With eight Rounds of Swiss-style tournament play, we are now halfway through Day 1!  Only 30 of our 599 Duelists are still undefeated with perfect records, so the strongest and most consistent strategies are already gravitating towards the top tables.  With that in mind, we decided to check out what was being played at Table 1.

Eric Laurentino Ramirez Rodriguez is 30 years old, hailing from Guadalajara.  He was the Mexican National Champion last year, and he’s piloting Nekroz in today’s WCQ.  His opponent is Ricardo Martinez Becerril, a Qliphort Duelist from right here in Mexico D.F.  This is one of the biggest match-ups of the format and Qliphorts have seemed to slip in favor the past few weeks.  Let’s see how this goes.

Becerril won the roll and chose to start the Match, activating Upstart Goblin to draw a card.  He Normal Summoned Qliphort Carrier and Set three cards to his Spell and Trap Card Zone.

Ramirez had Reinforcement of the Army; Torrential Tribute; Senju of the Thousand Hands; Shurit, Strategist of the Nekroz; Nekroz of Gungnir; and Mystical Space Typhoon.  He searched his Deck for Nekroz of Clausolas with Reinforcement, then discarded Clausolas to get Nekroz Kaleidoscope.  He Summoned Senju of the Thousand Hands, searched his Deck for Nekroz of Unicore and activated Kaleidoscope – Becerril fired back with Lose 1 Turn.  Ramirez kicked Herald of the Arc Light to the Graveyard to Ritual Summon Unicore, then used Herald’s effect to search out Nekroz of Brionac.  That got him Nekroz of Valkyrus, and he ended his turn by Setting Torrential and Space Typhoon.

Becerril attacked Nekroz of Unicore with Qliphort Carrier, and Ramirez banished Clausolas from his Graveyard to discard Valkyrus and stop the attack.

Ramirez drew Maxx “C” – not great in the Qliphort match-up.  He turned Nekroz of Unicore to Attack Position and pressed, destroying Becerril’s Carrier.

Becerril activated Raigeki!  Ramirez lost his Senju and Unicore, and Becerril Normal Summoned Qliphort Disk for a direct attack: the Duel stood at 7200 Life Points to 6100, with Ramirez still leading.  Becerril was having major problems getting to Qliphort Scout.

Ramirez drew Manju of the Ten Thousand Hands and banished Nekroz Kaleidoscope from his Graveyard along with Unicore to search Nekroz Cycle.  He tried to Summon Manju, but Becerril negated it with Solemn Warning.  Ramirez requested a moment to consider, and after inspecting his Graveyard he activated Cycle to Tribute his in-hand Shurit, Strategist of the Nekroz for Nekroz of Gungnir.  When Becerril’s Lose 1 Turn activated to shift Gungnir to Defense Position, Ramirez Chained Mystical Space Typhoon… and Becerril Chained another Lose 1 Turn!  Gungnir went to defense mode and Ramirez searched Nekroz of Brionac with Shurit’s effect.

Becerril equipped his Disk with Saqlifice; finally, some way to get to Qliphort Scout.  He attacked Gungnir and Ramirez blew away the attacking Disk with Gungnir’s effect, discarding Brionac from his hand.  That triggered Saqlifice, Becerril finally got his Scout, and he activated it as a Pendulum Spell to search Qliphort Monolith.  He activated Monolith as a Pendulum Spell next, but Ramirez Chained the effect of Maxx “C”.  Ramirez Pendulum Summoned anyway to bring out Disk and Carrier.  He Tributed for Qliphort Stealth, used its ability to bounce his Scout back to his hand, and Scouted again to pay 800 Life Points.  This time he fetched Re-Qliate.  In the End Phase he drew two cards with Monolith to finish out a huge turn.  Suddenly Becerril was back in the Duel.

Ramirez drew Djinn Releaser of Rituals.  He banished for Nekroz Cycle’s effect to search another copy.

Becerril was looking at a nearly empty field: Ramirez had just one face-down left, but Becerril didn’t know it was Torrential Tribute.  Summoner’s Art got him another Qliphort Scout, he made another search, and when he went for a giant Pendulum Summon he lost everything.  Ramirez was safe for one more turn and Becerril Set two cards to his backrow.

Ramirez drew and Summoned Senju of the Thousand Hands, losing out to Becerril’s Fiendish Chain.  He Tributed the Senju from the field along with Djinn Releaser of Rituals from his hand for Nekroz Cycle, to Ritual Summon a Djinn’d Nekroz of Gungnir in Defense Position!  He ended his turn and Becerril flipped Skill Drain.

Becerril Normal Summoned Qliphort Helix to run down Gungnir, then Pendulum Summoned Qliphort Disk, Stealth, Scout, and Carrier from his Extra Deck in defense mode.

Ramirez drew Nekroz of Unicore and pitched it to get back Nekroz of Valkyrus.  He banished Unicore and Cycle to search Nekroz Kaleidoscope from his Deck and ended with an empty field.  Could Becerril fight through the Valkyrus, or would Ramirez keep holding on?

Becerril Tributed Scout, Carrier and Helix to unleash Apoqliphort Towers!  Triggering Helix’s effect, Becerril destroyed his own Skill Drain.  That let him use Towers’ ability to force Ramirez to send his last monster to the graveyard – the Valkyrus in his hand.  He turned everything to Attack Position and swung for game!

A clever combo of Qliphort Helix and Apoqliphort Towers let’s Becerril find a way around Ramirez’s Nekroz of Valkyrus, finally finishing the first Duel.

Ramirez chose to go second in Game 2, and Becerril got Qliphort Scout with Pot of Duality.  He activated it as a Pendulum Spell and paid 800 Life Points to search Saqlifice.  He Normal Summoned Qliphort Disk and equipped Saqlifice, then Set one card to his backrow.

Ramirez had A Wingbeat of Giant Dragon; Senju of the Thousand Hands; Nekroz of Clausolas; Nekroz of Brionac; Manju of the Ten Thousand Hands; and Ice Hand.  He Summoned the Hand and attacked, but Becerreli responded with Maxx “C”; Ramirez destroyed Qliphort Scout with Ice Hand’s effect, and when he Special Summoned Fire Hand from his Deck, Ramirez drew a card.  In Main Phase 2 he used Nekroz of Brionac to search Nekroz of Valkyrus.

Becerril Tributed his Qliphort Disk to Tribute Summon another Disk, Special Summoning two Qliphort Helix from his Deck and searching Qliphort Monolith with Saqlifice.  He overlaid the two copies of Helix to Xyz Summon Castel, the Skyblaster Musketeer, detaching both Qliphorts to send Fire Hand back to Ramirez’s Deck.  He activated Qliphort Scout and Qliphort Monolith as Pendulum Spells, Pendulum Summoned Scout and Disk, and attacked to force Nekroz of Valkyrus’ effect.  Main Phase 2 saw him search Qlimate Change with Scout, and he Set a Spell or Trap Card.  Becerril drew with Monolith to finish out.

Ramirez drew Fire Hand. Holding Senju and Manju, he needed to think carefully about how he’d spend his Normal Summon.  He opted to Summon Senju and Becerril responded by flipping Re-Qliate.  Ramirez discarded Nekroz of Clausolas to search his Deck for Nekroz Cycle, then activated it by Tributing Senju and Fire Hand to Ritual Summon Nekroz of Valkyrus from the Graveyard.  Ramirez attacked, destroying the full powered Qliphort Disk.  He wanted to Tribute Valkyrus in Main Phase 2 to work around Re-Qliate, but was informed that Re-Qliate would keep him from even attempting it.  Ramirez ended.

Becerril paid another 800 Life Points for Qliphort Scout, this time searching a Carrier.  He Pendulum Summoned it, then flipped Qlimate Change to get back Qliphort Disk.  He Tributed Carrier to Summon the Disk, used Carrier’s effect to bump away Valkyrus (which was banished, due to Re-Qliate), and then unleashed five monsters to attack and win the Match!

Ramirez Rodriguez Versus Ricardo Martinez Becerril demonstrates an amazing prowess with Qliphorts, claiming two Duels back-to-back with some smart chaining tricks and some big combos.  He moves on with a 5-0 record, undefeated with Qliphorts.