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Sunday Night Highlights!

November 20th, 2012

Championship level events are always full of awesome moves and shocking turns of luck, but sometimes a handful of unbelievable plays simply stand above the rest! Let’s take a look back on the weekend, and discuss some of the moments that impressed us the most from our Feature Matches!

First up, the must-read Round 6 Feature Match between Simon He and Marquis Johnson! He was playing Agents, while Johnson was running the new Mermail Deck.  Attacking into an open field, He Flip Summoned his Sangan and Normal Summoned Spirit Reaper.  He attacked with Reaper to make Johnson discard a card, but by dealing damage he gave Johnson the chance to Special Summon Tragoedia in Attack Position.  He pressed on, slamming his Sangan into Tragoedia to search his Deck for The Agent of Creation – Venus.  That play accomplished three things: it advanced He’s strategy by getting him to Venus; it loaded an extra card to his hand; and it let him Special Summon a Tragoedia of his own!  Since Sangan gave him one more card than Johnson, He was able to swing over his opponent’s Tragoedia and destroy it with his own.

That play alone might’ve put this Match on our highlight reel, but it was the story surrounding the Match – and its stunning conclusion – that clinched it!  You’ll have to read the Feature Match to find out all the details, but let’s say it involved a lost bet from Friday night; an against-the-odds play for the ages; and Dark Magician.  Seriously, go read the Match!

Jonathan Gonzalez won his feature match against Cody Muniz in Round 10, using some explosive plays involving Geargia, Karakuri, and Machina monsters, all in the same Deck. Most Duelists only use two of those three monster groups, but Gonzalez was able to play the best of each archetype. Also of notewas a cool play Muniz made in the second Duel. While he had Maestroke the Symphony Djinn and Tiras, Keeper of Genesis out, he was able to use Torrential Tribute almost like a Raigeki when Gonzalez tried to make a move.  [Round 10 Feature Match: Jonathan Gonzalez vs. Cody Muniz]

Round 2 saw a nice little play from Prophecy Duelist Amanda LaPalme.  Going second and up against a Malefic Deck,  LaPalme was wary of her opponent outplaying her with a possible first turn Skill Drain.  Armed with Spellbook of Secrets and Justice of Prophecy, she used the Spellbook to search Spellbook Magician of Prophecy for next turn; Set Water Art; and Summoned Justice to banish it for its effect.  LaPalme knew that her opponent knew Skill Drain wouldn’t affect Justice, and by Setting Water Art she laid the groundwork for her Turn 2 play.

Sure enough, next turn she Summoned Spellbook Magician and activated its effect.  Her opponent Chained Skill Drain, and LaPalme Chained Water Art to Tribute Spellbook Magician!  The opponent negated Water Art with Dark Bribe, but at that point the damage was already done.  By removing Magician from the field for Water Art’s cost, LaPalme dodged Skill Drain’s negation, getting a free Spellbook of Wisdom from her Deck with the Magician’s ability.  This play was cool because LaPalme made the right read; set everything up a turn in advance; and then followed through to outplay her opponent.  It was a subtle moment that demonstrated how you can create tactical plans on the fly and get the best of your opposition.

There’s a lot of great stuff to talk about in the Round 7 Feature Match between Jeff Jones and Stephen Silverman. In the first Duel, Jones made a great Tragoedia play: after Silverman stole Jones’ Gachi Gachi Gantetsu with Number 11: Big Eye, Jones fired back by crashing his Genex Undine into Gachi Gachi to play Tragoedia. It then not only took off Gachi Gachi’s last material, but was used to make a Big Eye so Jones could steal Silverman’s Mist Wurm!

Silverman made great use of Spiritual Water Art – Aoi in the second Duel, showing how truly great it is in a Deck using Genex Undine. Since its ATK is so low, Undine is usually just going to be destroyed in battle after it’s done its thing, so why not turn it into a Confiscation?  Silverman was able to use Aoi to not only eliminate one of Jones’s cards, but also to see the rest of Jones’ hand.

Finally, it needs to be mentioned how awesome it was that Jones used Deck Devastation Virus in a WATER Deck. With Tragoedia, Gorz the Emissary of Darkness, and easy access to Ally of Justice Catastor and T.G. Hyper Librarian, it’s surprisingly easy to play, and it helped him win the Match.

Marion Smith IV came to his first YCS event and stomped everyone, taking first place in both Dragon Duel tournaments! On Saturday he was using an Inzektor Deck that would swap fifteen cards from the Side Deck to transform into a Wind-Up Deck. Then on Sunday, he chose a Chaos Dragon strategy, and used it to defeat Dragon Duel WCQ winner Matthew Wilkinson! Pretty impressive for a first-timer!

Lastly, Finalist Norberto Leon made an awesome fake-out play in his Top 32 Feature Match against Joseph Giorlando.  A relative newcomer to the YCS circuit, Leon was up against a YCS veteran with a tremendous match-up advantage: while Leon was running Mermails, Giorlando was playing the deck’s antithesis – Dino Rabbit with Main Decked Macro Cosmos!  After scoring a big win in the first Duel, Leon scrabbled just to stay alive in Game 2 and a set of rough draws stuck him with two Mystical Space Typhoons and Mermail Abysslinde.  Leon was under attack from Sabersaurus and Rescue Rabbit, and was facing a Spell and Trap Card Zone with three Set cards.  He needed to make a Special Summon with his Abysslinde, but if any one of Giorlando’s three Sets was Solemn Warning, Abysslinde would just get negated.

Leon Set both Space Typhoons, and before Giorlando moved into his Battle Phase Leon flipped one of them, destroying Giorlando’s Torrential Tribute – not the Warning he strongly believed Giorlando had.  Seeing one Typhoon gone, and believing his Warning was safe, Giorlando attacked with Sabersaurus… right into the second Mystical Space Typhoon, which destroyed his Solemn Warning!  Abysslinde went down; it Special Summoned Mermail Abyssmegalo; and that became the turning point of a Duel that Leon would wind up winning.  Check this Match out because it features a ton of tiny moments where Giorlando and Leon go head-to-head in battles of wit, challenging each other back and forth and outmaneuvering one another in really intelligent ways.

Those were just some of our favorite moments this weekend!  Check out the rest of the coverage to see more awesome moves – YCS Seattle was full of surprises.

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