Longtime veteran Jeff Jones is not a stranger from the Feature Match Area, champion of SJC Anaheim and SJC Edison winning both the first and last copies of Dark End Dragon. However, Denny Yu is no slouch either, the YCS Las Vegas champion is now practically a mainstay of Yu-Gi-Oh! Championship Series.

Jones is using a Satellarknight Deck teched out with a bunch of cool stuff such as Enemy Controller and Threatening Roar to take advantage of current format trends. Stellarknight Constellar Diamond is also a huge problem for a lot of DARK strategies in the current format, which will pose problems for Yu’s Burning Abyss Deck. Choosing to omit most traps except for two copies of Fire Lake of the Burning Abyss, Yu has optimized his Deck with choices such as Enemy Controller and Rank-Up-Magic Astral Force to be as aggressive as possible. This is going to be an exciting match to start off the weekend!

Jones rolled a 7 to Yu’s unimpressive 2; Jones chose to go first.

Duel One:

Jones opened with a hand of Satellarknight Altair, Fiendish Chain, Mystical Space Typhoon, Book of Moon and Raigeki. He chose to Set Fiendish Chain, Mystical Space Typhoon and Book of Moon before ending.

Yu started things off by Special Summoning Scarm, Malebranche of the Burning Abyss and then Alich, Malebranche of the Burning Abyss. Jones had Book of Moon to put the Alich, Malebranche of the Burning Abyss face down.

Jones drew Solemn Warning. He Normal Summoned Satellarknight Altair, attacked over the Set Alich, Malebranche of the Burning Abyss, and Set Solemn Warning before ending.

Jones drew Threatening Roar for turn, but chose not to attack over the Tour Guide from the Underworld to keep Yu off from Summoning other Burning Abyss Monsters. He ended his turn.

Yu Summoned Libic, Malebranche of the Burning Abyss, causing it to destroy itself so that he could Special Summon a Scarm, Malebranche of the Burning Abyss from his hand! This play was huge because it allowed Yu to get around the Malebranche’s effect to destroy itself, so he could overlay the Tour Guide from the Underworld with the Scarm and Xyz Summon Dante, Traveler of the Burning Abyss. He used its effect to send Fire Lake of the Burning Abyss , Rubic, Malebranche of the Burning Abyss, and Cir, Malebranche of the Burning Abyss to the Graveyard, using Cir, Malebranche of the Burning Abyss to Special Summon a Scarm, Malebranche of the Burning Abyss from the Graveyard. He Special Summoned Rubic, Malebranche of the Burning Abyss from his hand, then overlayed the Scarm, Malebranche of the Burning Abyss along with the Rubic to Summon another Dante. He used the new Dante, Traveler of the Burning Abyss to send Graff, Malebranche of the Burning Abyss, Rubic, Malebranche of the Burning Abyss, and Rank-Up-Magic Astral Force to his Graveyard, and then Special Summoned Cir, Malebranche of the Burning Abyss from his Deck via Graff. He followed it up with The Beginning of the End, banishing 5 DARKS so he could draw three. When he went to battle, Jones had Threatening Roar to stop any attacks and keep both Dantes in Attack Mode! Yu Set two before ending, but Jones blasted Fire Lake of the Burning Abyss with Mystical Space Typhoon during the End Phase.

Jones drew Oasis of Dragon Souls for turn and contemplated his options. He activated Raigeki, destroying both copies of Dante, Traveler of the Burning Abyss and along with Cir, Malebranche of the Burning Abyss. Dantes added back Rubic, Malebranche of the Burning Abyss and Cir, Malebranche of the Burning Abyss to Yu’s hand, and Cir Special Summoned a Scarm, Malebranche of the Burning Abyss to the field. During the End Phase, Yu searched Farfa, Malebranche of the Burning Abyss.

Yu Normal Summoned Rubic, Malebranche of the Burning Abyss, and Synchroed away Scarm, Malebranche of the Burning Abyss and the tuner to try to Summon Virgil, Rock Star of the Burning Abyss, but Jones had Solemn Warning to stop it. During the End Phase Yu searched Tour Guide from the Underworld, then discarded Cir, Malebranche of the Burning Abyss to maintain hand size. Cir Special Summoned Dante, Traveler of the Burning Abyss.

Jones drew Enemy Controller, and Set it without any other options.

Yu Normal Summoned Tour Guide from the Underworld and activated its effect in order to Special Summon Calcab, Malebranche of the Burning Abyss from his Deck. He overlayed the two Fiends for Ghostrick Alucard, then detached Calcab to destroy the opposing Enemy Controller and bounce up his own Set Spell/Trap so he could start Summoning Burning Abyss Monsters from his hand. He used Rank-Up-Magic Astral Force to stack a Constellar Pleiades over his Dante, and then attacked over Altair before ending.

Jones drew Call of the Haunted and Set it before ending.

Yu detached for Ghostrick Alucard, destroying Jones’ Set Oasis of Dragon Souls. He then Normal Summoned Cir, Malebranche of the Burning Abyss which destroyed itself so Yu could Special Summon Dante, Traveler of the Burning Abyss from his Graveyard. He went to Battle Phase and Jones conceding with game winning damage on the field.

Duel Two:

Jones opened with Solemn Warning, Enemy Controller, Compulsory Evacuation Device, Satellarknight Altair, and Maxx “C”; no Satellarknight Deneb again! He Set his three Spells and Traps before ending.

Yu Special Summoned Calcab, Malebranche of the Burning Abyss but Jones used Maxx “C” and drew Reinforcement of the Army! Yu didn’t want Jones to draw anymore, so after an attack he Set Breakthrough Skill and ended.

Jones drew Book of Moon for turn, then Normal Summoned Satellarknight Deneb. When it tried to activate its effect Yu had Breakthrough Skill, but Jones responded with Compulsory Evacuation Device to make sure his Deneb resolved! He searched Satellarknight Vega off of the Deneb, and Set Book of Moon before ending.

Yu drew and Normal Summoned Graff, Malebranche of the Burning Abyss, overlaying with Calcab, Malebranche of the Burning Abyss for Dante, Traveler of the Burning Abyss and sending Night Beam, Scarm, Malebranche of the Burning Abyss, and Rubic, Malebranche of the Burning Abyss. He Special Summoned Cir, Malebranche of the Burning Abyss from his Deck, and then made direct attacks to put Jones down to 2500 Life Points. He searched Tour Guide from the Underworld for Scarm, Malebranche of the Burning Abyss during the End Phase.

Jones drew Xyz Universe for turn, then Normal Summoned Satellarknight Vega to Special Summon Satellarknight Deneb from his hand, but Yu had Maxx “C” to halt any further actions. Jones searched another copy of Vega off his Deneb and contemplated his next move. He ultimately decided to simply Set Xyz Universe before ending.

Yu drew and immediately sent three to his Graveyard for Dante, Traveler of the Burning Abyss, milling two copies of Farfa, Malebranche of the Burning Abyss and Mystical Space Typhoon to his Graveyard. He used the Farfa, Malebranche of the Burning Abyss to banish Jones Satellarknight Deneb, and the detached Calcab, Malebranche of the Burning Abyss to return Jones Set Enemy Controller to his hand. He followed up by Special Summoning Rubic, Malebranche of the Burning Abyss and Synchro Summoned Virgil, Rock Star of the Burning Abyss using Rubic, Malebranche of the Burning Abyss and Cir, Malebranche of the Burning Abyss as materials. The Cir activated, Special Summoning Scarm, Malebranche of the Burning Abyss from his Graveyard. He then used Foolish Burial to send Graff, Malebranche of the Burning Abyss to his Graveyard, then used Graff to Special Summon Alich, Malebranche of the Burning Abyss from his Deck. He overlayed Scarm and Alich for another Dante, Traveler of the Burning Abyss, then used its effect to send The Beginning of the End, Scarm, Malebranche of the Burning Abyss, and Cir, Malebranche of the Burning Abyss from his Deck. He went to Battle Phase and tried to attack over Satellarknight Vega, but Jones had Xyz Universe to send both Dantes to the Graveyard to Summon Stellarknight Constellar Diamond! Both Dantes triggered along with Alich, Malebranche of the Burning Abyss, allowing Yu to get around the Diamond by negating it with Alich at Chain Link 3, which let both Dantes resolve so Yu could add back Cir, Malebranche of the Burning Abyss and Rubic, Malebranche of the Burning Abyss. Yu continued with his attacks, declaring with Virgil in attempt to get over Satellarknight Vega, which Jones ultimately to respond to with Enemy Controller to switch Virgil to Defense Mode. Yu used Virgil in Main Phase 2, discarding Rubic, Malebranche of the Burning Abyss to spin Jones’s Set card back into his Deck. He activated Raigeki to clear away the Stellarknight Constellar Diamond and Satellarknight Vega, then searched Graff, Malebranche of the Burning Abyss off of Scarm, Malebranche of the Burning Abyss during the End Phase. Jones also got his Satellarknight Deneb back during the End Phase from Farfa, Malebranche of the Burning Abyss.

Jones drew to four cards, the newest being another Xyz Universe. He Normal Summoned Satellarknight Vega, Special Summoned Satellarknight Altair, and then brought back another Satellarknight Vega from his Graveyard. With four Satellarknights in play, Jones had a lot of options. He used all of them except for Satellarknight Altair to overlay for Stellarknight Triverr, bouncing away both Yu’s Virgil, Rock Star of the Burning Abyss along with his Altair to their respective hands. He attacked with Trivver, then Set Enemy Controller and Xyz Universe before ending.

Yu went to Main Phase and immediately activated The Beginning of the End, banishing 5 DARKS putting him to 8 cards in his hand! He Special Summoned Graff, Malebranche of the Burning Abyss in Defense Mode, and followed with a Special Summon of Cir, Malebranche of the Burning Abyss in Defense Mode as well. He overlayed both for Ghostrick Alucard, detaching Graff, Malebranche of the Burning Abyss to destroy Jones’ Set Xyz Universe. When he activated Snatch Steal Jones thought long and hard about using his Enemy Controller, and in order to make sure nothing crazy happened he did, tributing away his Stellarknight Triverr to take Yu’s Alucard. The Triverr activated and Jones Special Summoned Satellarknight Deneb from its effect, but Yu banished Breakthrough Skill from his Graveyard to negate the Deneb search. Yu Normal Summoned Tour Guide from the Underworld to Special Summon a Scarm, Malebranche of the Burning Abyss from his Deck, then milled two so he could clear the Satellarknight Deneb away. He Set a backrow and then searched Rubic, Malebranche of the Burning Abyss from Scarm, Malebranche of the Burning Abyss during the End Phase.

Jones drew and activated Reinforcement of the Army to grab Satellarknight Deneb, then followed it up with the Summon of Satellarknight Altair. When he tried to use its effect, but Yu had Breakthrough Skill to stop it! After a little bit of consideration, Jones ultimately conceded and extended the handshake.

An impressive 2-0 victory over Jones’ Satellarknights shows that the consistency and power of Yu’s Burning Abyss Deck is great at taking advantage of poor openings. Without a way to get Satellarknight Deneb to his hand quickly, Jones stumbled in both games and couldn’t keep up with Yu’s tempo. It’s only Round one though so we have a long day ahead of us, as Yu marks his first Round as a win!