In October of last year, Chris LeBlanc won YCS Providence with Karakuri Geargia.  This weekend he’s back playing the same strategy, and after seven Rounds of competition he’s 6-1.  His opponent is local Duelist Isaiah Joseph, who plays in Toronto and St. Catharines.  He’s also 6-1 here this weekend, piloting the first Evilswarm Deck we’ve seen in a Feature Match here today.

LeBlanc opened the Match with a hand of Iron Call; Fiendish Chain; Trap Stun; Effect Veiler; Geargiaccelerator; and Geargiagear He Set all three Traps and ended.

Joseph activated Reinforcement of the Army, searching his Deck for Evilswarm Castor.  He Summoned it, then Summoned another Castor to overlay them both for Evilswarm Ophion.  He activated its effect; LeBlanc chained Fiendish Chain; and Joseph chained another Pandemic from his hand!  LeBlanc chained Effect Veiler to stop Ophion’s search effect, but Joseph still made a direct attack for 2500 Battle Damage.  He Set two of his last three cards to his back row.  LeBlanc activated Geargiagear in the End Phase, Special Summoning Geargiano Mk-II and Geargiano from his Deck.

LeBlanc drew another Geargiagear.  He overlaid his Geargianos for Gear Gigant X; Joseph responded to the Summon with Compulsory Evacuation Device; and LeBlanc used Gigant X’s secondary effect to Special Summon back Geargiano.  He Set his second Geargiagear and ended with two cards in hand.

Joseph drew to two cards and detached to try and search a card with Ophion’s ability, but had apparently forgotten about Fiendish Chain – his Xyz Material was wasted.  He Summoned Rescue Rabbit, banishing it to Special Summon two Evilswarm Heliotrope.  He stacked them for another Ophion, and used its effect to search Infestation Pandemic.  He attacked to destroy Geargiano, Set a second Spell or Trap, and in the End Phase LeBlanc fired off the second Geargiagear to Special Summon two more Geargiano Mk-II.

LeBlanc drew Geargiaccelerator.  He Special Summoned it in Defense Position and overlaid his Geargianos for another Gear Gigant X – LeBlanc detached to try and search a card with Gear Gigant X’s effect, but Joseph blocked the attempt with Effect Veiler.  LeBlanc Summoned another Geargiaccelerator, overlaid both for a second Gear Gigant X, and searched Karakuri Strategist mdl 248 “Nishipachi”.  He Summoned it to try and turn the fresh Ophion to Defense Position; Joseph responded with Safe Zone; and LeBlanc chained Trap Stun!  Ophion went to Defense Position and the Safe Zone was lost.  Gear Gigant X swung over the Ophion – the other was still locked down under Fiendish Chain.

Joseph had one card Set in his backrow, plus his Fiendish Chained Ophion.  He drew to one card in hand, then Summoned his topdecked Evilswarm Kerykeion!  Joseph banished Ophion from his Graveyard, then added Evilswarm Heliotrope to his hand with Kerykeion’s ability.  He Summoned it, then Xyz Summoned a third Ophion to get Infestation Infection.  He flipped his Set Pandemic to free his original Ophion from Fiendish Chain, then attacked with it to destroy Gear Gigant X – LeBlanc Special Summoned back a Geargiano Mk-II.  The second Ophion attacked the second Gear Gigant X, and LeBlanc Summoned back regular ol’ Geargiano.  Joseph Set his Infection.

LeBlanc drew Mirror Force, holding Iron Call; Joseph had one Pandemic left in his Deck and one Material left on his Ophion.  LeBlanc Tributed Geargiano to Special Summon back Geargiaccelerator, then revived another one with Iron Call.  He overlaid them both for Maestroke the Symphony Djinn, turning the Ophion with an Xyz Material face-down, then Xyz Summoned Wind-Up Zenmaines.  He crashed Zenmaines into the face-up Ophion, detaching to keep it alive, then ran over the other Ophion with Maestroke.  He Set Mirror Force, then destroyed Joseph’s face-down Infection in the End Phase with Zenmaines!

Joseph drew and Set his topdeck to his back row.

LeBlanc drew Compulsory Evacuation Device!  He used Maestroke to turn the Ophion face-down, attacked it, then made a direct attack with Zenmaines.  He Set Compulsory.

Joseph drew and Summoned Evilswarm Thunderbird, attacking Zenmaines; Leblanc took 150 Battle Damage, and detached to keep Zenmaines on the field.  In the End Phase LeBlanc targeted LeBlanc targeted Joseph’s Set backrow card to destroy it – Infestation Pandemic – and Joseph banished his Thunderbird to keep it safe.

LeBlanc drew Geargiarmor and Joseph brought back his Thunderbird at 1950 ATK.  LeBlanc couldn’t beat it, so he Set Geargiarmor and ended.

Joseph attacked LeBlanc’s face-down Geargiarmor, drawing out LeBlanc’s Mirror Force.  Joseph banished Thunderbird on the chain.

LeBlanc drew Mystical Space Typhoon, then Flip Summoned Geargiarmor to search out Geargiaccellerator.  He Xyz Summoned Diamond Dire Wolf to attack over Thunderbird, destroying it, then swung with Maestroke and Zenmaines.  He Set Typhoon and when Joseph saw his next draw, he conceded the first Duel.

Chris LeBlanc grinds through three Evilswarm Ophions, three Infestation Pandemics, and even Infestation Infection, outlasting Isaiah Joseph’s Evilswarms with Geargiano after Geargiano after Geargiano!  A strange game that fell solidly in LeBlanc’s favor.

Joseph Summoned Evilswarm Heliotrope and Set two cards to his backrow.

LeBlanc had Geargiarsenal; Shadow-Imprisoning Mirror; Compulsory Evacuation Device; Geargiano Mk-II; Pot of Duality; and Mystical Space Typhoon.  He Normal Summoned Geargiarsenal, Tributed it, and Joseph chained Maxx “C”.  LeBlanc Special Summoned Geargiarmor from his Deck, Joseph drew a card, and LeBlanc turned Geargiarmor face-down with its ability.  He Set three cards but lost his Mystical Space Typhoon to Joseph’s blind Typhoon in the End Phase.

Joseph Summoned Evilswarm Mandragora and attacked with Heliotrope.  LeBlanc targeted Heliotrope with Compulsory Evacuation Device, and Joseph fired back with Infestation Pandemic!  LeBlanc’s Geargiarmor flipped to get him Geargiaccelerator, the Geargiarmor went down, and Joseph followed up with an attack from Mandragora.  He made Ophion in Main Phase 2 and tried to detach for its effect, but LeBlanc Chained Shadow-Imprisoning Mirror!

LeBlanc Summoned Geargiano Mk-II, and Joseph blasted it with a Compulsory Evacuation Device of his own.  LeBlanc still got his Geargiano effect though, Special Summoning back Geargiarmor.  That let him Special Summon his two ‘accelerators, overlaying them for Diamond Dire Wolf to destroy Ophion.  He turned Geargiarmor face-down and ended.

Joseph passed.

When LeBlanc tried to Flip Summon Geargiarmor Joseph negated its effect with Effect Veiler, but LeBlanc pressed on with Geargiano Mk-II for Geargiaccelerator, overlaying it with Geargiarmor for Gear Gigant X.  That got him another Geargiano Mk-II, and he attacked with both monsters before Setting Pot of Duality as a bluff.

Joseph searched Evilswarm Castor with Reinforcement of the Army before activating Dark Hole: LeBlanc revived his Geargiano Mk-II.  Joseph Summoned Castor, Special Summoned Kagetokage, then thought a long while before Xyz Summoning Maestroke the Symphony Djinn to attack and destroy Geargiano Mk-II.

LeBlanc flipped his Pot of Duality next turn to reveal Geargiaccelerator; Mystical Space Typhoon; and Trap Stun – he took the Geargiaccelerator.  He was now holding the Geargiaccelerator; Effect Veiler; Geargiano Mk-II, and Fiendish Chain.

Joseph tried to attack with Maestroke the Symphony Djinn, but LeBlanc stopped him with Fiendish Chain.

LeBlanc Summoned Geargiano Mk-II.  Joseph dropped Maxx “C”, and LeBlanc brought out Geargiarmor.  He flipped it face-down.

Joseph drew to two cards in hand, but still couldn’t attack with Maestroke.  He passed.

LeBlanc drew Karakuri Watchdog mdl 313 “Saizan”.  He Flip Summoned Geargiarmor to search Geargiarsenal, Summoned Watchdog, and Tuned it to Geargiano Mk-II for Karakuri Shogun mdl 00 “Burei”.  That Special Summoned another Watchdog from his Deck, and he Special Summoned Geargiaccelerator to Synchro Summon Scrap Dragon!  He used it to destroy his own Shadow-Imprisoning Mirror and Joseph’s Eradicator Epidemic Virus.  Three attacks ended the Match!

Chris LeBlanc moves on to Day 2 with a 7-1 record, just one win away from a guaranteed seat in the Top 32!