Over in the Public Event Playoffs, two Chicago Duelists were competing for a copy of Blood Mefist!  Jason Okubo is playing a Samurai Deck with the new Shadow of the Six Samurai – Shien, while Mitchell Celicious is running a Shooting Quasar Dragon Deck that’s made big waves in the Public Events up until this point!  Celicious played Shooting Quasar Dragon three times in the Semi-Finals Match that preceded this one, unleashing it with what appears to be his catchphrase – “Are you ready?” – every time.

Hey, when you Summon Shooting Quasar Dragon on a regular basis, you can have a catchphrase too.
Duel One
Okubo started the Match with Six Samurai United. He Normal Summoned Kagemusha of the Six Samurai and Special Summoned Legendary Six Samurai – Kizan, drawing two cards with United.  He activated Asceticism of the Six Samurai, targeting Kagemusha to Special Summon Elder of the Six Samurai.  He tuned Kagemusha and Elder together to Synchro Summon Naturia Beast, then Set two cards to his back row.

Celicious had two Quillbolt Hedgehog; Dimensional Prison; Dandylion; Reinforcement of the Army; and Tuning. He activated Reinforcement of the Army, and Naturia Beast negated it.  He activated Tuning next, and Okubo negated that as well.  Okubo sent Effect Veiler; Solemn Judgment; Legendary Six Samurai – Kizan; and The Six Samurai – Irou to his Graveyard for the negations.  Celicious Set Dimensional Prison and a Quillbolt.

Okubo activated another Six Samurai United, Normal Summoning The Six Samurai – Zanji, and then stacked Zanji with Kizan for Shadow of the Six Samurai – Shien.  That got Okubo his second Bushido Counter for United, and he drew two more cards!  Naturia Beast attacked, and Celicious responded with Dimensional Prison, banishing it!  Shadow then attacked, destroying Quillbolt Hedgehog.  If Celicious had just waited on Reinforcement and Tuning, he wouldn’t be in such a bad position right now.

Celicious drew Royal Decree. He Set it, then Set Dandylion.

Okubo Summoned Kagemusha, and Monster Reborn Special Summoned back his Elder.  Celicious activated Royal Decree, and Okubo detached Zanji from Shadow to bring Kagemusha to 2000 ATK. Dandylion was destroyed, and Celicious Special Summoned two Fluff Tokens.  Shadow destroyed one.  In Main Phase 2, Okubo Synchro Summoned Legendary Six Samurai – Shi En.

Celicious drew Tuning. He activated it, and Okubo negated it with Shi En’s effect.  Celicious Set his last Quillbolt.

Okubo Summoned Legendary Six Samurai – Kageki, and detached Kizan from Shadow to buff up Kageki’s ATK.  Shi En attacked Quillbolt, Shadow attacked the last Fluff Token, and Kageki made a direct attack.  Celicious drew Doppelwarrior next turn, and the Duel was over a turn later.

Naturia Beast robs Mitchell Celicious of multiple Spell Cards early on, starting a landslide of problems that only mounted as the first Duel wore on!  Victory proves academic for Jason Okubo in the first Duel.  Could Celicious Summon Shooting Quasar Dragon to make a comeback in Duel 2!

Duel Two

Celicious had a hand of Quillbolt Hedgehog; Junk Synchron; Monster Reborn; and not one, not two, but three Mystical Space Typhoons.  Youch!  He Set the Quillbolt and a Typhoon.  This looked rough.

Okubo activated Six Samurai United; Summoned Kagemusha; and Celicious blasted United with Mystical Space Typhoon to destroy it.  Okubo activated Asceticism of the Six Samurai, Special Summoning Elder of the Six Samurai, and Tuned them together to Synchro Summon Legendary Six Samurai – Shi En.  Okubo Special Summoned Kizan; attacked to destroy Quillbolt; then made a direct attack with Shi En.   He Set a Spell or Trap.

Celicious drew another Junk Synchron.  He activated Mystical Space Typhoon, and Shi En negated it.  Celicious played his third Typhoon, destroying Rivalry of Warlords! He Normal Summoned Junk Synchron to Special Summon Quillbolt, and Synchro Summoned T.G. Hyper Librarian.  Monster Reborn brought back Kagemusha, and Celicious Special Summoned Quillbolt Hedgehog.  He Synchro Summoned Armory Arm, and drew Unknown Synchron with T.G. Hyper Librarian’s effect.  Celicious attached the Arm to Hyper Librarian and ran over Shi En, dealing a total of 3400 damage!

Okubo drew to two cards in hand with nothing but Kizan on the field – suddenly the tables had turned.  He Normal Summoned The Six Samurai – Irou, and stacked it with Kizan to Xyz Summon Maestroke the Symphony Djinn.  He ended his turn, relying on the Symphony Djinn to protect his Life Points.

Celicious drew Foolish Burial!  He activated it to send Level Eater to the Graveyard, then Normal Summoned Junk Synchron to Special Summon Level Eater.  He Tuned them together for Dark Diviner, and drew another Quillbolt Hedgehog.  Hyper Librarian attacked Maestroke to detach one of its Xyz Materials, and Celicious ended.

Okubo drew to two cards again, and used Maestroke’s effect to turn Hyper Librarian face-down.  Okubo then activated Shien’s Smoke Signal, getting Legendary Six Samurai – Kageki from his Deck.  He Normal Summoned it, then Special Summoned Kagemusha of the Six Samurai with its effect to Synchro Summon Ally of Justice Catastor. Catastor attacked Hyper Librarian to destroy it.

Celicious drew Effect Veiler, holding Unknown Synchron and Quillbolt.  Dark Diviner attacked Catastor, and Catastor was destroyed: Okubo sent Smoke Signal, Solemn Warning, and Asceticism to his Graveyard for Diviner’s effect.  Celicious Set Unknown Synchron.

Okubo drew to one card and passed.

Celicious drew Quickdraw Synchron, and discarded Quillbolt to Special Summon it!  “Do I have to say it?”  asked Celicious, suddenly a tad embarrassed that his catchphrase was going to be broadcast across the internet to the entire world.  His nearby friends nodded.  Celicious looked around, and then asked a rhetorical, “ARE YOU READY?!”  He Special Summoned Quillbolt Hedgehog from the Graveyard, and Tuned it to Quickdraw to Synchro Summon Junk Archer!  He activated the Archer’s effect to banish Maestroke, then Special Summoned Level Eater by reducing Archer to Level 6!  He Flip Summoned Unknown Synchron, and tuned it to Level Eater for Formula Synchron, drawing Dark Hole.  He then Tuned everything together for Shooting Quasar Dragon (2 +6 + 4 =12)!!  Two consecutive attacks ended the Duel!

A ridiculously bad hand bogged down by triple Mystical Space Typhoon, harried by Legendary Six Samurai – Shi En, somehow becomes a huge victory with Shooting Quasar Dragon!  Mitchell Celicious evens up the Match score and presses this contest to one more Duel!

Duel Three

Okubo started the last Duel with three cards Set to his Spell and Trap Card Zone.

Celicious had two Quickdraw Synchron; Synchron Explorer; One for One; Quillbolt Hedgehog; and Dark Hole.  He discarded Quillbolt to activate One for One, Special Summoning Level Eater.  He then discarded one Quickdraw to Special Summon the other, and Special Summoned Quillbolt.  He tuned everything together to Synchro Summon Road Warrior, which Okubo negated with Solemn Judgment.

Okubo Set another Spell or Trap.  Still no monsters.

Celicious ripped Junk Synchron!  He Normal Summoned it, targeting Level Eater with its effect, but lost out to Fiendish Chain.

Okubo normal Summoned Elder of the Six Samurai, and took Junk Synchron with Mind Control.  He stacked them together for Number 20: Giga-Brilliant, and detached Elder.  Brilliant attacked for 2100 Battle Damage.

Celicious drew Chain Disappearance and cleared the field with Dark Hole.  He Normal Summoned Synchron Explorer, but lost its effect to Effect Veiler. Celicious Set Chain Disappearance.

Okubo Summoned The Six Samurai – Irou, and attacked over Explorerer.

Celicious drew and Set Unknown Synchron.

Okubo activated Six Samurai United, and then activated Asceticism, targeting Irou to Special Summon Legendary Six Samurai – Enishi from his Deck.  He stacked Irou and Enishi to Xyz Summon Shadow of the Six Samurai – Shien to draw two cards with United, and Special Summoned Grandmaster of the Six Samurai.  Mystical Space Typhoon destroyed Celicious’ Chain Disappearance; Grandmaster destroyed Unknown Synchron; and Shadow made a direct attack.

Celicious drew and Set Level Eater, and next turn Okubo Summoned Kagemusha of the Six Samurai.  He detached a Material from Shadow to boost Kagemusha’s ATK, and flipped Double-Edged Sword Technique to Special Summon Irou and Elder.  Irou attacked to destroy Unknown Synchron, and Shadow attacked to finish the Match!

Mitchell Celicious succeeds in Synchro Summoning Shooting Quasar Dragon, but it’s not enough to defeat Jason Okubo’s Samurais!  Okubo wins a Blood Mefist Prize Card!