Top 32 Feature Match: Honorable Arnold Alvarado vs. Justin Shaft
Eleven rounds of Swiss competition have whittled a field of more than 1100 Duelists down to just a final Top 32, and this was the first of the playoff elimination rounds! Honorable Arnold Alvarado is playing Six Samurai, while Justin Shaft is armed with Machina Gadgets! It’s old versus new, and only one Duelist can move on from here!
Alvarado opened the Top 32 with 2 Six Samurai United, Shien’s Smoke Signal, Double-Edged Sword Technique, Legendary Six Samurai – Kageki, and Book of Moon. Smoke Signal got him Kagemusha of the Six Samurai from his deck, and he activated both Uniteds. He Normal Summoned Kageki; Special Summoned Kagemusha, and drew 2 cards with his first United: Gateway and Upstart Goblin. He activated Gateway, then Tuned Kageki and Kagemusha to Synchro Summon Legendary Six Samurai – Shi En. Alvarado drew Musakani Magatama with Upstart Goblin, then drew another Gateway and another Book with the second copy of United. He activated Gateway and Set everything else except his extra Book.
Shaft Summoned Yellow Gadget, much to Alvarado’s surprise; he hadn’t known what he was up against. Shaft got Green Gadget from his Deck, then discarded it and Machina Fortress to Special Summon the Fortress. Fortress attacked into Book of Moon and Shaft Set all 4 of his remaining cards to his back row.
Alvarado drew and Special Summoned Legendary Six Samurai – Kizan, adding 2 more Bushido Counters to each of his Gateways. He got Grandmaster of the Six Samurai from his deck with 1 Gateway; Special Summoned it; and then activated Sword Technique to Special Summon Kagemusha and Kageki from his Graveyard. He Synchro Summoned another Shi En, then got Hand of the Six Samurai from his Deck with Gateway. Alvarado Normal Summoned it; Tributed his Grandmaster to target Shaft’s Fortress, and destroyed it. He used Gateway to bring back his Grandmaster; Special Summoned it; and Tributed it again for Hand’s effect, destroying Yellow Gadget. Shaft conceded, knowing there was no coming back.
A huge opening with double United and double Gateway leads to a crushing turn 2 for Honorable Arnold Alvarado, who takes the first Duel of the Match! Shaft went straight for his Side Deck and made systematic swaps in and out of his Main Deck. With a quick Side Deck plan in place for Duel 2, Shaft’s luck might be about to change.
Shaft opened Duel 2 with a Set monster and 2 Set cards to his back row.
Alvarado opened with Cyber Dragon, Grandmaster of the Six Samurai, Six Samurai United, Book of Moon, Kagemusha of the Six Samurai, and Giant Trunade. He Set Book.
Shaft Flip Summoned Kinetic Soldier and attacked for 1350 damage.
Alvarado drew Hand of the Six Samurai. He had a totally loaded hand with Trunade, Cyber Dragon for Chimeratech Fortress Dragon, and United with a Grandmaster play. He activated Trunade and Shaft Chained Dust Tornado, destroying Alvarado’s Book of Moon. He Special Summoned Cyber Dragon; activated United; and Summoned Kagemusha and Grandmaster. He drew 2 cards with United: Smoke Signal and Compulsory Evacuation Device. He Fused Cyber Dragon with Kinetic Soldier; Specal Summoned Chimeratech Fortress Dragon; and attacked with all 3 monsters. Shaft dropped to 3500 Life Points, but Special Summoned Gorz the Emissary of Darkness with a 2100 ATK Emissary of Darkness Token. In Main Phase 2 Alvarado Synchro Summoned Ancient Fairy Dragon and Set Compulsory Evacuation Device.
Shaft turned Gorz to Defense Position, and sent his Emissary of Darkness Token to attack and destroy Chimeratech. He then Normal Summoned Red Gadget in Main Phase 2, got Yellow Gadget from his Deck, and Set 2 cards to his Spell and Trap Card Zone.
Alvarado drew Smashing Ground and got Legendary Six Samurai – Kageki from his Deck with Smoke Signal. He Summoned Kageki; Special Summoned Hand; and Tributed Kageki with priority to target Gorz. Shaft Chained Bottomless Trap Hole to try and remove Hand, but Alvarado Chained Compulsory to return his Samurai to his hand. Gorz was destroyed, and Alvarado destroyed the Emissary of Darkness Token with Smashing.
Shaft Summoned Yellow Gadget to get Green Gadget.
Alvarado drew Gateway of the Six and Set it.
Pot of Duality got Shaft a choice of Mystical Space Typhoon, Dimensional Prison, and Limiter Removal: he chose Limiter. Green Gadget got him another Red Gadget from his Deck, and he ended.
Alvarado drew Solemn Warning and Set it.
Shaft flipped Giant Trunade! It cleared the Spell and Trap Card Zones, and he Summoned Red Gadget, searching another Yellow Gadget. A discard got him Machina Fortress, and Limiter Removal powered everything through Ancient Fairy Dragon and beyond!
A solid opening for Alvarado turns sour when Justin Shaft drops Gorz, and Shaft builds his win turn by turn from that pivotal point! This next Duel was for all the marbles – one of these Duelists would head to the Top 16, while the other would be headed home.
Alvarado started the last Duel with Reinforcement of the Army, Grandmaster of the Six Samurai, Giant Trunade, Book of Moon, Dark Hole, and Solemn Warning. He Set Warning and Book.
Shaft tried to Summon Yellow Gadget, and Alvarado negated the Summon with Warning. Shaft Set 3 cards to his Spell and Trap Card Zone.
Alvarado drew Gateway and passed.
Shaft Summoned Machina Gearframe! It got him Machina Peacekeeper from his Deck, and Shaft attacked with it for 1800 Battle Damage. Shaft Set a fourth Spell or Trap.
Alvarado drew Legendary Six Samurai – Kizan. He activated Giant Trunade, and Shaft Chained Dust Tornado to destroy Alvarado’s Book of Moon. Alvarado grabbed Kagemusha of the Six Samurai from his Deck with Reinforcement of the Army, and activated Gateway. He Normal Summoned Kagemusha; Special Summoned Kizan; and got another Kizan from his Deck with Gateway. He Special Summoned the second Kizan and Grandmaster to get his third Kizan, and Special Summoned that to Tune it to Kagemusha for Brionac, Dragon of the Ice Barrier! “If you have the Gorz…” Alvarado took a deep breath and attacked…
…And Shaft conceded, offering a handshake! Honorable Arnold Alvarado is taking Samurais to the Top 16!
