Round 1 Feature Match: Jeffrey Jones vs. Brenden Beckmann
Jeffrey Jones is one of the most popular veteran Duelists we have in attendance, known for piloting unique and creative strategies that no one is prepared to face. This weekend is no different, as Jones has chosen to follow the path of Yugi Muto rather than Seto Kaiba, and put down his Blue-Eyes Deck to pick up the Dark Magician. Will the rogue pick pay off? Jones’s opponent this round, Brenden Beckmann, isn’t a slouch. Beckmann has a ton of YCS experience. Beckmann is piloting a D/D/D, which is a Fiend-based strategy that has recently gained a ton of popularity. Beckmann’s Deck focuses on consistently putting a ton of threats onto the field. Can Jones’s mastery of illusion overcome Beckmann’s Different Dimension Demons? It’s time to Duel!
Jones won the roll and chose to go first.
Duel One
Jones started with a hand of Solemn Strike, Dark Magician, Magician Navigation, Magician’s Robe, and Magician of Dark Illusion. He Set both of his Traps before ending his turn.
Beckmann began by immediately activating Pot of Desires, banishing the top ten cards of his Deck to draw two cards. He then activated Dark Contract with the Gate and used it to add D/D Savant Kepler to his hand, which he Normal Summoned to activate its effect. He added Dark Contract with the Witch to his hand, before he Set four cards to his back row and passed to Jones. During the End Phase, Jones flipped his Set Magician Navigation to Special Summon the Dark Magician from his hand and Magician of Dark Illusion from his Deck! This activated the effect of his in-hand Magician of Dark Illusion, but Beckmann responded to it with Maxx “C”.
Jones drew Pot of Desires for turn and slammed it down, but Beckmann had Mask Change II discarding D/D Necro Slime to upgrade his D/D Savant Kepler into Masked HERO Dark Law. Jones drew Breakthrough Skill and Solemn Strike off of Pot of Desires, which prompted Beckmann to respond with the effect of his Masked HERO Dark Law; but Jones had Solemn Strike to negate its effect and destroy it! He Normal Summoned Magician’s Robe and switched Magician of Dark Illusion to Attack Position, then made direct attacks with each of his Spellcasters. On the final attack with Dark Magician, Beckmann responded with Dark Contract with the Witch discarding D/D/D King Dragon Pendragon, but Jones banished Magician Navigation from his Graveyard to negate it! The attacks took a huge chunk of Beckmann’s Life Points and left him with just 600, putting Jones in the perfect spot to Xyz Summon Red-Eyes Flare Metal Dragon and seal the Duel!
Jones takes an impressive victory in the first Duel thanks to his trusty Dark Magician and a bit of help from Joey’s Red-Eyes monsters as well. Can Beckmann win two Duels in a row with his D/D/D Deck?
Duel Two
Beckmann started with Allure of Darkness, drawing two cards before banishing D/D Necro Slime from his hand. He then Normal Summoned D/D Savant Kepler to add Dark Contract with the Gate to his hand, which he then activated to add D/D Swirl Slime. He Set a card to his back row and ended his turn.
Jones began with a hand of Breakthrough Skill, Maxx “C”, Vanity’s Emptiness, Dark Magician, and Magician Navigation before drawing Eternal Soul. Jones Set all of his Traps and then ended his turn.
Beckmann drew and took 1000 Life Points from Dark Contract with the Gate, then used it to add D/D/D Oblivion King Abyss Ragnarok to his hand. He Tributed his Savant for Vanity’s Fiend, then made a direct attack. He placed D/D Savant Thomas in his Pendulum Zone and used it to add back D/D Savant Kepler to his hand from his Extra Deck, then Set a card and moved to his End Phase. During the End Phase, Jones activated Breakthrough Skill to negate the Vanity’s Fiend so he could use his Magician Navigation to Special Summon Dark Magician from his hand and Magician of Dark Illusion from his Deck.
Jones drew Maxx “C” for turn and went into his Battle Phase. He tried to attack over the Vanity’s Fiend with Dark Magician, but neglected to remember the effect of Dark Contract of the Witch, which boosts all of Beckmann’s Fiends! His Dark Magician lost the fight and was sent to the Graveyard. Jones was forced to just Set his Solemn Warning and pass his turn. During his End Phase, Beckmann used the effect of Dark Contract with the Witch to discard D/D Swirl Slime and destroy the Set Solemn Warning.
Beckmann drew and took 1000 Life Points for Dark Contract with the Gate. He then used its effect to add D/D Swirl Slime to his hand, before using Dark Contract with the Witch to discard the Slime and try to destroy Magician of Dark Illusion. Jones responded with the effect of Magician Navigation, banishing it to negate the Dark Contract with the Witch. Beckmann Set another card to his back row and ended his turn.
Jones drew Dark Magician for his turn and then banished Breakthrough Skill from his Graveyard to negate the effect of Vanity’s Fiend, but in response Beckmann used Dark Contract with the Witch to discard D/D/D Oblivion King Abyss Ragnarok and destroy Magician of Dark Illusion.
Beckmann drew a card and 1000 Life Points were dealt to him from Dark Contract with the Gate. He used Dark Contract with the Gate to add D/D Savant Kepler to his hand, then activated the effect of Dark Contract with the Witch to discard D/D Savant Kepler to destroy Jones’s Set Vanity’s Emptiness. He made a direct attack with Vanity’s Fiend leaving Jones with 2300 Life Points. He Normal Summoned D/D Savant Kepler in Main Phase 2 to return his Dark Contract with the Gate back to his hand so it wouldn’t hurt him anymore, then Set a card to his back row.
Jones drew Pot of Desires and used it to banish ten cards from his Deck before drawing Pot of Duality and Magician’s Rod. He used Pot of Duality and revealed Dark Magical Circle, Quaking Mirror Force, and Maxx “C” before he chose to add the Trap Card to his hand. He Normal Summoned Magician’s Rod and activated its effect, prompting Beckmann to chain Floodgate Trap Hole and Flip it down. He still added Dark Magical Circle from the effect of the Rod, but when it didn’t find anything helpful Jones conceded to Beckmann and his Vanity’s Fiend.
The consistent stream of cards from Dark Contract with the Gate backed up by the destruction of Dark Contract with the Witch leads Beckmann to victory. Which DARK strategy will take it down in the final Duel?
Duel Three
Jones had a hand of Solemn Warning, Magician Navigation, Dark Magical Circle, Magician’s Rod, and Maxx “C”. He activated the Dark Magical Circle to look at the top three cards of his Deck and found Illusion Magic. He then Normal Summoned Magician’s Rod and used it to add Eternal Soul to his hand, before he used Illusion Magic to send his Magician’s Rod to the Graveyard so he could add two copies of Dark Magician to his hand. He Set his Traps before ending his turn.
Beckmann began with Pot of Desires, banishing ten cards from his Deck to draw two. He then used Allure of Darkness to draw two more and banish D/D/D Dragon King Pendragon from his hand. He activated D/D/D Oblivion King Abyss Ragnarok in his Pendulum Scale, then activated the effect of D/D Swirl Slime to fuse it with D/D Savant Thomas. Jones Chained Maxx “C” to the effect of Swirl Slime and drew Pot of Desires from the Fusion Summon of D/D/D Oracle King D’arc. This then triggered the effect of D/D/D Oblivion King Abyss Ragnarok to Special Summon the D/D Savant Thomas from his Graveyard, so he could activate the effect of D/D Savant Thomas to destroy the Ragnarok and Special Summon another Ragnarok from his Deck. Jones drew another Pot of Desires as well as Breakthrough Skill off of those two Special Summons thanks to Maxx “C”. He combined both of his Fiends for D/D/D Duo-Dawn King Kali Yuga, but Jones flipped Solemn Warning to negate its Summon! Beckmann pressed forward with a direct attack from D/D/D Oracle King D’arc before he Set three cards to his back row. When Beckmann tried to end his turn, Jones used Magician Navigation to Special Summon Dark Magician from his hand and Magician of Dark Illusion from his Deck, but Beckmann had Maxx “C” to make sure things didn’t get too crazy. Jones also used Eternal Soul to add Dark Magic Attack to his hand.
Jones drew Pot of Duality for turn and activated Dark Magic Attack to wipe out all of the cards in Beckmann’s back row! He then used Pot of Desires to banish ten cards from his Deck and draw Eternal Soul as well as Allure of Darkness. He combined his two Spellcasters for Ebon Illusion Magician, then used its effect to Special Summon Dark Magician from his Deck. This triggered the effect of Dark Magical Circle to banish Beckmann’s D/D/D monster, and then Jones made direct attacks with both of his monsters. Still during the Battle Phase, Jones used Eternal Soul to Special Summon another Dark Magician and attack with it as well. With Beckmann low on life just like in the first Duel, Jones capitalized by combining both copies of Dark Magician to Xyz Summon Red-Eyes Flare Metal Dragon before Setting three cards to his back row and ending his turn.
Beckmann drew to two cards in his hand and couldn’t find a way out of the situation, causing him to concede.
After a couple intense Duels and a fantastic opening in the final game, Jeff Jones starts YCS Minneapolis off undefeated with his Dark Magician Deck!