Both of these competitors are undefeated headed into the last Round of the day, and both are playing new strategies we haven’t seen before this tournament.  Ever wondered what it would look like if someone played a Burn Deck with three copies of the newly no-longer-Limited Marshmallon and Magic Cylinder in the same Deck?  Well ponder no more, because we’re about to find out: Maxim Guillotte is playing a Burn strategy optimized for the new format.  Pedigo is playing Geargias, and has been slicing through his unwitting opponents like butter all day long.  Still, if he spends too much time searching for cards with Geargiarmor, Guillotte’s burn effects could make him pay.

Guillote opened up the last Match of the day with a Set monster and two Set cards to his Spell and Trap Card Zone

Pedigo had Soul Taker; Dark Hole; Forbidden Lance; Karakuri Strategist mdl 248 “Nishipachi”; Geargiarmor; and Geargiaccelerator.  He Set Geargiarmor, Lance, and Taker.  Maxim flipped Ojama Trio in the End Phase, Special Summoning three Ojama Tokens to Pedigo’s field.

Guillote Set another monster.

Pedigo drew Book of Moon and Flip Summoned Geargiarmor, searching his Deck for Geargiarsenal and adding it to his hand.  He flipped it back face-down with its effect, then Normal Summoned Strategist to flip Geargiarmor back face-up, this time getting Geargaccelerator with Geargiarmor’s ability.  Pedigo then Tuned Strategist to Geargiarmor for Karakuri Shogun mdl 00 “Burei”, using its ability to Special Summon Karakuri Watchdog mdl 313 “Saizan” from his Deck.  He Tuned Saizan to two Ojama Tokens, bringing out Scrap Dragon, then used its effect to destroy his last Ojama Token (taking 300 damage) and Maxim’s Set Gellenduo.  He Set Book, then activated Burei’s effect to shift the position of Maxim’s Set monster: it was another Gellenduo, and it went to Attack Position.  Pedigo attacked with Scrap Dragon, but slammed into Magic Cylinder!  Pedigo Chained Forbidden Lance to render Cylinder useless..  He attacked for 2600 Battle Damage with Burei.

Guillote activated One Day of Peace, drawing a card and giving Pedigo a Compulsory Evacuation Device. Guillote ended with a blank field and four cards in hand.

Pedigo drew to five cards in hand, getting another Geargiarmor.  He had two cards Set in his Spell and Trap Card Zone, plus Scrap Dragon and Burei.  He Set Geargiarmor and Compulsory Evacuation Device.

Guillote Set a monster and a spell or trap.

Pedigo drew Mystical Space Typhoon and activated Scrap Dragon’s effect, targeting his Compulsory Evacuation Device and destroying Maxim’s Dimension Wall.  He Chained his Evacuation Device, bouncing away Maxim’s Set monster, and then Flip Summoned Geargiarmor.  Its effect got him Geargiaccelerator, and he started counting up possible damage.  He settled on Special Summoning the Geargiaccelerator, then flipped Geargiarmor face-down so he could flip it up again with Burei’s ability.  That got him Geargiano Mk-II, and he Xyz Summoned Gear Gigant X to get another Karakuri Watchdog mdl 313 “Saizan” from his Deck by detaching Geargiaccelerator from it.  He Normal Summoned the Watchdog, Tuned it to Geargiaccelerator, and Synchro Summoned Stardust Dragon! Gear Gigant X attacked, and Guillote Special Summoned Gorz the Emissary of Darkness and a 2300 ATK Emissary of Darkness Token in Defense Position as he dropped to 2800 Life Points. Stardust Dragon attacked over the Token; Burei whacked Gorz, and Scrap Dragon attacked directly to seal the first Duel!

William Pedigo has to adapt his strategy a bit to combat Guillote’s Burn Deck, but he turns the tables on an early game Ojama Trio and combos off to unleash a field of massive Synchros and Xyz!  Another win like that would see Pedigo proceed to Day 2 with an undefeated record.

Both Duelists wished each other luck, and Guillotte opened Duel 2 by Setting a monster, then Setting three cards to his back row.

This time Pedigo had a hand of Soul Taker; Monster Reborn; Bottomless Trap Hole; Mystical Space Typhoon; Needle Ceiling; and Geargiano Mk-II.  He Summoned the latter, then Set everything but Bottomless.  He attacked with Mk-II, slamming into Marshmallon and taking 1000 effect damage.

Guillotte Set another monster, and a fourth card to his back row.

Pedigo drew Geargiarmor and attacked with Mk-II, hitting another Marshmallon and dropping to 6000 Life Points.  He Set Geargiarmor.

Guillotte passed.

Pedigo drew Geargiaccelerator, and Flip Summoned Geargiarmor to get another Geargiaccelerator from his Deck.  He Special Summoned one of them in Defense Position, and stacked it with Geargiarmor for Gear Gigant X: Pedigo detached Geargiarmor to get Karakuri Strategist mdl 248 “Nishipachi” from his Deck.  He Normal Summoned it, and activated its effect targeting Marshmallon.  Guillotte Chained Mystical Space Typhoon, targeting Pedigo’s own Typhoon, which he Chained in turn, targeting Guillotte’s Secret Barrel!  Guillotte Chained that, then tried to Chain Accumulate Fortune, but didn’t realize he couldn’t due to the presence of two Mystical Space Typhoons in the same Chain.  His Fortune was returned to the field face-down, and Pedigo took 1800 damage from Secret Barrel.  Marshmallon went to Attack Position from Strategist’s effect, and Pedigo stacked Strategist and Geargiano Mk-II to Xyz Summon Soul of Silvermountain!  There’s something we’ve never seen before!  The Summon worked: Guillotte had no response, and Pedigo detached Strategist to lock down one of Guillotte’s two Set backrow cards.  Gigant X and Soul of Silvermountain both attacked through Marshmallon, dropping Guillotte to 4500 Life Points.  Pedigo had 4200 left himself.

Guillotte activated Pot of Duality, revealing Chain Strike, Reckless Greed, and One Day of Peace: he added Peace to his hand and activated it.  Pedigo got another Watchdog as a result. Marshmallon went back to Defense Position.

Pedigo drew Mystical Space Typhoon and detached Mk-II from Soul of Silvermountain to lock down Guillotte’s other Set card.  Pedigo detached with Gigant X to get Geargiarmor from his Deck, then Set it.

Guillotte stacked his Marshmallon’s next turn for Wind-Up Zenmaines in Attack Position, then attacked into Gear Gigant X, taking 800 battle damage and detaching to keep Zenmaines on the field.  He needed to eliminate Soul of Silvermountain and get his cards back.  He Set two cards to his back row, then destroyed Soul in the End Phase with Zenmaines’ ability.  Guillotte was back in business with a four card Spell and Trap Card Zone… For a brief moment.  Pedigo destroyed the card he knew to be Accumulated Fortune with an End Phase Mystical Space Typhoon.

Pedigo Flip Summoned Geargiarmor next turn, getting Geargiano Mk-II.  He Special Summoned Geargiaccelerator; Normal Summoned Karakuri Watchdog mdl 313 “Saizan”; and Tuned Watchdog to Geargiarmor to Synchro Summon Scrap Dragon!  Pedigo activated the Dragon’s effect, targeting his Geargiaccelerator and Guillotte’s longest-Set card: Dimension Wall.  Both were destroyed. Geargiaccelerator’s effect got Pedigo back his Geargiarmor, and Gear Gigant X attacked Zenmaines: Guillotte responded with Magic Cylinder, knocking Pedigo down to 1900 Life Points and keeping Zenmaines alive.  Pedigo ended.

Guillotte drew to three cards in hand with one card Set, and turned Zenmaines to Defense Position.

Pedigo drew Mystical Space Typhoon, and Guillotte flipped Secret Barrel in the Draw Phase, threatening 2000 damage!  Pedigo Chained Compulsory Evacuation Device, targeting Zenmaines!  Zenmaines was bounced to the Extra Deck, but Pedigo should still have lost the Duel! Cards involved in a Chain remain on the field until the Chain is over, or until another card gets rid of them, so that Compulsory Evacuation Device should have remained until Secret Barrel resolved and dealt the whole 2000 damage.

Neither player realized it, and so Pedigo played on with 100 Life Points.  Guillotte had 3700 Life Points left, but his field was empty, and Pedigo had Scrap Dragon, Gear Gigant X, and Monster Reborn.  He Summoned Geargiano Mk-II; Special Summoned Geargiaccelerator; flipped Monster Reborn to bring back Watchdog; and Synchro Summoned Naturia Landoise to cut off any possibility of a from-the-hand Effect Monster!  Sure enough, when Landoise attacked Guillotte tried to activate the effect of Gorz the Emissary of Darkness, and when Pedigo pitched his Mystical Space Typhoon from his hand to negate it, Guillotte gave him the handshake!

William Pedigo finishes out Day 1, undefeated with Geargias!