We’re starting off Day 2 with one of the coolest Decks we’ve seen here so far. Yueqi Zhu, from Oregon, has made it this far using a 60-card Lightsworn strategy, with That Grass Looks Greener! He’s using the power of the Zoodiac, as well as the Shiranui and other Zombies, to bolster his strategy. Plus, he’s packing the YCS Prize Card Minerva, the Exalted Lightsworn! He’s up against Justin Singh, from Cincinnati, OH, who’s playing a pure Zoodiac strategy.

Duel 1

Singh began with Fire Formation – Tenki, adding Zoodiac Ratpier to his hand. He played Zoodiac Barrage, and used it to destroy his Tenki and Special Summon Zoodiac Thoroughblade. With its effect, he discarded Ratpier to draw a card. Then, he used Thoroughblade to Xyz Summon Zoodiac Boarbow, then used that for Zoodiac Broadbull. Broadbull added Zoodiac Whiptail to his hand. He used Broadbull to Xyz Summon Zoodiac Tigermortar, and had it equip itself with Ratpier from the Graveyard. Then he detached Thoroughblade to Special Summon another Ratpier. He upgraded Tigermortar into Zoodiac Drident, and detached Ratpier to Summon another Ratpier. He used his two Ratpier to play Daigusto Emeral, and shuffled back his Zoodiac cards to draw a new card. He Set four to his back row.

Zhu had a hand of Wulf, Lightsworn Beast, 2 Uni-Zombie, Instant Fusion, That Grass Looks Greener, and Solar Recharge. He played That Grass Looks Greener, sending 23 cards to the Graveyard! Notable cards sent were 2 Mezuki, 2 Fairy Tail – Snow, and 2 Ratpier. He Special Summoned Fairy Tail – Snow, by banishing a bunch of Spell Cards along with Shiranui Spiritmaster. Spiritmaster destroyed Emeral, Snow turned Drident face-down, and Drident destroyed Snow in response. Zhu played Solar Recharge, discarding Wulf to draw Maxx “C” and Speedroid Terrortop, and sent a Wulf from his Deck to the Graveyard! He Special Summoned it. Then, he used Fairy Tail – Snow again, banishing Shiranui Solitaire in the process. Solitaire Special Summoned Spiritmaster, and Singh played Artifact Sanctum! He Special Summoned Artifact Scythe, and used its effect to put a halt to Zhu’s plays this turn. Zhu had Wulf destroy the face-down Drident. In Main Phase 2, Zhu Normal Summoned Uni-Zombie, and used its effect to send a Solitaire to the Graveyard and make itself Level 4.

Singh played another Fire Formation – Tenki to get Thoroughblade to his hand. He Normal Summoned it, and used it to discard Whiptail and draw a card. He used Thoroughblade to Xyz Summon Zoodiac Broadbull. Then, used Zoodiac Barrage on itself – Zhu responded with Maxx “C”. Barrage’s effects resolved, bringing out Whiptail, then attaching Barrage to Broadbull. He upgraded Broadbull into Drident, and now Zhu had drawn Left Arm Offering and Felis, Lightsworn Archer with Maxx “C”. Singh went to the Battle Phase, and sent Scythe to attack Wulf. Zhu responded, using another Fairy Tail – Snow in his Graveyard, and banishing Spiritmaster. Singh used Solemn Strike to negate Spiritmaster, and Snow’s effect turned Scythe face-down. Whiptail attacked Uni-Zombie, and both monsters were destroyed. Drident attacked Snow, and Singh then used Whiptail from his hand to attach it to Drident! It destroyed and banished Snow. Then, Drident detached an Xyz Material to destroy Wulf. In Main Phase 2, Singh Set one to his back row.

Zhu drew Foolish Burial. He banished Mezuki from his Graveyard to Special Summon Shiranui Solitaire. He stacked his Solitaire with Snow to Xyz Summon Minerva, the Exalted Lightsworn, and Drident destroyed it. Minerva’s effect sent some cards to the Graveyard, including Performage Trick Clown. Zhu Special Summoned it in Defense Position, then played Uni-Zombie. He tuned Uni-Zombie to Trick Clown for Michael, the Arch-Lightsworn, which banished Singh’s Twin Twisters. He Special Summoned Snow from his Graveyard again, banishing Solitaire in the process. Snow turned Drident face-down, and Solitaire Special Summoned Spiritmaster. He stacked Snow and Spiritmaster for Zoodiac Broadbull, and detached Snow to add Whiptail to his hand. He upgraded Broadbull into Tigermortar, and used its effect to attach Ratpier from the Graveyard to itself. Then, he detached Broadbull to Special Summon another Ratpier. He used Mezuki to Special Summon another Spiritmaster, and stacked it with Ratpier for Daigusto Emeral. Emeral returned Minerva and 2 Ratpier to let Zhu draw Dimensional Barrier. He upgraded Tigermortar into Boarbow, and detached Tigermortar to Special Summon a Ratpier. He then upgraded Boarbow into Broadbull, and detached its materials to search out and Special Summon a Ratpier with each effect. He stacked his Ratpiers for Bujintei Kagutsuchi, and its effect sent a Wulf from his Deck to the Graveyard! He Special Summoned it, then used his Broadbull to play Drident. Finally, the Battle Phase. Wulf destroyed Singh’s Drident, which still had Whiptail attached and banished the Wulf. However, Zhu’s remaining monsters were enough to reduce Singh’s Life Points to 0!

Zhu starts off with That Grass Looks Greener, and with clever use of Fairy Tail – Snow, prevents Singh from doing anything helpful on his turn! The Duelists moved to their Side Decks – this Match is far from over.

Duel 2

Singh chose to play first, with Fire Formation – Tenki. He searched out Ratpier, and Normal Summoned it, which sent Zoodiac Combo to the Graveyard. He Xyz Summoned Boarbow, then used that to play Broadbull. Its effect Special Summoned a Ratpier, then he used its other effect to add Whiptail to his hand. He upgraded Broadbull into Tigermortar, and attached Ratpier to itself. He detached that to play another Ratpier, then combined his two Ratpier into Emeral. Emeral returned Boarbow and two Ratpier to draw a card. He played Zoodiac Barrage, destroying Tenki to Special Summon Thoroughblade, and its effect discarded Whiptail to draw a card. Tigermortar was upgraded into Drident, and Singh Set four to his back row!

Zhu had a hand of Solitaire, Cosmic Cyclone, Twin Twisters, Instant Fusion, Fairy Tail – Snow, and Zoodiac Barrage. He Normal Summoned Snow, and Singh used Solemn Warning. He played Twin Twisters next, discarding Solitaire to destroy Imperial Iron Wall and Dimensional Barrier – Singh Chained the latter to prevent Synchro Summons this turn. Zhu used Cosmic Cyclone to target the remaining card, and Singh flipped it: Artifact Sanctum! He Special Summoned Artifact Scythe, and Zhu conceded!

Singh created a powerful field with everything he needed to stop Zhu, on his first turn! It all comes down to this final Duel.

Duel 3

Zhu had a hand of Zoodiac Ratpier, Fire Formation – Tenki, Charge of the Light Brigade, Brilliant Fusion, and Zoodiac Barrage. He played Tenki first, adding Zoodiac Thoroughblade to his hand. Barrage came next, destroying Tenki to put another Thoroughblade on the field. Its effect discarded Ratpier, and Zhu drew Fairy Tail – Snow. He used Thoroughblade to Xyz Summon Broadbull, and its effect put Zoodiac Whiptail in his hand. He Xyz Summoned Zoodiac Tigermortar next, and attached Ratpier to it. He upgraded Tigermortar into Boarbow, and Special Summoned Ratpier. Then he turned Boarbow into Drident and played another Ratpier. The two Ratpier became Bujintei Kagutsuchi, sending 5 cards to the Graveyard including Mezuki and Shiranui Spiritmaster. He played Brilliant Fusion, combining his Gem-Knight Garnet and Performage Trick Clown into Gem-Knight Seraphinite in Defense Position. Trick Clown’s effect Special Summoned it, and Zhu Normal Summoned Snow. He combined Snow and Trick Clown into Minerva, the Exalted Lightsworn, and detached Snow to send three more cards to the Graveyard. He played Charge, sending another Snow and a Felis, Lightsworn Archer to the Graveyard, and added Raiden, Hand of the Lightsworn to his hand. He used his extra Normal Summon from Seraphinite, playing Raiden and using its effect. Snow’s effect in the Graveyard activated, banishing 6 cards from his Graveyard and Seraphinite from his field, and he combined Snow and Raiden for PSY-Framelord Omega! An amazing first turn!

Singh might be able to get through that amazing first turn, because he began with Raigeki! Zhu used his Omega’s effect, banishing itself and Singh’s Speedroid Terrortop from his hand. Kagutsuchi survived with its effect. When destroyed, Minerva’s effect sent another Trick Clown to the Graveyard, and he Special Summoned it in Defense Position. Singh continued, using Tenki to get Ratpier to his hand. He played Thoroughblade, and discarded Ratpier to draw a card. He turned Thoroughblade into Broadbull, which put Whiptail in his hand. He turned Broadbull into Tigermortar, and attached Ratpier to it. When it resolved, Zhu used Snow from his Graveyard to turn Tigermortar face-down. Singh responded with Maxx “C” so he could at least draw a card, but his combo was stopped short. Singh played Zoodiac Barrage, destroying Tenki to Special Summon Thoroughblade. At that moment, the round timer ended – now there would only be five more turns to end the Match. Thoroughblade’s effect discarded Ratpier to draw a card. Singh used Thoroughblade to Xyz Summon Boarbow. Boarbow attacked Trick Clown, and Singh attached Whiptail to Boarbow. After that resolved, Zhu Special Summoned Fairy Tail – Snow from his Graveyard and turned Boarbow face-down. Singh got to draw another card thanks to Maxx “C”, but he wasn’t in a good position. In Main Phase 2, Singh used Instant Fusion to play Elder Entity Norden, which Special Summoned Ratpier. He stacked them to play Broadbull, and detached Ratpier to Special Summon another Ratpier. He detached Norden to add Whiptail to his hand. He upgraded Broadbull into Drident, in Defense Position. He detached its Xyz Material to destroy Zhu’s Zoodiac Barrage, then used Whiptail’s effect to attach to Drident.

Zhu drew Speedroid Terrortop, and his PSY-Framelord Omega returned to the field. He stacked Trick Clown and Snow to play Castel, the Skyblaster Musketeer, prompting Singh to use Drident to destroy it. Trick Clown used its effect to come back to the field, and he stacked it with his other Snow to play Emeral. Emeral returned Seraphinite, Minerva, and Castel so he could draw Gem-Knight Garnet. Zhu Special Summoned Snow back to the field, banishing Terrortop from his hand and six more cards from the Graveyard. Then, he used Mezuki to bring out Uni-Zombie. He Synchro Summoned Michael, the Arch-Lightsworn, and had it banish Singh’s Set Boarbow. He Normal Summoned Thoroughblade, discarding Whiptail to draw Zoodiac Barrage. He used Thoroughblade to play Broadbull, and moved to the Battle Phase. Broadbull destroyed Ratpier, dealing piercing damage. Emeral destroyed Drident, and Kagutsuchi destroyed the Set Tigermortar. Michael and Omega attacked directly, wiping out Singh’s remaining Life Points!

Yueqi Zhu is the victor, with his Lightsworn Zombies!