George Gaetan has made the trip here from New York this weekend, playing one of the less popular Decks: Shaddoll Artifact. The recent limitation of Artifact Moralltach has hit the strategy pretty bad, but Georges is trying to make it work with the addition of Mask Change II. Owens on the other hand is running a Satellarknight Deck, focusing on consistency over any flair in tech.

Georges won the roll and told Owens to go first

Duel One:

Owens Set four to his back row and ended his turn.

Georges opened a hand with two copies of Shaddoll Hedgehog, Shaddoll Beast, Shaddoll Fusion, Artifact Ignition, and drew Shaddoll Dragon for turn. He activated Shaddoll Fusion, sending Shaddoll Hedgehog and Shaddoll Beast to the Graveyard to Special Summon El Shaddoll Winda. Shaddoll Hedgehog let him add Shaddoll Falco and the draw from Shaddoll Beast gave him Mask Change II. He moved to Battle Phase and declared an attack El Shaddoll Winda, and Set Shaddoll Falco along with both his Spells before ending. Owens had Mystical Space Typhoon during the End Phase to destroy his Set Mask Change II.

Owens drew for turn and thought for a moment; he Summoned Satellarknight Altair and declared an attack on El Shaddoll Winda, using Forbidden Lance during the Damage Step in order to run it over. Georges got Shaddoll Fusion back to his hand from El Shaddoll Winda.

Georges drew Shaddoll Squamata for turn, then Flipped his Shaddoll Falco to Special Summon Shaddoll Beast face down. He Normal Summoned Shaddoll Dragon and declared an attack with it over Satellarknight Altair, but Owens had Honest during damage to keep it alive. In Main Phase 2 he tried to use Shaddoll Fusion, but lost out to Owens’ Stellarnova Alpha which sent his Satellarknight Altair to the Graveyard and drew him a card. Georges passed after.

Owens drew to two cards, then activated Reinforcement of the Army to add Satellarknight Deneb to his hand. He Normal Summoned the Satellarknight and used its effect to add Satellarknight Altair. Owens activated Call of the Haunted but Georges has Artifact Ignition to blow it away, Setting Artifact Moralltach to his back row. Owens declared an attack with Satellarknight Deneb next over Shaddoll Falco before ending.

Georges drew Artifact Sanctum, then Flipped his Set Shaddoll Beast drawing Mathematician and Black Luster Soldier – Envoy of the Beginning sending Shaddoll Squamata to his Graveyard. His Shaddoll Squamata sent Shaddoll Dragon, blowing away Owens’ Set Vanity’s Emptiness. Georges Normal Summoned Mathematician next, sending and ultimately Special Summoning Felis, Lightsworn Archer. After milling three for her effect and flashing Black Luster Soldier – Envoy of the Beginning, Owens saw the writing on the wall and conceded.

“I tried.” Owens remarked with a grin, as both Duelists scooped their cards up and moved to Side Decking. The Artifact cards typically give Shaddoll an edge in match ups that are back row heavy because of the additional Spell and Trap removal that comes with the engine, so things aren’t looking too great for Owens who has to win the back two against Georges. Owens chose for Georges to go first.

Duel Two:

Georges opened with Shaddoll Beast, Artifact Sanctum, Mask Change II, Shaddoll Fusion, and Raigeki. He Set Mask Change II and Artifact Sanctum before ending his turn.

Owens drew and activated Reinforcement of the Army, adding and then Summoning Satellarknight Deneb. The Satellarknight Deneb added Satellarknight Altair to his hand, but when he declared an attack Georges has Artifact Sanctum to Special Summon Artifact Moralltach and blow away the Satellarknight. Owens Set three to his back row before ending.

Georges drew another copy of Shaddoll Beast, then slammed down Shaddoll Fusion. He used the Artifact Moralltach along with a Shaddoll Beast as materials, Special Summoning El Shaddoll Construct. Owens chose to Bottomless Trap Hole the El Shaddoll Construct, and Chained Shadow-Imprisoning Mirror on top of all of those effects which only let Georges use El Shaddoll Construct to send El Shaddoll Fusion to his Graveyard. Without the ability to do anything else, Georges ended.

Owens drew and Normal Summoned Satellarknight Unukalhai, using its effect to send Satellarknight Sirius. He declared an attack with the Unukalhai, making the first mark on Life Points putting Georges down to 6200 Life Points. He Set two more cards to his back row before ending.

Georges drew Shaddoll Fusion and still couldn’t do anything given his limited resources. He ended his turn.

Owens drew and Normal Summoned Satellarknight Altair, Special Summoning Satellarknight Deneb and using its effect to add another Satellarknight Altair to his hand. He declared attacks with both Satellarknight Altair and Satellarknight Unukalhai, dropping Georges down to 2700 Life Points. Owen Set a fifth card to his back row and ended.

Georges drew Artifact Scythe and considered acting Shaddoll Fusion, but realized that he probably couldn’t win anyway and conceded to not give additional information.

Things were a bit more somber now as the Duelists began to shuffle for game three, but after a quick remark about Shadow-Imprisoning Mirror Owens gave a bit of a chuckle. There’s a pretty big difference between a 6-1 and a 5-2 record, so both Duelists wanted this win.

Georges informed Owens that he would be going first.

Duel Three:

Owens started things off with Satellarknight Unukalhai sending Satellarknight Deneb, he Set three before ending.

Georges had a hand of Shaddoll Falco, Shaddoll Dragon, Shaddoll Fusion, Soul Charge, Mathematician, and drew Artifact Moralltach for turn. He Normal Summoned Mathematician and sent Felis, Lightsworn Archer to the Graveyard, which prompted Owens to activate his Set Call of the Haunted to revive his Satellarknight Deneb and search Satellarknight Vega off its effect. Georges quickly Synchroed once the effect resolved, grabbing a Black Rose Dragon from his Extra Deck. He activated the effect…and it went through! Owens lost his whole board which included the publicly known cards along with a Set Dimensional Prison and Raigeki. Georges didn’t slow his pace, he used Shaddoll Fusion sending his Shaddoll Falco and Artifact Moralltach to the Graveyard in order to Special Summon El Shaddoll Construct. The Shaddoll Falco Special Summoned itself face down, and he used El Shaddoll Construct to send Shaddoll Squamata which ultimately sent Shaddoll Beast, letting him draw Artifact Scythe. He followed it up with Soul Charge to try to give himself as commanding of a position as possible. He paid 3000 Life Points to revive Artifact Moralltach, Shaddoll Beast, and Felis, Lightsworn Archer, then overlayed the two level fives for Artifact Durendal. He passed shortly after.

Owens drew to three cards and clarified what Artifact Durendal did; he Normal Summoned Satellarknight Vega but Georges changed its effect via Artifact Durendal so that it would destroy his Set back row instead, allowing to Special Summon Artifact Scythe. Owens Set a back row and passed.

Georges drew Shaddoll Dragon, then used Felis, Lightsworn Archer to destroy the opposing Satellarknight Vega, but Owens used his Set Stellarnova Alpha to negate it. The writing was on the wall though as Georges had exactly enough damage to win the game!