Brandon Ossiel Aguilar from Hidalgo, Mexico, represented the Central American region at the 2016 Yu-Gi-Oh! TRADING CARD GAME World Championship in Orlando, Florida earlier this year, and finished in thirteenth place. He is among Mexico’s top Duelists, and is competing this weekend with a Zombie Deck utilizing Zombie Master, Mezuki, Uni-Zombie, and a slew of Shiranui monsters, including Shiranui Solitaire from The Dark Illusion. Aguilar’s Zombie strategy is not as prevalent as many other strategies, but Aguilar is here to prove that it’s just as potent.

Arturo Flores Arriaga from San Luis Potosi, Mexico is using a Blue-Eyes White Dragon Deck. Blue-Eyes White Dragon Decks have had success at the local level in recent weeks, and are expected to be a top contender in the new format. Will the World Championship competitor’s Zombies be able to take them down? We’re about to find out. It’s time to Duel!

Duel One

Flores started off Duel 1 by activating The Melody of Awakening Dragons and discarding The White Stone of Ancients to add Blue-Eyes White Dragon and Blue-Eyes Alternative White Dragon to his hand. He Summoned Sage with Eyes of Blue and activated its effect to add Effect Veiler to his hand. He Special Summoned his Blue-Eyes Alternative White Dragon next, by revealing a Blue-Eyes from his hand. He Tuned his Sage with his Blue-Eyes Alternative White Dragon to Synchro Summon Blue-Eyes Spirit Dragon and then Tributed his Spirit Dragon to Special Summon Michael, the Arch-Lightsworn. Next, he activated Soul Charge to Special Summon Sage with Eyes of Blue, Blue-Eyes Alternative White Dragon, and Blue-Eyes Spirit Dragon. Then, he Tuned his Sage with Michael to Synchro Summon Crystal Wing Synchro Dragon. He Special Summoned Dragon Spirit of White from his Deck in his End Phase and Set a card to his back row before ending his turn.

Aguilar opened up with Zombie Master, Mezuki, Brilliant Fusion, Gem-Knight Garnet, Shiranui Solitaire, and Shiranui Spectralsword. He activated Brilliant Fusion to send Gem-Knight Garnet and Performage Trick Clown from his Deck to his Graveyard, and Special Summoned Gem-Knight Seraphinite from his Extra Deck. He Special Summoned his Trick Clown from his Graveyard and lost 1000 Life Points, and then tried to Normal Summon Shiranui Solitaire; but Arriaga flipped Solemn Warning and negated the Summon by giving up 2000 Life Points. Next, Aguilar Summoned Zombie Master from his hand with the extra Normal Summon granted by Seraphinite. He activated Zombie Master’s effect by discarding Mezuki to try to Special Summon Solitaire from his Graveyard, but Flores negated the effect of Zombie Master with Crystal Wing Synchro Dragon and destroyed Zombie Master. Next, Aguilar activated Mezuki’s effect by banishing it from the Graveyard; but Flores negated the effect with the effect of his Blue-Eyes Spirit Dragon. Aguilar promptly conceded, completely outmatched by Flores’s Turn 1 play.

Arriaga activates Soul Charge on Turn 1 to take an overwhelming victory in the first Duel!

Duel Two

Aguilar opened up Duel 2 with Uni-Zombie, Mind Crush, Gem-Knight Garnet, Shiranui Solitaire, and Gold Sarcophagus.

He Normal Summoned Solitaire and then Tributed it to Special Summon Uni-Zombie from his Deck with its effect. Next, he used Uni-Zombie’s effect to send Mezuki from his Deck to his Graveyard and increase Uni-Zombie’s Level by 1. He banished Mezuki from his Graveyard to Special Summon Shiranui Solitaire from his Graveyard and then Tuned Uni-Zombie with his Solitaire to Synchro Summon PSY-Framelord Omega! He Set Mind Crush before ending his turn.

Flores drew a card and then Omega’s effect returned Mezuki to Aguilar’s Graveyard in Flores’s Standby Phase. Next, Flores activated Twin Twisters by discarding Return of the Dragon Lords to target Aguilar’s face-down Mind Crush for destruction. Flores Chained it, blindly naming The Melody of Awakening Dragons, and Flores revealed his hand of Blue-Eyes Alternative White Dragon, Silver’s Cry, Solemn Warning, and Master with Eyes of Blue. Aguilar randomly discarded Gem-Knight Garnet from his hand as a result of guessing incorrectly with Mind Crush. Next, Aguilar banished his Omega from the Duel to banish Solemn Warning from Flores’s hand. Flores Summoned Master with Eyes of Blue and passed his turn.

Aguilar drew a card and returned his Omega to his field in the Standby Phase. Flores returned Solemn Warning to his hand. Next, Aguilar Summoned Shiranui Spiritmaster and activated its effect to Special Summon Shiranui Solitaire from his Graveyard. He activated Gold Sarcophagus next, banishing Shiranui Samurai from his Deck. Next, he Tributed his Solitaire to Special Summon Uni-Zombie from his Deck, and Solitaire was banished as a result of Spiritmaster’s effect. Since Solitaire was banished, he was able to Special Summon Shiranui Samurai from his Banished Zone with Solitaire’s effect. Next, he banished Mezuki from his Graveyard to Special Summon another Uni-Zombie. He used Uni-Zombie’s effect to discard Uni-Zombie and increase the Level of his Uni-Zombie by one. Next, he Tuned that Uni-Zombie with Spiritmaster to Synchro Summon another PSY-Framelord Omega. Shiranui Samurai attacked and destroyed Master with Eyes of Blue after gaining 600 ATK with its effect, and then direct attacks from both Omegas and Uni-Zombie finished Flores off!

Aguilar takes a quick win in Duel 2 thanks to a strong opening hand! The Match is going to a third and final Duel!

Duel Three

Flores started off Duel 3 by revealing a Blue-Eyes White Dragon from his hand to Special Summon Blue-Eyes Alternative White Dragon.

He Normal Summoned The White Stone of Ancients next, and Tuned it with Blue-Eyes Alternative White Dragon to Synchro Summon Blue-Eyes Spirit Dragon in Defense Position. Aguilar discarded Ally of Justice Cycle Reader to banish The White Stone of Ancients and Blue-Eyes Alternative White Dragon from Flores’s Graveyard and then play passed to Aguilar.

Aguilar drew a card and then had Pot of Desires, Gold Sarcophagus, Uni-Zombie, Solemn Warning, and Shiranui Spiritmaster in his hand. He activated Pot of Desires to banish the top 10 cards of his Deck face-down and draw 2 cards, and then used Gold Sarcophagus to banish Shiranui Spiritmaster from his Deck. He used his banished Spiritmaster’s effect to target Blue-Eyes Spirit Dragon for destruction, and Flores Chained the effect of his Spirit Dragon to Tribute it and Special Summon Azure-Eyes Silver Dragon from his Extra Deck and activate its effect. Next, Aguilar Summoned Shiranui Spiritmaster and activated its effect; but lost out to Effect Veiler. He Set Solemn Warning before ending his turn.

Flores Normal Summoned The White Stone of Legend and then activated the effect of Sage with Eyes of Blue from his hand to try to Special Summon a Blue-Eyes White Dragon from his Deck; but Aguilar flipped Solemn Warning and paid 2000 Life Points to negate it. Next, Flores switched his Azure-Eyes Silver Dragon into Attack Position, attacked Spiritmaster with his Silver Dragon, and then attacked directly with The White Stone of Legend.

Aguilar Summoned Zombie Master! He discarded Shiranui Solitaire to activate its effect and Special Summon Solitaire back from his Graveyard, and then Tributed Solitaire to Special Summon Uni-Zombie from his Deck. Next, he used Uni-Zombie’s effect to increase its Level by 1 and send Mezuki from his Deck to his Graveyard. He Tuned Uni-Zombie with Zombie Master to Synchro Summon Shiranui Shogunsaga. He activated its effect to banish Spiritmaster from his Graveyard and destroy Azure-Eyes Silver Dragon with his Spiritmaster’s effect. Then, he banished Mezuki from his Graveyard to Special Summon Zombie Master from his Graveyard. He activated another Pot of Desires next, banishing the top ten cards of his Deck face-down to draw Raigeki and Drowning Mirror Force. He discarded Uni-Zombie from his hand to activate Zombie Master’s effect and Special Summon Uni-Zombie from his Graveyard. He attacked The White Stone of Legend with Shogunsaga, destroying it and allowing Flores to add a Blue-Eyes White Dragon to his hand. Then, he attacked directly with Zombie Master and Uni-Zombie, dropping Flores down to 400 Life Points. In Main Phase 2, Aguilar Tuned his Zombie Master with Uni-Zombie to Synchro Summon Black Rose Moonlight. Finally, he Set Drowning Mirror Force before ending his turn.

Flores drew a card and conceded, completely outmatched by Aguilar’s field.

Central America’s World Championship representative, Brandon Ossiel Aguilar Gonzalez, is moving on with a 1-0 record using a Zombie Deck here in YCS Mexico City!