Out of all of our talented Dragon Duelists, only four remain! There are three invitations available to the World Championship, so a victory here will guarantee them an invite. The losing Duelist here will still have a shot, but they’ll have to win the playoff for 3^rd place. But that’s later, this is now! We have Ian Parish, from Arnold, Missouri, against John Wilkin from Toronto, Ontario. Parish has come this far thanks to his Burning Abyss Deck, with the added power of Phantom Knights and Speedroids to make a lot of strong Xyz plays possible. Wilkin is using Monarchs, specifically the more popular version that uses Brilliant Fusion and a full Extra Deck.

Duel 1

Wilkin won the dice roll and chose to play first. He began with Super Quantum Red Layer, and used Pantheism of the Monarchs. He discarded another Pantheism to draw two cards. He banished Pantheism from the Graveyard to add The Prime Monarch to his hand. He played another Pantheism, discarding The Prime Monarch for two more cards. He played Brilliant Fusion next, sending Gem-Knight Garnet and Edea the Heavenly Squire to the Graveyard to play Gem-Knight Seraphinite. Edea’s effect put Pantheism in his hand. He brought The Prime Monarch back to the field, banishing a Pantheism, and stacked The Prime Monarch and Seraphinite for Artifact Durendal! He Set one to his back row and passed.

Parish’s hand was Allure of Darkness, The Phantom Knights of Ragged Gloves, Anti-Spell Fragrance, The Phantom Knights of Silent Boots, Alich, Malebranche of the Burning Abyss, and Twin Twisters. He played Allure of Darkness, and Wilkin Chained Artifact Durendal! Durendal altered Allure of Darkness’s effect, and it destroyed Wilkin’s Set Pantheism. Parish Normal Summoned Ragged Gloves, and Special Summoned Silent Boots. Wilkin used Ehther the Heavenly Monarch from his hand, banishing Pantheism from the Graveyard, and Tribute Summoned it using Red Layer and Durendal. He used its effect, sending Return of the Monarchs and The Prime Monarch to the Graveyard to Special Summon Kuraz the Light Monarch from the Deck! It destroyed Wilkin’s own Brilliant Fusion and Parish’s Silent Boots. Parish drew Barbar, Malebranche of the Burning Abyss. He used Silent Boots from the Graveyard, adding Phantom Knights’ Fog Blade to his hand. He Set all of his Spell & Trap Cards to finish his turn. Wilkin brought The Prime Monarch back to the field, and Kuraz went to the hand.

Parish flipped up Anti-Spell Fragrance in Wilkin’s turn. Wilkin banished Pantheism from the Graveyard, revealing Domain of the True Monarchs and two The Monarchs Stormforth. Parish let him take Domain. Ehther attacked and destroyed Ragged Gloves in battle. Then, Wilkin Tributed Ehther for Erebus the Underworld Monarch, and it was negated by Fog Blade. Wilkin Set one to his back row, and one to his Field Spell Zone.

Parish drew Maxx “C”. He flipped up Twin Twisters, discarding Barbar, and destroyed his own Fog Blade and Anti-Spell Fragrance, preparing to make a big play; however, when Wilkin used the effect of Maxx “C”, Parish decided to only Set Alich.

Wilkin flipped up Domain of the True Monarchs. He used its effect on an Erebus in his hand, and Tribute Summoned it. Its effect activated, and Parish started picking up his cards!

Duel 2

Parish chose to play first, with a hand of Allure of Darkness, Maxx “C”, The Phantom Knights of Silent Boots, Graff, Malebranche of the Burning Abyss, and Cir, Malebranche of the Burning Abyss. Allure gave him Foolish Burial and Farfa, Malebranche of the Burning Abyss, and he banished Farfa. Foolish Burial sent The Phantom Knights of Ancient Cloak to the Graveyard, and he used it to add The Phantom Knights of Silent Boots to his hand. He Normal Summoned Silent Boots, and Special Summoned his second copy. He Xyz Summoned Dante, Traveler of the Burning Abyss, sending Speedroid Terrortop, Cir, and Calcab, Malebranche of the Burning Abyss to the Graveyard. Cir revived Calcab, and he Special Summoned Graff from his hand. He played another Dante, detaching Graff, but he sent two Mask of Restrict and Solemn Warning to the Graveyard! He discarded Cir from his hand to Xyz Summon Beatrice, Lady of the Eternal. Then, he used Silent Boots in the Graveyard to get Fog Blade. He Set it and passed.

Wilkin played Pantheism, discarding Return of the Monarchs. He banished Pantheism from the Graveyard, revealing three copies of Tenacity of the Monarchs, to get one in his hand. He used Tenacity, revealing Erebus, to search out Pantheism. He activated Pantheism, discarding The Prime Monarch. He played Domain, then activated The Prime Monarch in the Graveyard, banishing Pantheism. Parish used Maxx “C” to draw Farfa. Wilkin used Domain on his Erebus, and Tribute Summoned it. Parish negated its effect with Fog Blade. Wilkin sent Parish’s Fog Blade to the Graveyard to Special Summon Trap Eater in Defense Position! Maxx “C” let Parish draw a new Fog Blade. Erebus destroyed Dante, which put Graff back in Parish’s hand. In the End Phase, Beatrice detached Calcab to send Scarm, Malebranche of the Burning Abyss to the Graveyard. Scarm’s effect put Tour Guide From the Underworld in Parish’s hand.

Parish drew Twin Twisters. He played Tour Guide, and Wilkin responded with Maxx “C”. Tour Guide Special Summoned Libic, Malebranche of the Burning Abyss. Libic and Tour Guide were stacked for Dante. Dante detached Libic to send Silent Boots, Allure of Darkness, and Anti-Spell Fragrance to the Graveyard. Libic’s effect Special Summoned Graff, then Beatrice detached Dante to send Farfa to the Graveyard. Dante targeted Cir in the Graveyard, Farfa targeted Erebus, and Wilkin Chained the effect of Ehther in the hand! Wilkin banished Return of the Monarchs to Tribute Summon Ehther, using Erebus. Farfa had no target now, and Dante returned Cir to the hand. Ehther’s effect then sent The Prime Monarch and Return of the Monarchs to the Graveyard to Special Summon Kuraz from the Deck. Kuraz targeted itself and Dante, and Parish drew Speedroid Taketomborg with Kuraz’s effect. Dante’s effect put Scarm into Parish’s hand. Parish used Fog Blade from the Graveyard, and Special Summoned Silent Boots. He stacked Silent Boots with Graff for The Phantom Knights of Break Sword! Break Sword detached Graff to destroy itself and Trap Eater. Break Sword’s effect Special Summoned 2 Silent Boots, then Twin Twisters destroyed Domain by discarding Cir. Cir revived Dante, and the Silent Boots were used to play Dark Rebellion Xyz Dragon! It drained the ATK of Ehther. Parish discarded Scarm to upgrade his new Dante into Beatrice. One Beatrice destroyed Ehther in battle. The other Beatrice and Dark Rebellion attacked, but The Prime Monarch blocked one of the attacks. Wilkin was down to 3000 Life Points. Parish used Silent Boots in the Graveyard to get Fog Blade, and Set his two copies of Fog Blade.

Wilkin drew, now with twelve cards in his hand thanks to the stupendous Maxx “C” last turn! He Special Summoned Super Quantum Red Layer and The Prime Monarch, and Xyz Summoned Number 61: Volcasaurus! He used its effect on Dark Rebellion, but it was negated by Fog Blade. Wilkin used Erebus in the Graveyard, returning Ehther to the hand. He Normal Summoned Eidos the Underworld Squire, and it was negated by Fog Blade. He Special Summoned Gaia Dragon, the Thunder Charger in Defense Position, using his Volcasaurus. He Set five cards to his back row.

Parish drew Anti-Spell Fragrance, and Wilkin flipped The Monarchs Stormforth. Parish used Beatrice, detaching Dante to send Scarm to the Graveyard, and Dante put Farfa into Parish’s hand. He Normal Summoned it, and it self-destructed due to its effect. Its other effect activated, banishing Gaia Dragon. He decided to pass, after he Set Anti-Spell Fragrance. Wilkin used Ehther from the hand, Tributing his Eidos and Parish’s Dark Rebellion, and Ehther Special Summoned another Ehther. Wilkin brought The Prime Monarch back from the Graveyard, then flipped Royal Decree in the End Phase! The Special Summoned Ehther returned to the hand.

Wilkin wanted to use Pantheism from his Graveyard, but found he didn’t have three choices remaining in his Deck! He flipped Twin Twisters, discarding Edea the Heavenly Squire to destroy his own Decree and the Set Anti-Spell Fragrance. Parish realized he had no hope of combating Wilkin’s massive lead, and decided to concede!

John Wilkin is moving on to the Dragon Duel Finals!