Jonathan Barber from Jacksonville, Florida is facing off against Deryck Rothenberger from Indianapolis in a Top 16 Feature Match that pits Flamvellsworn against Miracle Gemini! Neither of these Decks were highly anticipated to be top contenders this weekend, but one of them is now guaranteed to make it to the Quarterfinals.

Rothenberger opened up with Pot of Duality; Elemental Hero Stratos; Miracle Fusion, Mystical Space Typhoon; Book of Moon; and Gemini Spark. He started things off by Summoning Elemental Hero Stratos and activating its effect to search his Deck for Elemental Hero Neos Alius and add it to his hand. Then he activated Pot of Duality, revealing Pot of Duality, Thunder King Rai-Oh, and Hero Blast from the top of his Deck. He added Hero Blast to his hand and shuffled the other 2 cards back into his Deck. He Set 2 cards to his back row before ending his turn.

Barber opened up with Flamvell Magician, Pot of Duality, Scapegoat, Gorz the Emissary of Darkness, Charge of the Light Brigade, and Gold Sarcophagus. He activated Pot of Duality first, revealing Lyla, Lightsworn Sorceress, Giant Trunade, and Dimensional Prison from the top of his Deck. He added Giant Trunade to his hand and shuffled the other 2 cards back into his Deck. Next, he activated Gold Sarcophagus, allowing him to remove Rekindling from his Deck so that he could reclaim it 2 turns later. He followed up by activating Charge of the Light Brigade, sending Flamvell Magician, Lyla, and Monster Reborn from the top of his Deck to his Graveyard so that he could search his Deck for a copy of Lyla to add to his hand. He Summoned Lyla to the field and activated its effect by trying to switch it into Defense Position. But Rothenberger flipped Book of Moon to put Lyla face-down and block its effect. Rothenberger Set Scapegoat and lost it in his End Phase to Mystical Space Typhoon.

Rothenberger Summoned Elemental Hero Neos Alius next turn. He attacked Lyla with Stratos and then attacked directly with Neos Alius. Barber Special Summoned Gorz the Emissary of Darkness from his hand, along with an Emissary of Darkness Token in Defense Position. Rothenberger Set 3 cards to his back row and ended his turn.

Barber drew Flamvell Grunika next turn. He switched his Token into Attack Position and tried to attack Stratos with it, but Rothenberger flipped Gemini Spark, Tributing the Alius to destroy Gorz. Then he flipped Hero Blast, destroying the Token and bringing Alius back to his hand from the Graveyard. Barber Set Grunika and ended his turn.

Rothenberger Summoned Thunder King Rai-Oh next turn. He attacked and destroyed Barber’s face-down Grunika with Thunder King Rai-Oh, then attacked directly with Stratos. Rothenberger Set a card to his back row and passed.

Barber drew Dimensional Prison and then reclaimed his removed-from-play Rekindling. He activated Giant Trunade, then Set Flamvell Magician and a card to his back row. Play passed to Rothenberger.

Rothenberger Summoned D.D. Warrior Lady. He attacked Barber’s Flamvell Magician with the D.D. Warrior Lady and removed them both from play with its effect. Then he attacked with Thunder King Rai-Oh and it was removed by Barber’s Dimensional Prison. Stratos scored a direct attack next, and Barber dropped to 2500 Life Points. Rothenberger Set 2 back rows and ended his turn.

Barber drew Flamvell Firedog next turn and Summoned it to the field. Next, he activated Rekindling, but Rothenberger negated it by activating Solemn Warning and paying 2000 Life Points. Barber attacked Stratos with his Firedog, destroying it in battle and allowing him to Special Summon Flamvell Magician from his Deck with the Firedog’s effect. Flamvell Magician attacked directly and in Main Phase 2, Barber Tuned his 2 monsters together to Synchro Summon Stardust Dragon.

Rothenberger Summoned Elemental Hero Neos Alius on the following turn and then activated Miracle Fusion to fuse it with his in-Graveyard Elemental Hero Stratos. He Summoned Elemental Hero The Shining with 3200 ATK and attacked over Stardust Dragon with it, dropping Barber down to 1700 Life Points. (Elemental Hero The Shining starts with 2600 ATK, then gains 300 more for every one of your removed from play Elemental Heroes.)

Barber drew Mind Control next turn and Set it, but it was no use! Rothenberger declared a direct attack with The Shining and took down the rest of Barber’s Life Points!

Jonathan Barber fails to get a successful activation of Rekindling, allowing Deryck Rothenberger to win the first Duel with his Elemental Heroes! Barber will be going first in Duel 2!

Barber opened up Duel 2 with Lyla, Lightsworn Sorceress; Mystical Space Typhoon; Flamvell Firedog; Dimensional Prison; Charge of the Light Brigade; and Dark Hole. He Summoned Lyla to the field and then Set Dimensional Prison and Mystical Space Typhoon. In his End Phase, he sent Dust Tornado, Rekindling, and Card Trooper from the top of his Deck to his Graveyard with Lyla’s effect.

Rothenberger opened up with Solemn Judgment, Seven Tools of the Bandit, Monster Reborn, Snowman Eater, Thunder King Rai-Oh, and Dark Hole. He Set a monster and ended his turn.

Barber drew Puppet Plant next turn. He Summoned Flamvell Firedog and attacked Rothenberger face-down monster with it. It was Snowman Eater! The Snowman Eater destroyed Lyla with its effect and then Barber ended his turn. (When Snowman Eater flips face-up, it destroys one face-up monster.)

Rothenberger Set 3 cards to his back row and passed to Barber.

Barber drew Mirror Force next turn. He activated Charge of the Light Brigade by sending Torrential Tribute, Glow-Up Bulb, and Giant Trunade from the top of his Deck to his Graveyard and searched his Deck for a copy of Lyla to add to his hand. He Summoned Lyla to the field and then activated her effect to destroy Rothenberger face-down Solemn Judgment. He Set Mirror Force in Main Phase 2 and then sent Flamvell Firedog, Trap Stun, and Book of Moon from the top of his Deck to his Graveyard in the End Phase with the effect of Lyla.

Rothenberger Summoned Elemental Hero Neos Alius next turn. He attacked Lyla with his Alius and Barber flipped Dimensional Prison to try to remove it from play; but Rothenberger flipped Super Polymerization and discarded Thunder King Rai-Oh from his hand to fuse his Neos Alius with Barber’s Lyla! Rothenberger Special Summoned Elemental Hero The Shining and used it to attack Barber’s Flamvell Firedog. The Firedog was destroyed and Barber dropped down to 7300 Life Points. (Super Polymerization cannot be Chained to. It lets you use ANY monsters on the field as Fusion Material Monsters, even your opponent’s monsters!)

Barber drew Flamvell Archer next turn. He activated Dark Hole to destroy Snowman Eater and The Shining and then Normal Summoned Flamvell Archer from his hand. Barber attacked directly with his Archer and Rothenberger dropped down to 7000 Life Points.

Rothenberger Summoned D.D. Warrior Lady next turn. He attacked Barber’s Archer with it, destroying it in battle and dropping Barber down to 6800 Life Points. He Set a card to his back row before ending his turn.

Barber drew Card Trooper next turn. He Set it and passsed.

Rothenberger flipped his face-down Monster Reborn next turn, reviving Thunder King Rai-Oh from his Graveyard and Special Summoning it in Attack Position. When he entered his Battle Phase, Barber used Mystical Space Typhoon to destroy Rothenberger’s face-down Seven Tools of the Bandit; but Rothenberger attacked with D.D. Warrior Lady anyway, and lost his Warrior Lady and Thunder King Rai-Oh to Mirror Force! Rothenberger Set a card to his back row and passed.

Barber Flip Summoned Card Trooper and activated its effect to send Flamvell Magician, Flamvell Firedog, and Scapegoat to the Graveyard. He Set Flamvell Poun and attacked directly with Card Trooper to drop Rothenberger down to 5100 Life Points.

Rothenberger activated Dark Hole next turn to destroy Card Trooper and Poun. Barber drew Lyla, Lightsworn Sorceress from the effect of Card Trooper. Rothenberger Summoned Spirit Reaper next and attacked Barber directly, stripping his hand of the Lyla he just drew.

Barber drew Flamvell Magician next turn and Summoned it. He attacked Spirit Reaper with his Magician, dropping Rothenberger down to 4000 Life Points.

Rothenberger drew and activated Pot of Duality next turn, revealing Solemn Warning, Gemini Spark, and E – Emergency Call from the top of his Deck. He added the Emergency Call to his hand and activated it to search his Deck for Stratos and add it to his hand. He Summoned Stratos to the field and then activated its effect to search his Deck for a copy of Neos Alius to add to his hand. Stratos attacked and destroyed Flamvell Magician, and then Spirit Reaper attacked directly, dropping Barber down to 5800 Life Points and costing him his last remaining card: Puppet Plant.

But with no other cards in his hand or on his field, Barber topdecked Rekindling! He activated it to Special Summon Flamvell Firedog, Flamvell Poun, 2 Flamvell Magicians, and Flamvell Archer from his Graveyard in Attack Position! Rothenberger flipped Bottomless Trap Hole to remove the Firedog from the Duel, but the other 4 monsters remained. Barber Tributed his Flamvell Poun with the effect of his Flamvell Archer to boost the ATK of his other 3 monsters, than attacked Spirit Reaper with all 3 of those monsters! Rothenberger took 5300 points of damage, and with only 4000 Life Points remaining, Barber’s monsters finished him off!

An amazing topdeck of Rekindling allows Jonathan Barber to steal the win for Deryck Rothenberger and push the Match to a third Duel!

Rothenberger started off Duel 3 with Mystical Space Typhoon, Hero Blast, Miracle Fusion, Solemn Warning, and 2 copies of Dimensional Prison. He Set 4 cards to his back row and ended his turn.

Barber opened up with Dimensional Prison, Puppet Plant, Flamvell Magician, Mirror Force, and 2 copies of Rekindling. He Summoned Flamvell Magician and attacked, but lost it to Dimensional Prison. He Set Dimensional Prison and Mirror Force, ending his turn.

Rothenberger activated his face-down Mystical Space Typhoon next turn to destroy Barber’s face-down Dimensional Prison, then Summoned Thunder King Rai-Oh and attacked directly, dropping Barber down to 6100 Life Points.

Barber drew Lyla, Lightsworn Sorceress next turn and tried Summoning it to the field; but Rothenberger flipped Solemn Warning and paid 2000 Life Points to negate the Summon.

Rothenberger attacked directly with Thunder King Rai-Oh next turn, dropping Barber down to 4200 Life Points.

Barber drew Pot of Duality next turn, but couldn’t activate it due to the effect of Thunder King Rai-Oh. He passed his turn without a play.

Rothenberger Summoned Crusader of Endymion next turn. He declared an attack with Crusader of Endymion, but Barber flipped Mirror Force to destroy Rothenberger’s 2 monsters. Rothenberger used Pot of Duality in Main Phase 2, revealing Future Fusion from the top 3 cards of his Deck and adding it to his hand while shuffling the other 2 revealed cards back into his Deck. Next, he activated Future Future, sending Snowman Eater and Elemental Hero Neos Alius from his Deck to his Graveyard so that he could Special Summon Elemental Hero Absolute Zero 2 turns later.

Barber drew Flamvell Grunika next turn and then activated Pot of Duality to add Charge of the Light Brigade from the top of his Deck to his hand. He activated it to send Dust Tornado, Puppet Plant, and Pot of Duality from the top of his Deck to his Graveyard and add a Lyla to his hand. He Summoned Lyla to the field and then switched it to Defense Position to destroy Rothenberger’s face-down Miracle Fusion! In his End Phase, Barber Sent Card Trooper, Flamvell Poun, and Glow-Up Bulb from the top of his Deck to his Graveyard with the effect of Lyla.

Rothenberger drew a Spell or Trap Card and Set it before passing.

Barber drew Giant Trunade next turn! He activated it, returning Rothenberger Future Fusion and all of his Set cards to his hand. Next, he activated Rekindling to Special Summon Flamvell Poun from his Graveyard. Then he activated the effect of Glow-Up Bulb by sending Dimensional Prison from the top of his Deck to his Graveyard, and Special Summoned Glow-Up Bulb to the field. He then Tuned the Poun with Glow-Up Bulb to Synchro Summon Formula Synchron, then drew Mind Control from the top of his Deck with the effect of Formula Synchron. He Summoned Flamvell Grunika next, and Tuned Lyla with Formula Synchron to Synchro Summon Brionac, Dragon of the Ice Barrier. Grunika and Brionac attacked directly, dropping Rothenberger down to 2000 Life Points.

Rothenberger Summoned D.D. Warrior Lady to the field on his next turn and attacked Brionac with it. He lost 800 Life Points and removed both monsters from the Duel. He activated Future Fusion in Main Phase 2, sending D.D. Warrior Lady and Neos Alius from his Deck to his Graveyard so that he could Summon The Shining 2 turns later. Rothenberger Set 3 cards to his back row and ended his turn.

Barber drew Lyla next turn. He Summoned it to the field and Rothenberger flipped Hero Blast to destroy it and return a Neos Alius from his Graveyard to his hand. Barber attacked with Grunika next, and Rothenberger flipped Dimensional Prison to remove it from the Duel. Barber Set a card to his back row and ended his turn.

Rothenberger Summoned Elemental Hero Neos Alius next turn. He attacked directly with Neos Alius and Barber dropped down to 2300 Life Points.

But it was all over on Barber’s next turn! Barber drew Mystical Space Typhoon and activated it to destroy Rothenberger’s face-down Seven Tools of the Bandit, then discarded Puppet Plant from his hand to take control of Rothenberger’s Neos Alius. After 1 direct attack from Neos Alius, Rothenberger was out of the Duel! (You can discard Puppet Plant to take control of a Warrior or Spellcaster-Type monster until the End Phase.)

Jonathan Barber is moving on to the Quarterfinals with his Flamvellsworn Deck!