We haven’t seen Kozmos in Feature Match action this weekend, but Jose Anthony Bren Osores is piloting a Fire King variant here in the Top 16!  His opponent is well-recognized Canadian Duelist Marcus Carisse, competing with a pure Burning Abyss build – a surprise standout for several Top Cut Duelists here in Day 2.

Carisse started us off with Speedroid Terrortop, searching his Deck for Speedroid Taketomborg.  He activated Allure of Darkness to draw two cards, then banished Calcab, Malebranche of the Burning Abyss to finish Allure’s effect.  Osores activared the effect of Maxx “C” and Carisse activated Pot of Desires, banishing ten cards to draw two more.  He Normal Summoned Scarm to destroy it and trigger its effect, searching Farfa, Malebranche of the Burning Abyss from his Deck in the End Phase.

Osores had Kozmoll Dark Lady; Kozmo Sliprider; Fire King Island; Oasis of Dragon Souls; and Maxx “C”.  He activated Fire King Island, used it to destroy Sliprider from his hand and searched for Fire King Avatar Garunix.  He resolved Kozmo Sliprider’s effect to Special Summon Kozmo Strawman, reviving his banished Sliprider.  He Normal Summoned Garunix, attacked Speedroid Terrortop with it, and then made two direct attacks with Strawman and Sliprider.  He Set Oasis and destroyed Sliprider in the End Phase, Special Summoning Kozmo Tincan to present three cards from his Deck: Kozmo Landwalker, Kozmoll Dark Lady, and Kozmo Dark Destroyer.  He added Dark Destroyer to his hand.

Carisse Special Summoned another Speedroid Terrortop making no search, and Osored played his second Maxx “C”.  He Normal Summoned Fiendish Rhino Warrior and Special Summoned Cir, Malebranche of the Burning Abyss, giving Osores Terraforming off the effect of Maxx “C”.  He overlaid Terrortop and Cir to Xyz Summon Dante, Traveler of the Burning Abyss.  Osores got another Kozmo Strawman.   Things were looking pretty bad for Carisse, who had four cards in hand and was bleeding position move by move.  Playing more cards meant feeding Osores more draws, and not playing anything meant facing a likely one-turn-win.

Carisse attacked Kozmo Strawman with Dante, and Osores let the attack go, taking 500 points of damage.  He attacked Tincan next, pushing Fiendish Rhino Warrior across the table, and Osores banished it to Special Summon Kozmo Dark Destroyer; he used its effect to destroy Dante.  Carisse used Dante’s effect to return Cir to his hand, then replayed the attack to destroy Garunix with Rhino.  Carisse ended his turn by Special Summoning Farfa, Malebranche of the Burning Abyss, overlaying it with Fiendish Rhino Warrior for another Dante.

Osores flipped Oasis of Dragon Souls to Special Summon Kozmoll Dark Lady, still in Carisse’s Main Phase 2.  Carisse pitched Rubic, Malebranche of the Burning Abyss to upgrade Dante into Beatrice, Lady of the Eternal and ended his turn.

Osores drew to seven cards in hand, controlling Kozmoll Dark Lady, Kozmo Dark Destroyer and Fire King Island.  He Normal Summoned his second Kozmo Strawman and Carisse responded with Beatrice’s effect, detaching Farfa to send Alich, Malebranche of the Burning Abyss to the Graveyard.  He targeted Dark Lady with Alich and Strawman with Farfa.  Osores let his Strawman get banished and his Dark Lady’s effect be negated.  He destroyed Fire King Island replacing it with Kozmotown, wiping his field with Island’s effect.  Osores Special Summoned Kozmo Soartroopers with Kozmo Dark Destroyer’s effect, banishing it, and then revived Kozmo Strawman.

He continued, paying Life Points with one Strawman to Special Summon his other copy.  Osores overlaid them to Xyz Summon Sky Cavalry Centaurea, then paid with Kozmotown to add Kozmo Dark Destroyer back to his hand.  That dropped him to 3500 Life Points.  He bumped Beatrice away with Sky Cavalry Centaurea’s effect, taking 800 points of damage in the process of the attack, and triggered the effects of Dante and Fiendish Rhino Warrior.  He got back his Dante and sent Libic, Malebranche of the Burning Abyss to the Graveyard, allowing Carisse to Special Summon Cir.

Osores banished Kozmo Soartroopers to Special Summon Kozmoll Dark Lady from his hand, attacked Cir with it, and paid to negate Cir’s ability with Dark Lady’s effect.  Now he was down to 1700 Life Points.  He banished Dark Lady next, Special Summoning Dark Destroyer and destroying it to Special Summon Kozmo Farmgirl from his Deck.  He attacked with her and paid to search his Deck for Kozmojo, now at 1200 Life Points. Osores moved to Main Phase 2, Set Kozmojo, Oasis, and Terraforming, and ended his turn.

Carisse activated Foolish Burial to send Maxx “C” to his Graveyard, then activated Allure of Darkness, looking for a DARK monster.  He banished Farfa to complete Allure’s effect, Special Summoned Speedroid Terrortop, and Special Summoned Speedroid Taketomborg from his hand. He had one card left.  Osores flipped Oasis of Dragon Souls to Special Summon Kozmo Landwalker, then flipped Kozmojo to banish Speedroid Taketomborg, destroying his Landwalker and banishing it to Special Summon Kozmo Sliprider.  He used Sliprider to destroy his Kozmotown, searching his Deck for Kozmo Dark Destroyer.  Carisse Set his last card, a monster.

Osores drew to four cards in hand, controlling Terraforming, Kozmo Sliprider, Sky Cavalry Centaurea, and Kozmo Farmgirl.  He flipped Terraforming for Kozmotown, activated it and attacked with Farmgirl to destroy Terrortop.  He attacked the face-down with Sky Cavalry Centaurea next, and that was enough to make Carisse concede.

Marcus Carisse finds himself locked down under back-to-back Maxx “C”s, and with no choice but to try and play through he winds up feeding Jose Osores an insurmountable number of cards.  Osores simplifies the Duel at a grueling pace and grinds out the inevitable win.  It was almost kind of surprising that Carisse didn’t concede that one earlier; only thirteen minutes remained in the Round.

Osores had Kozmo Tincan; Emergency Teleport; two Maxx “C”; and Ghost Reaper & Winter Cherries.  He Summoned Tincan, Set Teleport, and used Tincan to present three cards from his Deck: Kozmo Dark Destroyer, Kozmoll Dark Lady, and Kozmo Sliprider.  He got Dark Lady and ended.

Carisse Summoned Rubic, Malebranche of the Burning Abyss and Osores activated the effect of Maxx “C”.  Carissed then Summoned Fiendish Rhino Warrior, and Osores dropped Ghost Reaper & Winter Cherries to rob him of all three copies of Dante, Traveler of the Burning Abyss!  Carisse sent both to the Graveyard to Special Summon Virgil, Rock Star of the Burning Abyss, giving Osores another draw, and then resolved Rhino’s effect to send Calcab, Malebranche of the Burning Abyss to the Graveyard.  He activated its effect and Osores took back his Emergency Teleport.

Carisse attacked Tincan with Virgil, Osores banished it for Kozmo Dark Destroyer, and he destroyed Virgil, Rock Star of the Burning Abyss.  Carisse got a draw and seemed visibly aware he was about to lose this despite still having five cards in hand.  He Set one card to his back row.

Osores drew another Tincan, drawing to five cards himself.  He Normal Summoned the Tincan, banished it and Special Summon Kozmo Sliprider, destroying Carisse’s Set Twin Twisters.  He attacked with Sliprider, then Dark Destroyer, and Emergency Teleport finished the Match!

Jose Anthony Bren Osores takes a calculated 2-0 victory over notable competitor Marcus Carisse, and Fire King Kozmos are headed to the Top 8!  Could we see an upset with Kozmos winning the last Championship of the format?