Top 64 Feature Match: Grayson Montanaro versus Logan Glover
The Swiss Rounds have ended and we are now in the Single Elimination Rounds of Top 64. Logan Glover made it through with a 10-2 record, besting Duelists with his Qliphort Deck using powerful Traps such as Lose 1 Turn to stifle the opponent. Grayson Montanaro is the only HERO Duelist in the Top Cut! He squeaked in at 9-3 and is looking to do his best to try to continue to advance. Six players out of the 64 will be representing Team North America for the 2016 World Championship in Kyoto, Japan, so from here on out things are going to be pretty intense.
Montanaro won the roll and chose to first.
Duel One:
Montanaro opened with a hand of Bottomless Trap Hole, Book of Moon, Heroic Challenger – Assault Halberd, and two copies of Mind Crush. He Set all of his Spells and Traps before ending.
Glover started off by discarding Gravekeeper’s Commandant to add Necrovalley to his hand, but Montanaro chose to Flip one of his Mind Crush to rip away the Necrovalley. Without skipping beat, Montanaro used the second copy to force Glover to discard Qliphort Scout. Glover pressed on, activating Summoner’s Art to add another copy of Qliphort Scout. He placed it in his Pendulum Zone and paid 800 Life Points to add Saqlifice to his hand. He Normal Summoned Qliphort Carrier but lost out to Montanaro’s Bottomless Trap Hole! He Set all of his cards to his back row before ending his turn.
Montanaro drew Elemental HERO Bubbleman for turn and looked at his Set Book of Moon for a minute. He Normal Summoned Heroic Challenger – Assault Halberd and Glover gave it a read. He chose to activate his Set Re-qliate to stop Heroic Challenger – Assault Halberd from being able to add another card to his hand. Montanaro swong directly with the Heroic Challenger – Assault Halberd and ended his turn, but during the End Phase he lost his Set Book of Moon to Glover’s Mystical Space Typhoon! Montanaro ultimately chose to Chain it, flipping his Heroic Challenger – Assault Halberd down.
Glover drew an Upstart Goblin for turn and activated it, granting Montanaro 1000 Life Points and drawing a card. He activated the effect of Qliphort Scout next, paying 800 Life Points to add Qliphort Monolith to his hand. He Normal Summoned Qliphort Helix, equipped it with his Set Saqlifice, and then declared an attack over the Set Heroic Challenger – Assault Halberd before he ended.
Montanaro drew Goblindbergh for turn and Normal Summoned it, using its effect to Special Summon Elemental HERO Bubbleman from his hand. He overlayed the two for Evilswarm Exciton Knight. He used the effect blowing away Glover’s entire Field! Saqlifice triggered because it was sent to the Graveyard, and Glover added Qliphort Helix to his hand. Montanaro passed with no further actions.
Glover drew to three cards in hand, one unknown along with Qliphort Monolith and Qliphort Helix. He studied his hand for quite a bit of time before deciding to activate Pot of Duality, revealing Qliphort Stealth, Maxx “C”, and Raigeki. He quickly chose Raigeki, slammed it down to destroy Evilswarm Exciton Knight, and ended his turn.
Montanaro drew Mask Change, but without any HERO Monsters it wasn’t too helpful. He passed his turn.
Glover drew for turn and activated both Qliphort Helix and Qliphort Monolith in his Pendulum Zones. He Pendulum Summoned Qliphort Scout and Qliphort Helix, tributing both away for Qliphort Stealth and made a direct attack. During the End Phase, he drew two cards thanks to Qliphort Monolith.
Montanaro drew Call of the Haunted for turn and Set it along with Mask Change before ending.
Glover drew for turn and Montanaro used Call of the Haunted to Special Summon his Elemental HERO Bubbleman, and then sent his Elemental HERO Bubbleman to the Graveyard with Mask Change to Special Summon Masked HERO Acid! He destroyed both of the Qliphorts in the Pendulum Zone and reduced the ATK of Qliphort Stealth. Glover Set all three cards from his hand to his back row before he ended his turn.
Montanaro drew Traptrix Trap Hole Nightmare and tried to attack but got stopped by Fiendish Chain. He passed turn after.
Glover drew and without a way to get over Masked HERO Acid simply Set another card to his back row before ending.
Montanaro drew Goblindbergh and passed.
Glover drew and ended his turn.
Montanaro drew A Hero Lives and ended his turn.
Glover drew another card that was of no help and passed back.
Montanaro drew Mask Charge! He activated it, adding back Elemental HERO Bubbleman and Mask Change. He Normal Summoned Goblindbergh and tried to activate its effect, but Glover had Skill Drain to stop it. Being stifled by the Skill Drain, Montanaro ended his turn.
Glover drew and used Mystical Space Typhoon to blow away Montanaro’s Set TRaptrix Trap Hole Nightmare. He then declared an attack with Qliphort Stealth over Elemental HERO Bubbleman putting Montanaro down to 3800 Life Points.
Montanaro drew Ring of Destruction! He Set it along with the rest of his hand to his back row before he passed his turn.
Glover drew and after taking a bit of time to consider, placed Qliphort Helix in his Pendulum Zone. He tried to declare an attack over Qliphort Stealth, but Montanaro Flipped his Set Ring of Destruction to blow away the Qliphort Stealth! Glover was forced to pass.
Montanaro drew Elemental HERO Bubbleman and Normal Summoned it, trying to declare an attack but losing out to another Fiendish Chain. He Set Mask Change to his back row.
Glover drew and ended his turn.
Montanaro drew Forbidden Lance! He activated it on his Masked HERO Acid, and declared an attack with it to finish the Duel!
Capitalizing on a small misstep by Glover, Montanaro manages to take Duel One after a lot of back and forth action. Both Duelists quickly Side Decked and shuffled up before starting the next game.
Glover chose to go first in the second Duel.
Duel Two:
Glover drew and activated Upstart Goblin then followed it up with Summoner’s Art to add Qliphort Scout. He placed the Qliphort Scout into his Pendulum Zone, and then paid 800 Life Points to use its effect to add Qliphort Helix. He Normal Summoned it and Set all four of his remaining cards to his back row before ending.
Montanaro opened with Heroic Challenger – Assault Halberd, Thunder King Rai-Oh, Mind Crush, Elemental HERO Shadow Mist, and Forbidden Lance before drawing another copy of Mind Crush. He started fast by Special Summoning Heroic Challenger – Assault Halberd, but Glover had Lose 1 Turn to switch it to Defense Position. Montanaro pressed forward and Normal Summoned Elemental HERO Shadow Mist. He overlayed his two Monsters for Evilswarm Exciton Knight and then tried to use Forbidden Lance but lost out to Glover’s Book of Moon. Montanaro Set both copies of Mind Crush to his back row, but lost one to a Mystical Space Typhoon during the End Phase.
Glover drew for turn and activated Qliphort Scout, paying 800 Life Points to add Qliphort Carrier to his hand but Montanaro ripped it away with his other Mind Crush and revealed a second copy of Lose 1 Turn in Glover’s hand. Glover attacked over the Set Evilswarm Exciton Knight with Qliphort Helix which sent Elemental HERO Shadow Mist to the Graveyard and let Montanaro add Elemental HERO Bubbleman to his hand. He Set the other Lose 1 Turn before ending.
Montanaro drew Solemn Warning for turn and Normal Summoned Thunder King Rai-Oh. He declared an attack over Qliphort Helix and then Set the Counter Trap before ending.
Glover drew and gave the Thunder King Rai-Oh a quick read to verify its effect. He ultimately decided to place Qliphort Carrier into the Pendulum Zone and try to Pendulum Summon Qliphort Helix but lost out to Montanaro’s Solemn Warning.
Montanaro drew A Hero Lives and declared a direct attack with Thunder King Rai-Oh before he ended his turn.
Glover drew a card, Set it to his back row, and ended his turn.
Montanaro drew Mask Change but was still being stifled by Glover’s Lose 1 Turn. He tried to declare an attack with Thunder King Rai-Oh but Glover used Fiendish Chain to stop it. Montanaro looked through his Extra Deck for possible options before he decided to just pass.
Glover drew for turn and immediately activated Qliphort Scout now that we was free from the effect of Thunder King Rai-Oh. He added Qliphort Helix and Normal Summoned it. He declared an attack over the Thunder King Rai-Oh thanks to the effect of Qliphort Helix and ended.
Montanaro drew Mystical Space Typhoon for turn, thought for a moment, but just chose to Set it.
Glover drew for turn and tried to activate Qliphort Scout butlost to the Mystical Space Typhoon that Montanaro had Set. He went to Battle Phase and attacked directly with his Qliphort Helix before he Set another card to his back row and ended.
Montanaro drew Reinforcement of the Army for turn but Lose 1 Turn was still a big problem. Montaro Set his whole hand to his back row, which prompted Glover to Flip his Set Vanity’s Emptiness and try to Chain Dust Tornado to destroy Montanaro’s Set Reinforcement of the Army. What Glover didn’t realize is that this would cause his Vanity’s Emptiness to destroy itself because the Dust Tornado would not go to the Graveyard until the end of the Chain! Montanaro Special Summoned his Elemental HERO Bubbleman and ended.
Glover drew and activated Pot of Duality to add Pot of Riches to his hand! He used it to shuffle back his Pendulums that were face-up in his Extra Deck to draw a couple cards. He moved to Battle Phase and tried to declare an attack over Elemental HERO Bubbleman, but Montaro Flipped his Set Mask Change to upgrade it into Masked HERO Acid! Glover Chained Maxx “C” so he could at least draw one card, and fortunately the effect of Masked HERO Acid was negated by Lose 1 Turn. Glover Set two to his back row and then clarified that he hadn’t Normal Summoned yet. He Normal Summoned a second copy of Qliphort Helix and ended.
Montanaro drew Elemental HERO Shadow Mist and switched his Masked HERO Acid to declare an attack over Qliphort Helix putting Glover down to 2300 Life Points. When he tried to end his turn, Glover had Soul Transition during the End Phase to tribute his Qliphort Helix, draw two cards, and then use the effect of Qliphort Helix to destroy Montanaro’s Set A Hero Lives.
Glover drew to three cards and activated Pot of Duality, revealing two copies of Summoner’s Art and Qliphort Stealth. He added Summoner’s Art and then used it to search Qliphort Scout. He Normal Summoned Qliphort Stealth, equipped it with Saqlifice, and passed play back to Montaro.
Montanaro drew Mind Crush for turn and already knew about the Qliphort Scout in Glover’s hand. He declared an attack with Masked HERO Acid onto the Qliphort Stealth to put Glover down to 2100 Life Points but not destroy Qliphort Stealth because of Saqlifice. He Set Mind Crush and tried to end his turn, but during the End Phase Glover had Dust Tornado to blow away the Set Mind Crush.
Glover drew and activated the effect of Qliphort Scout to add Qliphort Stealth to his hand. Time was called in the Round and Turn 0 was announced. Glover tributed away his Qliphort Stealth that was equipped with Saqlifice for another copy, allowing him to clear away the opposing Masked HERO Acid and Pendulum Summon before he attacked to end the Duel!
Because time was called and these are the Single Elimination Rounds, End of Match Procedure works a little differently. The next Duel will last four turns, and after those four turns whoever has higher Life Points will be declared the winner. If their Life Points are tied, then they’ll continue rechecking every end of turn.
Duel Three
Glover activated Upstart Goblin, drawing a card and giving Montanaro 1000 Life Points. He activated Pot of Duality next, revealing Lose 1 Turn, Summoner’s Art, and Dust Tornado. After taking some time to consider, he chose to add Summoner’s Art. He slammed it down with a sigh and searched his Deck for Qliphort Scout, activating it in the Pendulum Zone and paying 800 Life Points to add Saqlifice. He Normal Summoned Qliphort Helix, equipped it with Saqlifice, and Set a single card to his back row before he ended.
Montanaro opened with Forbidden Lance, Ring of Destruction, Heroic Challenger – Assault Halberd, Book of Moon, and Mask Charge before he drew Mask Change. He chose to Normal Summon Heroic Challenger – Assault Halberd to play around Lose 1 Turn and declared an attack onto the Qliphort Helix. He used Book of Moon during the Battle Phase to Set the Qliphort Helix, but this sent Saqlifice to the Graveyard which let Glover add Qliphort Scout. The Heroic Challenger – Assault Halberd successfully destroyed the Qliphort Helix and dealt 800 thanks to Piercing! This let him activate its effect, adding another copy to his hand. He Set all four of his Spells and Traps to his back row before he ended. Glover used a Mystical Space Typhoon blindly during the End Phase to destroy Mask Charge.
Glover drew on the final turn of time and chose to pay 800 Life Points for Qliphort Scout to put himself down to 5600 Life Points to Montanaro’s 9000. He added Qliphort Disk to his hand from this Qliphort Scout, and then placed Qliphort Helix in his Pendulum Zone. He Pendulum Summoned two Monsters, Qliphort Helix from his Extra Deck and Qliphort Scout form his hand, but in response to the Summon Montaro used Ring of Destruction to destroy Qliphort Helix and deal 1800 points of damage to both players. Glover Normal Summoned Qliphort Disk next and tried to attack into Heroic Challenger – Assault Halberd, but Montanaro had Forbidden Lance to seal the Duel!
After an intense match, Montanaro manages to pull it out a win with his HERO Deck and move onto the Top 32!
