12-year-old Jack Rooney from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania is competing in this weekend’s Dragon Duel World Championship Qualifier with an innovative Ninja Deck that he built on his own. He won his first round with this Deck, and now he’s sitting at Table 1, paired against 11-year-old Nicholas Pennington from Lincoln Park, Michigan. Pennington is using a Dragon Ruler Deck that swarms the field with Level 7 and Rank 7 monsters. Will Rooney be able to prevail with his Ninjas in this matchup? It’s time to Duel!

Duel One

Rooney opened up with Ninjitsu Art of Duplication, Mystical Space Typhoon, Magic Planter, Pot of Avarice, Call of the Haunted, and Ninjitsu Art of Super-Transformation. He Set Call of the Haunted and Ninjitsu Art of Super-Transformation before ending his turn.

Pennington activated Heavy Storm to destroy both of Rooney’s back row cards, and then activated Card Destruction! He discarded Dragunity Corsesca, Blaster, Dragon Ruler of Infernos, and 2 copies of Redox, Dragon Ruler of Boulders to draw 4 new cards, and Rooney discarded his hand to draw Fiendish Chain, Solemn Warning, Masked Ninja Ebisu, and Earth Armor Ninja. Next, Pennington activated Gold Sarcophagus to banish Tidal, Dragon Ruler of Waterfalls from his Deck, and used Tidal’s effect to grab another Tidal from his Deck. Then, he discarded Burner, Dragon Ruler of Sparks and Tidal from his hand to Special Summon Blaster from his Deck, and discarded Lightning, Dragon Ruler of Drafts and Stream, Dragon Ruler of Droplets to Special Summon Tidal from his Deck. He combined Tidal with Blaster to Xyz Summon Mecha Phantom Beast Dracossack. Next, he activated Blaster’s effect from his Graveyard. He banished Stream and Lightning to Special Summon Blaster. Then, he banished Dragunity Corsesca and Burner, Dragon Ruler of Sparks to Special Summon Redox, Dragon Ruler of Boulders from his Graveyard. He detached an Xyz Material from Dracossack to Special Summon 2 Mecha Phantom Beast Tokens to the field, and then attacked directly with Dracossack, Blaster, and Redox to drop Rooney down to 1000 Life Points!

Rooney Special Summoned Earth Armor Ninja in Defense Position and then Normal Summoned Upstart Golden Ninja. He discarded Solemn Warning to Special Summon Flame Armor Ninja from his Deck, and then activated his Flame Ninja’s effect to raise Upstart Golden Ninja to Level 5. Next, he combined Upstart Golden Ninja with Earth Armor Ninja to Xyz Summon Tiras, Keeper of Genesis. He attacked Redox with Tiras to destroy it, and then destroyed Blaster at the end of the Battle Phase with Tiras’s effect. Rooney Set Fiendish Chain before ending his turn and detaching an Xyz Material from Tiras.

Pennington activated the effect of the Blaster in his Graveyard to Special Summon it by banishing Redox and Tidal from his Graveyard. Next, he used Redox’s effect and Tidal’s effect to add Reactan, Dragon Ruler of Pebbles and Stream, Dragon Ruler of Droplets from his Deck to his hand. He discarded both of them to Special Summon Redox from his Deck. Next, he tried to activate Dracossack’s effect to destroy Rooney’s face-down Trap Card by Tributing a Token; but Rooney flipped Fiendish Chain to negate Dracossack’s effect! Pennington combined Blaster and Redox to Xyz Summon Number 11: Big Eye, and then detached an Xyz Material from it to take control of Tiras. He attacked Flame Armor Ninja with Tiras to destroy it, and detached an Xyz Material from Tiras before ending his turn.

Rooney Set a card to each zone and passed.

But it was all over next turn! Pennington detached an Xyz Material from Big Eye to take control of Rooney’s face-down monster. Next, he activated Gold Sarcophagus to banish Tempest, Dragon Ruler of Storms from his Deck, and used its effect to add Lightning, Dragon Ruler of Drafts from his Deck to his hand. Then he activated Sacred Sword of Seven Stars to banish Tidal and draw 2 cards. Next, he Tributed the monster he stole from Rooney with Big Eye, along with a Mecha Phantom Beast Token, to Normal Summon Tempest. Tempest attacked directly, and Rooney flipped Call of the Haunted to Special Summon Flame Armor Ninja and try to survive the attack; but after Tempest destroyed Flame Armor Ninja, a direct attack from Tiras finished Rooney off!

Nicholas Pennington gets an explosive start with Card Destruction in Duel 1 and takes a swift victory. Jack Rooney will be going first in Duel 2!

Duel Two

Rooney opened up Duel 2 with Ninjitsu Art of Transformation, 2 copies of Call of the Haunted, 2 copies of Magic Planter, and Reinforcement of the Army. He activated Reinforcement of the Army to add Ninja Grandmaster Hanzo to his hand and then Normal Summoned it. He activated Hanzo’s effect to add Ninjitsu Art of Super-Transformation from his Deck to his hand. Next, Rooney Set Call of the Haunted and Ninjitsu Art of Super-Transformation before ending his turn.

Pennington discarded Lightning and Tempest from his hand to Special Summon Tempest from his Deck, and then activated Gold Sarcophagus to banish Tidal from his Deck. He activated Tidal’s effect to add Stream from his Deck to his hand, and then discarded Stream and Blaster from his hand to Special Summon Tidal. As soon as it hit the field, Rooney activated Ninjitsu Art of Super-Transformation! He sent Hanzo and Tidal to the Graveyard to Special Summon White Dragon Ninja from his Deck! Next, Pennington banished Stream and Lightning from his Graveyard to Special Summon Blaster from his Graveyard, and combined Blaster with Tempest to Xyz Summon Number 11: Big Eye. He detached an Xyz Material from Big Eye to take control of White Dragon Ninja, and then attacked directly with White Dragon Ninja to drop Rooney down to 5300 Life Points. Pennington activated Super Rejuvenation to draw 4 cards in his End Phase, and then activated another Super Rejuvenation to draw 4 more. In his End Phase, Rooney discarded Tempest and Redox from his hand to drop his hand size down to 6.

Rooney drew Pot of Avarice next turn. He activated Magic Planter to send Ninjitsu Art of Super-Transformation to the Graveyard and draw 2 cards. With Ninjitsu Art of Super-Transformation gone, White Dragon Ninja was banished. Next, Rooney activated Call of the Haunted to Special Summon Ninja Grandmaster Hanzo from his Graveyard. He activated Hanzo’s effect to add Upstart Golden Ninja from his Deck to his hand, and then Normal Summoned Upstart Golden Ninja. He activated its effect to discard Ninjitsu Art of Transformation and Special Summon Hanzo from his Deck. Then he used Hanzo’s effect to add another Upstart Golden Ninja to his hand. Next, Rooney activated Magic Planter to draw 2 cards by sending Call of the Haunted to the Graveyard. Hanzo was destroyed when Call of the Haunted left the field. Next, Rooney combined Upstart Golden Ninja with Hanzo to Xyz Summon Heroic Champion – Excalibur. He detached both Xyz Materials from Excalibur to double its ATK and then attacked over Big Eye, destroying it and dealing 1400 points of damage to Pennington. Rooney Set 2 cards before ending his turn.

Pennington discarded Stream and Blaster from his hand to Special Summon Tidal from his Deck and then activated 2 copies of Gold Sarcophagus. He used 1 of them to banish Redox from his Deck, adding another copy of Redox to his hand with the effect of the banished Redox, and then used the other Gold Sarcophagus to banish Blaster from his Deck, adding Burner to his hand with the effect of the banished Blaster. He banished Lightning and Reactan from his hand to Special Summon Tempest from his Graveyard and then combined Tidal with Tempest to Xyz Summon Number 11: Big Eye. He detached an Xyz Material from Big Eye to take control of Excalibur and then banished Stream and Tempest from his Graveyard to Special Summon Tidal from his Graveyard. Tidal tried to attack Rooney directly; but Rooney flipped Call of the Haunted and Special Summoned Hanzo from his Graveyard! He added Earth Armor Ninja from his Deck to his hand with the effect of Hanzo, and then Tidal destroyed Hanzo in battle. Next, Excalibur attacked directly, dropping Rooney down to 500 Life Points.

Rooney drew Ninjitsu Art of Super-Transformation next turn. He Special Summoned Earth Armor Ninja and then Normal Summoned Upstart Golden Ninja. He activated his Golden Ninja’s effect to discard Ninjitsu Art of Transformation from his hand and Special Summon Hanzo from his Deck. Next, he used Hanzo’s effect to add Flame Armor Ninja from his Deck to his hand. He combined Hanzo with Upstart Golden Ninja to Xyz Summon another copy of Excalibur and then detached both Xyz Materials from it to double its ATK! Next, he activated Pot of Avarice, sending 3 copies of Hanzo and 2 copies of Upstart Golden Ninja back into his Deck to draw Mystical Space Typhoon and Brain Crusher. He attacked Big Eye with Excalibur to destroy Big Eye in battle and drop Pennington down to 5200 Life Points. Pennington returned Tidal to his hand in the End Phase.

Pennington added Tidal to his hand from Gold Sarcophagus in his Standby Phase, and then activated Heavy Storm in Main Phase 1. Rooney Chained Safe Zone targeting Pennington’s Excalibur, taking it down with the Safe Zone. Next, Pennington banished Tempest and Redox from his Graveyard to Special Summon Redox, and used Tempest’s effect to add Dragunity Corsesca from his Deck to his hand. Next, he banished Tidal and Tempest from his Graveyard to Summon Tidal from his hand. He combined Redox and Tidal to Xyz Summon Mecha Phantom Beast Dracossack, and detached an Xyz Material from Dracossack to Xyz Summon 2 Mecha Phantom Beast Tokens. He Tributed 1 Token to destroy Excalibur with Dracossack’s effect, and then banished Blaster and Redox from his Graveyard to Special Summon Blaster from his Graveyard. He Summoned Dragunity Corsesca next, and Tuned it with Blaster to Synchro Summon Scrap Dragon. Next, he activated the effect of Scrap Dragon to destroy his own Token along with Rooney’s Earth Armor Ninja. Finally, he attacked directly with Scrap Dragon, eliminating the rest of Rooney’s Life Points!

Jack Rooney Dueled valiantly, but in the end, Pennington’s Dragon Rulers were too much for him to handle. Nicholas Pennington is moving on with a 2-0 record!