Dalton Bousman is 7-1 today with a Prophecy deck maining High Priestess of Prophecy, Justice of Prophecy, and Defender, the Magical Knight!  His opponent is one of the several remaining X-1 Duelists playing a rogue strategy – Matthew Rogers-Kuczka is playing Dragunities, bolsted by Tempest, Dragon Ruler of Storms.  Both strategies can score explosive wins, or play grinding long games that quickly generate a ton of cards, so this one could be interesting.

Rogers-Kuczka opened with Foolish Burial; Effect Veiler; Dragunity Dux; Blackwing – Zephyros the Elite; and two Dragon Ravine.  He activated Ravine, discarded Blackwing – Zephyros the Elite, and searched his Deck for Dragunity Phalanx.  He returned Ravine to his hand to revive Zephyros, then played the Ravine again to discard Phalanx, searching a second copy of Dux.  He Summoned it, Special Summoned Phalanx, and Tuned it with Zephyros for Dragunity Knight – Vajrayana.  That let him Summon Phalanx again, which he tuned to Dux for a second Vajrayana.  He Special Summoned Phalanx once more.

He overlaid the Vajrayanas for Hieratic Dragon King of Atum, then detached to Special Summon Red-Eyes Darkness Metal Dragon from his Deck with 0 ATK and 0 DEF.  Its effect brought back a Vajrayana, and Rogers-Kuczka Tuned it with Phalanx for Stardust Dragon.  He Set Burial.

Bousman opened with Spellbook Library of the Crescent, searching out Spellbook of Power, Spellbook of Secrets, and Spellbook of the Master.  Rogers-Kuczka added one to Bousman’s hand and the other two were shuffled back.  Bousman followed up with Spellbook of Judgment, then Summoned Kycoo the Ghost Destroyer.  He activated Spellbook of Secrets to get Spellbook of the Master, then activated it and revealed another Crescent for it, mimicking Secrets and getting Spellbook of Power.  He activated it to boost Kycoo to 2800 ATK, then tried to attack – Rogers-Kuczka kept him in Main Phase 1 long enough to activate Veiler.  Kycoo took down Atum, and Bousman used Power’s effect to search his Deck for The Grand Spellbook Tower.  He activated, now at four Spells with Judgment.  He Set two cards to his back row, and with one card in hand searched his Deck for Spellbook of Secrets, Spellbook of Eternity, Spellbook of the Master, and Spellbook of Fate, Special Summoning Justice of Prophecy.  He banished it for Judgment and High Priestess of Prophecy, then activated Fate to banish Crescent, Judgment, and Power from his graveyard, removing Red-Eyes Darkness Metal Dragon.

Rogers-Kuczka drew Terraforming – not much help.  He activated Ravine to destroy Bousman’s Tower, then discarded Terraforming to for Ravine’s effect: Bousman had no response, and Rogers-Kuczka added his third Dragunity Dux to his hand.  He Summoned it, equipped it with Phalanx, and Bousman responded with Spellbook of Fate to banish Dux from the Spell and Trap Card Zone.  Rogers-Kuczka attacked Kycoo with Stardust Dragon, but Bousman had Book of Moon to stop the attack!  Despite that dead Crescent, Bousman had everything he needed, while Rogers-Kuczka was stuck with a pile of redundant cards.

Bousman activated Spellbook of Judgment next turn, then played Spellbook of Secrets to get Spellbook of Wisdom.  He revealed three Spellbooks to Special Summon Priestess, then banished a Spellbook from his Graveyard to destroy the bluffed Foolish Burial.  Spellbook of Eternity got him back Spellbook of Power, and he activated it to buff Kycoo.  Kycoo took down Dux, and Priestess destroyed Stardust Dragon; Kycoo banished Effect Veiler and a Vajrayana, and Power got him The Grand Spellbook Tower.  He activated it in Main Phase 2, destroying Dragon’s Ravine, then played Spellbook of the Master to get back Spellbook of Fate with Spellbook of Eternity’s effect.  He Set what was assumedly Fate and Wisdom, moved to his End Phase, and searched out two Spellbook Star Hall; Spellbook of Wisdom; and Spellbook of Secrets, then Special Summoned Defender, the Magical Knight.  Rogers-Kuczka drew a dead Cards of Consonance and conceded on the following turn.

Matthew Rogers-Kuczka scores an impressive opening, but redundant copies of Dragon Ravine and Foolish Burial, combined with the devastating impact of Spellbook of Fate, leave him helpless to Dalton Bousman’s onslaught!

Rogers-Kuczka started Duel 2 with a hand of Effect Veiler; Dragon Ravine; Eradicator Epidemic Virus; Dragunity Dux; Tempest, Dragon Ruler of Storms; and Droll & Lock Bird.  This one could be over quick.  He activated Ravine to pitch Tempest, sending Dragunity Phalanx to his Graveyard.  He Summoned Dux to equip and bring back Phalanx, Synchro Summoning Dragunity Knight – Vajrayana.  Phalanx came back again, letting Rogers-Kuczka make Colossal Fighter.  He Set Eradicator Epidemic Virus.

He flipped it in the draw phase, revealing Bousman’s hand of two Spellbook Magician of Prophecy; Cursed Seal of the Forbidden Spell; Spellbook Star Hall; Upstart Goblin; Spellbook of Secrets.  He was left with the Magicians and Cursed Seal, which all in all could have been far worse.  Bousman Summoned one of the Magicians and ate Effect Veiler.  He attacked with the Magician and ended, not setting the dead Seal.

Rogers-Kuczka drew Gold Sarcophagus, playing it to banish a Tempest, searching another Phalanx from his Deck.  He discarded Phalanx to grab Dux with Ravine, then Summoned Dux to Special Summon Phalanx and make another Vajrayana.  That brought back Phalanx for a Level 8 Synchro Summon – Stardust Dragon.  Stardust ran down Spellbook Magician of Prophecy.

Bousman drew Spellbook of Judgment and had to lose it for Eradicator Epidemic Virus.  He Summoned his second Magician and searched The Grand Spellbook Tower, activating it to destroy Dragon Ravine.

Rogers-Kuczka drew Terraforming!  He played it to get another Ravine, activating it to destroy Tower.  He pitched his last card, Droll & Lock Bird, to get Dragunity Dux for Phalanx, for Vajrayana, for Thought Ruler Archfiend.  He Special Summoned Tempest by banishing a Dux plus Lock Bird, then swung with everything for game!

Not a lot of coming back from Eradicator Epidemic Virus, Effect Veiler, and Droll & Lock Bird – Rogers-Kuczka opens with the perfect hand to demolish Prophecy, and two Spellbook Magician of Prophecy aren’t enough to get Dalton Bousman back in the game.  He’d head into the third Duel with the advantage of going first.  Twelve minutes remained in the match.

Bousman opened with Spellbook of Judgment, immediately playing Upstart Goblin to follow up.  He activated Spellbook Star Hall, then The Grand Spellbook Tower, then Set a card to his Spell and Trap Card Zone.  He made a dissatisfied noise, then Set another and moved to his End Phase: Judgment got him Spellbook of the Master, Spellbook of Secrets, and Spellbook of Fate, and he Special Summoned Jowgen the Spiritualist.

Rogers-Kuczka had Eradicator Epidemic Virus; two Compulsory Evacuation Device; Monster Reborn; Droll & Lock Bird; and Gold Sarcophagus.  He had plenty of disruption, but no offence.  He Set all three Traps and ended without playing Sarcophagus.

Bousman drew an extra card with Tower, returning Judgment to the bottom of his Deck to draw an extra card.  Bousman activated Spellbook of Secrets, getting Spellbook of Wisdom, and Rogers-Kuczka dropped Droll & Lock Bird.  Bousman Summoned Kycoo the Ghost Destroyer and attacked for 2000 Battle Damage, boosted by Star Hall.  He banished Lock Bird, then Set two more cards to his back row.  Rogers-Kuczka flipped Compulsory Evacuation Device in the End Phase to bounce Jowgen; Bousman Chained Spellbook of Wisdom; and Rogers-Kuczka Chained another Compulsory Evacuation Device to bounce it.

Rogers-Kuczka drew Dragunity Phalanx and activated Gold Sarcophagus, banishing Tempest, Dragon Ruler of Storms to search Dragunity Arma Mystletainn.  He Normal Summoned Phalanx, and Bousman wisely banished it with Spellbook of Fate.  Rogers-Kuczka had nothing but Mystletainn and Monster Reborn, passing.

Bousman drew another card with Tower, then activated another Upstart Goblin.  He destroyed Rogers-Kuczka ‘s Set Eradicator Epidemic Virus with Mystical Space Typhoon, then revealed three for High Priestess of Prophecy!  He activated Spellbook of Secrets to search Spellbook of Power, then played it to boost Magician.  He mimicked Power with Spellbook of the Master.  He had a 3500 ATK Magician; a 2500 ATK Kycoo; and a 3200 ATK Priestess, and all three attacked to finish the match!

Dalton Bousman wins a swingy match where both competitors are plagued by awful opening hands!  One more win in the next two Rounds would guarantee his place in the Top 64.