The Finals: Brandon Ossiel Aguilar Gonzalez Versus Ricardo Ruiz Mendoza
It all comes down to this!
Brandon Ossiel Aguilar Gonzalez and Ricardo Ruiz Mendoza have fought through a grueling 15 Rounds of competition and 590 other Duelists, and now there’s only one thing between them and the World Championship in Orlando, Florida.
Each other.
This Match is really representative of the entire tournament, with Gonzalez piloting Brilliant Monarchs and Mendoza running Fire King Kozmos. Monarchs and Kozmos were the two most represented themes in the Day 1 and Day 2 fields, and now the two leading strategies of the weekend will go head-to-head to crown a new Central American Champion. Who will it be: Gonzalez or Mendoza? Monarchs or Kozmos?
They’re two incredible competitors piloting two stellar decks, but only one of them can walk away from this table the winner. Let’s find out who’s going to the 2016 Yu-Gi-Oh! World Championship.
Mendoza chose to go first, opening with a hand of Kozmo Delta Shuttle; Terraforming; Kozmo Dark Destroyer; Kozmo Sliprider; and Kozmojo. He searched out Fire King Island with Terraforming, activated it, and used its effect to destroy his Dark Destroyer. He searched Fire King Avatar Garunix and banished Dark Destroyer to Special Summon Kozmo Strawman, then used its ability to bring back the Dark Destroyer. He banished Strawman to Special Summon Kozmo Sliprider, destroyed Fire King Island, which destroyed Sliprider and Dark Destroyer in turn.
From there Mendoza Special Summoned another Strawman and Kozmo Soartroopers off his spaceship effects, then used the Strawman to bring back the Sliprider. He Normal Summoned Garunix, overlaid it with Soartroopers, and Xyz Summoned Leviair the Sea Dragon. He detached the Soartroopers to bring back Strawman with Leviair, used it to Special Summon Dark Destroyer again, and Set Kozmojo. Strawman’s effect destroyed Dark Destroyer in the End Phase, and Mendoza Special Summoned Kozmoll Dark Lady. The Sliprider exploded as well, Special Summoning Kozmo Tincan. Mendoza used Tincan’s ability to present Dark Destroyer, Kozmo Landwalker, and Kozmotown from his Deck and got the Landwalker.
Gonzalez was up. He revealed Ehther the Heavenly Monarch for Tenacity of the Monarchs, searching Pantheism of the Monarchs. He activated it, discarding another Tenacity to draw two cards, then banished the Pantheism. He pitched Kuraz the Light Monarch for Twin Twisters, targeting Mendoza’s Set Kozmojo and destroying it. He continued resolving the Chain, getting three copies of Return of the Monarchs to add one to his hand, then activated Brilliant Fusion to yard Gem-Knight Lazuli and Edea the Heavenly Squire, Special Summoning Gem-Knight Seraphinite. He activated Edea’s effect, but Mendoza negated it with Dark Lady. That left Gonzalez to Normal Summon an Edea, and Mendoza let him Special Summon Eidos the Underworld Squire.
Gonzalez activated Return, then Tributed for Ehther the Heavenly Monarch. He searched Majesty’s Fiend with Return’s effect, then kicked Pantheism and The Prime Monarch to his Graveyard to Special Summon Kuraz the Light Monarch with Ehther. He destroyed his Return and Brilliant Fusion to draw two cards, then activated Domain of the True Monarchs. He attacked Kozmoll Dark Lady with Ehther, and Mendoza banished Tincan to Special Summon Kozmo Landwalker in response. He used Landwalker’s effect to destroy itself, keeping Dark Lady from being destroyed instead. Mendoza replaced the Landwalker with Kozmo Farmgirl off the Landwalker’s Graveyard trigger. Gonzalez Set a card to his backrow and bounced Kuraz to his hand to end his turn.
Mendoza drew Emergency Teleport. He took some time to consider his options, then banished Strawman to Special Summon Kozmo Delta Shuttle from his hand. He overlaid Dark Lady and Delta Shuttle to Xyz Summon Number 61: Volcasaurus, then detached Dark Lady to target Ehther for destruction – Gonzalez responded with The Prime Monarch, then Chained the effect of Ehther from his hand. He Tributed the targeted Ehther to replace it with the new one, neatly outplaying Volcasaurus, then resolved The Prime Monarch for a draw. He sent a Return and a Domain to the Graveyard for the new Ehther’s effect, and Special Summoned Erebus the Underworld Monarch.
Mendoza used Volcasaurus as Xyz Material for Gaia Dragon, the Thunder Charger, then Strawman’d for Dark Destroyer. He attacked Edea with Farmgirl, paid LP to search his Deck for Kozmo Forerunner, and Gonzalez got back his Pantheism with Edea’s effect. Mendoza sent Leviair to attack Ehther, clearing Leviair off the field, then banished Farmgirl to Special Summon Forerunner. He crashed Forerunner into Ehther to destroy both monsters, then banished Forerunner to Special Summon Kozmo Sliprider. That destroyed Gonzalez’s Domain of the True Monarchs. Mendoza attacked over Erebus with Kozmo Dark Destroyer, tried for a direct attack with Sliprider, and Gonzalez Special Summoned a Prime Monarch to block. Mendoza attacked through it with Gaia Dragon, dropping Gonzalez to 6900 Life Points.
Mendoza had just 1600 LP left. He paid himself down again to Strawman a Sliprider back into play, then overlaid them for Cyber Dragon Nova, upgrading that into Cyber Dragon Infinity. In the End Phase he destroyed and banished Dark Destroyer to Special Summon Kozmoll Dark Lady.
Gonzalez Special Summoned Super Quantum Red Layer, and with four cards in hand, banished Pantheism: he presented two Tenacity and another Pantheism, getting a Tenacity. He activated Tenacity revealing Majesty’s Fiend and Mendoza negated it, detaching Cyber Dragon Nova from Cyber Dragon Infinity. Gonzalez drew a card with his on-field Prime Monarch, then revived his other from his Graveyard. He activated a second Tenacity since the activation of the first was negated, revealed the same Majesty’s Fiend, and searched out Return of the Monarchs. He tossed The Monarchs Stormforth to draw two with Pantheism of the Monarchs, then banished Eidos to revive Edea and Special Summon another Eidos with it.
Gonzalez gave up his Pantheism to try and get his Ehther back from his Graveyard, but Mendoza negated Erebus’ effect with Kozmoll Dark Lady. He activated Return, Tributed Edea, and Summoned Kuraz the Light Monarch, targeting his Eidos and Return with Kuraz’s effect, but forgetting to activate Edea’s ability. He searched another Ehther with Return and drew two with Kuraz, then Tributed Kuraz for Ehther the Heavenly Monarch, Special Summoning Erebus. He attacked Cyber Dragon Infinity with Ehther and Mendoza conceded!
The first Duel goes to Brandon Ossiel Aguilar Gonzalez, now one win away from the Championship! But Mendoza wasn’t going to make it easy…
Mendoza opened the second Duel with Terraforming; Magic Deflector; Kozmojo; Kozmoll Dark Lady; and Kozmo Dark Destroyer. He searched Kozmotown, activated it, and shuffled back his Dark Lady to draw Anti-Spell Fragrance. He Set Deflector and Fragrance.
Gonzalez drew for his turn and Mendoza flipped Anti-Spell Fragrance. Gonzalez Set two cards to his backrow, and Set Domain.
Mendoza drew Maxx “C”, shuffled away another Kozmo and got Twin Twisters. He Set it.
Gonzalez passed.
Mendoza drew Kozmo Sliprider and flipped Twin Twisters, discarding Maxx “C” to target Domain and Gonzalez’s Return of the Monarchs. Both were destroyed. Mendoza shuffled away his Sliprider to get another Kozmotown. Gonzalez flipped The Prime Monarch in the End Phase to get a draw, shuffling his two destroyed cards back into his Deck.
Gonzalez Set two cards to his backrow.
Mendoza drew Kozmo Dark Destroyer and passed.
Gonzalez Special Summoned Super Quantum Red Layer for a direct attack, dropping Mendoza to 6000 Life Points.
Mendoza drew Kozmoll Dark Lady and shuffled her back into the Deck, drawing Kozmo Delta Shuttle instead.
Gonzalez made another direct attack with Super Quantum Red Layer! He Set a third backrow card.
Mendoza drew Kozmo Soartroopers. He Summoned it, banished it, and Special Summoned Delta Shuttle from his hand. Gonzalez discarded Majesty’s Fiend for Twin Twisters and Mendoza negated it with Magic Deflector. Gonzalez fired back with The Monarchs Stormforth! When the Chain resolved Mendoza activated Kozmojo, destroying his Delta Shuttle to banish Gonzalez’s Red Layer. He Special Summoned Kozmo Farmgirl with Delta Shuttle’s effect, attacked with her, and used her ability to search Kozmojo. Mendoza then banished Farmgirl to Special Summon Kozmo Dark Destroyer from his hand, attacked with that, and Set Kozmojo.
Gonzalez flipped his Set Pantheism of the Monarchs to discard Return and draw two, then Special Summoned Cyber Dragon. That forced Mendoza’s hand with Kozmojo, destroying his Dark Destroyer to banish Cyber Dragon before it could become Chimeratech Fortress Dragon. He banished his Dark Destroyer to Special Summon Kozmo Sliprider from his Deck, destroying his Kozmotown to search Kozmo Strawman. Gonzalez banished his Pantheism to reveal two copies of Stormforth and a Domain; Mendoza gave him a Stormforth. Gonzalez Set a monster, then Set a card to his Spell and Trap Card Zone.
Mendoza drew Kozmo Soartroopers. Gonzalez wanted to activate his Stormforth, but when he realized he couldn’t activate it under Anti-Spell Fragrance for a full turn cycle, he immediately conceded. Time was ticking down and both Duelists wanted to get straight to Game 3.
Gonzalez started the third and final Duel with five minutes left in the Match. He discarded one Pantheism to activate another Pantheism, drew two cards, and banished one of the Pantheisms to get one of his three Tenacity’s. He activated it revealing Ehther the Heavenly Monarch to search Domain of the True Monarchs, then Special Summoned Super Quantum Red Layer. He activated Domain, reduced the Level of Ehther, Tributed away Red Layer, and when he activated Ehther’s Special Summon effect Mendoza dropped Maxx “C”.
Gonzalez sent Return of the Monarchs and The Prime Monarch to the Graveyard to Special Summon a second Ehther, giving Mendoza a draw. He then bounced Ehther back to his hand, finishing his turn.
Mendoza had Chaos Trap Hole; Kozmo Tincan; Kozmotown; Kozmojo; and two Kozmo Slipriders. He shuffled back one of his Slipriders with Kozmotown, and got Anti-Spell Fragrance. He Summoned Tincan, Gonzalez targeted it with Effect Veiler, and Mendoza Chained Tincan’s banish effect to Special Summon a Kozmo Sliprider. He popped his Kozmotown to search another copy, activated it, used its effect to retrieve his banished Tincan, and shuffled it back into his Deck to get a draw with his Field Spell. He finished out by Setting three cards to his backrow.
Gonzalez Tributed his first Ehther for another, then yarded The Prime Monarch and Return to Special Summon Kuraz the Light Monarch. He activated its effect targeting Kuraz and Domain, and destroyed both cards to draw two more. Gonzalez then banished to Special Summon The Prime Monarch, and Mendoza flipped Anti-Spell Fragrance. Gonzalez banished again to Special Summon his second Prime Monarch, then overlaid them both for Constellar Pleiades… walking right into Chaos Trap Hole. Mendoza flipped Kozmojo and destroyed his Sliprider to banish Ehther, then banished Sliprider to Special Summon Kozmo Strawman in Defense Position. Gonzalez Summoned Edea the Heavenly Squire to Special Summon Eidos the Underworld Squire, then Tributed Eidos for Majesty’s Fiend. He attacked to wipe out Strawman, made a direct press, and Set a backrow. He banished Pantheism next to get one of the three Stormforths he selected, and Set another backrow – presumably the Stormforth.
Mendoza drew another Tincan. He used Kozmotown to get back his Sliprider, and shuffled with Kozmotown to draw Delta Shuttle and another Sliprider. Time was called in the Match. Gonzalez flipped The Prime Monarch to shuffle back another Prime Monarch plus Tenacity for a draw.
Turn 1 in time. Gonzalez Normal Summoned Eidos and attacked with everything, dropping Mendoza to 600 Life Points. He Tributed Eidos for Kuraz the Light Monarch, targeted Edea and Kuraz to draw two, and got back his Pantheism with Edea. He Set two more cards to his backrow. Gonzalez just needed to wait this one out and he’d be headed to Florida in August.
Turn 2 in time. Mendoza drew Kozmo Dark Destroyer and flipped Allure of Darkness drawing Mask of Restrict and Kozmo Soartroopers. He needed to find some major damage somehow. He banished Kozmo Soartroopers to resolve Allure, got back Soartroopers with Kozmotown, and shuffled back Delta Shuttle and Kozmoll Dark Lady in a desperate bid. He drew another Allure of Darkness and Emergency Teleport. He set everything, but it was his last turn in the Match and with 300 Life Points left. Mendoza had no way to make up the massive Life Point deficit!
Brandon Ossiel Aguilar Gonzalez wins the Central American World Championship Qualifier with Brilliant Monarchs! Gonzalez is your new Central American Champion, and will compete in the World Championship in Orlando, Florida.
