When last we saw Charlie Jones, he was coming off a 2-0 victory in the Round 2 Round-Up coverage.  Now he’s back, sitting at Table 1 with a 3-0 record.  His opponent is Danny Bassous, a veteran Duelist in the YCS circuit who’s topped not just YCS tournaments, but also the North American WCQ.  He may be the only Duelist here this weekend that’s already named his Deck: “I call it Monkey Monarchs.”  Beat.  “Because it’s ten percent monkeys.”

Wow.

So we’ll see how that works out.

Bassous opened the Round with a hand of Magic Cylinder; Blast Sphere; Goblin Elite Attack Force; Dark Dust Spirit; Snowman Eater; and Liberty at Last! He Set Sphere.

Jones Summoned Amazoness Trainee and attacked Sphere: it flipped and attached to the Trainee.

Bassous drew Power Giant and Set Snowman Eater.

Jones drew, and lost his Trainee to Blast Sphere’s effect.  He took 1500 damage.  He Summoned Dark Valkyria, and ran it into Snowman Eater, losing it.  Snowman Eater survived.

Bassous drew United We Stand.  He debated Summoning Goblin Elite Attack Force before deciding to play it safe and just Set a Spell or Trap.

Jones Set a monster.

Bassous drew Krebons.  Still no monkeys.  He Summoned Krebons and attacked, flipping Jones’ Grave Protector.

Jones passed.

Bassous drew Old Vindictive Magician and started running numbers: thanks to United We Stand and Power Giant, he was actually working his towards possible win scenarios with alarming speed.  He Normal Summoned Goblin Elite Attack Force and attacked Grave Protector: Jones pitched Hedge Guard to protect it, and the Goblins went to Defense Position.  Bassous Set another card to his back row.

Jones Tributed Protector for Mobius the Frost Monarch!  It destroyed Bassous’ Liberty at Last! and Magic Cylinder, then attacked to destroy Snowman Eater.  Jones Set one Spell or Trap.

Bassous drew Half or Nothing and Set Old Vindictive Magician, then Half or Nothing.

Jones Summoned Yaksha, bouncing away Half or Nothing with Yaksha’s ability.

Mobius attacked Old Vindictive, and Bassous used its effect to destroy Yaksha.

Bassous drew Premature Burial and turned Goblin Elite Attack Force back to Attack Position.  Jones still had that one Set Spell or Trap, but Bassous activated United We Stand on Goblin Elite.  He sent it to attack Mobius, and in the Damage Step Jones flipped Forbidden Lance!  The Goblins went down, and Bassous dropped to 6200 Life Points.  Jones had 6400.  Bassous had four cards in hand with Krebons on the table.  He Set Half or Nothing.

Jones drew to five cards and attacked Krebons with Mobius.  Bassous paid LP to keep Krebons safe, and Jones Set a monster.

Bassous drew Twin-Headed Behemoth and attacked with Krebons, destroying Grave Squirmer: Jones destroyed Krebons with the Squirmer’s ability.  Bassous Set Behemoth.

Jones Summoned Goblin Elite Attack Force and attacked to destroy Behemoth.  Mobius dropped Bassous to 3000 Life Points.  Bassous Special Summoned back Behemoth.

Bassous drew Autonomous Action Unit, then Tributed Behemoth for Dark Dust Spirit, destroying Goblin Elite and Mobius!  He Special Summoned Mobius with Action Unit, then brought back his own Goblin Elite Attack Force with Premature Burial!  Bassous attacked with the Goblins, then Dark Dust Spirit, but Jones had Gorz the Emissary of Darkness!  Mobius destroyed the Emissary of Darkness Token, but Jones now controlled the dominant monster on the field: Gorz.

Jones Summoned Phantom of Chaos, banishing Yaksha to copy its 1900 ATK and its effect.  He tried to use that effect, not realizing he couldn’t: Yaksha’s effect triggers when it’s Summoned; it’s not an Ignition Effect.  Jones attacked into Half or Nothing, and ended the Battle Phase with his Phantom stil on the field.

With Phantom of Chaos back down to 0 ATK, Bassous attacked over it with Mobius to steal the Duel.

Gorz the Emissary of Darkness just isn’t quite enough, and Danny Bassous takes Game 1!  Charlie Jones plays an admirable conservative game, repelling Bassous’ first attempts at victory with Forbidden Lance and Gorz the Emissary of Darkness, but Bassous wins out anyways!

Jones Summoned Goblin Elite Attack Force to start the second Duel.

Bassous had Treeborn Frog; Premature Burial; Snowman Eater; Voltic Kong; Grave Squirmer; and Half or Nothing.  He Set Treeborn Frog.

Jones attacked to destroy the Set Frog, and Set a monster.  Goblin Elite Attack Force was now in Defense Position.

Bassous drew Fiend’s Sanctuary, and Special Summoned Treeborn Frog.  He Normal Summoned Voltic Kong, attacking to destroy Goblin Elite Attack Force.  He Set Half or Nothing.

Jones Set a monster.

Bassous drew Exarion Universe and sent Voltic Kong to attack: Jones had Grave Squirmer, and it destroyed Voltic Kong.

Jones Summoned Twin-Headed Behemoth, attacking to destroy Treeborn Frog.

Frog was locked under Bassous’ Set Half or Nothing, but he Summoned Exarion Universe to attack Behemoth.

Jones Special Summoned the Behemoth back, then Normal Summoned Raging Flame Sprite.  He overlaid both monsters to Xyz Summon Grenosaurus, then attacked into Half or Nothing, opting to end the Battle Phase.  He Set one Spell or Trap Card.

Bassous Special Summoned back Treeborn Frog, and attacked Jones’ face-down with Exarion Universe: Witch of the Black Forest!  Jones searched his Deck for Gene-Warped Warwolf.  Bassous Flip Summoned Snowman Eater to destroy Grenosaurus, wiping the field in a devastating way, and Set a single Spell or Trap.

Jones Summoned Warwolf and attacked the Attack Position Snowman Eater: Bassous responded with Magic Cylinder, but Jones flipped Forbidden Lance!  The attack went through and Snowman Eater was destroyed.

Bassous drew Ape Fighter, holding Bazoo the Soul Eater; Fiend’s Sanctuary; Premature Burial; and Grave Squirmer.  He Summoned Bazoo and banished two monsters to power over Warwolf, then considered his Exarion.  “This Gorz is really an issue…”  Bassous had to decide between scoring some direct damage, or playing it safe.  In the end he attacked, and sure enough, Jones had Gorz!  He Special Summoned it, along with an Emissary of Darkness Token.

Jones played Fighting Spirit on Gorz, boosting it to 3600 ATK.  It attacked to destroy Bazoo, dropping Bassous to 5400 Life Points.  Jones traded his Token off against Exarion in battle, destroying both.

Basosus drew Blast Sphere and Set it.

Jones attacked Treeborn Frog with Gorz.

Bassous drew Charcoal Inpachi and Summoned back Treeborn.  He Set Grave Squirmer.  “I’m just gonna go ahead and assume you didn’t pull Raigeki in your packs,” quipped Bassous, recognizing the risk he was taking committing so many cards to the field.

Jones dropped to 4900 Life Points to Premature Burial back his Gene-Warped Warwolf.

It ran into Grave Squirmer, and Bassous used its effect to destroy Gorz.

Bassous drew Goblin Elite Attack Force and Normal Summoned it, sending it to attack over Gene-Warped Warwolf!  Jones bounced it away with Compulsory Evacuation Device.

Jones Set another Spell or trap, then attacked into Blast Sphere with the Warwolf!  The Sphere attached itself to Jones’ monster.

Bassous drew Power Giant and Set Charcoal Inpachi.

Jones Set a monster, then a Spell or Trap.

Bassous drew Mystical Space Typhoon.  He Normal Summoned Ape Fighter, attacking into Hedge Guard!  The Hedge survived and Bassous Set Typhoon.

Jones passed.

Bassous drew Liberty at Last! and Normal Summoned Goblin Elite Attack Force: Jones flipped Torrential Tribute!  Bassous lost four monsters to Jones’ one… brutal.  He had four in-hand cards left plus his set Typhoon, and had no other moves to make.

Jones drew to five cards in hand with one card Set in his back row.  He Summoned Dark Valkyria, attacking for 1800 Battle Damage.  He activated Big Bang Shot in Main Phase 2, beefing up the Valkyria and making it tougher to attack over.  It was a smart idea, but would actually play right into Bassous’ Mystical Space Typhoon.

Bassous drew Twin-Headed Behemoth and activated Typhoon in his draw phase, destroying Big Bang Shot and banishing Dark Valkyria for a quick 2-for-1!  That play robbed Jones of two cards; cleared his monster presence; and and let Bassous Special Summon Treeborn Frog!  Bassous Tributed the Frog for Power Giant, attacking for 2200 Battle Damage.  That left Jones at 700 Life Points, and Bassous activated Fiend’s Sanctuary to Special Summon a Metal Fiend Token, which would keep him from losing thanks to its effect  “Your move.”

Jones Normal Summoned Goblindbergh and Special Summoned Grave Protector to Xyz Summon Wind-Up Zenmaister.  It attacked to destroy Power Giant, dropping Bassous to 3100 LP.

Bassous drew United We Stand and paid himself down to 2100 Life Points for his Metal Fiend Token.  He Special Summoned Treeborn Frog, then targeted Bazoo the Soul Eater with Premature Burial!  Jones negated the Premature with Solemn Judgment.  “That’s what I thought it was,” commented Bassous, who immediately threw down Twin-Headed Behemoth and United We Stand for game!

Victory for Monkey Monarchs, as Danny Bassous takes a 2-0 victory to move on 4-0!  Two or three more Matches like that, and Bassous would be a lock for Day 2.