12 year old Jack Hoyt is a veteran of Dragon Duel competitions, having won eleven previous events including yesterday’s Dragon Duel tournament.  Today he’s playing X-Sabers against Ivan Lozada, an Infernity Duelist that is undefeated thus far in this Dragon Duel.  Would Lozada score the win, or would Hoyt chalk up his twelfth victory?

Lozada opened the Match by activating Foolish Burial, sending Infernity Necromancer to the Graveyard.  He activated Reinforcement of the Army next, getting Dark Grepher.  He Summoned Grepher, discarded Plaguespreader Zombie for Grepher’s effect, and sent Stygian Street Patrol from his Deck to his Graveyard.  He then placed a card from his hand on top of his Deck, Special Summoned Plaguespreader Zombie, and Tuned it to Grepher to Synchro Summon Goyo Guardian.  He Set a card to his back row and ended with 1 card in hand.

Hoyt’s opening hand was Trap Stun, Sangan, Solemn Judgment, Solemn Warning, X-Saber Pashuul, and XX-Saber Emmersblade.  He Set Pashuul, Warning, Judgment, and Trap Stun.

Lozada activated Mystical Space Typhoon to destroy Solemn Warning, then removed Stygian Street Patrol to Special Summon Infernity Archfiend from his hand.  Its effect got him Infernity Avenger from his Deck, and he Normal Summoned it, Tuned it to Archfiend, and Synchro Summoned Ally of Justice Catastor.  Hoyt attacked with Goyo Guardian, flipping Pashuul, and didn’t attack with Catastor.

Hoyt drew XX-Saber Boggart Knight.  He Summoned Sangan, Synchro Summoned his own Catastor, and activated Sangan’s effect to search XX-Saber Fulhelmknight from his Deck.  Catastor attacked Goyo Guardian, Lozada flipped Mirror Force, and Hoyt negated it with Trap Stun: Goyo was destroyed.

Lozada drew and Set a card to his Spell and Trap Card Zone.

Hoyt drew Mind Control.  He activated it to take Catastor, Normal Summoned Fulhelmknight, and lost Fulhelmknight to Solemn Warning.  Catastor attacked directly, and Hoyt passed back his opponent’s Catastor.

Lozada Set another Spell or Trap.

Hoyt drew Gottoms‘ Emergency Call.  He Summoned XX-Saber Emmersblade, attacked with his Catastor to destroy both his and Lozada’s, and made a direct attack with Emmersblade.  He Set Gottoms‘ Emergency Call.

Lozada drew and Set another Spell or Trap Card.

Hoyt drew Trap Stun, Summoned Boggart Knight, and lost it to Bottomless Trap Hole.  He attacked again with Emmersblade, then flipped Gottoms‘ Emergency Call to Special Summon Fulhelmknight in Attack Position and Pashuul in Defense Position.  Fulhelmknight then attacked for game!

Ivan Lozada opens up big, but Jack Hoyt quickly whittles him down to win the first Duel!  Hoyt seemed to be on the verge of his twelfth Dragon Duel victory, but Lozada had no intention of making that easy for him.

Lozada got Duel 2 started with Foolish Burial, sending Infernity Necromancer to his Graveyard.  Once again he had Reinforcement of the Army, and he used it to search his Deck for Dark Grepher.  He Summoned Grepher, discarded Plaguespreader Zombie for Grepher’s effect, and sent Infernity Archfiend to his Graveyard.  He Set 2 cards to his back row, and used his last card to Special Summon Plaguespreader.  He Tuned that to Grepher, Synchro Summoned Goyo Guardian, and ended with an empty hand.

Hoyt’s hand was 2 Solemn Warning, Consecrated Light, Solemn Judgment, Banisher of the Radiance, and Mirror Force.  He Summoned Banisher, then Set everything but Consecrated Light: he lost Solemn Judgment to Dust Tornado in the End Phase.

Lozado drew and attempted to Special Summon the Infernity Archfiend he’d placed on top of his Deck last turn, but lost it to Solemn Warning!  Goyo Guardian attacked Banisher, and Hoyt flipped Mirror Force!

Hoyt drew Book of Moon, Summoned Consecrated Light, and attacked with Banisher.  He Set Book.

Lozado activated Giant Trunade, then activated Dark Hole to clear the field!  He didn’t have any cards left.

Hoyt drew XX-Saber Darksoul, holding Solemn Warning and Book of Moon. He Set everything.

Lozado Set a Spell or Trap.

Hoyt drew Royal Decree, one of his Signature Cards.

Lozado drew and Set another Spell or Trap Card.

Hoyt drew and Set a Spell or Trap.

Lozado drew and Set a card to his back row.

Hoyt drew Cold Wave.  He activated it, and Chained Royal Decree!  He Summoned X-Saber Pashuul, Tuned it to Darksoul, and Synchro Summoned Naturia Beast!  With Decree and the Beast on the field, Lozado was locked down, and he had Book to defend his monster!  He got XX-Saber Fulhelmknight in his End Phase.

Lozado drew and Set a fourth card to his back row.

Hoyt drew Mind Control, and Summoned Fulhelmknight.  Naturia Beast attacked, Lozado tried to activate Book of Moon, and it was negated by Naturia Beast’s effect.  Beast and Fulhelmknight both made direct attacks.

Lozado tried to Summon Infernity Necromancer next turn, but he couldn’t activate its effect: Hoyt was quick to turn the Necromancer face-down with Book of Moon.  When Hoyt activated Mind Control on the following turn to clear Lozado’s only defender, Lozado offered the handshake!

Jack Hoyt wins his twelfth Dragon Duel!

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 you face an X-Saber Duelist, you need to try and limit their Synchro Summons.  Lozada made a great move when he Synchro Summoned Ally of Justice Catastor. It’s really strong against X-Sabers since they can all be destroyed by Catastor’s effect (they’’re all EARTH monsters).  But when Lozada attacked to reveal Hoyt’s Pashuul, he didn’t follow up with Catastor to destroy the X-Saber.  That let Hoyt Synchro Summon his own Catastor next turn, getting him a Fulhelmknight from his Deck with Sangan’s effect, and destroying Lozada’s Goyo Guardian. 

Michael Kohanim (2009 World Championship Competitor)
In Duel 1, Hoyt used Mind Control to take control of Lozada’s Ally of Justice Catastor, and then tried to Summon XX-Saber Fulhelmknight to the field to Tune with it. But Lozada flipped Solemn Warning to negate Fulhelmknight’s Summon, leaving Hoyt unable to get Lozada’s Catastor off of the field. If Hoyt had Summoned Fulhelmknight before activating Mind Control, he would’ve been in better shape. If Lozada negated Fulhelmknight’s Summon with Solemn Warning, Hoyt would know that he should hold on to his Mind Control for later. If Lozada declined to negate Fulhelmknight’s Summon with Solemn Warning, Hoyt would’ve been able to Tune the Fulhelmknight with Lozada’s Catastor after using Mind Control, ensuring that he wouldn’t have to pass Catastor back to Lozada on the End Phase.

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