Before today there’s only been one Sealed Play YCS in the history of the game, and that was YCS Sheffield.  Today the winner of that tournament has traveled all the way from Austria to try and capture another Sealed title – Peter Gross.  His opponent this round is local Duelist Jose Garcia, and both Duelists have evenly-matched decks that largely focus on basic attackers with a few conservative Tribute Monsters.  Would experience win out, or could Garcia score an upset over a two-time YCS Champion?

Garcia kicked off the tournament looking pretty strong, with a Set monster and two Set cards to his back row.

Gross opened with Harpie’s Feather Duster; Bazoo the Soul Eater; Fiendish Chain; Tanngrisnir of the Nordic Beasts; Hedge Guard; and Goblindbergh.  He activated Duster, but Garcia Chained Magic Drain to negate it!  With no other Spells to discard, Gross had no way to power through Drain. He Summoned Tanngrisnir and attacked, flipping but not destroying Garcia’s Witch of the Black Forest.  He Set Fiendish Chain.

Garcia Summoned Amazoness Trainee, and attacked Tanngrisnir: Gross let Tanngrisnir be sent to the bottom of his deck, taking 300 Battle Damage and saving his Fiendish Chain.

Gross drew Exarion Universe and Summoned it, attacking to destroy Amazoness Trainee.  In the End Phase, Garcia Special Summoned her back with Miracle’s Wake.

Garcia drew to four cards in hand and took control of Exarion with Snatch Steal!  He turned Witch to Attack Position, then Normal Summoned Archfiend Soldier!  Garcia attacked for 1900 Battle Damage, then pressed with Amazoness Trainee: Gross considered his options, then took the damage.  Garcia followed up with Witch and Exarion.  Gross knew he couldn’t block with Fiendish Chain, because if he did, Garcia would just overlay whatever Gross had Chained.  In Main Phase 2, Gross stacked Exarion and Trainee for Number 39: Utopia.  Pressure was mounting.

Gross drew Ape Fighter – still not alot of help there, since he was holding a hand of nothing but monsters.  Goblindbergh would let him make a Rank 4, and he did have Number 39: Utopia and Wind-Up Zenmaister in his Extra Deck… he went for it.  He Summoned Goblindbergh, used it to bring out Ape Fighter, and then Summoned his own Utopia!  Gross attacked Archfiend Soldier, and when Garcia detached an Xyz Material from his Utopia to try and block the attack, Gross spent a while considering his Fiendish Chain.  He opted not to Chain it, and his attack was denied.  Still, it put Gross ahead a valuable Xyz Material in what had now become a Utopia versus Utopia match-up.

Garcia sent his Utopia to attack Gross, and Gross used Utopia’s effect to negate the attempt.  In Main Phase 2, Garcia overlaid Witch and Soldier for Gem-Knight Pearl, and Set another back-row card!  On one hand, that was a big field for Garcia!  On the other hand, he was now consolidating cards, and could be leaving himself vulnerable.

Gross drew Vortex Trooper for the turn, another fairly slow card that wouldn’t help him control the field just yet.  He had three cards in hand with Fiendish Chain Set, and Utopia face-up with one Material left.  Garcia had two cards in-hand; one back row card; and Utopia plus Gem-Knight Pearl.  Gross Set Trooper and passed.

Garcia Summoned Card Trooper!  He activated its effect, sending Mystical Space Typhoon, Needle Ceiling, and Witch of the Black Forest to his graveyard to power it up.  Garcia sent Trooper to attack and destroy Gross’ face-down Vortex Trooper, which got Gross Magic Cylinder.  Garcia swung with Gem-Knight Pearl; Gross negated the attack; and then protected himself from Garcia’s Utopia with Fiendish Chain.  Utopia survived for one more turn.

Gross drew Autonomous Action Unit.  With four monsters in his Graveyard, he Summoned Bazoo the Soul Eater, banishing Goblindbergh, Exarion Universe, and Ape Fighter: Garcia Chained Forbidden Chalice.  Gross attacked Garcia’s Utopia with his own, destroying both thanks to Fiendish Chain, and then ran over Card Trooper with Bazoo.  He Set Action Unit and Cylinder.

Garcia drew to four cards in hand with Pearl on the field.  He Set a monster, then attacked Bazoo: Gross tried to bounce the attack away with Magic Cylinder, but Garcia Chained Book of Moon to dodge the damage!  That could wind up being a mistake, given Pearl’s 1900 DEF.

Gross drew Big Bang Shot.  With two monsters now in his Graveyard, he banished both and equipped Bazoo with Bang Shot to run over Pearl!  His hand was Hedge Guard and nothing else.  He still had Autonomous Action Unit Set.

Garcia drew, and clarified that Bazoo had 2600 ATK.  He Summoned Zombyra the Dark and passed.

Gross ripped Snatch Steal!  Now things seemed to be going his way: Garcia had two cards left in hand, with the vulnerable Zombyra on the field.  But Garcia still had one monster Set as well, and that could prove to be Gross’ undoing.  Gross took Zombyra with Snatch Steal and attacked with it, straight into Grave Squirmer!  Garcia destroyed Big Bang Shot, banishing Bazoo.  Gross Set Hedge Guard and ended.

Garcia gained 1000 Life Points for Snatch Steal, then activated Pot of Duality, revealing Grave Protector, Shine Knight, and Liberty at Last! He added Grave Protector to his hand and shuffled the rest back into his Deck.  He Set a monster, presumably Protector.

Gross drew a Zombyra of his own.  He Summoned it, then attacked to destroy Grave Protector.  In Main Phase 2 he overlaid both copies of Zombyra for Wind-Up Zenmaister.  He had Hedge Guard and Action Unit Set, with nothing in hand.

Garcia drew to three cards in hand and Set a card to his Spell and Trap Card Zone.  He Set a monster.

Gross drew Nightmare Wheel.  He attacked with Wind-Up Zenmaister, flipping and destroying Garcia’s Mask of Darkness.  That got him back Needle Ceiling, which Garcia chose over Magic Drain and Miracle’s Wake.

Garcia Set a monster and a second Spell or Trap.

Gross topdecked Gene-Warped Warwolf.  He attacked with Wind-Up Zenmaister again, this time running into Penguin Soldier!  He lost his Zenmaister back to his Extra Deck, and his Hedge Guard was returned to his hand!  Gross had 1400 Life Points, while Garcia was still sitting pretty at 7000.  Gross couldn’t leave his field wide open, so he decided to Normal Summon Warwolf.

Garcia Set a monster.

Gross drew Old Vindictive Magician and attacked, destroying Garcia’s Wind-Up Dog.  Gross Set Old Vindictive Magician, stabilizing and seeming to gain some momentum.

Garcia Set a monster yet again.  He was starting to really bleed cards and the Duel seemed to be on the verge of a downward spiral.

Gross attacked, flipping another Grave Protector with Gene-Warped Warwolf!

Garcia Tributed Grave Protector for Ambitious Gofer!  Luckily, Gross had that Hedge Guard back in his hand, which he revealed to negate the Gofer’s effect.  When Garcia tried to attack Gene-Warped Warwolf, Gross stopped it with Nightmare Wheel.  Garcia Set a third card to his back row.

Gross drew Ape Fighter, and Garcia lost 500 LP for Nightmare Wheel’s effect.  Gross Set Ape Fighter in a gutsy move.

Garcia flipped Needle Ceiling, destroying his own Ambitious Gofer and Gene-Warped Warwolf.  Gross’ two Set monters survived.  Garcia Summoned Fabled Ashenveil, attacking into Old Vindictive Magician, which destroyed it.  Garcia activated Skill Drain in Main Phase 2, clearly wishing he’d activated it in Main Phase 1 to stop the Magician.

Gross drew Tribute to the Doomed, and he Flip Summoned Ape Fighter for a direct attack!  Garcia dropped to 3600 Life Points.

Garcia Set a monster.

“I’m afraid of the Liberty at Last,” remarked Gross.  He drew Goblin Elite Attack Force, then attacked with Ape Fighter to flip (but not destroy) Garcia’s Shine Knight.

Garcia drew and Set a card to his back row.

Gross drew Blast Sphere and Normal Summoned it, overlaying for Wind-Up Zenmaister to attack through Shine Knight.

Garcia passed.

Gross drew Mirror Force, Summoned Goblin Elite, and made two direct attacks with Zenmaister and the Goblin to win the Duel!

Champion Peter Gross takes a hard-fought win over Jose Garcia, drawing out an early game where Garcia had him overpowered, and eventually winning out.  Play moved to a second Duel!

Garcia opened by Normal Summoning Witch of the Black Fores,t and Set two cards to his back row.

Gross had Mystical Space Typhoon; Nightmare Wheel; Vortex Trooper; Guardian Sphinx; Exarion Universe; and Mirror Force.  He blasted Garcia’s Magic Drain with Typhoon, then Normal Summoned Exarion to attack over Witch: Garcia used its effect to search his Deck for Ambitious Gofer.  He Set Wheel and Mirror Force.

Garcia Set a monster.

Gross drew Fiendish Chain and attacked: Garcia protected his monster with Enemy Controller, turning Exarion Universe to Defense Position.  Gross knew he was safe with Mirror Force Set, but took it one step further: he Tributed Exarion to Set Guardian Sphinx!  He Set Fiendish Chain.

Garcia Flip Summoned Penguin Soldier, targeting the Sphinx!  That left Gross no choice but to respond with Fiendish Chain to keep his Tribute Summoned monster on the field.  Garcia Tributed Soldier for Airknight Parshath and ran it straight into the Sphinx, costing himself 500 Life Points.

Gross drew Blast Sphere, and flipped Sphinx face-down, then face-up to bounce Garcia’s Airknight back to his hand!  He made a direct attack for 1700 Battle Damage, then Set Vortex Trooper.

Garcia Summoned Goblindbergh, to Special Summon Zombyra the Dark and Xyz Summon Number 39: Utopia.  Garcia attacked straight into Guardian Sphinx, desperate to get it off the table since its effect is reusable, but Gross repelled the attempt with Nightmare Wheel.  Next turn the Sphinx would bounce away Utopia, costing Garcia two cards and 500 damage.

Gross drew Snowman Eater, another card that would help him stabilize the Duel in his favor, and bounced Utopia away.  That was clutch – Garcia had four cards left in hand, but a bare field to Gross’ five cards total with Sphinx and Snowman Eater locking things down.  Sphinx made another direct attack.

Garcia Set a monster, then Set a Spell or Trap.

Gross tried to flip his Sphinx face-down, but Garcia Chained Skill Drain.  If he was going to play out of this, that was going to be a key card.  Gross pressed on, Tributing Sphinx for Cybernetic Magician and swinging over Garcia’s Set Shield Warrior.

Garcia Set another monster, once again on the wrong side of the building momentum in this Match.

Gross drew Snatch Steal and Summoned Sphere, attacking through Mask of Darkness – its effect was denied by Garcia’s own Skill Drain.  A turn later Gross was swinging on Garcia’s Set Old Vindictive Magician, also locked down under Garcia’s own Skill Drain, and it was all over!

“That Book of Moon to stop my Cylinder in Game 1 was important,” remarked Gross post-match.  He’d immediately pinpointed that as the turning point in the first Duel, which up until then he didn’t have control over.  By making Garcia waste his Book of Moon, and placing Gem-Knight Pearl in its weaker Defense Position, Gross started to build an opening that would become the foundation of his comeback.

Peter Gross takes a 2-0 victory despite a rough start, and moves on just six wins away from Day 2!  Could he repeat and win another Sealed YCS?  We’ll follow that story through the weekend.