Deck for XX-Saber Fulhelmknight, adding it to his hand. He Summoned it to the field and then Set Royal Decree and Trap Hole before ending his Turn.

Vansant Summoned Banisher of the Radiance on his turn, but Hoyt flipped Trap Hole to destroy it. Vansant Set 4 cards to his back row and passed, but Hoyt flipped Royal Decree in the End Phase!

Hoyt drew Mind Control next turn. He activated Cold Wave and then Normal Summoned XX-Saber Darksoul. He Tuned it with Fulhelmknight to Synchro Summon XX-Saber Hyunlei. Hyunlei destroyed Solemn Warning, Bottomless Trap Hole, and Book of Moon with its effect, then Hoyt attacked directly with Hyunlei. In his End Phase, Hoyt searched his Deck for XX-Saber Fulhelmknight and added it to his hand with Darksoul’s effect. Hoyt was in great position.

Vansant ended his turn without making a play.

Hoyt drew Solemn Judgment next turn and then attacked directly with Hyunlei, dropping Vansant down to 3400 Life Points. Hoyt Set Solemn Judgment and then ended his turn.

Vansant activated Reinforcement of the Army next turn. He searched his Deck for D.D. Warrior Lady and added it to his hand. Then he Set a monster and a Spell or Trap Card, passing to Hoyt.

Hoyt drew Torrential Tribute next turn. He Summoned Fulhelmknight to the field and then activated Mind Control to take control of Vansant’s face-down D.D. Warrior Lady. Hoyt flipped it face-up and then Tuned it with Fulhelmknight to Synchro Summon X-Saber Urbellum. When Urbellum attacked, Vansant flipped Mystical Space Typhoon to destroy Royal Decree. Urbellum’s attack went through and Vansant dropped down to 1200 Life Points. Hyunlei attacked next, and when Vansant flipped Dimensional Prison to try to remove it from the game, Hoyt flipped Solemn Judgment to negate it and end the Duel!

Jack Hoyt shuts down Vansant’s Deck with Royal Decree and Cold Wave to win Duel 2 and push the Match to a third Duel!

Vansant started off Duel 3 by activating Pot of Duality and revealing Mystical Space Typhoon, Dark Hole, and Doomcaliber Knight from the top of his Deck. He added Mystical Space Typhoon to his hand and shuffled the other 2 cards back into his Deck. Vansant Set 2 Spell or Trap Cards and Summoned Thunder King Rai-Oh to the field.

Hoyt opened up with Bottomless Trap Hole, Mirror Force, XX-Saber Emmersblade, Pot of Duality, Mind Control, and Trap Hole. Hoyt Set Emmersblade along with Bottomless Trap Hole, Mirror Force, and Trap Hole, then ended his turn. Vansant destroyed his Bottomless Trap Hole in the End Phase with his Mystical Space Typhoon.

Vansant Summoned Banisher of the Radiance next turn and Hoyt destroyed it with Trap Hole. Vansant passed without attacking Hoyt’s face-down monster.

Hoyt drew another copy of Emmersblade and Set it next turn.

Vansant Summoned Doomcaliber Knight. He attacked with his Knight and Hoyt flipped Mirror Force to destroy the Knight and Vansant’s Rai-Oh!

Hoyt drew Trap Stun next turn. He activated Pot of Duality and revealed Trap Hole, Boggart Knight, and Pashuul from the top of his Deck. He added Trap Hole to his hand and shuffled the other 2 cards back into his Deck. He flipped an Emmersblade face-up and then attacked directly, dropping Vansant down to 6700 Life Points. Hoyt Set Trap Hole and Trap Stun in Main Phase 2, ending his turn.

Vansant Set a monster and passed.

Hoyt drew Monster Reborn next turn. He attacked Vansant’s face-down monster with Emmersblade. It was a D.D. Assailant, so Hoyt lost 300 Life Points and the Assailant survived. Hoyt ended his turn.

Vansant Set another monster next turn, along with a Spell or Trap Card, and passed to Hoyt.

Hoyt drew X-Saber Pashuul. He activated Mind Control and took control of Vansant’s face-down D.D. Warrior Lady. He flipped it face-up and then Normal Summoned X-Saber Pashuul. Hoyt Tuned Pashuul with D.D. Warrior Lady to Synchro Summon Goyo Guardian and Vansant flipped Royal Oppression and paid 800 Life Points to try to negate the Summon. Hoyt Chained Trap Stun and Goyo hit the field! Goyo attacked the Assailant and both monsters were removed from the game by the effect of D.D. Assailant. Then Emmersblade attacked directly and Vansant dropped down to 3600 Life Points.

Hoyt drew Thunder King Rai-Oh next turn! He Summoned it to the field and Vansant flipped Bottomless Trap Hole to remove it from the game. Then Hoyt attacked Vansant’s face-down Doomcaliber Knight with Emmersblade and lost 500 Life Points from the attack. Hoyt ended his turn.

Vansant switched his Doomcaliber Knight into Attack Position and attacked Hoyt’s Attack Position Emmersblade. Hoyt lost 600 Life Points and Doomcaliber Knight Tributed itself to negate Emmersblade’s effect. Vansant Summoned Thunder King Rai-Oh in Main Phase 2, but lost it to Hoyt’s Trap Hole. Vansant ended his turn with nothing on the field except a face-up Royal Oppression.

Hoyt drew Boggart Knight next turn! He Summoned it to the field and attacked directly to drop Vansant down to 2700 Life Points.

Vansant activated Nobleman of Crossout next turn, removing Hoyt’s face-down Emmersblade from the game. Then he Set a monster and ended his turn.

Hoyt drew X-Saber Pashuul next turn. He attacked Vansant’s face-down monster with his Boggart Knight, destroying Vansant’s Effect Veiler in battle. Hoyt Set Pashuul in Main Phase 2 and ended his turn.

Vansant ended his turn without making a play.

Hoyt drew Book of Moon next turn. He attacked directly with Boggart Knight and dropped Vansant down to 800 Life Points. Hoyt Set Book of Moon and ended his turn.

Vansant Set a Spell or Trap and passed.

Hoyt drew Bottomless Trap Hole next turn and then flipped up X-Saber Pashuul. He Tuned Pashuul with Boggart Knight and Summoned Hyunlei, targeting Vansant’s face-down Book of Moon and face-up Royal Oppression. Book of Moon was Chained to put Hyunlei face-down. Next, Hoyt activated Monster Reborn to revive Thunder King Rai-Oh from Vansant’s Graveyard and attacked directly for game!

A huge play with Mirror Force allows Jack Hoyt to win the final Duel and take home a set of Darklord Prize Cards!

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)
Royal Decree is 1 of Hoyt’s signature cards, but with Vansant locked down under it in the second Duel, Hoyt activated Cold Wave anyways, the perfect call!  When Hoyt followed up with XX-Saber Hyunlei, her effect destroyed 3 cards, including Vansant’s Book of Moon.  If Hoyt had relied just on the Decree, he never would have been able to Synchro Summon. Instead, he devastated Vansant’s field and won the Duel a handful of turns later.  When you think you’re in a good position and about to make a big play, always ask yourself, “What could my opponent have, and how can I stop it?”

Michael Kohanim (2009 World Championship Competitor)
Hoyt was well-prepared to face a Deck like Vansant’s. Hoyt’s simple monster removal in the form of Trap Hole was extremely effective against Vansant’s slow-paced Deck filled with high-ATK monsters, and his Royal Decrees were able to shut down a lot of Vansant’s plays. Preparation can be the key to victory, and Hoyt earned his Points Playoff victory by being prepared.