Aaron Furman and Chris LeBlanc are two of the most decorated competitors in the room: Furman is a UDS Champion, a YCS Champion, and a former competitor in the World Championship. Chris LeBlanc has two Yu-Gi-Oh! Championship Series wins.

 

Both of these Duelists are friends, both of them travel together and play on the same team, and they’ve never actually played each other before in a YCS or World Champinship Qualifier. Now we’ll finally get to see them slug it out in a YCS Feature Match, as they go head-to-head in a True Draco Zoo mirror Match.

LeBlanc opened the Match with True Draco Heritage and Set True King’s Return, Tributing Return for Dinomight Knight, the True Dracofighter with Heritage’s effect. LeBlanc drew with Heritage, Normal Summoned Zoodiac Ratpier, and used its effect to kick Zoodiac Ramram to the Graveyard. He overlaid Ratpier with Hammerkong, overlaid that with Zoodiac Broadbull, and detached Hammerkong to search Zoodiac Whiptail. He overlaid Broadbull with Zoodiac Chakanine, detached Broadbull to revive Ramram, and detached Ratpier to Special Summon another Ratpier from his Deck.

 

From there LeBlanc used Ramram and Chakanine to Link Summon Missus Radiant, and overlaid for Tigermortar, attaching Ramram to it before overlaying for Zoodiac Drident to finish out.

 

Furman had Raigeki; True Draco Apocalypse; Zoodiac Ratpier; two Dragonic Diagram; and Pot of Desires. He activated Desires to banish ten cards and draw two, scoring Master Peace, the True Dracoslaying King and Zoodiac Whiptail. LeBlanc used his Dinomight Knight, the True Dracofighter to activate True Draco Apocalypse to the field from his Deck. Furman cleared the board with Raigeki, and LeBlanc got back his Ramram with Missus Radiant’s effect.

 

Furman Normal Summoned Zoodiac Ratpier to send Zoodiac Combo to the Graveyard, and Set True Draco Apocalypse. LeBlanc flipped Dimensional Barrier. Furman activated Dragonic Diagram, lost it as LeBlanc used True Draco Apocalypse on his True Draco Heritage, using Heritage’s effect to destroy Diagram, and then activated another Diagram to search his deck for a True Draco Heritage of his own. He activated Heritage and drew three cards: Shuffle Reborn and TWO copies of Dimensional Barrier! Furman Set both Barriers to end his turn.

 

Play was back to LeBlanc, who played wordlessly, razor focused. He activated Heritage, Tributed True Draco Apocalypse for Ignis Heat, the True Dracowarrior, and used Apocalypse’s effect to destroy furman’s Zoodiac Ratpier. He Normal Summoned Zoodiac Ramram, overlaid it with Zoodiac Boarbow, and then added Zoodiac Chakanine. He detached Boarbow to try and revive a monster, and Furman responded with Dimensional Barrier! LeBlanc got Disciples of the True Dracophoenix, activated it, and returned Heritage, Ignis Heat, and Apocalypse to his deck to draw. He was back at two cards. LeBlanc drew again with True Draco Heritage, then drew two more with Pot of Desires! Suddenly he was up to four cards in hand off just one card and was back in the game.

 

LeBlanc’s stoic focus broke. “YO! Furman! I’m sorry, bro.” LeBlanc laughed, ready to breath again after completely refilling his hand off rip after rip.

 

“If it makes you feel better, I’m pretty sure you’re losing this game,” grinned Furman.

 

“Three cards in hand?” asked LeBlanc.

“Yeah!” Furman sounded confident. “Three crazy cards!” It was hard to tell if he was actually confident, or just trying to kid his way through this. Regardless, he didn’t seem rattled in the slightest.

 

LeBlanc shuffled his hand rapidly, trying to consider the possibilities. “I haven’t used any of the spell effects, right, except to draw and to Tribute?” LeBlanc could still use Disciples to Tribute Summon, and its Graveyard effect. He also still had Heritage’s Graveyard trigger. “I can use this to destroy?”

 

“I hope you use it to destroy,” quipped Furman

 

LeBlanc activated Zoodiac Barrage to destroy his True Draco Heritage, Special Summoning Zoodiac Thoroughblade, and used Heritage to destroy Furman’s Dragonic Diagram. He pitched Zoodiac Whiptail to draw with Thoroughblade. He Set a card to his backrow, activated Disciples, and Tributed Disciples and True Draco Apocalypse for Master Peace, the True Dracoslaying King. Now he was back down to one card left in hand, with a field of Master Peace, Thoroughblade, Ignis Heat, and Zoodiac Broadbull. He popped Furman’s second Dimensional Barrier to clear the field, then attacked with Master Peace, Ignis Heat, and Thoroughblade. Furman dropped to 1050 Life Points. LeBlanc banished for Master Peace’s destruction effect in Main Phase 2, targeted True Draco Heritage to destroy it, and when it hit the Graveyard Furman destroyed LeBlanc’s Barrage.

 

 

Furman drew Soul Charge, holding Master Peace, the True Dracoslaying King, Shuffle Reborn, and Zoodiac Whiptail. He Summoned Whiptail, LeBlanc banished True King’s Return to destroy Whiptail with Master Peace, and Furman brought back Zoodiac Ratpier with Shuffle Reborn. LeBlanc got back his Disciples. Furman overlaid Ratpier with Hammerkong and detached Zoodiac Ratpier to Special Summon another from his Deck. He overlaid Hammerkong with Zoodiac Broadbull, detached Hammerkong to search Zoodiac Whiptail, and repeatedly checked his Extra Deck before overlaying Broadbull with Zoodiac Drident. He used it to pop LeBlanc’s spent Master Peace, then Set a card.

 

He banished Shuffle Reborn to send back his Zoodiac Ratpier, drawing Zoodiac Barrage! He activated it and destroyed it to Special Summon Zoodiac Ramram from his Deck, then overlaid for Zoodiac Tigermortar. He used it to recycle the Ratpiers, Special Summoning the one he’d placed back in his Deck. From there he banished Zoodiac Combo to shuffle back Broadbull, Barrage, Whiptail, Ratpier, and Hammerkong, drawing another Master Peace, the True Dracoslaying King.

 

Furman traded in Tigermortar and Ratpier for Missus Radiant, holding two Master Peace,Whiptail, and Soul Charge. He dropped to 50 Life Points activating Soul Charge to revive Zoodiac Ratpier! This was a desperate gambit. Furman overlaid Ratpier with Zoodiac Boarbow to detach the Ratpier and Special Summon another one, yet again. He overlaid Boarbow with Zoodiac Chakanine, detached Boarbow to bring back Drident, and overlaid Ramram and Ratpier to make Daigusto Emeral. It became readily apparent that he was digging for True Draco Continuous Spells to get that Master Peace live. “Let’s see if it gets there.”

 

Furman shuffled back Tigermortar, Ratpier, and Boarbow looking for one of those spells… and drew Book of Moon instead. He Set it. “Go ahead.” He lost a Master Peace from hand in the End Phase, finishing out Shuffle Reborn’s effects.

 

LeBlanc detached to search Zoodiac Whiptail with Broadbull, and when he overlaid Broadbull with Zoodiac Chakanine Furman flipped Book of Moon. But that was what LeBlanc had been waiting for: with Furman’s cards expended, LeBlanc flashed Dark Hole and Zoodiac Whiptail from his hand – it represented more than enough damage to clear the field and finish off Furman’s last 50 Life Points.

 

 

A little under ten minutes remain in the Match as Chris LeBlanc takes the win in Game 1, fighting an intense Duel that lasted over half an hour! “Ready when you are,” said LeBlanc, as he swiftly finished Side Decking.

 

Furman would begin, holding Dinomight Knight, the True Dracofighter; Dragonic Diagram; Magic Deflector; Zoodiac Ratpier; and Dimensional Barrier.  He Normal Summoned Zoodiac Ratpier, sent Zoodiac Combo to his Graveyard, overlaid Ratpier with Zoodiac Hammerkong, and detached it to Special Summon another Ratpier. He overlaid Hammerkong with Zoodiac Broadbull, detached the monkey to search Zoodiac Ramram, and overlaid Broadbull with Zoodiac Chakanine.

 

He detached Broadbull to revive Hammerkong, then used Chakanine and Hammerkong to Link Summon Missus Radiant. He activated Dragonic Diagram, pitched Ramram to search True King’s Return, and revived Hammerkong with Ramram’s effect. He overlaid Zoodiac Ratpier with Zoodiac Tigermortar, used it to attach Ramram to Hammerkong, and overlaid Tigermortar with Zoodiac Drident. He finished Setting Return, Barrier, and Magic Deflector, and burned his Ramram off Hammerkong in the End Phase.

 

LeBlanc Summoned Zoodiac Ratpier to send Zoodiac Thoroughblade to his Graveyard and Furman blasted it with Drident. LeBlanc searched Dragonic Diagram with Terraforming, activated it, Set a card to his Spell and Trap Card Zone and when he activated Diagram’s effect, Furman Chained Magic Deflector and LeBlanc scooped right then and there.

 

 

Roughly three minutes remain in the Round as Chris LeBlanc concedes the second Duel to a commanding set-up from Furman! The Match was 1-1 heading into a third and final Duel, and both players spent a bit of time Side Decking carefully. They both shuffled at a furious pace, before shaking hands and beginning Game 3.

 

LeBlanc started with 80 seconds left on the clock. He popped his Barrage to Special Summon Zoodiac Ratpier and overlaid it with Zoodiac Hammerkong, Furman feigned a Maxx “C”, didn’t produce one, and LeBlanc detached one Zoodiac Ratpier to get another. He overlaid Hammerkong with Zoodiac Broadbull, detached Hammerkong to search for Zoodiac Ramram, and time was called. LeBlanc searched Dragonic Diagram with Terraforming, activated it, and used it to pop his Ramram from his hand, searching Master Peace, the True Dracoslaying King.

 

From there he revived his other Zoodiac Ratpier with Ramram’s effect, overlaid Broadbull with Drident, overlaid that with Zoodiac Chakanine, and detached Drident to revive it. He overlaid Chakanine with Zoodiac Tigermortar, attached Ramram to Drident, and Tributed the Tigermortar for Master Peace, the True Dracoslaying King. He overlaid both Zoodiac Ratpier for Abyss Dweller.

 

Turn 1 in time. Furman had Dragonic Diagram; Terraforming; Fire Formation – Tenki; True King’s Return; Zoodiac Barrage; and Book of Moon. LeBlanc detached for Abyss Dweller’s effect, Furman Chained Book to turn Drident face-down, and then activated Tenki to get Zoodiac Ratpier from his Deck. Furman Normal Summoned it, used its ability to kick Zoodiac Thoroughblade to the Graveyard, and overlaid Ratpier with Zoodiac Boarbow. He detached Zoodiac Ratpier to Special Summon another from his Deck, then overlaid Boarbow with Zoodiac Chakanine. He detached Boarbow to revive it, then used Boarbow and Chakanine for Missus Radiant.

 

 

Furman activated Zoodiac Barrage destroying his Fire Formation – Tenki, and Special Summoned Zoodiac Whiptail from his Deck. He overlaid Ratpier with Zoodiac Hammerkong, Furman overlaid Whiptail with Zoodiac Drident, then overlaid that with Tigermortar, detaching Drident to attach Thoroughblade to Tigermortar with Tigermortar’s effect. He followed up with Terraforming for Dragonic Diagram, and was left holding Diagram, Heritage, and True Draco Apocalypse.

 

He shuffled his hand back and forth a bit, activated a Diagram, and used it to trade his Barrage for a copy of Master Peace, the True Dracoslaying King from his Deck. He Set Apocalypse, activated True Draco Heritage and used its effect to Tribute Hammerkong and Return for Master Peace. He entered his Battle Phase, sent Missus Radiant to attack over Abyss Dweller, and LeBlanc lost his Rank 4! Furman sent his Master Peace into LeBlanc’s Master Peace, forcing Leblanc to activate its effect; LeBlanc banished Barrage to destroy Furman’s Tigermortar and Furman pressed. He moved to Main Phase 2 and drew two cards with Heritage’s effect: Dinomight Knight, the True Dracofighter and True King’s Return. Furman banished his Tenki from the Graveyard to destroy LeBlanc’s Dragonic Diagram with Mater Peace, then Set his True Draco Apocalypse.

 

Turn 2 in time. LeBlanc drew to two cards in hand with one card set in his Spell and Trap Card Zone, plus a Set Zoodiac Drident with Zoodiac Ramram attached to it. He Flip Summoned the Drident, detached Ramram to destroy Furman’s Diagram, and overlaid Drident with Zoodiac Chakanine. Furman flipped True Draco Apocalypse, Tributing it for Dinomight Knight to pop Chakanine. “It was just too much removal,” remarked LeBlanc, seeming close to throwing in the towel, but still holding two cards with one backrow Set.

 

 

LeBlanc flipped True Draco Apocalypse from his backrow and Tributed it for his Dinomight Knight. That was it – it was all he had, and it wasn’t enough. LeBlanc scooped his cards and offered the handshake to Furman just as quickly as he’d made the play.

 

Aaron Furman wins the final Duel of the Match in the last moments of end of match procedures, and moves on undefeated with True Draco Zoodiacs!