Richard Cherry has come all the way to Charleston from the U.K., piloting a Qliphort Deck with an unscathed record. There’s no shame in Dueling with one of the best Decks if he’s on top of the standings with it; however, Sohrab Pasikhani has the same record as Cherry with a Volcanic Deck! A sleeper pick for this weekend, Volcanic has made an impressive showing thanks to the addition of Blaze Accelerator Reload from Secrets of Eternity. Is that enough for us to see Pasikhani continue his success?

Cherry won the roll and elected to go first.

Duel One:

Cherry placed Qliphort Scout on his Pendulum Scale, then used its effect to add Saqlifice to his hand. He Normal Summoned Qliphort Carrier then equipped it with the Saqlifice, Setting two cards to his back row before ending.

After drawing Pasikhani had a hand of Royal Firestorm Guards, Pot of Duality, Vanity’s Emptiness, Mystical Space Typhoon, Summoner Monk, and Magic Planter. He Normal Summoned Summoner Monk, and used its effect discarding Magic Planter but Cherry had Vanity’s Emptiness! Pasikhani thought for a moment, ultimately using Mystical Space Typhoon destroy the Vanity’s Emptiness in response so he could Special Summon Volcanic Rocket. The Rocket activated letting him add Blaze Accelerator Reload to his hand; he followed it up by overlaying his Monsters for Number 103: Ragnazero and using its effect to destroy the equipped Qliphort Carrier and drawing Volcanic Shell, letting Cherry add Qliphort Carrier via the yarded Saqlifice. After declaring a direct attack, Pasikhani Set all of his cards to his back row before ending.

Cherry drew and announced his phases, then when he entered Main Phase he tried to activate Qliphort Scout. Pasikhani responded with Blaze Accelerator Reload but Cherry Chained his own Mystical Space Typhoon to stop it. Once Qliphort Scout resolved it let Cherry add Qliphort Monolith to his hand, which he then promptly placed on the opposite end of the scale. He Pendulum Summoned two copies of Qliphort Carrier, on from hand and the other from his Extra Deck. In response to the Summon Pasikhani used the effect of his yarded Blaze Accelerator Reload, banishing it to send a Volcanic Scattershot to the Graveyard. That Scattershot activated, sending two more to destroy Cherry’s Monsters and deal 1500 points of damage! Cherry ended without any further actions.

Pasikhani drew another copy of Royal Firestorm Guards for turn, then used Pot of Duality to add another copy of Pot of Duality. He Normal Summoned Royal Firestorm Guards and used its effect to shuffle back Volcanic Rocket along with all three copies of Volcanic Scattershot to draw Mystical Space Typhoon. He went to use the Mystical Space Typhoon but Cherry opted to concede, seeing that he was a slim chance at coming back and would rather conceal the information.

Showing impressive mastery of Volcanics, Pasikhani takes an impressive game one victory. Cherry seems to be pretty familiar with the cards however, so maybe the Duelist from across the pond can mount a comeback.

Cherry chose to go first.

Duel Two:

Cherry Set five cards to his back row and ended.

Pasikhani opened with a hand of Blaster, Dragon Ruler of Infernos, Summoner Monk, Volcanic Rocket, Royal Firestorm Guards, Snatch Steal, and Fairy Wind. He Normal Summoned Volcanic Rocket, used its effect to add Blaze Accelerator Reload to his hand and then declared a direct attack. He Set Fairy Wind along with Blaze Accelerator Reload before ending.

Cherry drew, contemplated for a moment, but ultimately just passed it back to Pasikhani.

After drawing another copy of Royal Firestorm Guards, Pasikhani Normal Summoned and went right to Battle Phase. He declared direct attacks with both Volcanic Rocket and Royal Firestorm Guards, putting Cherry down to 2500 Life Points. He looked at his Extra Deck for a minute to consider his options, finally choosing Lavalval Chain. He used the effect of Lavalval Chain, detaching Royal Firestorm Guards to send Volcanic Shell to his Graveyard. He used the effect of the Shell to add another copy, then ditched the new copy for Blaze Accelerator Reload drawing Pot of Duality. He activated the freshly yarded Shell to add the final copy to his hand, putting himself down to 7000 Life Points. When he moved to End Phase, Cherry tried to use Mystical Space Typhoon to destroy the Set Fairy Wind, but Pasikhani Chained it destroying both the opposing Mystical Space Typhoon and his own Blaze Accelerator Reload to put Cherry to 1900 Life Points.

Cherry drew and gave a sigh as he placed Qliphort Scout onto a scale, paying 800 Life Points to add Qliphort Carrier to his hand. He Normal Summoned the Qliphort Carrier, then equipped Saqlifice to it before attacking over Pasikhani’s Lavalval Chain. Cherry ended afterwards.

Pasikhani drew Mystical Space Typhoon and immediately slammed it down, blindly destroying a Set Vanity’s Emptiness. He then activated Snatch Steal to take the opposing Qliphort Carrier, but when he went to attack for game with it he lost out to Cherry’s own Mystical Space Typhoon to take the Qliphort Carrier back. Pasikhani Normal Summoned Summoner Monk next, using its effect to discard Pot of Duality, but Cherry tried to Chain Book of Moon to stop it, not realizing that the Book of Moon would do no such thing. Pasikhani saw game from there as he Special Summoned Volcanic Rocket and added Blaze Accelerator Reload to his hand. He then banished the Blaze Accelerator Reload from his Graveyard, sending a Volcanic Scattershot which then sent two more, dealing the last points of damage in style to Cherry!

In a field dominated by Qliphort and Burning Abyss, an undefeated record with Volcanic is super impressive! Pasikhani moves on undefeated in the tournament, only needing one win for the next three rounds to make it into Top 32!