One year ago, Jose Lagunes shocked the world by winning the 2014 Central American World Championship Qualifier with Mermails.  In the era of Infernoids versus Hand Artifact Traptrix, Lagunes played what was virtually a rogue Deck to win the title of Central American Champion.  This time around he’s following the trends: the 21 year-old Champion from Vera Cruz, Mexico is here today running Nekroz.

His opponent is Gerardo Sotomayor Meza, a 24 year-old Duelist from Morelia Michoacan, Mexico.  Qualifying for this tournament through the Morelia Regional Qualifier, he’s here today facing off against one of the most recognized Duelists in the room with a rogue strategy – Volcanics.  We’ve seen Volcanics capture several Regional Top 8 and YCS Top 32 finishes this year: if Lagunes isn’t prepared for the match-up, Meza could score a big win.

Losing the opening roll, Meza started the tournament with Traptrix Myrmeleo, using its effect to search his Deck for Traptrix Trap Hole Nightmare – a strong card against Nekroz, and one that Lagunes would have to play around.  He Set one card to his Spell and Trap Card Zone, then two more.

Lagunes had a hand of Maxx “C”; Raigeki; Nekroz of Unicore; Reinforcement of the Army; Mystical Space Typhoon; and Nekroz Mirror. He activated Reinforcement to search out Nekroz of Clausolas.  He pitched it to get Nekroz Kaleidoscope from his Deck, activated it, and Meza Chained Vanity’s Emptiness.  Lagunes held back with his Mystical Space Typhoon, then banished Clausolas and Kaleidoscope to get another Kaleidoscope from his Deck.

Meza made a direct attack with Traptrix Myrmeleo.  He Set a fourth Spell or Trap Card.

Lagunes drew Senju of the Thousand Hands.  He shuffled his hand a moment while considering his options, then destroyed Meza’s Jar of Avarice with Mystical Space Typhoon.  That destroyed his Vanity’s Emptiness as well.  He activated his second Nekroz Kaleidoscope, sending Herald of the Arc Light to the Graveyard to Ritual Summon Nekroz of Unicore.  The Herald’s ability let him search his Deck for Nekroz of Brionac.

Lagunes went to attack, but before play moved to the Battle Phase Meza flipped Blaze Accelerator Reload to send one, then all three of his Volcanic Scattershots to the graveyard.  That drew him a card, destroyed Unicore, and the Scattershots dealt 1500 effect damage to Lagunes.  Still in Main Phase 1, Lagunes banished to search his Deck for Nekroz Cycle.  He sent Brionac to the Graveyard to get Shurit, Strategist of the Nekroz, then activated Cycle to pitch Shurit and Ritual Summon the Brionac.

Shurit’s effect got Lagunes another Brionac, and he Normal Summoned Senju of the Thousand Hands to seek out Nekroz of Valkyrus.  He activated Nekroz Mirror, banished Shurit, and brought out the Valkyrus.  He sent Brionac to attack and destroy Myrmeleo, then made two direct attacks with Senju and Valkyrus.  Suddenly Meza was down to 3000 Life Points.

Meza sent Volcanic Shell to the graveyard to draw a card with Blaze Accelerator Reload, then paid 500 Life Points to get another Shell from his Deck. He Normal Summoned Royal Firestorm Guards to shuffle back five Monsters from his Graveyard and draw two more cards, then attacked Senju to destroy it.  He Set two more cards to his back row and ended with three cards in his hand.

Lagunes drew another Mystical Space Typhoon.  He activated his in-hand Nekroz of Brionac’s effect to search his second Shurit, Strategist of the Nekroz, then Tributed it to draw with Valkyrus, searching Nekroz of Trishula from his Deck when he triggered Shurit’s ability.  A blind Mystical Space Typhoon destroyed another of Meza’s Jars of Avarice, and when Meza activated Blaze Accelerator Reload’s effect, Lagunes Chained his third Mystical Space Typhoon to destroy it before it could resolve.

That let Meza banish his Blaze Accelerator Reload to send one, then all three of his Volcanic Scattershots to the Graveyard a second time!  They burned Lagunes for another 1500 damage and destroyed all of his monsters.  But Lagunes pressed on: he banished Brionac and Nekroz Cycle to get Nekroz Mirror from his Deck, then banished again for his second Nekroz Cycle.  He activated Mirror to banish Shurit, Summoned Nekroz of Trishula with no effect (dodging the Traptrix Trap Hole Nightmare he saw on Turn 1), activated Raigeki, and ran into Dimensional Prison!  Trishula was banished, and Lagunes had just 3100 Life Points left.

Meza Normal Summoned Volcanic Rocket, searched another Blaze Accelerator Reload from his Deck and attacked.  Meza was doing a great job of controlling the Duel.

Lagunes Summoned Senju of the Thousand Hands, activated its effect, and Meza Chained his second Reload.  That got him a draw off Volcanic Shell, while Lagunes searched out Nekroz of Unicore.  He pitched it to get back his Nekroz of Valkyrus.

Meza paid another 500 Life Points to get a Volcanic Shell from his Deck, sent it to the Graveyard to draw one with Reload, then drew two more by sending Reload to the Graveyard with Magic Planter.  Then he Normal Summoned another Royal Firestorm Guards to reload his Scattershots and Shells, drawing two cards again!  He banished the second Reload to send his Scattershots to the Graveyard a third time, destroying Senju of the Thousand Hands and clearing the way for his direct attacks.

Gerardo Sotomayor Meza neutralizes the Central American Champion’s Nekroz monsters with Blaze Accelerator Reload, then draws six cards in one turn to capture the first Duel!  An unbelievable showing from the Volcanic strategy.

Meza was forced to play first in the second Duel, Summoning Traptrix Myrmeleo.  Lagunes responded with Effect Veiler to keep Meza from getting a search.  Meza activated Pot of Duality, revealing Fire Hand, Royal Firestorm Guards, and Imperial Iron Wall; he took the Wall and shuffled back the rest, Setting two cards to his back row.

Lagunes had Nekroz of Clausolas; Manju of the Ten Thousand Hands; Nekroz of Valkyrus; Preparation of Rites; and Nekroz of Trishula, down a card after using Effect Veiler.  He Summoned Manju to seek out Nekroz of Unicore.  He discarded Nekroz of Clausolas to get Nekroz Kaleidoscope, and when he activated it Meza had the Vanity’s Emptiness once again!  Lagunes pondered his next move, eventually passing.

Meza flipped Imperial Iron Wall, then Normal Summoned Fire Hand.  He attacked with Fire Hand to destroy Manju, then attacked with Traptrix Myrmeleo directly.

Lagunes drew Book of Eclipse.  He activated Preparation of Rites to search his Deck for Nekroz of Brionac, then retrieved his Nekroz Kaleidoscope from the Graveyard.  He discarded Brionac to get Shurit, Strategist of the Nekroz from his Deck, then Set Shurit.

Meza passed, not pressing his advantage.

Lagunes drew Mystical Space Typhoon and activated it to blow away Imperial Iron Wall and Vanity’s Emptiness in one shot!  He activated Nekroz Kaleidoscope for Nekroz of Unicore, sending Herald of the Arc Light to the Graveyard for the Ritual Summon.  Herald got him Nekroz Cycle, and he activated it to Summon Nekroz of Brionac from the Graveyard.  He got Nekroz of Clausolas with Shurit, discarded it to search for Nekroz Mirror, then played Mirror to banish Shurit, Strategist of the Nekroz to Summon Nekroz of Trishula.  Meza negated its ability with Effect Veiler, leaving Lagunes to attack over Traptrix Myrmeleo.  He sent Unicore to attack Fire Hand; Meza used its effect to destroy Nekroz of Brionac, and Meza Special Summoned Ice Hand in its place.

Meza drew to three cards in hand with Ice Hand on the field.  He Normal Summoned another Ice Hand, overlaid them both for Dark Rebellion Xyz Dragon, and attacked Nekroz of Unicore; Lagunes discarded Nekroz of Valkyrus to block the attack, banishing Nekroz of Clausolas.

Lagunes drew another Brionac, attacked Dark Rebellion Xyz Dragon with Trishula, and made a direct attack with Unicore. He Set Book of Eclipse.

Meza Set one card to his Spell and Trap Card Zone, and desperately Set a monster.

Lagunes attacked with Unicore, destroying Meza’s Set Volcanic Shell.  Trishula made a direct attack and Meza was down to 1000 Life Points.  It was all over a turn later as Meza couldn’t topdeck a solution and Trishula made a final attack!

A clutch Mystical Space Typhoon lets Jose Lagunes fight through Imperial Iron Wall and Vanity’s Emptiness, giving him all the footing he needed to launch a comeback!  We are headed to a third and final Duel!

Meza decided to go first, Setting two cards to his back row. He Summoned Thunder King Rai-Oh.

Lagunes had Nekroz Kaleidoscope; Mystical Space Typhoon; Senju of the Thousand Hands; Fire Hand; Denko Sekka; and Nekroz of Brionac.  He Set Fire Hand and Mystical Space Typhoon.

Meza ran Thunder King Rai-Oh into Fire Hand, losing his monster to Fire Hand’s effect and giving Lagunes an Ice Hand from his Deck.  He passed.

Lagunes drew Nekroz of Valkyrus.  He Summoned Denko Sekka, but since he had that Mystical Space Typhoon Set Meza was free to flip Bottomless Trap Hole to banish it!  Lagunes made a direct shot with Ice Hand to knock Meza down to 6600 Life Points.

Meza Set a monster.

Lagunes drew Nekroz of Unicore and flipped his Mystical Space Typhoon, targeting Meza’s Mind Crush: he Chained it, calling Manju of the Ten Thousand Hands and missing!  That discarded Meza’s Volcanic Scattershot for 500 damage.  Scattershot’s effect to send more Scattershots from the Deck to the Graveyard only triggers when it’s sent to the Graveyard by the effect of a “Blaze Accelerator” card, so all he got was that bit of burn damage.  That Mind Crush was a huge risk, and it had gone south in the worst way possible.

Lagunes pressed on with Nekroz Kaleidoscope and Herald of the Arc Light to Ritual Summon Nekroz of Unicore, getting him Nekroz Cycle.  He pitched Brionac to get Shurit, Strategist of the Nekroz, then Summoned Senju of the Thousand Hands to search Nekroz of Clausolas.  He Tributed Shurit for Nekroz Cycle, reviving Nekroz of Brionac via Ritual Summon and got Nekroz of Trishula with Shurit’s ability.

Nekroz of Clausolas let Lagunes search his Deck for Nekroz Mirror, and he overlaid Ice Hand and Senju to Xyz Summon Abyss Dweller.  He activated Nekroz Mirror, and Meza responded with Artifact Lancea to shut it down!  Lagunes revealed his hand to show that he had no valid Ritual Summons, then attacked with Unicore to destroy Meza’s Set Volcanic Shell.  He followed up with two more direct attacks.

Meza Set a card to his back row, then Set another monster. When Lagunes drew Mystical Space Typhoon next turn and activated it, it was all over!

Jose Lagunes overcomes a loss in the first Duel to win two straight, fighting back in the second game with a lucky Mystical Space Typhoon to dominate the Match from that point forward!  Lagunes captures what might be his first win of many here in Day 1.