For this Round we have Alexander Juneja piloting Burning Abyss, a very well represented Deck previous to this event but it seems as though the impending increase in Kozmo Duelists may have affected the numbers here. Juneja has teched out his Deck with a ton of sweet cards like Anti-Spell Fragrance and Horn of Heaven to make his match ups against Nekroz and Pendulum centric strategies better. His opponent is Imran Khan, is playing a very innovative Pendulum strategy that utilizes combos with Performages and Dracoslayers to swarm the Field with Monsters and take his opponent down with Rank 4 Xyz. Will Juneja’s tech lead to the match up being very one-sided? Or can Khan’s unique strategy knock out one of the top Decks?

Juneja won the roll and chose to start the Duel.

Duel One:

Juneja opened with a hand of Raigeki, Scarm, Malebranche of the Burning Abyss, Libic, Malebranche of the Burning Abyss, Breakthrough Skill, and Horn of Heaven. He Special Summoned Libic, Malebranche of the Burning Abyss and then Normal Summoned Scarm, Malebranche of the Burning Abyss before he overlayed them for Dante, Traveler of the Burning Abyss. He activated its effect sending Scarm, Malebranche of the Burning Abyss, Rubic, Malebranche of the Burning Abyss, and Farfa, Malebranche of the Burning Abyss to his Graveyard by detaching Scarm, Malebranche of the Burning Abyss. He Set two to his back row and added Tour Guide from the Underworld to his hand during the End Phase thanks to Scarm, Malebranche of the Burning Abyss.

Khan placed Luster Pendulum, the Dracoslayer and Vector Pendulum, the Dracoverlord on his scales. He then activated the effect of Luster Pendulum, the Dracoslayer and blew away his Vector Pendulum, the Dracoverlord to add another copy. He Normal Summoned Performage Damage Juggler and then Special Summoned Performage Hat Tricker. He overlayed both for Diamond Dire Wolf, but when he tried to use its effect to blow away Juneja’s Set Horn of Heaven, Juneja chose to respond with Breakthrough Skill to protect it. Khan pressed forward by banishing his Performage Damage Juggler to add Performage Plushfire to his hand. He placed it on scale and then activated Wavering Eyes! Both of his scales were destroyed by Wavering Eyes as he dealt 500 to Juneja and added Archfiend Eccentrick to his hand. The Performage Plushfire triggered to Special Summon Performage Trick Clown, then he activated Archfiend Eccentrick on Scale and blew away Horn of Heaven. He placed Vector Pendulum, the Dracoverlord on scale and Pendulum Summoned Performage Plushfire, Luster Pendulum, the Dracoslayer, and Vector Pendulum, the Dracoverlord to the Field! He Synchro Summoned Prominence, the Blasting Dracoslayer next by using Luster Pendulum, the Dracoslayer and Vector Pendulum, the Dracoverlord as materials; he used its effect to shuffle back Dante, Traveler of the Burning Abyss and blow away his own Performage Plushfire which triggered and Special Summoned Performage Damage Juggler. Libic, Malebranche of the Burning Abyss also hit the bin, which Juneja chose to trigger to Special Summon Tour Guide from the Underworld from his hand in an attempt to survive. He overlayed the Performage Damage Juggler along with Performage Hat Tricker for Performage Trapeze Magician to use its effect to allow Prominence, the Blasting Dracoslayer to attack twice, and that was it!

After some insane Pendulum combos, Khan successfully navigates a complicated line to end the game in a single turn! Can he manage to do that a second time or will Juneja be able to mount a comeback?

Duel Two:

Juneja opened with a hand of Vanity’s Emptiness, Graff, Malebranche of the Burning Abyss, Breakthrough Skill, Scarm, Malebranche of the Burning Abyss, and Alich, Malebranche of the Burning Abyss. He Special Summoned Alich, Malebranche of the Burning Abyss and then Normal Summoned Graff, Malebranche of the Burning Abyss before he overlayed them for Dante, Traveler of the Burning Abyss. He activated the effect of the Xyz, sending Farfa, Malebranche of the Burning Abyss, Rubic, Malebranche of the Burning Abyss, and Skill Drain to the Graveyard by detaching Graff, Malebranche of the Burning Abyss. The Graff triggered and Juneja Special Summoned a Rubic, Malebranche of the Burning Abyss from his Deck; Juneja Special Summoned Scarm, Malebranche of the Burning Abyss and Synchroed with it and Rubic, Malebranche of the Burning Abyss for Virgil, Rock Star of the Burning Abyss before he Set both of his Traps and ending his turn.

Khan started with Mathematician but when he tried to activate its effect, Juneja blocked it with Breakthrough Skill. Khan passed.

Juneja drew Scarm, Malebranche of the Burning Abyss for turn and then sued the effect of Dante, Traveler of the Burning Abyss to send Scarm, Malebranche of the Burning Abyss, Libic, Malebranche of the Burning Abyss, and Fire Lake of the Burning Abyss to the Graveyard by detaching Alich, Malebranche of the Burning Abyss. He then activated the effect of Virgil, Rock Star of the Burning Abyss, ditching his in hand Scarm, Malebranche of the Burning Abyss, to spin away the Mathematician. He declared direct attacks with both of his Monsters, but Khan blocked the Virgil, Rock Star of the Burning Abyss with his Performage Damage Juggler. During the End Phase Juneja added Cir, Malebranche of the Burning Abyss to his hand.

Khan drew for turn and started things off by banishing his Performage Damage Juggler to add Performage Trick Clown to his hand. He placed both Vector Pendulum, the Dracoverlord and Performage Plushfire on his Pendulum Scales and activated Wavering Eyes! Both of his Pendulums were destroyed, Juneja took 500, and Khan added Archfiend Eccentrick to his hand. When Khan tried to trigger Performage Plushfire, Juneja Flipped his Set Vanity’s Emptiness knowing it was not long for this world. Khan Normal Summoned Mathematician and sent Performage Damage Juggler to his Graveyard before he ended.

Juneja drew Raigeki for turn and after a bit of thought, chose to activate it. He declared an attack with Downerd Magician which triggered its effect to detach Dante, Traveler of the Burning Abyss which let Juneja add Graff, Malebranche of the Burning Abyss. After a direct attack with Virgil, Rock Star of the Burning Abyss, Khan was left with a mere 700 Life Points. During Main Phase 2, Juneja activated the effect of Virgil, Rock Star of the Burning Abyss and ditched his Graff, Malebranche of the Burning Abyss from hand to shuffle back Khan’s in Graveyard Mathematician. The Graff, Malebranche of the Burning Abyss triggered and Juneja Special Summoned Barbar, Malebranche of the Burning Abyss! The Barbar, Malebranche of the Burning Abyss activated once it hit the bin and it was enough to finish Khan off!

Thanks to Barbar, Malebranche of the Burning Abyss, Juneja is able to deplete Khan’s last Life Points and close out the Duel. Things were getting tense as they both shuffled up for their final game.

Khan chose to go second in the final Duel.

Duel Three:

Juneja opened with a hand of Rubic, Malebranche of the Burning Abyss, Scarm, Malebranche of the Burning Abyss, Fire Lake of the Burning Abyss , Horn of Heaven, and Raigeki. He Special Summoned Rubic, Malebranche of the Burning Abyss and then Normal Summoned Scarm, Malebranche of the Burning Abyss before he overlayed them both for Dante, Traveler of the Burning Abyss. He used the effect of the Xyz to send Breakthrough Skill, Barbar, Malebranche of the Burning Abyss, and Fiend Griefing to his Graveyard by detaching Scarm, Malebranche of the Burning Abyss. He Set both of his traps, and during the End Phase added Tour Guide from the Underworld to his hand thanks to the Scarm.

[Photo of Khan in collared shirt and glasses]

Khan drew and tried to Normal Summon Denko Sekka but Juneja chose to negate it with Horn of Heaven by tributing off his Dante, Traveler of the Burning Abyss. The Dante triggered once it hit the Graveyard and Juneja added Rubic, Malebranche of the Burning Abyss. Khan pressed forward with Painful Decision to send Vector Pendulum, the Dracoverlord to his Graveyard and add another copy to his hand. He activated Instant Fusion next which Special Summoned Elder Entity Norden and triggered its effect to Special Summon Vector Pendulum, the Dracoverlord back. He overlayed both for King of the Feral Imps and used its effect to add Jigabyte to his hand. He Normal Summoned Performage Mirror Conductor and Special Summoned Jigabyte before he moved to Battle Phase and declared direct attacks with everyone to put Juneja down to 2800 Life Points. Khan considered what Extra Deck options he had, ultimately choosing to not do anything and end his turn.

Juneja drew Farfa, Malebranche of the Burning Abyss for turn and started off with Tour Guide from the Underworld. He activated its effect and Special Summoned Graff, Malebranche of the Burning Abyss from his Deck, then activated Raigeki before he overlayed both for Dante, Traveler of the Burning Abyss. He detached Graff, Malebranche of the Burning Abyss to activate its effect, sending Rubic, Malebranche of the Burning Abyss, Cir, Malebranche of the Burning Abyss, and Breakthrough Skill, to the Graveyard! He triggered both Cir, Malebranche of the Burning Abyss and Graff, Malebranche of the Burning Abyss to Special Summon Barbar, Malebranche of the Burning Abyss from his Graveyard and Libic, Malebranche of the Burning Abyss from his Deck. He overlayed both of the Malebranches for a second copy of Dante, Traveler of the Burning Abyss and detached Libic, Malebranche of the Burning Abyss to send Scarm, Malebranche of the Burning Abyss along with two Spells to his Graveyard. The Libic, Malebranche of the Burning Abyss triggered which let him Special Summon Farfa, Malebranche of the Burning Abyss from his hand. He went to Battle Phase and declared attacks with all of his Monsters to put Khan down to 500 Life Points, and still during the Battle Phase he activated his Set Fire Lake of the Burning Abyss to send his whole Field to the Graveyard and trigger Barbar, Malebranche of the Burning Abyss to deal the last points of damage!

Boom! Barbar, Malebranche of the Burning Abyss lets Alexander Juneja cleanly finish the final Duel as he moves on 5-1!