The winner of this Duel will be taking home their choice of either a GIANT Beatrice, Lady of the Eternal or Number 106: Giant Hand! Randall Leavitt is a local Duelist, and he’s using his Performapal Dracoslayer Deck. His opponent is Russell Novak-Burdick, from Sacramento, using the terrifying Monarch OTK Deck! This strategy seeks to end the game in a single turn, using one long string of cards to draw the whole Deck! Leavitt is aware of what his opponent is using, however, and will be playing accordingly.

Duel 1

Leavitt won the die roll and chose to play first. He began with Performapal Monkeyboard in the Pendulum Zone, using its effect to get Performapal Skullcrobat Joker. He played Joker next, searching for Performapal Lizardraw. He played it to his Pendulum Zone and drew a card with it. He put Performapal Silver Claw in the Pendulum Zone, and Pendulum Summoned Lizardraw from his Extra Deck, and 2 Master Pendulum, the Dracoslayer and a Performapal Pendulum Sorcerer from his hand! Pendulum Sorcerer destroyed his Pendulum Scales, getting him a Lizardraw and Performapal Guitartle. Leavitt used his Master Pendulum and Lizardraw to Special Summon Dinoster Power, the Mighty Dracoslayer, in Defense Position. Next, he used Master Pendulum and Joker to Xyz Summon Majester Paladin, the Ascending Dracoslayer! Majester and Dinoster each Special Summoned a Master Pendulum, and Leavitt Summoned another Dinoster! He stacked both copies of Dinoster, for Divine Dragon Knight Felgrand! At the end of the turn, he used Majester Paladin to get Guiding Ariadne.

Novak-Burdick’s opening hand was Trade-In, Life Equalizer, Toon Table of Contents, Terraforming, Erebus the Underworld Monarch, and Ehther the Heavenly Monarch. He played Toon Table of Contents, getting another copy of itself, repeating the process until he added Toon Blue-Eyes White Dragon to his hand. Terraforming put a Chicken Game in his hand. He played it, paying 1000 Life Points to draw another Terraforming. That gave him a new Chicken Game, and he played it over the old copy. Another 1000 Life Points gave him an Upstart Goblin, into an Upstart Goblin, into a Pseudo Space. He played it, copying Chicken Game, and drew a Trade-In with it. That let him discard Toon Blue-Eyes to draw Magical Explosion and Cards from the Sky. Another Trade-In, discarding Erebus, gave him Magical Mallet and Pantheism of the Monarchs. He played Cards from the Sky, banishing Ehther to get Domain of the True Monarchs and Tenacity of the Monarchs. He played Pantheism, discarding Domain to draw Terraforming and Into the Void. He banished Pantheism from the Graveyard, getting a Tenacity to his hand over 2 Pantheism. Terraforming got him his final Chicken Game, and he played it to draw Pantheism. He played it, drawing Royal Magical Library and Ehther. Library came down, and Into the Void let him draw Cards from the Sky. Leavitt used his Felgrand at this point, negating Library. Novak-Burdick continued, using Tenacity to get a Pantheism into his hand. Cards from the Sky gave him an Ehther and a Pseudo Space. He played it to copy Chicken Game, and drew Into the Void. That gave him a Tenacity. Pantheism let him draw Pseudo Space and Trade-In. Pseudo Space copied Chicken Game again, and he drew Pot of Duality. Magical Mallet put everything except his 2 Trap Cards back in the Deck, and he drew Upstart Goblin, Into the Void, and Ehther. He played Upstart Goblin for Pot of Duality, and Into the Void for Trade-In. He Set everything but Ehther, and discarded it in the End Phase due to Into the Void.

In Leavitt’s Draw Phase, he flipped Magical Explosion, and Chained Life Equalizer! Resolving backwards, Leavitt went down to 3000 Life Points, then took a massive 5000 damage!

Leavitt tried using Divine Dragon Knight Felgrand to inhibit Novak-Burdick’s combo, but he just played right through it and drew his whole Deck! If Leavitt wants to make a comeback, he’ll have to put his Side Deck to work. Combo Decks like Novak-Burdick’s can be very susceptible to the right kind of disruption. However, it goes both ways – Novak-Burdick has a Side Deck too.

Duel 2

Leavitt chose to play first again. He began with Draco Face-Off, putting Luster Pendulum, the Dracoslayer in his Extra Deck, and he put Vector Pendulum, the Dracoverlord in his Pendulum Zone. He played Archfiend Eccentrick in the other Zone, and Pendulum Summoned Luster Pendulum, the Dracoslayer and Performapal Silver Claw. He Synchro Summoned Ignister Prominence, the Blasting Dracoslayer, and used its effect to bring Master Pendulum, the Dracoslayer to the field in Defense Position. He Set one to his back row.

Novak-Burdick started with Upstart Goblin, 2 Trade-In, Domain of the True Monarchs, Edea the Heavenly Squire, and Chicken Game. He started with Edea, using its effect to bring Eidos the Underworld Squire to the field. Eidos’s effect gave him an extra Normal Summon. He played Upstart to draw another Chicken Game, then used Chicken Game to get Return of the Monarchs. He played his second Chicken Game to draw Upstart, which gave him Kuraz the Light Monarch. He used Erebus’s effect in the Graveyard, discarding The Prime Monarch to get Erebus back. He used The Prime Monarch’s effect in the Graveyard, banishing Domain to Special Summon it. He played Return next, and Tributed Eidos and Edea for Erebus! He sorted the Chain with Edea as Chain Link 1, Erebus as Chain Link 2, and Return as Chain Link 3 – he had a feeling Leavitt had a Solemn Strike or another Counter Trap down, and putting Return as the final Chain Link keeps Solemn Strike from activating in response to his monster effects! Return put Ehther into Novak-Burdick’s hand. Next, Erebus sent Pantheism and The Prime Monarch from the Deck to the Graveyard, shuffling Leavitt’s face-down spell or trap back into the Deck. Finally, Edea put Domain back in Novak-Burdick’s hand. He played Domain, and it helped Erebus to wipe out Ignister in battle! The Life Points stood at 9250 for Leavitt, 5000 for Novak-Burdick. In Main Phase 2, Novak-Burdick Set Trade-In and The Prime Monarch.

Leavitt Pendulum Summoned back his Luster Pendulum and Performapal Silver Claw. He used them both for another Ignister, using its effect to get a second Master Pendulum to the field. He turned the first one to Attack Position. He activated Ignister’s other effect, and Novak-Burdick flipped The Prime Monarch in response, but didn’t use the effect. Ignister destroyed Vector Pendulum, and shuffled away Novak-Burdick’s Set Trade-In. Leavitt stacked his Master Pendulums for Castel, the Skyblaster Musketeer, and had it target Erebus. Novak-Burdick Chained Ehther’s effect from the hand, Tributing Erebus! Leavitt used Mystical Space Typhoon to destroy Return of the Monarchs, and Ehther’s effect sent The Monarchs Stormforth and Pantheism to the Graveyard, to Special Summon an Erebus from the Deck. Ignister destroyed Erebus in battle. In Main Phase 2, Leavitt used his Archfiend Eccentrick to destroy Domain of the True Monarchs. Leavitt Set a monster, the last card in his hand, to finish. In the End Phase, Novak-Burdick used The Prime Monarch to put The Monarchs Stormforth and Domain back in his Deck, and drew Erebus. Still in the End Phase, he used his copy of The Prime Monarch in the Graveyard, and Special Summoned it.

Novak-Burdick drew Trade-In. He stacked both copies of The Prime Monarch, for Number 61: Volcasaurus! It blasted Ignister for 2850 damage! He used Pantheism from the Graveyard, choosing 2 Tenacity and The Monarchs Stormforth. Leavitt gave him a Tenacity, and Novak-Burdick simply used it to search out The Monarchs Stormforth anyway. Novak-Burdick used Volcasaurus to Xyz Summon Gaia Dragon, the Thunder Charger, then used Eidos from the Graveyard to Special Summon Edea. He used The Monarchs Stormforth, Tributing his Edea and Leavitt’s face-down X-Saber Palomuro, for Erebus! Erebus’s effect took care of Castel! Leavitt’s field was clear, and Novak-Burdick sent all his monsters to take the Match!

Russell Novak-Burdick is your victor, with his Monarch Deck!