Maurice Brantley is running the last Absolute Zero Deck remaining in the tournament. His opponent, James Neumann, is planning to eliminate the Deck once and for all by scoring a quick win with his X-Sabers and making it to the Top 8. Will he be able to do it?

Brantley started things off by activating Reinforcement of the Army to search his Deck for Elemental Hero Stratos and add it to his hand. He Summoned it to the field and searched his Deck for Destiny Hero – Diamond Dude, adding it to his hand. Then he activated Pot of Duality, revealing Caius the Shadow Monarch, Dark Hole, and Miracle Fusion from the top of his Deck. He added Caius to his hand and shuffled the other 2 cards back into his Deck. He ended his turn without a back row.

Neumann opened up with XX-Saber Boggart Knight, X-Saber Pashuul, Reinforcement of the Army, Torrential Tribute, Book of Moon, and Solemn Warning. He activated Reinforcement of the Army and searched his Deck for XX-Saber Fulhelmknight to add it to his hand. Then he Normal Summoned XX-Saber Boggart Knight and activated its effect to Special Summon Fulhelmknight to the field. He Tuned his Boggart Knight and Fulhelmknight together to Synchro Summon X-Saber Urbellum, then attacked over Stratos, forcing Brantley to put a card from his hand on top of his Deck with Urbellum’s effect. Neumann Set 3 Spell or Trap Cards before passing his turn.

Brantley Set a monster and ended his turn.

Neumann drew Mind Control and activated it, gaining control of Brantley’s face-down Snowman Eater. He flipped it to have it destroy itself, then attacked directly with Urbellum to knock another card from Brantley’s hand and return it to the top of his Deck.

Brantley Set another monster and passed.

Neumann drew and Summoned Sangan next turn. He attacked Brantley’s Set Mystic Tomato with his Sangan, losing 100 Life Points. Then he ended his turn.

Brantley Summoned Plaguespreader Zombie next turn and Tuned it with Mystic Tomato to try to Synchro Summon Brionac, Dragon of the Ice Barrier, but Neumann flipped Solemn Warning to negate the Summon. Brantley activated Miracle Fusion next, removing Stratos and Brionac from his Graveyard to Summon Elemental Hero Absolute Zero from his Extra Deck! Brantley attacked and destroyed Urbellum with Absolute Zero.

Neumann drew Dark Hole next turn! He activated it to destroy his own Sangan and Brantley’s Absolute Zero, and searched his Deck for Super-Nimble Mega Hamster with Sangan’s effect. He Set the Hamster and passed.

Brantley Summoned Destiny Hero – Diamond Dude next turn and activated its effect, revealing Caius from the top of his Deck and sending it to the bottom.

Neumann drew Cold Wave next turn. Then he flipped up his Hamster and Special Summoned Darksoul from his Deck face-down. He Summoned X-Saber Pashuul next and Tuned it with the Hamster to Synchro Summon Goyo Guardian. He attacked and gained control of Diamond Dude with Goyo, then activated Diamond Dude’s effect to reveal a Bottomless Trap Hole from the top of his Deck and send it to the bottom. He ended his turn with a dominating lead.

Brantley Set a monster and ended his turn.

Neumann drew X-Saber Airbellum next turn. He flipped up his Darksoul and then Normal Summoned X-Saber Airbellum. He Tuned his 2 X-Sabers together to Synchro Summon Brionac, Dragon of the Ice Barrier, then discarded Cold Wave from his hand to return Brantley’s Set monster to his hand with Brionac’s effect. Next, Neumann switched his Diamond Dude to Attack Position and attacked directly with Diamond Dude, Brionac, and Goyo to end the Duel!

X-Saber Urbellum locks up Brantley’s draws and seals the victory for Neumann in the first Duel!

Brantley started off Duel 2 with Pot of Duality, revealing 2 copies of Royal Decree and a Spined Gillman from the top of his Deck. He grabbed a Decree and shuffled the other 2 cards back into his Deck. He Summoned Diamond Dude next and activated its effect to reveal Snowman Eater from the top of his Deck and send it to the bottom. Then he Set 4 Spell or Trap Cards and ended his turn.

Neumann opened up with XX-Saber Emmersblade, Solemn Warning, Gottoms’ Emergency Call, 2 copies of XX-Saber Faultroll, and Mystical Space Typhoon. He Summoned XX-Saber Emmersblade and rammed it into Brantley’s Diamond Dude. He lost 100 Life Points and Special Summoned another Emmersblade from his Deck in Attack Position. Then he rammed that one into Diamond Dude, losing another 100 Life Points. This time he Special Summoned XX-Saber Darksoul in Defense Position with Emmersblade’s effect. Neumann Set Mystical Space Typhoon, Gottoms’ Emergency Call, and Solemn Warning before ending his turn.

Brantley used Diamond Dude’s effect again next turn, this time revealing Spined Gillman from the top of the Deck. He Tributed it to Summon Caius the Shadow Monarch, targeting Neumann’s Darksoul with Caius’s effect. Neumann chained Gottoms’ Emergency Call, targeting the 2 copies of Emmersblade in his Graveyard, then Chained Mystical Space Typhoon targeting Brantley’s Royal Decree. Royal Decree was destroyed, Neumann Special Summoned his 2 Emmersblades from the Graveyard in Defense Position, and Darksoul was removed from the game by Caius’s effect.

Neumann drew XX-Saber Darksoul next turn. He switched an Emmersblade into Attack Position and then ran it into Caius to Special Summon a Fulhelmknight from his Deck. Brantley used Book of Moon to put Fulhelmknight face-down before Neumann could use it in a Synchro Summon. Neumann Set Darksoul and ended his turn.

Brantley activated Allure of Darkness next turn to draw 2 cards and remove Sangan from his hand. Then he activated Call of the Haunted to revive his Diamond Dude. He activated its effect, sending Book of Moon from the top of his Deck to the bottom. Next, he attacked the face-down Fulhelmknight with Diamond Dude to destroy it in battle. In Main Phase 2, Brantley Summoned Reese the Ice Mistress and Tuned it with Diamond Dude to try to Summon Brionac, Dragon of the Ice Barrier. But Neumann flipped Solemn Warning and paid 2000 Life Points to negate the Summon!

Neumann drew Torrential Tribute next turn. He flipped up his Darksoul, switched Emmersblade to Attack Position, and then Special Summoned XX-Saber Faultroll from his hand. He used its effect to Special Summon Fulhelmknight from his Graveyard, then Tuned Darksoul with Fulhelmknight to Synchro Summon XX-Saber Hyunlei and destroy Brantley’s face-down Super Polymerization while leaving his Call of the Haunted face-up on the field. Then he Special Summoned another copy of Faultroll from his hand and used its effect to Special Summon Fulhelmknight again. This time, he Tuned Fulhelmknight with Emmersblade to Synchro Summon Brionac, Dragon of the Ice Barrier! Neumann discarded Torrential Tribute from his hand to activate Brionac’s effect and return Caius to Brantley’s hand. Finally, Neumann attacked directly with Hyunlei, Brionac, and 2 copies of Faultroll to wipe out all 8000 of Brantley’s Life Points!

James Neumann out-speeds Maurice Brantley’s Absolute Zero Deck with X-Sabers to advance to the Top 8!

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)
Sometimes the toughest Pot of Duality choices are those you have to make in the early game.  With no back row, Brantley’s Stratos was highly unlikely to survive Neumann’s first turn.  If he’d taken Dark Hole, he could’ve given Neumann reason to play more conservatively.  If he’d taken Miracle Fusion, he could’ve brought out a second Absolute Zero by removing his first copy plus Snowman Eater from his Graveyard, outplaying Neumann’s Duel-winning Goyo Guardian.

Michael Kohanim (2009 World Championship Competitor)
X-Saber Urbellum was the key to Neumann’s victory in Duel 1. When Brantley wasn’t able to Set any cards in his Spell and Trap Card Zone on his first turn, Neumann knew that Brantley’s hand was clogged with monsters. Summoning X-Saber Urbellum allowed Neumann to continue locking up Brantley’s draws with monsters so that he wouldn’t be able to mount a comeback. When your opponent is drawing too many monsters, X-Saber Urbellum is the perfect monster to use in order to make your opponent’s poor draws even worse.

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