Both of these competitors are on the bubble here in Round 8, with 5-1-1 records (5 wins, 1 loss, and 1 draw each).  Christopher Campbell is competing in his first big tournament this weekend: he’s never even played in a Regional before, but now he could be headed to Day 2 with an aggressive Fish Deck.  Campbell’s strategy is built around Thunder King Rai-Oh and Superancient Deepsea King Coelacanth, while Nguyen is running a defensive Camel Control Deck with Des Lacooda and Mist Valley Falcon.  This is a matchup we’ve never seen before, so it should be interesting!

Campbell opened the Match with a handshake and a hand of Royal Decree, 2 Book of Moon, Snowman Eater, 7 Colored Fish, and Nimble Sunfish.  He Set Decree, Book, and Snowman Eater.

Nguyen activated Giant Trunade, then Set 3 cards to his Spell and Trap Card Zone plus a monster.

Campbell drew Superancient Deepsea King Coelacanth.  He Set a monster, Set Decree, and Set both Books.

Nguyen Set 2 more cards to his back row and Flip Summoned Morphing Jar: Campbell dicsarded Coelacanth and 7 Colored Fish to get a new hand of Mystical Space Typhoon, Royal Swamp Eel, 2 Thunder King Rai-Oh, and another Nimble Sunfish.  Nguyen Set another monster, Set a card to his back row and ended: Campbell flipped Royal Decree in the End Phase and Nguyen had no response.

Campbell drew his third Book of Moon.  He Normal Summoned Thunder King, Flip Sumoned Nimble Sunfish, and sent it to attack Morphing Jar, destroying the Jar.  He attacked Nguyen’s face-down Des Lacooda with Thunder King Rai-Oh, destroying it, and Set his Book and Typhoon in Main Phase 2.

Nguyen Summoned Banisher of the Radiance, attacked Sunfish, and Campbell blocked the attack with a Book.

Campbell drew another Royal Swamp Eel, Summoned it, and attacked the face-down Banisher with Sunfish.  Swamp Eel and Thunder King both attacked directly: Nguyen was down to 4100 Life Points.

Nguyen Summoned Breaker the Magical Warrior, trying to use its effect to destroy Decree, but  Campbell Chained Book of Moon to its effect!  Decree remained active.

Campbell drew his third Royal Swamp Eel.  He Tuned his on-field Swamp Eel to Sunfish, Synchro Summoned Goyo Guardian, and Normal Summoned another Sunfish.  When he declared his attack with Sunfish Nguyen conceded.

No Coelacanth action for Campbell, but that doesn’t seem to slow him down, as a thunderous Royal Decree lets him control the Duel and grind out a win with Thunder King Rai-Oh and a veritable school of Fish!

Nguyen started the second Duel with a Set monster, then Set 3 cards to his back row.

Campbell’s hand was 2 Royal Swamp Eel, 2 Mausoleum of the Emperor, Royal Decree, and Monster Reborn.  He Summoned Swamp Eel and attacked: Nguyen flipped Snowman Eater, destroying Swamp Eel, and Campbell Set Royal Decree.

Nguyen Summoned King Tiger Wanghu and attacked for 1700 Battle Damage.  Campbell flipped Royal Decree in Nguyen’s End Phase, but Nguyen Chained Dark Bribe to negate it: Campbell drew Mystical Space Typhoon.

He drew Book of Moon next turn, and Summoned his second Swamp Eel.  He Set Book and Typhoon.

Nguyen kept on pressing, and Summoned Thunder King Rai-Oh to attack into Book of Moon.

Campbell drew Snowman Eater.  He activated Mystical Space Typhoon to destroy Nguyen’s Solemn Judgment, then attacked the face-down Thunder King Rai-Oh to destroy it.  He Set Snowman Eater.

Nguyen attacked Swamp Eel with King Tiger, trading off with it in battle.  He Set a monster.

Campbell drew 7 Colored Fish.  He Summoned it, attacked, and destroyed Nguyen’s Set Swarm of Scarabs.

Nguyen drew to 2 cards in hand, and passed.

Campbell drew Dark Hole.  He Flip Summoned Snowman Eater to try and destroy the opposing Snowman, but lost out to Torrential Tribute.  Nguyen had 3 cards in hand, soon to be 4: Campbell ended his turn, not activating his Monster Reborn.

Nguyen Set a monster and a back row card.

Campbell drew another Snowman Eater and passed.

Nguyen Flip Summoned Des Lacooda, drew a card with its effect, and flipped it back face-down.  He Set a monster, then Set a Spell or Trap Card.

Campbell drew Mystical Space Typhoon , and used it to destroy Nguyen’s Set Solemn Warning.  Dark Hole destroyed his face-down Snowman Eater and Des Lacooda, and Campbell Set a monster.

Nguyen Summoned Mist Valley Falcon, returned his Set back row card to his hand, and destroyed Snowman Eater: the Snowman destroyed Falcon in turn, and Nguyen Set his back row card again.

Monster Reborn let Campbell bring back Mist Valley Falcon: he activated Mausoleum of the Emperor, attacked, bounced Mausoleum back to his hand, and ended.  The Duel stood at 6100 Life Points to 6000, with Campbell narrowly leading.

Nguyen Set a monster.

Campbell drew Moray of Greed.  He activated Mausoleum, and again attacked with Mist Valley Falcon: it crashed into Fossil Dyna Pachycephalo and both were destroyed.

Nguyen Summoned another Falcon and attacked, again bouncing his back row card and Setting it.

Campbell drew Card Destruction!  He Set Snowman Eater.

Nguyen attacked with Falcon into Snowman Eater, and both were destroyed.  He Set his back row card again.

Campbell drew Pot of Avarice: he shuffled 2 Snowman Eaters, 2 Royal Swamp Eel, and 7 Colored Fish back into his Deck, drawing another Pot of Avarice and Giant Trunade.  He ended his turn with a clear field.

Nguyen Summoned Banisher of the Radiance and attacked for 1600 Battle Damage.  Campbell was down to 2500 Life Points.

Campbell drew Light and Darkness Dragon.  He activated Giant Trunade, followed up with Mausoleum, and activated Card Destruction: he drew 4 cards while Nguyen drew 3.  He drew Terraforming, Moray of Greed, and 2 Coelacanth.  He paid 2000 Life Points, dropped to 500, and discarded Terraforming for Coelacanth’s effect: that let him Special Summon 2 Royal Swamp Eel, 7 Colored Fish, and Nimble Sunfish.  He Tuned Sunfish and Swamp Eel together for Brionac, Dragon of the Ice Barrier (4+2=6): Campbell didn’t realize he couldn’t discard for Brionac’s effect with Banisher on the field.  He was notified of this, then Tuned 7 Colored Fish and Swamp Eel together, Synchro Summoning Stardust Dragon.(4+4=8) He attacked with Brionac to destroy Banisher.  Stardust Dragon attacked to destroy Swarm of Locusts, and Nguyen took 2800 Battle Damage from Coelacanth.  He had 2500 Life Points left, and Campbell Set Moray of Greed.

Nguyen Set a monster, then Set 2 cards to his back row.  He activated his last card, Swords of Revealing Light.

Campbell drew Fishborg Blaster.  He flipped Moray of Greed, shuffled back Fishborg and his second Coelacanth, and drew 2 Snowman Eater and Thunder King.  He had 3 cards in hand with Brionac on the field, to Nguyen’s 4 on-field cards.  He discarded both Snowmen to bounce away Swords, then Nguyen’s monster.  Finally, he discarded Thunder King for Coelacanth’s effect, Special Summoned Swamp Eel and Golden Flying Fish, and Nguyen removed both with Bottomless Trap Hole.  But it wasn’t enough!  With Brionac, Stardust, and Coelacanth all on the field, the Coelacanth was free to attack for game!

Christopher Campbell moves to Day 2 with a 6-1-1 record, packing one of the most unique Fish Decks we’ve ever seen!

Post-Event Analysis!
See what our panel of experts had to say about this Duel after the event was over.  

Michael Kohanim (2009 World Championship Competitor)
In Duel 1, Nguyen activated Giant Trunade without a follow-up, allowing Campbell to simply Set the cards that were returned to his hand on the next turn. Giant Trunade is usually best used to clear your opponent’s Spell and Trap Card Zone when you need to make sure that your attacks will be successful. But Nguyen may have had an even better use for it, if he had held onto it for one more turn! If Nguyen had saved the Giant Trunade for his next turn, he may have been able to return Campbell’s Spell and Trap Cards to his hand, immediately before flipping Morphing Jar and forcing Campbell to discard all of them. 

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