Both of these competitors had 7-2 records heading into this round: a win here would give the victor a great chance at making the Top 32.  Gary Diamond was a LIGHT Gemini Beatdown Duelist, while Jonny Nagel was back from his appearance at YCS San Jose with another take on the Naturia Deck he piloted to a bubble Match in that tournament.  The twist?  This time he was playing an all-new strategy: Naturia Scraps.  Good idea, or bad idea?  We were about to find out!

Diamond started the Match by Summoning Breaker the Magical Warrior, then Set 2 Spell or Trap Cards.

Nagel had a hand of Ryko, Lightsworn Hunter, Phoenix Wing Wind Blast, Torrential Tribute, Bottomless Trap Hole, Gold Sarcophagus, and Gigaplant.  He Set Ryko, then activated Gold Sarcophagus to remove Monster Reborn from his Deck, to be added to his hand in 2 turns.

Diamond Set a third Spell or Trap, Normal Summoned Thunder King Rai-Oh, and attacked with it: Ryko destroyed Breaker, and Nagel sent Mystical Space Typhoon, Spore, and Super Solar Nutrient to his Graveyard.  Diamond Set a fourth Spell or Trap.

Nagel drew Dandylion, and Set everything but Gigaplant.

Diamond attacked Dandylion with Thunder King, destroying it and letting Nagel Special Summon 2 Fluff Tokens.  He Set a fourth Spell or Trap again.

Nagel drew Scrap Beast, and Tributed a Fluff Token for Gigaplant: Diamond negated the Summon with Solemn Warning.

Diamond Summoned Fossil Dyna Pachycephalo, Nagel activated Torrential Tribute, and Diamond Chained Solemn Judgment: he dropped to 3000 Life Points.  Fossil Dyna attacked the last Fluff Token, and Thunder King made a direct attack.

Nagel drew Naturia Pineapple.  He Summoned Scrap Beast, attacked Fossil Dyna, and destroyed it for 400 Battle Damage.

Diamond (illegally, due to his own Thunder King, but neither player caught it) activated Pot of Duality, revealing another Thunder King, Smashing Ground, and D.D. Warrior Lady from the top of his Deck: he added Warrior Lady to his hand and shuffled the other 2 cards back to his Deck.  He flipped his Set Smashing Ground, attacked for 1900 with Thunder King, and Nagel was down to 4200 Life Points.  Diamond still had 2600 Life Points left and Set a monster.

Nagel drew Mirror Force.  He flipped Wind Blast in his Standby Phase, discarding Naturia Pineapple to spin away Diamond’s last Set card in his Spell and Trap Card Zone.  He didn’t Special Summon the Pineapple (after thinking about it for a while), and Special Summoned Gigaplant with Monster Reborn.  He Normal Summoned Gigaplant, Special Summoned Dandylion in Defense Position, and removed Pineapple to Special Summon Spore as a Level 3 Tuner.  Nagel Tuned Dandylion and Spore together to Synchro Summon Brionac, Dragon of the Ice Barrier, then discarded Mirror Force to send Diamond’s face-down monster back to his hand.  Brionac attacked Thunder King to destroy it, and Gigaplant attacked for game!

Jonny Nagel is 1 win away from a potential seat in the Top 32!  He immediately dove for his Side Deck to make some drastic changes: he rotated in 2 Lava Golem, 2 Magic Cylinder, 2 Ojama Trio, 3 Just Desserts, and 2 Mark of the Rose.  He rotated out a Naturia Bamboo Shoot, Plaguespreader Zombie, 2 Scrap Chimera, 2 Scrap Beast, Pot of Avarice, Gold Sarcophagus, Solemn Warning, and Ryko, Lightsworn Hunter.

Diamond opened the second Duel with a Set monster and 2 Set Spell or Trap Cards.

Nagel’s hand was Magic Cylinder, Solemn Judgment, Torrential Tribute, Lave Golem, Dandylion, and Mark of the Rose.  He Set his 3 Traps and Dandylion.

Diamond Summoned Breaker the Magical Warrior, and Nagel flipped Torrential Tribute, destroying Diamond’s Breaker and D.D. Warrior Lady, and his own Dandylion.  He Special Summoned 2 Fluff Tokens.  Diamond Set a third Spell or Trap.

Nagel drew Lonefire Blossom and Tributed a Fluff Token to Special Summon Tytannial, Princess of Camellias from his Deck.  Diamond activated Bottomless Trap Hole when Tytannial hit the field, and Nagel Chained Solemn Judgment to keep Tytannial.  He attacked for 2800 Battle Damage with Tytannial, then 500 more with Lonefire.

Diamond Set a monster.

Nagel drew Ojama Trio.  He Tributed his last Fluff Token to Special Summon Gigaplant, turned Lonefire to Defense Position, and Normal Summoned Gigaplant to Special Summon Dandylion.  “If that’s Fossil…” It was.  Diamond flipped Fossil Dyna Pachycephalo, destroying Tytannial, Gigaplant, and Dandylion.  Nagel Special Summoned 2 more Fluff Tokens and Set a Spell or Trap.

Diamond Summoned Breaker the Magical Warrior.  He activated its effect to target Ojama Trio, and Nagel Chained it to give Diamond 3 Ojama Tokens.  Breaker attacked Lonefire Blossom and Nagel responded with Magic Cylinder, protecting Lonefire and dishing out 1600 damage.  Diamond was down to 3100 Life Points.

Nagel drew Super Solar Nutrient, with Lava Golem and Mark of the Rose in hand.  He Tributed another Fluff Token for Lonefire Blossom’s effect, and Diamond Chained Solemn Warning to negate the Special Summon and destroy Lonefire Blossom.  Diamond had just 1100 Life Points left.  Nagel Tributed 2 of his opponent’s Ojama Tokens to Special Summon Lava Golem, then removed Lonefire Blossom to activate Mark of the Rose: he targeted Lava Golem, wanting to attack for game through Breaker, but Diamond’s last Set card was Book of Moon!  Mark of the Rose was sent to the Graveyard and Lava Golem was safely face-down.  Nagel activated his last card, Tributing a Fluff Token for Super Solar Nutrient.  He Special Summoned Dandylion from his Deck in Defense Position.

Diamond drew, activated Dimensional Fissure, Summoned D.D. Warrior Lady, and Flip Summoned Lava Golem to attack for game!  We were headed to Duel 3!

Gary Diamond fights back and sends us to 1 more Duel to decide who could be headed to the Top 32!

Nagel’s hand was 2 Super Solar Nutrient, Naturia Pineapple, Bottomless Trap Hole, Mystical Space Typhoon, and Dark Bribe.  He Summoned Pineapple, Tributed it for Nutrient, and Special Summoned Lonefire Blossom.  He Tributed Lonefire Blossom and Special Summoned Gigaplant, then Set Bottomless, Space Typhoon, and Bribe.

Diamond activated Pot of Duality, choosing to add King Tiger Wanghu to his hand over Solemn Warning and D.D. Warrior Lady.  “Man, I hate anti-meta!” groaned Nagel.  “It’s knocked me out of my last three Championships, just like this, on the bubble!”  Diamond Summoned Breaker the Magical Warrior and Nagel removed it with Bottomless Trap Hole.  Diamond Set 2 cards to his back row, then lost Dimensional Prison to Mystical Space Typhoon in the End Phase.

Nagel drew his third Super Solar Nutrient!  He had Dark Bribe Set to Diamond’s 1 Set card, and Normal Summoned Gigaplant: Diamond responded with Solemn Warning, Nagel gave an excited fist-pump, and Chaind Dark Bribe to keep Gigaplant on the field.  Diamond drew to 4 cards in hand due to Bribe’s effect, and Nagel used Gigaplant’s effect to Special Summon Lonefire Blossom.  He Tributed it, Special Summoned Spore from his Deck, and activated his second Super Solar Nutrient, Tributing Spore!  That loaded Spore to the Graveyard, and let him Special Summon Dandylion.  He removed Pineapple from his Graveyard, Special Summoned Spore as a Level 3 Tuner, and Tuned it to Dandylion to Synchro Summon Brionac, Dragon of the Ice Barrier and Special Summon 2 Fluff Tokens!  He Tributed 1 of them for his third Super Solar Nutrient to Summon his second Lonefire Blossom, then Tributed it to Special Summon Tytannial, Princess of Camellias, and Diamond gave him the handshake!

Jonny Nagel pulls out all the stops to play 3 Super Solar Nutrients in a single Duel, bringing out Tytannial, Spore, Lonefire Blossoms, and Brionac to take the Match!  A spectacular finish sees Nagel with high hopes for the Top 32!

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)
Both of Nagel’s wins in this Match required him to look past the obvious play, and take a creative path to victory.  In Duel 1, that meant not Special Summoning Naturia Pineapple, so Nagel could use it for Spore’s effect instead.  And in Duel 3, Nagel had to plan his way through a whopping 13 Special Summons in 2 turns to triumph and take the Match!  Always keep your eyes on the prize: if you’re always looking for a way to win, you may find victory where you didn’t expect it.

Michael Kohanim (2009 World Championship Competitor)
Fossil Dyna Pachycephalo was key to Diamond’s victory in Duel 2. When facing Decks that use Fossil Dyna Pachycephalo, it can be dangerous to swarm the field with Special Summoned monsters. That leaves them vulnerable to Fossil Dyna’s effect. Nagel lost his Tytannial, Princess of Camellias, Gigaplant, and Dandylion all at once due to Diamond’s Fossil Dyna, eventually costing him the Duel. There wasn’t much that Nagel could do to avoid the devastation of Fossil Dyna’s effect, but sometimes it will be helpful to play around Fossil Dyna by not Special Summoning too many monsters at once.

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