Miguel Moreno has made the trip here this weekend from Lincoln, Nebraska. He is piloting the very popular Blue-Eyes Deck, focusing on explosive plays by accelerating huge Dragons onto the field alongside Tuners to summon super powerful Xyz and Synchro Monsters. His opponent is none other than UDS Summer Invitational Champion Ryan Murakami, who came to the YCS with Byes in his first two rounds thanks to the title he earned.  He is also running Blue-Eyes this weekend, and the Blue-Eyes mirror Match is about as fast paced as it gets. Can Moreno take down the UDS Champ?

Duel One

Murakami won the roll and chose to go first.

Murakami opened with Upstart Goblin, Cards of Consonance, Return of the Dragon Lords, Skill Drain, and The White Stone of Legend. He activated Upstart Goblin and drew Sage with Eyes of Blue, then activated Cards of Consonance discarding The White Stone of Legend to draw two cards and add Blue-Eyes White Dragon from his Deck to his hand once the Stone triggered. He Special Summoned Blue-Eyes Alternative White Dragon, then activated Trade-In to discard his Blue-Eyes White Dragon and draw another Trade-In and Phoenix Wing Wind Blast. He Normal Summoned Sage with Eyes of Blue and tried to activate its effect, but Moreno stopped it with Effect Veiler. Murakami pressed on by Synchro Summoning Blue-Eyes Spirit Dragon, and followed it up with Return of the Dragon Lords for Blue-Eyes Alternative White Dragon. He Set Skill Drain and Phoenix Wing Wind Blast before ending his turn.

Moreno drew a card and sighed a bit before he Set a monster and a card to his back row. During the End Phase, Murakami Flipped his Set Phoenix Wing Wind Blast to ditch the extra copy of Trade-In he had to spin away Moreno’s Set back row, then activated the effect of his Blue-Eyes Spirit Dragon to tribute it and Special Summon Azure-Eyes Silver Dragon from his Extra Deck!

Murakami drew Return of the Dragon Lords for turn, and during the Standby Phase he triggered his Azure-Eyes Silver Dragon’s effect to Special Summon Blue-Eyes White Dragon from his Graveyard. He activated the effect of Blue-Eyes Alternative White Dragon to destroy Moreno’s Set The White Stone of Ancients, then combined both of his Level 8 Dragons to Xyz Summon Galaxy-Eyes Cipher Dragon before ranking up into Number 95: Galaxy-Eyes Dark Matter Dragon! He activated its effect to send Blue-Eyes White Dragon, The White Stone of Ancients, and Blue-Eyes Alternative White Dragon from his Deck to the Graveyard, while Moreno was forced to banish Maxx “C”, Dragon Spirit of White, and Divine Dragon Lord Felgrand from his Deck. As Murakami activated Return of the Dragon Lords, Moreno saw the writing on the walls. Blue-Eyes White Dragon hit the table to give Murakami enough damage to end the Duel!

A great hand for Murakami and a poor start for Moreno leads to a quick end in the first Duel. Can Moreno manage to defeat the UDS Champ in Duel 2?

Duel Two

Moreno started off Duel 2 with Dragon Shrine, sending Dragon Spirit of White followed by The White Stone of Legend to the Graveyard. The Stone’s effect triggered and added Blue-Eyes White Dragon to his hand, but Moreno immediately ditched it with Trade-In to draw two fresh cards. He activated Return of the Dragon Lords, but Murakami Chained Maxx “C” to make sure things didn’t get out of hand. Moreno pressed on with the Normal Summon of Sage with Eyes of Blue to add Effect Veiler to his hand, and then Synchro Summoned Blue-Eyes Spirit Dragon, allowing Murakami to draw another card with the effect of Maxx “C”.

Murakami began with Gameciel, the Sea Turtle Kaiju, Phoenix Wing Wind Blast, Return of the Dragon Lords, The White Stone of Ancients, Upstart Goblin, Raigeki, and The White Stone of Legend. He activated Upstart Goblin and drew The Melody of Awakening Dragon. He Tributed the opposing Blue-Eyes Spirit Dragon away to summon Gameciel, the Sea Turtle Kaiju to Moreno’s side of the field, then activated Melody, discarding Raigeki to add Blue-Eyes White Dragon and Blue-Eyes Alternative White Dragon to his hand, which prompted Moreno to activate Maxx “C”. Murakami still chose to Special Summon Blue-Eyes Alternative White Dragon to the field, then Normal Summoned The White Stone of Ancients before entering his Battle Phase. He declared an attack with Blue-Eyes Alternative White Dragon over Gameciel, the Sea Turtle Kaiju and attacked directly with The White Stone of Ancients. In Main Phase 2, he Synchro Summoned Blue-Eyes Spirit Dragon and Set Phoenix Wing Wind Blast before he ended his turn.

Moreno drew to a full six cards and began to consider his lines of play. He Set a card to his back row and then activated Dragon Shrine, sending The White Stone of Ancients to the Graveyard. He Set another card to his back row and moved to End Phase trying to use The White Stone of Ancients, but Murakami negated it with his Blue-Eyes Spirit Dragon. Murakami wasn’t done, and sent Moreno’s back row to the top of Moreno’s Deck with Phoenix Wing Wind Blast, discarding The White Stone of Ancients. The White Stone of Ancients activated to Special Summon Dragon Spirit of White, which banished Moreno’s only other card in his back row.

Murakami drew Maxx “C” and activated Return of the Dragon Lords to Special Summon Blue-Eyes Alternative White Dragon, which gave him enough Attack Points to end the Duel!

Murakami takes an impressive 2-0 victory over Moreno in the Blue-Eyes mirror, and moves on with a 3-1 record!