We are in Round 2! We’ve got two Washington Duelists for this Feature Match. Originally from Los Angeles, Max Halpern now resides in Moses Lake. He’s brought an ABC Deck today. The strategy was very successful in 2016, but can it still keep up? He’s up against Jared Wallace, from Auburn, using Flower Cardians! The Flower Cardians, based on the game of Hanafuda, have effects to reveal the next card of the Deck and get a bonus if it is a Flower Cardian. They can make some huge plays with those effects, but can they defeat the brute strength of the ABC Unions?

Duel 1

Halpern won the dice roll and chose to play first. He began with Pot of Desires, banishing ten of his cards face-down to draw two new cards. He Set a monster and three back row cards.

Wallace began with a hand of Flower Cardian Pine, Flower Cardian Cherry Blossom with Curtain, 2 Flower Cardian Willow, Flower Cardian Paulownia, and Flower Cardian Clover with Boar. He used Cherry Blossom with Curtain, revealing Super Koi Koi. He Normal Summoned Pine, and used its effect, getting another Pine to his hand. He Special Summoned Willow from his hand, returning Cherry Blossom with Curtain from his Graveyard to his Deck, and he drew Flower Gathering. He Tributed Willow to Special Summon Clover with Boar in Defense Position. Its effect sent Super Koi Koi to the Graveyard. He Special Summoned his second Willow, using its effect to return his first Willow from the Graveyard to the Deck, and he drew Raigeki. He activated Paulownia in his hand, and Halpern used Maxx “C”.

Halpern played Terraforming to get Union Hangar, and played it, adding A-Assault Core to his hand. He played Silver Gadget, and Special Summoned A-Assault Core. He then equipped C-Crush Wyvern to his Core, using Union Hangar. He stacked Core and Silver Gadget for Bujintei Tsukuyomi, and Wyvern went to the Graveyard. He detached Core from Bujintei Tsukuyomi to use its effect, sending B-Buster Drake to the Graveyard as well! He then Special Summoned ABC-Dragon Buster from his Extra Deck, and Flip Summoned B-Buster Drake. He used ABC-Dragon Buster to banish Paulownia, then flipped up Call of the Haunted to bring back Silver Gadget. He stacked his Gadget and Buster Drake for Number 39: Utopia, then upgraded that into Number S39: Utopia the Lightning! Utopia attacked and used its effect, wiping out Flower Cardian Pine and dropping Wallace to 3100 Life Points. ABC-Dragon Buster and Bujintei Tsukuyomi destroyed the remaining Flower Cardians.

Wallace drew Flower Cardian Pine. He played Raigeki, and Halpern used ABC-Dragon Buster to Special Summon his Union Monsters back to the field, so they’d end up in the Graveyard again. A-Assault Core and B-Buster Drake used their effects, getting another Core and Drake to his hand. Wallace Normal Summoned Pine, using its effect to add Flower Cardian Peony with Butterfly to his hand. He Tributed Pine to Special Summon Peony with Butterfly, and its effect put Flower Cardian Maple with Deer in his hand. Then, Cherry Blossom let him see the rearrange the top of Halpern’s Deck: he put Twin Twisters, Zoodiac Whiptail, and Union Hangar in that order on Halpern’s Deck. He Tributed Peony to Special Summon Maple with Deer, and it sent Flower Gathering to the Graveyard. He considered his options, and knew he wouldn’t have a chance to come back into this Duel. He conceded, and the Duelists moved to their Side Decks.

Duel 2

Wallace began with a hand of Flower Cardian Zebra Grass, Flower Cardian Pine, 2 Ghost Ogre & Snow Rabbit, and Breakthrough Skill. He played Pine and sent Recardination to the Graveyard. He used Recardination’s effect, excavating Flower Stacking, Breakthrough Skill, Flower Cardian Cherry Blossom with Curtain, Flower Cardian Willow, and Flower Cardian Willow with Caligrapher. He put Flower Stacking in his hand, then put Breakthrough Skill, Willow with Calligrapher, and Cherry Blossom with Curtain on top of his Deck, so he would draw Cherry Blossom first. He Set Breakthrough Skill.

Halpern played Pot of Desires to start once again! A-Assault Core came next, along with four back row cards. He passed without attacking Pine.

Wallace drew his Cherry Blossom with Curtain, then used Flower Stacking. He took Cherry Blossom with Curtain, Peony with Butterfly, and Pine. He placed them with Pine on bottom, then Peony, and Cherry Blossom on top. He Special Summoned the Cherry Blossom with Curtain that was already his hand, drew the next one and played it, and drew the Peony with Butterfly. He Tributed one Cherry Blossom to play the Peony and draw Pine, and Halpern flipped Dimensional Barrier to block Synchro Monsters from being played this turn. Peony’s effect revealed Artifact Scythe and 2 Union Hangar, and he put them on the bottom of the Halpern’s Deck. He Normal Summoned Pine, which sent a Breakthrough Skill to the Graveyard. He passed his turn.

Halpern played another Pot of Desires, then used Terraforming to draw Union Hangar. He played it, and Wallace used Ghost Ogre & Snow Rabbit to destroy it. Halpern continued, playing B-Buster Drake and Xyz Summoning Bujintei Tsukuyomi. He detached Core from it, and Wallace flipped Breakthrough Skill. He sent Bujintei Tsukuyomi to destroy Peony with Butterfly.

Wallace drew Flower Cardian Paulownia with Phoenix. He banished Flower Stacking from his Graveyard to get Peony with Butterfly to his hand. Then, he Tributed Pine to Special Summon it, adding Willow with Calligrapher and looking at Halpern’s cards. Artifact Sanctum, Union Hangar, and C-Crush Wyvern went to the bottom of the Deck. He played Zebra Grass and used its effect, drew Super Koi Koi, and played it to Special Summon a Willow and a Willow with Calligrapher to the field, as Level 2 monsters. He used Super Koi Koi in the Graveyard, and Tributed Willow with Calligrapher to Special Summon Paulownia with Phoenix, which sent Raigeki to the Graveyard. He Tributed Willow on the field to Special Summon Willow with Calligrapher from his hand, adding Cherry Blossom with Curtain to his hand. He played it, adding Willow to his hand. He Special Summoned Willow, returning another Willow from his Graveyard to the Deck to draw Flower Gathering. He sent Willow with Calligrapher to destroy Bujintei Tsukuyomi, and Paulownia with Phoenix to attack directly, and Paulownia’s effect let him draw Recardination. Cherry Blossom with Curtain attacked, and Halpern used Call of the Haunted to block some of the damage with his B-Buster Drake. In Main Phase 2, he Synchro Summoned Flower Cardian Lightshower in Defense Position. Then, he used Flower Gathering to play Pine, Paulownia, Zebra Grass, and Willow from his Deck! He played Recardination to add Peony with Butterfly to his hand. He Tributed Zebra Grass for Peony with Butterfly, which added another Zebra Grass to his hand. Peony’s effect revealed 2 Artifact Sanctum and a B-Buster Drake. He put the Sanctums on the top of the Deck. He then Synchro Summoned another Lightshower in Defense Position.

In Halpern’s Draw Phase, the two Lightshowers dealt a total of 3000 damage! Halpern had no way to survive another round of damage from Lightshower, and conceded!

Duel 3

Halpern went first this time, using Terraforming to get Union Hangar. He played it and lost it to Wallace’s Ghost Ogre & Snow Rabbit. He played Silver Gadget and A-Assault Core made Bujintei Tsukuyomi, and Set two cards. Bujintei Tsukuyomi used its effect, which sent a B-Buster Drake to the Graveyard.

Wallace’s hand was Zebra Grass, Clover with Boar, Paulownia with Phoenix, and Recardination. He drew Raigeki and played it, but had no follow-ups.

Halpern played another A-Assault Core, and used Union Hangar to equip it with C-Crush Wyvern. He Special Summoned ABC-Dragon Buster, and attacked with Core and ABC-Dragon Buster.

Halpern drew another Zebra Grass. Since all of the monsters in his hand couldn’t be played without other Flower Cardians on the field, Wallace was unable to make a move!

Max Halpern is your victor, with ABC!