Round 11 Feature Match: Ed Acepcion versus Kamal Crooks
Southern California’s Ed Acepcion and Florida’s Kamal Crooks are both currently 8-2 in the tournament, and are both using Performapal Pendulum Decks that they’re hoping will take them to the Top 32.
But Acepcion’s Deck is a bit different than most, as his particular Deck uses 2 copies of Interrupted Kaiju Slumber as well as 3 Kaiju monsters: Gameciel, the Sea Turtle Kaiju; Jizukiru, the Star Destroying Kaiju; and Radian, the Multidimensional Kaiju. Acepcion is using these Kaiju monsters as a way to Tribute his opponents’ Traptrix Rafflesias and Cyber Dragon Infinities. Furthermore, the field-clearing ability of Interrupted Kaiju Slumber catches many opponents off-guard and enables come-from-behind victories for Acepcion.
With each Duelist needing a victory in order to have any shot at a Top 32 finish, and each Duelist a loss away from guaranteed elimination, the stakes have never been higher in this tournament. It’s time to Duel!
Duel One
Crooks started off the Match by Summoning Performapal Skullcrobat Joker in Attack Position and activating its effect to add Performapal Monkeyboard from his Deck to his hand. He activated it in his Pendulum Zone and then used its effect to add Performapal Lizardraw from his Deck to his hand. He placed Lizardraw in his other Pendulum Zone next, and Acepcion discarded Maxx “C” from his hand. Crooks used his Lizardraw’s effect to destroy it and draw a card. Crooks activated Upstart Goblin to draw a card, and then used another Upstart Goblin to draw another card, leaving Acepcion at 10,000 Life Points. Crooks Set 3 cards to his back row and then passed his turn.
Acepcion drew a card and then had Draco Face-Off, Performapal Monkeyboard, Performage Hat Tricker, Performapal Guitartle, and Jizukiru, the Star Destroying Kaiju in his hand. He activated Draco Face-Off, and Crooks flipped Solemn Warning and paid 2000 Life Points to negate it. Next, he activated Performapal Monkeyboard in his Pendulum Zone and used its effect to add Performapal Skullcrobat Joker to his hand. He Normal Summoned it and then activated its effect to add Performapal Pendulum Sorcerer from his Deck to his hand. He Special Summoned Performage Hat Tricker from his hand next, and then combined it with Skullcrobat Joker to Xyz Summon Diamond Dire Wolf. He attacked Skullcrobat Joker with his Wolf, destroying it, and then activated his Wolf’s effect in Main Phase 2 to try to destroy Crooks’s face-down Wavering Eyes; but Crooks Chained it to destroy all cards in the Pendulum Zones and add Performapal Skullcrobat Joker from his Deck to his hand! Next, Acepcion placed Performapal Guitartle and Performapal Pendulum Sorcerer in his Pendulum Zones; but when he activated the effect of his Guitartle to attempt to draw a card, Crooks flipped another copy of Wavering Eyes to clear the Pendulum Zones, prompting Acepcion to concede.
Double Wavering Eyes proves to be too much for Ed Acepcion to overcome, allowing Kamal Crooks to take a quick win in the first Duel!
Duel Two
Crooks started off Duel 2 by activating Guitartle and Lizardraw in his Pendulum Zone. He used Guitartle’s effect to draw a card and then Normal Summon Performapal Secondonkey from his hand. He used its effect to add Monkeyboard from his Deck to his hand. Next, he used Lizardraw’s effect to destroy it and draw a card, and then he activated Monkeyboard in his Pendulum Zone. He used Monkeyboard’s effect to add another Secondonkey to his hand and then activated Draco Face-Off! He selected Luster Pendulum, the Dracoslayer and Vector Pendulum, the Dracoverlord from his Deck, and Luster Pendulum was randomly chosen and Special Summoned to the field. Next, Crooks Pendulum Summoned Vector Pendulum from his Extra Deck and Performapal Pendulum Sorcerer and Secondonkey from his hand. He added Skullcrobat Joker to his hand with Secondonkey, and then destroyed his Pendulum Scales with Performapal Pendulum Sorcerer to add Performapal Lizardraw and Performapal Guitartle from his Deck to his hand. He Tuned Luster Pendulum, the Dracoslayer with Vector Pendulum, the Dracoverlord to Synchro Summon Ignister Prominence, the Blasting Dracoslayer and then used its effect to Special Summon Master Pendulum, the Dracoslayer from his Deck. Next, he combined his two Secondonkeys to Xyz Summon Number 106: Giant Hand in Defense Position! He combined Performapal Pendulum Sorcerer and Master Pendulum to Xyz Summon Tellarknight Ptolemaeus. He attached Stellarknight Constellar Diamond from his Extra Deck to his Ptolemaeus in his End Phase, and then he activated the effect of Ptolemaeus to detach all 3 Xyz Materials from it and upgrade his Ptolemaeus into Constellar Pleiades.
Acepcion drew Ghost Ogre & Snow Rabbit and then activated Interrupted Kaiju Slumber! Crooks used his Pleiades’s effect to return Ignister Prominence to his Extra Deck, and then all monsters were destroyed! Acepcion Summoned Jizukiru, the Star Destroying Kaiju to his own field and Gameciel, the Sea Turtle Kaiju to his opponent’s field. Next, he used Draco Face-Off to Special Summon Luster Pendulum from his Deck, and Normal Summoned Skullcrobat Joker. After using his Skullcrobat Joker’s effect, he Tuned his monsters together to Synchro Summon his own Ignister Prominence, the Blasting Dracoslayer, and Crooks conceded, completely devastated by Acepcion’s Interrupted Kaiju Slumber.
A huge play with Interrupted Kaiju Slumber allows Ed Acepcion to win the second Duel!
Duel Three
Crooks started off Duel 3 by activating Guitartle and Monkeyboard in his Pendulum Zones, using the effect of Guitartle to draw a card and the effect of Monkeyboard to add Performapal Secondonkey from his Deck to his hand. Next, he activated Draco Face-Off, selecting Vector Pendulum and Luster Pendulum from his Deck. Vector Pendulum was randomly chosen, and Crooks Special Summoned it to the field. Next, Crooks Pendulum Summoned Luster Pendulum from his Extra Deck, as well as Pendulum Sorcerer and Secondonkey from his hand. He used Secondonkey’s effect to add Lizardraw to his hand and then used his Sorcerer’s effect to destroy his 2 Pendulum Scales and add Skullcrobat Joker and Guitartle to his hand. Next, he Tuned Luster Pendulum and Performapal Pendulum Sorcerer together to Synchro Summon Ignister Prominence, the Blasting Dracoslayer, and used its effect to Special Summon Master Pendulum from his Deck in Defense Position. He placed Guitartle in his Pendulum Zone next, and then placed Lizardraw in his Pendulum Zone and activated Lizardraw’s effect to destroy it and draw a card. He combined 3 monsters to Summon Xyz Summon Tellarknight Ptolemaeus, but when he activated its effect, he lost out to Ghost Ogre & Snow Rabbit, destroying Ptolemaeus! Next, Crooks activated Instant Fusion, Special Summoning Norden from his Extra Deck and activating its effect to Special Summon Master Pendulum from his Graveyard. He combined Norden with Master Pendulum and Secondonkey to Summon another Ptolemaeus and then used its effect to upgrade it into Cyber Dragon Nova. He upgraded his Nova into Cyber Dragon Infinity next, and Set a card to his back row before passing.
Acepcion activated Guitartle and then activated Monkeyboard; but Crooks negated its activation with the effect of Cyber Dragon Infinity. Next, Acepcion activated Interrupted Kaiju Slumber to clear the field! He Special Summoned Jizukiru from his Deck to his own field, and Special Summoned Gameciel to Crooks’s field. He attacked Gameciel with Jizukiru, destroying it in battle. Next, he activated Vector Pendulum in his Pendulum Zone and passed his turn.
Crooks Summoned Performapal Skullcrobat Joker and then activated its effect to add Performapal Silver Claw to his hand. He activated Monkeyboard in his Pendulum Zone and Acepcion discarded the last card in his hand – Maxx “C” – to draw a card whenever Crooks Special Summons a monster for the rest of the turn. Crooks Pendulum Summoned 4 monsters from his Extra Deck, and then Tuned 2 of them together to Summon Ignister Prominence, the Blasting Dracoslayer. It was all over moments later! He activated Mind Control to take control of Acepcion’s Kaiju, and then attacked directly with his field of monsters, defeating Ed Acepcion and knocking him out of the tournament!
Kamal Crooks takes a 2-1 victory to finish the Swiss Rounds with a 9-2 record!