Ronald Mack hasn’t yet lost a Match this weekend, winning the last 11 rounds with his Gravekeeper’s Deck! His opponent, Brian Jones, is looking to change that with his Blackwing Deck. The winner here will advance to the Top 8, and with the rising popularity of Gravekeeper’s and ever-prevalent Blackwing presence on the tournament scene, this matchup is sure to be a common one in future tournaments.

Mack opened up with Dimensional Prison, Royal Tribute, Gravekeeper’s Stele, Bottomless Trap Hole, Royal Oppression, and Pot of Duality. He activated Pot of Duality, revealing Stele, Gravekeeper’s Spy, and Solemn Warning from the top of his Deck, and chose to add Spy to his hand. He Set the Spy along with 3 back rows and ended his turn.

Jones Set 3 cards to his back row and passed.

Mack drew Seven Tools of the Bandit next turn. He flipped Gravekeeper’s Spy and Special Summoned Gravekeeper’s Recruiter from his Deck with its effect. Mack attacked directly with his Spy and Recruiter, dropping Jones down to 5600 Life Points. Mack Set Seven Tools and ended his turn.

Jones Set a 4th card to his back row and passed.

Mack drew and activated Pot of Duality next turn. He revealed Royal Tribute, Gravekeeper’s Assailant, and Book of Moon from the top of his Deck. He added Book of Moon to his hand and shuffled the other 2 cards back into his Deck. Mack attacked directly with his Spy and Recruiter once again, dropping Jones down to 3200 Life Points. He Set Book of Moon and ended his turn.

Jones activated Pot of Duality next turn, revealing Dark Hole, Bottomless Trap Hole, and Blackwing – Shura the Blue Flame from the top of his Deck. He added Shura to his hand and shuffled the other 2 cards back into his Deck. Next, Jones activated Allure of Darkness to draw 2 cards from his Deck and remove Blackwing – Kalut the Moon Shadow from his hand. Then Jones activated Mystical Space Typhoon to destroy Mack’s face-down Bottomless Trap Hole. Jones activated Black Whirlwind and Summoned Blackwing – Shura the Blue Flame to the field. He used the effect of his Whirlwind to search his Deck for Blackwing – Bora the Spear and add it to his hand. Shura attacked Gravekeeper’s Recruiter, and when Mack flipped Dimensional Prison to remove Shura from play, Jones Chained Book of Moon to put Shura face-down and save it. In Jones’s End Phase, Mack flipped Book of Moon to put his Gravekeeper’s Spy face-down.

Mack drew Solemn Judgment next turn. He flipped his Gravekeeper’s Spy and activated its effect. Jones tried to negate the effect with Royal Oppression, but Mack flipped Seven Tools to negate it! Mack Special Summoned Gravekeeper’s Descendant and activated its effect to Tribute Gravekeeper’s Recruiter and destroy Jones’s face-down Bottomless Trap Hole. But Jones Chained the Bottomless to remove Gravekeeper’s Descendant from the game. Mack searched his Deck for Gravekeeper’s Commandant with the effect of his Recruiter, then pitched it to search his Deck for Necrovalley and add it to his hand. Mack activated Stele next, adding Commandant and Recruiter to his hand. He activated Necrovalley and Summoned Recruiter. Spy attacked and destroyed Jones’s face-down Kalut, and then Recruiter was put face-down by Jones’s Book of Moon when it tried to attack directly. Mack Set Solemn Judgment and then activated Royal Tribute, revealing Cards for Black Feathers and Blackwing – Bora the Spear in Jones’s hand. Jones sent Bora to the Graveyard and, after drawing his next card, conceded.

Ronald Mack swarms the field with Gravekeepers to take a quick victory over Brian Jones. Jones will be going first in Duel 2!

Jones started off the Duel by activating Pot of Duality, revealing Dimensional Prison, Mystical Space Typhoon, and Pot of Duality from the top of his Deck. He chose to add Mystical Space Typhoon to his hand and shuffled the other 2 cards back into his Deck. He Set 2 cards to his back row, Summoned Thunder King Rai-Oh, and ended his turn. It was a strong start.

Mack opened up with Gravekeeper’s Commandant, Necrovalley, Book of Moon, Solemn Warning, Solemn Judgment, and Dark Hole. He Set Solemn Warning, Solemn Judgment, and Book of Moon, then activated Necrovalley.

Jones attacked directly with Rai-Oh next turn, then Set a card to his back row.

Mack drew Gravekeeper’s Recruiter. He activated Dark Hole to destroy Rai-Oh, then Summoned Gravekeeper’s Recruiter. Mack attacked directly with the Recruiter, and Jones flipped Mystical Space Typhoon to destroy Necrovalley so he’d only take 1200 points of damage. Mack pitched Gravekeeper’s Commandant from his hand in Main Phase 2 to search his Deck for Necrovalley and add it to his hand. He activated it before ending his turn.

Jones Summoned Blackwing – Bora the Spear next turn. Then he activated Icarus Attack by Tributing Bora, but Mack negated it by giving up 3050 Life Points with Solemn Judgment.

Mack drew Seven Tools of the Bandit. He attacked directly with Gravekeeper’s Recruiter, dropping Jones down to 5100 Life Points.

Jones Summoned another copy of Bora on his next turn. He attacked Recruiter with it, but his Bora was turned face-down by Mack’s Book of Moon.

Mack drew another Necrovalley on his next turn, then attacked Jones’s face-down Bora with his Recruiter, destroying it in battle.

Jones Set a monster and ended his turn.

Mack drew Royal Tribute next turn. He attacked and destroyed Jones’s face-down Kalut, then activated Royal Tribute, forcing Jones to discard Dark Armed Dragon and reveal Monster Reborn and Nobleman of Crossout from his hand.

Jones Set a card to his back row and passed.

Mack drew Book of Moon, Set it, and attacked directly with his Recruiter.

Jones activated Mystical Space Typhoon next turn to destroy Mack’s Necrovalley. He activated Monster Reborn, but Mack negated it with Solemn Warning by dropping down to 1050 Life Points. When Jones flipped Solemn Judgment to try to negate Solemn Warning, Mack flipped Seven Tools of the Bandit the Solemn Judgment, going down to 50 Life Points! Jones Set a card to his back row and ended his turn.

But he wouldn’t be able to take down Mack’s last 50 Life Points! Jones had exactly 1700 Life Points left, and an attack from Gravekeeper’s Recruiter next turn knocked Brian Jones out of the tournament!

After a razor-thin margin of 50 Life Points in the second Duel, Ronald Mack defeats Brian Jones 2-0 with Gravekeepers to advance to the Top 8!