Quarterfinals: Thomas Luebke VS Thanh Nguyen
Thomas Luebke and Thanh Nguyen have never topped a YCS before, but today, they’re going head to head in the Top 8! One of these Duelists will advance to the Top 4 with a great shot at winning a Set of Darklord Prize Cards, while the other one will be eliminated. Which Deck will win – Luebke’s Machina Gadgets or Nguyen’s Plants?
Nguyen started off the Duel by Setting 2 Spell or Trap Cards and a monster before ending his turn.
Luebke opened up with 2 copies of Pot of Duality, Machina Gearframe, Machina Force, and 2 copies of Green Gadget. He Summoned Machina Gearframe and activated its effect, searching his Deck for Machina Fortress and adding it to his hand. He activated Pot of Duality next, revealing Limiter Removal, Dimensional Prison, and Solemn Warning from the top of his Deck. He added Limiter Removal to his hand and shuffled the other 2 cards back into his Deck. Luebke used his Gearframe to attack and destroy a face-down Dandylion, and Nguyen Special Summoned 2 Fluff Tokens with the effect of Dandylion.
Nguyen Summoned Lonefire Blossom next turn. He Tributed a Fluff Token to Special Summon Lonefire Blossom in Defense Position, then Tributed the other Fluff Token to Special Summon Tytannial, Princess of Camellias in Attack Position thanks to the effect of Lonefire Blossom. Tytannial attacked over Machina Gearframe and then Lonefire Blossom attacked Luebke directly, dropping him down to 6500 Life Points.
Luebke drew Solidarity next turn. He Summoned Green Gadget to the field and activated its effect, searching his Deck for a Red Gadget to add to his hand. Next, he discarded Green Gadget and Machina Fortress from his hand to Special Summon Machina Fortress back from the Graveyard. Luebke activated Solidarity to power-up his monsters and then attacked Tytannial with his Machina Fortress. Nguyen used Mystical Space Typhoon to destroy Solidarity, dropping the Fortress’s ATK back down to its original 2500. Fortress was destroyed in battle and when its effect activated to destroy Tytannial, and Nguyen Tributed his face-up Lonefire Blossom to negate the Fortress’s effect with Tytannial’s effect.
Nguyen Tributed Lonefire Blossom to Special Summon Dandylion next turn. Then, he Tributed Dandylion to Normal Summon Caius the Shadow Monarch from his hand and remove Green Gadget from play with its effect. He Special Summoned 2 Fluff Tokens with the effect of Dandylion, then attacked directly with Caius and Tytannial to drop Luebke down to 1000 Life Points.
Luebke Normal Summoned Red Gadget next turn and activated its effect to search his Deck for a Yellow Gadget and add it to his hand. Then he discarded a Machina Force from his hand to Special Summon Machina Fortress from the Graveyard. The Fortress destroyed Caius in battle and then his Gadget took down a Fluff Token. Luebke Set 3 Spell or Trap Cards and ended his turn.
Nguyen Tributed a Fluff Token to Summon Cyber Dragon on his next turn! He Fused the Cyber Dragon with Luebke’s Gadget and Machina Fortress, Summoning a 3000 ATK Chimeratech Fortress Dragon in their place! After switching his Tytannial to Defense Position, Nguyen attacked for game with Chimeratech Fortress Dragon and Luebke wasn’t able to stop it!
Thanh Nguyen defeats Thomas Luebke in a quick first Duel!
Luebke opened up Duel 2 with Dimensional Prison, Solemn Warning, Pot of Duality, Solidarity, Smashing Ground, and Machina Fortress. He activated Pot of Duality and revealed Dark Hole, Machina Gearframe, and Limiter Removal from the top of his Deck. He added the Gearframe to his hand and shuffled the other 2 cards back into his Deck. He Summoned the Gearframe next and searched his Deck for Machina Fortress to add to his hand with its effect. He Set Dimensional Prison and Solemn Warning in his Spell and Trap Card Zone before ending his turn.
Nguyen Summoned Thunder King Rai-Oh next turn and attacked, but lost his monster to Dimensional Prison. He Set 2 Spell or Trap Cards before passing back to Luebke.
Luebke drew another copy of Solidarity next turn. He attacked directly with his Gearframe and then Set Solidarity.
Nguyen Summoned Card Trooper next turn and sent the top 3 cards of his Deck to his Graveyard to boost its ATK. Dandylion was one of the three cards sent to the Graveyard, so he Special Summoned 2 Fluff Tokens to the field. Card Trooper attacked and destroyed Machina Gearframe before Nguyen passed his turn to Luebke
Luebke flipped up his Solidarity and then discarded 2 copies of Machina Fortress from his hand to Special Summon 1 to the field next turn. Then he attacked over Card Trooper with his Fortress to deal 2900 points of damage to Nguyen. Nguyen drew a card for Trooper’s effect.
Nguyen Set a monster and passed.
Luebke attacked Nguyen’s face-down Ryko, Lightsworn Hunter with his Machina Fortress. Ryko’s effect destroyed Luebke’s Solemn Warning and Nguyen sent the top 3 cards from his Deck to his Graveyard.
Nguyen used Mystical Space Typhoon next turn to destroy Luebke’s face-down Solidarity. Then he Summoned Lonefire Blossom and Tributed a Fluff Token to Special Summon another Lonefire Blossom, in Defense Position. Then he Tributed the Attack Position Lonefire Blossom to Special Summon Tytannial from his Deck in Defense Position. Nguyen activated Pot of Avarice next, sending 5 monsters from his Graveyard to his Deck to draw 2 cards. Nguyen Set a Spell or Trap and passed.
Luebke drew Limiter Removal next turn. He activated Dark Hole to clear the field, destroying his own Fortress and Nguyen’s Tytannial, Lonefire Blossom, and Fluff Token. Then he discarded Machina Force to Special Summon Machina Fortress back from the Graveyard. He attacked with it, but his monster was flipped down by Nguyen’s Book of Moon to stop the attack.
Nguyen used Monster Reborn next turn to revive Lonefire Blossom, then Tributed it to Special Summon another Lonefire Blossom from his Deck. Next, he Tributed that Lonefire Blossom to Special Summon Dandylion in Defense Position. He Tributed the Dandylion to Normal Summon Caius the Shadow Monarch and remove the face-down Fortress from the game. Caius attacked directly, dropping Luebke to 5500 Life Points.
Luebke activated Smashing Ground next turn to destroy Caius. Then he Set Seven Tools of the Bandit to his back row.
Nguyen Set a monster and ended his turn.
Luebke Summoned Red Gadget next turn and used its effect to grab a Yellow Gadget from his Deck. He attacked and destroyed Nguyen’s face-down Sangan, allowing Nguyen to search his Deck for Debris Dragon and add it to his hand with its effect.
Nguyen Summoned Debris Dragon next turn and used its effect to Special Summon Dandylion from his Graveyard. He Tuned the 2 monsters together to Synchro Summon Black Rose Dragon and activated its effect to clear the field! Then he Special Summoned 2 Fluff Tokens thanks to Dandylion’s effect and Set a Spell or Trap.
Luebke drew a Green Gadget next turn, adding it to his hand of a Yellow Gadget. He Summoned the Yellow Gadget and destroyed a Fluff Token in battle.
Nguyen Summoned Card Trooper next turn and sent the top 3 cards of his Deck to his Graveyard, including Spore, to boost its ATK to 1900. He attacked Yellow Gadget and Set a Spell or Trap Card.
Luebke Summoned Green Gadget next turn and activated its effect to add a Red Gadget from his Deck to his hand. Then he attacked Card Trooper with Green Gadget, destroying it and allowing Nguyen to draw a card with Trooper’s effect. Luebke Set Bottomless Trap Hole before ending his turn.
Nguyen Set a monster and ended his turn.
Luebke drew Solemn Judgment next turn. He Summoned a Red Gadget to the field and activated its effect to search his Deck for a Yellow Gadget and add it to his hand. Then he attacked a Fluff Token with a Gadget and destroyed it in battle. Luebke Set Solemn Judgment and passed.
Nguyen flipped Super-Nimble Mega Hamster next turn to Special Summon Ryko from his Deck. Then he Tributed his Hamster for Caius and activated its effect to target Luebke’s Solemn Judgment. Luebke chained Bottomless Trap Hole. Caius and Solemn Judgment were removed from the game. Nguyen Set another card to his back row and ended his turn.
Luebke drew Monster Reborn next turn. He attacked the Ryko with Red Gadget and Ryko’s effect destroyed Green Gadget. Ryko also sent 3 cards from the top of Nguyen’s Deck to his Graveyard. Luebke Set Yellow Gadget and ended his turn.
Nguyen activated Dark Hole next turn to clear the field! Then he removed Lonefire Blossom from his Graveyard to Special Summon Spore as a Level 4 Tuner, and Normal Summoned Ryko. He Tuned Ryko and Spore together to Synchro Summon Brionac, Dragon of the Ice Barrier and attacked directly for 2300 points of damage, dropping Luebke down to 2500 Life Points.
Luebke activated Monster Reborn next turn, and Nguyen negated it by activating Solemn Warning and going down to 300 Life Points. Then he pitched a Green Gadget and a Machina Fortress to Special Summon a Machina Fortress from his Graveyard. The Fortress attacked Brionac, but Nguyen used Book of Moon to put it face-down.
On his next turn, Nguyen Normal Summoned Debris Dragon and Luebke instantly conceded. With only 2500 Life Points left, Nguyen would be able to discard a card from his hand to activate Brionac’s effect and return Luebke’s Fortress to his hand. Luebke knew that Debris Dragon and Brionac would finish him off.
Thanh Nguyen takes a 2-0 victory over Thomas Luebke and advances to the Top 4 of the tournament!
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)
Nguyen did a great job of keeping a threatening number of cards in his back row, and that stopped Luebke from taking risks and making big plays with more attackers. Because Luebke didn’t commit more monsters to his attacks, Nguyen controlled both Duels with the defensive power of Dandylion and its Fluff Tokens. When you’re in a situation like that, the only answer is to take the risk and play more aggressively.
Michael Kohanim (2009 World Championship Competitor)
In Duel 2, Luebke used Dark Hole to wipe out his own 3300 ATK Machina Fortress, and destroy Nguyen’s weaker Tytannial, Princess of Camellias, Lonefire Blossom, and Fluff Token. Dark Hole is best used to turn the tables against the opponent – not to clear the field when you have the strongest monster out there. Luebke would have been better off wiping out Nguyen’s monsters 1 at a time, and saving the Dark Hole in case Nguyen regained the upper hand.
P.J. Tierney (Duelist from across The Pond)
When you have the option to both add a card from your Deck to your hand and see more of your Deck with a card like Allure of Darkness or Pot of Duality, it’s almost always better to search for your card first, and then play your Allure/Pot. By doing this you see more cards from your Deck, which gives you more options to choose from. If you play the Pot/Allure first there’s a chance you could end up adding the card you would have searched to your hand, leaving you with no target for your search effect.
