We are off and running! And we picked a few tables to see what’s going down in this first of many rounds here in Chicago this weekend.

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Table 1: Adrew Jeffries’ HERO Deck defeats Matthew White’s Dino-Rabbit Deck

This first Duel turned into a Battle of the Gorzes. White opened with just a Set Mystical Space Typhoon, then used Effect Veiler to stop the effect of Jeffries’ Elemental HERO Stratos. Jeffries followed up Stratos with Elemental HERO Neos Alius on the next turn, then went to attack. But White used his MST to destroy Jeffries’ Set Spell/Trap, and with an empty field Summoned Gorz the Emissary of Darkness in response to the attack. Gorz started picking off Jeffries’ monsters, including Elemental HERO The Shining with the help of Forbidden Lance. Eventually Gorz itself attacked into a clear field and Jeffries had his own Gorz! White responded by clearing the field with Dark Hole. Jeffries summoned Stratos once again (which he had retrieved when The Shining was destroyed), and attacked with it over two turns to finish the Duel. So all that Gorz action only resulted in a reset and a return to the very first monster Summoned in the Duel.

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The second Duel opened with some pretty common big plays, but we saw some interesting tactics later on. White opened with Tour Guide From the Underworld to summon another copy of itself and Summon Wind-Up Zenmaines. Jeffries summoned Neos Alius. It attacked a face-down Sangan the next turn, which White used to grab Rescue Rabbit, and turn it into Evolzar Laggia the next turn, which was quickly taken down by Jeffries’ Snowman Eater. Jeffries used Miracle Fusion to summon Elemental HERO Absolute Zero and passed.

Then things got interesting:

White flipped a Snowman Eater of his own to try to destroy Absolute Zero.
Jeffries responded with Fiendish Chain to negate Snowman Eater’s effect.
White Chained Forbidden Lance to make Snowman Eater immune to Spell & Trap Cards.
With his Absolute Zero clearly doomed, Jeffries turned to make the most of its effect that destroys his opponent’s monsters when Absolute Zero leaves the field. He activated Book of Moon in a bid to turn Zenmaines face-down so Absolute Zero could destroy it.
But White had Solemn Judgment to negate Book of Moon!

The Chain finally resolved, with Book of Moon and Fiendish Chain missing their goals. Snowman destroyed Absolute Zero, and Zero took out Snowman and one of Zenmaines’ materials with it. But then Jeffries had his revenge: he used Dark Hole when Zenmaines was the only card left on the field. This destroyed Zenmaines’ last material, but also made it so that the field was empty. In the End Phase, since Zenmaines used its ability that turn, it was forced to destroy 1 card on the field – and the only candidate was itself!

With Zenmaines gone, White tried to fight back with Tour Guide, but had nothing left to summon! He summoned a Sabersaurus alongside it next turn, dropping Jeffries to 100 Life Points. Jeffries used Monster Reborn on Laggia, and debated between which monster to attack. He chose Tour Guide. White drew another Sabersaurus next turn, and used Number 39: Utopia to finish Jeffries off!

(After the match, Jeffries commented on his problem of which monster to attack. He chose Tour Guide to avoid a possible Zenmaines or other Rank 3 Xyz Monster. In hindsight, finishing off Sabersaurus would have been the luckier play, but there was no way for him to know the Level of the monster White would draw next turn.)

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Jeffries started the final duel with Stratos searching out Neos Alius. White summoned Rescue Rabbit, but it was stopped by Effect Veiler! (Remember: This is a legal play, due to the updated rules for fast effects!) White was never able to recover, and Jeffries continued to summon more HEROes. White made a smart move by using Mind Control on a face-down Snowman Eater, destroying The Shining, but it just wasn’t enough.

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Table 2: Nathan Fox’s Chaos Dragons defeat Richard Suwe’s Dark World Fiends

Fox opened turn one with a Set monster and two Spells/Traps. Suwe summoned Snipe Hunter, discarding Broww, Hunstman of Dark World to target Book of Moon, which was chained. (Remember: Broww will not activate its effect because it needs to be discarded by an effect, not by a cost). Fox flipped Ryko, Lightsworn Hunter, which destroyed Snipe Hunter and sent Darkflare Dragon and Lightpulsar Dragon to the Graveyard! Fox summoned Eclipse Wyvern and banished it for Red-Eyes Darkness Metal Dragon, which was returned to the hand by Suwe’s Compulsory Evacuation Device (Note: Once again, we see the updated rules for fast effects here). Suwe had no outs, and Fox rode Red-Eyes Darkness Metal Dragon to victory the rest of the Duel.

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In Duel Two, Fox used Lyla, Lightsworn Sorceress to destroy Mirror Force, but she was then destroyed by Trance Archfiend. Fox then banished a LIGHT and DARK from his Graveyard to summon Lightpulsar Dragon, then banished it for Red-Eyes Darkness Metal Dragon, which then Summoned Darkflare Dragon with its effect. A short time later, he also had Ancient Fairy Dragon and Galaxy-Eyes Photon Dragon in play. Facing a Dragon armada, Suwe banished three Fiends to summon Dark Necrofear! Red-Eyes Darkness Metal Dragon couldn’t get over Necrofear’s massive 2800 DEF, but Galaxy-Eyes could. In response, during the End Phase, Necrofear stole Galaxy-Eyes, placing it under Suwe’s control! But Fox was able to banish Galaxy-Eyes next turn with Chaos Sorcerer. Suwe then used Monster Reborn and got Necrofear a second time, this time crashing it into, and subsequently stealing, Chaos Sorcerer! But Lyla was able to destroy Necrofear, and multiple dragons immediately followed.