Denzel Jordan Kelly is from right here in Toronto, and is piloting Majespecter Pendulum Magicians this weekend.  His opponent is Jacob Phinney, playing to represent Pro-Play Games in West Palm Beach, Florida. Pro-Play Games is one of many Konami Official Tournament Stores at which fans of the Yu-Gi-Oh! TRADING CARD GAME can Duel. You can find a Konami Official Tournament Store near you by using the locator available here! Phinney is one of the most consistent competitors of the 2015-2016 season, with a wealth of Championship tops and an incredible track record.

Sitting at  Table 1, both of these Duelists are undefeated so far in the tournament.  But one of them is about to see his record take a dip: Let’s find out who will survive unscathed.

Kelly opened the Match with Majespecter Raccoon – Bunbuku, searching Majespecter Unicorn – Kirin with its effect. He activated  Terraforming to get Sky Iris, and then activated it. Next, he activated Unicorn, and destroyed it from his Pendulum Zone to search for Odd-Eyes Pendulum Dragon with Sky Iris.  He activated Odd-Eyes Pendulum Dragon, and then activated Dragonpit Magician to complete his Scale, Pendulum Summoning Majespecter Unicorn – Kirin.  He got Performapal Monkeyboard with the effect of Odd-Eyes Pendulum Dragon in his End Phase.

Phinney had two copies of The Phantom Knights of Silent Boots; The Phantom Knights of Ancient Cloak; Scarm, Malebranche of the Burning Abyss; Solemn Strike; and Pot of Desires.  Pot banished ten cards and got him Phantom Knights’ Fog Blade and another Pot of Desires.  He Summoned Cloak and Boots, overlaid for Dante, Traveler of the Burning Abyss, and detached Cloak to send Twin Twisters, The Phantom Knights of Ragged Gloves, and Farfa, Malebranche of the Burning Abyss to his Graveyard with Dante’s effect.

Phinney continued, attacking Raccoon with Dante and forcing Kelly to bounce the Raccoon and Dante with Unicorn’s effect.  Phinney banished his Boots to search his Deck for another Fog Blade, and Special Summoned Scarm from his hand.  He Set four cards to his back row.

Kelly activated Performapal Monkeyboard and used it to search for Performapal Skullcrobat Joker.  He Summoned it, but Phinney negated its effect with Phantom Knights’ Fog Blade.  Kelly destroyed his Performapal Monkeyboard with Sky Iris to get his second Odd-Eyes Pendulum Dragon, activated it, Pendulum Summoned Amorphage Sloth, and tried to bounce his Joker and Phinney’s Scarm.  The effect resolved and Kelly attacked directly with Unicorn and then Sloth; but Phinney blocked the Sloth with his second Fog Blade.  Kelly searched for Archfiend Eccentrick with Odd-Eyes Pendulum Dragon in the End Phase.

Phinney drew Speedroid Terrortop.  He Special Summoned it to search for Speedroid Taketomborg, Special Summoned that, and overlaid for Dante again.  He detached Taketomborg to send Alich, Malebranche of the Burning Abyss, Scarm, Malebranche of the Burning Abyss, and Graff, Malebranche of the Burning Abyss to his Graveyard, Special Summoning Barbar, Malebranche of the Burning Abyss from his Deck with Graff’s ability.

Phinney flipped his second Pot of Desires to banish ten cards, then drew Farfa and Calcab.  He Normal Summoned Farfa, overlaid it with Barbar to Xyz Summon Super Quantal Mech Beast Grampulse, and Kelly bounced his Sloth with Kirin to bounce away the Grampulse.  That triggered Phinney’s Barbar for 900 points of damage, lowering Kelly to 7100 LP.

Phinney banished a Fog Blade from his Graveyard to revive his Gloves, Summoned Boots, and overlaid them to make The Phantom Knights of Break Sword.  He detached Gloves to destroy his Fog Blade and Kelly’s Sky Iris, then pitched Scarm from his hand to upgrade Dante into Beatrice, Lady of the Eternal.  Beatrice attacked over Unicorn to destroy it, and The Phantom Knights of Break Sword made a direct attack.  Scarm got him Farfa in the End Phase.

Kelly activated Mystical Space Typhoon next turn holding six cards, and Phinney conceded.  Again, time management in the face of defeat is proving to be an absolute hallmark of experienced competitors in this tournament.  Play swiftly moved to Game 2.

“I’ll take first,” announced Phinney.  He had Phantom Knights’ Fog Blade; Pot of Desires; Anti-Spell Fragrance; Speedroid Terrortop; and Scarm, Malebranche of the Burning Abyss.  He Special Summoned Speedroid Terrortop to fetch Speedroid Taketomborg, then banished ten for Pot; he drew Solemn Strike and Allure of Darkness.  Phinney Special Summoned Speedroid Taketomborg, overlaid it with Speedroid Terrortop to Summon Dante, Traveler of the Burning Abyss, and sent Scarm, Libic, Malebranche of the Burning Abyss, and Solemn Warning to his Graveyard.  He pitched another Scarm to turn Dante into Beatrice, Lady of the Eternal and Set everything else to his back row; four cards total.  He searched Graff with Scarm’s effect in the End Phase.

Kelly drew and Phinney flipped Anti-Spell Fragrance.  Kelly laughed, Set a Field Spell, and Set two cards to his backrow.  Phinney detached Dante from Beatrice in the End Phase to send Cir, Malebranche of the Burning Abyss to his Graveyard, reviving Dante and adding Cir to his hand.

Phinney activated Allure of Darkness next turn, getting Scarm and Solemn Strike, banishing the Scarm.  He tossed Graff to unleash a second Beatrice, Special Summoned Barbar from his Deck, destroying it, and banished three Malebranches for 900 points of damage.  He detached Taketomborg to send The Phantom Knights of Ancient Cloak to the Graveyard, and banished it to get The Phantom Knights of Ragged Gloves.  He Summoned it and attacked with everything: Kelly was down to 1100 Life Points, and he scooped up his cards when he saw two more back rows from Phinney.

Jake Phinney captures the second Duel with authority, evening up the Match score and taking us to Duel 3.  Side Decking was fast and methodical.  Phinney offered a handshake and wished his opponent good luck.

Kelly started with Upstart Goblin, then shuffled away Majespecter Unicorn – Kirin with Igknight Reload.  He Set four cards to his back row.

“What the heck?”  Phinney and Kelly both laughed.  “What deck are you playing?”  Phinney had Phantom Knights’ Fog Blade; Scarm, Malebranche of the Burning Abyss; The Phantom Knights of Ancient Cloak; Twin Twisters; Farfa, Malebranche of the Burning Abyss; and Pendulum Hole.  He Special Summoned Farfa, Normal Summoned Scarm, and Xyz Summoned Dante, Traveler of the Burning Abyss.  He detached Scarm to send Pot of Desires, another Scarm, and Ancient Cloak from his Deck to his Graveyard, and banished the Ancient Cloak to search for The Phantom Knights of Silent Boots and add it to his hand.  Phinney attacked for 2500 points of battle damage, and then Set Twin Twisters, Fog Blade, and Pendulum Hole. He grabbed Tour Guide from the Underworld with Scarm in the End Phase.

Kelly flipped Summoner’s Art to search his Deck for Dragonpit Magician.

“You sided into Qliphort,” quipped Phinney, goodnatured.

“I don’t think I could’ve picked a worse hand, “ laughed Kelly.  He flipped two Mystical Space Typhoons to destroy Pendulum Hole and Phantom Knights’ Fog Blade, missing Twin Twisters, and activated Dragonpit Magician and Xiangke Magician.  Naturally, Phinney pitched Ancient Cloak to activate Twin Twisters, destroying Kelly’s Pendulum Scales.

“That’s it, I can’t do anything,” announced Kelly, who’d opened with a mish-mash of cards he couldn’t play, like Mist Valley Apex Avian and Majespecter Tornado.  Sometimes things just don’t line up.

Jacob Phinney takes a 2-1 victory, as Denzel Kennedy’s Deck fails him at the last minute.  Phinney could be well on his way to yet another Top Cut appearance, and with a 6-0 record in Day 1, he’s easily a top pick for the win tomorrow.