Welcome to the final round of Swiss! We’ve got two Duelists on the bubble – they’ll need a win to have a shot at the Top 8. Los Angeles Duelist Esala Wathuthantrige just went to the World Championship last month, and would love to add the title of Ultimate Duelist to his resume. It won’t be easy, because he has to take down Ruben Penaranda from Miami in a Pendulum Magician mirror-match! This matchup can be very volatile, with Wavering Eyes making a massive impact.

Duel 1

Penaranda won the dice roll, and chose to play first. He played Performapal Skullcrobat Joker, and it was negated by Wathuthantrige’s Ash Blossom & Joyous Spring. He played Purple Poison Magician and Wisdom-Eye Magician in his Pendulum Zones, and used Wisdom-Eye’s effect to put Double Iris Magician in play. He Pendulum Summoned Wisdom-Eye to the field, and Xyz Summoned Tornado Dragon. He used it to destroy Double Iris, adding Time Pendulumgraph to his hand. He Set one card face-down.

Wathuthantrige began with Performapal Pendulum Sorcerer, Harmonizing Magician, Pendulum Call, Wisdom-Eye Magician, and Astrograph Sorcerer. He played his Performapal Pendulum Sorcerer and Wisdom-Eye Magician in his Pendulum Zones, used Wisdom-Eye’s effect, and Penaranda flipped Time Pendulumgraph! He destroyed his Purple Poison and Wathuthantrige’s Wisdom-Eye with Time Pendulumgraph, and Purple Poison destroyed Wathuthantrige’s Performapal Pendulum Sorcerer. Wathuthantrige tried using Astrograph Sorcerer from his hand, and Penaranda used Ash Blossom & Joyous Spring! Wathuthantrige couldn’t use Pendulum Call this turn since he’d used Wisdom-Eye’s effect (even though it failed to resolve). Instead, he played Astrograph Sorcerer in his Pendulum Zone, followed by Harmonizing Magician in the other one, and Penaranda used Tornado Dragon to destroy Harmonizing Magician. Wathuthantrige passed his turn with just Pendulum Call in his hand and Astrograph Sorcerer in his Pendulum Zone.

Penaranda used Pot of Desires to draw two more cards, adding to his lead. He activated Black Fang Magician in his Pendulum Zone, and attacked directly with Tornado Dragon.

Wathuthantrige drew Solemn Strike. He played Pendulum Call, discarding Strike, and Penaranda responded with Time Pendulumgraph to destroy his Black Fang and Wathuthantrige’s Astrograph Sorcerer. Wathuthantrige added Black Fang Magician and Oafdragon Magician to his hand, then Penaranda’s Black Fang brought Skullcrobat Joker back to the field. Wathuthantrige played his Pendulums and used Oafdragon to get Harmonizing Magician to his hand. He Pendulum Summoned Harmonizing Magician along with Wisdom-Eye Magician from his Extra Deck, and Harmonizing Special Summoned Double Iris with its effect. He Tuned Harmonizing Magician to Wisdom-Eye Magician for Ignister Prominence, the Blasting Dracoslayer! Its effect Special Summoned Luster Pendulum, the Dracoslayer in Defense Position, then its other effect got rid of Penaranda’s Joker and Time Pendulumgraph. Penaranda Special Summoned Astrograph Sorcerer, getting another Joker to his hand. Wathuthantrige used his Black Fang’s effect to halve Astrograph’s ATK (and Black Fang wasn’t destroyed thanks to the lingering effect of Pendulum Call), then Ignister wiped out the Astrograph in battle.

Penaranda played his new Skullcrobat Joker, getting Purple Poison to his hand. He played it in his Pendulum Zone, and sent Skullcrobat Joker to attack Ignister. Purple Poison’s effect let Joker win the battle, and then destroyed Luster Pendulum with its other effect. Tornado Dragon destroyed Double Iris in battle, letting Wathuthantrige get Time Pendulumgraph to his hand. Penaranda played White Wing Magician and Wisdom-Eye Magician in Main Phase 2, using Wisdom-Eye to get Double Iris in its place.

Wathuthantrige drew Ash Blossom. He used Oafdragon to add Harmonizing Magician back to his hand, then Pendulum Summoned Wisdom-Eye from his Extra Deck and Harmonizing Magician from his hand. Harmonizing’s effect brought Purple Poison to the field in Defense Position. He used Harmonizing and Wisdom-Eye to play Timestar Magician, adding Skullcrobat Joker to his hand. He Normal Summoned it, adding another Wisdom-Eye Magician to his hand. He had his Black Fang halve the ATK of Tornado Dragon, then prevented Black Fang’s destruction with Timestar (sending Performapal Pendulum Sorcerer to the Graveyard). Timestar attacked and destroyed Penaranda’s Joker, then Wathuthantrige’s Joker destroyed Tornado Dragon. Wathuthantrige Set Time Pendulumgraph to finish his turn.

In Penaranda’s Standby Phase, Wathuthantrige flipped Time Pendulumgraph to clear one of Penaranda’s Pendulum Scales – and Penaranda conceded! He had just one card in his hand, and it wasn’t going to help him with just one Pendulum on the board.

Duel 2

Penaranda chose to play first. He played Blackwing – Gofu the Vague Shadow, then made a pair of Link Spiders with the tokens. He used them to play Missus Radiant, played Oafdragon and Wisdom-Eye Magician in his Pendulum Zone, and activated Star Pendulumgraph. He used Wisdom-Eye Magician to put Double Iris on the field, and his Pendulumgraph added Harmonizing Magician to his hand. He Pendulum Summoned Wisdom-Eye Magician back from the Extra Deck, along with Purple Poison and Harmonizing Magician from his hand. Harmonizing’s effect brought White Wing to the field. White Wing and Purple Poison were combined to play Timestar Magician, which added Skullcrobat Joker to Penaranda’s hand. He Tuned Harmonizing to Wisdom-Eye for PSY-Framelord Omega, banishing it and a Wisdom-Eye Magician from Wathuthantrige’s hand. He Normal Summoned Skullcrobat Joker, adding a Double Iris to his hand. He Tuned Gofu to Skullcrobat Joker for Vermillion Dragon Mech! He used its effect to banish Gofu from his Graveyard, destroying his Double Iris on the field, so he could search for Time Pendulumgraph. He Set it and activated the other Double Iris he had searched. His ending field was a Set Time Pendulumgraph, a face-up Star Pendulumgraph, Double Iris and Oafdragon in the Pendulum Zones, Missus Radiant pointing to Timestar Magician and Vermillion Dragon Mech, with a PSY-Framelord Omega returning next turn. An incredible turn, but it left him with nothing left in his hand.

Wathuthantrige had Performapal Skullcrobat Joker, Cosmic Cyclone, Luster Pendulum, the Dracoslayer, Astrograph Sorcerer, and a Wisdom-Eye Magician he just drew. He played Skullcrobat Joker, adding Harmonizing Magician to his hand. He played Luster Pendulum and Astrograph Sorcerer in his Pendulum Zones, and Pendulum Summoned Wisdom-Eye Magician and Harmonizing Magician. Harmonizing’s effect Special Summoned a Double Iris. He tuned Harmonizing to Double Iris for Supreme King Dragon Clear Wing! The effects of Missus Radiant and Vermillion returned Gofu to Penaranda’s hand and a Link Spider to the Extra Deck. Clear Wing attacked, and Cosmic Cyclone banished Penaranda’s Time Pendulumgraph when it was activated. Joker and Wisdom-Eye attacked directly as well. In Main Phase 2, Luster Pendulum’s effect destroyed Astrograph Sorcerer, adding another copy to Wathuthantrige’s hand.

In Penaranda’s Standby Phase, Omega returned and put Wisdom-Eye Magician back in Wathuthantrige’s hand. Penaranda used it again, and banished the same Wisdom-Eye with it. He used Oafdragon’s effect to add Harmonizing Magician to his hand, then Special Summoned Blackwing – Gofu the Vague Shadow. He Special Summoned two Tokens, and used them both for Proxy Dragon. He then used Proxy and Gofu to play Decode Talker, pointing at Wathuthantrige’s Wisdom-Eye! He Pendulum Summoned Black Fang and Harmonizing from his hand, and Double Iris and Wisdom-Eye from the Extra Deck. Harmonizing’s effect brought Purple Poison to the field. He used Harmonizing and Double Iris to play Ignister Prominence, the Blasting Dracoslayer (behind Decode Talker) and added Purple Poison to his hand with Star Pendulumgraph. He used Ignister’s effect to destroy Double Iris from his Pendulum Zone, returning Clear Wing to Wathuthantrige’s Extra Deck. Next, he stacked Purple Poison and Wisdom-Eye for Number 39: Utopia, and that for Number S39: Utopia the Lightning! Utopia attacked Skullcrobat Joker, dealing 3200 damage! Decode Talker, currently at 3800 ATK since it was pointing at Ignister, Utopia, and Wisdom-Eye, wiped out Wathuthantrige’s Wisdom-Eye. Ignister attacked directly to end the Duel!

Penaranda evens the score! It’s all down to this final Duel. Who will move on to the Top 8? Wathuthantrige will be playing first this time.

Duel 3

Wathuthantrige had Performapal Pendulum Sorcerer, Pendulum Call, Performapal Skullcrobat Joker, and 2 Double Iris Magicians. He played Skullcrobat Joker, adding Oafdragon Magician to his hand. He played Pendulum Call, discarding Performapal Pendulum Sorcerer, to add Harmonizing Magician and Purple Poison Magician to his hand. At this point, the round timer ended – only five more turns will be played. Wathuthantrige played Oafdragon and Double Iris in his Pendulum Zones, and Pendulum Summoned the rest of his hand! Harmonizing’s effect brought Wisdom-Eye Magician to the field. He used Harmonizing and Double Iris for PSY-Framelord Omega, and banished it to banish Denko Sekka from Penaranda’s hand. Then, he used Wisdom-Eye and Skullcrobat Joker to play Tornado Dragon. Oafdragon got Harmonizing Magician back to his hand. He passed with Tornado in Attack Position and Purple Poison in Defense Position.

Penaranda started with Pot of Desires, followed by Skullcrobat Joker for Wisdom-Eye. He played Star Pendulumgraph, then Double Iris and Wisdom-Eye. He used Wisdom-Eye’s effect to put Oafdragon on the field – Wathuthantrige responded with Tornado Dragon to destroy the Star Pendulumgraph. Penaranda Pendulum Summoned Wisdom-Eye back to the field, using it and Joker for Number 39: Utopia, and that for Number S39: Utopia the Lightning! It wiped out Tornado Dragon, using its effect to deal 2900 damage! Penaranda Set one to his back row.

Wathuthantrige drew Joker, and Omega returned to the field. Oafdragon put Double Iris back in his hand. At that, Penaranda flipped Dimensional Barrier declaring Pendulum Monsters! Wathuthantrige Normal Summoned Harmonizing Magician, then used the Pendulum Effect of Double Iris on Harmonizing. When Double Iris was destroyed, Wathuthantrige tried to use its effect to search, and Penaranda used Ash Blossom & Joyous Spring to stop it. Wathuthantrige played his second Double Iris and did it again, successfully adding Time Pendulumgraph to his hand. He Tuned Harmonizing Magician to Purple Poison for Ignister, destroying Penaranda’s Pendulum Scale, and spinning away Utopia! He attacked with Ignister and Omega, then banished Omega to banish Penaranda’s Denko Sekka again.

In Penaranda’s Draw Phase, Wathuthantrige flipped Time Pendulumgraph. Penaranda Special Summoned Blackwing – Gofu the Vague Shadow, and created two Vague Shadow Tokens. He used each Token for a Link Spider. He used the Spiders to play Missus Radiant, then Normal Summoned his last remaining card, Double Iris. When Wathuthantrige used his Time Pendulumgraph, Penaranda offered the handshake!

Esala Wathuthantrige is going to the Top 8 with Pendulum Magicians!