Wilson Tsang Dueled his way to a 10-2 finish in the Swiss Rounds of this weekend’s competition, piloting an innovative strategy we weren’t able to show you until now. Tsang is running a unique Wind-Up build, running cards like Photon Saber Tiger, Ape Fighter, and Horn of the Phantom Beast. “This Deck has really good matchups,” explained Tsang, “Especially against more conventional Wind-Up Decks.”

But Tsang isn’t the only innovator at the table! His opponent is Keith Wong, who’s playing a teched out version of Malefic Skill Drain! Packing Main Decked copies of Prohibition, Wong’s strategy is aggressive, and extremely good at keeping big monsters on the field to shut down Dino Rabbit. He also plays Necrovalley, which could give him an edge here against Tsang’s Wind-Up Rats. Let’s see how it goes!

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Duel One

Wong started off our playoff rounds by getting Necrovalley with Terraforming. He Set a Field Spell Card, then activated two copies of Prohibition, declaring Mystical Space Typhoon and Heavy Storm!

Tsang had a hand of Solemn Warning, Solemn Judgment, Monster Reborn, Wind-Up Rabbit, Fiendish Chain, and Starlight Road. He Summoned Wind-Up Rabbit and attacked for 1400 Battle Damage, then Set four cards to his back row.

Wong Set a Field Spell Card, destroying his Set Geartown to trigger its effect; that let him Special Summon Ancient Gear Gadjiltron Dragon from his hand. He activated his Set Field Spell, Necrovalley, and tried to enter his Battle Phase; Tsang let him, and then activated Fiendish Chain at the start of the Battle Phase to stop the Dragon from attacking. In Main Phase 2, Wong tried to Special Summon Malefic Stardust Dragon, but lost out to Solemn Warning. He followed up, trying to Special Summon the last card from his hand – the much larger Malefic Cyber End! But Tsang negated the Summon with Solemn Judgment!

Tsang drew Tour Guide from the Underworld next turn. He Summoned it, and used her effect to Special Summon Sangan from his Deck in Defense Position. Tsang stacked them to Xyz Summon Wind-Up Carrier Zenmaity, using its effect to Special Summon another Wind-Up Rabbit from his Deck. He stacked those as well, this time Xyz Summoning Number 30: Acid Golem. Acid Golem attacked to destroy itself and Gadjiltron Dragon, and Zenmaity attacked directly.

Wong passed.

Tsang drew Forbidden Lance and activated Zenmaity’s effect again; Wong Chained Maxx “C”. Tsang Special Summoned Wind-Up Rabbit from his Deck, and attacked for a combined total of 2900 Battle Damage. Wong eyed his draw next turn for just a moment, and then immediately announced his concession; “I have to forfeit this one.” He went straight for his Side Deck.

Keith Wong makes an impressive opening, dropping a flurry of big monsters to the field backed by double Prohibition! But multiple pieces of monster removal in addition to a key Tour Guide from the Underworld let Wilson Tsang battle back and take control, crippling Wong in just a handful of turns! That might’ve gone differently if Tsang had drawn at least one Mystical Space Typhoon or Heavy Storm under Prohibition, but for the first Duel, the cards fell in Tsang’s favor. He was one more win away from the Top 32.

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Duel Two

Wong opened Duel 2 by activating Zombie World! He Special Summoned Malefic Cyber End Dragon, then Set one card to his back row.

This time around, Tsang had Wind-Up Rabbit, Ape Fighter, Wind-Up Magician, Book of Moon, Forbidden Lance, and Torrential Tribute. He Summoned Rabbit, then Set Lance, Book, and Torrential.

Wong activated Heavy Storm! Both Duelists had a total of three Spell and Trap Cards on the field (including the Heavy), but each had a number of effects to Chain. Tsang Chained Forbidden Lance to target Malefic Cyber End Dragon. Wong responded by Tributing the Cyber End for Deck Devastation Virus, and Tsang Chained Rabbit’s effect to save it from the Virus! When the Virus resolved, Tsang lost his Magician, and revealed his last card; Ape Fighter. Wong was left with three cards in hand; he activated Pot of Duality, revealing Dark Bribe, Compulsory Evacuation Device, and Cyber Dragon, adding Compulsory to his hand. He Set 2 cards to his Spell and Trap Card Zone.

Tsang drew and lost his Wind-Up Shark, as it was destroyed by Deck Devastation Virus. He brought back his Rabbit, Normal Summoned Ape Fighter, and made direct attacks with both of his monsters; Wong dropped to 4700 Life Points.

Wong Set a Spell or Trap, then Special Summoned Cyber Dragon. Rabbit dodged its attack, and then Cyber Dragon attacked to destroy Ape Fighter.

Tsang drew and lost Snowman Eater! He brought back his Rabbit and passed.

Wong activated Pot of Duality, revealing Skill Drain, Beast King Barbaros, and another Duality; “I’ll take Barbaros.” Wong Normal Summoned it, and wound up making two more direct attacks; Rabbit banished itself.

Tsang drew Fiendish Chain and brought back his Rabbit; he only had 3800 Life Points left. He Set the Chain.

Wong attacked Rabbit with Cyber Dragon, and Tsang blocked it with Fiendish Chain. Barbaros attacked, Rabbit banished itself, and Barbaros made a direct attack.

Tsang drew Solemn Warning, with 1900 Life Points left! He brought back Rabbit and placed it in Defense Position, but Compulsory Evacuation Device ensured a Duel-winning attack for Wong on the following turn!

A massive Heavy Storm leads to a long Chain of interconnected effects, the most notable being Deck Devastation Virus! Pinned down under the Virus’ effect, Wilson Tsang loses a total of three cards, and simply can’t defend himself from Wong’s aggression. This one was headed to a third Duel!

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Duel Three

Tsang started Duel 3 with Wind-Up Factory, Solemn Warning, Wind-Up Shark, Heavy Storm, Snowman Eater, and Torrential Tribute. He activated the Factory, then Normal Summoned Shark to reduce its level, triggering Factory’s effect; Tsang searched his Deck for Wind-Up Rat, adding it to his hand. He Set Torrential.

Wong Normal Summoned Thunder King Rai-Oh, drawing out Tsang’s Torrential Tribute to clear the field. He Set 2 cards to his back row.

Tsang drew another Wind-Up Shark. He activated Heavy Storm, destroying Wong’s Solemn Judgment and Dark Bribe! He then Normal Summoned Wind-Up Rat, and activated his in-hand Shark’s effect; Wong Chained Maxx “C”! He drew a card when the Shark was Special Summoned, going to three cards in hand. Tsang cut his ambitions short and Set Solemn Warning.

Wong blasted it next turn with Mystical Space Typhoon, then activated Necrovalley so he could Special Summon Malefic Stardust Dragon! It attacked to destroy Wind-Up Rat.

Tsang drew Tour Guide from the Underworld, adding it tom his hand of Snowman Eater. With the Shark still on the field, he Summoned Tour Guide and activated her effect, bringing Sangan from his Deck to the field. He stacked them together to Xyz Summon Wind-Up Carrier Zenmaity, then detached Sangan to Special Summon Wind-Up Magician with Zenmaity’s ability. Tsang shifted Shark to Level 5, triggering Magician’s effect and Special Summoning another Shark. He boosted that to Level 5 as well, and then stacked them to Xyz Summon Tiras, Keeper of Genesis! Tiras attacked to destroy Stardust, and Zenmaity made a direct attack. At the end of the Battle Phase, Tiras’ effect destroyed Necrovalley. Tsang detached Wind-Up Shark from Tiras.

With one additional card in hand, Wong used Terraforming to search out Necrovalley. He then Special Summoned his last card, Malefic Cyber End Dragon! The Malefic monster attacked Zenmaity to hammer home 2500 Battle Damage, dropping Tsang to 3600 Life Points.

Tsang drew Wind-Up Rabbit and Set Snowman Eater, then turned Tiras to Defense Position.

Wong attacked Tiras, destroying it in battle.

Tsang drew Mystical Space Typhoon! Wong still had 6400 Life Points left; Tsang knew he could eliminate Malefic Cyber End and Necrovalley together with the Typhoon, but first he Flip Summoned Snowman Eater; Wong negated its effect with Effect Veiler, but he couldn’t stop the Mystical Space Typhoon, and lost everything! He didn’t have any cards left, and Tsang wanted to end it; he Summoned Wind-Up Rabbit, then stacked Eater and Rabbit for Wind-Up Carrier Zenmaity, to get Wind-Up Rat. He used Rat to Special Summon the Rabbit he’d just detached, then stacked them for another Zenmaity. He detached Rabbit again, bringing out another Rat. Rat brought the Rabbit back, Tsang stacked them for Number 30: Acid Golem, and he turned Wind-Up Magician to attack position in order to make just enough Battle Damage to win!

Everything attacked, and Wilson Tsang was headed to the Top 32!

“I had to get rid of that Veiler!” commented Tsang, excited! “I knew if you had that as your last card, you’d stop me from comboing off.” Tsang had anticipated the possibility of the one card that would stop him from winning, and did exactly what he needed to do to play around it. Wong gave him a smile, a congratulatory handshake, and wished him luck in the rest of the tournament!

A fine showing of sportsmanship on both sides of the table, and a fine showing from two unique Decks!