For Round 4, we’re featuring Martina Kölsch, here all the way from Germany! She judges the European YCS tournaments, often as the Feature Match judge, but this time she wanted to see what it’s like on the other side of things. She brought a unique Deck to the tournament, a mix of Shaddolls and Agents! Her opponent is Joseph Chou, using Nekroz. Nekroz are proving to be the most popular strategy in the tournament, despite taking hits to Nekroz of Brionac and Preparation of Rites on April 1st’s Forbidden & Limited List. Can Kölsch’s unconventional Deck take out the biggest Deck of the weekend?

Duel 1

Chou won the dice roll, and opted to play second.

Kölsch began with a hand of The Agent of Creation – Venus, Bottomless Trap Hole, Thunder King Rai-Oh, Gorz the Emissary of Darkness, and Allure of Darkness. She Set Bottomless Trap Hole and Normal Summoned Thunder King Rai-Oh.

Chou Set a back row card.

Kölsch drew The Agent of Mystery – Earth. She played Allure of Darkness, drawing Shaddoll Beast and El Shaddoll Fusion, then banished Gorz. She played Venus next, activated the effect, and Chou Chained Maxx “C”. Kölsch Special Summoned Mystical Shine Ball in Attack Position, and Chou drew a card. In the Battle Phase, Kölsch hit with all of her monsters, leaving Chou with 4000 Life Points.

Chou Normal Summoned Armageddon Knight, which sent Farfa, Malebranche of the Burning Abyss to the Graveyard. Farfa banished Thunder King Rai-Oh for the turn. Next, Chou played Preparation of Rites, adding Nekroz of Clausolas to his hand. He discarded it to get Nekroz Kaleidoscope. With Nekroz Kaleidoscope, he sent Herald of the Arc Light to the Graveyard to Summon Nekroz of Unicore, and Herald put Nekroz of Valkyrus in his hand. He moved to the Battle Phase, and attacked Mystical Shine Ball with Armageddon Knight. Kölsch flipped El Shaddoll Fusion, combining Mystical Shine Ball with Shaddoll Beast, for El Shaddoll Construct! She drew a card with Shaddoll Beast – a Chaos Sorcerer. Unicore negated Construct’s effect, and destroyed Venus in battle. In Main Phase 2, Chou Xyz Summoned Diamond Dire Wolf, and Kölsch banished it with Bottomless Trap Hole. Chou used Nekroz Kaleidoscope’s effect in the Graveyard, banishing Clausolas, to add Nekroz Cycle to his hand. He played it, using Shurit, Strategist of the Nekroz as the Tribute to Ritual Summon Nekroz of Valkyrus. Shurit gave him Nekroz of Trishula, then had Valkyrus Tribute itself to draw a card. He used Nekroz Cycle in the Graveyard to get Nekroz Mirror, and played it to Summon Trishula, which banished Chaos Sorcerer from the hand, Construct from the field, and Venus from the Graveyard. Thunder King Rai-Oh returned to the field at the End Phase.

Kölsch drew Mystical Shine Ball. She Normal Summoned The Agent of Mystery – Earth, unable to use its effect due to her own Thunder King Rai-Oh. She tuned Earth to Rai-Oh for Goyo Guardian, and passed.

Chou played Manju of the Ten Thousand Hands. He added Nekroz of Clausolas to his hand, which he discarded to add Nekroz Cycle to his hand. He played it, banishing Shurit from the Graveyard to play Clausolas from the Graveyard! With Clausolas’s effect, Goyo Guardian didn’t stand a chance, and Kölsch conceded!

Duel 2

Kölsch had Maxx “C”, Foolish Burial, Shaddoll Fusion, Thunder King Rai-Oh, and Shaddoll Beast. Foolish Burial put Shaddoll Squamata in the Graveyard, which also put Shaddoll Falco in the Graveyard. Falco Special Summoned itself face-down. She played out Thunder King Rai-Oh to finish.

Chou Normal Summoned Tsukuyomi, turning Rai-Oh face-down and destroying it in battle! Tsukuyomi returned to the hand at the End Phase.

Kölsch drew Effect Veiler. She Flip Summoned Falco, bringing Squamata back to the field face-down. Next, she used Shaddoll Fusion to combine Shaddoll Squamata and Shaddoll Beast for El Shaddoll Winda. Squamata’s effect put Shaddoll Hedgehog in the Graveyard, then Beast let her draw Vanity’s Emptiness. Now, Hedgehog’s effect gave her Shaddoll Squamata in her hand. She Normal Summoned it, and tuned Falco to Squamata for Goyo Guardian. She attacked directly, and Set Vanity’s Emptiness to finish.

Chou played Senju of the Thousand Hands, adding Nekroz of Unicore to his hand. He played Nekroz Kaleidoscope, and Kölsch Chained Vanity’s Emptiness to stop him in his tracks! Chou Set a back row card.

Kölsch drew Master Hyperion. She moved to the Battle Phase, and it was all over!

Kölsch quickly evens the score! This final Duel will settle it all. Kölsch made some Side Deck adjustments, but Chou seemed confident in his current choices.

Duel 3

Chou let Kölsch play first. She opened with Crush Card Virus, Shaddoll Squamata, Vanity’s Emptiness, Gorz the Emissary of Darkness, and Chaos Sorcerer. She Set Squamata.

Chou started with Manju of the Ten Thousand Hands, adding Nekroz Kaleidoscope to his hand. He played it, sending Herald of the Arc Light from his Extra Deck to Summon Nekroz of Unicore. Herald put Nekroz Cycle in his hand. Manju attacked, and Squamata destroyed Unicore. In Main Phase 2, Chou used Reinforcement of the Army to get Shurit, and used Cycle with Shurit for Nekroz of Valkyrus. Shurit put Nekroz of Brionac in his hand. Valkyrus Tributed itself and Manju to let Chou draw two new cards. He banished Kaleidoscope and Unicore to add another Kaleidoscope to his hand, then he Set one back row card to finish.

Kölsch drew El Shaddoll Fusion. She passed.

Chou banished Cycle and Valkyrus from the Graveyard to add another Cycle to his hand. He played Manju next, adding Nekroz of Unicore to his hand. Nekroz Kaleidoscope sent Herald of the Arc Light to the Graveyard to play Unicore, and Chou added Nekroz of Trishula to his hand with Herald. Manju attacked directly. Nekroz of Unicore attacked directly as well, and Kölsch opted not to play her Gorz the Emissary of Darkness.

Kölsch drew Maxx “C”. She Set it and all of her Spell and Trap Cards. In the End Phase, Chou flipped Royal Decree!

Chou played Denko Sekka, then used Brionac to get Shurit, then played Cycle with Shurit for Trishula! Trishula wiped out Kölsch’s Maxx “C”, leaving her defenseless against the coming attacks!

Joseph Chou is victorious, with Nekroz!