13-year-old Fire Fist Duelist Nicolas Reardon has had an amazing run this weekend in his first-ever YCS Main Event. Now, in his third Feature Match of the weekend, Reardon is facing off against Mermail Duelist Billy Brake in a Match that pits FIRE against WATER! Brake is no stranger to Top 32 finishes at YCS tournaments, so his experience in this high-pressure setting may work to his advantage.

Duel One

Reardon opened up Duel 1 with 2 copies of Brotherhood of the Fire Fist - Bear, Starlight Road, Solemn Warning, Mystical Space Typhoon, and Forbidden Lance. He Summoned Bear and then Set 4 cards to his back row.

Brake Summoned Deep Sea Diva and activated its effect to Special Summon Atlantean Heavy Infantry from his Deck. He used its effect to Normal Summon a second Deep Sea Diva and then used his Diva’s effect to Special Summon Atlantean Marksman. Brake Tuned Deep Sea Diva with Atlantean Marksman to try to Summon Ally of Justice Catastor, but Reardon flipped Solemn Warning and negated its Summon by giving up 2000 Life Points. Brake combined his Diva with his Infantry to Xyz Summon Gachi Gachi Gantetsu in Defense Position and Set 3 cards to his back row before ending his turn.

Reardon drew Mirror Force and Set it.

Brake drew a card and passed.

Reardon drew Fire Formation – Tensu and passed.

Brake discarded Mermail Abysspike and Atlantean Dragoons to Special Summon Mermail Abyssmegalo from his hand. He searched his Deck for a copy of Abyss-sphere to add to his Deck with Abyssmegalo’s effect and he added Deep Sea Diva from his Deck to his hand with the effect of Atlantean Dragoons. Brake Summoned Deep Sea Diva next, activating its effect to Special Summon Atlantean Marksman from his Deck. He Tributed Marksman to activate Abyssmegalo’s effect and then destroyed Starlight Road with Marksman. He tried using Abyss-sphere next, but lost out to Reardon’s Mystical Space Typhoon. Brake attacked Bear with Abyssmegalo, but Reardon flipped Mirror Force to destroy Abyssmegalo and Deep Sea Diva.

Reardon drew Bottomless Trap Hole and Set it.

Brake drew Mermail Abysslinde and Summoned it. He attacked Bear and then activated Abyss-sphere to Summon Mermail Abyssleed; but Reardon flipped Bottomless Trap Hole to banish Abyssleed. Reardon activated Forbidden Lance to reduce Mermail Abysslinde’s ATK to 1100, and Bear destroyed it in battle. Brake Special Summoned Mermail Abyssmegalo from his Deck with the effect of Mermail Abysslinde, and Reardon Set Tenki from his Deck with Bear’s effect. Mermail Abyssmegalo attacked and destroyed Bear next, and then Brake flipped Abyss-squall. He Special Summoned Mermail Abyssmegalo, Mermail Abysspike, and Mermail Abysslinde from his Graveyard and then combined both copies of Mermail Abyssmegalo to Xyz Summon Mermail Abyssgaios. Brake sent Mermail Abysslinde and Mermail Abysspike to the Graveyard in his End Phase.

Reardon Summoned Brotherhood of the Fire Fist – Dragon and then activated Tenki. Brake Chained Mermail Abyssgaios’s effect to negate Dragon’s effect, and Reardon added Brotherhood of the Fire Fist - Bear from his Deck to his hand with Tenki. He activated Tensu next, and then Normal Summoned Bear. He sent Tenki to the Graveyard with Bear to destroy Abyssgaios with Bear’s effect. Next, he combined his Dragon with his Bear to Summon Brotherhood of the Fire Fist – Tiger King, and Set Tenki from his Deck. He used his Tiger King’s effect to negate Gachi Gachi Gantetsu’s effect and then attacked Gachi Gachi to destroy it.

Brake flipped his face-down Abyss-squall next turn! He Special Summoned 2 copies of Mermail Abyssmegalo from his Graveyard along with a Mermail Abysslinde. He combined both Abyssmegalos to Summon Mermail Abyssgaios and then attacked Tiger King to destroy it. He sent Mermail Abysslinde to the Graveyard in the End Phase and Special Summoned another Mermail Abyssmegalo with Abysslinde’s effect.

Reardon drew Dark Hole next turn and activated it to clear the field! He flipped Tenki next, but Brake Chained Mystical Space Typhoon to stop its effect from activating. Reardon Summoned Brotherhood of the Fire Fist - Bear and attacked Brake directly, dropping Brake down to 5900 Life Points and allowing Reardon to Set Tenki from his Deck. Brake was left with no cards on the field or in his hand.

Brake drew and passed.

Reardon drew Mystical Space Typhoon next turn. He flipped Tenki and used its effect to add Brotherhood of the Fire Fist – Gorilla from his Deck to his hand. He Summoned Gorilla to the field and then attacked directly with both Bear and Gorilla to drop Brake down to 2200 Life Points. Reardon used his Bear’s effect to Set Tensu from his Deck. Reardon combined his Gorilla with his Bear in Main Phase 2 to Summon Brotherhood of the Fire Fist – Tiger King and used its effect to Set Fire Formation – Tensen from his Deck. He flipped Tensu and Set Mystical Space Typhoon before ending his turn.

Brake discarded Mermail Abyssgunde to Special Summon Mermail Abyssteus next turn. He used his Abyssteus’s effect to add Mermail Abysslinde to his hand and used his Mermail Abyssgunde’s effect to Special Summon Mermail Abyssmegalo from his Graveyard. Brake combined his Mermail Abyssmegalo with his Mermail Abyssteus to Summon Number 11: Big Eye and then used Big Eye’s effect to take control of Tiger King. Brake Summoned Mermail Abysslinde next, and attacked directly with Mermail Abysslinde and Brotherhood of the Fire Fist – Tiger King to drop Reardon down to 1600 Life Points.

Reardon drew Pot of Duality next turn. He flipped Mystical Space Typhoon to destroy his own Tenki in order to make room to activate it, and then used Pot of Duality to reveal Mystical Space Typhoon and 2 copies of Brotherhood of the Fire Fist – Gorilla from the top of his Deck. He added the Gorilla to his hand and Summoned it, but promptly conceded, realizing he had no way across Brake’s field.

Duel Two

Reardon opened up Duel 2 with Rescue Rabbit, Vorse Raider, Pot of Duality, Brotherhood of the Fire Fist – Dragon, Brotherhood of the Fire Fist - Bear, and Thunder King Rai-Oh.

He Summoned Rescue Rabbit and banished it to Special Summon 2 copies of Vorse Raider from his Deck. Then he combined both of them to Summon Brotherhood of the Fire Fist – Tiger King and used the effect of Tiger King to Set Tenki from his Deck. Reardon flipped Tenki and used Tenki’s effect to add Brotherhood of the Fire Fist – Gorilla from his Deck to his hand.

Play passed to Brake.

Brake discarded Atlantean Dragoons to Summon Mermail Abyssteus. He used the effect of Mermail Abyssteus to add Mermail Abysslinde to his hand and used the effect of Atlantean Dragoons to add Mermail Abyssmegalo to his hand. He discarded Mermail Abysslinde and Atlantean Dragoons to Special Summon Abyssmegalo from his hand. He used Abyssmegalo’s effect to add Abyss-squall to his hand and then used Atlantean Dragoons’s effect to add Deep Sea Diva to his hand. He Summoned Deep Sea Diva and used its effect to Special Summon Atlantean Heavy Infantry in Attack Position. He used Abyssmegalo’s effect next, in order to Tribute Atlantean Heavy Infantry and allow Abyssmegalo to attack twice; and then Atlantean Heavy Infantry’s effect destroyed Tiger King. Direct attacks from all of Brake’s monsters (including 2 attacks from Abyssmegalo!) wiped out all of Reardon’s Life Points!

Billy Brake is moving on to the Top 4!